The annual NWSL Draft always gravitates significant interest among those who follow the American women’s game, with it giving players a chance to take their first steps into professional life, clubs an opportunity to freshen up their squads ahead of the new campaign and fans a glimpse of who could be the stars of tomorrow.
The 2024 event was no different, with some incredibly talented names hoping to be selected by one of the 14 clubs in the NWSL and waiting eagerly to see if they would be lucky enough to secure a place in one of their squads. For many, their dreams were realised, and they will be experiencing life in the division when the action gets underway in March. This tactical analysis will pick out five of those who did secure places in a team to show why they could be worth watching as the weeks go on, breaking down their games and showing how they can fit into their new employers’ tactics.
Ally Sentnor
It is always tough to be the No.1 pick in the Draft each year, with that title carrying an enormous amount of pressure due to the calibre of names who have been previous occupants of that position, with USWNT regulars Alyssa Thompson, Naomi Girma, new NJ/NY Gotham midfielder Rose Lavelle and Arsenal Women’s recently acquired full-back Emily Fox among that group.
This year, it is North Carolina Tar Heels’ Ally Sentnor who will need to shoulder that expectation, with her being selected first and joining Utah Royals, who are returning to the league as a franchise for the first time since their withdrawal in 2020 (when their assets transferred over to Kansas City NWSL, now Kansas City Current).
Her performances last season, though, showed that Utah have selected well, with Sentnor, who is capable of playing as a midfielder or as a forward, demonstrating why she is so highly regarded by so many. She has not been as prolific in front of goal as others have been, having only scored 11 times last season and picking up five assists, but her game is about much more than simply being a threat in front of goal.
She especially thrives in taking the ball through lines and moving opponents out of the game, with her always a difficult player to stop once she gets into her full flow. In this situation, her natural pace and silky control of the ball allows her to evade the tackle attempts of Virginia Cavaliers trio Maggie Cagle, Ella Carter and Jill Flammia, with her making several sharp changes of direction on the way before feeding the ball through to the far side of the goal area for fellow forward Mia Oliaro to run onto.
Oliaro, on that occasion, was unable to find the back of the net, but this graphic indicates that clever runs and pinpoint passes such as that are common to see in Sentnor’s play and are something she has become known for. The fact that she registered a passing accuracy of 74.8% last season shows how she is someone that her teammates can rely on to play a leading role in moving the ball around the field and in implementing the transitional tactics that the Tar Heels have played with for several years now. Her desire to constantly be involved and to have an effect on their play is one of the main reasons that she was the No. 1 pick.
It is also worth noting that the forward passes indicated in this graphic have come from multiple angles and distances around the final third, as that shows how she is not a one-dimensional player and is instead someone who can be deployed in different channels and who will be capable of offering the same qualities regardless, again making her an attractive option for any team to have in their squad.
This is not to say that she can only play in a team that builds their tactics on moving through the thirds, though, because what has also been clear about Sentnor’s performances is that she is adaptable. This has been especially useful at North Carolina, with there being some matches when they have needed to employ a more direct style of play, such as the meeting with Alabama Crimson Tide, and so there wasn’t as great a need for Sentnor to get on the ball in deeper areas as a result.
In these games, Sentnor turned her attention to her off-the-ball movement as she looked to enable her team to play those longer passes and to have spaces to aim for, and what she did to create those gaps was to make a move towards the ball as if to insinuate that she would be receiving it, but with her intention simply being to plant doubt into the minds of the opposing defenders as to whether they should follow her or not.
In this case, Alabama fell for the trap initially as they allowed the Tar Heels to make an aerial pass up the field, although they did recover and get to the ball first when it came back to the ground. However, this just shows how Sentnor works hard to have an effect regardless of what her team’s game plan is, and the fact that she turned and ran back to receive the pass rather than simply watching it travel over her head shows once again her determination to get on the ball and to not leave anything to chance.
When looking at the signings that Utah had already made before the Draft, which included Nigeria international Ifeoma Onumonu and former Racing Louisville player Paige Monaghan (both of whom are wide attackers), plus the fact that another of their picks was BYU Cougars’ pacy forward Brecken Mozingo, it is clear to see that the Royals will aim to play an expansive style of play that sees them utilise the wings in order to build their attacks.
However, to make that work to its full effect, there does need to be a player in the middle who can drop back into the space between the lines, preventing opponents from cutting players off from each other, and it does seem like Sentnor will be used to fill that role.
Payton Linnehan
Another player who could really catch the eye inside the final third is Payton Linnehan, who played for Penn State Nittany Lions in 2023 but who will be featuring for one of the NWSL’s most successful teams in Portland Thorns in 2024. When breaking down her performances, there are plenty of things to admire about her gameplay, and there are many reasons that she could prove to be a really smart pick by Mike Norris’ team.
What is immediately apparent when watching Linnehan is that she is a versatile player and is someone who can move between channels when moving up the field, and this is one of the reasons she always poses a goal threat and finished last year with 10 goals to her name.
In this case, her ability to rotate between positions is clear to see, with her initially making a run through the middle before realising that teammate Olivia Borgen is in that area and has possession as she tries to create a goalscoring opportunity. However, what Linnehan also recognises is that Borgen is under pressure from West Virginia Mountaineers’ Mackenzie Aunkst, with there being a genuine risk that the ball could be dislodged before the shot is taken.
As a result, she makes a run behind the two and moves to the far side of the ball, with the intention of offering Borgen a way of shifting the ball out of danger and of keeping the attack alive. It may not have led to anything on this occasion, but it showed those watching her that she can read what is happening and can make adjustments as needed, with that particularly appealing to Portland due to their forward line tactics revolving around the likes of Sophia Smith and Morgan Weaver continually switching roles during matches (as previous analysis has highlighted), whilst there are also gaps left by the departures of Crystal Dunn and Hannah Betfort that she could fill.
However, the key thing about Linnehan is that, like Sentnor earlier in the scout report, she is not only someone who can have an effect at the top of the field but is instead also seen dropping into the midfield when needed as she tries to help her team maintain possession and progress through the thirds.
In this case, the Nittany Lions are trying to construct a counterattack, and Linnehan has moved back to lessen the possibility of the Mountaineers intercepting the ball in the process, and what is once again clear is how she gets her head up to assess her surroundings and to find the right place to feed the ball into to keep the attack alive.
As things played out, the chance didn’t come to anything as Linnehan got the ball stuck in her feet and West Virginia were able to force her to pass backwards, and that does suggest a slight weakness in her game that will need to be improved as her career goes on. However, given that she registered a 67.7% passing accuracy for the 2023 season, mistakes like this were not too common, and there is definitely potential in her playing in the Thorns’ midfield as well as among their forward line.
It would be a role that she would not have trouble occupying if that was where Portland felt that her long-term future lay, with this graphic showing just how much she moves around the field and how important she can be in progressing the ball around it, with Penn State coming to rely on her clever passing and ability to connect play during her time with them.
Given that Portland have a preference for players who can play in different thirds and who can create chances as well as providing an end product (with Japan midfielder Hina Sugita a prime example of that), there is definitely hope that Linnehan will become a success at the Oregon club this year.
Avery Patterson
2024 is a year when the NWSL as a league is going through a lot of change, with the most notable being the introduction of Utah and San Jose-based Bay FC to the division and the subsequent increase in matches and reformatting of the season-ending play-off stages.
However, there are also changes in tactical mentality among those in the division, with a lot of thought at the moment going into a move away from the direct brand of football that has been adopted for so long by teams and the USWNT alike as they begin to recognise the potential benefits of European styles, such as Spain’s famous tiki-taka principles.
As a result, those who can operate in multiple roles and who have the ability to play in a free-flowing manner will become even more important as the years go by. One player who fits that profile in this year’s Draft is Avery Patterson.
Like the aforementioned Sentnor, the new Houston Dash player was a vital part of the North Carolina side last season that caused so many teams problems around the field, with her mainly operating in the midfield and playing a crucial role in the second line of their attacks through her pace and 1-v-1 duelling ability.
However, those qualities have led many to predict that she will be used as a wing-back in Houston’s system in 2024, with new head coach Fran Alonso (who moved to Texas from Celtic Women in December) favouring a back three setup during his time in Glasgow and seeing the Scottish Women’s Premier League title contenders cause opponents plenty of tactical headaches because of it.
It is not a system that the Dash would be overly familiar with, to begin with, and it will take some time for them to adjust to Alonso’s ideas, but what he will be looking for in those wing-back roles is pace and the ability to get around opponents in order to create chances in the middle. With Patterson’s aforementioned speed and ability to win 1-v-1 duels (as she is doing here against Syracuse Orange’s Kylen Grant), this is something that she could really take to, and it would not be a surprise to see her make the switch to that role under Alonso for that reason.
However, the Spanish coach doesn’t only want his wing-backs to be a source of balls into the middle, with Celtic’s China international Shen Menglu and on-loan Real Madrid Femenino winger Paula Partido both known for their ability to cut inside and to try their luck in front of goal as well as for setting up chances for others.
Last season, Patterson scored nine goals and provided two assists, so her goalscoring threat cannot be doubted. There is a high probability that she would have the freedom to make the same amount of dribbles into central areas as she did for North Carolina last season (with this graphic showing how effective she was at this) and to test opponents in the NWSL in the same way, therefore ensuring that she becomes the type of well-rounded player who thrives in Alonso’s tactics.
To be a successful wing-back though, players do need to be just as effective without the ball as they are with it, and that is something that often lets players down if they are not used to tracking back at pace. This is not something that Houston will need to worry about with Patterson, though, with her demonstrating during her time at Chapel Hill that she is just as capable of regaining possession for her side when they are under pressure as she is at converting it into something meaningful in advanced areas of the field.
On average last season, Patterson made 4.27 interceptions per game and won 69.5% of her defensive and 55.6% of her aerial battles, so her quality in this side of the game again cannot be doubted, and what allows her to win the ball so often is her ability to once again move around the field in a free-flowing manner and to read what is happening around her. In this case, she has noticed how Notre Dame Fighting Irish midfielder Laney Matriano is looking to move the ball towards the far side of the field, and so she gets into a position from which she can intercept it, with the result of that here being that the Tar Heels are able to launch a counterattack from high up the pitch.
Therefore, whilst those who have watched Patterson closely during her college career will attest to the fact that she is an effective attacking player and someone who can both assist and score goals, her defensive qualities have been just as prominent and this is why it would not be difficult to see her slotting in at wing-back as the 2024 campaign goes on.
Hal Hershfelt
When looking at the players listed for potential selection in this year’s Draft, what is clear to see is that there was an absence of traditional defensive midfielders, with many midfielders included being either attacking playmakers or box-to-box players who can assist in both halves of the pitch.
However, there were one or two who do possess traits of that increasingly rare position, with one of those being Clemson Tigers’ Hal Hershfelt, and there is no doubting when watching Clemson’s matches last season that she really highlighted the importance of having a defensive midfielder on the pitch.
In short, her role mainly revolved around staying back and offering the back line an additional line of defence whenever the team was in possession, and that really came into its own when looking at how the Tigers dealt with opposing counterattacks. In this case, Florida State Seminoles are looking to progress up the field through Jamaica forward Jody Brown and defender Layne St. George has moved forward to close her down. However, by doing so, she has left a gap open behind her that has been spotted by Ran Iwai, who has made a move behind her to take her out of the game.
It is at this point that teams with a defensive midfielder would be able to protect themselves against the attack, but Clemson benefit here from the presence of Hershfelt and her ability to assist in the backfield. In this case, she recognises that she can’t get across in time but that teammate Jenna Tobia can. So she drops back to fill in at centre-back to free Tobia up to drift towards Iwai, and that has the desired effect in preventing the Japanese player from delivering the ball into the middle when she wanted to.
When the ball did eventually enter the goal area, it didn’t lead to anything as the Tigers were set up to deal with it, and that would not have been possible without Hershfelt realising what was happening and what needed to occur here. Given this and the fact that she won 61% of her aerial duels, 70.9% of her defensive duels and made 122 interceptions in total (an average of 5.22 per game), there is no doubt that she will be a vital player for Washington Spirit, who were the ones to draft her into their squad, to have available to them as they seek to improve on last season’s disappointing finish.
However, as the modern game demands, there are times when she looks to get into more advanced positions too, especially when facing teams who sit back more, just as Georgia Bulldogs did. As a result, she was seen higher up the field in this match, and her focus was on what was happening ahead of her and not on those behind.
This allowed her to demonstrate another side to her game, which is really important and which shows why Washington were so keen to add her to their squad, with her successfully turning around Summer Denigan here before threading a pinpoint pass through the Bulldogs line for Makenna Morris to run onto. Her passing accuracy for last season stood at a highly commendable 86%, which shows how she can be relied upon to split opponents and progress the ball into dangerous areas when needed.
This versatility in her play is further highlighted when examining her heatmap from last season, with it clear to see how much territory she covered as the 2023 campaign went on and, therefore, how effective she was at both ends of the field.
It is this that is likely to have attracted the attention of the Spirit, who are an ambitious club and who have recently joined Houston in appointing a Spanish coach with modern ideas in the shape of outgoing Barcelona Femení head coach Jonatan Giráldez. When watching Hershfelt play, there is definitely a tactical similarity between her and Patri Guijarro in the way that she offers defensive and deep-lying playmaker qualities but also gets up the pitch to move the ball behind opposing lines. It seems highly likely that he could give Hershfelt the same role as he tries to introduce the same ideas to his new team.
Hannah Anderson
Whilst most of the 14 teams in the NWSL would have entered the Draft looking for attacking reinforcements, some would also have had defenders on their shopping list. One of those who really needed to improve their backline options was Chicago Red Stars, with them conceding a league-high 50 goals last season and ending the campaign with the worst goal difference out of every side in the division (-22).
With former Jamaica head coach Lorne Donaldson now at the helm, there will be hopes that they can be more robust at the back, and one player who will be tasked with making that happen is Hannah Anderson, who featured last season for Texas Tech Red Raiders.
As is shown here, where Anderson has really shone is in her awareness and positioning around her own third, with her always working with those around her to ensure that no gaps are left open but also looking at where the ball can go next, indicating that her clearances are always made with the intention of giving her teammates the best possible chance of launching a counterattack.
In this case, she manages to intercept the cross from Texas Longhorns as they look to find playmaker Alexis Missimo in the middle, which is crucial given that Missimo is always a threatening player inside the final third.
This is not the only time when Anderson has demonstrated her ability to make critical blocks and tackles whenever her team are under pressure, with this graphic indicating how she made 22 blocks in total during the 2023 campaign. Couple this with her success in 63.6% of her aerial duels and 58.3% of her defensive duels and the fact that she averaged 6.02 interceptions per game, and there is little doubt that she is an effective player in these positions.
What is also clear to see is that she is not the type of player who simply holds her position and who waits for the ball to come to her; with her instead being proactive and moving out to win it at the earliest available opportunity, and that was evident against the Longhorns as she stepped out of line at the right time to ensure that she didn’t make a mistake and gift Missimo an easy shot on goal.
This is not to say that she is only useful once her team lose the ball, though, because she also possesses the characteristics needed to be a successful modern-day defender, such as playing out from the back and assisting in constructing chances around the field. The fact that she registered an 84.2% passing accuracy for the entirety of 2023 indicates how this is as much of a strength in her game as her ability to be dominant whenever her team are under pressure.
It is also not only passing around the pitch where she has an effect in possession because there have been plenty of occasions when she has demonstrated her shooting range, too. This moment during the meeting with Iowa State Cyclones was one of those when she opted to try her luck, having successfully taken the ball around Avery Horner to create the opportunity.
Her effort may not have found the back of the net this time, but the fact that she scored five times for Texas Tech last season shows that she is a threat at the top of the field, too, and this is why she could be a key player for the Red Stars as they seek to avoid another basement finish.
Conclusion
In conclusion, this tactical analysis has pointed out five players who were listed in the 2024 NWSL Draft and who will be featuring for professional clubs when the new season gets underway in March, with the reasons for each being added to their new clubs’ rosters made clear as they look to prepare for the long campaign ahead.
The exciting thing about the annual Draft is that there is always a wide range of skills and talents on display. It is always worth watching to see which way each team will go and what they will prioritise, with some looking at adding strength in depth and others searching for particular profiles of players as they seek to build a style of play.
Regardless of the priority for all 14 teams in this season’s competition, they have all now had their say ahead of the 2024 campaign. It is now a waiting game to see if they made the right moves or if they are still missing vital pieces to their puzzles, both for the clubs and their fans.
They will not have long to find out.
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