NWSL Week 2 Wrap-Up: Ji Whiz

Round up from week 2:

• NWSL is back and so are the Chicago Red Stars: Takeaways
• nwsl week 2: xG race charts & pass networks
• NWSL Snap: Lorneball, and staying "humble"

Not sure it was a strong fantasy week for too many teams. I thought my week was going to be HORRIBLE. First on Friday I benched Ally Sentor for Messiah Bright -- who did so well for me last season. 

Well, we know how that turned out.

Sentor scored a banger for the Royal, leading a host of "rookie queens score for fun" stories around the league. See above. Meanwhile Bright looked... off the pace. She got a few good chances - mostly from Claire Emslie's endless supply or corner kicks - only to shoot over, or misconnect on a pass. It was deeply frustrating, and honesty (and to my great shame) put me in a lousy mood.

Saturday seemed to go just as poorly, but mostly that was Wave-focused. I was surprised to see Jaedyn Shaw benched, and even more surprised by how poorly the Wave played for much of that match. Kansas City could have scored more than the two goals they got.

I knew I had a goal from Ji - my week two transfer, replacing the injured Debinha - in my pocket. But I also spent five points to bring in Feli Rauch, who didn't keep a clean sheet at Utah. Nor did week one hero, Lysianne Proulx against a previously shot-shy Washington Spirit.

But enough bitching. You're not here for my bitching. Ji's goal and a surprisingly strong Carson Pickett performance got me to 70 points. Juuust enough to keep my lead in the BlueSky League and 85 overall (out of 1419 teams).

For week 3, I'm going to focus on two things:

1. I want to invest in either Chicago or Kansas City, and
2. I want to be sure to have players playing Houston

I'm thinking of trading Bruninha, who didn't start for Gotham this weekend and will likely have Kelly O'Hara vulturing minutes from her all season, to Chicago's Maximiliane Rall. I may not start Rall this week, but the $50k savings means that in future weeks I can get from Messiah Bright to Mallory Swanson. Swanson has been starting matches this season without impacting them. I want to be able to cash in when, in about a month's time and she has her soccer legs back under her, that changes.

I was planning to start Cassie Miller in goal this week, but Bay FC gets the gift of a home game against the Houston Dash. So I'll probably keep Proulx as my starting keeper. I'm happy to have Castellanos on my team, but would look to pick up Oshoala if you're looking for a one week punt.