NWSL Double Gameweek Round 7

photo courtesy Bola News

Round 7 of the ShePlays NWSL fantasy game brings us both midweek matches — starting Wednesday, May 1 so be sure to set your lineups! — as well as out first double gameweek of the season. Here's the schedule:

Next Round
Orlando Pride	1st May, 4:00 PM	North Carolina Courage
Chicago Red Stars	1st May, 5:00 PM	Washington Spirit
Bay FC	1st May, 7:00 PM	Portland Thorns
Utah Royals FC	3rd May, 6:30 PM	Angel City FC
Seattle Reign FC	3rd May, 7:00 PM	San Diego Wave FC
NJ/NY Gotham FC	4th May, 4:30 PM	North Carolina Courage
Portland Thorns	4th May, 7:00 PM	Washington Spirit
Houston Dash	5th May, 10:00 AM	Kansas City Current
Orlando Pride	5th May, 3:00 PM	Racing Louisville FC
Bay FC	5th May, 5:00 PM	Chicago Red Stars

The teams with two matches this week are the Courage, Thorns, Spirit, Pride, Chicago Red Stars, and Bay FC. That list probably covers a fair chunk of your fantasy team as is but it's worth looking at in a bit more depth.

North Carolina Courage - @Orlando, @Gotham

The Courage are a strong team as always, however they have two road games against tough opponents. Their defense is tops in the fantasy league, but their attack is of the "just enough" category. I would hold and happily play anyone you already own but I'm not sure I'm looking to load up on their players. Ashley Sanchez would be a great midfield pick, but unfortunately she's listed as a forward in the game.

Portland Thorns - @Bay FC, Spirit

Sophia Smith with two game? Yes, please. I'll take some of that. She's a stand-out captaincy option this week. I'm not sure of any other great picks on the team. Sam Coffey is steady if not spectacular. She has the highest floor but lowest ceiling of almost any player in the game. Olivia Moultrie is the opposite - as liable to get twenty minutes to see out a match as she is to start and score. She's on my team and I'm hoping for more of the latter especially as games this close together would have you expect Christine Sinclair's minutes to be closely managed. As for their defence, the less said the better.

Washington Spirit - @Chicago, @Portland

Croix Bethune continues to be one of the revelations among a standout rookie class. She plays so far forward to this Spirit team and has been coming up with goals and assists since settling in. Trinity Rodman is an evergreen pick while Tara McKeown is a surprising fantasy standout in their backline. Ouleymata Sarr would be a risky differential. Like the Courage, the Spirit play two road games and neither are even along the East Coast so buyer beware.

Orlando Pride - Courage, Racing

The high-flying Pride get two home matches this week. Barbra Banda has finally arrived and in two matches (only one start) she has a goal and two assists. She's probably the only player I see to rival Smith for captaincy this week. I'm likely to drop Bia for Banda, as much as that pains me. I would try to bring Bia back (in my best Justin Timberlake voice) immediately, but the extra match and the double home comforts tips it towards the Zambian. It may even be worth a minus five points to bring her into your team. I'm also looking at midfield playing at forward Summer Yates. I'm a bit worried about her minutes getting shared around with Marta and the other Pride attackers but she's been putting up fantasy points and you don't change a winning side, do you? Her being mis-classified (out of position, OOO in fantasy parlance) helps.

Chicago Red Stars - Spirit, @Bay FC

The "so close" team of the last round. They were beaten by the Thorns but they were denied by the woodwork. I have picked around all of Mallory Swanson's fantasy points so far this season so I'm hoping that going with her in the double finally works out for me. There are lots of good, and well priced, fantasy options on this team. They're not the elite of the league but could round out your team. For me, I'm hoping Maximiliane Rall is healthy to return but might consider a minus five to get someone else into the team this week. With two matches to play I would hope to gain points despite starting in the hole.

Bay FC - Portland, Chicago

The other team with two home matches, but I'm not as high on their prospects. That being said, I'll happily field my two players - Denya Castellanos and Lyianne Proulx. I'm not sure I'd bring in any other players save for perhaps Asisat Oshoala, who seems to have just had a cramp that led her to leave the Wave match the other day.

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.