For everyone interested in the NWSL or fantasy soccer in general, Ride of the Valkyries has an official fantasy league up on ShePlays, an Australian website focused solely on fantasy soccer for women's leagues and competitions. You can sign up for an account and start building your team here: https://sheplays.com.au/nwsl/
Once you are signed in, then you’ll be asked to set up your team before joining leagues. To join leagues, you’ll go to the “My NWSL Leagues” link under your profile menu, or just click here: https://sheplays.com.au/nwsl/my-leagues You can join our league with the code: “rovalks”
Since the team selection UI is not as intuitive at an initial glance, I'll give a quick walk through, though you can watch the YouTube video they included on the page as it covers the same ground with some snazzy music.
Once you are on this page, your top box will give you a set of requirements on how to build your team, with an empty “Manage Team” page. You’ll switch to the “Choose Players” tab and check the boxes on the left for the players you want to select. Once you click the box they are automatically added to your Manage Team page.
The players start in a chaotic order (I’m not sure what Emily Alvarado did to earn pride of place), but you can click any of the titles (“Name,” “Club,” etc.) to organize them. And, of course, below the column titles you can use the filter boxes to narrow down your options.
Then once you have your 15 players, you’ll organize them into a starting 11 on your Manage Team page. You’ll want your best players on top, as your Captain scores double, and is replaced in descending order if they don’t play. And you need a valid formation: 1 GK, 3 DEF, 3 MID, 2 FWD and two more outfield players. Then once you have your roster set, you can see a nice graphic on the View Formation page. Speaking of which, here is the current draft of my opening day roster:
Keep in mind this is an early draft and not necessarily where I will end up. I obviously decided to load up on Reign players, as I believe Ji So-Yun will unlock the Reign offense in the ways a healthy Lavelle did at times last year. And I am confident in the defense running it back.
I am breaking my general “No Portland players” rule to grab Sophia Smith, as she transcends rivalries. I think she will be worth the premium price and be at top of the points totals at the end of the season. I grabbed Girma, Shaw and Sheridan as I expect the Wave to be a Shield contender all season long and they will be key. Nighswonger, Flint and Henry are players I know and expect will have decent seasons.
NOTE: Susie brought to my attention that the San Diego Wave and NY/NJ Gotham are playing in the Challenge Cup in Week 1, and their games do not count towards fantasy the opening week. I have adjusted my team accordingly and have posted it in the comments.
My bench has various speculative picks. I think No. 1 draft pick Sentnor will be good, but she may need some time to adjust to the league and I have no idea if Utah will generate chances for her to finish. Sentnor is minimum price as a rookie so there’s little risk in adding her. I am not sure if Angelina will find the field in Orlando but I think she still has plenty of potential. Betos and Phair are more or less holding spots as I doubt either will contribute anytime soon but they are also minimum prices. Perhaps Angelina and Phair’s spots should be taken by other rookies? Maybe I should roll with Sentnor over Shaw to start the season and have some higher quality backups on the bench? We’ll see.
A few things to keep in mind about this version of fantasy soccer:
- You get one free transfer a week and subsequent transfers carry a 5-point penalty for that week's score. Don't do unnecessary tinkering week-to-week, those penalties add up. But being strategic about bringing in a strong attacker against a string of weak defenses for example can often pay off over a few weeks.
- Player prices are locked for the year. So, if you find a bargain that player will stay a bargain.
- Teams are scheduled for games every week, so you do not need to worry about byes. (Note: Except for the Wave v Gotham in Week 1, they are playing the Challenge Cup) The first double-game weeks come in Week 7 and Week 8, with every team having a DGW one of those weeks.
- ShePlays has a stats page where you can see prior year scores, to get a sense of which players score the best. Typically, the top Forwards and Defenders are significantly better than Midfielders (Sam Coffey being a notable exception).
- As I alluded to earlier, all rookies are minimum price ($75,000). If you can find some that are consistent performers, they will likely become mainstays in rosters.
If you want some further reading to help build your roster, here’s a few links:
- ShePlays has a roster build post I found helpful.
- You may find Alicia Rodriguez's NWSL tier post right here helpful as well.
- American Soccer Analysis is publishing a series of team previews.
- The NWSL subreddit is also posting thorough team previews.
- Backheeled has good NWSL coverage, for those who have taken advantage of our subscription access to Advocates and above.
For everyone who wants to join, we’d love to have you! Join our league (again, code “rovalks”) and let us know your team name in the comments here or over in the fantasy channel on Discord.
