Temwa Chawinga Leads NWSL Best XI for May

The National Women’s Soccer League’s Best XI for May reads like a snapshot of a season tilting toward its biggest names and sharpest risers. At the top of it all: Temwa Chawinga, the two-time reigning MVP and now Player of the Month, driving the Kansas City attack with the relentlessness of a player intent on owning another year.

Across the league, eight different clubs placed players in the Top 11, but no side made a louder collective statement than Utah Royals FC. Unbeaten through May, three Royals are in the team of the month, a surge that also delivered Head Coach Jimmy Coenraets the Coach of the Month award.

Royals’ backbone sets the tone

At the back, Utah’s revival starts with Mandy McGlynn. The goalkeeper anchored a defense that posted three clean sheets in six matches, giving the Royals the platform to navigate the month without defeat.

In front of her, Kate Del Fava continues to be Utah’s constant. The center back piled up 16 tackles and six interceptions across six games and hit a significant personal milestone: her 63rd consecutive start for the club since its re-launch in 2024. Reliability, quantified.

Upfield, Mina Tanaka stitched Utah’s attack together. Two goals, three assists, and a hand in an offense that has already produced eight different goalscorers. She didn’t just finish moves; she linked them, helping turn Utah from stubborn to dangerous.

Defensive leaders step into the spotlight

The Best XI back line carries a distinctly commanding feel.

For Denver, Canadian fullback Janine Sonis delivered an extraordinary burst of form, scoring braces in back-to-back games in the middle of the month. Fullbacks aren’t supposed to dominate scorelines like that. She did.

In Portland, Sam Hiatt anchored a Thorns defense that matched Utah’s standard with three clean sheets in May. While others grabbed attacking headlines, Hiatt’s work in the back line underpinned Portland’s stability.

Gotham FC’s captain Tierna Davidson rounds out the defensive unit with a month that blended leadership and long-awaited payoff. Gotham kept clean sheets in three of four matches, and Davidson added a personal landmark: her first goal since 2019. For a defender whose game is built on control and timing, the strike felt like a reward for years of graft.

Midfield engines driving the month

Midfield belongs to creators and disruptors, and May’s trio brought both.

For North Carolina, Manaka Matsukubo lit up the middle of the park with three goals and two assists in six matches, a production line that kept the Courage ticking. She didn’t just influence games; she decided them.

In Kansas City, Croix Bethune reminded everyone why she claimed the 2024 Midfielder of the Year award. One goal and three assists in May tell only part of the story. Her passing and tempo gave Chawinga and company the service they needed to punish defenses.

San Diego’s 18-year-old Kimmi Ascanio offered a different kind of authority. Thirteen tackles in six matches and her first goal of the season marked her as a rising force. Young, fearless, and already shaping games on both sides of the ball.

Relentless front line

Up front, the Best XI is pure firepower.

Chawinga sits at the heart of it, hammering in seven goals in six games for Kansas City. Defenders knew what was coming; they still couldn’t stop her. Every run, every finish, carried the weight of a player in complete command of her craft.

Alongside her, Orlando’s Barbra Banda matched efficiency with ruthlessness. Six goals in six matches. A perfect one-to-one goal-to-game ratio. When chances fell her way, she treated them as obligations, not opportunities.

Utah’s Tanaka completes the attacking trio, her contribution measured not only in goals and assists but in the way she knits the Royals’ varied threats into a coherent front line.

Recognition for a surging league

The NWSL Media Association, a collective of writers who cover the league throughout the year, selected the Best XI, underscoring just how widely this talent is being tracked and chronicled.

With Amazon Prime presenting the award and Prime Video’s NWSL coverage running every Friday night through the regular season, the spotlight on these performances only grows brighter.

If May is any indication, the race for individual honors — and team supremacy — is tightening. And with players like Chawinga, Banda, and an unbeaten core in Utah setting the standard, the bar for June has just been raised again.