Ashley Sanchez. That is all.
18 goals, the most ever by an American player in an NWSL season.
A four goal lead in the Golden Boot race, the same as the difference between second and tenth.
8 games with multiple goal contributions, a new record.
Five multi-goal games, including a hat trick.
Welcome to the Sanchez Show.
History is happening on The Sanchez Show 📽️
— North Carolina Courage (@nccourage.com) September 7, 2026 at 6:57 PM
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Sanchez has exploded on the scene in 2026, going from a very good NWSL player to one of the top players in the league. She’s scored nearly as many goals in 2026 (18) than she had in her entire NWSL career to date (19). It’s reasonable to ask: what changed? What new skills did Sanchez add that brought her to this level?
According to head coach Mak Lind, nothing. It’s been there the entire time.
Where do I start? I mean, for me, Ashley is a very intelligent player. She's very humble, intelligent. I've coached many great players and I'd say she is absolutely top, top, class in what she does.What you have seen from her, the goal scoring, what she has been showing this season, is only her. That’s qualities she had before also. Maybe she got a little bit of help [to] open up a couple of doors with a couple of keys; she recieved a couple of keys and [we] said “unlock that door, because you have that potential in you already”.
…
And again, it’s not a new player. It’s just Ashley Sanchez understanding herself a little bit more, what her qualities [are] and how to use them, how to utilize them on the pitch. So she has herself to thank first of all.
Going back to the beginning #
“History doesn’t repeat itself, but it does rhyme” is a quote often (mis)attributed to Mark Twain.
Here, have a rhyming goal. This likely looks familar to Courage (and Spirit) fans.
Ashley Sanchez was a menace at UCLA. Her 45 assists in three seasons pop off the page (she set a school record!), but she finished third, first, and second on the team in goals in those seasons with 23 total. While she didn’t always play as a left winger at UCLA, you still regularly see the same things you’ve seen this season – Sanchez attacking from out left, and putting defenders in a bind by either cutting to the end line or to the middle.
It’s not just the goals, it’s the assists from the same pattern where she drives against the back line to find a teammate.
Noted ball-knower Kim McCauley pointed this out on Bluesky.
It's kind of wild that Ashley Sanchez has had this whole journey from best cut-in shooting left winger in USYNT/college to playmaking 10 back to best cut-in shooting left winger. This is exactly who she was from ages 16-21, glad we're back!
— Kim McCauley (@kimischilling.bsky.social) September 6, 2026 at 5:55 PM
There were glimpses of this early in her NWSL career. André Carlisle in a post for the defunct Black and Red United called out how she was using these skills in attack in the Challenge cup.
Outside of the box she registered just one successful dribble out of seven attempted, however inside the area she was two of three. The speed and athleticism of NWSL midfields made it difficult for Sanchez to find the space to maneuver, but when she gets defenders on their heels, well, she can be downright mean to them. … We saw this development in Sanchez’s second start when the Spirit matched up against 2019’s semifinalists, the Portland Thorns. Whereas against the Red Stars she over-dribbled and took shots that never reached the keeper, against the Thorns she twice used the threat of her dribble to force the keeper into two difficult saves: one via a powerful shot at goal, the other a silky outside of the boot pass to setup a direct shot on goal.
Even her first goal for the senior USWNT looks familar.
Watching this, you may not ask where this season came from - you may ask where this attacking winger went.
Moving to fill a need in Washington #
Lind described Sanchez as a humble, intelligent, player with many skills. If that’s you, that means you will often be asked to subsume what you may do best ino order to fill a more pressing hole on the team.
Going into the 2021 season, the Washington Spirit were set on the front line. Alongside 2019 leading scorer Ashley Hatch, they used their second draft pick on winger Trinity Rodman, and paid $100,000 to move up in the draft to pick attacker Tara Rudd out of USC. (Yes, attacker).
However, in midfield they had a problem. Rose Lavelle had been traded at the end of 2020 and was off to Manchester City. Andi Sullivan and Tori Huster are quality NWSL midfielders, but they don’t provide lots of attacking thrust. Sanchez was asked to fill that void. She spent the season primarily in midfield with a sprimking of false 9. She scored four goals and assisted nearly 4 xG as the Sprit won the NWSL Championship.
With results like that, why change anything? Sanchez took up the same roles in 2022 and 2023 for the Spirit, totaling 8 goals and six assists across two seasons. However, the team results weren’t there, and Sanchez struggled a bit down the stretch as she recovered from the disappointment of getting zero minutes at the 2023 World Cup.
Overall, she was a very similar player across her three years in DC: excellent at assisting shots, and improving her passing with experience in the league. Her dribbling and carrying dipped as part of that 2023 mini-slump, but she was still productive.
Different team, same holes to fill #
Going into the 2024 season, the North Carolina Courage had the same problem. In the midfield they had possession stalwarts in Denise O’Sullivan and Narumi Miura, and they had a mystery box in Japanese teenager Manaka Matsukubo. But their attack was built on 2023 NWSL MVP Kerolin, and she was out with knee injury. They had no proven players to drive the attack.
North Carolina sent $250k and the number five pick to DC for Sanchez, and installed her directly in the number 10 role. There would be no false 9 and no wingering; she needed to be the team’s attacking engine because there was no one else. She responded by putting up her best progression numbers of her career, both passing and off the dribble. Her five goals and four assists both led the team, and she was named a finalist for the midfielder of the year.
In 2025 things changed. The team brought in Jaedyn Shaw, another attacking midfielder. Manaka Matsukubo exploded, eventually winning midfielder of the year. Sanchez was the odd woman out in midfield, and spent a lot of the year shuffling between left and right wing.
You might think this would unlock her attacking winger skills, but even from wide she was asked to act like a midfielder and to create. Compared to the average winger, she was below average at getting final third touches, progressive carries, and shots; her value was still in assisting others. She missed time with an injury, played her fewest minutes since coming into the league, and put up her fewest goal contributions since her first full season.
Because of that, there were some raised eyebrows when she extended her contract through 2027.
Getting back to her roots #
New head coach Mak Lind came in, and took stock of what he had on the roster. Jaedyn Shaw was transferred to Gotham. He knew Manaka was on her way out. There was an opportunity to move Sanchez back centrally where she excelled in 2024. Instead, he thought differently.
First week already when I was here, we talked about her position and for me Ashley Sanchez is a winger, especially on the left-hand side, and she again shows how good she can be. At the same time she's so skilled that I think she can play in different positions. But I think if you want to get the most out of Ashley Sanchez, you play her in a wing position where she has the freedom of playing wide, she has the freedom of inverting in pocket positioning and be dangerous there.
For Washington,and then initially for North Carolina, Sanchez was moved to midfield because she was needed there. Neither team at the time had the progression or creation in midfield.
But by 2026 on the Courage that had changed. North Carolina had two excellent passing midfielders in Riley Jackson and Shinomi Koyama. They had Manaka for a few months, and had a plan to recreate her production and progression with others. They didn’t need a central creator and progressor. What they needed instead was someone to press the backline to get shots and goal production.
Think about it: when you beat someone off the dribble with close control in midfield, you still have to find the next pass, and then maybe the next pass, and then the shot. When you beat someone off the dribble in or around the box, you immediately create scoring opportunities. Towards the end of last season, North Carolina would create (successfully!) by sending Meredith Speck high and wide on the left wing to drive at the defense. I love Merry Speck, but she’s not Ashley Sanchez.
10 MINUTES IN AND THE SANCHEZ SHOW IS ON‼️
— North Carolina Courage (@nccourage.com) August 22, 2026 at 8:32 PM
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It’s the same for her intelligence and positioning. When you can drift away from a marker in midfield, you make yourself available to connect, which is good. When you can do the same by ghosting away from a marker on the back line you’re directly in on goal, which is even better.
Shinny sends it to Sanchez for her second brace this season 🤩
— North Carolina Courage (@nccourage.com) July 4, 2026 at 9:19 PM
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Combine that with the ability and willingness to finish with either foot and you’ve really got something.
Per ASA, including Challenge Cups & playoffs, Sanchez took 315 shots before this season. Only ten were from inside the six yard box, and only one since 2022.
This season, unleashed to be closer to goal, she’s already taken seven and finished three as she’s created the most expected goals in the league.
Her skills are useful in the midfield. They’re lethal on the wing. Mak Lind moved Sanchez back to her original home from her college days, and she’s responded with an MVP season.