FootyPop: Ashley Sanchez Breaks Single-Season Scoring Record For North Carolina Courage

In this week’s women’s soccer news, Ashley Sanchez breaks a North Carolina Courage record; the Boston Legacy unveils plans for a new home; Esther González makes a head-scratching decision; and more!

High of the Week

Each week Ashley Sanchez reminds us of just how good of a player she is. She’s had her best professional season yet since joining the league in 2020. The 27-year-old scored a brace in the North Carolina Courage’s midweek win against Angel City. This season, she leads the league in scoring with 15 goals. On top of that, she also has four assists. Her 15 goals also tied Crystal Dunn and Alex Morgan for the most NWSL goals in a single season by an American.​

She’s been North Carolina’s best player all season and arguably the best player in the entire league. Sanchez has a chip on her shoulder as she’s trying to get back into the USWNT discussion, and her play is certainly making her case. Her 15 goals so far this season broke the Courage’s single season scoring record that had been set by Lynn Biyendolo. In Sanchez’s five other professional seasons, she had never scored more than five goals in a season. She’s found the back of the net 15 times this season, and the Courage still have eight regular-season games left, so that number could continue to grow.

Sanchez hasn’t represented the USWNT on the field since October 2024, but the USWNT are set to play two friendlies against Spain on October 10 and 13. There probably isn’t a world where she doesn’t get called up, but if she doesn’t, then soccer fans all over will be scratching their heads and wondering what more she has to do to break back into the roster.

Low of the Week

When Gotham released Esther González, the club was under the impression that the forward was going to be stepping away from the game for a bit to focus on her family and go back to Spain during this break. So on July 27th, Gotham announced that they had mutually agreed to terminate her contract, which was the right thing to do with the information that the club was given; they were doing what they thought was right by a player who has done well for them. We’re talking about a player who joined the club in 2023 and scored 33 goals in 64 appearances; she helped them win two NWSL championships and was an MVP finalist in 2025. She wasn’t a player that they wanted to lose midway through the season.

Fast forward a couple of weeks, and it’s now come out that González has signed with Al-Qadsiah in the Saudi Women’s Premier League, which raises a lot of questions for many reasons.A major issue is that in Saudi Arabia, same-sex marriages are criminalized, and Esther has previously been open about her wife and baby that they welcomed at the beginning of the year. The idea of her signing with a club in a country that hates who she is as a person is baffling, and it raises a lot of questions. It’s unsettling for fans to wonder why she would do something like that, but it also raises concerns for her well-being while she’s playing there.

The other part of it that doesn’t add up is Esther essentially lying to Gotham. There’s no way that Gotham would’ve let Esther walk for free. They would’ve tried to make a deal with a different club to get something in return if that’s what the player really wanted, but to say that you need to tend to family matters and then sign with a new club a month later is dirty, plain and simple. She took advantage of the club trying to do the right thing, and now NWSL clubs will likely implement some sort of rule to keep players from jumping to a new team when their contracts get terminated to avoid another situation like this.

News of the Week

This week, the Boston Legacy announced that they’ll play their 2027 matches at Centreville Bank Stadium in Pawtucket, Rhode Island; they have played in this stadium some during the 2026 season as well. Then in 2028 they’ll move to their permanent home, White Stadium once it opens. The renovation of White Stadium has been delayed because they needed to go through the court system to get the legal okay to complete the project. When it’s done, White Stadium will have a capacity of 10,500, and it’ll be a natural grass field. The club is partnering with the City of Boston to fund these renovations, and once complete, the stadium will be a public asset and owned by Boston Public Schools.

Game of the Week

Racing Louisville looked to be on their way to a much-needed three points with a great first half, but once again they struggled to finish a game, and the San Diego Wave found themselves back in it and took full advantage. Lauren Milliet got the scoring started for Racing in just the 12th minute, then Taylor Flint doubled the lead just 11 minutes later. Louisville went into the half with a two-goal lead, but they fell apart in the second half, and the Wave found their offense.

Trinity Byars got a goal back for San Diego right after the start of the half in the 47th minute. Then she completed the brace in the 76th minute to tie the match up at two. The Wave got their game-winning goal thanks to Kenza Dali just four minutes later.

It’s the second consecutive match that Racing has given up three goals, and if Louisville can’t figure out how to finish games, their chances of making the playoffs get slimmer and slimmer.

For San Diego, it was their second straight win, and in those two games they’ve scored a combined seven goals.

Goal of the Week

Jaedyn Shaw might not have been trying to get a shot on goal, but it ended up being a beauty of a goal and helped secure Gotham a point in their 1-1 draw against the Portland Thorns. Shaw was looking to get a ball into the box for Sam Kerr from distance, but it ended up being a long distance shot that was on target and curved enough to get by the goalkeeper. Accidental or not, it was a great goal.

Win of the Week

Stanford got an impressive ranked win over No. 17 UCLA with a 3-0 scoreline. The top ranked team is proving why they’re the best team in the country. Stanford dominated the Bruins in every aspect of the game; they had 18 shots with 12 of those on goal. The Cardinals had three different goalscorers, with Bella Winn, Brooke Holden, and Charlotte Kohler all finding the back of the net. Freshman defender Sadie Leal-Schuman tallied two assists as well. In their five games to start the season, Stanford has beaten two top-25 teams; the other was a 2-0 win over No. 14 Georgetown. They have yet to concede a goal so far, and they’ve scored an impressive 19 goals.

Team of the Week

The Denver Summit found their offense and got a huge win over the Chicago Stars this week. Their six goals in the 6-1 win were the most goals scored in a game this season by any club. Five different players got on the scoresheet. Melissa Kössler scored a brace while Janine Sonis, Yuzuki Yamamoto, Natasha Flint, and Olivia Thomas all scored a goal each. It’s no secret that Chicago has been struggling this season, so the fact that Denver scored six times isn’t surprising, but it is also a huge momentum shift for the expansion side. For them to see their offense firing on all cylinders, that’s great for team morale. They put on a show, and this is a team that isn’t far off the playoff line. They’re sitting in ninth place, four points off of eighth, so getting a lopsided win to help with their goal differential could be huge for them.

Assist of the Week

Cloé Lacasse has been phenomenal for the Utah Royals this season, and she led the way in their 2-1 win over the Orlando Pride. She scored the Royals’ first goal and then she served up a beautiful ball to a running Paige Cronin for the game winner. Lacasse dribbled into the box and then cut back to send the ball to the top of the box for Cronin to finish off.