It's almost spooky season, and that means it's time for things to get weird ahead of the 2026 NWSL playoffs. There are just a few weeks remaining in the regular season, and players are stepping up in big ways to make the final minutes count, so it's time to roll out the Attacking Third team of the week. While it's never easy to narrow down the honors to just eleven players, we always try.
After weekly matches across the 2026 NWSL season, Attacking Third analysts will select players, a head coach, and an honorary captain based on weekend performances. Here you can find a mix of stats and data, analysis from our pundits, and highlights you may have missed over the weekend. If you're keeping track of who earned past honors, check out our previous team of the week.
Goalkeepers have to stay turned on no matter what the game is giving, and Seattle Reign goalkeeper Claudia Dickey is adding to her season-long resume with awareness and timing. She faced 20 crosses and eight shots, and stood tall for Seattle with another clean sheet. There's no player more crucial for Angel City down the stretch than defender Sarah Gorden.
The long-time NWSL veteran is the glue player for the club, like literal rubber cement, who can stick to attackers and make a striker earn their run into the box. The team captain led the squad in recoveries (10) away against Washington Spirit and made forward Trinity Rodman a non-threat. The back line for San Diego is clicking at an important time.
Despite injuries and rotation at goalkeeper, veteran centerback Kristen McNabb has been a reliable presence for the Wave. Her positioning gives others more freedom to move higher up the pitch or invert in attack. Japanese defender Miyabi Moriya stepped in for the Utah Royals after they lost two players to red cards last week.
The adjustment made an immediate impact, as she slotted back into defense for the squad and served up an assist on an opening goal. A great ball from Miyabi finds Cloé's noggin 😉 pic.twitter.com/SbBBOx6z97 A standout outside back and likely future candidate for rookie of the year is Wave FC defender Mimi Van Zanten. At this rate, she's playing so well that folks have forgotten she's only in her first pro season because she operates with a familiarity that only veterans of the league have.
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