NWSL Reflection + Awards Votes

The NWSL season is now complete, and in the aim of being straightforward and honest about my preseason predictions, I'll post my guesses for standings and awards here and then adjust those to reflect my choices after viewing the season. Here we go.

Standings
FC Kansas City
Portland Thorns
Seattle Reign
Chicago Red Stars
Washington Spirit
Houston Dash
Orlando Pride
Western New York Flash
Boston Breakers
Sky Blue FC

I was at times very accurate and very erratic. I got half of the playoff teams right, but no one in the right order. I underestimated, dramatically, the Washington Spirit, Western New York Flash, and Sky Blue FC, while I overestimated FC Kansas City, the Seattle Reign, and the Houston Dash. I was just about right for the Boston Breakers, Orlando Pride, Chicago Red Stars, and Portland Thorns, although I was incorrect in picking positions for all teams.  

Awards
MVP: Tobin Heath
Coach of the Year: Mark Parsons
Defender of the Year: Julie Johnston
Goalkeeper of the Year: Nicole Barnhart
Rookie of the Year: Raquel Rodriguez
Golden Boot: Christen Press

• I would comfortably remain with Tobin Heath as my MVP at the end of the year. While the Thorns were a well-oiled machine as a whole, Heath was the engine fueling it. The games she missed for the Olympics and international duty showed this, without any set-up player to make the rest of the Thorns stars work. 

• Mark Parsons is a respectable choice for Coach of the Year, but I'd have to give my vote to Paul Riley of the Western New York Flash, who absolutely revolutionized his team a few weeks in. His work to sculpt a young team into one that plays a high-offense and exciting brand of soccer should earn him the award, especially since they were not expected to be as good as they were. 
• I also believe Julie Johnston had a very strong season for the Red Stars, but their team defense ethic would lead me to give the Defender of the Year award to Emily Menges. One major reason is that she led a team that experience two different parts of the season, one with internationals, and one without, and she kept the Thorns steady in the tough times. 
• For goalkeeper of the year, I will change my selection to Michelle Betos, once again citing the strong Thorns defense and her season-long presence in the net as the reason. While fellow finalists Ashlyn Harris and Alyssa Naeher had great years for their teams, Betos' steadying presence for the Thorns makes her a deserving recipient, which would be her second year in a row with the award if selected. 
• Raquel Rodriguez is also a finalist for Rookie of the Year, but the most impressive rookie, in my opinion, was Rachel Daly of the Houston Dash. While she wasn't around for much of the massive turnaround after a long scoreless drought, her play in the good games for the Dash was admirable. 
• Finally, Lynn Williams was awarded the Golden Boot with 11 goals. I thought Christen Press would top that even in reduced time, but Williams' emergence, along with the Flash as a whole and teammate Jessica McDonald in particular was not something I foresaw.

Preseason Best XI prediction
Nicole Barnhart
Lauren Barnes
Julie Johnston
Becky Sauerbrunn
Jaelene Hinkle
Kaylyn Kyle
Jess Fishlock
Tobin Heath
Christen Press
Kealia Ohai
Kim Little

Postseason Best XI
GK Michelle Betos - Portland Thorns
RB Katherine Reynolds - Portland Thorns
CB Emily Menges - Portland Thorns
CB Yael Averbuch - FC Kansas City
LB Casey Short - Chicago Red Stars
DM Vanessa DiBernardo - Chicago Red Stars
RW Kristen Edmonds - Orlando Pride
LW Tobin Heath - Portland Thorns
RF Jessica McDonald - Western New York Flash
CF Lynn Williams - Western New York Flash
LF Kealia Ohai - Houston Dash

Only two of my original Best XI predictions remained on my end-of-year ballot, Ohai and Heath. In making my selections, I showed a preference toward players that did not appear with the USWNT often, save for Heath, who is also my pick for MVP. I believe a full body of league work is important when considering season awards, and save for Heath, no interationals really put in enough of an impact to justify selecting them on their prestige alone. This is not a knock on their skill level, as they are clearly very talented players, but their sample size and overall impact on the league proved too small in my opinion.

That's it for my end of season recap. Voting is open through the end of the Thursday, and awards will be announced leading up to the final on October 9.