Overview
- Voting results released Friday show Lavelle edging Sam Coffey (23.9%) and Catarina Macario (22.3%) in a weighted ballot of national-team coaches and capped players, U.S. Soccer board and athletes’ council members, NWSL head coaches and select media.
- After ankle surgery sidelined her early in 2025, Lavelle returned in late June and posted three goals and three assists in six USWNT appearances.
- She sealed Gotham’s NWSL championship with an 80th‑minute winner over the Washington Spirit to earn Championship MVP, becoming the only player to score in two NWSL finals and a Women’s World Cup final.
- Reale, 22, played all 26 regular-season matches for Gotham, won NWSL Rookie of the Year and made her senior USWNT debut after U‑23 duty, finishing comfortably ahead of Jordyn Bugg (29.6%) and Micayla Johnson (16.1%) in the young-player vote.
- As part of the Young Player honor, Henkel will donate $10,000 to the Boys and Girls Clubs of Boston at Reale’s direction, and both players are with Gotham in Spain for preseason rather than the USWNT’s January friendlies, with a London trip next for the FIFA Women’s Champions Cup.