The World Cup is over which leaves all the focus turned to the NWSL. The players from the UWSNT and other World Cup teams are on various clubs all throughout the league. But just because Alex Morgan, Carli Lloyd or Rose Lavelle might not be playing that night or for a specific team does not mean you should not still tune in. The NWSL is flooded with talent and we have created a weekly series that looks at players in the NWSL who did not go to France this summer, but could very well turn into your new favorite player. Next up in our series is Aubrey Bledsoe.
Often times goalkeepers can be an afterthought since they are not a field player, but for arguably the best goalkeeper in the league it seemed fitting she would be one of the first player spotlights. Bledsoe is only one of three goalkeepers to play every minute so far in this NWSL season for her club. Most teams have rotated keepers whether it’s because of injury or World Cup duty, but the Washington Spirit are selfishly happy Bledsoe is not on a national team roster.
Bledsoe has been with the Spirit since she was traded ahead of the 2018 season by the Orlando Pride. She was limited in her time with the Pride since they had USWNT keeper, Ashlyn Harris. The move to the Spirit gave Bledsoe the starting role and the ability to prove she is one of the bests. Bledsoe broke the single season save record in 2018 with 108 saves. She also only conceded 30 goals in the 21 games she was in net for Washington.
2018 saw Bledsoe rise as a top goalkeeper and 2019 has proven she can stay at the top for years to come. She has been awarded Player of the Week twice this season, and understand that is not keeper of the week that is Player of the Week honors. The month of June was the month for players who did not go over to the World Cup to showcase they are elite and deserve to be in this league when the national team players return. What better way to demonstrate that than being named the best in your position for the month? Bledsoe did just that as the goalkeeper for the June NWSL Team of the Month, voted on by the NWSL Media Association.
Point blank saves seem to be a specialty of Bledsoe. She has minimal time to react and the percentage of scoring greatly increases for the attacker, but her relentless pursuit to keep the ball out of her net defies the odds over and over again.
In case a single point blank save is not enough here is one more that earned her Save of the Week just last week.
It might seem like an overstatement, but Bledsoe is the reason the Spirit are still in the hunt for the playoffs. Their offense has been lackluster at times only scoring 19 goals compared to the top three teams in the league with 30, 31 and 26 respectively. Take those low amount of goals and put them next to just the 14 goals Bledsoe has conceded all season and you can see why. Those 14 goals given up is tied for least allowed with the Utah Royals and when stacked up against the top three teams they have allowed 15, 20 and 19 respectively.
The Spirit’s 6-5-3 record is good enough for fifth place and seven points out of first place. In their five losses all but one has been decided by one goal, the exception was only a two goal difference. Bledsoe keeps the Spirit in the game.
She has a league best 55 saves and is only allowing an average of one goal a game. That average is third among goalkeepers who have played at least 10 games this season.
It is hard to imagine the Washington Spirit without Bledsoe in goal and supporters of the club do not want to think about what their record and goals against would look like without her. Luckily, Bledsoe looks in top form and is not slowing down anytime soon.
If you want to see Bledsoe for yourself you can watch the Washington Spirit host the Chicago Red Stars later today at 7pm ET on Yahoo! Sports. Today might be her greatest test since the Red Stars have the league leading goal scorer in Sam Kerr. The best offensive player vs the best goalkeeper, what more could you want?