USWNT Stock Up, Stock Down: Mal Swanson Showing Flashes of Her Best

Welcome back to your weekly feature from Sports Illustrated that analyzes the women’s soccer weekend from a U.S. women’s national team perspective.

We’re about a month away from when Emma Hayes will select her squad for the upcoming friendlies against Spain in October. The battle for spots is heating up as many U.S. stars are starting to play their best soccer of the season.

Racing Louisville’s Emma Sears is one of those. She has now scored five goals in her last four matches after going nine games without a goal between May and August. However, the 24-year-old winger did not get on the scoresheet this weekend. Racing and Sears came up with zero points as their four-match winning streak came to an end.

Let’s take a look at who saw their stocks rise and fall this past weekend in the National Women’s Soccer League.

Stock Up

Mal Swanson

Returning from the birth of her first child and missing the entirety of 2025, Mal Swanson has eased into the 2026 NWSL season. It hasn’t helped that the last-place Chicago Stars have struggled this season and only just fired their coach a couple of weeks ago.

And so, it will be welcome news to see Swanson performing at her best, scoring one and assisting another, in the Stars’ 3–2 win over Racing Louisville last weekend. The win snapped a seven-match winless streak for Chicago and was Swanson’s first goal scored since May and has two on the season.

The assist was trademark Swanson, driving up the pitch on a dribble to lay it off to Jameese Joseph in the box to score her first goal of the season. But still, the 28-year-old’s goal was even better. A silky spin-touch with the right foot, and a crisp chipped finish with the left.

62' | MAL SWANSON GOLAZO 💥 pic.twitter.com/oddrMTd336
— Chicago Stars FC (@theChicagoStars) August 23, 2026

Ashley Sanchez

A simply incredible season continues. Ashley Sanchez has taken the lead in the NWSL Golden Boot race thanks to a brace in the North Carolina Courage’s 2–1 win over the Boston Legacy on Saturday, which brings the 27-year-old up to 13 goals in 2026.

Sanchez’s first goal was a stunning curling shot from the edge of the box that wrapped itself inside the post. The second, from the penalty spot in the 17th minute of second-half stoppage time, gave the Courage a late 2–1 win and became the latest-ever goal scored in NWSL regular-season history. Ice cold stuff.

What else can Sanchez do to get back into Emma Hayes’s plans? It is hard to argue she has not earned a shot back on the USWNT.

The LATEST goal in league history... 90+17 😯 pic.twitter.com/5PVEmiM4VZ
— NC Courage (@TheNCCourage) August 23, 2026

Trinity Byars

In a banner weekend for USWNT forwards, Trinity Byars certainly improved her case to earn a first senior USWNT call-up. The 23-year-old San Diego Wave forward was involved in all four of her team’s goals in a 4–2 win over the Utah Royals (Byars scored two and assisted the other two) .

Byars really excels on a breakaway, when there’s space for her to attack and she can size up the goalkeeper one-on-one and slip the ball past her opponent. Both goals came from Byars charging into the box, bearing down on goal and putting it away with a simple finish. Her first assist was similar, but with a technical touch, taking the ball around the goalkeeper and then providing a cutback for an easy shot into the open goal for Melanie Barcenas.

It’s hard to know who Byars could overtake in the current USWNT roster, but she’s doing a tremendous job of making Hayes’s decision as difficult as possible.

Trinity Byars took it to the next level 📈 pic.twitter.com/GJSTOMAZJO
— San Diego Wave FC (@sandiegowavefc) August 23, 2026

Stock Down

Mandy McGlynn

Yes, another week where Utah Royals goalkeeper Mandy McGlynn has found herself in a spot of trouble. Four goals conceded never looks good for a goalkeeper, but this 4–2 defeat against San Diego saw McGlynn make the same mistake too many times.

No doubt Utah’s backline did not do McGlynn any favors, leaving chunks of space behind and getting caught in transition, but the overriding memory here will be McGlynn racing off her line and getting outplayed by Byars over and over again.

a moment for this Kristen McNabb through ball omg 👏 pic.twitter.com/H4Drtulg0p
— San Diego Wave FC (@sandiegowavefc) August 22, 2026

There are some major concerns about McGlynn’s positioning after this performance.

Kennedy Wesley

Defenders can sometimes get a pass when they win a game, but Kennedy Wesley, who could be pushing to be a starter in the USWNT, didn’t have her best game in San Diego’s 4–2 win over Utah. The Wave went 1–0 down and then 2-1 up, before being pegged back to 1–1 and then 2–2. If it wasn’t for Byars, this could have been a game where the Wave backline cost them points.

For Utah’s first goal, Wesley found herself in a bad spot when committed to following Mina Tanaka on a lofted pass, only to then misjudge the second phase of the move and completely let Tanaka run free and get her shot off to score. The Royals’ second goal was more of a group effort when it came to defensive movement, but Wesley was unable to get tight as the ball moved around the box. She could only watch on a few yards away as Tanaka scored her second.

MINA TANAKA, WHAT WAS THAT?? 😱 pic.twitter.com/cXCtFWsUNr
— National Women’s Soccer League (@NWSL) August 22, 2026

Sally Menti

It was hard to find too many players on the USWNT bubble this week who had hurt their case for a spot on the squad. Someone who certainly didn’t stand out but hardly made any major blunders was Seattle Reign midfielder Sally Menti. The 24-year-old made her debut for the USWNT in January but hasn’t been called back since.

Menti played 90 minutes in the Reign’s 1–1 draw away to the KC Current; she also picked up a yellow on two fouls committed. The game mostly passed her by, as the Reign scored early and then decided to try to hold on to 1–0 and then buckle down for 1–1. In the end, Seattle was extremely lucky to come away with a point. KC crashed the woodwork multiple times and missed open shots from close range, too.

Where Menti struggled was setting the tone higher up the pitch for Seattle and holding possession higher. For Menti, as an advanced midfielder, the game became just about shuttling side to side and covering passing lanes. She did win 6 of 10 of her defensive duels, which was the majority of her work. With the ball, she completed just 11 passes. Not too memorable, as a defensive Seattle clung on.

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