Ashley Sanchez eyes an NWSL record in a career season with North Carolina

Ashley Sanchez entered the season with a number in mind. Nineteen goals later, the finish line keeps moving.

First, the North Carolina Courage midfielder wanted 10 goals. Then 15. Now, after setting the National Women’s Soccer League single-season scoring record for an American player, Sanchez has settled on another number — and another record to break.

“What’s funny was, I did have a goal, and then it just kept moving,” Sanchez said. “Now, I guess it’s just 20.”

Sanchez’s latest goal, a curling strike into the top right corner in the 82nd minute against the San Diego Wave on Saturday, moved her within one of Temwa Chawinga’s NWSL single-season record of 20 in 2024. It came after Sanchez scored a hat trick in a 6-0 win over the Chicago Stars, earning her the third NWSL Player of the Week honor this season.

For the 27-year-old, this kind of scoring output would have seemed unlikely a year ago. Sanchez scored five goals in 2024 and two last season. Before this year, she had never recorded a professional brace.

Now, she has five multi-goal games, including her first career hat trick, and is the runaway leader in the NWSL's Golden Boot race with six games left for the Courage in the regular season.

“This is my first year playing this position,” Sanchez said. “I do think that I could do even more.”

The move out wide had an early believer. Sanchez said her fiancé, former professional soccer player Tommy Williamson, was one of the first people to see her potential as a winger. The two trained together, working specifically on the position long before the flurry of goals.

“He was like, ‘Oh, I think this would be really good for you in this spot. Let’s get some reps here,’” Sanchez said.

Courage coach Mak Lind said the goals are the result of qualities Sanchez already possessed.

“She has herself to thank,” Lind said. “The only thing I’ve been doing, together with the coaching side, is to make sure she understands her potential.”

As Sanchez has found a new rhythm on the field, she has also found more balance away from it.

Sanchez said she used to be “lazy” when she came home from training, but getting a second dog about a year and a half ago changed her routine. Benny, an energetic yellow Labrador, joined her French bulldog, Nala, and made sitting around less of an option.

Sanchez now takes them to the park nearly every day. Those trips have become a way to slow down, spend time in nature and ground.

“This job is a lot, and it’s chaotic,” Sanchez said. “I try to calm myself.”

On the pitch, opponents are paying increasingly close attention. Ahead of Saturday’s match, Sanchez said one of San Diego’s “Keys of the Game” caught her eye: “Silent Sanchez.”

That level of attention is unfamiliar, even for a player who made her senior U.S. national team debut in 2021 and went to the 2023 World Cup. Sanchez has 28 international appearances but has not been called into a U.S. camp since January 2025.

She said this season has not been about proving anything.

“I’ve just been really enjoying this season,” Sanchez said, “and I feel like I’m showing the joy that I’m having with the things that I’ve been able to do on the field.”

Even as the attention around Sanchez grows, Lind said her approach has stayed the same.

“It’s easy to get hyped when you hear people talk about you, but she’s so humble in what she does,” Lind said. “So that makes me believe that she’s not done with scoring goals.”