The NWSL 2025 regular season is over, and while we await for MVP, Best XI, and end of year awards, we already know who the Iron Women are for this season.
Seattle Reign’s Claudia Dickey
Seattle’s No. 1 Claudia Dickey has played 2.340 minutes defending the club’s goal. She has a 75.2% success rate on saves, registered seven clean sheets, 17 catches, two punches, two drops and 13 clearances.
Regarding distribution, she has a 72.3% success rate in short passes (968 total, 700 successful, 37.2 passes per 90 minutes) and a 31.5% success rate on long
passes.
She also leads the entire NWSL in goals prevented.
Chicago Stars’ Taylor Malham
Left back Taylor Malham has been with the club since 2023. She played 20 matches with Chicago last season and this one, she went all in and became the club’s iron woman.
Malham played and started 26 games, accumulating 2,340 minutes under her belt. On the defensive side, she made 78 clearances (67.3% success rate), 5 blocks (53.3% success rate), and 32 interceptions (42.4% success rate). She also won 17 fouls and earned 4 yellow cards.
Her distribution was good, with 796 total passes, with 606 being successful (76.1% success rate) and with a rate of 30.6 passes per 90 minutes.
We can add that she made 41 total open play crosses, with eight successful crosses, one assist and 18 key passes.
North Carolina Courage’s Kaleigh Kurtz
The stalwart center back has registered 159 clearances, 25 blocks, and 33 interceptions for the Courage this season. With a 64.5% success rate in tackles, 63.6% success rate in duels and 67.2% success rate in aerial duels, Kurtz has been key for the Courage’s backline.
Not only that but the center back has put her name on the score sheet once in the match when NC faced off against Kansas City.
If we talk about distribution, she has an 81.2% success rate in short passes after registering 1,566 total passes, with 1,272 of them being successful. , and 43.9% in long passes.
Utah Royals’ Kate Del Fava
Despite this not being a good year for the club, Utah could always count on Kate Del Fava.
The defender had a high success percentage in tackles with 83.3%, a 57.6% success rate on duels and a 64.6% success rate on aerial duels. She also registered 174 clearances, 16 blocks and 32 interceptions.
She’s won five yellow cards and won 16 fouls.
If we talk about distribution, she boasts an 85.6% success rate in short passes. That percentage comes from 1,315 total passes made, with 1,125 being successful (5036 passes per 90). In long passes, her success rate is 45.3%.
Although the attack is not her area of expertise, she contributed to it with one assist, nine key passes, and three total open play crosses.
Bay FC’s Caprice Dydasco
Another defender who is the club’s iron woman is Caprice Dydasco. The veteran registered 90 clearances this season, along with 13 blocks and 43 interceptions. She also has a 62.5% success rate in tackles, 59.5% in duels, and 50% in aerial duels.
Regarding distribution, she has a 79.1% success rate in short passes (1,123 total passes, with 888 successful ones and 43.2 passes per 90) and a 39.1% success rate in long passes.
She’s always helping in the final third and that’s how she’s made 43 total open play crosses, 15 successful crosses, 26 key passes and registered one assist.
Out of the other iron women defenders, she’s the one with the most fouls won, with 40.
