Projected Lineups:

SEA: Nada Abbas, Mariam Metwally, Hannah Craig, Laila Sedky (reserve)

SoNo: Salma Hany, Margot Prow, Lucia Bautista 

 

At long last, the NSL’s west coast representative officially makes their debut. The Seattle Freeze are travelling to Norwalk, CT to take on the SoNo Sharks, and they’re bringing a strong lineup with them. Nada Abbas, World #14, headlines the group. Abbas is tailor-made for the NSL format. Her sharp attacking play will be a handful for opposing players. Seattle paired Abbas with Mariam Metwally, another aggressive attack-minded player. It’s clear owner Ali Piyarali had a vision in constructing his initial roster: aggressive, attacking play. If Hannah Craig ends up being the third player in Seattle’s lineup, she’ll likely provide the defensive presence who elongates rallies and takes time off the clock. 

 

The hometown Sharks boast a top 15 player of their own in Salma Hany. Hany has proven she can lead the Sharks to victory before, as the Sharks still have yet to lose a regular season game in franchise history. Hany will shoulder a lot of responsibility in this matchup, and SoNo will hope that she can build leads for them and help weather the storm of Seattle’s attacking duo. Margot Prow and Lucia Bautista are both holdovers from last season, and both will be called upon in defensive roles. Prow in particular has proven herself capable here, but will it be enough to complement Salma Hany’s offensive output? 

 

This match is tough to project. On the one hand, SoNo has proven they can win games with this core group of players. On the other hand, Seattle is bringing a lot of talent to the table. In the women’s division in particular, it’s hard to go wrong betting on talent. That points the favor towards Seattle. But, SoNo will keep it close and fight for all 70 minutes. In all four matches of 2026, the team that’s won the first period has ended up losing the match. I wouldn’t be shocked if that trend continued in this match, with SoNo grabbing the first period and Seattle winning the next two.

 

PREDICTION: Seattle 3-1 SoNo

 

WHAT. A. MATCH. 

 

Knights v Tornados had everything. Precise shotmaking, ridiculous movement, tactical adjustments; you name it, we saw it on Saturday. 

 

To close my match preview last week, I wrote the following: 

 

“There’s no question that New York has the talent advantage in this matchup. Even better for them, that talent has experience in the NSL format. […] With the crowd behind them, I could see New York delivering the first shut out victory of the 2026 season.”

 

Oops. That couldn’t have been more wrong. The Tornados came to play, and they stunned the New York Knights in front of their home crowd. Let’s talk about it.

Atlanta’s Brilliant Power Play Timing

 

For me, the star of the show in Atlanta’s victory never even stepped on court. Atlanta’s coach for this match Lucas Piller’s tactics in this match displayed an amazing understanding of the NSL format and his personnel. In addition, his adjustments from the first period to the next two completely flipped the match on its head. 

 

In the first period, Atlanta’s Mohamed Sharaf got off to a flying start against Eain Yow Ng. With fresh legs, he showed attacking confidence that rivaled the NSL’s best players despite not having the best ranking on paper (if that sounds crazy, it shouldn’t. I’ll prove it in a moment). As fatigue set in, Sharaf’s hitting became less clinical, and Ng got the Knights back into the first period. But, one thing was clear: the Tornados had found their attacking specialist for the rest of the match. 

 

The timing worked out such that the Tornados had to call their power play with four minutes left in the first period (the last moment you’re allowed to call it). Miguel Rodriguez was on court, and he only managed to score two points during the power play thanks to the defensive efforts of Mohamed ElShorbagy. New York went on to win the first period 20-15. 

 

Based on all this information, Coach Piller made two changes to his power play strategy: 

1. Always use Mohamed Sharaf
2. Never call a power play against Mohamed ElShorbagy. 

 

One last important point: it didn’t matter when in the period Atlanta found a favorable matchup. If Piller saw the matchup he wanted, he called the power play. 

 

Enter the second period, where Sharaf once again started on court, this time against Rory Stewart. After a minute or so of Sharaf settling into the match, he shot Coach Piller an affirming look, and the power play was called. Historically, teams tend to wait for some squash to be played and get a feel for how the period is going before calling a power play. Not this time. Atlanta found the matchup they wanted, and called the power play. Time didn’t even come into consideration. 

 

Atlanta didn’t look back. New York played well for much of the match, but Atlanta controlled the proceedings thanks to the tactical mind of Lucas Piller. 

Mohamed Sharaf and Ivan Perez

 

Atlanta appears to have hit home runs in the late rounds of the draft with these two players. Sharaf had all three power play opportunities in the second and third periods of this match. The results? A whopping 5.67 points scored per power play. For context, Mohamed Abouleghar scored 6.25 points per power play in his MVP performance vs Atlanta. As the World #70, Sharaf played at a near-MVP level during six total minutes of power plays. Atlanta has to feel great about that use of a fifth round pick.

 

Ivan Perez had a great game too. 23 points in 26 minutes doesn’t initially jump off the page. But, he proved himself to be a potential Miguel Rodriguez successor down the road with his stamina, movement, and defensive work. Perez defended two powerplays in this match and allowed just five total points. Players newer to the NSL sometimes have an adjustment period getting used to the different style of play and lack the situational awareness to be at their best. Perez didn’t skip a beat. That’s a credit to Coach Piller once again, as well as the guidance of Rodriguez and Sharaf as NSL vets. 

 

Incredibly, Miguel Rodriguez was a bit of an afterthought in this one. He only played 20 minutes compared to Perez’s 26 and Sharaf’s 24. Because his teammates played so well, Rodriguez’s job was simply to elongate rallies at the end of periods by getting to every shot and playing good defense. 

 

Everyone had a part to play in this fantastic team win for Atlanta. It goes to show what can happen when players have confidence, play within their strengths, and are coached well. That’s what the NSL is all about.

Saturday’s match between the Philadelphia Freedom and DC Inferno supplied NSL fans with much to discuss. You have to start with the performance of Melissa Alves, who won player of the match despite her team losing. Alves scored 28 of Philly’s 29 points in the first period (which they won 29-28). In total, Alves scored 62 points in 38 minutes, and was even in terms of points allowed and points scored during power plays, which far out-paced Philly’s team performance. 

For the Inferno, Amanda Sobhy played out of her mind. She scored a match-high 68 total points in just 30 minutes of play. But, her defense stood out above all else. Sobhy defended against three of the Freedom’s four power plays, and allowed just 10 points (good for 3.33 points allowed per power play). DC’s power play defense on Saturday was a night and day improvement from their first match two weeks ago. For reference, DC allowed 5.5 points per power play against New York. 

 

We watched some incredible squash last weekend. However, no individual performances or moments in the match became the primary talk of the league. Instead, people took notice of the bold strategy Philadelphia employed to give themselves the best chance possible to win. That strategy, essentially, was to deliberately lose a period. I’ll explain. 

 

The lineups for the match were as follows: 

PHI: Melissa Alves, Olivia Clyne, Enora Villard

DC: Amanda Sobhy, Rowan Elaraby, Rachel Arnold, Marie Stephan (reserve)

 

The Inferno had the clear talent advantage to begin with, but Rachel Arnold’s last minute availability only widened that gap. The Freedom looked at the situation and understood they needed to get creative. Their gameplan centered around maximizing the time that 2025 Finals MVP Melissa Alves was on the court. Philly knew Alves needed to shoulder a heavy load in this match, and their coaching staff had to balance exactly when to play her and when to conserve her energy. 

 

For those who don’t know, all three players in a team’s lineup must play a minimum of 15 minutes during an NSL match. It does not matter how those 15 minutes are distributed, as long as that threshold is met. The million dollar question for Philadelphia: how do we make sure Alves is on court for crucial moments of the match while ensuring everyone else hits the time threshold? Let’s examine their rotation to find out: 

 

Period 1 (20 minutes): 

Melissa Alves: 15.5 mins

Enora Villard: 4.5 mins

Olivia Clyne: 0 mins

 

Period 2 (20 minutes): 

Melissa Alves: 0 mins

Enora Villard: 4.5 mins

Olivia Clyne: 15.5 mins

 

Period 3 (30 minutes): 

Melissa Alves: 22 mins

Enora Villard: 8 mins

Olivia Clyne: 0 mins

 

Total (70 minutes):

Melissa Alves: 37.5 mins

Enora Villard: 17 mins

Olivia Clyne: 15.5 mins

 

A clear pattern emerges upon looking at the minutes distribution. The Freedom went all in on Period 1, where Alves was tasked with winning the period for Philly by herself. Rather than going all out in the second period, the Freedom used those 20 minutes to get Olivia Clyne her 15 minutes as well as another 4.5 for Enora Villard. That enabled Alves to play for most of the tiebreaking third period. 

 

DC’s depth of top 20 caliber talent won out down the stretch, yet Philly had a puncher’s chance. DC won Period 3 53-43, but that margin doesn’t reflect how close Period 3 really was. Despite a clear disadvantage on paper, the Freedom very well could have won this match. 

This strategy was unbelievably risky. Philly only won the first period by one point. Had they lost that first period, it’s difficult to project what their strategy would have been. Perhaps they’d still rest Alves during the second period and hope to tie the match 2-2 in the third period and force a shootout. In both cases, a superhero performance from Alves was required in that third period. High risk yielded a potential high reward: upsetting DC on their home court. Ultimately, that reward didn’t materialize, but Philadelphia’s bold strategy put the league on notice. 

 

How will the league react? It’s too early to tell. This won’t be the last time teams feel overmatched headed into a match. Philadelphia provided a potential blueprint for success in this David v Goliath scenario. Will teams copy their lopsided rotation strategy? Will teams modify the strategy and improve upon it in some way? It remains to be seen. 

 

If more teams decide to copy the Freedom’s rotation strategy, the impact on the quality of the product and fan engagement bears discussion too. Should the second period consistently become a means to meet required minutes totals rather than compete with full effort, that wouldn’t be ideal for providing a competitive match from start to finish. Lots of discussion at the team level and the league level will result from Saturday’s match, and we could be living through a foundational chapter in the evolution of NSL rules and strategy.

 

For match highlights, watch here: