Sam Kerr surges past Megan Rapinoe and Marta in the NWSL MVP race

This past NWSL offseason was a tumultuous one. Star players from both the United States and abroad left the league amidst uncertainty about the United States women’s national team’s collective bargaining agreement with U.S. Soccer, and therefore uncertainty about whether USWNT players would participate in the league, and who would pay their salaries.

Good news came before the start of the season — the USWNT agreed to a new CBA that included language reaffirming the players’ commitment to NWSL. And midway through the season, a lack of star power is the least of the league’s problems. Thanks to three big-name attackers from three different countries, NWSL’s best-ever MVP race is unfolding.

Five-time FIFA World Player of the Year winner Marta is playing in her first NWSL season, and she has the Orlando Pride in playoff contention with eight goals and three assists through 13 games. Megan Rapinoe is having her best-ever NWSL season with nine goals and one assist, even though the emergence of Mallory Pugh and Rose Lavelle has caused her role in the USWNT to be greatly reduced. But they’re both chasing Australian international Samantha Kerr, who scored a 12-minute hat trick for Sky Blue FC against FC Kansas City on Saturday, tying Rapinoe at the top of the scoring charts with nine goals in the process.

Kerr, unlike Rapinoe and Marta, doesn’t take penalties. While Rapinoe has three penalty goals and Marta has two, Kerr cedes that responsibility to her teammate Sarah Killion, who has scored four times from the spot. If Kerr was her team’s penalty taker, she’d be running away with the golden boot. Plus, neither Marta or Rapinoe has a goal as good as this bicycle kick from Week 11.

This week’s hat trick made Kerr the NWSL’s all-time leading scorer — despite being just 23, she’s been a regular contributor in all five years of the league’s existence. But before this breakout season, there were signs that Kerr’s career had stalled and that she would never make the most of her early promise.

At just 15 years old, Kerr made her professional debut for Perth Glory in Australia. A Matildas call-up wasn’t far behind, and Kerr scored three goals for her national team as a teenager in 2010. But three goalless years followed. Kerr has just eight goals in 50 national team appearances. She hasn’t scored at a World Cup. And her first four years in NWSL were all solid, but unspectacular, with occasional flashes of spectacular play.

Because Kerr has been a professional for so long, it seemed fair to wonder if she had plateaued, and was destined to spend the rest of her career as a solid, reliable attacker, but never a star. But Kerr just turned 23 this past fall, and women’s soccer — especially in North America — is a sport where many players don’t even begin their professional careers until that age. It shouldn’t be surprising that it’s the age where Kerr finally made a big leap forward.

An improvement in service has been a big help for Kerr, too. Playmaker Raquel Rodriguez and winger Leah Galton aren’t rookies anymore, while another winger — Maya Hayes — has taken a big leap forward this season. Sky Blue has also been boosted by the arrival of Daphne Corboz, a 2015 draft pick who elected to spend the first year of her pro career with Manchester City before coming to New Jersey this season.

Kerr has always had the speed, the shot, and the work rate required to be a top striker. What she was missing were the runs off the ball that need to be made over and over again, whether your teammates are making the right passes or not. She’s making more of those runs now and getting better passes when she makes them, which means she’s getting more opportunities to do the things she’s better at than almost anyone else — run fast, shoot hard.

That’s why Kerr is battling Marta and Rapinoe to win MVP this season. And with the way Sky Blue is playing right now, Kerr has a slight lead in the race over two of the biggest stars in the history of the game.

Boston Breakers 0-0 Chicago Red Stars
Washington Spirit 2-2 Orlando Pride
Sky Blue FC 3-2 FC Kansas City
North Carolina Courage 2-0 Seattle Reign FC
Houston Dash 1-1 Portland Thorns FC

You can find highlights of all NWSL games here.