Hal Hershfelt is a 22-year-old midfielder who has just started playing with Washington Spirit in the NWSL this season after spending some excellent years at Clemson Tigers. Hershfelt was drafted by Washington Spirit on January 12th, after playing for Tigers from 2019 to 2023 and succeeding in earning numerous honours thanks to her impactful performances with the Tigers.
These honours include five All-ACC honours – one First Team All-ACC in 2023, two Second Team All-ACC (2021, 2022), one Third Team All-ACC (2020), and ACC All-Freshman Team (2019) in addition to making 97 starts in 99 appearances. She helped her team reach the NCAA Semifinal and was therefore selected in the 2023 NCAA All-Tournament team.
Such honours can only confirm Hershfelt’s talent and stress that she can become a very valuable player for Washington Spirit and eventually for the USWNT if she succeeds in consistently producing her excellent performances even at the highest level: the NWSL.
Since the start of the 2024 NWSL season, Hershfelt has made her presence felt in the Washington Spirit team. Her contributions extend beyond the midfield, with her ability to score crucial goals proving instrumental in the teams success. This is evident in their current standing, with the team securing nine points and holding the third position in the standings.
Hershfelt can be best described as a dynamic and robust midfielder, known for her relentless work ethic and team spirit. Her physicality and athleticism are key assets, allowing her to excel in her role. What sets her apart is her ability to score game-winning goals, a trait not commonly associated with midfielders. This versatility and skill make her a valuable asset for the Washington Spirit and any team she joins in the future.
In this tactical analysis and scout report, we will explore the American midfielder’s abilities, positions, and mastered roles within Washington Spirit’s tactics, in addition to her attacking attributes. The analysis will also cover her tackling and defending traits and possible improvements.
Roles and positions
Hershfelt often plays as a central midfielder in Washington Spirit’s 4-2-3-1 and 4-4-2 formations, making a powerful midfield duo alongside Andi Sullivan, who has more experience and fits Hershfelt well since both players have been providing outstanding balance to Washington Spirit’s midfield so far. This being said, Hershfelt has also played on numerous occasions as a defensive midfielder with two central midfielders on her sides, especially when she was playing with Clemson Tigers.
This means that she masters the defensive midfielder position, too, and the roles that come with it. She mainly gets the ball directly from defenders and is responsible for distributing it successfully either to the wings, to her midfield teammates, or to a striker running in space and asking for the ball and dropping deep to build up from the back when the opposing team applies high pressing on defenders and the goalkeeper.
The following heatmap highlights Hershfelt’s ability to occupy various midfield positions, whether in her team’s half or the opposing team’s half. The heatmap also shows that Hershfelt is indeed an energetic midfielder who runs a lot per game and, therefore, helps the team a lot by doing the “dirty work”, as they call it in football: chasing opponents, intercepting passes, and marking players trying to penetrate towards the box.
At the same time, Hershfelt has already proved that her attacking contribution should not be underestimated since she has started scoring goals for Washington Spirit, in addition to her regular goalscoring contributions for Clemson Tigers.
Nevertheless, working with Hershfelt on increasing her number of forward passes per game would help the Washington Spirit a lot since she has some outstanding accuracy rates, whether in terms of passing in general or towards the final third. Additionally, Exploring her smart passing abilities even further would surely increase the number of her assists, knowing that her actual assists rate equals 0.03.
Goalscoring talent
Hershfelt has already confirmed her potential in terms of goalscoring and is expected to score numerous goals for Washington Spirit this season if she keeps the same level of performance and concentration, especially in attack. It is essential to know that Hershfelt shoots 1.3 times on goal per match, with 44.6% of her shots being on target. This means that Hershfelt can often shoot with excellent accuracy, even though she sometimes misses the target.
More importantly, Hershfelt proved that she can score from tight angles while giving the impression that she is not balanced when executing her shot. Her ability to shoot from different positions and use various techniques helps her succeed in scoring regularly, unlike numerous other midfielders who can only master one or two goalscoring types (headers, shots from distance, second-balls, etc).
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