The first official squad of Emma Hayes’ tenure was a mix of veteran players, one notable position group change, and a couple fun new additions. Among the fun new additions reverberated a familiar refrain: Whomst is Hal Hershfelt?
It’s a fair question, Hershfelt is a rookie defensive midfielder who’s been given a bit of license to roam for the Washington Spirit, whose hot start has been dominated by fellow rookie Croix Bethune, international striker Ouleye Sarr, and USWNT superstar Trinity Rodman.
Hershfelt, however, has been key to the Spirit’s success as well. Thanks to my other job of covering the Washington Spirit for The District Press, I’ve watched every game she’s played as a pro so far, including all but one in person, making me uniquely qualified to answer this particular question that I didn’t know so many people would be asking so soon.
She’s shown versatility, and some key attributes that make her inclusion on the national team extremely interesting. So let’s look at what she does on the pitch that may have piqued the interest of Emma Hayes.
What does she do?
This is the tricky bit. When it comes to most stats that track her movement and actions in and out of possession, her profile seems good but unremarkable. Not that many turnovers, which is key in midfield and good for a rookie, and her Tack/DP% (percentage of times she engages in a duel and is dribbled past) is respectable as well. But nothing else seems to jump out.
That is, until you stumble across a metric that measures how she receives the ball. According to American Soccer Analysis, which has a G+ metric that uses math and wizardry to compute the impact of receiving passes, Hershfelt is fourth among all midfielders (central and defensive). She’s accomplished this while also playing the most minutes.
Courtesy of American Soccer Analysis
This skill is highlighted in her carries so far this season. She' received the ball any and everywhere between the boxes, and has a 94.9% success percentage. That’s nearing the Sam Coffey stratosphere, who is at an absurd 96.9%.
Hershfelt has also completed 80% of her attempted passes so far, a number that is top-7 among all midfielders, and second among midfielders who’ve played more than 1,000 minutes (Coffey, 84). What makes this even more impressive is that she has the third highest percentage of passes under pressure, with 25% of her passes coming while being pressed by an opponent.
Looking at the above visual makes this next bit unsurprising, but key to note. Hershfelt leads all midfielders with the longest average length of successful passes under pressure, 18.9m (20.6 yards). It’s a terrific skill that doesn’t pop or show up in highlights, even extended ones. But her style of play has been key to her college team, and pro club as well.
Clemson
The college system is one of the greatest assets we have when it comes to women’s soccer. It’s far from perfect, but each year a wave of new professional-ready ballers hit leagues across the world. Since teams recruit and rebuild almost annually, tactics are typically built around spotlighting elite talents, but every now and then a team will try to pull off something tactically interesting. Clemson was one of those teams.
They insisted on possession and (relatively) more patience to swing the ball side-to-side and open gaps in defenses. This is probably something that helped fellow rookie Makenna Morris led the team in goals while spending a lot of time at right back. While the team featured a lot of ballers who went pro, and a few who haven’t yet but will, Hershfelt was a major key to making it all work.
She played primarily as a defensive midfielder, getting forward only on occasion. Her main role was to be the catalyst for her team when needed. Whether they needed to escape pressure or reset an attack, it was Hershfelt’s job to be in the right position to receive passes and keep the ball moving between Clemson teammates.
The GIF above is one of the best examples. Notice how she receives a back pass, searches for forward options until pressure arrives, protects the ball then moves it wide to Morris in space after the defense collapsed centrally. That’s only the first part though.
Hershfelt disappears from frame after the pass, but pops back into view once the defense rotated and Clemson lost the numbers advantage on that side. She comes to the touchline to provide a simple passing option, and receives the ball with a flick to wrong foot the pressing player. She then dribbles centrally and rolls the ball across the pitch into space on the other side for her team to attempt to attack with numbers again.
In possession this was essentially her job: Being in the right place at the right time to support her team, and using her uncanny ability to receive passes under pressure to keep possession and restart attacking sequences.
Washington Spirit
Hal being the the Washington Spirit’s very first XI of the season was a good sign that her unique blend of positional awareness and receiving skills had translated to the next level, or would without much time or experience needed. The Spirit coaches were right.
You have all the stats, so let’s just look at match action from the game Washington Spirit played just before everyone read her name among the rest of the senior callups.
Here are her instincts again. Comfortable with players around her, and opts to receive the ball without a touch, baiting the pressing player to step in before she shifts the ball behind her. She’s even pulled back, but repeats the move to open a passing angle out wide. Remember that stat about average length of passes under pressure? Yup.
The clip above shows her defensive awareness, which turned a would-be shot on goal after a scuffed clearance into a blocked shot out of play for a corner. Once the clearance is mis-kicked by the center back, Hershfelt darts to fill in the gap with an Angel City player pouncing quickly. Had Hershfelt not reacted as quickly, goalkeeper Aubrey Kingsbury would have faced an unexpected 1v1 at a favorable angle for the shooter.
This is some aesthetically pleasing shit. Kingsbury rolls the ball to her and she takes one simple but precise touch to split defenders and send the ball directly into the stride of teammate Kate Wiesner.
Here’s more tracking of a loose ball, this one saving the Spirit defense from facing a transition after the loss of possession in the opponent’s half. And again, you can see the calm and vision to play the ball into space wide, so instead of defending a counter, the Spirit could start an attacking sequence of their own.
What probably most intrigued Hayes about Hershfelt is that she hasn’t just come into the professional level and replicated her college game, she’s expanded it. For the Spirit she’s been asked to play more box-to-box role, with more freedom to roam around the pitch to help link play. She’s responded by using her skills under pressure in more advanced areas, and adding two goals, with her first being a banger.
Now I’m not gonna sit here and type that I knew Hershfelt was close to a USWNT senior callup. I had no idea, and it’s the kind of deep cut selection that makes me think Emma Hayes has known about NWSL+ all along.