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Ally Sentnor's ability to score with both feet took center stage in September for Angel City FC. From Aug. 31 through Sept. 26, the forward tallied four goals and two assists, pushing the mid-table side into strong playoff contention and earning her Sports Illustrated's Most Valuable Player honor in the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) for September.
"[The team told me] during our morning meeting and film ... I had no idea," Sentnor tells Sports Illustrated about receiving the recognition. "They put up [the announcement] as the last slide, and the girls are super great, we celebrate each other so well, and it was so fun to be on the receiving end of that."
The striker arrived at Angel City in June through a trade from Kansas City Current. While it took some time to settle in and rediscover her scoring touch—particularly her trademark long-range strikes—she quickly realized the LA-based club was the ideal destination. The team embraced her, allowed her to express herself freely, and had faith in her from day one.
"There is always an adjustment period, and I think I'm just adjusting and growing each game," Sentnor says. "I'm excited to have a preseason with the team next year, but all credit to these girls for really embracing me. I think the biggest thing was just them being so happy that I was here. That's so important as a player to feel like the people really want you there. They want your qualities to be part of the team."
Arriving after the CBA-mandated break, around the same time the club parted ways with head coach Alex Straus and appointed Leif Gunnar Smerud as interim, it felt like a fresh chapter not only for her personally, but for the entire squad.
"I went into it almost [as] like a new season, thinking, let's see what we can do in this second half and let's see what magic we can make," she recalls. "The vibes have been really coming through, and I commend this group for the incredible things we've done in the second half of the season. I just came in with a fresh mindset, ready to attack this second half."
It isn't solely Sentnor's goal-scoring that secured her September's MVP award. The all-around quality of her game has been vital to the team's achievements, making her far more impactful than her statistics alone suggest.
"She has intensity in her game, so she has quick feet both in receiving and getting away from the opponent's face, and in her pressing, ... [she] can be really good," Smerud tells Sports Illustrated. "She can get out of difficult situations. She controls the ball, and she has that agility and speed to do that. For us, that's been important. We like to press, we like to play through the lines when we can, so she's been really helpful for us to connect, play and to build."
As Sentnor continues to impress at club level, she has her sights set on next year's Women's World Cup and a place in the U.S. women's national team. Across 23 appearances since 2024, she has contributed seven goals and three assists for her country. By staying focused on what she can control, she hopes to earn a seat on that flight to Brazil in 2027.
"It's always something that you want, to be called into your national team and help your country win trophies and games," she says. "The biggest thing for me right now is focusing on where my feet are and being happy with where I am, the people around me, my training every day, because I think if you can relax and feel that, feel the joy of your day to day, then things will fall into place where they should."
For the time being, that means helping Angel City make a deep postseason run. Though they've already locked up a playoff berth, one final match against the eliminated Boston Legacy will determine their seeding, including the possibility of hosting a home playoff game.
"I've been on that side of being out of the playoffs and still having games to play, so it gives me that perspective that these teams aren't going to just roll over and let us have [the win]," she adds. "We are not taking this game lightly by any means. We're going all in."