The NWSL named Washington Spirit midfielder Croix Bethune as the 2024 Rookie of the Year on Tuesday, making the clear front-runner for the award official.

Despite suffering a torn meniscus that had her miss every NWSL regular-season match since September, Bethune’s standout performance from before the Olympic break — including tying the NWSL single-season record for assists at 10 — secured her the award.

In her 17 matches played for the Spirit in 2024, she also scored five goals. The Spirit selected her third overall in the NWSL Draft earlier this year, the final version of the college draft for the league.

Bethune won the Rookie of the Month award for every month she was eligible, including three consecutive months at the start of the season. In addition to all the awards, her rookie season earned her a call-up to the U.S. women’s national team, and she was named an alternate for the USWNT at the Olympics this summer.

Bethune ranked fourth among NWSL players (min. 900′) by averaging 0.97 goals and assists per 90 minutes played. She trailed three other members of the league’s best XI: Barbra Banda (1.08), Temwa Chawinga (1.05) and Sophia Smith (0.99).

No one should be surprised that Bethune took home the end of the award honors for Rookie of the Year after the season she had, even with how stacked and important multiple players from the 2024 Draft class proved to be for their respective teams.

Whether it was three assists in a single match, or that epic equalizer for the Spirit in the final minute of stoppage time against San Diego back in June, Bethune truly did it all as a rookie — scored, provided, created, you name it.

While that torn meniscus robbed us of what could have been the all-time entry into the NWSL, Bethune’s start to the season is still a performance that we will consider one of the best rookie seasons ever in the history of the league. —

This article originally appeared in The Athletic.

Washington Spirit, Soccer, NWSL

2024 The Athletic Media Company