Ally Sentnor’s dual-footed goalscoring prowess was the star of September for Angel City FC. Between Aug. 31 and Sept. 26, the forward notched four goals and two assists, catapulting the mid-table team into a solid playoff contender, and earning her Sports Illustrated’s Most Valuable Player in the National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL) for the month of September.

“[The team told me] during our morning meeting and film ... I had no idea,” Sentnor tells Sports Illustrated about earning the honor. “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 joined Angel City in June via a trade from Kansas City Current. While it took her a moment to find her footing and regain her goalscoring form—in particular, her penchant for long-range bangers, she immediately knew that the LA-based team was the perfect landing spot. The team welcomed her in, let her be herself and believed in her from the start.

“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.”

Coming in after the CBA-mandated break, around the same time the team parted ways with manager Alex Straus and named Leif Gunnar Smerud as interim, it felt like a fresh start not just for herself, but for the team as a whole.

“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’s not just Sentnor’s goalscoring that earned her September’s MVP award. The completeness of her game has been crucial to the team’s success, making her much more valuable than just the numbers she puts on the board.

“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 shines for her club, she’s keeping an eye on next year’s Women’s World Cup and a coveted spot on the U.S. women’s national team. In 23 appearances since 2024, she has scored seven goals and three assists for her country. By just focusing on what she can control, she’s hoping to get a chance to make it on that plane 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 now, that looks like helping Angel City find success in the postseason. Although they’ve secured a playoff spot, one more match against the eliminated Boston Legacy will determine their final standings, including whether they get to host a home playoff match.

“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.”