Diving into Janine Sonis's success in aggressive full back role for Denver Summit, CanWNT

As is usually the case for expansion teams, it hasn’t been a straightforward start to their inaugural NWSL season for the Denver Summit. 

After opening the campaign with a 2-1 loss to Bay FC, they did well to find some form over their next four games, winning one and drawing three of those matches, but had since come down to earth, losing their next two to leave them with six points from their first seven games. 

Because of that, they’ll be quite pleased with the response they showed in their eighth game, as they picked up a massive 4-1 road win vs. the Houston Dash. Thanks to that, they enter this next stretch of NWSL games in a good position, as they’ve built a bit of a buffer between themselves and the bottom of the table, and instead sit just two points behind a playoff spot. 

Of course, for a new side, they won’t be thinking about the playoffs quite yet - while that’ll be a big goal of theirs as a club, their main focus will be on short-term growth, as they look to build on this latest victory. 

Speaking of this result, however, one thing that the Summit will be quite pleased about is the play of their captain, Janine Sonis, as the CanWNT regular pulled out a big performance in that 4-1 result. Deployed in an aggressive attacking left back role (featuring there before switching to right back later on), she made the most of the opportunity to push up the pitch, scoring twice in the victory. 

GOAL🇨🇦

Denver Summit captain, Janine Sonis, has her 1st goal for her new club, as she finds the back of the net with a tidy finish at the back post#CanWNT pic.twitter.com/86CuB0kckZ

— OneSoccer (@onesoccer) May 10, 2026

Her first goals with the club, that helped Denver, who had scored just eight goals in their first seven games, score three or more goals for the first time as a club. 

To be fair, they were trending in the right direction before this game, as they had scored four goals in their previous two games after scoring just four goals in their first five games, so it’s not as if this four-goal outburst came completely out of nowhere. 

At the same time, given that they had also conceded a combined six goals in their last two games, after conceding just three goals in their first five games, it had looked like they had found their goalscoring boots at the expense of their defensive results. Because of that, they’ll be pleased to have struck the right balance between offence and defence in this Houston victory. 

GOAL🇨🇦

Janine Sonis caps off a POTM performance, as she finds the bottom corner with a tidy left-footed finish to secure a big road win for the Denver Summit vs. the Houston Dash#CanWNT pic.twitter.com/tNyGWOPoAg

— OneSoccer (@onesoccer) May 10, 2026

Granted, one big win isn’t enough to suggest that they’ve put those worries behind them, but it’s a sign of progress - for a new team that is still developing an identity, it can make one-off results like this one feel much more significant. 

Returning to Sonis, however, she’ll certainly be hoping that this can be a big building block performance for her. Given her role as a full back, she won’t need to score every week, but there’s no doubt that she can remain an influential figure offensively.

Here's Sonis's heatmap from so far this season - as seen here, she's pushing aggressively up the pitch, getting a lot of touches in the other team's half (SofaScore). 

It can’t be forgotten that she managed to score three goals and add five assists for Racing Louisville last year, despite playing most of the season as a full back, showing that she’s more than capable of providing an attacking threat from a deeper position. 

Just look at her numbers from this game to see what that can look like in action, as she scored both of her goals on her only two shots of the game, while also generating two key passes, taking two touches in the box, completing eight passes into the final third, and connecting on four out of eight crosses. Along with the 36 out of 42 passes (86%) that she completed, it was a good showing offensively from her (#s via OPTA). 

Yet, that gives an idea of what she can bring to the table at that full back position. When needed, she can be secure in possession, as seen with her passing figures, but she can also be aggressive when needed, pushing forward to either whip in crosses or drift into the box as she did on both of her goals. 

And she’s done that all season long. While she had only generated one assist before this brace (coming in the club’s first game against Bay FC, a game in which she also earned a red card), she had continued to generate solid offensive statistics, as seen by the numbers. 

CanWNT 🇨🇦 star JANINE SONIS gets Denver Summit FC's 1st-ever assist on the club's debut goal... 🙌

...and then gets the new NWSL side's 1st-ever red card minutes later 🥲

(ngl kinda iconic ✨) pic.twitter.com/HRqaTAjx7N

— OneSoccer (@onesoccer) March 14, 2026

For example, after this match, she’s now generated 0.86 shots and 1.29 shot assists per 90 minutes, indicating that she’s averaging at least two shot contributions per 90 minutes, which are very good numbers for a full back. Along with her solid passing metrics, as she’s averaging 41.41 passes (at a 73.6% clip), including 5.18 long balls (at a 38.9% clip), 3.31 crosses (at a 43.5% clip), 5.75 passes into the final third (at a 57.5% clip) and 3.45 passes into the box (at a 45.8% clip), that gives an idea of how involved she’s been on the ball (#s via WyScout). 

That’s key, as the Summit want to be aggressive on the ball going forward, especially as they continue to develop chemistry and bolster their roster (star signing Lindsey Heaps hasn’t even arrived yet as she’s set to join from OL Lyonnes this summer), something that could push Sonis to be even more involved in possession going forward.  

Here's Sonis's percentile chart when compared to other full backs in the NWSL this season. This chart comes from FotMob, so some of the data differs from WyScout's numbers, but this chart shows that she's been one of the best offensive full backs in the league, especially in terms of passing and shooting (FotMob) 

Considering that she actually had more aggressive offensive metrics when deployed as a full back with Louisville - in 1300+ minutes as a full back last year, she generated 1.04 shots and 1.82 key passes per 90 minutes - that shows that it’s not outrageous to suggest that she could still have another level to hit offensively despite how good she’s already been. 

Because of that, look for her to build on this performance, especially as the Summit looks to find a rhythm over the next few months. Given her importance to this team as a captain, she’ll have a big role to play on this team going forward, and for good reason.

In turn, that can only help her stock with the CanWNT, where it must be remembered that her emergence as a full back has also created some interesting positional discussions. 

With Canada’s depth at that full back position, with Jayde Riviere, Ashley Lawrence and Gabrielle Carle some of the names Canada can rely upon at left and right back, there’s all sorts of competition brewing for minutes right now, which is where profiles will become so important. 

For example, Sonis’s ability to push up the field and get involved offensively is quite important, especially for a Canadian team wanting to be more dangerous in open play, much like the Summit.

There’s a reason why Sonis has featured in all six of Canada’s games this year as a full back, starting five out of six of those matches, giving an idea of how head coach Casey Stoney feels about what she can bring to the table offensively from that full back position. 

As a result, look for Sonis to use this stretch to help push the Summit on while helping her own stock for Canada. For as good as she’s been as a full back, she’s still got development to come in her game, as she’s still relatively new to this position after featuring more as a winger earlier in her career.

She’s been a natural fit, as she’s got the offensive ability to be impactful, and the defensive work rate to match (via WyScout, she’s averaging 5.18 interceptions, 8.63 recoveries and is winning 50.6% of her 11.36 duels during the 2026 NWSL season), but that won’t mean that she still doesn’t have more growth to come, something she’ll continue to push for as the season progresses. 

Here's a chart of Sonis's defensive actions from Denver's win over Houston, showing the sort of impact she can have on a game defensively, too (SofaScore)