Lauren Hemp Hits 100 Goal Involvements: Is She the WSL’s Most Complete Winger?

Lauren Hemp’s 100th Women’s Super League goal involvement is the latest milestone in a career defined by much more than just goals and assists. We examine the data behind one of the league’s most complete attacking players.

Lauren Hemp has never been particularly easy to define.

She is not the WSL’s most prolific goalscorer, nor its most prolific assist provider. She is not simply a dribbler, a creator or a crosser. But put all of those qualities together, and you get a player who has reached a landmark that only six others in the competition’s history had previously managed.

Hemp’s assist for Manchester City teammate Khadija Shaw in last weekend’s 4-1 win at Aston Villa took her to 100 WSL goal involvements; 52 goals and 48 assists across 154 appearances. She is the seventh player to reach the milestone, joining Vivianne Miedema (138), Beth Mead (127), Bethany England (114), Fran Kirby (111), Nikita Parris (111) and Shaw (105) in the competition’s 100 club.

Yet, it is the split of those 100 involvements that makes Hemp stand out.

Of the seven players to reach 100 goal involvements, nobody has a more even balance between goals and assists. While others have arrived at the milestone with a greater weighting towards scoring, Hemp’s 52-48 split illustrates just how much she can both create opportunities and take them herself.

At just 26, and despite playing just 730 WSL minutes during an injury-hit 2024-25 campaign, Hemp has already established herself as one of the most productive attacking players in the competition’s history.

After two matches of 2026-27, she has already created 11 chances, more than any other player in the WSL, while her performance against Villa included three shot-ending carries, something that only Lauren James (4, also against Villa) can better.

Those qualities are not confined to the WSL, either.

At Euro 2022, which ended with England’s first major international trophy, only Beth Mead (16) and Klara Bühl (14) created more chances than Hemp (13), while her 40 attempted crosses ranked second among all players at the tournament.

Her influence continued on the biggest stage a year later. Hemp scored in England’s quarter-final victory over Colombia and semi-final win against Australia at the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup, helping the Lionesses reach their first World Cup final before eventually falling to Spain.

At Euro 2025, her all-round game was again on full display. No player recorded more carries ending in a chance than Hemp (6), showcasing a blend of dribbling and creativity that has come to define her game.

Hemp is not a traditional touchline winger. She can drive her team up the pitch, create for others and provide a goal threat herself.

So, what is it that makes her such a unique attacking player?

The Season Hemp’s Game Changed

Her carrying threat has always been there.

In the 2019-20 WSL season, Hemp’s 11 chance-ending carries ranked second among all WSL players, while her 12 the following season ranked third.

The difference from 2021-22 onwards was her end product.

Hemp had always been exceptional at carrying the ball into dangerous areas, but those runs increasingly became a source of creativity and chance creation as she established herself as one of the WSL’s most dangerous players, just before England’s European Championship triumph.

Her 59 carries into the penalty area were the most of any player in the WSL that season, while her 29 chance-ending carries also led the league and remain the most recorded by a player in a single WSL campaign.

However, it was not just that attribute that shone; she was influencing games in almost every attacking phase. Across 2021-22, Hemp ranked first in the league for dribbles completed (22), successful open-play crosses (19), assist-ending carries (4), chance-ending carries (29) and take-on-ending carries (32).

Her carrying has remained one of the most persistent features of her game. Hemp’s 2,187 total carries rank fifth in recorded WSL history (since 2015-16), with the four players above her all defenders.

The following season, she carried the ball into the penalty area 62 times, again the most in the league and the highest single-season figure recorded by any player.

That ability to change the state of an attack is what separates Hemp from many of her fellow wingers. She does not need others to create for her. She can receive the ball in a relatively harmless area and, within moments, turn the attack into a dangerous situation.

Hemp’s chance creation (44) also took off in 2021-22; only Mead (58) created more chances from open play than her in the league.

In 2022-23, Hemp ranked second in the league for chances created (58), with 57 of those coming from open play. She also ranked second for completed dribbles (35) and successful open-play crosses (36).

The same campaign saw another aspect of her game emerge. Hemp ranked first in the WSL for possession won in the final third (37) in 2022-23, highlighting the growing influence of her off-ball work.

From Carrying Threat to Sustained Production

Once the different parts of Hemp’s game had come together, the impressive part was how consistently she could reproduce them.

In 2023-24, Hemp led the league for chances created from open play (45) and chance-ending carries (24). She also ranked second for successful open-play crosses (20) and goal involvements (19).

There was a particularly strong link between her carrying and creativity that season. She registered eight assists, the most in the WSL in 2023-24, with seven of them coming following a carry. No player has ever recorded more assists following a carry in a single WSL campaign.

Her crossing has become another important part of that progression. Hemp ranked first and second in the WSL for successful open-play crosses in both 2021-22 (19) and 2023-24 (20) respectively, before leading the league outright in 2025-26 with 33.

For City, that gives them another route into the penalty area, particularly with Shaw attacking deliveries from wide areas.

The scale of Hemp’s chance creation, and well as her ability to stay fit, is now reflected in the competition’s all-time numbers. She has created 67 big chances in the WSL, more than any other player in the competition.

Last season, as Man City won their first WSL title in a decade, Hemp topped the league charts for chances created (49), chances created from open play (48), successful open-play crosses (33) and chance-ending carries (23).

A Record That Extends Beyond the WSL

Given the breadth of our data here at Opta, we can compare her record to players outside of England.

Since making her WSL debut in April 2017, she ranks first across all players in Europe’s top five leagues for chances created from open play (319), successful open-play crosses (166), assist-ending carries (25) and chance-ending carries (155).

She also ranks second for both completed dribbles (255) and take-on-ending carries (297), behind only Elena Julve (304 and 343 respectively) over the same period.

Her effort without the ball is also evident. Only Caroline Weir (225) has won possession back in the final third more often than Hemp (200) across Europe’s top five leagues since her WSL debut.

Taken together, those numbers give us a more complete picture of Hemp’s game.

She is not just creating chances. She is winning the ball back, carrying it into dangerous areas, beating opponents and creating chances.

Hemp has been doing this consistently since making her WSL debut as a teenager with Bristol City. Within the WSL, her 48 assists are already the second-most in competition history.

The split of her 100 goal involvements is a reflection of her role as a player. Neither a pure goalscorer nor a pure creator, but someone capable of providing influence in every attack.

For City, that means Hemp can start an attack, progress it, create the chance and increasingly finish it herself.

That’s why it’s so difficult to compare her with her peers. There are very few wingers, if any, who can give you all of those things at once.

Enjoy this? Add Opta Analyst as a preferred source by clicking here.

Subscribe to our football newsletter to receive exclusive weekly content. You should also follow our social accounts over on X, Instagram, TikTok and Facebook.