Parity reigns so supreme in the National Women’s Soccer League that teams can switch form faster than Lo’eau LaBonta‘s very epic celebration last weekend. One moment, they look like they are struggling and the next, everyone’s laughing and feeling good.
Such is summer in the NWSL, when positions in the table change quickly amid unpredictable results and as a result, the playoff race typically remains a fun-but-murky mess.
LaBonta’s Kansas City Current is the most in-form team in the league right now with only six weeks remaining in the regular season. An 11-game unbeaten streak — which includes results against every other team in the NWSL except the Portland Thorns — has Kansas City sitting in prime position to make the playoffs just one year after a last-place finish.
The six teams in the playoff positions right now are separated by only five points, and one point below that red line sits expansion club Angel City FC, with a game in hand on the teams immediately above. Remarkably, the Orlando Pride are also hanging around in the playoff race as September approaches despite some horrendous results in the spring coinciding with new head coach Amanda Cromwell being placed on administrative leave after allegations of retaliation (an issue that remains unresolved).
Realistically, eight teams are fighting for the six postseason berths, although there remains one wild card among the bottom teams due to the NWSL’s persistent scheduling problems.
It’s the Thorns’ Shield to lose, again
The Portland Thorns’ 28 points have them level with San Diego Wave FC and the Houston Dash atop the NWSL table, but the Thorns have a vastly superior goal difference and, crucially, two games in hand on both challengers.
That goal difference is driven by their 36 goals scored, seven more than the next highest-scoring team, Houston. Sophia Smith‘s 11 goals keep her firmly in the Golden Boot race, now one off the pace of San Diego’s Alex Morgan.
Most impressive about the Thorns is the dominance and continuity they have maintained despite major changes and off-field concerns. Head coach Rhian Wilkinson filled big shoes upon Mark Parsons‘ exit and Wilkinson — a former Thorns defender and Canadian international — has her team operating with the flexibility to interchange players and systems.
Portland started the year in a 3-5-2 before shifting into more traditional four-back systems based on the opponent, and they’ve done so without missing a beat. They also did just fine without their international players (due to the CONCACAF W Championship) from late June into July, including 6-0 and 5-0 thrashings of Orlando and NJ/NY Gotham FC, respectively.
Christine Sinclair and Raquel “Rocky” Rodriguez remain fixtures in the center of the park, and the additions of Japan international Hina Sugita and rookie Sam Coffey quickly answered any questions in midfield after Lindsey Horan went on loan to Lyon and Crystal Dunn missed most of the season to give birth to her son in May. Dunn could be back on the field before season’s end, too.
If Angel City can qualify for the playoffs in year one, the team’s July 9 victory over new rivals San Diego will have been the catalyst. Emslie, in her club debut, scored the eventual game-winner two minutes after her team was reduced to 10 players, and Angel City held off San Diego’s furious search for an equalizer in front of 22,000 fans in LA to snatch three points.
Angel City has only once put together a winning streak this season, but Freya Coombe’s side has done enough to be in the playoff hunt, which is as much as any expansion team can ask for (except San Diego, apparently).
Orlando is two points behind sixth-place Chicago thanks to a seven-game unbeaten streak that started after an embarrassing 6-0 loss away to Portland. That the Pride are even in the conversation is an accomplishment given their immense roster turnover — Alex Morgan, Sydney Leroux, Ashlyn Harris and Ali Krieger were all traded over the past nine months — and coaching uncertainty.
The Pride face the Reign twice in addition to Portland, San Diego, North Carolina and Louisville to end the season. Holding this form seems unlikely, particularly against more talented teams, but last year’s title run from the Washington Spirit under then interim boss Kris Ward (who was fired on Monday amid the team’s 15-game winless streak) at least provides an example that it can be done.
Still, the Pride feel closer to the pack of Washington, NJ/NY Gotham FC and Racing Louisville, which are realistically out of the playoff picture, than they do to the playoff teams.
