Ten years ago this month, the National Women’s Soccer League was born. Many hoped for, but few could have imagined, where the league would be now, at the end of the 2022 season. Standards have improved on and off the field thanks to expansion, team valuations have increased 10-fold, trophy races are as competitive as ever, and record numbers have been set for attendance, broadcast and sponsorship.
Amid all that growth, however, more serious problems remain, and unimaginable lows accompanied the highs this year. Former U.S. attorney general Sally Yates found abuse in the league to be “systemic” after a year-long investigation, and the impending release of a joint investigation between the NWSL and NWSL Players Association is expected to reveal more.
For all the good, 2022 will also be remembered as an inflection point for a league coming to grips with its demons. Here is a look at the highlights of another year of the NWSL, a league no longer being asked whether it will survive, but one that is under a more intense microscope than ever.
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Yates report exposes NWSL’s underbelly
The dichotomy of the NWSL was on full display in early October.
One day after the NWSL’s thrilling regular-season end, the report of former deputy U.S. attorney Sally Yates’ investigation into the league became public. It confirmed in grim detail the alleged actions of three former coaches in the league: Paul Riley, Rory Dames and Christy Holly. It also revealed how many people in positions of power either failed to protect players or actively enabled the monstrous actions of those former coaches.
Consequences for those actions are still to come, but 2022 will be remembered as the season where accountability started.
Girma faced stiff competition for the Rookie of the Year award from Coffey, an integral starter in Portland’s run to the title, and North Carolina Courage forward Diana Ordonez, whose 11 goals are a new rookie record.
Then there was Racing Louisville midfielders Savannah DeMelo and Jaelin Howell, who played their way into U.S. call-ups. There is Kansas City Current utility player Alex Loera, a playoff hero who thrived in midfield but who also started as one of three center-backs throughout stretches of the season. Forwards Kelsey Turnbow and Amirah Ali brought energy to the San Diego Wave’s attack, as did 17-year-old Jaedyn Shaw, who scored in each of her first three professional games.
All of these players are stars in the making, and the list of impressive rookies in 2022 runs much deeper, in part because some players (like Coffey and Loera) were drafted in 2021 but finished their college eligibility, a quirk in the system created by the COVID-19 pandemic. The circumstances created something of a double rookie class.
A few years from now, this class of first-year professionals will likely be stars of the league.
