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Bake a cake, throw a party and dance in the streets because this is our 100th Full Time newsletter!
We also recommend you listen to “Full Time Review,” where we recap the weekend’s NWSL action in 15 minutes or less every Monday.
NWSL Playoffs Are Here
Postseason schedule
While it wasn’t the all-out chaos of last year’s simultaneous finish on decision day, the final weekend of the NWSL regular season provided a few final sparks before the postseason. Namely: There’s life in Portland!
Parity in the league looked a little different this year. There was a clear divide between teams like the Orlando Pride, Washington Spirit, Gotham FC and Kansas City Current at the top of the table and the Houston Dash and Seattle Reign (among others) at the bottom. Still, the middle of the standings had plenty to jostle for on the final weekend, with the Portland Thorns and Bay FC earning their spots in the postseason and Racing Louisville again consigned to finishing ninth.
Here’s how the eight playoff teams will line up in next weekend’s expanded quarterfinals (reminder that top-seeded teams did not earn a bye this year):
The first-round matches will kick off Friday with the NWSL Shield winner, Orlando, hosting the No. 8 Chicago Red Stars at 8 p.m. ET on Prime Video.
The Pride have made one of the most impressive team comebacks in NWSL history, but Sunday’s match between No. 3 Gotham and No. 6 Thorns might be the game that defines this round (3 p.m. ET, ABC).
It’s a quick sprint from there, with the semifinals taking place the weekend of Nov. 16. Kansas City will host the finalists in the championship on Nov. 23. We will be at matches throughout the postseason!
Portland reaches playoffs on a high
The Thorns earned this season’s crown for best single-season turnaround by weathering their worst start in club history, changes to the front office and ownership, and saying goodbye to a legend.
After a mixed bag of results this year, Portland clawed its way into fighting position but still needed the last weekend to secure a postseason spot. The only other year the Thorns failed to finish in the top three was 2015, the one year they missed the postseason altogether.
Portland showed up when it mattered on the final weekend, led by none other than retiring all-time leading international goal scorer Christine Sinclair, who was honored ahead of the finale. The legend returned the love on Friday with the opening goal in the 3-0 win over Angel City FC.
It feels like a clear transitional moment for the Thorns. Sinclair is leaving, there is new ownership with the Bhathal Family and the team will soon search for a general manager to replace Karina LeBlanc. So how should we sum up this era of the Thorns? Steph suggests the “dynasty” label.
NWSL 2024 season by the numbers
Before we get too fixated on the race for the NWSL title, we asked Jeff Rueter to reflect on some standout numbers that tell the tale of the regular season:
- 4-for-4: Racing Louisville’s rate of finishing ninth in the standings since debuting in the 2021 season
- 20: Goals scored by Golden Boot winner Temwa Chawinga, the most by any player in a single NWSL season
- 45.8%: The league-wide tackle win rate, a 3.3% improvement over last season
- 67.8: Minutes per goal scored
- 61.5%: Chicago Red Stars forward Mallory Swanson’s rate of placing shots on target, the highest of all players who had at least 10 SOTs
- 8.29: Goals prevented by Gotham’s Ann-Katrin Berger (expected goals on target faced minus goals allowed), most in the NWSL
- 6,210: Minutes North Carolina Courage defender Kaleigh Kurtz played over the last three seasons, earning her the title of Iron Woman each year
- 8: Consecutive appearances in the playoffs for Sinclair and the Portland Thorns, most in league history
- 13: Sold-out home games for Kansas City in its first season calling CPKC Stadium home (the venue will also play host to the championship)
Meg’s Corner: Wave’s stadium debacle
The San Diego Wave was supposed to host its fan appreciation night when it hosted Racing Louisville last weekend. The team was already wrapping up a miserable season — eliminated from the playoffs, embroiled in a lawsuit from former employees and needing to start looking for a new permanent head coach.
And then, the Wave had to make the call to move the match due to the playing conditions at Snapdragon Stadium. It’s certainly not the worst thing to happen in 2024 for the Wave, but it’s not an insignificant problem, either. The playing surface is in heavy rotation in San Diego thanks to NWSL games, college football and rugby. But next year, MLS will join the party — and San Diego FC has already ensured it is above the Wave when it comes to venue control via its contract with Snapdragon.
In the end, yesterday’s game didn’t matter much, though the Wave’s 3-1 victory helped push them back up into 10th place. And Louisville didn’t get any competitive advantage from the surprise home game in the race for the final playoff spot, as Portland and Bay FC took care of business earlier in the weekend.
The new ownership in San Diego, led by the Levine Leichtman family, can now fully turn its focus to putting out organizational fires. There’s plenty of work ahead. But there’s probably no solution within their control for what happened at Snapdragon Stadium — a reminder of why the NWSL has been banging the drum for years about clubs controlling their facilities.
🎧 The latest from the “Full Time” podcast: The five expansion bids to become the NWSL’s 16th team and a game of “build your own expansion club.”
Full Time First Looks
Roll the highlights: This NWSL season had no shortage of bangers and magical moments — and last weekend was no different. Gotham FC’s Mandy Freeman scored her first NWSL goal, and it was a long-range beauty into the upper 90 against the Utah Royals. In Houston, Bay FC’s Racheal Kundananji had one of the coldest moments I’ve seen. And María Sánchez gave the Wave something to smile about with this precise free kick.
Bright future: Earlier this year, we kept tabs on the U-20 World Cup as the U.S. made a fighting run to capture third place in the tournament. Turns out it runs in the family, as the U-17 U.S. team earned a third-place finish at its World Cup with a 3-0 win over England yesterday. Angel City midfielder Kennedy Fuller opened the scoring, her fourth goal of the tournament.
Big-money deal: The Women’s Super League has agreed to a new broadcast deal with Sky Sports and BBC worth $84.3 million over the next five years. Jessy Parker Humphreys writes about what the huge deal means for players.
Milestone Message: A note on our 100th send
One hundred newsletters ago, I had just landed in New Zealand as part of The Athletic’s women’s soccer team covering the 2023 World Cup. During the tournament, we released a newsletter every day. We covered the Americans’ disastrous exit, Australia’s nation-inspiring run, one of the most competitive on-field tournaments we’ve seen and, of course, Spain’s win and everything that followed.
We’ve since come to you weekly with the latest in women’s soccer, from thrilling highlights to thoughtful analysis in Meg’s Corner and Steph’s Set Pieces. We’ve been through Gotham’s worst-to-first finish in 2023, a flood of record-breaking signings in the NWSL and a new coach who led the U.S. to a gold medal in Paris.
Whether you’ve followed us from those early mornings in New Zealand and Australia or joined us somewhere along the way, we are so thankful to have you. Here’s to the next 100!
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(Top photo: Craig Mitchelldyer / Imagn Images)
