By Meg Linehan, Elias Burke, Steph Yang, Emily Olsen, Melanie Anzidei and Jeff Rueter
NWSL’s final day of the 2023 regular season did not disappoint in drama or chaos — especially with all six matches kicking off at the same time. The San Diego Wave built on its impressive first season by winning the NWSL Shield in its second, thanks to a 2-0 win over Louisville. Megan Rapinoe scored a brace and helped secure a playoff spot for OL Reign. Sydney Leroux put a massive exclamation point on Angel City’s first-ever playoff berth by scoring via a bicycle kick — at the expense of the Portland Thorns, who had to settle for second place on the final day for the second year in a row.
.@SYDNEYLEROUX ARE YOU KIDDING?!?!
Leroux makes it 4-0 for @weareangelcity after an incredible bicycle kick goal. 😱 pic.twitter.com/cTEeJ7iYOv
— National Women’s Soccer League (@NWSL) October 15, 2023
Sunday ended with 17 goals, multiple goal-line clearances, a handful of VAR checks and a straight red card (for Trinity Rodman, who exited the field clearly full of emotions).
And in the end, it all leads to some tasty quarterfinal match-ups next weekend. OL Reign hosts Angel City on Friday, Oct. 20, while Gotham FC survived via a 2-2 draw to head to North Carolina to face the Courage on Sunday, Oct. 22. — Meg Linehan, senior women’s soccer writer
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Angel City win big, claw into postseason
Despite the odds seeming extremely slim when Freya Coombe was relieved of her duties as head coach in June, Angel City qualified for the playoffs with a convincing 5-1 win over NWSL champions Portland Thorns.
The primary target for one of the league’s most recognizable brands and teams was to reach the playoffs after a disappointing first season in 2022, but a dire first half of the season left interim head coach Becki Tweed with a mountain with a squad low on confidence. Recent league wins over OL Reign, KC Current and Orlando Pride left them with a chance on Decision Day, and Tweed’s side responded with their most convincing performance of the season over one of the favorites to win it all.
Among a slew of brilliant performances, the pick of the bunch on a sunny afternoon in Los Angeles was attacking full-back M.A. Vignola, who scored the opener with a brilliant finish from a tight angle and created a can’t-miss opportunity for Savannah McCaskill a couple of minutes into the second half.
Angel City is not one of the top seeds, but this performance surely ranks them among the strongest contenders for a possible first NWSL Championship. And Tweed, who is responsible for the club’s significant upturn in form, is undoubtedly among the favorites to win coach of the year. — Elias Burke, staff U.S. Soccer writer
San Diego Wave wins the NWSL shield in their second season
The Wave dominated Racing Louisville from the start in their 2-0 win; while Racing tried to poke their heads out with their transition game, the Wave defense had them mostly locked down, with the game tempo never getting too frenetic. Alex Morgan quietly took a lot onto her plate in the first half, playing provider for her teammates and lurking in Racing’s passing channels to generate several interceptions, then scoring a banger in the second half to top up the first goal scored by Jaedyn Shaw.
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Racing tried to dig back in, bringing back Jaelin Howell in the second half after a long recovery from injury, but the Wave continued to be able to penetrate the final third. they were even able to give Jaedyn Shaw a little rest, substituting her in the 64′ for Melanie Barcenas; Barcenas showed her mettle with great footwork in the box, but also gave away her nerves with some overeager physical challenges that earned her a yellow card in the 80′. It was an overall very solid performance from a team with a plan, and a deserved shield win in just their second season, entering Casey Stoney yet again into coach of the year conversation.
“This team likes pressure,” Stoney said after the game when asked about the shield win adding pressure for playoffs. “This team, I think, excels in pressure moments. So we will be the team to beat. We should be the team to beat because we just won the shield.” — Steph Yang, staff women’s soccer writer
Washington Spirit crash out
Since winning the 2021 NWSL Championship, the Washington Spirit has missed consecutive postseasons. While they improved on their second-to-last finish last year, the team went from in playoff contention prior to Decision Day to crashing out. The Spirit had a promising start, but a yellow-turned-red card for Rodman in the 22nd minute was the beginning of the end.
Three minutes after Rodman headed to the locker room in tears, North Carolina Courage went on the attack. Courage forward Kerolin opened up space to start her team’s run, making room for Manaka Matsukubo to slot a ball in for Tyler Lussi. There was a brief moment of questioning whether Matsukubo was offside, but ultimately VAR “deemed it was not a clear and obvious error.”
On Friday, Washington coach Mark Parsons said the team, with its large financial investment from owner Michele Kang, deserves a long-term vision.
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“When we reflect at the end of the year, we’re going to be reflecting and making decisions on how do we become a top team every single year,” Parsons said. “This club has not ever been that consistently. And that’s the aim of the vision when someone like Michele is investing time, managing, passion and finances to give women, female athletes and women’s soccer, what it’s never seen before. It deserves to be there and that’s the long-term vision.”
Now the Spirit has more time than expected to set up that future. — Emily Olsen, staff soccer editor
Playoff matches – What’s next?
THE STAGE IS SET. 😍
RT if your team made the playoffs! pic.twitter.com/7da3gkFZ1H
— National Women’s Soccer League (@NWSL) October 16, 2023
Gotham FC made it through the post-season by the skin of their teeth on goal differential, tying with 5th-place Angel City and 7th-place Orlando Pride at 31 points to end the regular season. The New Jersey-based team truly dominated play against a low-ranked Kansas City Current, but ultimately drew thanks to an own goal. Captain Ali Krieger had a crucial goal-line save in the first half that kept the Bats in contention. Maintaining a strong defensive end will be critical for Gotham against a strong North Carolina Courage side. The Courage, though, may be in trouble with forward Kerolin, a Golden Boot contender who may have suffered an injury in the second half of their Decision Day match against the Spirit. The back-to-back Challenge Cup winners may be at a slight advantage if Gotham is unable to clean up their defensive end ahead of this quarter-final match-up. It will surely be a must-watch game, which could be Krieger’s final game in a legendary career. — Melanie Anzidei, soccer writer
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The close matchup between the 4th and 5th seeds sees Angel City head up the coast to visit OL Reign. A Rapinoe brace took the Reign from narrowly clinging to the final playoff spot all the way up to a top-four finish, giving them home-field advantage a year after winning the regular season. Sofia Huerta was able to come back from her hamstring injury in the finale and should help give the attack another dimension while providing tidy defending, while Laura Harvey has hope that Rose Lavelle could feature in some capacity this postseason.
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Don’t let Angel City’s 5-seed status fool you: they’ve been the hottest team in the NWSL since Tweed took over as interim coach. Their 5-1 thrashing of the Thorns — with five different players scoring — shows just how dangerous this team can be in a variety of ways.
San Diego and Portland will enjoy a week off after finishing in the table’s first two positions. As the 1-seed, San Diego will host the winner of OL Reign-Angel City, while Portland awaits the winner of NC Courage-Gotham. — Jeff Rueter, staff soccer writer
(Photo: Ray Acevedo / USA Today)