It has been a long build up to get to this point: Team rosters have been amended and finalized, preseason trainings and matches have been completed and fans aired their thoughts on the process to get to this week. But after the month long preseason, the first weekend of the National Women’s Soccer League is upon us. While there are going to be more than a few questions answered after this opening slate of matches about the quality of play and what type of passion the teams will bring to the table, let’s take one final look at where the teams stand and some early expectations on where they will finish.
Preseason friendlies have gone in a few different directions for the teams in the past two weeks. There have been some one-sided results, some close and enthralling contests, one NWSL vs. NWSL match and for one team, a noticeable weakness has been exposed to the competition.
The Midwest NWSL teams have been making it look easy in the past two weeks as the FC Kansas City and Chicago Red Stars tune up matches have gone as smoothly as hoped. The Blues smoked Kansas University and Nebraska University 4-0 and 8-0 respectively and hardly skipped a beat while their national team players were on international duty. The Blues have uncovered a gem of a scorer in Renae Cuellar who had six goals in those two matches, including five against Nebraska, which is quite an achievement scoring that many goals in one game. Meanwhile the Red Stars took their camp down to Texas and played matches against local college side St. Edward’s and WPSL-Elite side Houston Aces. The first match against St. Edward’s was an 8-0 walkover, with the Aces putting up quite a battle against their professional counterparts. The Red Stars were backed by a Lori Chalupny brace and won 2-1. They then came back north after their Texas tune-ups for two more matches, defeating Notre Dame 4-1 and Illinois State 5-0. Overall, Lauren Fowlkes and Jessica McDonald have been in good form during the preseason and could be the ones that come out of the gate early.
In the Northwest, things have been fairly quiet since Seattle came back from Japan. Portland played a preseason match on March 30th against the University of Portland. In front of a pro-Thorns crowd at Portland’s Merlo Field, the hosts were the ones who went in front early in the first half, backed by two second half goals from Danielle Foxhoven and a long range blast from Allie Long, the Thorns got the 2-1 result while playing that match without their internationals. Keep an eye out for a lack of cohesion between the players, because for all but a few days the entire roster has not trained together and they will be lucky if the full team gets two training sessions together before their first match.
Meanwhile for the clubs in the East, there have been some mixed results in the final two weeks of preseason matches. The Western New York Flash picked up wins in both of their home friendlies. In the Flash’s indoor facility, they defeated Ohio State University 4-0 on March 30. Adriana had a brace and Sam Kerr and Veronica Perez each had a goal. A week later, the University of North Carolina came to Sahlen’s Stadium wanting to pick up a win against a professional side after losing earlier this spring to Washington, and they got ahead on the scoreboard in the 60th minute. But despite the goal, the Flash kept on the attack and it eventually paid off as Kerr and Adriana each scored in the last 10 minutes to defeat the Tar Heels 2-1. There will be goals coming in bunches from the Flash this season as it is well known they boast some strong forwards and have a lot of depth as well.
The Boston Breakers hosted Sky Blue in a NWSL v. NWSL friendly on March 27 at Dilboy Stadium and while both teams were playing a bunch of players who were on trial, the New Jersey side won 3-2 in a back and forth battle. Fans learned one thing for sure in this friendly: Kelley O’Hara will play up front for Sky Blue this year and she already proved her worth as she collected two goals on the night. But outside of that, there wasn’t much to take from the match because both teams will look very different this weekend roster-wise.
One team that struggled this preseason however is the Washington Spirit. While they boast potentially one of the stingiest defenses in the league, the side has struggled to produce good results in the run up to the season. After defeating North Carolina 2-0 on March 30, the Spirit lost 2-0 away to Maryland and then lost 6-3 at home to University of Virginia last week. Their ambitious preseason schedule netted them two wins, two losses and a draw with scoring six but conceding eight goals, all in their last two matches. Many knew that scoring would be an issue, but going .500, while understrength with injuries and unavailability for their internationals, is not that impressive against college teams. Head Coach Mike Jorden will have some serious motivating to do before their first league match.
So now it comes time to “handicap the field” as they say, and with no previous years to go off of and all the teams relatively balanced, it is going to be tough to choose a team that I think will break away, at least early in the season. Every team potentially can beat any team on a given day, which is one of the best parts about this league. But when you look at each side individually, there are weaknesses and strengths to be found. Boston still will have goalkeeping issues while developing Cecilia Santiago, despite signing former WPS Breakers backup ‘keeper Ashley Phillips as their short term starter. Chicago and Portland need to stay healthy throughout the season but both sides have nice starting XI’s to start the season. Seattle will get some re-enforcements later in the season but can they keep themselves in the race until they arrive? Sky Blue and FC Kansas City have solid, no-frills lineups that could have an impact come the later portion of the season. Washington could be in there if they get their young strikers scoring and the Flash have a lot of strikers to keep happy but a decent but less than desired defense. And also add in the bit about the Flash going for four straight titles in four different leagues in four seasons. You could put them as a potential favorite because they know how to get the job done when it counts.
So looking at those variables, I wouldn’t be surprised to see KC and possibly either Western New York or Portland in the Championship match…thats all you’re getting right now.
Key Match of Round One:
Portland Thorns vs. FC Kansas City: Saturday 7:35pm (Local Time) Shawnee Mission District Stadium
You have to go with the opening match as the one to watch for this week. FCKC received the honor of hosting the inaugural match and fans, for the first time, will see Portland’s studded front line take the pitch. But don’t think that the local side will want to spoil the show for their fans, and with the form that they have been in this preseason, they could pull out a good result. Watch out for where Lauren Cheney will be placed in Vlatko Andonovski’s lineup and will Kristie Mewis keep her good form playing on the flank as she did with the USWNT tour of Europe? Plus, it will be interesting to see what Cindy Parlow Cone marches out as her defensive strategy to try and stop Renae Cuellar from scoring.