Category: Analysis

6 Takeaways from NWSL: Week 18

Posted on by RJ Allen

Week 18 has come and gone. As we head into the final stretch of games, the mad dash for the NWSL playoffs continues in what aims to be a season for the record books. This week involved four games, three identical score lines, a team trying to stop a freefall, and a natural disaster that could have long-lasting, devastating implications moving forward.

Chicago Slows Down the Bleeding But Still Needs Stitches – Alyssa Zajac

If you are a Red Stars fan, you probably went into Saturday’s game hoping and wishing for a vital three points and a snapped losing streak. Wish granted! Chicago escaped the Spirit’s home turf with the win and their first three points since Aug. 5. And yes, I did use the word “escaped”- if Christen Press hadn’t done Christen Press things in the 87th minute after Cheyna Williams scored the equalizer in the 81st minute, the game would have ended in a draw and two points lost for Chicago. Which leads me to my take.

Chicago’s weakness is their inability to close out games.

Looking back at Chicago’s season, they have given up nine goals in the 80th minute or later of games. Out of the 24 goals Chicago has allowed, 37.5% of them came in the waning minutes of matches. Which … is not a great thing. I dove into the impact of  these goals, and this is how it broke down:

  • Houston (Daly 80’) – goal differential. Result: 2-0 Loss
  • North Carolina (Debinha 82’) – goal differential. Result: 3-2 Win
  • Seattle (Rapinoe 84’ [P]) – goal differential, one point. Result: 2-1 Loss
  • Sky Blue FC (Kerr 90’) – goal differential, two points. Result: 2-2 Draw
  • Orlando (Kennedy 93’) – goal differential, loss of clean sheet. Result: 2-1 Win
  • Seattle (Kawasumi 90’, Johnson 92’) – goal differential, three points, loss of clean sheet. Result: 1-2 Loss
  • FC Kansas City (Kelly 80’) – goal differential. Result: 1-3 Loss
  • Washington (Williams 81’) –  goal differential, loss of clean sheet. Result: 1-2 Win

Basing ‘what could have been’ results on what the scores were before the late goals were conceded, Chicago has directly given up at least six points in the last minutes of games. If the Red Stars had managed to close out these games, they would currently be at 38 points, just one point shy of first place. What also needs to be taken into consideration is goal differential. Should the final standings come to the goal differential tiebreaker, the Red Stars have made things very difficult on themselves.

There may be nothing that Chicago can do about the past, but the final four games of the season are going to be key. Losing games and conceding goals in the final minutes is no longer an option for the Red Stars, and they need to figure out how to close out games. In my eyes, it’s do or die time. I really hope they come out on the side of “do.”

An End of an Era Approaches FC Kansas City, and They May Not Be Prepared – Alyssa Zajac

Nicole Barnhart isn’t going to play forever.

Our hearts may not want it to be true, but our heads acknowledge reality. There will come a day when FC Kansas City exists without Barnhart in goal. But the team may not fully be prepared for that eventuality.

Let me explain. Throughout FCKC’s existence, Barnhart has been the go-to starting goalkeeper. However, the position of backup keeper has had a seemingly endless turnover. From Bianca Henninger in 2013,  Sara Keane and Cecilia Santiago in 2014, Katelyn Rowland in 2015, and Cat Parkhill in 2016 and 2017, there really hasn’t been a chance for a goalkeeper to extensively learn from and train with one of the best goalkeepers in the game.

In comparison, the Seattle Reign initially drafted Haley Kopmeyer in 2013, re-signed her in 2014, and had her train with and learn from Hope Solo – arguably the greatest goalkeeper to ever play the game – consistently over the next two years. When Solo took an indefinite leave of absence in 2016, Kopmeyer was well equipped and prepared to take over the starting role.

Kansas City doesn’t really have that luxury. That’s not to say Cat Parkhill isn’t capable of being the starting goalkeeper. I’m sure she could be, I’m just not sold on how well the team and defense are prepared to play without Barnhart in goal.

As the off season approaches, FCKC should be looking to potential goalkeepers to invest in – whether they be potential draftees or goalkeepers who are already in the playing pool. Just in case, because the future comes whether we’re ready for it or not.

Let’s Talk Six, Baby – Elizabeth Wawrzyniak

With a scant few weeks left in the “historic fifth season,” it’s time to start thinking about the even more historic sixth season.

I’ve been thinking all week about this, and there are a few areas I think the NWSL needs to address as it moves into the second half of their first decade.

First, stop using the word “historic.”

Okay, that one’s a joke.

First, stop hiding behind artificially inflated “maximum NWSL salary” lies. RJ Allen wrote a great piece earlier this season about how despite the fact that the minimum and maximum were raised for the 2017 season, in actuality, if one player makes the maximum, the rest can earn only slightly more than the minimum. And this is because of the NWSL team salary cap. In reality, the league needs to expand salary caps as well as their minimums because almost all non-Federation players are hovering around the poverty line unless they have some other source of income. 

Second, the bar for refs needs to be raised.  This season has seen everything from referees choosing not to intervene after flagrant, card-worthy offenses to illogical cards for imaginary fouls. The refs need to be held to a higher standard, and their interventions need to be consistent. I’m a sports-fan, so of course, I’m going to scream at my television now and then, disagreeing with a call. But this season’s PRO performance has been appalling, and the complaints and concerns being raised are far more credible than the usual armchair quarterbacking that goes on in sports. Coaches, players, and fans are all concerned not only with the quality of the game but the safety of the players on the field. 

Third, the NWSL needs to make improvements to its streaming. 2017 has been an inconsistent (and sometimes downright ridiculous) mess. The deal with Go90 was thrown together and implemented with no coherent structure or support. Go90 is clunky–both in terms of watching and navigating. I don’t know anyone who really watches via that platform, most choose to use a VPN and watch on the NWSL site itself with the international viewers. It’s only sheer laziness that’s kept me from doing the same. When watching, and especially as someone who sometimes needs to watch a particular play over and over again in order to write about it, the ability to pause, rewind, fast-forward, etc., is frequently absent. Or maybe others have figured it out and I’m just dumb–that is always a possibility.

And last, advertising. Every Go90 game has that “in commercial” screen, except the event is not taking a commercial break. But what a great opportunity to sell some ads during the non-Lifetime games. You’ve got a few designated times of known length. You’re a young league that should always be looking for steady income streams. Get out there and find some sponsors to fill that blank space. Please. Because I’m tired of hearing the chatter as the announcers forget to turn their mics off during those designated break segments. 

#1, #1, #1 – Elizabeth Wawrzyniak

Watching the games this past weekend, all I can think about is the 2018 NWSL College Draft. Who will go #1? 

Last year was a no-brainer. Rose Lavelle was going first. This year, I’m a little less confident, but I know most people think it’ll be Andi Sullivan, and I can definitely see that. Right now Boston and Washington are both falling over themselves to see who can play worse, and I’m honestly pretty sure it’ll end up being Washington in the end. They might have Mallory Pugh, but their bench is just too thin these days, with Arielle Ship’s recent ACL injury the latest in a long line of Washington’s SEIs this year. Can you imagine an Andi Sullivan-Mallory Pugh connection? 

But then, if it’s Boston, they’d be crazy not to take Sullivan. Putting her in the midfield with Lavelle–listen, I’m drooling just as much at that possibility as any other. Either way, if Sullivan is the #1, and if either Boston or Washington draft her, they’ll have made the move that could see them finding the success next year that has eluded them this season. 

Tom Sermanni Makes a Case for Coach of the Year – Luis Hernandez

The start of the season was rough for the Pride, who were at the bottom of the league standings for the first month. In fact, even though Orlando had added Marta, the team was one of the bottom three teams until Week Nine. Coach Sermanni was adjusting and reevaluating every aspect of his roster. Making position changes with Ali Krieger and Alanna Kennedy while changing up the shape of the squad, he was able to orchestrate a five-match unbeaten streak for his squad, which actually included a four-game winning streak in the month of August.

This past weekend, Sermanni shifted his tactics on the road to give his side the full three points. He subbed in Rachel Hill for Kristen Edmonds in minute 69 and then just ten minutes later inserted Toni Pressley for Chioma Ubogagu. Of course, the players on the pitch have to execute, and Alex Morgan put away Marta’s service from a free kick which went through Nicole Barnhart’s hands. There is a lot to expect from Orlando with the talent on the roster, but Sermanni has kept the team loose and had had his adjustments work out. He could certainly see himself picking up coach of the year as well.

Houston (and All Areas Affected by Harvey) You’re in Our Thoughts – Luis Hernandez

Sometimes, there are things bigger than soccer. Friday the league announced the postponement of the Houston Dash match against the North Carolina Courage, just before Hurricane Harvey began its reign over Texas which caused catastrophic and life-threatening flooding. Our thoughts are with those people affected by Hurricane Harvey. The impact of this storm will be felt for a long time to come.

3 Things Sky Blue Needs to Address Before the End of the Season

Posted on by RJ Allen

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The door has not shut on Sky Blue making the playoffs in 2017. Even with 41 goals given up, the historic season Sam Kerr has put together has kept Sky Blue in the picture far longer than some predicted.

While it is not totally under their control–they would have to make up 4 points as they own neither the tiebreaker with Chicago or Orlando who both sit ahead of them–there are some factors they can control.

With both Christy Holly and Christie Pearce gone for this year the team here are three things Sky Blue needs to do if they want to not only make the playoffs but have a chance at winning a title.

Find an Identity

Figuring out who they are as a team is something Sky Blue must do if they want to find a way into the playoffs.

Are they the underdog? Are they the team that always comes up a dollar short and a minute late? Are they overachieving? Underachieving? Are they peaking at the right time? 

Depending on who you are, or who you ask, you might ask any of these questions, and get any number of answers.

Even with the awe inspiring season that Sky Blue has had, they have never really had a coherent identity other than “Sam Kerr is magic and will fix everything.” And while yes, Sam Kerr is 100% magic, that isn’t really an identity that a team can rally around.

Building a stronger defense and being the team that will stifle you like a North Carolina, who has given up only 14 goals all season, is an identity. If Sky Blue can find a solid identity it can go a long way toward them being able to build on their past success. 

 

Find Some Midfield Personality

The Sky Blue midfield is the white bread of the NWSL. Unoffensive but lacking a depth that you only realize you’ve been craving when you see midfields with more zest.

Raquel Rodriguez has been forced to give up her better position in the attack to play farther and farther back, plugging up this season’s defensive holes. Not only does it render her best qualities mute but she has struggled at times to be able to battle with more experienced players in this new role.

Sky Blue would do well to push Rodriguez higher into the attack so her natural nose for goal and playmaking skills can be work to their advantage in the forefront of the attack. She can be one of the truly great playmakers in the league if allowed to shed some of the defensive duties and moved into a more attacking role more often.

Corboz, Stanton, and Galton all have some flair built into their games, though they each have very different styles, but what they often lack are other players on the field with them who are on the same page at the same time. Sky Blue has frequently had to rely upon moving the ball up the field from the back, over the midfield to the feet of Sam Kerr. While this has worked for them so far, it becomes the type of predictable play that allows teams like Orlando to beat them 5-0, easily countering Kerr’s attack.

If Sky Blue can find a way to get the whole midfield not only on the same page but working in tandem, they have a shot at controlling more games and helping the forwards get better chances overall. We’ve seen what they can do when the midfield clicks, it’s a matter of having it click more often. 

 

Find Some Veteran Presence

Without Christie Pearce no longer active with the club it falls to the more senior players on the team to lead. Sky Blue does have a host of players who have spent four or five years with the club. Taylor Lytle has been at Sky Blue since 2013, Maya Hayes and Nikki Stanton have been there since 2014.

This core of players, along with newly minted dual captains Kelley O’Hara and Sam Kerr, is tasked with leading a team that has previously only ever known one player to take the title of Captain in the NWSL era. A team that features only three players not born in the 90s on the active roster and only eight players 24 or older.

It’s a tall order to expect relative rookies to step up, and taller still for the current leadership pairing to have to take the reins this late in the season, and with little prior experience at captaining a team, but if Sky Blue wants to find themselves in the post-season, they’re all going to need to out-perform themselves. The balancing of guiding the team while handling their own duties on the field is going to be a test as they head into the last handful of games of the season.

Route Two Soccer – Handicapping the Playoff Run-in

Posted on by RJ Allen

The NWSL season is entering its squeaky-bum period, with five weeks to go and very little settled. North Carolina are as close to a lock as you can get at this point, with a five point lead over second place and a game in hand (against last place Washington) to boot. But outside of the Courage, the table is full of questions.

So let’s take a run through the teams still in the playoff hunt, and assess their chances for making the postseason.

Portland Thorns (34 points, GD +9)

  • Seattle Reign (away)
  • Washington Spirit (home)
  • Boston Breakers (away)
  • Orlando Pride (away)
  • Chicago Red Stars (home)

Portland have finally hit a decent vein of form. It’s taken a lot longer than expected, and their recent loss against Kansas City shows that there are still some gaps here. But the Thorns of late have looked much closer to the dominant possession-based team that we all expected. This team has a lot of attacking talent but has struggled to get everyone working together. In recent weeks Sinclair has been the fulcrum around which everyone has moved, and things have looked much better. It still remains to be seen if those improvements can be preserved as the squad returns to full strength.

With a seven point cushion on fifth place, they are close to a lock to make the playoffs. The real question is whether they can hold off Orlando and Chicago to secure a home match in the semifinals. And there’s still an outside chance that they could catch North Carolina for first place. But realistically, the final month is more about settling in for the playoffs than anything else.

Chicago Red Stars (29 points, GD +2)

  • Washington Spirit (away)
  • NC Courage (home)
  • FCKC (away)
  • Houston Dash (away)
  • Portland Thorns (away)

It seems like just a few weeks ago that Chicago were riding high—even briefly sneaking into first place. The offense was starting to click and the defense was solid. Since then, coach Rory Dames has tinkered a bit and found absolutely nothing working. The past three weeks have seen them lose three consecutive home matches, looking worse and worse each game. Some of it has been injuries. Despite a generally great bill of health on the season, they’ve picked up a few nagging injuries recently and have had trouble sorting things out. But ultimately, the Red Stars’ recent struggles are a bit part to sort out.

The talent is obviously still here, and you probably wouldn’t go wrong expecting some mean reversion. But the slide has been worrisome, turning what looked to be an easy playoff coronation into a genuine fight. They’re now tied with surging Orlando, only two points ahead of Seattle. With four away games out of their five remaining fixtures, Chicago is in a precarious position, and will need some good results soon to right the ship. They’re not yet in crisis, but anything less than three points this weekend against Washington and things really will start to get dangerous.

Tiebreakers: Chicago would win a tiebreaker against Orlando (which is why they’re currently in 3rd despite equal points and a worse goal difference) and Sky Blue, but would lose against Seattle.

Orlando Pride (29 points, GD +10)

  • FCKC (away)
  • Boston Breakers (home)
  • Seattle Reign (home)
  • Portland Thorns (home)
  • NC Courage (away)

It took them awhile, but Orlando have finally hit their stride, scoring 10 goals in their past three games while only conceding one, on their way to a fairly easy nine points. The return of Alex Morgan has been everything that Pride fans hoped it would be. She’s provided that clinical finishing and intelligent movement that was so missing in the early season, and given Marta more freedom to play a flexible role. Orlando still doesn’t really have much of a midfield, but coach Tom Sermanni has done an excellent job of finding ways around that problem. It also helps that a number of players have excelled in new roles this season. The ability to move players like Kennedy, Edmonds, and Camila in and out of the midfield has given Sermanni a great deal of tactical flexibility—allowing him to structure the team to best facilitate his world-class attackers given what opponent and game situation demand.

At this point, the big question is whether Orlando’s form is the new normal, or if this is just high tide from which things will inevitably recede a bit. The way the Pride have been playing, it’s getting harder to see them not taking a playoff spot, but there are still some reasons for caution. They have looked great, certainly, but these three big performances came against Washington, Sky Blue, and Boston—three of the weakest teams in the league. And we’re still not that far removed from them getting comprehensively outplayed by Chicago last month.

The Pride have two more ‘easy’ games coming up—though anyone who’s watched KC recently might question that designation, before they close out the year with matches against playoff contenders. If they can earn four or six points from these next two weekends, that will put them in good position. But if they slip up against KC or Boston, they could very easily find that final playoff spot slipping just out of their grasp.

Tiebreakers: Orland would win a tiebreaker against Sky Blue and lose against Chicago. They’re currently tied with Seattle, so that game will be even more important than it would normally – a ‘seven pointer’ rather than a ‘six pointer.’

Seattle Reign (27 points, GD +6)

  • Portland Thorns (home)
  • Houston Dash (away)
  • Orlando Pride (away)
  • FCKC (home)
  • Washington Spirit (away)

Oh, Seattle. You could be 3rd in the table right now, in poll position to reach the playoffs. But you fell victim to one of the classic blunders: never go in against Sam Kerr when death is on the line. So instead you’re in fifth place, needing to make up some ground, with time running out and Megan Rapinoe still unavailable.

Still, things aren’t all grim for Seattle. Even without Rapinoe, they’ve been playing well, with the players settling into the team’s new rhythm—lots of movement, lots of dangerous runs, and one intense Welsh dragon keeping it all together in the middle. Beyond that, they have a reasonably friendly run-in. This weekend’s match against Portland will be tough, certainly, but after that they’ve got some slightly less threatening matches. And while they do need to play Orlando, that is also a huge opportunity to take points from one of their main competitors. That game is actually even more important than it seems, because Seattle and Orlando are currently tied in head-to-head, which means if Seattle can win it will effectively a ‘seven pointer’ rather than just a ‘six pointer,’ since it will give them the points as well as the advantage in the tiebreaker. All of which means Seattle’s season is still very much in their own hands. It’s just a matter of executing. And staying away from any Australians.

Tiebreakers: Seattle would win a tiebreaker against Chicago. They’re tied in head to head against Sky Blue, so it would revert to goal difference, where Seattle is way ahead. The tiebreaker with Orlando is still up in the air.

Sky Blue (26 points, GD -7)

  • Boston Breakers (home)
  • FCKC (away)
  • Washington Spirit (home)
  • NC Courage (home)
  • Boston Breakers (away)

Halfway through their match on Saturday night, Sky Blue’s season was effectively over. Then, they executed an astonishing comeback to earn the three points and resuscitate their chances. It’s still a difficult lift, given their defensive frailty and other issues. I wrote about Sky Blue at length last week so won’t belabor the point much here. This team really has no business making the playoffs, but they’re only three points out, and you would have to be nuts to bet against Sam Kerr right now. Beyond that, they have (by a pretty big margin) the easiest run-in of the teams in the playoff hunt, with three home matches, two games against Boston, another against Washington, and one against KC. There are no gimme games in this league, and all of those teams could easily beat Sky Blue. But the opportunity is there, if they can hold it together and seize it.

Tiebreakers: Sky Blue would lose the tiebreaker against all the teams. Technically they’re tied with Seattle in head-to-head games, but there’s no chance of them recovering from the gap in goal difference.

Still alive with a hope and a prayer: FCKC and Houston

FC Kansas City and Houston are both sitting on 23 points, which puts them six points out of a playoff spot. With only 15 points left on the table, it’s very hard to see either doing enough to make up that difference (and leapfrog) all the teams in between. But it’s not entirely out of the realm of possibility. KC, in particular, seems to have finally settled in a bit (three straight wins, including results over Portland and Chicago), and their run-in is basically all against the other teams in the playoff hunt—and four of those games are at home, too. Pick up 12 points from those games and they really could make it.

I certainly wouldn’t be on it, but there’s plenty of quality in both of these teams. So it’s certainly worth keeping an eye on them.

Predicting the final table

With everything so close, it’s hard to draw clear distinctions. But for the sake of argument, I’ll make a guess. Accounting for quality, form, and schedule, I see the final results shaking out as follows:

  1. North Carolina
  2. Portland
  3. Orlando
  4. Chicago
  5. Sky Blue
  6. Seattle
  7. FCKC
  8. Houston
  9. Boston
  10. Washington

Agree? Disagree? Let us know your predicted final table in the comments.

6 Takeaways from NWSL: Week 17

Posted on by RJ Allen

It’s not even December, but it still felt like Christmas as the National Women’s Soccer League Week 17 came to an end. As soccer fans, we have been treated to some fantastic matches so far. The word historic has been tossed around to describe this season, and honestly, that’s almost an understatement. As most teams have only a handful of games left for the 2017 season and the playoff race continues to heat up, we outline some of the takeaways for the week which saw eight matches played.

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Orlando Needs to Make Turnovers Count – Luis Hernandez

This past weekend the Orlando Pride traveled to Jordan Field, and took all three points from the Boston Breakers. The performance was marred by a late foul in the box by Jamia Fields leading to the penalty kick which allowed Amanda Da Costa–retiring from professional soccer after the match–to pull one back for the Breakers for a final score of 2-1. Once Head Coach Tom Sermanni views the tape of the match, he should note that the Pride caused Boston to turn the ball over multiple times, but Sermanni’s side could not make the Breakers pay for those takeaways.

As potent as the Pride attack was prior to the match against Boston, the score line should have been worse from this past weekend. The top teams in the league force their opponents into turning the ball over and punish them by scoring. Case in point, the Chicago Red Stars have faced Orlando several times this season, and had been able to quickly pounce on the Pride to score once an Orlando player made a mistake. For the Pride to continue their push to the playoffs, the team will have to convert the mistakes into goals like Camila did versus Sky Blue when Kailen Sheridan misplayed a ball in their most recent meeting. As Orlando goes into Kansas City to face the Blues, both teams riding a three match winning streak, the team who takes advantage of the other errors will be the one to come out on top.

 

Roster Freeze Date Around the Corner – Luis Hernandez

As we have been focused on the action on the pitch and the excitement of the playoff race, everyone was quickly reminded by this Washington Spirit tweet that there was more going on behind the scenes.

Prior to the match, it was announced Kristie Mewis was not going to play for Washington due to an at the time pending trade. This wheeling and dealing is a good thing because it speaks to the level of competition in the league; as well as the pressure of the playoff push for teams to find any way to improve before the roster freeze date. This is what makes the offseason exciting, and during the season causes the fan base to buzz. The only negative on moves like this is the roster limit forces a team like Chicago, who carried a full roster, to cut a player like Morgan Proffitt who needed more time to develop since she wasn’t getting minutes on match day.

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Washington’s Starting Backline Could Be a Temporary Fix to a Major Problem – Jordan Small

Just when things seemed like they couldn’t get any worse for the Washington Spirit, they left North Carolina with zero points, a defender who has a possible illness and two more who have possible injuries from the match. While a team like Sky Blue has all the luck in the world right now, the Spirit definitely do not have any remaining. Despite all of that, the Spirit finally put together a backline that could possibly hold its own for the rest of the season.

With Whitney Church out with an injury sustained in practice this week, head coach Jim Gabarra was forced to put Kassey Kallman in alongside Shelina Zadorsky. Along with Caprice Dydasco and Estelle Johnson on the outside, the backline of Washington seemed to be doing a lot better. Against a very quick front line for North Carolina, Washington held their own in the first half. If Kallman does not have an injury from the own goal against the Courage and Johnson is able to recover from illness, the Spirit’s backline will see a major improvement going forward. The only question is: will Gabarra put Church back in the lineup once she is healthy again?

 

Zerboni Joins the 100 Appearance Club – Jordan Small

When talking about the North Carolina Courage midfield, Sam Mewis is usually the first name to come up. One of the players that does not get as much credit as she is due is McCall Zerboni. On Saturday, Zerboni became the fourth NWSL player to reach 100 appearances in the league. Whether it was in Portland, Western New York or North Carolina, Zerboni has always been a stud in the midfield. The tough nosed midfielder has an incredible soccer IQ that has really helped her team’s midfield. This season she has taken a leadership presence both on and off the field that has helped the rookies really grow. Courage head coach Paul Riley said after the game that she isn’t too old to make the national team. While Zerboni’s talent in the midfield could be a nice addition, it’s hard to see Jill Ellis calling up a 30-year-old into camp, especially with a major competition still two years away.

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An Elegy for Sky Blue – Elizabeth Wawrzyniak

We’ve all heard by now–Christy Holly is out as Sky Blue’s head coach and Christie Pearce is out for the rest of the season (and presumably has ended her career) with “accumulative injuries.”

In the end, we don’t know why Holly is gone. Whatever happened behind the scenes hasn’t been made public. In the end, doesn’t really matter since it’s done. He’s gone.

But what does matter is how the fuck Sky Blue is going to have any chance at the post-season now. Sure, they have Sam Kerr. But Sam Kerr cannot continue to drag this team kicking and screaming across the goal line each week. She is good, yes. No, she is great. But she is not yet consistent in a way that can guarantee Sky Blue’s continued success. 

Not only can they not rely on Kerr to win every game for them, but Sky Blue now has a leadership problem because the two guiding forces on the team are gone. Christy Holly and Christie Pearce, between the two of them, formed this team, molded it, and created the burgeoning positive culture that it had become over the past two seasons–a far cry from its initial “poor little sister” status of the league. The leadership on a backline that was already in dire need of support is gone.

As much as I can hope for SBFC to make that final miracle run to the playoffs, I don’t think it’s going to happen. And so I’m already thinking about next season and what the team needs to even have a chance. As always, it’s the backline that has me most concerned. First off, they need an experienced center back. Mandy Freeman, when paired with Pearce, has been doing okay, but she needs help. Second, I love me some Kayla Mills but she either needs to figure out how to defend or she needs to take her seat on the bench. Plus, she needs to stop looking like she’s ready to pass out in the last, crucial, ten minutes of the game. And, for real, either they need to play O’Hara as a winger or force her to stay in her defensive position because fast as she is, she has made some brutal, game-ending mistakes this past season tracking back.

Right now, they have four picks in the 2018 draft. They’re going to need to use them wisely. And they’re going to need to do some negotiating because this team can’t survive on Kerr’s nose for goal, O’Hara’s drive to win, and youthful energy alone. They need to explore some trade options and expand the depth of their bench.

I hate to admit it, but they need to start thinking like Washington now, and making next year their priority.

(Come on, Sky Blue, prove me wrong. Please?)

 

Sam Kerr – Elizabeth Wawrzyniak

Just. 

Sam Kerr. 

Edub is still recovering from that game. She practically had a heart attack that second-half. 

The Unknown International: Abby Erceg

Posted on by RJ Allen
Kelley Piper

While the NWSL is the American soccer league, many of its best players come from all around the world. This series looks at some of those players who have come from outside of the U.S. and looks at their style of play and how they have featured for their club and country.

This article will look at North Carolina Courage and New Zealand defender Abby Erceg.

Who Is She?

Abby Erceg is a central defender who plays for the North Carolina Courage. She is the former captain of the New Zealand national team, having retired from international football earlier this year as a form of protest, claiming that the national federation undervalues New Zealand’s women’s team. She is an experienced professional, playing for the Football Ferns since 2006. Odds are you have heard her name–after all, she captained the NWSL champions last season and has been in the league for about three years. While I recognize that Erceg is not an unknown player, this article will seek to highlight the details of her career that fans may be less familiar with.

The Football Ferns

Erceg made her debut with the New Zealand National Team in 2006, in a match against China. In her 11 year career with the Ferns, she competed in two Olympics and three World Cups. Her 130 appearances are the most of any New Zealand National Team player, male or female. Early in her career, she played a record 37 consecutive matches for her national team, setting her on the path towards a record-breaking career. Beyond her skill with the ball, she is also a consistently strong and vocal leader that helps lHer decision to retire came from disagreements with the New Zealand Football Federation, which Erceg claims did not value and support the women’s side.  Specifically, Erceg took issue with the fact that the federation decided to reduce funding to the women’s side after they failed to make it past the group stage at the 2016 Olympics. She said in a post on Instagram that one of her main goals with the Ferns was to create a livable working environment and that New Zealand had shown a lack of willingness to make that goal a reality. Many in the football community deemed her a “legend” in New Zealand football and credited her with being a massive contributor to the growth of the women’s game. She served as their captain starting in 2014 and played her final matches with the team at the Cyprus Cup earlier this year. 

North Carolina Courage

Erceg got her first taste of the NWSL in 2014 when she was loaned out to the Chicago Red Stars by Jena, her team in the Frauen-Bundesliga. She signed with the Chicago after leaving Jena in May 2014 but was then traded to the Western New York Flash in 2015. Last season, she made 18 starts in 19 total appearances and captained the Western New York Flash to an NWSL Championship. During the offseason, the Western New York Flash were rebranded as the North Carolina Courage, and Erceg became captain of the new team in Cary. She has made 15 starts in 15 appearances so far this season. She is often credited as being the anchor of the Courage defense.  Erceg mainly plays alongside Abby Dahlkemper, who has received a few call-ups by the U.S Women’s National Team after drawing some attention during the Flash’s run to the NWSL Championship.  They have become one of the best center back tandems in the league, and their strength has helped lead to North Carolina’s 10 shutouts in 18 matches this season.  To say that Erceg plays a critical role on her club team is putting it lightly–and considering they are in first place in the NWSL, I’d say she’s doing a pretty good job. Erceg rarely misses a chance to make an impact for her club and will do whatever it takes to help get her team back to the NWSL Championship.

Route Two Soccer – What Went Wrong with Sky Blue?

Posted on by RJ Allen

[media-credit name=”Kelley Piper” align=”alignnone” width=”300″][/media-credit]

It’s been a strange season for Sky Blue FC. They got off to a strong start, and spent most of the first half looking like serious playoff challengers. That came as a surprise to those who had judged them too young, too inexperienced, and too raw to make a serious push this year. And some of us continued to hold to that position well into the season. In mid-June, for example, I wrote a buy/sell/hold column and recommending selling on Sky Blue.

Immediately after that column, Sam Kerr went full superhero and the team reeled off a run of very impressive results. And while there were still obvious flaws in the squad, it wasn’t hard to see them doing enough to compensate for those problems. There was even a clear analogue between the Sky Blue of 2017 and the Western New York Flash of 2016—who also looked to be a few pieces away from the full puzzle but were able to hang onto the 4th playoff spot anyways.

But starting in the middle of July, the wheels started to come off, and the team is now in full crisis mode, having conceded 14 goals in their past three games (by comparison, North Carolina have conceded 14 goals over the whole season). Now, with the news dropping on Wednesday afternoon that head coach Christy Holly is stepping down from the job, it might be a useful time to reflect on how things got so bad.

However, before we get into the thick of it, it’s worth noting that Sky Blue are not out of the playoff race. It’s possible that was part of the motivation for Holly to make this move right now. Whether the fault rested with him (arguable, but by no means obvious), sometimes a change at the top can be useful to reset the system. And as long as they have Kerr terrorizing opposing defenses, there’s a shot. So it will certainly be interesting to watch the end of the season. They’re unlikely to fix everything that’s ailing them, but even some modest improvements might be enough. There are three key areas of concern.

Goalkeeping: Sheridan has been great, but needs a break

Kailen Sheridan has put together an extremely impressive rookie campaign. Confident, athletic, and decisive – she was one of the best keepers in the league through most of the season. But things have taken a turn for the worse, starting with the epic 5-4 match against Seattle. Sheridan took a number of hits that game and collapsed on the field at the final whistle. And the injuries have only continued to pile up. While she hasn’t missed any minutes, her range of motion is clearly suffering, and she has looked far more tentative over the past few games.

The best long-term approach would be to sit the young keeper for a few weeks to let her build back to 100%. It’s understandable that both Sheridan and the team are resistant – and it’s certainly possible that even at 70% Sheridan is the best option. But it’s far from an ideal situation.

Defense: Age, inexperience, and injuries

The defensive line is clearly the heart of the problem, and it was clearly a foreseeable problem as well. Their first choice back five at the start of the season featured four players 22-or-under and one player over 40. But it was hard to anticipate things collapsing quite this completely.

Relatively early in the season, Kelley O’Hara was brought back into the backline, which did make a huge difference. So her recent absence to injury has been a big loss. Without her movement and attacking quality in that fluid right wingback/fullback hybrid role, they’ve been far easier to pin back and much less stable.

Meanwhile, the other veteran on the backline has held off the march of time far longer than anyone could ever have expected. But time eventually defeats us all. And sadly, 2017 seems to be the year that age finally began to catch up with Christie Pearce. She started the season strong, playing as well in the first few months as we’ve seen from her in a long time. But since then, things have started to slip. The pace is still good, but it’s not quite as explosive. Her tackling is less precise. And while you’d be hard pressed to find a player with higher soccer intelligence, Pearce has finally started to look like a player whose body no longer is able to do what her brain needs it to do.

The youth movement has also hit some speed bumps. Sky Blue were lauded for their excellent draft—particularly for getting the duo of Mandy Freeman and Kayla Mills—and early in the season there were some positive returns. Freeman missed six weeks with injury, and even when healthy has suffered from all the expected problems that come with youth. The talent is clearly there, and she will be a rock in their defense for a long time, but she has not been the reliable presence that they’ve needed. Mills has almost limitless potential, but so far has been unable to translate that talent into consistent match performances. They’ve gotten some solid performances from Erica Skroski, but even she has been less dependable than she was last year—perhaps due to constantly being slotted into new positions with new obligations as much as anything else.

It should come as no surprise that young players would stumble, or that they would fade as the season progressed. The professional game is tougher and longer than their other experiences. It would have been surprising if they hadn’t faded a bit. That’s simply one of the dangers of building on youth. And all things considered, blooding young players, and hoping that they might be able to get you through the season probably wasn’t a terrible gamble. If they manage it, you hit the peak of your success cycle earlier than expected. If not … well, this wasn’t supposed to be a playoff team anyways. But with more experience, they might be ready to truly compete by 2018.

And that’s still a possibility. But it’s hard to look at the past few weeks and see a team building toward the future. With makeshift defenders filling in and struggling mightily to cope with expectations, Sky Blue has looked much more like a team on a downward slope than the reverse.

20/20 is perfect, of course, but it’s hard to look at the team right now and not think that they missed a chance to pick up a veteran defender at some point who could help plug some of these gaps. As it is, they’ve got the group that they’ve got. And it’s an open question whether they’ll be able to sort things out enough to at least close down the spigot of goals.

Midfield: Not enough ball-winning, not enough creativity

Team defensive breakdowns are rarely just the fault of the defense. And that’s certainly the case with Sky Blue this year. While the midfield unit is reasonably solid on paper, at times they’ve looked to be a bit less than the sum of their parts.

Look at the roster and you’ll see creative players, players with pace, players who can dribble, players who can shoot. But they’ve had a very difficult time finding an appropriate balance. And a lot of that has to do with the pairing in the middle: Sarah Killion and Raquel Rodriguez. When they’re both clicking, that can be a very successful combination. They’re similar players—all-around talents who can do a defensive job, hold possession, and make attacking runs. But when things aren’t working, it can break down pretty badly. They both tend to play narrow, and neither has the sort of defensive solidity that you’d want from a lock-down holding midfielder. As a result, Sky Blue haven’t really been able to close down the opposition in the midfield with a good ball-winner, nor have they been able to consistently hold possession once they do get the ball.

Combine those two with a rotating cast of often-good-but-inconsistent players like Nikki Stanton, Daphne Corboz, Taylor Lytle, and Madison Tiernan and the result is precisely what you’d expect: a team that can beat anyone on their day but that struggles to maintain much coherence from week to week.

There is a lot of talent here, and during the first part of the season, the mixing-and-matching worked out well enough. But one of the major themes of the past month has been the consistent breakdown of the midfield. Players have rotated in and out and there hasn’t been much coherence in the process.  Despite the presence of some players with a lot of creative potential (Corboz in particular), they simply haven’t been able to build the structure necessary to let that creativity flourish.

Who is to blame? And where do they go from here?

Under conditions like these, you certainly want to put some of the blame on the coach—whose job it is to develop a system into which players can fit without needing to reinvent the wheel each game. And whose responsibility it was to build a roster that could last over the long haul.

But it’s also important to remember the baseline that this team was working from: “young, developing, probably not ready yet.” So it’s important not to overstate the problems here.

Sky Blue overachieved at the start of the season, and that may have created some rising expectations. But all things considered, they’re right about where they ‘should’ be at the moment. Considering the serious injuries they’ve sustained, I would still rate their performance over the whole season as a modest coaching success.

It’s possible that Holly felt like he had taken the team as far as they could go under him, and he wanted to give them a chance to make the final playoff push with someone else. Perhaps the recent problems generated tension that made his position unsustainable. Perhaps there are other reasons that have little or nothing to do with the performance on the pitch.

But whatever the motivations for the change this week, taking a broad perspective and thinking about his full tenure on the job, there is plenty for Holly to be proud of. Whether or not Sky Blue is able to arrest their decline and make the playoffs this year, they are on far more stable ground than they were when he took on the job.

Unsung Hero of the Week: Hip-Hip Horan Leads Portland

Posted on by RJ Allen
Kelley Piper

In this weekly series, I will be highlighting a player from the weekend who was their respective team’s unsung hero, win, lose or draw. A player who does the dirty work, does the little but important things in a game and someone who didn’t exactly fill up the stat sheet but found other ways to contribute.

This week I’ve chosen Portland Thorns midfielder Lindsey Horan.

The Colorado Native may only be 23-years-old, but she already has plenty of experience having played four years with the French giant Paris Saint-Germain from 2012-2015. She was certainly a force in her time overseas, scoring 46 goals in 58 appearances. Horan really developed further as a technical player and one who is gifted with a strong passing ability. She has also earned time on the U.S. National Team, becoming a regular now and already has 37 appearances and three goals.

Both teams had quite the star power and her current club team is no different, spoiled with Christine Sinclair (CAN), Tobin Heath (USA), Amandine Henry (FRA) and Nadia Nadim (DEN, each who are successful veterans of their respective National teams. Horan has fit in well in Portland, appearing in 33 games over her two years and contributing nine goals.

Portland 3-2 Chicago:

This was an intriguing matchup for several reasons; the pure star power each team has on paper, two of the best defenses in the NWSL and two clubs who are poised to likely meet in the playoffs in less than two months. Prior to this game, Portland had only scored five goals on the road all season long but they almost matched that total at Toyota Park in front of 4,934 people.

Despite missing a handful of key players the last few weeks due to the European Championships, the Portland Thorns came into this game riding a three-game win streak. They set the tone early, with Horan leading the way and Aussie Hayley Raso as her speedy sidekick. Both were getting involved in the attack early and it paid off to stun a Chicago club and honestly, I wasn’t expecting that fast of a start by the Thorns.

In the third minute (told you it was early!) Horan found herself not being pressured at all and had time to look up and pick who she wanted to give the ball to. The Chicago backline somehow let Sinclair and Raso in behind and with a blink of an eye and lovely 30-yard pass from inside her own half, the Thorns were in business. Raso caught up to Horan’s pass and two touches later found the back of the net, despite a valiant effort from Chicago keeper Alyssa Naeher.

Like I mention earlier, Horan has become known for her passing and it was on full display. I think it’s the most valuable part of her game, to be able to make those gorgeous passes not only to switch field or spring an attack but in tight spaces as well. This Portland team has many technical players but Horan was the one who stood out the most on this day.

Just a few minutes later, Horan tapped into another a part of her game, one that I have not paid much attention to until lately, her ability to dispossess threats. Last week she did a fantastic job keeping tabs on Houston’s midfield and more importantly worked well to minimize the threat known as Carli Lloyd. This particular play versus Chicago was impressive again because of the opponent–Christen Press, a player with 33 goals across her NWSL career, the second-most in league history. Horan took the ball so effortlessly from Press at midfield, another thing we don’t see, Press actually losing possession.

In the eighth minute, Horan put herself into position to receive a ball and then earned a corner against her fellow National Team teammate, Casey Short. Horan made the extra effort to make the run to drive 20 yards to the end line, giving her team yet another strong play.

The first 10 minutes Horan was everywhere, working a double-team on defense, spraying passes out wide or over the top, earning corners and helping keep possession for a lengthy amount of time. The energy she brought not only created chances on goal but momentum as well. Throughout the first half she also was making several aerial challenges, getting in the passing lanes to disrupt Chicago, just had a really calming presence overall.

Portland added another in the ninth minute, and then Chicago scored a goal in the 15th thanks to Press and again in the 38th minute to equalize before the half, and to make for a wide-open game once the players returned to the field.

Horan was back at it again in the 48th minute, this time executing another part of her game that I’m sure opposing fans don’t care for: the keen ability to draw fouls. It brings me to my next point, Horan is so good at keeping the ball close to her, she’s really mastered that control and it shows just how much work she has put in over the years and continues to do so with Portland. In doing, opponents often do foul her, hacking at her shins or getting in a hip check every now and then. Doesn’t matter, the concentration Horan displays with the ball sure is fun to watch.

That’s become part of her craft, putting herself in positions to draw a foul. At times, it’s so hard for defenders to get the ball, that giving a foul is the last resort and the easy way to try to break up her rhythm. On the flip side of that, Horan is also a player who loves to tackle and go after the ball, and has no problem contesting for it.

Portland would get the eventual game-winner in the 55th minute by way of defender Emily Sonnett, who has recently caught fire as well.

In the 66th minute Horan got a shot off on her own and while it went a few feet wide, I have no problem with her taking a chance from distance. Even if the shot wasn’t quite on frame, getting the keeper on their toes is important and you never know when you might sneak one by. Ten minutes later and Horan showed her skill while juggling to keep the ball while at the same time create space to get away from a defender. She maintained control and volleyed it to a teammate, not letting the pressure distract her. She had a player in her back pocket and could’ve easily cleared it upfield but instead, Horan made the quick decision and kept possession for the Thorns.

While it may not seem like a big deal or one with minimal significance, this game was completely unpredictable, each team scoring goals very fast and in lovely fashion. So, to make that kind of smart play that deep into the game to me showed that Horan was still focused and making sure she didn’t make a mistake that would cost her team.

In a game where Portland was missing Allie Long due to an excused absence, continued to play with out the injured Tobin Heath, and with Amandine Henry and Dagny Brynjarsdottir not quite having their usual impact, Horan stepped up in all the right ways. These three points were vital in the Thorns’ quest to secure to the first trophy of this season’s two trophies, the Supporters Shield, and an important confidence booster as they set their sights on the Championship game itself.

With the loss, Chicago drops to third place while Portland leapfrog them into the second spot. With seven games left in the regular season, the race for the playoffs is on and Portland seems to be heating up at just the right time.

6 Takeaways from NWSL: Week 16

Posted on by RJ Allen

Welcome to Week 16, where the table is starting to clarify, with three teams looking solid at the top and the middle of the pack in a desperate fight for that final spot. Where Portland continues to dominate Chicago on the road and the Orlando Pride have made a real case for their inclusion in this year’s postseason. Where injuries continue to plague the players, new and old. 

Read all about it in our takeaways this week!

Sonnett Leaves Past Behind, Makes an Impact for Portland – Alyssa Zajac

I’ll be the first to admit, Emily Sonnett has had some up-and-down moments this year for the Portland Thorns after a stellar first season as the No. 1 draft pick. I personally still cringe thinking about that one Rapinoe goal. Yikes.

However, Sonnett seems to have left the rough start to the season behind, as she has helped lift the Thorns into second place in the NWSL standings with two goals in two games–including the game-winner against a formidable Red Stars defense. As a center back, goal-scoring opportunities are extremely slim, so that goal-scoring record is not something to be taken lightly. Her ability to find the net is particularly important with a team like the Thorns, who can run hot and cold on set pieces. Only time will tell, but as we head into the final weeks of the season, Sonnett is looking like a key piece for the Thorns as both a defensive and offensive threat.

Spoiler Alert: The Final Stretch Is Key for Kansas City – Alyssa Zajac

FC Kansas City has had a rough season. Losing Amy Rodriguez to a season-ending injury in the first game of the season seems to have been a blow that couldn’t be overcome. Without her the offense has struggled, and despite a generally solid defense, they’ve suffered too many breakdowns (that 12-minute Sam Kerr hat-trick for a Sky Blue comeback win, anyone?) to sustain a realistic shot at the playoffs. But that doesn’t mean the end of the season won’t matter. They still have the chance to play a big role in the final playoff push, as a spoiler. Their next seven are all against teams in the playoff hunt (Portland, Chicago, Orlando, Sky Blue, Seattle, and Houston are currently in second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth, and seventh, respectively, with just six points separating fourth through seventh). As teams make the final playoff push, every point counts. We saw evidence this weekend, when they stole three points from Houston in a road win that left the Dash further away from that final spot. With a win, Houston could have pulled to just three points away (with a game in hand). But thanks to a tough performance from FCKC, they’re now stuck six points off the playoff pace. The role of spoiler may not be what FCKC hoped for at this point, but they’ll certainly want to close the season strong. If they can do so, they can wreak havoc on the NWSL playoff standings. So hold on to your jerseys, kids – it’s going to be a wild race to the finish!

So, Orlando, What’s New – Elizabeth Wawrzyniak

18 games into the season and the Orlando Pride are sitting in fourth place on the table, just above that playoff cutoff, and man, it’s gotta feel good. In just their second year in the league, and after last year’s dismal finish, Orlando has always been the kind of team that could have, should have, you know? Flush with talent–Alex Morgan and Ashlyn Harris to start, and then adding Ali Krieger and Marta this season, not to mention all the other playmakers on their roster–the Pride have never wavered from the belief that they should be one of the top teams in the league. And finally, finally, they’re starting to make good on that belief. Whether it was Marta who brought the spark to Orlando’s attack, or Krieger who firmed up the defense, or Morgan who fit the final puzzle piece into its spot, Orlando has been on run. And it’s come without their talismanic goalkeeper, Ashlyn Harris, who missed two months after an injury suffered earlier this season. Now, with six games left, they need to play better than they’ve ever played before to hold onto that playoff spot. And their journey to the postseason won’t be easy–they only have three home games left, and their road record is unimpressive. Their schedule is also tough, with games against the current top two (North Carolina and Portland) as well as one against the Seattle team who will be hoping to steal that final playoff spot from them. They do have a bit of luck, though, in their other games: two against Boston and one against Kansas City. On form, and barring any colossal mistakes, they should be able to count on at least 6 points from those games, if not all 9. They’ll certainly want to get as much as possible from their more difficult games, but those easier ones might end up being the difference between a chance at the playoffs and an early end to the season.

Ain’t No Call for That – Elizabeth Wawrzyniak

Last week I praised Tyler Lussi’s performance for the Portland Thorns. And, yes, I stand by that. But if you think that praise last week means overlooking this week’s card-worthy incident against Danielle Colaprico and the Chicago Red Stars, please step back and maybe put on your reading glasses.

Lussi was subbed in for Dagny Brynjarsdóttir in the 61’ (she took the field at 60:17, in fact). Less than 20 seconds later (60:32), she’d taken down Colaprico with a vicious hair-tug and stepped on her wrist. We saw a similar incident earlier in the season with Seattle Reign’s Merritt Mathias, who received a three-game suspension after a violent hair-pulling against Emily Sonnett of the Portland Thorns. She’d been caught on camera doing the same just the week before to Allysha Chapman of the Boston Breakers and received a yellow for it.

I’ve watched the scene from this weekend’s game time and time again, and I can think of no reason the referee didn’t call her for that misconduct. It wasn’t off on the sidelines away from the ball and it wasn’t covert; this was a flat-out yank of Colaprico’s hair that pulled her whole head and body back before she fell down. The stepping on her wrist after she’d fallen? Maybe you could write that off as unintentional, as the consequence of physics–a body in motion and all–but the two incidents together demanded an intervention from the referee. He briefly talked to Lussi, yes, but all that shows is that he saw what happened and still didn’t think it was worthy of a booking. And that’s unthinkable. I don’t care if she’d just come into the game–this isn’t the kind of contact that earns you a quick warning about keeping your play clean. This was the kind of contact that deserved a yellow, at minimum. And honestly, I’ve seen players commit less egregious fouls and be handed a straight red.

If it were up to me? Lussi’s earned herself a game or two suspension and a fine to go along with it.

It’s Time for PRO to Take a Look at NWSL Referees – Jordan Small

In Week 16 of Year 5 of the NWSL, we are somehow still having a conversation better suited for Year 1 or 2. The referees in the NWSL continue to put players at risk by not properly doing their job. Early in the season, it seemed as if penalty kicks were being handed out like candy. Now, we are seeing fouls being called all over the field, but no cards accompanying these foul calls.

While not every play calls for a card, repeated fouls by a single player or an excessive use of force absolutely should result in a card. There were two prominent examples this weekend of the referees seemed to have lost control of the game. First, Angela Salem of the Boston Breakers, who was shown a yellow card in the 94th minute for a foul on Tori Huster. But according to Spirit head coach Jim Gabarra this was too little, too late. Handing out the first booking of the game that far into the match effectively eliminates any possible deterrent effect. Then you have Tyler Lussi of the Portland Thorns, as discussed in the previous takeaway.

I understand that referees will not see everything all the time. And some calls will always be tough ones, with fans on both sides having a reasonable case. But this isn’t about individual tough decisions. It’s about a general lack of control over games. The spectacles we’ve seen in recent weeks are an embarrassment to the league and its players. The NWSL and PRO Referees need to take a serious look at how they are officiating these games before it becomes irreversibly dangerous.

Carli Lloyd Injury Could Break the Dash’s Playoff Hopes – Jordan Small

Carli Lloyd has had a huge impact on the Houston Dash since returning from Manchester City. After making her 2017 debut on June 18, Lloyd has played 89 or more minutes in 6 of her 8 appearances. And during that time, the Dash went on a tear, picking up the majority of their points on the season. In one particularly impressive run from the end of June and into July, they earned 11 points over a five game span.

After Lloyd was removed against Kansas City this week, the Dash looked lost. Not only is she a huge part of the midfield for Houston, she is their captain and has led this team since Kealia Ohai’s season-ending ACL injury. If Lloyd is unable to play for the next couple of weeks, Houston will have to try and replace a large piece of their midfield. With Morgan Brian out for an indefinite amount of time, Lloyd’s injury could really break the Houston Dash’s season.

 

The Unknown International: Alanna Kennedy

Posted on by RJ Allen

[media-credit name=”Kelley Piper” align=”alignnone” width=”300″][/media-credit]

The NWSL may be an American soccer league, but many of its best players come from outside of the United States. This series takes a look at those players and analyzes their style of play, the role they take on in their national team, and the role they play in their club. This week, we’ll take a look at Australian international Alanna Kennedy of the Orlando Pride.

Who Is She?

Alanna Kennedy is a 22-year-old defender/defensive midfielder. Towering at nearly 6-feet-tall, Kennedy started as a midfielder, then moved to the role of central defender, and now alternates between the two positions depending on which team she is playing for and under what circumstances. She has been in the Australian system for nearly a decade but made her formal debut with the senior team in 2012 against New Zealand. She has played at the senior level since she was fifteen-years-old when she joined Sydney FC. In her career, she has won the Australian W-League Premiership and the NWSL Championship. In 2015-2016, she was named Sydney FC’s Player of the Year.

The Matildas

Kennedy has played with the Matildas since 2012 when she made her debut against regional rival New Zealand. Kennedy spent her early career playing under Tom Sermanni, who is now her head coach with the Orlando Pride. Earlier this season, Sermanni spoke about how Kennedy joined the Matildas as a midfielder, but at 17-years-old, he thought she was too “gangly” and couldn’t keep up with the pace of the midfield. He moved her to the role of central defender, where she still plays with her national team today. Kennedy has been with the team throughout their rise, starting with the Women’s World Cup in 2015. Since then, she has also played in the 2016 Rio Olympics (where the Matildas reached the Quarterfinals) and won the inaugural Tournament of Nations against the United States, Brazil, and Japan.

Orlando Pride

Kennedy joined the Orlando Pride this offseason, after winning the NWSL Championship with the Western New York Flash (now the North Carolina Courage). Early in the season, Kennedy became a consistent starter, playing in the role of central defender. As the season went on, Toni Pressley earned herself a consistent starting role and Sermanni decided to move Ali Krieger from outside defender to central defender, pushing Kennedy to her current role in the defensive midfield. Since that move, Kennedy has scored three goals and earned one assist. She has appeared in all 17 matches for the Pride this season, earning 16 starts. Her goal with this team is the same as it was in New York: to win a championship.

Unsung Hero of the Week: LaBonta Playing With Confidence

Posted on by RJ Allen

[media-credit name=”Kelley Piper” align=”alignnone” width=”300″][/media-credit]

In this weekly series, I will be highlighting a player from the weekend who was their respective team’s unsung hero, win, lose or draw. A player who does the dirty work, does the little but important things in a game and someone who didn’t exactly fill up the stat sheet but found other ways to contribute.

This week I’ve chosen FC Kansas City midfielder Lo’eau LaBonta.

The 24-year-old playmaker seems to have found a home with the Blues. After a solid college career at Stanford, she was drafted 37th overall by Sky Blue in the 2015 College Draft. After making six appearances for the New Jersey Club, the California native was let go, only to be signed by FCKC in 2016. Now in her second season in the Midwest, LaBonta has earned a starting position with head coach Vlatko Andonovski utilizing her at forward, holding mid and now at attacking mid. LaBonta has played and started in 13 games this season, quietly improving while at the same time finding her confidence.

Kansas City 2-2 Boston:

Right off the bat, LaBonta worked her way onto my radar in the sixth minute. Commanding the middle of the field, she took the space racing towards the Boston box and slid a perfectly weighted ball to Shea Groom. Groom, in turn, got a toe-poke in but the ball went just wide of the goal. I love the energy LaBonta started the game with, showing on this particular play that she can make those kinds of passes in tight spaces.

One minute later, LaBonta and Groom connected once again, a partnership that would be on display all night. In the final third, Labonta dropped a ball over the top of the Breakers defense, in a spot that only her teammate could get to. Groom’s attempt went wide for the second time, but the two players were already setting a tempo for the game, which is important for any team to do, especially when on the road. The tiny and talented midfielder’s passing is an area of her game that is a joy to watch, and her vision has been a key part of her continuing development.

In the 17th minute, LaBonta fought for the ball, daring the backline of Boston to step in, make a decision, and take a risk. She won possession against Julie King just 20 yards from the Breakers goal, and somehow managed to provide service from a wide position. Her effort found Brittany Taylor, whose shot, unfortunately, went wide. At this point, Kansas City was getting all the right opportunities but not finishing the way they need to. Still, LaBonta was on fire, and the fight against King and service into Taylor was a nice example of LaBonta’s aggressiveness and ability to pressure an opponent and win the ball anywhere on the field.

That pressure paid off for Kansas City just a few minutes later, when Christina Gibbons found Maegan Kelly, who tapped the ball in for the go-ahead goal in the 20th minute.

LaBonta would push the ball forward in the 24th minute, taking space once again in the middle of the park, this time drawing two Boston defenders with her. She sprayed a pass out wide to Taylor who sent it to the back post looking for Kelly. For the fourth time in under 25 minutes, the Kansas City shot went wide. It was positive to see the attack clicking but at the same time, not finding the back of the net was giving viewers some serious deja vu.

Boston would respond in an empathic way thanks to New Zealand international Rosie White, who scored a brace in a span of 4 minutes (26’, 30’) to take the lead.

But despite Boston’s quick scoring, the first half was so encouraging for Kansas City, with LaBonta leading the way on the offensive side of things. She facilitated, created opportunities, pressured the backline, and really set the tone for the game.

One of LaBonta’s last contributions was in the 65th minute (she was subbed out in the 70th minute). All night we saw her make magic in the middle but on this play she found space on the wing and took a chance on stretching the Breakers backline one more time. LaBonta received a floating ball from Groom and pushed it deep towards the corner flag but Amanda Frisbie recovered in time to take it away and give Boston possession.

In her 70 minutes, LaBonta was the best player for Kansas City. Her quality really showed on the night, and she did her part in so many ways. It’s clear that she has put in the work in the off-season to get to this level of play and to maintain it as well through. LaBonta has become an important player for the Blues and I have a feeling she will have much more to offer as time goes on.

The Blues did manage to find the equalizer in the 81st minute thanks to Erika Tymrak, whose effort secured a point in Boston. The Breakers sit in eighth place with 15 points while Kansas City are currently in 10th with 14 points.