Tag: Playoffs

The NWSL Weather Woes: Playoff Edition

Posted on by RJ Allen

The National Women’s Soccer League 2018 season will be remembered for the extremes of the standings with the dominance of the North Carolina Courage and the woes in New Jersey both on and off the field with Sky Blue FC. Among the lesser stories which will be nothing more than footnotes in the season, will be the impact of the weather in the season.

Unlike the increased risk of heat which had to be dealt with in 2017 by the league with a change to the extreme heat policy and hydration breaks mid-season, this year the league’s weather bone of contention was lighting delays. Multiple matches throughout the season had to be rescheduled, most notably was Sky Blue’s match against the Washington Spirit on Sunday, September 2nd which caused the side from the Garden State to play the Chicago Red Stars the very next Tuesday with less than 48-hours of rest.

Fast forward to the star of the post season and the playoff games scheduled for this weekend where North Carolina is scheduled to host Chicago in the second playoff game on Sunday, September 16.

However, the league is going to face a unique weather related situation, Hurricane Florence is projected on making landfall as a major hurricane somewhere along the coast in the days leading up to the match. The same time the Red Stars will be looking to fly in to North Carolina and the same time fans will be looking to head toward Cary. 

The Saffir-Simpson scale is a wind rating from category one, being the weakest, to category five, the strongest winds causing catastrophic damage. A major hurricane would be a category three or higher. The current projections put Hurricane Florence at a category four. 

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Several factors to consider is this storm will bring a large amount of rain to the area, and potentially flooding to parts of the state. Tornadoes can potentially occur even several hundred miles away from the center of the hurricane. This isn’t going to be an ideal situation to host a playoff game even with Cary being much further inland that it would be spared much of the initial impacts.

The league should already be working on getting ahead of the situation since the threat is real even with the high level of uncertainty.  Last season, the league moved up the game in Orlando from Saturday to Thursday when the Pride hosted Seattle due to Hurricane Irma. The NWSL could do this as well, but since it is a scheduled televised game that may not work out. That option may be too soon, and not logistically wise since the storm would arrive by the end of the week which could push up the Courage playoff game too early for anyone to travel into North Carolina. Additionally, the teams would have to leave quickly, so they wouldn’t feel the impact of Florence.

The North Carolina Courage have issued a statement advising they are monitoring the situation. 

The North Carolina Football Club is closely monitoring the forecast for Hurricane Florence related to potential impacts on the upcoming home NC Courage NWSL Semifinal on Sunday September 16, as well as travel for NCFC as they visit Penn FC on Sunday evening.

Specific to the NC Courage NWSL Semifinal against the Chicago Red Stars on Sunday, September 16 at 3:00 p.m., at Shalen’s Stadium,  the club is in contact with the League and the visiting team. The safety and well-being of fans, players and event staff is the club’s priority.

Any updates will be posted on NorthCarolinaFC.com and NCCourage.com, as well as shared with fans via email, social media and other communications channels. 

The NWSL needs to act swiftly by coordinating with both teams to move the venue for the playoff game to Chicago or a neutral city since the Chicago Fire will actually host Orlando City on Sunday at Toyota Park.. It will be an unfortunate situation since this will impact attendance and cause North Carolina to travel when they have obviously earned the right to host the playoff match. The prospect for this situation to create another black eye for the league is extremely likely especially if it doesn’t get ahead of this possible weather woe.

Great Moments In the NWSL: The Flash Face The Thorns in the 2016 Playoffs

Posted on by RJ Allen

It was destined to be a great match in Portland. With over 20,000 fans stuffed into Providence Park, the Portland Thorns were hoping for a smooth road to the championship match. They had won the Supporters Shield with 12 wins and 41 points, just edging out the Washington Spirit. No NWSL team had yet won the Shield and the championship in the same season; the Thorns were looking to be the first. 

Meanwhile, the Western New York Flash came into the match as the underdog. They finished the season fourth on the table with 32 points, barely holding off the Seattle Reign to qualify for the playoffs. While they had looked good at various times throughout the season, and had remained within the playoff bracket for most of the year, it was going to be a tough task to take down the Shield winners.

As soon as the match kicked off, fan predictions started to fall into place. The Thorns had an excellent chance within the first minute of the match. Sabrina D’Angelo—the goalkeeper for the Flash—came out to clear the ball and botched it. Thankfully for the Flash, Mewis ran in and provided the clearance. It was a close call for Western New York. The message was clear: these teams weren’t fooling around.

The game broke open in the 16th minute. After a long throw-in from Jess McDonald, the ball bounced around in the 18-yard box before finding the foot of Sam Mewis. She slammed the ball into the back of the net and much to everyone’s surprise, the Flash took an early 1-0 lead.

But the scoring was far from over. The Flash found their second goal of the match when Jess McDonald crossed the ball into the 18-yard box. She connected with Makenzy Doniak, who headed the ball into the back of the net for Western New York’s second goal. 

The Flash didn’t have long to celebrate. One minute later, the Thorns sent a long ball down field. Christine Sinclair turned with the ball, beating her defender, and with one step shot the ball into the corner of the net. To make matters worse for the Flash, head coach Paul Riley made physical contact with the fourth official after the Thorns’ goal and was ejected from the game. With their ringmaster sent off and their clean sheet forfeited, the Flash finished the half with a 2-1 lead and a determination to hold on. 

The Flash had a couple of good shots early in the second half, but Thorns keeper Michelle Betos kept them off the scoreboard. She made a couple of incredible saves, showing why she was considered one of the best in the league. Still, it wasn’t enough to just keep the Flash out; Portland still needed at least one goal to force extra time—two if they wanted to win in regulation. 

In the 78th minute, the Thorns got what they needed. Tobin Heath sent a long ball into the box on a free kick for the Thorns. D’Angelo came out to get the ball, but she didn’t get control. The ball bounced around in the box before falling at the feet of Emily Sonnett, who gave Portland their equalizer. 

At the 90th minute, the match was still tied 2-2. That meant 30 more minutes of play. And regulation was nothing compared to what was waiting in extra time.

In the 98th minute, the Flash found their third goal of the match. Similar to their first goal, the ball came off of a long throw-in from Jess McDonald. Mewis then flicked the ball over to Lynn Williams. The 2016 Golden Boot winner kept the ball on the ground, but got enough power to slide it past a few defenders and past the fingertips of Michelle Betos. The Flash now had a 3-2 lead. 

But that wasn’t the last time we saw the Mewis-Williams combination. Six minutes later, the Flash came charging down the field with Sam Mewis in the middle. She passed the ball to Williams in the box, who was quicker than her defender. She sent the ball into the back of the net for her second goal of the match and the Flash’s fourth. Providence Park was silent. 

Once again, the Thorns bounced back quickly. Just a few minutes later, Portland defender Meghan Klingenberg sent the ball into the 18-yard box. It bounced off the head of Dagny Brynjarsdottir and landed in front of Horan, who slotted the ball back for Portland’s third goal of the match. Horan immediately picked up the ball and ran back to the line. The Thorns still had a lot of work to do.

In one of the final plays of the game, the Thorns nearly found their equalizer. Sonnett sent a desperate long ball towards the Flash goal.  D’Angelo tried to punch it out, but she missed. Horan got her head on the ball, and nearly put it away, but Abby Dalhkemper cleared it off the line. A few seconds later, the final whistle blew. 

Seven goals. Six yellow cards. A head coach ejected from the match. The Western New York Flash defeated the regular season champs 4-3 and went on to win the 2016 NWSL Championship. In the offseason, they would be sold to an ownership group in North Carolina and transformed into the North Carolina Courage.

In 2017, the tables would turn, when the Courage made it back to the championship only to lose to—you guessed it—the Portland Thorns. 

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.

Around the World of WoSo: A weird week

Posted on by RJ Allen

Seattle Reign Captain Announces Retirement:

Keelin Winters has been captain of the NWSL club Seattle Reign since day one back in 2013 when the league began. She has been the heart and soul of this club without question. In her 85 appearances for the club, her role hasn’t necessarily been to score goals, but to create opportunities for her teammates. She does the little things right every game and has helped guide her team to two Shield titles and two trips to the NWSL championship. She’s been absolutely remarkable in her role and became one of the most consistent players in the league. The script couldn’t have been written any better for Winters-in her last professional game at Memorial Stadium this past weekend, she scored the game winning goal against Washington.  Winters’ representation has been nothing short of class both on and off the field. It’s been a pleasure watching her play and while I am sad to see her leave the game, Winters’ will continue to work for Pro Skills Soccer—a company she founded to assist youth and adult players in the Seattle area. The next chapter of her life will be of service, as she has plans to join the Kirkland Fire Department in January 2017.

NWSL Golden Boot Race Still Lively:

With one game left in the 2016 season, the Golden Boot winner has yet to be decided, a different race compared to last year where Washington’s Crystal Dunn ran away with it mid-season. Currently, four players are within reach to win the award. Leading the pack is Houston’s Kealia Ohai and WNY’s Lynn Williams each with 10, while tied at nine is WNY’s Jess McDonald and Portland’s Nadia Nadim. Ohai has been a on a tear the second half of the season, with all of her goals coming after July 9th, and in a total of nine games. Williams on the other hand has had a more complete season, scoring 10 goals in 17 appearances. McDonald and Nadim have also been a little more consistent than Ohai. But nonetheless, the Dash forward has been the best player in the second half of the season. So, who has the better chance of actually winning it? Ohai will be going against Seattle, a team that shut out the number one team in the league in Washington last week. It will be a tough task but certainly one that Ohai is capable of doing. Williams and McDonald will be going against the weakest team in Boston, but anything could happen and stopping two of the best forwards in the game doesn’t seem likely for the Breakers. Lastly, Nadim will be up against Sky Blue FC, a team that has given up the third most goals this season with 27. All of these players have the opportunity to go out and control their own destiny. Friendly reminder: The NWSL is on International break, so play will resume September 24th finishing the regular season.

Two Chicago Red Stars Down:

In a hard fought 0-0 draw last week in Kansas City, Chicago clinched a playoff spot but two players left the game with injury concern. First was Arin Gilliland in the ninth minute after a scramble for the ball near the sidelines left her clutching her ankle. Gilliland has been very solid for the Red Stars in her two years in the league. Starting 17 matches as a rookie in 2015 and starting in 19 matches this season. The defender has been a crucial part of the defense that has only allowed 19 goals. For Chicago’s sake, hopefully it’s not a serious injury and while her replacement Sarah Gorden has done reasonable in her limited minutes, no doubt Gilliland is a key piece to Chicago’s success. With any luck, she could return in the final regular game of the season against Washington. The second injury was to forward Stephanie McCaffrey in the 25th minute. Having played her first year and a half in Boston, McCaffrey was traded to Chicago mid way through the season. In her six games as a Red Star she has contributed with two goals. While most of Chicago’s goals have come from Christen Press and Sofia Huerta, McCaffrey provides the width and service needed for serious scoring opportunities. Coming in for her was Alyssa Mautz, a player who has been improving each year in the league since arriving in 2013 and became a starter in 2014. Mautz is more than capable of filling the role for the remainder of the way, should McCaffrey not be available. But the concern is do these two injuries disrupt the chemistry of the team going forward? Can they go deep into the playoffs without these two out? We will find out in two weeks when play continues.

UVA Loses to Georgetown:

After winning its first seven games of the year, Virginia is no longer undefeated. The number two team Virginia played to a 3-2 loss this weekend to a surprising Georgetown team that’s ranked 20th. This was the first regular season non-conference loss since 2012 (lost to Penn State) for UVA.  The good news for UVA is that it was the last non-conference match of the season. This one started out great for UVA, leading by two goals after nine minutes of play, but seemed to hit a wall the rest of the game. The Hoyas came storming back with three unanswered goals in the first half to stun the Cavs. It’s certainly an impressive feat when in the previous seven games UVA had allowed zero goals. The defense was bound to collapse at some point, but I didn’t have Georgetown winning this game at all—and not in that fashion. The Hoyas scored its first goal a few minutes after UVA scored its last. In the 14th minute Taylor Pak hit a lovely ball from distance to give her team life. That was all they needed. The tying goal came by way of Chloe Knott, who capitalized on a mistake by the Cavs and beat the keeper 1v1 to level.  The game winning goal in the 38th minute was constructed all by Rachel Corboz (Who was named to our Player to Watch List before the season started). Corboz hit a beautiful free kick from 25 yards out and into the net to give her team a very convincing win. For her effort, Corboz was awarded the Big East Offensive Player of the Week for the third time this season. Up next for UVA is Virginia Tech on Friday while Georgetown faces George Washington on Thursday.

Manchester City Women Close to Title:

Last weekend, City beat Arsenal Ladies to improve to 38 points and move one step closer to the Super League Title. The only other serious contender is Chelsea, who is sitting in second place with 31 points. They defeated Reading to keep themselves in the race for another week.  Ironically the next match is on September 25 against City, so if they win, City will have to wait to celebrate the Title.  It will be a tough task for City. Chelsea has the likes of Hedvig Lindahl (GK-SWE), England star midfielder Karen Carney, Eniola Aluko (F-ENG), Fran Kirby (F-ENG) and Gemma Davison (F-ENG). All nine teams in the league have quality squads, but City might have the most complete. Led by a handful of England’s finest in Karen Bardsley (GK), Lucy Bronze (D), Captain Steph Houghton (D), Jill Scott (M) and Toni Dugan (F). It’s easy to see why they are on top. They also have Ireland’s young talent on defense in Megan Campbell and the American midfielder you might recognize in Daphne Corboz, (the sister of Georgetown Hoya Rachel Corboz). I don’t gamble, but if I did, I would put my money on Manchester to win its first title in club history by beating Chelsea.

NCAA College Cup Moved Out of NC:

On Monday it was announced that the NCAA Women’s College Cup will not be played in North Carolina. The main reason is a legitimate one, and backed by the NCAA President Mark Emmert, is due to the anti-LGBT laws that are currently in place. In his statement, Emmert made it clear that it was a decision that needed to be made, saying this: “We believe in providing a safe and respectful environment at our events and are committed to providing the best experience possible for college athletes, fans and everyone taking part in our championships.”

The four factors that played a part in removing the College Cup and are as follows:

  • NC laws invalidate any local law that treats sexual orientation as a protected class, or has a purpose to prevent discrimination against LGBT individuals.
  • A statewide law in NC that prohibits anyone using the restroom of the gender not on birth certificate, regardless of gender identity.
  • NC law provides legal protections for government officials to refuse services to the LGBT community.
  • Five states (New York, Minnesota, Washington, Vermont and Connecticut) prohibit travel to NC for public employees and representatives of public institutions, which could include student-athletes and campus athletics staff.

Six other events will be relocated as well; Men’s and Women’s DIII Soccer Championships, 2017 DI Men’s Basketball first/second Round, 2017 DI Women’s Golf Regional, 2017 Men’s and Women’s DIII Tennis Championships, 2017 Women’s DI Lacrosse Championship and 2017 DII Baseball Championship. Without question, this was the right decision for the NCAA and the Board of Governors to make. Anyone who has a moral compass should be perfectly ok with these relocations.