This week, we review the 2022 NWSL Playoffs, present the 2022 regular season player and coach award winners and look at a new league sponsor. Gotham FC also has announced a long-term deal with a new coach, who comes from a 2022 NWSL Playoff team.
2022 NWSL Playoff Review
In the first round of 2022 NWSL Playoff matches on October 16, the San Diego Wave Fútbol Club (who finished third in the regular season) punched its ticket to the NWSL Semifinals with a 2-1 victory over Chicago Red Stars (the number 6 seed). The Wave fought back from an early one-goal deficit after a very uncharacteristic mistake by Canadian international Kailen Sheridan in goal who, when she was near the top of the box, tried to pass the ball out to a defender but hit the ball weakly and it fell fall short of her teammate, so that Japanese international Yuki Nagasato easily intercepted the ball and chipped Sheridan for the first score in the 10th minute.
The Wave tied it in the 67th minute when Australian international midfielder Emily Van Egmond scored and then 2022 Regular Season Golden Boot Winner Alex Morgan scored in overtime to earn a trip to face the #2 Portland Thorns—who, along with NWSL Shield Winners OL Reign, had a bye into the semifinals. With a crowd of 26,215 at Snapdragon Stadium, the Wave broke the NWSL Playoff attendance record which had just been set hours prior by the Houston Dash with 21,284 fans at PNC Stadium (see more below). San Diego now holds both the NWSL Playoff attendance record, as well as the NWSL regular season record of 32,000 set on Sept. 17 for their first game this season in their new home.
Swedish international Sofa Jakobsson was outstanding all game and was critical in the lead up to Van Egmond's goal, starting the play by letting the ball run through her legs to fake out and then beat her Chicago defender near midfield before making a solo run down the left sideline; she passed the ball to Morgan in the middle of the box, who's blocked shot fell nicely to Van Egmond to score her first goal of the 2022 season. With the win, the Wave continued to make history as the first expansion side to make the NWSL playoffs and then win a match.
After the game, San Diego head coach Casey Stoney reflected, "[I'm] Just immensely proud of the team. I think going one-nil down in those circumstances, and listen, Kailen Sheridan has dug us out of big holes this season and it was the team's turn to dig her out of a hole, and I'm so glad they did it. She's immense, and it'll be a night for her with certain moments she might not want to remember, but that's what teammates are for. I said it the whole time, there's only one team I believe in the league that can come back constantly like they do, and it's that team in there [in the locker room]. So, I'm immensely proud. I thought we deserved it. If I'm honest, I think the second half, the amount of chances we created and didn't take, I thought it was going to be a turning point in our season really, but that's why to me Alex is MVP, because in big moments, she turns up. So [I'm] massively proud, but never get too high. We've got to now recover and refocus, and we've got the semi-finals to play."
Stoney, who joined the NWSL after coaching Manchester United Women in the WSL, talked about her coaching approach, which she has discussed throughout the season with the media. She has been very positive in her approach since pre-season training started with her players, fans and media; which is such a contrast with some of the negative coaching situations that the league is still struggling with in 2022 (see the Yates Report discussion about systemic player verbal and sexual abuse in the coming weeks), "I think you have to show vulnerability with yourself first. You have to be prepared to show that you're going to own your own mistakes. You have to create an environment every day where you're going to live and breathe that, and you have honest conversations.
"And if you get it wrong, and I've got it wrong quite a few times with different players this year, and I've said sorry. Because what I try and do is get it right for them, but I'm also human, so I make mistakes. And when I do, I own it. I also think I leave space for them to have a voice. I trust them massively to give me feedback, and we always try to act on whatever feedback they give us because this is their team. This is their environment. I'm just a facilitator. I see myself as a facilitator to put them on a pathway to wherever they want to go. Am I always going to get it right? No…. I also don't hammer them for their mistakes. Because the minute you start doing that, you lose trust. If you start being dishonest, you lose trust. I'm very honest, I'm very direct. But that is the foundation for trust, honest critique and feedback. And I also take that from them. So, when I haven't got it right, it's not just me telling them, it's them telling me too. I think we have a really respectful and trusting environment and incredible women that just want to do so well."
Alex Morgan talked about how important and unique the playing atmosphere is that Casey Stoney helped to create in San Diego, "First off, Casey is a coach that I really admire. She is someone that truly leads this team and it's great to have that honesty and open-door policy with her. It's just building on trust from the very beginning and laying those foundations. This team, I think that everyone genuinely gets along with each other, we support each other, we just have a really great locker room culture and we have been able to build that over the course of only one season. Seeing what the club overall has tried to build in such a short period of time, you just can't help but be proud to play for this club."
Note: Fittingly, Stoney was named as the League Coach of the Year in end of season honors just before the NWSL Championship match (see below).
Casey Stoney also talked about how well Sofia Jakobsson played in the game, "Best I've seen her hands down since she's been here. I thought she was outstanding, the way she drove back, the way she got down the sides, the way she delivered crosses. I wouldn't have wanted to play against her tonight. So direct and so impactful, and I'm just really pleased for her because I just think that performance was needed, and I hope that grows her confidence for next week."
In the other first round match of the weekend that same day, the Kansas City Current earned a historic victory to advance to the semifinal round after defeating the Houston Dash 2-1 before a Dash record home crowd and near sellout of 21,284. Current forward Kristen Hamilton was taken down in the penalty box by Dash defender Katie Naughton and midfielder Lo'eau LaBonta scored from the spot in the fifth minute. From that point on, the Current didn't have another shot in the first half. Houston dominated the attack and tied up the match in the 21st minute when Canadian international midfielder Sophia Schmidt scored from near the far post after a corner kick from Mexican international Maria Sanchez was punched out by Kansas City goalkeeper Adrianna Franch ; the ball fell to the Canadian's feet and she volleyed if first time into the net.
In the 10th minute of injury time, after forcing a Houston turnover in the attacking third, LaBonta and rookie phenom Alex Loera combined for a give-and-go that freed Loera down the left flank. Loera slid the ball across the face of goal and past Campbell, and Kate Del Fava was waiting at the back post to slot the ball into the net for the 2-1 win. Del Fava's (24—who played at Illinois State University and is in her third season in the league) goal, her first of the season, marked the latest game-winning goal in regulation in NWSL history. The Dash finished with 20 shots to 6 for K.C. (5 vs. 3 for shots on goal) and 11 to 4 for corner kicks, but the Dash finished their first ever playoff game with a loss to end the season, while Kansas City—in the franchises' first ever playoff in their second season—moved onto the semifinals.
The crowd of 21,284 shattered the previous Dash attendance record when Houston hosted the Chicago Red Stars in front of 13,025 fans back in 2015; it was the second-largest crowd ever to watch a professional woman's game in Texas behind the 23,176 for the U.S. Women's National Team match against Mexico at Dallas's Cotton Bowl on Nov. 2, 2003.
One negative note to the game for Kansas City was that midfielder Claire Lavogez suffered a tear to her anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) early in the second half. Lavogez was set to begin her rehabilitation immediately and is expected to make a full recovery. Lavogez joined the Current on July 20 and made an immediate impact, appearing in 10 matches and started eight., with two goals and one assist and overall was a very positive acquisition for the team.
There was a negative note for the Dash as well as less than two weeks after the game, the Dash announced that their second interim head coach, Juan Carlos Amoros, would not return to the club as he was leaving to pursue other opportunities. The Dash released the news in a Tweet. The Spaniard took the Dash to their first ever playoff berth, complying a 6-2-3 (W-L-T record) this season with the Dash. and seemed to be well-accepted by the players.
Amorós was named interim head coach in June after previously coaching for a season at Real Betis in his native Spain, taking over for acting head coach Sarah Lowdon. Lowdon was in charge since the beginning of the season after head coach James Clarkson was put on leave pending a league investigation after allegations of abusive behavior. Lowdon stayed on as an assistant coach under Amoros and did a nice job until he came during the summer—could she be brought back as interim or even as permanent head coach? Check this column in the months to come to see what the Dash do on the coaching front.
Amoros joins Gotham FC as head coach for 2023
A few days after the Dash announcement, Amoros had signed a three contract with Gotham FC in New Jersey—the equivalent of a lifetime contract in this league—on November 1. He replaced former Jamaican 2019 WWC team head coach Hue Menzies, who had come in towards the end of the season to finish 2022 after Scott Parkinson was let go after a poor start to the season (Parkinson took over as head coach in mid-2021 after Freya Coombe left to take over expansion side Angel City FC). Menzies always made clear that he saw his role as temporary for personal reasons, with his youth soccer club and personal commitments in Florida, even though he is a fantastic coach (see more in last month's column: The Week in Women's Football: NWSL review PII; Angel City outdo LA Galaxy; Lyon beat Chelsea in Portland - Tribal Football). The three-year deal with Amoros sends a message that the New Jersey club wants consistency in their coaching leadership, after two years of turnover.
Juan Carlos Amoros in NJ/NY gear will lead the club in the 2023 NWSL season.
Photo courtesy Gotham FC.
Before Real Betis, Amorós (38) helped lead Tottenham Hotspur FC Women from the third tier in England to the FA Women's Super League. In 2019, Tottenham was promoted to the Super League after finishing second in the second-division FA Women's Championship League. He earned Manager of the Year honors that season, and won the same honor while coaching Tottenham Hotspur in the third-division FA Women's National League. He also holds a prestigious UEFA Professional License.
In the semifinals on October 23, two-time league champions Portland (2013 and 2017) held court with an exciting 2-1 win over the San Diego Wave in front of a crowd of 22,035 on a beautiful fall day in Portland. Taylor Kornieck scored early in the game for the Californians on a header from an Alex Morgan cross in the 8th minute but Costa Rican international midfielder Rocky Rodríguez equalized for Portland in the 20th minute. The match saw the next 73 minutes remain scoreless, until late substitute and U.S. National Team back Crystal Dunn—who spent most of this season on maternity leave—netted the game winner in the 93rd minute to secure Portland's spot in the final.
Crystal Dunn registered her fifth career NWSL playoff goal, which ranks as second most in league history and first amongst active NWSL players (now retired former U.S. Women's World Cup winner Amy Rodriguez leads with 6). Dunn also became the first player in league history to score playoff goals for three different teams (Portland, North Carolina and Washington). Canadian international Christine Sinclair—a member of the Thorns for all 10 NWSL seasons—featured in her 11th career NWSL playoff game, setting a new league record for postseason appearances. With the win, Portland has now qualified for four NWSL Championship games (2013, 2017, 2018, 2022), the most in league history.
The other semifinal was just a three-hour drive up the I-5 interstate highway in Seattle, and OL Reign set a record home crowd of 21,491 for a stand-alone women's professional league soccer game in the city—almost double the Reign's previous single match attendance record—but their fans went home disappointed as the Reign fell to the underdog KC Current 2-1. Kansas City's Alex Loera—who is in her second league season and played collegiately at Santa Clara University—scored in the fourth minute.
The OL Reign then began to dominate possession of the match and had nine shots in the first half, with the best coming from Wales international midfielder Jess Fishlock when she rocketed a shot off the crossbar just before halftime. In the second half, the Reign kept up the attacking pressure but, in the 63rd minute against the run of play, the Current doubled their lead when forward Kristen Hamilton dribbled in the box and hit a low shot into the goal. Just over ten minutes later, it looked like OL Reign had pulled a goal back, when forward Megan Rapinoe served a corner into the box and Canadian international forward Jordyn Huitema got her head on the end of it, but the ref ruled that the ball did not cross the line and the score remained 2-0. OL Reign finished with double the number of shots to Kansas City (16 vs. 8) and shots on goal (7 vs. 3) and also held a huge advantage for corners (14 vs. 2). Kansas City goalkeeper Adrianna Franch made seven saves to only one for the Reign's goalkeeper Phallon Tullis-Joyce.
In the Championship Final held at neutral site venue Audi Field in Washington D.C. in front of an outstanding crowd of 17,624 on October 29, the Portland Thorns won their record third NWSL championship with a very competently managed 2-0 win, with Kansas City struggling throughout to impact the game. An early goal by league MVP (see below) Sophia Smith, who dribbled past a defender who slipped as she was trying to stop her and Smith then dribbled around KC goalkeeper Adrianna Franch to score in the 4th minute. Portland scored a second and crushing goal in the 56th minute when Kansas City back Addisyn Merrick scored an own goal when under pressure from a cross by the excellent Yazmeen Ryan (23—who is in her second season with the Thorns, played at Texas Christian University and with Oklahoma City FC of the WPSL and been called into the U.S. U-23 national team). The Thorns would only continue to knock on the door when forward Morgan Weaver hit a ball off of the crossbar in the 59th minute and then further good shots by substitutes Hina Sugita (of Japan) and Crystal Dunn were saved by Franch or sailed high, respectively.
Head coach Rhian Wilkinson became the second female head coach to win a final in the league, the other being Cindy Parlow Cone (Portland in 2013). After the match, she told the media that she was so proud of her team, and that, "They would have been within their right to collapse [as a result of the organizational turmoil fallout from the Yates report—see our upcoming analysis later this month on her groundbreaking U.S. Soccer commissioned report on NWSL player abuse]…They didn't and they were soccer players first. Additionally, General Manager Karina LeBlanc, who joined the club in the off-season, became the first player to win a NWSL title as both GM and player (starting as goalkeeper for Portland in 2013). Smith (22) added the Championship Game MVP title to her regular season title that she won earlier in the week (see below).
Christine Sinclair became the NWSL's all-time leader in playoff minutes with 1,022 minutes as well as playoff appearances (12). Dunn, Becky Sauerbrunn and Sinclair have won three Championship league titles each. Emily Menges, Megan Klingenberg and Tegan McGrady have each won two league titles. Substitute forward Olivia Moultrie became the youngest player in league history to make a NWSL Championship appearance at 17 years, one month and 12 days old. It was her first playoff appearance. Bella Bixby recorded her league leading 10th clean sheet of the 2022 campaign and her first in a playoff match. The game was also the first NWSL final to air in network primetime in league history, on CBS on a Saturday evening that is usually chock full of college American football games. The game averaged 915,000 viewers, an NWSL record and a 71% increase over last year's title game, in which the Washington Spirit defeated Chicago Red Stars in overtime in Louisville during the day with an average of 525,000 viewers.
Other NWSL News
2022 NWSL Award Winners
On October 25, the NWSL announced the recipients of the 2022 Best XI First Team and Best XI Second Team awards, presented by Mastercard. The Best XI First Team and Best XI Second Team were based on weighted voting scale comprised of players (50%), owners/GMs/coaches (20%), media (20%) and fans (10%). In the first stage, the media voted on the top players in each position and for other awards to cull down the finalists for the open voting.
2022 NWSL Best XI First Team
Goalkeeper: Kailen Sheridan (SD)
Defenders: Alana Cook (RGN), Naomi Girma (SD), Sofia Huerta (RGN), Carson Pickett (NC)
Midfielders and Forwards: Sam Coffey (POR), Lo'eau LaBonta (KC), Alex Morgan (SD), Debinha (NC), Mallory Pugh (CHI), Sophia Smith (POR)
2022 NWSL Best XI Second Team
Goalkeeper: Adrianna Franch (KC)
Defenders: Kelli Hubly (POR), Hailie Mace (KC), Tatumn Milazzo (CHI), Becky Sauerbrunn (POR)
Midfielders and Forwards: Kerolin (NC), Jess Fishlock (RGN), Rose Lavelle (RGN), Diana Ordóñez (NC), Megan Rapinoe (RGN), Ebony Salmon (HOU)
For the top 22 players in the league, they all came from seven sides—with only one non-playoff side providing selections—the North Carolina Courage with four:
- OL Reign 5
- Portland Thorns 4
- North Carolina Courage 4
- San Diego Wave 3
- KC Current 3
- Chicago Red Stars 2
- Houston Dash 1
The following sides, who all missed the playoffs, did not have any selections: NY/NY Gotham FC, Orlando Pride, Racing Louisville, Washington Spirit and Angel City FC.
The Coach of the year, Defender of the Year, Rookie of the Year and Goalkeeper of the Year all came from San Dego—former English international Casey Stoney was named coach of the year, Naomi Girma won the Defender and Rookie of the Year titles and Canadian international keeper Kailen Sheridan won the Goalkeeper of the Year crown.
Sophia Smith of Portland, who is also a U.S. national team member, won the Most Valuable Player award, the youngest selection ever at 22, and surprisingly pipping San Dego's Alex Morgan to the title
A Puzzling new league sponsor
The NWSL, with still major questions to answer about the litany of player abuse from the Yates report on abuse of players within the league (see our upcoming analysis later this month), the week before the 2022 NWSL Championship Game on October 29, the league announced a new sponsorship in which league fans can, "get closer to the action than ever before." They have partnered with international fan engagement platform MatchWornShirt, in which, "you now have the opportunity to own the physical embodiment of those iconic sporting moments; a game-used jersey, fresh from the pitch." The new relationship started with the 2022 Championship Game in D.C., allowing open bidding for players' game jerseys, which was emphasized as, "more than a jersey, it's a fabric of the game (sic)….The jerseys being donned by the players on the pitch are so much more than pieces of cloth, they are symbolic emblems, of pride, of passion and of hope. And these jerseys worn in the final of this season's tournament are the ultimate item. A true piece of sporting history. The lucky winners will receive an unwashed jersey [really?] that's signed by the player."
I have over 50 soccer jerseys from my travels around the world, including national and club teams from Ivory Coast, Hong Kong, Japan, Brazil, Bolivia, Sweden, Iceland, France, Mexico, Guatemala and other countries (all of which are washed immediately after I wear them). I value the jerseys and what they represent to their fans and understand the importance of marketing sponsorships, but this seems a little far-fetched. I wonder what is in it for the company MatchWornShirt as, "All proceeds of the shirts will go towards supporting the incredible work of Leveling the Playing Field, who strive to make sure that all children have the opportunity to play and enjoy sport?" I have no idea what that means and it all seems too ambiguous to this reporter.
MatchWornShirt founder, Bob Zonderwijk, commented, "Over the past five years we've worked with more than 180 clubs globally and engaged with fans from every corner of the planet, and we're pleased to be welcoming the NWSL as the latest member of our international community. The growth of the women's game has been really impressive and is something we're very proud to have been a part of since the early stages of our company. To give fans the chance to get unrivalled access to their heroes at the finale of the competition is a great pleasure."
I'll take a pass on bidding for these shirts—laundry is important—but I am interested in the interest in the reaction that this offering will receive from NWSL fans around the world. I am also curious about whether all proceeds are going to youth football and how that will take place, and what the company's split is. The NWSL has certainly been a popular destination for major companies for sponsorships since 2020, including Budweiser and Ally Bank—an online financial institution—but this one seems like a So what?" Enough said.
Tim Grainey is a contributor to Tribal Football. His latest book Beyond Bend it Like Beckham is on the global game of women's football. Get your copy today.
Follow Tim on Twitter: @TimGrainey
