This week we review the first four weeks of the season and look at some new signings by National Women's Soccer League teams
A month into the NWSL season, the surprising Washington Spirit and Portland Thorns - the only two undefeated sides in the league - met in Washington on Saturday May 7. Adding to the intrigue was that former Spirit head coach Mark Parsons, who took the Washington D.C. area-based side to the semifinals during the past two seasons, is now in charge of the Thorns, prompting one fan to bring a sign which read: “Coach Parsons may be a Thorn in our side but he'll never crush our Spirit." An exciting scoreless tie left both teams undefeated, though Washington dropped their first two points of the season and now have a one point advantage over second place Chicago and two points over Portland. U.S. World Cup winning midfielder Tobin Heath was red carded late in the game and the Spirit poured forward for the winner in front of 4,333 fans, but U.S. internationals Crystal Dunn hit the post and Christine Nairn missed on two wide open shots during the five minutes of extra time at the end of the second half. In the first half, Dunn had a goal waived off for offsides.
Also on Saturday May 7, Boston remained rooted at the bottom of the table after a 1-0 home loss to Chicago as U.S. international forward Christen Press scored in the 60th minute in front of a crowd of 3,622. Boston's U.S. international midfielder Kristie Mewis narrowly missed a penalty kick try in the first half, banging the ball off of a post. Mewis has played every season in NWSL and club ball in Australia, Japan and Germany. U.S. national team goalkeeper Alyssa Naeher got the shutout against her former team. Chicago is now second with 9 points after 4 matches.
Also on Saturday May 7, Western New York Flash defeated Sky Blue FC 2-1 in New Jersey in front of 1,252 fans. Two goals in the last 20 minutes of the match by U.S. internationals Jaelene Hinkle on a penalty and Sam Mewis offset a first half goal by Sky Blue's Maya Hayes.
The Houston Dash leaped into a playoff spot on 7 points when they defeated defending champions FC Kansas City 2-1 on the road on May 7. Denise O'Sullivan (Republic of Ireland) and Chioma Ubogagu (who transferred to Houston after a year with Arsenal) scored their first goals of the season. Ubogagu assisted on O'Sullivan's goal while English youth international Rachel Daly feed Ubogagu for the winner. FC Kansas City made it close on a penalty kick goal by Yael Averbuch, who spent time in Sweden with Gothenburg and with the U.S. national team.
On Sunday, May 8, Orlando Pride won their second home match in a row with a 2-0 victory over Seattle Reign before a weekend high crowd of 8,122. Sarah Hagen (ex-Bayern Munich and FC Kansas City) scored in the 10th minute from a perfect cross by U.S. World Cup Winner Alex Morgan and English international forward Lianne Sanderson scored a clinching goal for the Pride, her second tally of the season. With the win, the Pride has 6 points and are tied for fifth on the table with the Reign and the Western New York Flash.
NWSL Personnel News
Changes for the Breakers
The last place Boston Breakers recently signed two promising forwards, one from Germany and the other from California. The Breakers signed Eunice Beckmann from Bayern Munich, who won the Frauen Bundesliga title in 2015-16. She scored 10 goals in 28 matches over 3 seasons for Bayern. Beckmann previously played for Duisberg and Bayer Leverkusen and is a Germany U-19 international. Their other new forward is Elise Krieghoff, who scored a school record 52 goals for Cal-Poly University. Krieghoff replaces veteran defender Sinead Farrelly, who was placed on the 45-day injury list. Head Coach Matt Beard said: “Elise has come in and done very well during our preseason. She is a natural goal scorer, which is hard to find. I'm really looking forward to seeing how she will progress over the course of the season and I'm confident she can have an impact."
The Breakers also waived forward Morgan Marlborough, who scored five goals since joining Boston before the 2015 season. Marlborough played only 24 minutes of a 3-0 loss to Seattle in Boston on April 24. Marlborough, who starred at Santa Clara University in Northern California, was the number 12 draft choice in the 2014 NWSL draft by FC Kansas City and was acquired by the Breakers after that season, along with defender Kassey Kallman, for U.S. international winger Heather O'Reilly. Marlborough won a league title with Kansas City during her rookie year.
Sky Blue FC signed New Zealand international goalkeeper
Erin Nayler, the current starting goalkeeper for New Zealand's national team, signed her first international club contract with Sky Blue FC. She played every minute of the Football Ferns three Women's World Cup Games last summer and was on the 2011 World Cup side as a 19-year-old. She played in the 2010 and 2012 U-20 World Cups. She was on the 2012 London Olympics side that made the quarterfinals and is expected to start this summer in the Rio de Janeiro Olympics. New Zealand head coach Tony Readings, a native of England, said about the signing: “Erin has proven consistently that she is a top international standard goalkeeper. She has worked incredibly hard in the past few years to develop her game and has helped the Football Ferns achieve some notable results on the world stage. The opportunity to play in one of the top leagues in the world will provide Erin with another challenge that will help to continue her development. Whilst Erin has performed consistently, she is still only at the start of her journey as a player, and this is an exciting next chapter for her."
On the club level, Nayler has played for a few different squads in her native New Zealand. She most recently competed at Northern Football with current Sky Blue FC assistant coach Paul Greig (28), who was the head coach of the side which won last season's ASB Women's League championship in New Zealand. A native of Scotland, he worked at Heart of Midlothian and East Fife at the youth level. Grieg had worked in New Zealand since 2011, working with the National Talent Centre as head coach.
Nayler is the third Football Fern 2015 Women's World Cup player in NWSL this season, joining defenders Abby Ercig of Western New York Flash and rookie Katie Bowen of FC Kansas City.
Nayler could be a significant signing for Sky Blue FC as their primary need entering the season was to find a goalkeeper to replace American Brittany Cameron, who had a 1.35 goals-against-average last season for a struggling side. Cameron decided to stay in Japan with Vegalta Sendai rather than return for the NWSL season. Cameron played behind former U.S. international goalkeeper Jill Loyden in 2014 but played 18 of 22 matches in 2013 for a 0.94 goals against average as Sky Blue FC made the playoffs in year one of the NWSL.
Portland Thorns signed Defender Meg Morris
The Portland Thorns signed reserve defender Meg Morris, who played for Sky Blue FC for two seasons. A graduate of powerhouse University of North Carolina, she played in the FIFA U-20 World Cup in Germany in 2010.
Tim Grainey is a contributor to Tribalfootball. His latest book is Beyond Bend it Like Beckham on the global game of women's football. Get your copy today.
Follow Tim on Twitter: @TimGrainey