This week we look at the conclusion of the 2019 National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) regular season, which ended with four games on October 12. North Carolina, Chicago Red Stars, Portland Thorns and Reign FC (Tacoma/Seattle) all made the playoffs—the exact same four participants as last season, which is the first time in the seven years of the NWSL that the four playoff participants from the previous season have repeated.

Note: North Carolina (Western New York), Chicago and Portland have made the playoffs since the 2016 season—Chicago actually has been in the post-season since 2015.

We also focus on the end of season exhibition match between the Dash and Mexican powerhouse Tigres in Monterrey, which should have been a high point for both leagues, but an off-the-field incident left a bad after-effect and there are some issues to be resolved now in terms of developing standards for fan-player interactions for both leagues. We also look at the league attendance figures in 2019, with a post-Women's World Cup surge in attendance helping most clubs in an important season for the league to build on. On Sunday October 20, Portland plays at Chicago, while the Reign FC travels to Cary, North Carolina to face the Courage in the semifinals.

2019 NWSL Regular Season Final Wrap-up

North Carolina Courage (15-4-5--49 points—First )

The Courage lost four more games and finished with 8 fewer points than last season, along with losing the final of the Women's International Champions Cup tournament to Lyon this summer—whereas they won the title in its first season in 2017—but the team still looked tremendously good, particularly from late August through early September when they won six games in a row, including back to back games where they scored 12 goals and surrendered 1 (a 6-0 win on the road in Portland on September 11 and then winning 6-2 at home three days later against Orlando 6-1). They made a statement in the September 11 triumph on the road against their biggest rivals and 2017 and 2018 NWSL finalists Portland Thorns, winning 6-0 in front of 17,517 stunned Thorns supporters, with Lynn Williams scoring a hat-trick. Opposing head coach Mark Parsons said after the game: "[North Carolina Courage] were very, very good. Outstanding performance from them. Probably the best that they might've played against a top team. Maybe one of the strongest performances we've seen in the league for a long time against a top team. On the other side of our form and our performance, we were probably at our worst."

The Courage has now won the NWSL Shield, awarded to the regular season champions, for the third consecutive season. Williams was second in the league in goals with 11, along with 5 assists. Kristen Hamilton finished with 9 goals and 5 assists to tie for third in the league Golden Boot goals-scoring race. Brazilian import Debinha was scintillating to watch all season, finishing with 8 goals and 7 assists (tied for sixth in the league in goals and second in the league in the latter category) and Crystal Dunn (ex-Chelsea in the English Super League in 2017-18) had 7 goals and 4 assists, Jessica McDonald had 5 goals and 3 assists—including a brace in their last regular season game—a 3-2 home win over Sky Blue FC, while Jaelene Hinkle contributed 1 goal and 6 assists from the back; Hinkle played in her 100^th league game in the win over Portland. As a team, the Courage set a league record with 54 goals scored in a season, one more than the record they set last year of 53.

Canadian international goalkeeper Steph Labbe was brought in to replace fellow Maple Leaf international Sabrina DeAngelo (who had a fantastic season in Sweden with surprise packet Vittsjo in 2019) as a back-up but Labbe quickly won the starting job from incumbent Katelyn Roland and posted a league best 0.69 GAA (goals against average) with 8 shutouts in 16 games—all starts. Third string backup Samantha Leshnak (an American youth international who played at the University of North Carolina, finishing in 2018) had a 0.50 average in 2 games with 1 shutout. The team allowed a league fewest 23 goals in 24 games.

Chicago Red Stars (14-2-8--44 points—Second)

The Red Stars picked up a crucial 3 points on September 11 with only 10 players on the field as Katie Johnson (Mexican international) was sent off after an hour for her second yellow card. Casey Short rescued the day by scoring five minutes into injury time from a Sam Kerr cross on the right side, when the Red Stars really should have been happy with the draw as U.S. international Ashlyn Harris was phenomenal in goal for Orlando. The win was the Red Star's second in five games to end the regular season and helped them to charge up to second place in the table, which allows them to host a semifinal. The five game winning streak came after dropping three in a row, including losses to the bottom two clubs Sky Blue FC away and Orlando at home. Australian international Sam Kerr won her third straight NWSL scoring title by breaking her own record for goals scored in the season by one tally—finishing with 18 goals and 5 assists. Chicago's strong finish to the season was also ignited by Japanese international Yuki Nagasato, who led the league for assists with 8 to go along with 7 goals.

Off the field, the Chicago Fire of the Major League Soccer will move to Soldiers Field downtown (capacity 61,500) in anticipation of a downtown purpose-built soccer stadium being planned in the area. The Red Stars look set to be the major tenant in their current suburban Bridgeview Seat Geek Stadium (capacity 20,000). Even without the MLS side, they should be able to average in the 4,000-6,000 range. But a larger question is do the Red Stars follow the Fire downtown into another purpose built stadium if it comes to fruition? This season, they averaged a record per game average of 5,451, up from 4,009 a game in 2018; they were one of a number of sides aided by the post-Women's World Cup attendance bump and they set a club record home attendance of 17,388 on July 21 when they defeated the Courage 2-1.

A more immediate question for the team to answer is whether Sam Kerr will return to Chicago and the NWSL next season; many around the league think that she will be gone after the playoffs, bound for a high profile European club—most likely Chelsea in England.

Portland Thorns (11-7-6 W-T-L—40 points—Third)

Canadian international Christine Sinclair led the club with 9 goals and 1 assist despite missing time away for the Women's World Cup while Midge Purce—the ex-Harvard University player in her second year with the Thorns and third season in the NWSL after playing for the now defunct Boston Breakers in 2017, where she scored 1 goal—came of age this season with 8 goals and 1 assist. Two-time American Women's World Cup winner Tobin Heath contributed 3 goals and 3 assists. Australian forward Haley Raso was effervescent in attack again, scoring 4 goals, after recovering this past winter with Brisbane Roar from a severe back injury suffered late last season in Washington. Fellow Matilda Caitlin Foord (3 goals and 2 assists) and defender Ellie Carpenter (1 assist) were key elements this season around their duties in France. Carpenter helped keep the defense steady along with Americans Emily Menges and U.S. international back Emily Sonnet (2 goals) in front of goalkeeper Adrianna Franch, who was hugely important again in goal with 5 shutouts in 14 and a goals against average of 1.43Her backup, Britt Eckerstrom, had 3 shutouts in 10 games with a 1.10 goals against average.

Ex-Florida State University midfielder and Iceland international Dagny Brynjarsdottir came back from maternity leave and did well—she had 5 goals and 2 assists in 28 games in 2016 and 2017—contributing 1 goal in 20 games this season

Ana Crnogorcevic of Switzerland could be jettisoned to free up an international spot to bring in another import. She had 1 goal and 1 assist in 12 games after 5 goals and 3 assists in 20 games in 2018, which even that was below expectations for a top European forward who joined the Thorns from Frankfurt and played over 100 international games for Switzerland after turning down Croatia when she was a youth. Many think she would be better utilized deeper in the field, as a defensive midfielder or even as a back. It will be interesting to see if she does leave after the season and, if so, where she goes to.

The Thorns again led the NWSL in attendance with an average of 20,098—a team and league record, setting an all-time league high for an individual game with 25,518 on August 11 in a 2-1 win over North Carolina, the largest in NWSL history and a sellout at their newly enlarged Providence Park stadium.

Reign FC (10-8-6--38 points—Fourth)

All credit to head coach Vtako Andonovski and the team as they looked out of the playoff race early in the season and were always chasing a berth. Casey Murphy's acquisition in goal from Montpellier in France was an inspired acquisition and probably the key difference maker in achieving the playoffs as her play was stellar (with a 1.11 GAA and 6 shutouts in 18 starts and was third in the league in saves with 73), salvaging the goal spot for the Reign after Australian international Lydia Williams and American backup Michelle Betos were lost for the season with injuries—two of many for the Reign, including Wales international midfield spark plug Jess Fishlockand Americans Taylor Smith and Jasmyne Spencer, who all tore ACL's.

Bethany Balcer led the team in scoring with 6 goals and 2 assists in 24 games (19 as starts), followed by English international Jodie Taylor with 5 goals and 3 assists (in 16 games) while American Darian Jenkins added 4 goals and 1 assists in 17 games. Jenkins played at UCLA and was drafted by North Carolina in 2017 but missed her first season through an injury sustained in college—she came to The Reign last December in a trade for the club's 9^th overall pick in the 2019 NWSL College Draft. Balcer meanwhile came out of tiny Spring Arbor University in Michigan, winning 2 NAIA Championships and 3 National Player of the Year Awards. She then won another title in 2017 in the UWS with Grand Rapids FC and a WPSL title in 2018 with the Seattle Sounders. She is a winner and has been a key force this season, coming in for the injured Spencer and Ghanian international Elizabeth Addo, who left for China after one season after little impact up front for the Reign.

The Reign didn't go on a long winning streak like Chicago did to make the playoffs—they had one tie and two losses in three matches in late August. They then won three and tied twice in their last six games, but home wins over Utah on September 25 (2-1) and four days later against Portland (2-0) were crucial as Washington and Utah faltered in the stretch, giving them a semifinal spot. You can never count out a Vlatko-coached team heading into the final four, as he won two crowns at FC Kansas City (2014 and 2105) when his sides were vast underdogs to their league final opponents the Reign both seasons.

English international and 2019 WWC forward Jodie Taylor didn't score as much this season as expected—she had 9 goals and 1 assist in 2018 in 24 games—but her late game winner in a 2-1 win over Utah on September 25 at home, after assisting on the first goal, gave the Washington State club a six point swing over the Royals and allowed the Reign to ultimately make the playoffs again in Vlatko's second season in the Pacific Northwest, at the expense of Utah. Taylor said after the game: "It was a battle, wasn't it? We knew going into it that it was going to be a scrappy game. I thought it was quite end-to-end and tight. I'm just happy that we won." Andonovski said about Taylor's efforts this season: "The thing with Jodie is that she knows she hasn't scored as many goals as she could probably score. But she's a big player. She comes in in big games and scores big goals. When you need her the most, she scores a goal in the 86th minutes to get us a step closer to the playoffs." Taylor won the league Player of the Week honors for her efforts and sent the crowd of 5,015 home delighted.

Megan Rapinoe has only played in a few games since the completion of the Women's World Cup in France in July due to an Achilles injury. She first played for the Reign on September 7, coming on in the 72^nd minute, as Reign FC scored three goals in the opening 17 minutes of play before a two-hour weather delay at Cheney Stadium because of lightning in the area. When the teams returned to play, the Reign competently saw out a 2-1 victory over Orlando. Rapinoe talked after the game about how it felt to be on the field again: "It was great after two months and five hours of trying to get back on the field. Obviously, the game was a little jumbled once I got in, I didn't help settle it down much, but just to be back out there and get my lungs a little bit and get my legs back under me felt good."

The big question facing this squad is will this be Vlatko's last season with the club, as his name is top of the list for candidates to replace Jill Ellis as U.S. Women's national team coach, along with former Reign and now Utah Royals head coach Laura Harvey. We should know within the next three to four weeks what U.S. Soccer decides.

Regarding attendance, as a native of Washington state, I was skeptical of the Reign's move to Cheney Stadium in Seattle's Southern neighbor of Tacoma, sharing the baseball stadium with the popular minor league baseball team Tacoma Rainiers (who averaged 5,109 fans a game in 2019, which was down from 5,403 in 2018) and the Tacoma Defiance of the USL Championship (a second division men's side which the Rainiers operate and is managed by the MLSSeattle Sounders as their reserve team and has 20% local fan based ownership). The Defiance averaged 2,418 a game in 2019 after 3,370 in 2018 in their first season in Tacoma while branded as Seattle Sounders II. I thought the Division II men's side and the very popular baseball team was too much competition for the Reign but their attendance in the second half of the 2019 season has soared—matching their play—with 5,411 attending on average (up from 3,824 in 2018 and their all-time high of 4,602 in 2016)—and similar to North Carolina (4^th), Chicago (5^th) and Orlando (7^th) in the 5,300-5,500 range this season. One nagging point is that some NWSL television announcers still refer to the Reign as Seattle and they are definitely not in Seattle anymore—Greater Seattle or Seattle/Tacoma is acceptable perhaps, but they are now a Tacoma-based team with a population of 200,000, compared to Seattle's 700,000 city population (with the Seattle/Tacoma/Bellevue metropolitan area containing just under 4 million people). The jury is still out on whether the NWSL's smallest market can still make a go of it. We have yet to see how much of the gate comes from Seattle, but we suspect it is quite low, but the first year is promising and deserving of a second year in Tacoma at least.

Washington Spirit (9-7-8--34 points—Joint Fifth)

Not making the playoffs for the third consecutive season was a downer for the Spirit but only 3 wins in 10 games from August 5 through October 5 (along with 3 ties) was too much to overcome, with the 3-2 loss at Audi Field in Washington D.C. on September 21 against Chicago and a 0-0 snore fest draw in Houston the lethal blows to the campaign's playoff hopes. That said, there were so many positives for the Spirit in 2019 and their Liverpool-born first year head coach Richie Burke should receive serious consideration for Coach of the Year honors as he has really straightened out a franchise that was directionless on the coaching side and in freefall since making the NWSL Final in 2016.

2017 NWSL Rookie of the Year Ashley Hatch (while at North Carolina) led the side with 7 goals and 2 assists and combined well with Jamaican international Cheyna Matthews (3 goals and 2 assists) and rookie Jordan Di Biasi—who won the College Cup with Stanford University in 2017—who had 4 goals from midfield. Matthews then went to Jamaica this month and scored 8 goals in 4 games in CONCACAF Caribbean Olympic Games Qualifiers at home, including 4 goals in a 12-1 win over Cuba and a brace in a 7-0 win over Barbados, along with singles against St. Lucia (11-0) and the U.S. Virgin Islands (7-0). Jamaica advanced to the CONCACAF Olympic Qualifying finals, likely to be held early next year.

Burke started the season with two Australian internationals in 2019 acquisitions defender Amy Harrison (2 assists) and midfielder Choloe Logarzo (1 goal), and then added a third in midseason from Reign FC in midfielder Elise Kellond-Knight. Combined with American 2019 WWC stars Rose Lavelle (1 goal and 1 assist) and Mallory Pugh (2 goals and 2 assists) along with a late cut from that side in Andi Sullivan (2 goals)—with all three on the U.S. squad in early October for friendlies against the Korea Republic that the Americans won one and tied the other—the team jelled nicely.

Audrey Bledsoe should end up as a First or Second team all-NWSL section after posting 9 shutouts, a 1.05 GAA and tied for the lead in saves (86) with Sky Blue's Kailen Sheridan, even while up against a number of strong goalkeeper candidates such as Kailen Sheridan of Sky Blue, Nicole Barnhart in Utah, Casey Murphy in Tacoma, Allysa Naeher of Chicago and Adrianna Franch of Portland. Bledsoe was phenomenal at times, including a world class last-second save from Rachel Hill in the first Audi Field game victory over Orlando. Bledsoe will return to reigning W-League Champions Sydney FC for a second season down under in 2019/20. In front of Bledsoe, Rookie Sam Stabb played every minute of all 24 games—a rarity for a rookie in this league—contributing 1 goal and 1 assist. Stabb played at Clemson and helped the U.S. U-23 national team win the 2018 Nordic Tournament, scoring the winner in the final game to clinch the title, while being the only non-professional player at the time in the squad. She was the fourth overall draft pick by Washington in the 2019 NWSL College Draft.

Off the field, the two games at Audi Field in Washington D.C. after the Womens' World Cup drew crowds of 17,418 on September 14 for an exciting 2-2 tie with the Reign—with each team scoring once in the 90^th minute/injury time—and a 2-1 thrilling win on August 21 against Orlando in front of a club record crowd of 19,471. As a result the club conducted an end of season fan survey to determine the future mix of games between Audi Field, their long-time suburban Maryland Soccerplex home and new option Segra Field in Loudoun County/Leesburg Virginia, the home of Loudoun United FC of the USL First Division (men's third division) which holds 5,000. The Spirit has always had solid support in their suburban Maryland home but nothing like the crowds they have had at Audi Field in three matches over two seasons. Those crowds helped the Spirit clinch third in the league in attendance with a 6,105 average compared to 3,892 last season, when they were sixth, an increase of 36% in 2019. Their all-time attendance average record was 4,087 in 2015. This is a franchise that is moving along on a nice upward trajectory, both on and off the field.

Utah Royals (10-4-10—34 Points—Joint Fifth)

After winning four games and tying the other from early August through the first week of September—the Royals were rolling to their first post-season spot since moving to Utah ahead of the 2018 season. However, four consecutive losses in their last five games—three against teams who made the semifinals—extinguished their playoff hopes. Utah's arguably most important win in the home stretch was their penultimate victory in 2019, a 1-0 over Portland in Salt Lake City back on September 6 as 10,897 saw two-time World Cup Becky Sauerbrunn score in the 36^th minute, with an assist from August's NWSL Player of the Month and fellow 2015 and 2019 American World Cup winner Christen Press.

Look for some talent infusion ahead of the 2020 season but the defense is strong and Nicole Barnhart tied her own record for shutouts in a season with 10, as the team allowed only 25 goals—tied for second with Washington in the league to North Carolina (23). She was 12 minutes away from her NWSL record tying 11^th clean sheet in the last game of the season—held by Adrianna Franch of the Thorns with 11 shutouts in 2017, when Houston's Kristie Mewis scored in the 78^th minute as Utah defeated the Dash 2-1 at home in front of 9,513 fans on October 12^th. Their 25 goals for is only 6^th best in the league and they were too reliant on Christen Press (8 goals, 2 assists) and Amy Rodriguez (9 goals) to score; this side needs other options to support Press and Rodriguez.

American forward Katie Stengel has 2 goals and 1 assist in 22 games after scoring 6 times last year and might be a trade option to free up a forward spot. She scored 10 goals in 13 games in 2017/18 with Newcastle Jets in the Australian W-League after scoring 6 for Western Sydney Wanderers in 12 games in 2016/17. Defender Sydney Miramontes, who played with Western Sydney Wanderers last winter along with midfielder Lo'eau LaBonta, was injured in preseason and only played in 210 minutes across 4 games. Hopefully Miramontes comes back at full strength next season for Utah—if not, she could be a big help to another NWSL or European club. LaBonta was hugely influential this season in midfield, supporting the creative play of Spanish international acquisition Vero Boquette, who finished with 6 assists (tied for third with Jaelene Hinkle of the Courage). If former Arsenal head coach Laura Harvey is not selected to head up the U.S. National Team in the off-season—though she seems to be second choice right now to Reign FC's Vlatko Andonovski—she has many of the pieces to challenge for a top two spot next season, as long as they can add more firepower.

Houston Dash (7-5-12—26 points—Seventh)

The Dash's playoff hopes ran dry with only 1 win and a tie in their last seven games and 7 points out of 24 in their last 8. Despite enthusiasm with long time Dash/Dynamo organization coach James Clarkson replacing Dutch coach Vera Pauw—who now leads the Republic of Ireland—and though they are still an attractive club to watch, the major point is that they finished one position behind last season along with 6 fewer points.

They have international talent galore but every year they look up at the playoffs while their televised games are embarrassing due to noticeably vast sections of empty seats. Attendance fell again and at least there is some hope on the field, which there wasn't in the Randy Waldrum coaching era—I guess we should be happy that for once in years, his name hasn't come up in connection with the open U.S. women's national team job.

Canadian international midfielder Sophie Schmidt was a stabilizing force in midfield contributing 1 assist in 17 games, combining with more attacking options as Mexican/American international Sofia Huerta, who led the club in points with 5 goals and 4 assists and scored a brace in a 2-1 win over Utah on September 13, 2019 at home, Kristie Mewis chipped in 4 goals and 1 assist out of midfield. Up top, English international Rachel Daly had 5 goals and 1 assist and Kealia Ohai had 2 goals and 1 assist, the latter a surprise total for the 2016 joint goalscorer with Lynn Williams on 11 goals. Huerta will again spend the off-season with Sydney FC in Australia, hoping to gain a second consecutive league crown.

American international goalkeeper Jane Campbell had 6 shutouts—double what she had in each of 2017 and 2018—and a 1.50 GAA and was fourth in the league in saves with 71; Campbell is getting known as a penalty kick save artist, with 4 saves this year—a new league record. All of the above are strong elements to build around in the seasons to come. Questions revolve if Australian international forward Kyah Simon will return. She has been hurt frequently and was a late omission from the Matildas' side in France and her scoring has been below expectations, with 2 goals and 2 assists this year in 10 games equalizing her output last year, in which she appeared in five more matches. This club needs to find a forward capable of contributing 8-10 goals to take the pressure off of Ohai, Daly and Huerta.

After a dreadful 0-0 tie on September 25 at home against Washington that confirmed their sixth season without a playoff berth, Dash Head Coach James Clarkson talked about his frustration with the final result: "I think it's [the] story of our season really… I think it's a good solid performance on the back of four or five really competitive games in a really short period of time. It's unfortunate, where we've had our chances to win the game. Jane's [Campbel in goal] made a couple of really good saves to keep it obviously tied. We pushed and pushed—we went to 3-5-2 in [an] effort to win the game. We really wanted to win it for the fans, it was a great turn out tonight on a Wednesday night. They stayed until the end and we really wanted to win for them." Clarkson continued to talk about their fan base when he said: "The fans have been fantastic, they have been behind us all year. You know, the staff loves you, the players love you. We really appreciate the time, effort, and commitment it takes to support us. Hopefully we can improve [on our] home form, and get more people out here, get behind the team, and really make a really good push out here next year."

It seems to this reporter that the fan base has dwindled so badly that many have given up on the team. It's worrisome when seemingly the Dash was the only NWSL team without a WWC bump, drawing 3,615 in 2019 versus 3,655 last season, as the average gate has declined every season since their record best in Year 2 (2015) of 6,422.

The club had what everyone thought would be a high water mark with a end of season exhibition match against LigaMX Femenil power Tigres Femenil in Monterrey Mexico, the first time a NWSL side had faced international opposition outside of the country and a first friendly against a Mexican club side. Midfielder Kristie Mewis talked positively ahead of the trip to Mexico: "It will be an amazing opportunity. We haven't game planned for it yet, but I think it will be an amazing experience. It's such a different culture in Mexico. Their fans will be very intense. That's nothing against the Americans. Different stadium, feel, country and I hope whatever the lineup is, that we go in there ready to play because I think they're going to take it to us." James Clarkson added: "These are opportunities that we have to take advantages of; Monterrey is so close to us, so this is an ideal situation. It's something that we want to continue to do, build on it and push the envelope in our play and club development." Tigres have won two league titles (in a split season format) over four campaigns and finished second once. The game was scheduled in the Estadio Universitario, better known as 'El Volcan,' (the Volcano) shortly after the men's side of Tigres takes on Club Santos Laguna in a sold-out game.

The Dash lost the match 2-1 to Tigres with Kealia Ohai giving Houston a great start with a goal in the third minute. Tigres equalized off a counterattack in the 71nd minute from 21-year-old Mexican international Katty Martinez Abad, who then fed Lizbeth Ovalle for the goal; Ovalle has played for her country in FIFA U-17 and U-20 World Cups. Tigres scored the game-winning goal on a penalty kick in the 84th minute by 30-year-old Mexican international Liliana Mercado. Dash backup goalkeeper and Mexican international goalkeeper Bianca Henninger finished the game with five saves.

The event left a bad taste in people's mouths and it wasn't the result that caused it. Unfortunately, this game will be remembered for an incident in which Sofia Huerta was groped by an adult fan while posing for a photo after the game The Attorney General's Office for the State of Nuevo Leon has opened an investigation into the incident. Tigres issued a statement condemning the behavior and vowing legal action and a lifetime ban from all facilities for the fan, who they reportedly were able to identify. The Dash subsequently released a brief statement supporting Tigres' pursuit of justice: "We support the position of Tigres UANL in having zero tolerance for the gestures that occurred on Saturday and we believe that this behavior has no place in our game or in our society. Above all, our first priority is the safety of the players and we appreciate the effort of Tigres to resolve this issue."

Needless to say, the league will be monitoring the post-game meet and greets for safety protocols as this incident could happen anywhere; the players willingly participate in these sessions to help grow the game. Our thoughts are with Sofia Huerta, who this author has interviewed in the past while with the Chicago Red Stars. This incident, a human rights violation, should not happen to anyone, in any location, domestically or internationally.

Sky Blue FC (5-5-14--20 points—Eighth)

Sky Blue looked very strong in the last two months of the season with 3 wins, 3 ties and 4 losses in their last 10 games and moved a second game to Red Bull Arena in Harrison, New Jersey on September 29 against Orlando (8,314 attendance) after the success of the first game on August 18 against Reign FC, which attracted a club record (sad though that is) of 9,415—incidentally both matches ended 1-1. Two-time WWC winner Carli Lloyd led the club with 8 goals and 1 assist followed by Costa Rican international Raquel Rodriguez with 3 goals and 3 assists.

The two games at the MLS Red Bull's stadium took their season average attendance up to 3,338—a record for the club (again sad) for the season, up from 2,531 in 2018 and though still bottom of the league, does show some hope for this franchise that hit rock bottom in 2018 on and off the field with only 9 points all season and repeated reports of poor housing and training conditions resulting in players leaving the club and some draft picks moving abroad.

The coaching carousel at Sky Blue continued to turn as Freya Coombe took over as interim head coach on September 4 and added two other staffers.Coach Hugo Macedo, who led Sky Blue to a 4-2-4 record while overseeing game day responsibilities, returned to his role as Goalkeeper Coach. Coombe joins Sky Blue FC from New York Soccer Club (NYSC), where she serves as the Director of Scouting and a Development Academy Coach. NYSC is an official Girls Development Academy partner of Sky Blue FC.
Coombe played five years at Reading FC in England, a club that is now a part of the Barclays FA Women's Super League. She also coached at the club for seven years, serving as the Director of Coaching for the Reading FC Centre of Excellence and as the Women's Development Team Manager for Reading FC Women. The two new coaching appointments to assist her are Iouri "George" Vichniakov as Assistant Coach and Player Development Advisor and Marcia McDermott as Technical Advisor. Vichniakov previously was the head coach of the Jersey Express of the Premier Development League, now known as USL League Two. He compiled a 47-15-18 record over four years as head coach and then as Sporting Director. During his tenure, the Jersey Express were 2014 Mid-Atlantic Division and Eastern Conference champions. McDermott brings a wealth of experience from the college to professional level, both as a coach and as an executive. She won a championship as a Head Coach with the Carolina Courage of Women's United Soccer Association (WUSA) and served as the General Manager for the Chicago Red Stars of Women's Professional Soccer (WPS).

A big question here is where the team will play in 2019 as they will definitely not stay at Rutgers University—an inconvenient drive for both New York City area fans and those in the Philadelphia/Cherry Hill area—stay tuned to this space for more expected news on this club in the offseason, but things look much better entering the offseason than they did a year ago. They badly need an experience scorer to help take the load off of Carli Lloyd's shoulders.

Orlando Pride (4-4-16—16 points—Ninth)

The expected clear out from the bottom side began in late August when English international forward Chioma Ubogagu (who had 4 goals and 2 assists on the season), who was a late omission from Phil Neville's World Cup side in France, was released so she could go abroad. A few weeks later she signed with Real Madrid in Spain. Brazilian international forward Marta had 6 goals and is rumored to be leaving the club. American forward Alex Morgan was scoreless in only 6 games, missing most of the season due to WWC commitments and injury.

The Pride struggled all season and were just overrun by teams, surrendering 53 goals on the season, tying the league record with the Boston Breakers who gave up 53 in 2014 and surpassing Sky Blue FC, who gave up 51 in 2017 and 52 in 2018—all of which were 24 game seasons.

Sydney Leroux led the team in scoring in 2018 with 6 goals and 2 assists but was off on maternity leave most of 2019; she returned for small portions of the last two games after giving birth to her second child, a daughter, only three months earlier. The 2015 WWC winner would work well with Alex Morgan next year and they represent a solid core for Skinner to build around. Toni Pressley appeared late in the last game of the season, an exciting 2-2 tie at home with the Reign, after missing half of the season due to cancer treatments. The crowd welcomed her back and goalkeeper Ashlyn Harris gave her the captain's armband to wear—welcome back Toni!

Six of the nine NWSL teams set attendance records this year after the Women's World Cup in France but Orlando wasn't one of them, not coming close to their opening day record crowd of 23,403 in 2016. They did see a small increase in their average attendance toof 5,335 in 2019 from 4,837 in 2018—no doubt the WWC bump helped somewhat but the last few games on television seemed to have a vast amount of purple areas—or else fans decided to come dressed as empty seats.

NWSL 2019 Attendance Summary

The league average overall in 2019 was 7,377—a league record high and up from 6,024 in 2018, which was the previous highest average attendance since the league began in 2013. Six teams set home attendance records in 2019 after the World Cup with fans excited, particularly with the Americans second win in a row, and all of them playing in the NWSL:

Portland, 25,218 vs. NC Courage
Washington, 19,871 vs. Orlando
Chicago, 17,388 vs. NC Courage
NC Courage, 9,563 vs. Orlando
Sky Blue FC, 9,415 Reign FC
Reign FC, 7,479 vs. Chicago

Tim Grainey is a contributor to Tribal Football. His latest book Beyond Bend it Like Beckham on the global game of women's football. Get your copy today.

Follow Tim on Twitter: @TimGraineyThis week we look at the conclusion of the 2019 National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) regular season, which ended with four games on October 12. North Carolina, Chicago Red Stars, Portland Thorns and Reign FC (Tacoma/Seattle) all made the playoffs—the exact same four participants as last season, which is the first time in the seven years of the NWSL that the four playoff participants from the previous season have repeated.

Note: North Carolina (Western New York), Chicago and Portland have made the playoffs since the 2016 season—Chicago actually has been in the post-season since 2015.

We also focus on the end of season exhibition match between the Dash and Mexican powerhouse Tigres in Monterrey, which should have been a high point for both leagues, but an off-the-field incident left a bad after-effect and there are some issues to be resolved now in terms of developing standards for fan-player interactions for both leagues. We also look at the league attendance figures in 2019, with a post-Women's World Cup surge in attendance helping most clubs in an important season for the league to build on. On Sunday October 20, Portland plays at Chicago, while the Reign FC travels to Cary, North Carolina to face the Courage in the semifinals.

2019 NWSL Regular Season Final Wrap-up

North Carolina Courage (15-4-5--49 points—First )

The Courage lost four more games and finished with 8 fewer points than last season, along with losing the final of the Women's International Champions Cup tournament to Lyon this summer—whereas they won the title in its first season in 2017—but the team still looked tremendously good, particularly from late August through early September when they won six games in a row, including back to back games where they scored 12 goals and surrendered 1 (a 6-0 win on the road in Portland on September 11 and then winning 6-2 at home three days later against Orlando 6-1). They made a statement in the September 11 triumph on the road against their biggest rivals and 2017 and 2018 NWSL finalists Portland Thorns, winning 6-0 in front of 17,517 stunned Thorns supporters, with Lynn Williams scoring a hat-trick. Opposing head coach Mark Parsons said after the game: "[North Carolina Courage] were very, very good. Outstanding performance from them. Probably the best that they might've played against a top team. Maybe one of the strongest performances we've seen in the league for a long time against a top team. On the other side of our form and our performance, we were probably at our worst."

The Courage has now won the NWSL Shield, awarded to the regular season champions, for the third consecutive season. Williams was second in the league in goals with 11, along with 5 assists. Kristen Hamilton finished with 9 goals and 5 assists to tie for third in the league Golden Boot goals-scoring race. Brazilian import Debinha was scintillating to watch all season, finishing with 8 goals and 7 assists (tied for sixth in the league in goals and second in the league in the latter category) and Crystal Dunn (ex-Chelsea in the English Super League in 2017-18) had 7 goals and 4 assists, Jessica McDonald had 5 goals and 3 assists—including a brace in their last regular season game—a 3-2 home win over Sky Blue FC, while Jaelene Hinkle contributed 1 goal and 6 assists from the back; Hinkle played in her 100^th league game in the win over Portland. As a team, the Courage set a league record with 54 goals scored in a season, one more than the record they set last year of 53.

Canadian international goalkeeper Steph Labbe was brought in to replace fellow Maple Leaf international Sabrina DeAngelo (who had a fantastic season in Sweden with surprise packet Vittsjo in 2019) as a back-up but Labbe quickly won the starting job from incumbent Katelyn Roland and posted a league best 0.69 GAA (goals against average) with 8 shutouts in 16 games—all starts. Third string backup Samantha Leshnak (an American youth international who played at the University of North Carolina, finishing in 2018) had a 0.50 average in 2 games with 1 shutout. The team allowed a league fewest 23 goals in 24 games.

Chicago Red Stars (14-2-8--44 points—Second)

The Red Stars picked up a crucial 3 points on September 11 with only 10 players on the field as Katie Johnson (Mexican international) was sent off after an hour for her second yellow card. Casey Short rescued the day by scoring five minutes into injury time from a Sam Kerr cross on the right side, when the Red Stars really should have been happy with the draw as U.S. international Ashlyn Harris was phenomenal in goal for Orlando. The win was the Red Star's second in five games to end the regular season and helped them to charge up to second place in the table, which allows them to host a semifinal. The five game winning streak came after dropping three in a row, including losses to the bottom two clubs Sky Blue FC away and Orlando at home. Australian international Sam Kerr won her third straight NWSL scoring title by breaking her own record for goals scored in the season by one tally—finishing with 18 goals and 5 assists. Chicago's strong finish to the season was also ignited by Japanese international Yuki Nagasato, who led the league for assists with 8 to go along with 7 goals.

Off the field, the Chicago Fire of the Major League Soccer will move to Soldiers Field downtown (capacity 61,500) in anticipation of a downtown purpose-built soccer stadium being planned in the area. The Red Stars look set to be the major tenant in their current suburban Bridgeview Seat Geek Stadium (capacity 20,000). Even without the MLS side, they should be able to average in the 4,000-6,000 range. But a larger question is do the Red Stars follow the Fire downtown into another purpose built stadium if it comes to fruition? This season, they averaged a record per game average of 5,451, up from 4,009 a game in 2018; they were one of a number of sides aided by the post-Women's World Cup attendance bump and they set a club record home attendance of 17,388 on July 21 when they defeated the Courage 2-1.

A more immediate question for the team to answer is whether Sam Kerr will return to Chicago and the NWSL next season; many around the league think that she will be gone after the playoffs, bound for a high profile European club—most likely Chelsea in England.

Portland Thorns (11-7-6 W-T-L—40 points—Third)

Canadian international Christine Sinclair led the club with 9 goals and 1 assist despite missing time away for the Women's World Cup while Midge Purce—the ex-Harvard University player in her second year with the Thorns and third season in the NWSL after playing for the now defunct Boston Breakers in 2017, where she scored 1 goal—came of age this season with 8 goals and 1 assist. Two-time American Women's World Cup winner Tobin Heath contributed 3 goals and 3 assists. Australian forward Haley Raso was effervescent in attack again, scoring 4 goals, after recovering this past winter with Brisbane Roar from a severe back injury suffered late last season in Washington. Fellow Matilda Caitlin Foord (3 goals and 2 assists) and defender Ellie Carpenter (1 assist) were key elements this season around their duties in France. Carpenter helped keep the defense steady along with Americans Emily Menges and U.S. international back Emily Sonnet (2 goals) in front of goalkeeper Adrianna Franch, who was hugely important again in goal with 5 shutouts in 14 and a goals against average of 1.43Her backup, Britt Eckerstrom, had 3 shutouts in 10 games with a 1.10 goals against average.

Ex-Florida State University midfielder and Iceland international Dagny Brynjarsdottir came back from maternity leave and did well—she had 5 goals and 2 assists in 28 games in 2016 and 2017—contributing 1 goal in 20 games this season

Ana Crnogorcevic of Switzerland could be jettisoned to free up an international spot to bring in another import. She had 1 goal and 1 assist in 12 games after 5 goals and 3 assists in 20 games in 2018, which even that was below expectations for a top European forward who joined the Thorns from Frankfurt and played over 100 international games for Switzerland after turning down Croatia when she was a youth. Many think she would be better utilized deeper in the field, as a defensive midfielder or even as a back. It will be interesting to see if she does leave after the season and, if so, where she goes to.

The Thorns again led the NWSL in attendance with an average of 20,098—a team and league record, setting an all-time league high for an individual game with 25,518 on August 11 in a 2-1 win over North Carolina, the largest in NWSL history and a sellout at their newly enlarged Providence Park stadium.

Reign FC (10-8-6--38 points—Fourth)

All credit to head coach Vtako Andonovski and the team as they looked out of the playoff race early in the season and were always chasing a berth. Casey Murphy's acquisition in goal from Montpellier in France was an inspired acquisition and probably the key difference maker in achieving the playoffs as her play was stellar (with a 1.11 GAA and 6 shutouts in 18 starts and was third in the league in saves with 73), salvaging the goal spot for the Reign after Australian international Lydia Williams and American backup Michelle Betos were lost for the season with injuries—two of many for the Reign, including Wales international midfield spark plug Jess Fishlockand Americans Taylor Smith and Jasmyne Spencer, who all tore ACL's.

Bethany Balcer led the team in scoring with 6 goals and 2 assists in 24 games (19 as starts), followed by English international Jodie Taylor with 5 goals and 3 assists (in 16 games) while American Darian Jenkins added 4 goals and 1 assists in 17 games. Jenkins played at UCLA and was drafted by North Carolina in 2017 but missed her first season through an injury sustained in college—she came to The Reign last December in a trade for the club's 9^th overall pick in the 2019 NWSL College Draft. Balcer meanwhile came out of tiny Spring Arbor University in Michigan, winning 2 NAIA Championships and 3 National Player of the Year Awards. She then won another title in 2017 in the UWS with Grand Rapids FC and a WPSL title in 2018 with the Seattle Sounders. She is a winner and has been a key force this season, coming in for the injured Spencer and Ghanian international Elizabeth Addo, who left for China after one season after little impact up front for the Reign.

The Reign didn't go on a long winning streak like Chicago did to make the playoffs—they had one tie and two losses in three matches in late August. They then won three and tied twice in their last six games, but home wins over Utah on September 25 (2-1) and four days later against Portland (2-0) were crucial as Washington and Utah faltered in the stretch, giving them a semifinal spot. You can never count out a Vlatko-coached team heading into the final four, as he won two crowns at FC Kansas City (2014 and 2105) when his sides were vast underdogs to their league final opponents the Reign both seasons.

English international and 2019 WWC forward Jodie Taylor didn't score as much this season as expected—she had 9 goals and 1 assist in 2018 in 24 games—but her late game winner in a 2-1 win over Utah on September 25 at home, after assisting on the first goal, gave the Washington State club a six point swing over the Royals and allowed the Reign to ultimately make the playoffs again in Vlatko's second season in the Pacific Northwest, at the expense of Utah. Taylor said after the game: "It was a battle, wasn't it? We knew going into it that it was going to be a scrappy game. I thought it was quite end-to-end and tight. I'm just happy that we won." Andonovski said about Taylor's efforts this season: "The thing with Jodie is that she knows she hasn't scored as many goals as she could probably score. But she's a big player. She comes in in big games and scores big goals. When you need her the most, she scores a goal in the 86th minutes to get us a step closer to the playoffs." Taylor won the league Player of the Week honors for her efforts and sent the crowd of 5,015 home delighted.

Megan Rapinoe has only played in a few games since the completion of the Women's World Cup in France in July due to an Achilles injury. She first played for the Reign on September 7, coming on in the 72^nd minute, as Reign FC scored three goals in the opening 17 minutes of play before a two-hour weather delay at Cheney Stadium because of lightning in the area. When the teams returned to play, the Reign competently saw out a 2-1 victory over Orlando. Rapinoe talked after the game about how it felt to be on the field again: "It was great after two months and five hours of trying to get back on the field. Obviously, the game was a little jumbled once I got in, I didn't help settle it down much, but just to be back out there and get my lungs a little bit and get my legs back under me felt good."

The big question facing this squad is will this be Vlatko's last season with the club, as his name is top of the list for candidates to replace Jill Ellis as U.S. Women's national team coach, along with former Reign and now Utah Royals head coach Laura Harvey. We should know within the next three to four weeks what U.S. Soccer decides.

Regarding attendance, as a native of Washington state, I was skeptical of the Reign's move to Cheney Stadium in Seattle's Southern neighbor of Tacoma, sharing the baseball stadium with the popular minor league baseball team Tacoma Rainiers (who averaged 5,109 fans a game in 2019, which was down from 5,403 in 2018) and the Tacoma Defiance of the USL Championship (a second division men's side which the Rainiers operate and is managed by the MLSSeattle Sounders as their reserve team and has 20% local fan based ownership). The Defiance averaged 2,418 a game in 2019 after 3,370 in 2018 in their first season in Tacoma while branded as Seattle Sounders II. I thought the Division II men's side and the very popular baseball team was too much competition for the Reign but their attendance in the second half of the 2019 season has soared—matching their play—with 5,411 attending on average (up from 3,824 in 2018 and their all-time high of 4,602 in 2016)—and similar to North Carolina (4^th), Chicago (5^th) and Orlando (7^th) in the 5,300-5,500 range this season. One nagging point is that some NWSL television announcers still refer to the Reign as Seattle and they are definitely not in Seattle anymore—Greater Seattle or Seattle/Tacoma is acceptable perhaps, but they are now a Tacoma-based team with a population of 200,000, compared to Seattle's 700,000 city population (with the Seattle/Tacoma/Bellevue metropolitan area containing just under 4 million people). The jury is still out on whether the NWSL's smallest market can still make a go of it. We have yet to see how much of the gate comes from Seattle, but we suspect it is quite low, but the first year is promising and deserving of a second year in Tacoma at least.

Washington Spirit (9-7-8--34 points—Joint Fifth)

Not making the playoffs for the third consecutive season was a downer for the Spirit but only 3 wins in 10 games from August 5 through October 5 (along with 3 ties) was too much to overcome, with the 3-2 loss at Audi Field in Washington D.C. on September 21 against Chicago and a 0-0 snore fest draw in Houston the lethal blows to the campaign's playoff hopes. That said, there were so many positives for the Spirit in 2019 and their Liverpool-born first year head coach Richie Burke should receive serious consideration for Coach of the Year honors as he has really straightened out a franchise that was directionless on the coaching side and in freefall since making the NWSL Final in 2016.

2017 NWSL Rookie of the Year Ashley Hatch (while at North Carolina) led the side with 7 goals and 2 assists and combined well with Jamaican international Cheyna Matthews (3 goals and 2 assists) and rookie Jordan Di Biasi—who won the College Cup with Stanford University in 2017—who had 4 goals from midfield. Matthews then went to Jamaica this month and scored 8 goals in 4 games in CONCACAF Caribbean Olympic Games Qualifiers at home, including 4 goals in a 12-1 win over Cuba and a brace in a 7-0 win over Barbados, along with singles against St. Lucia (11-0) and the U.S. Virgin Islands (7-0). Jamaica advanced to the CONCACAF Olympic Qualifying finals, likely to be held early next year.

Burke started the season with two Australian internationals in 2019 acquisitions defender Amy Harrison (2 assists) and midfielder Choloe Logarzo (1 goal), and then added a third in midseason from Reign FC in midfielder Elise Kellond-Knight. Combined with American 2019 WWC stars Rose Lavelle (1 goal and 1 assist) and Mallory Pugh (2 goals and 2 assists) along with a late cut from that side in Andi Sullivan (2 goals)—with all three on the U.S. squad in early October for friendlies against the Korea Republic that the Americans won one and tied the other—the team jelled nicely.

Audrey Bledsoe should end up as a First or Second team all-NWSL section after posting 9 shutouts, a 1.05 GAA and tied for the lead in saves (86) with Sky Blue's Kailen Sheridan, even while up against a number of strong goalkeeper candidates such as Kailen Sheridan of Sky Blue, Nicole Barnhart in Utah, Casey Murphy in Tacoma, Allysa Naeher of Chicago and Adrianna Franch of Portland. Bledsoe was phenomenal at times, including a world class last-second save from Rachel Hill in the first Audi Field game victory over Orlando. Bledsoe will return to reigning W-League Champions Sydney FC for a second season down under in 2019/20. In front of Bledsoe, Rookie Sam Stabb played every minute of all 24 games—a rarity for a rookie in this league—contributing 1 goal and 1 assist. Stabb played at Clemson and helped the U.S. U-23 national team win the 2018 Nordic Tournament, scoring the winner in the final game to clinch the title, while being the only non-professional player at the time in the squad. She was the fourth overall draft pick by Washington in the 2019 NWSL College Draft.

Off the field, the two games at Audi Field in Washington D.C. after the Womens' World Cup drew crowds of 17,418 on September 14 for an exciting 2-2 tie with the Reign—with each team scoring once in the 90^th minute/injury time—and a 2-1 thrilling win on August 21 against Orlando in front of a club record crowd of 19,471. As a result the club conducted an end of season fan survey to determine the future mix of games between Audi Field, their long-time suburban Maryland Soccerplex home and new option Segra Field in Loudoun County/Leesburg Virginia, the home of Loudoun United FC of the USL First Division (men's third division) which holds 5,000. The Spirit has always had solid support in their suburban Maryland home but nothing like the crowds they have had at Audi Field in three matches over two seasons. Those crowds helped the Spirit clinch third in the league in attendance with a 6,105 average compared to 3,892 last season, when they were sixth, an increase of 36% in 2019. Their all-time attendance average record was 4,087 in 2015. This is a franchise that is moving along on a nice upward trajectory, both on and off the field.

Utah Royals (10-4-10—34 Points—Joint Fifth)

After winning four games and tying the other from early August through the first week of September—the Royals were rolling to their first post-season spot since moving to Utah ahead of the 2018 season. However, four consecutive losses in their last five games—three against teams who made the semifinals—extinguished their playoff hopes. Utah's arguably most important win in the home stretch was their penultimate victory in 2019, a 1-0 over Portland in Salt Lake City back on September 6 as 10,897 saw two-time World Cup Becky Sauerbrunn score in the 36^th minute, with an assist from August's NWSL Player of the Month and fellow 2015 and 2019 American World Cup winner Christen Press.

Look for some talent infusion ahead of the 2020 season but the defense is strong and Nicole Barnhart tied her own record for shutouts in a season with 10, as the team allowed only 25 goals—tied for second with Washington in the league to North Carolina (23). She was 12 minutes away from her NWSL record tying 11^th clean sheet in the last game of the season—held by Adrianna Franch of the Thorns with 11 shutouts in 2017, when Houston's Kristie Mewis scored in the 78^th minute as Utah defeated the Dash 2-1 at home in front of 9,513 fans on October 12^th. Their 25 goals for is only 6^th best in the league and they were too reliant on Christen Press (8 goals, 2 assists) and Amy Rodriguez (9 goals) to score; this side needs other options to support Press and Rodriguez.

American forward Katie Stengel has 2 goals and 1 assist in 22 games after scoring 6 times last year and might be a trade option to free up a forward spot. She scored 10 goals in 13 games in 2017/18 with Newcastle Jets in the Australian W-League after scoring 6 for Western Sydney Wanderers in 12 games in 2016/17. Defender Sydney Miramontes, who played with Western Sydney Wanderers last winter along with midfielder Lo'eau LaBonta, was injured in preseason and only played in 210 minutes across 4 games. Hopefully Miramontes comes back at full strength next season for Utah—if not, she could be a big help to another NWSL or European club. LaBonta was hugely influential this season in midfield, supporting the creative play of Spanish international acquisition Vero Boquette, who finished with 6 assists (tied for third with Jaelene Hinkle of the Courage). If former Arsenal head coach Laura Harvey is not selected to head up the U.S. National Team in the off-season—though she seems to be second choice right now to Reign FC's Vlatko Andonovski—she has many of the pieces to challenge for a top two spot next season, as long as they can add more firepower.

Houston Dash (7-5-12—26 points—Seventh)

The Dash's playoff hopes ran dry with only 1 win and a tie in their last seven games and 7 points out of 24 in their last 8. Despite enthusiasm with long time Dash/Dynamo organization coach James Clarkson replacing Dutch coach Vera Pauw—who now leads the Republic of Ireland—and though they are still an attractive club to watch, the major point is that they finished one position behind last season along with 6 fewer points.

They have international talent galore but every year they look up at the playoffs while their televised games are embarrassing due to noticeably vast sections of empty seats. Attendance fell again and at least there is some hope on the field, which there wasn't in the Randy Waldrum coaching era—I guess we should be happy that for once in years, his name hasn't come up in connection with the open U.S. women's national team job.

Canadian international midfielder Sophie Schmidt was a stabilizing force in midfield contributing 1 assist in 17 games, combining with more attacking options as Mexican/American international Sofia Huerta, who led the club in points with 5 goals and 4 assists and scored a brace in a 2-1 win over Utah on September 13, 2019 at home, Kristie Mewis chipped in 4 goals and 1 assist out of midfield. Up top, English international Rachel Daly had 5 goals and 1 assist and Kealia Ohai had 2 goals and 1 assist, the latter a surprise total for the 2016 joint goalscorer with Lynn Williams on 11 goals. Huerta will again spend the off-season with Sydney FC in Australia, hoping to gain a second consecutive league crown.

American international goalkeeper Jane Campbell had 6 shutouts—double what she had in each of 2017 and 2018—and a 1.50 GAA and was fourth in the league in saves with 71; Campbell is getting known as a penalty kick save artist, with 4 saves this year—a new league record. All of the above are strong elements to build around in the seasons to come. Questions revolve if Australian international forward Kyah Simon will return. She has been hurt frequently and was a late omission from the Matildas' side in France and her scoring has been below expectations, with 2 goals and 2 assists this year in 10 games equalizing her output last year, in which she appeared in five more matches. This club needs to find a forward capable of contributing 8-10 goals to take the pressure off of Ohai, Daly and Huerta.

After a dreadful 0-0 tie on September 25 at home against Washington that confirmed their sixth season without a playoff berth, Dash Head Coach James Clarkson talked about his frustration with the final result: "I think it's [the] story of our season really… I think it's a good solid performance on the back of four or five really competitive games in a really short period of time. It's unfortunate, where we've had our chances to win the game. Jane's [Campbel in goal] made a couple of really good saves to keep it obviously tied. We pushed and pushed—we went to 3-5-2 in [an] effort to win the game. We really wanted to win it for the fans, it was a great turn out tonight on a Wednesday night. They stayed until the end and we really wanted to win for them." Clarkson continued to talk about their fan base when he said: "The fans have been fantastic, they have been behind us all year. You know, the staff loves you, the players love you. We really appreciate the time, effort, and commitment it takes to support us. Hopefully we can improve [on our] home form, and get more people out here, get behind the team, and really make a really good push out here next year."

It seems to this reporter that the fan base has dwindled so badly that many have given up on the team. It's worrisome when seemingly the Dash was the only NWSL team without a WWC bump, drawing 3,615 in 2019 versus 3,655 last season, as the average gate has declined every season since their record best in Year 2 (2015) of 6,422.

The club had what everyone thought would be a high water mark with a end of season exhibition match against LigaMX Femenil power Tigres Femenil in Monterrey Mexico, the first time a NWSL side had faced international opposition outside of the country and a first friendly against a Mexican club side. Midfielder Kristie Mewis talked positively ahead of the trip to Mexico: "It will be an amazing opportunity. We haven't game planned for it yet, but I think it will be an amazing experience. It's such a different culture in Mexico. Their fans will be very intense. That's nothing against the Americans. Different stadium, feel, country and I hope whatever the lineup is, that we go in there ready to play because I think they're going to take it to us." James Clarkson added: "These are opportunities that we have to take advantages of; Monterrey is so close to us, so this is an ideal situation. It's something that we want to continue to do, build on it and push the envelope in our play and club development." Tigres have won two league titles (in a split season format) over four campaigns and finished second once. The game was scheduled in the Estadio Universitario, better known as 'El Volcan,' (the Volcano) shortly after the men's side of Tigres takes on Club Santos Laguna in a sold-out game.

The Dash lost the match 2-1 to Tigres with Kealia Ohai giving Houston a great start with a goal in the third minute. Tigres equalized off a counterattack in the 71nd minute from 21-year-old Mexican international Katty Martinez Abad, who then fed Lizbeth Ovalle for the goal; Ovalle has played for her country in FIFA U-17 and U-20 World Cups. Tigres scored the game-winning goal on a penalty kick in the 84th minute by 30-year-old Mexican international Liliana Mercado. Dash backup goalkeeper and Mexican international goalkeeper Bianca Henninger finished the game with five saves.

The event left a bad taste in people's mouths and it wasn't the result that caused it. Unfortunately, this game will be remembered for an incident in which Sofia Huerta was groped by an adult fan while posing for a photo after the game The Attorney General's Office for the State of Nuevo Leon has opened an investigation into the incident. Tigres issued a statement condemning the behavior and vowing legal action and a lifetime ban from all facilities for the fan, who they reportedly were able to identify. The Dash subsequently released a brief statement supporting Tigres' pursuit of justice: "We support the position of Tigres UANL in having zero tolerance for the gestures that occurred on Saturday and we believe that this behavior has no place in our game or in our society. Above all, our first priority is the safety of the players and we appreciate the effort of Tigres to resolve this issue."

Needless to say, the league will be monitoring the post-game meet and greets for safety protocols as this incident could happen anywhere; the players willingly participate in these sessions to help grow the game. Our thoughts are with Sofia Huerta, who this author has interviewed in the past while with the Chicago Red Stars. This incident, a human rights violation, should not happen to anyone, in any location, domestically or internationally.

Sky Blue FC (5-5-14--20 points—Eighth)

Sky Blue looked very strong in the last two months of the season with 3 wins, 3 ties and 4 losses in their last 10 games and moved a second game to Red Bull Arena in Harrison, New Jersey on September 29 against Orlando (8,314 attendance) after the success of the first game on August 18 against Reign FC, which attracted a club record (sad though that is) of 9,415—incidentally both matches ended 1-1. Two-time WWC winner Carli Lloyd led the club with 8 goals and 1 assist followed by Costa Rican international Raquel Rodriguez with 3 goals and 3 assists.

The two games at the MLS Red Bull's stadium took their season average attendance up to 3,338—a record for the club (again sad) for the season, up from 2,531 in 2018 and though still bottom of the league, does show some hope for this franchise that hit rock bottom in 2018 on and off the field with only 9 points all season and repeated reports of poor housing and training conditions resulting in players leaving the club and some draft picks moving abroad.

The coaching carousel at Sky Blue continued to turn as Freya Coombe took over as interim head coach on September 4 and added two other staffers.Coach Hugo Macedo, who led Sky Blue to a 4-2-4 record while overseeing game day responsibilities, returned to his role as Goalkeeper Coach. Coombe joins Sky Blue FC from New York Soccer Club (NYSC), where she serves as the Director of Scouting and a Development Academy Coach. NYSC is an official Girls Development Academy partner of Sky Blue FC.
Coombe played five years at Reading FC in England, a club that is now a part of the Barclays FA Women's Super League. She also coached at the club for seven years, serving as the Director of Coaching for the Reading FC Centre of Excellence and as the Women's Development Team Manager for Reading FC Women. The two new coaching appointments to assist her are Iouri "George" Vichniakov as Assistant Coach and Player Development Advisor and Marcia McDermott as Technical Advisor. Vichniakov previously was the head coach of the Jersey Express of the Premier Development League, now known as USL League Two. He compiled a 47-15-18 record over four years as head coach and then as Sporting Director. During his tenure, the Jersey Express were 2014 Mid-Atlantic Division and Eastern Conference champions. McDermott brings a wealth of experience from the college to professional level, both as a coach and as an executive. She won a championship as a Head Coach with the Carolina Courage of Women's United Soccer Association (WUSA) and served as the General Manager for the Chicago Red Stars of Women's Professional Soccer (WPS).

A big question here is where the team will play in 2019 as they will definitely not stay at Rutgers University—an inconvenient drive for both New York City area fans and those in the Philadelphia/Cherry Hill area—stay tuned to this space for more expected news on this club in the offseason, but things look much better entering the offseason than they did a year ago. They badly need an experience scorer to help take the load off of Carli Lloyd's shoulders.

Orlando Pride (4-4-16—16 points—Ninth)

The expected clear out from the bottom side began in late August when English international forward Chioma Ubogagu (who had 4 goals and 2 assists on the season), who was a late omission from Phil Neville's World Cup side in France, was released so she could go abroad. A few weeks later she signed with Real Madrid in Spain. Brazilian international forward Marta had 6 goals and is rumored to be leaving the club. American forward Alex Morgan was scoreless in only 6 games, missing most of the season due to WWC commitments and injury.

The Pride struggled all season and were just overrun by teams, surrendering 53 goals on the season, tying the league record with the Boston Breakers who gave up 53 in 2014 and surpassing Sky Blue FC, who gave up 51 in 2017 and 52 in 2018—all of which were 24 game seasons.

Sydney Leroux led the team in scoring in 2018 with 6 goals and 2 assists but was off on maternity leave most of 2019; she returned for small portions of the last two games after giving birth to her second child, a daughter, only three months earlier. The 2015 WWC winner would work well with Alex Morgan next year and they represent a solid core for Skinner to build around. Toni Pressley appeared late in the last game of the season, an exciting 2-2 tie at home with the Reign, after missing half of the season due to cancer treatments. The crowd welcomed her back and goalkeeper Ashlyn Harris gave her the captain's armband to wear—welcome back Toni!

Six of the nine NWSL teams set attendance records this year after the Women's World Cup in France but Orlando wasn't one of them, not coming close to their opening day record crowd of 23,403 in 2016. They did see a small increase in their average attendance toof 5,335 in 2019 from 4,837 in 2018—no doubt the WWC bump helped somewhat but the last few games on television seemed to have a vast amount of purple areas—or else fans decided to come dressed as empty seats.

NWSL 2019 Attendance Summary

The league average overall in 2019 was 7,377—a league record high and up from 6,024 in 2018, which was the previous highest average attendance since the league began in 2013. Six teams set home attendance records in 2019 after the World Cup with fans excited, particularly with the Americans second win in a row, and all of them playing in the NWSL:

Portland, 25,218 vs. NC Courage
Washington, 19,871 vs. Orlando
Chicago, 17,388 vs. NC Courage
NC Courage, 9,563 vs. Orlando
Sky Blue FC, 9,415 Reign FC
Reign FC, 7,479 vs. Chicago

Tim Grainey is a contributor to Tribal Football. His latest book Beyond Bend it Like Beckham on the global game of women's football. Get your copy today.

Follow Tim on Twitter: @TimGrainey