Earlier this month, in part 1, we examined the top seven teams in the league: Orlando Pride, Kansas City Current, Washington Spirit, NJ/NY Gotham FC, Portland Thorns, North Carolina Courage and Bay FC (see part 1 at: The Week in Women's Football: NWSL review - PI; Hines guides Orlando Pride to First - TribalFootball.com). We also look at the last three remaining bidders for a 2026 expansion slot, for which the winner should be named within a few weeks.
2024 NWSL Regular Season Review—Part 2
Chicago Red Stars (10-2-14, 32 points, Eighth)
The Red Stars struggled in the first half of the season but squeaked into the playoffs in eighth place in 2024, for the club’s eighth playoff berth in 12 NWSL seasons, second only to Portland’s nine appearances. They finished in last place in 2023 and former Jamaican WNT head coach Lorne Donaldson did a very nice job of turning things around on a small budget in his first season. With new ownership taking charge this year, including some involved with the Chicago Cubs baseball team, they should be able to recruit more top talent next season.
Note: On December 5, the Red Stars signed Spanish international midfielder Maitane López to a two-year contract through the end of 2026. Maitane joined Chicago from New Jersey/New York Gotham FC, where the midfielder played two seasons and helped Gotham win the 2023 NWSL title. With Gotham, Maitane made 31 total appearances with 18 starts. She played 11 seasons in Spain with Levante, Real Sociedad de Fútbol and, most recently, with Atlético de Madrid Femenino, in total scoring 42 goals across multiple competitions in Spain.
Head coach Lorne Donaldson talked about his approach to the Summer Cup, which involved six Liga MX Femenil sides along with all 14 NWSL sides: “Yeah, it’s a tournament where you want to compete to win, first and foremost, but you also want to look at more players and get them some playing time. It’s not just one game, the entire tournament, you can spread it out (among those) who haven’t been playing as much and, hopefully, they can show us something that we don’t know about them. But on the other hand, you’re also trying to compete.
"It’s a double-edged sword. So, you have to manage it that way.”
He continued to discuss how he saw the tournament as different from the regular season: “With players missing from a lot of teams (due to the Olympic Games), it gives a chance for players to get in there and play and gives you a chance to play players that don’t regularly play… We just have to be ready. Let’s not lay down. It’s a chance to compete and give other players a chance to compete.”
In three games in July, the Red Stars defeated Washington Spirit away (3-2), tied Gotham FC at home (0-0) and lost to Guadalajara (1-0), also at home, but did not make the semifinals—finishing second in Group D to Gotham FC.
U.S. international Mallory Swanson (24) and American Allison Schlegel (24)—who played at Penn State University and for the U.S. at the youth international—were tied for the team lead in scoring with seven goals each.
Defender Natalia Kuikka was with Finland’s WNT during the 2025 EURO Playoff qualifiers as her side qualified for next summer’s EURO finals in Switzerland. A five-time Finnish Female Footballer of the Year, Kuikka started in all 26 games this season for Chicago.
Forward Rosella Ayane of Morocco (28), the first Moroccan player in the NWSL and on loan to the Red Stars from Tottenham Hotspur FC of the Women’s Super League, was named for her national team for two friendlies in Casablanca: first against Tanzania October 25 (a 4-1 win for Morocco), then with Senegal (a 7-0 win for Morocco) on October 29. She played one half of one match for Chicago in the regular season (see more about Ayane in: The Week in Women's Football: NWSL (& Tribalfootball) welcome new signings; AFC Club Championship review - TribalFootball.com).
Jamaican international goalkeeper Sydney Schneider (25) has not played in a match for the Red Stars during the 2024 regular season but she started for Jamaica in a 4-0 loss to Brazil in Salvador on June 4. Jamaica lost by the same score three days earlier in Recife in front of 33,000 fans. On October 25, she was an unused substitute for Jamaica’s 3-0 loss to France in Montbeliard, in eastern France and close to the border with Switzerland.
Note: Jamaica ended the year with a pair of home wins in Montego Bay over South Africa, 3-0 on November 29 and 3-2 on December 2.
In late July, the Red Stars lost defender Sam Stabb (27) for the season with a torn Achilles tendon; she was placed on the Season Ending Injury List. Stabb was capped by the U.S. national team in 2024 against the Korea Republic in May in 4-0 and 3-0 wins. She scored once in 16 games for Chicago before her injury.
At the end of August, the Chicago Red Stars traded forward Penelope Hocking to expansion side Bay FC to honor her request to be closer to home. In exchange for Hocking, the Red Stars received a $350,000 transfer fee to be paid over two years with $250,000 paid this season and $100,000 in 2025, making this one of the highest transfer fees in women’s soccer to date. Additionally, Chicago will receive 10% on any transfer fee Bay FC receives in a future transfer of Hocking. The Red Stars drafted Hocking in 2023 with the seventh-overall pick in the first round of the National Women’s Soccer League draft from Penn State University. In the forward’s rookie season, Hocking played in 19 matches and scored three goals and made one assist. This season,
Hocking has played in 13 regular-season matches, and started in two of the club’s Summer Cup matches. Hocking scored four goals and made one assist for Chicago in 2024, including three goals in three consecutive matches (May 5-19). On June 8, Hocking scored the club’s lone goal at the Red Stars Takeover Wrigley Field Match against Bay FC (see: The Week in Women's Football: NWSL club review; Orlando showing genuine star power - TribalFootball.com).
Off the field, the team will change its name; as of late October the team will be known just as the Chicago Stars Football Club, deleting the “Red.” Karen Leetzow, Chicago Stars FC President said: “As the stewards of this club, Laura Ricketts (the managing owner), the ownership group, and the leadership team believe it is time to evolve our identity as a symbol of this new chapter. It is our intent going forward to honor the legacy made by past players, fans and associates, while carving a new path for the club and representing Chicago more authentically on and off the pitch.”
The new name seems to be an effort to keep some identification with the past while trying to change an aspect of the old badging to purge some of the bad memories dating back to 2009—including abuse and neglect of players and poor performances on the field during the WPS years, when Emma Hayes—the current USWNT head coach—led the franchise for 1.5 years as their first head coach, but wasn’t given the time or support to build a playoff caliber team.
The Red Star name dated back to 2008, when a fan vote was organized to name the new WPS side. Other names in contention were Progress, Towers, Union, and Blues, but in the end Red Stars earned the most votes. The Stars is largely viewed in North America as a pretty anemic and unoriginal name—the Dallas Stars is a National Hockey League team—and there are minor league sides with the same name in various sports.
Racing Louisville FC (7-7-12, 28 points; Ninth)
Bev Yanez finished her first season as head coach and missed a playoff spot by only four points behind Chicago; she spent 2023 as an assistant with Racing and was named the head coach in November of 2023 and previously was an assistant coach at Gotham FC in 2022 after retiring from a long-playing career, primarily with Seattle. She is highly regarded around the league but the fact is that the team has finished in ninth place in each of the past four seasons and their club record 28 points was only one point better than last season, when they played four fewer games in the league. In their last five games, they won once (1-0 at home over Portland) and lost four times to end their playoff hopes.
Yanez really has to achieve a playoff spot next season, though this club’s management—so strong on the men’s side in the USL Championship—has always seemed less than engaged on the women’s side. Signing her former Seattle Reign teammate Bethany Balcer (see below) is an inspired acquisition and a positive for the future. Look for an import or two to come in for the midfield and to tighten their defense. Nigerian forward Uchenna Kanu (27) and U.S. internationals Savannah DeMelo (26) and Emma Sears (23)—brought into the USWNT camp for two home games against Iceland in late October and she scored in her debut in the second game, a 3-1 win in Nashville in front of 17,018—tied for the team lead in goals with five each.
Racing Louisville lost forward Kirsten Wright (25), who was forced out of the lineup due to a season-ending knee injury, at the end of July. In three seasons, Wright has scored three times in 39 games.
Racing Louisville acquired forward Bethany Balcer (27) from the Seattle Reign in exchange for midfielder Jaelin Howell (23) and $50,000 in allocation money. Balcer has scored 38 goals in six years in the league—including three in ten games since joining Racing Louisville late this season. She won the 2019 NWSL Rookie of the Year award with Seattle. Howell captained Louisville for a season and a half and made 50 appearances. Both players have been capped by the U.S. at the senior level—Howell with five caps and Balcer with one.
Balcer was the first player from an NAIA program—Spring Arbor University in Michigan—to sign with an NWSL team after being the first player in NAIA history to be named national player of the year three times; Spring Arbor won two national championships while she was there.
Balcer first learned about the possibility of the trade just ten days before it happened: “I think that was really hard for me, just trying to say goodbye to a city that I’d been so invested in and a part of. But that’s pro sports for you. I was open to opportunities. Obviously, the timing of this was just less than ideal. It’s so hard to make a trade midseason. The offseason is just easier. It just feels more clean cut.”
She was excited about moving to Racing Louisville however: “They’re doing so many things right here. I mean, the way that we’re treated as athletes and women in sports, and the facilities, everything here is really top notch. It has the capacity to be a really great club in the future and have the history that Reign has had.”
San Diego Wave (6-7-13, 25 points; Tied for Tenth)
The Wave finished seven points out of the playoffs after winning the NWSL Shield for the best regular season record last season. The termination of former English international Casey Stoney mid-season left a chaotic situation at the club for the rest of the season. After Stoney was dismissed and interim Paul Buckle was only able to do a few games, Wave President Jill Ellis communicated with local resident and iconic former MLS Champion and U.S. international Landon Donovan (42), who had coached and was the owner of the San Diego Loyal USL Championship team side, to see if he had any recommendations for a second interim coach.
He put his name in the mix and was selected to lead the side on a temporary basis for the last half of the season. Donovan won six Major League Soccer titles with San Jose Earthquakes and L.A. Galaxy. Donovan holds the MLS assists record and the league’s MVP award is named in his honor. He made 14 consecutive MLS All-Star games (2001-14) and won the Golden Boot in 2008. He also holds the USMNT’s assists record (58), and is tied Clint Dempsey for most goals in team history (57). His 157 appearances are second-most all-time in U.S. history. Donovon holds his USSF A-Senior coaching license. He had been offered four MLS jobs but had not coached women’s side and said that there was a “steep” learning curve with the NWSL. Indeed there was as his record was 3-1-6 (W-D-L) but he did lead the Wave to three of four wins in the CONCACAF W Champions Cup for club teams. Donovan is not returning as coach for 2025.
At one point, it seemed that the Wave was trying to win the mythical title of NWSL’s most dysfunctional franchise—with three head coaches this season and a 12-game streak without a win (with six losses and six ties) during the regular season that was bookended by wins over the struggling expansion side Utah Royals on May 8 (2-0 at home) and September 9 (2-1 away)—that is largely an annual possession of the Houston Dash (see more below).
On September 28, the Wave defeated the Thorns 2-0 in the league and Clairemont, California native Melanie Barcenas scored her first-ever professional goal before helping the U.S. finish third at the U-17 WWC in Dominican Republic. Also in the Thorns game, Mexican international forward and captain María Sánchez recorded her team-leading fourth assist for San Diego. Ten of the last 14 Wave FC goals involved the American-raised Sanchez.
She was one of the last moves by Casey Stoney as she jumped off the Titanic franchise that is always the Houston Dash. On September 18, Sanchez recorded a goal and two penalties to help San Diego to its second win of the inaugural CONCACAF W Champions Cup, erasing a 2-0 Thorns lead, with penalty kicks in the 67th and 85th minutes around her 69th minute header. With the three goals, Sánchez also became the first Mexican international to record a hat-trick for an NWSL team. Unfortunately, their three wins was not enough to give them a semifinal berth as they finished even with Club America of Mexico City and the Portland Thorns with 9 points but had a lower goal differential (+11 vs. +8 vs. +4 for San Diego)—with UANL Tigres and Gotham FC advancing from Group A—which will be held next May.
Sanchez has also been active in the local community, located on the border of Mexico with Tijuana, and the move from Houston has been good for her visibility in both countries. Note: Interestingly, she appeared in a national advertising campaign for a Houston based Energy Company that is a sponsor of the Dash—well after she had moved to San Diego—in her Dash uniform, but their advertising agency should have had a back-up plan as trades are common in professional sports in the U.S. (see: The Week in Women's Football: NWSL club review (P2); Stoney axed; Haracic makes Bosnia call - TribalFootball.com). Sanchez is certainly in demand for Spanish language and English language advertisers.
Some good moves that the Wave made during the season included signing Trinity Byars (21) to a contract through the 2026 season, with a mutual option for 2027. She was the first active NCAA college athlete to join the NWSL since the league terminated its annual draft of players this year, in order to give all their players more control of their careers. Byars came from the University of Texas, where she led the Longhorns in career goals (47), game-winning goals (17) and hat tricks (4). Byars has represented the U.S. Youth National Team from U-14 through the U-23 level.
Byars also started all three group games for the USA at the 2022 FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup in Costa Rica, tallying an assist against Ghana. Prior to starting her collegiate career, Byars played club soccer for Solar SC in Texas and trained with Manchester City in the WSL and Atletico Madrid in Liga F in 2019. As a teenager, Byars was ranked the No. 1 overall player and No. 1 forward in Top Drawer Soccer’s 2021 IMG Academy Top 150 rankings. In matches with the USSF Development Academy, she scored 92 goals from 2017-19.
Delphine Cascarino (27), the French international winger who joined the team in August, scored two goals in ten matches and should definitely be a player for opponents to watch out for in 2025.
Attendance remained strong as the Wave finished third in the 14-team league with an average of 18,233, just behind Angel City FC (19,313) and Portland Thorns (18,725), after leading the league in 2023 (20,718). The league average was a record 11,235 (up from 10,638 in 2023) with three other sides averaging above the league average: Washington Spirit (13,952), Bay FC (13,617) and Kansas City Current (11,500). The four lowest drawing clubs were: Chicago Red Stars (7,160), Racing Louisville (6,521), North Carolina Courage (6,362) and Houston Dash (6,194).
On September 11, the club agreed to cancel Swedish international forward Sofia Jakobsson’s (34) contract so she could move abroad. Jakobsson joined San Diego ahead of the inaugural season from German club Bayern Munich in January of 2022. The Swedish international forward made 52 appearances (30 starts) across all competitions for the Wave, with four goals. She joined London City Lionesses of the English second division Championship, with fellow Swedish international and former WPS Chicago Red Star Kosovare Asllani (35), which is owned by D.C. Spirit owner Michele Kang. Jakobsson currently has two goals in five matches with London City, while Asllani has one goal in seven games, joining the English club after two seasons with AC Milan in Italy’s Serie A, where she scored 15 goals in 34 regular season matches.
Late in the season, the Wave sent U.S. international defender Abby Dahlkemper to Bay FC in exchange for $50,000 in allocation money. Dahlkemper was the Wave’s first signing on November 22, 2021. In San Diego, she appeared in 34 matches (33 starts) in all competitions, and scored two goals. In October 2022, Dahlkemper suffered a back injury that required surgery and kept her off the field until August 2023. Dahlkemper earned her first call-up to the U.S. Women’s National Team in 2016. The defender played the most minutes of any U.S. player during the Americans’ victorious 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup campaign, and appeared in 83 matches to date.
U.S. international forward Alex Morgan (35) is retiring after an extraordinary 15-year professional soccer career because she’s pregnant with her second child. She had planned to retire after the season but her physicians recommended that she stop playing in early September, with her last match coming in San Diego against North Carolina, a 4-1 defeat on September 8. She and husband Servando Carrasco, a former MLS player, have a 4-year-old daughter. Morgan talked about her decision in a media conference call that attracted participants from all over the U.S. and internationally: “As unexpected as it was, I was so happy because this was what our family wanted, a couple of months sooner than expected, but, nonetheless we were very overjoyed.”
Morgan plans to continue to support women’s sports through her Alex Morgan Foundation and various businesses. She helped lead the fight for equal pay and benefits for the national team and was pivotal in shedding light on the NWSL abuse of players scandal in 2021—having stood up for players years before when she played in Portland—and helped with gaining improved working conditions across the league. She played in WPS and the NWSL since the 2013 season launch and knew some of the horrid ways in which players were treated, many times just to save money. She said she plans to invest in the Unrivaled 3 on 3 women’s basketball league that is set to launch in September 2025. She is one of the most visible women’s sports athletes in the world, with 9.9 million followers on Instagram.
She told the media early in September that: “I don’t think coaching is in my future.” She did express some regret and still was unsettled that she was not a member of the 2024 Olympic Games Finals team—not even as an alternate. However, no goals in 13 matches for the Wave in 2024 for a side that was careening down the table did not help her case.
Morgan played in 224 matches for the national team (ninth all-time) with 123 goals (fifth all-time) and 53 assists (ninth all-time). She was named the U.S. Soccer Player of the Year in 2012 and 2018. She helped the United States win an Olympic Gold Medal in 2012 and two Women’s World Cup titles (in 2015 and 2019) and a U-20 Women’s World Cup in 2008. She won league titles in WPS with the New York Flash in 2011, with the Portland Thorns in the NWSL in 2014 and in France’s Division I Feminine with Lyon in 2017.
Off the field, the club has been dogged all season by an internal complaint against Wave team president and former USWNT and two-time WWC winning head coach Jill Ellis. . A former employee accused Ellis of abuse and creating a toxic work environment. After being cleared by the NWSL this summer, Ellis filed a defamation lawsuit in San Diego County Court alleging that Brittany Alvarado, the team’s former video and creative manager, made false and defamatory statements about her in recent posts on her social media accounts.
On December 3, Ellis resigned from her Wave post to join FIFA as their Chief Football Officer; in this new position, she will serve as part of the world governing body’s executive management team, driving the development and implementation of FIFA’s global football strategy. Ellis will work alongside Arsène Wenger, FIFA’s Chief of Global Football Development and former long-time Arsenal (men’s) manager, and her responsibilities will encompass key technical areas connected to the development of the game across the world.
FIFA Secretary General Mattias Grafström said: “Jill’s experience, enthusiasm and outstanding achievements make her the perfect choice for this role. She has been a true inspiration for many, and I look forward to seeing the impact of her work continue to inspire many more around the world. FIFA is very proud to have Jill and Arsène, two of the great football leaders and thinkers, to help us make our vision for football a reality. Her appointment demonstrates FIFA’s commitment to the future of the game and to creating more opportunities for the next generation.”
With Ellis’ departure, the Wave has an opportunity for a reset in the front office and on the coaching side. They have a talented squad and strong support in the San Diego/Tijuana region, but need to be in the playoff picture next season or they could start losing fan support.
Utah Royals (7-4-15, 25 points, Tied for Tenth—Expansion Side)
During the Summer Cup tournament with Liga MX Femenil sides, things started to turn around for the Royals after a dreadful start to their return to the NWSL; the team fired former Royal forward (in their first iteration) Amy Rodriguez as their head coach on June 30. They then defeated Portland 3-1 and Ciudad Juarez Bravos 5-1 and proceeded to win their next two games when the regular season started after the Olympic Games break, defeating Bay FC 2-1 and Houston Dash away 3-1.
After losing their next three games, they were undefeated in their next four matches: defeating Racing Louisville (1-0) at home, Portland Thorns (2-1) away, Seattle Reign (3-0) at home with a hat trick from Canadian international Cloe Lacasse, and a 1-1 tie against Angel City in Los Angeles. They fell at home to Gotham FC 4-1 in their final match of the season on November 1.
Lacasse led the team in scoring with four goals, despite appearing in only nine games since joining the team after the Paris Olympics. American forward Ally Sentnor, a star with the U-20 WNT, had three goals while Spaniards Claudia Zornoza (34) and Ana Tejeda (22) each had two goals. The team needs to boost its scoring for 2025, having scored only 22 goals in 26 games, just two ahead of the Dash at the bottom of the scorers’ table.
They surrendered 40 goals—tenth best in the league—and we could see more new players brought in during the off-season by their newly permanently appointed head coach Jimmy Coenraets from Belgium, who took over from Rodriguez as interim head coach during the season. They improved from a 2-2-11 (W-D-L) regular season record under Rodriguez to 5-2-4 with Coenraets in charge.
Defender Madison Pogarch (27) told The Equalizer that she thinks that things improved quite a bit over the second half of the season and players on other teams told her: “‘You guys look like a completely different team.’ I think we’re going to be next year as well. There’s more people (players) interested in coming to Utah and who are asking about it. Six months ago, people were wondering about us but now, they want to come here… I think we all know that next year, the standards that we’re setting for ourselves are almost tenfold from what we were meeting.”
Angel City FC (7-6-13, 24 points; Twelfth)
Angel City made the semifinals of the Summer Cup, losing to Gotham FC 1-0 away after three straight wins in the group stage—2-1 against Club America at home, 2-0 away against Bay City and on penalties against the San Diego Wave after a 0-0 tie. They then beat Juarez 7-0 in a friendly on August 18, but a 3-3-3 record in their last regular season games plus losing three points for a player contracts issue (see more below) left them with too much of a gap to make up. Scottish international Claire Emslie (30) and U.S. international Sydney Leroux (34) led the team with seven goals each and fellow U.S. international Christen Press (35), who has been out injured for most of the past two seasons, had one goal in nine games. Good news for the club is that Emslie was re-signed after the season for the 2025 and 2026 seasons.
Since joining ACFC, Emslie has made 64 NWSL match appearances in all competitions, scoring 15 goals and adding seven assists. In her regular-season career with the club, Emslie has 13 goals (four of them penalty kicks). At the club level, she also played with Everton in the WSL in England, with Melbourne City in the A-League in Australia and a season with the Orlando Pride. She was with Scotland for the 2025 EURO final playoff matches with Finland just weeks ago, losing 2-0 to the Nordic side on aggregate (see: The Week in Women's Football: Reviewing '25 Euros playoffs; TP Mazembe pull off shock CAF title triumph - TribalFootball.com).
Born in Penicuik, Scotland, Emslie began her international career in 2013, making her Scotland Women’s senior debut against Iceland. In 2019, she scored the nation’s first-ever World Cup goal when the team faced England in a group-stage defeat. In total, Emslie has 16 goals in 69 caps for her country. She also spent time with Scotland’s U-19, U-17, and U-15 Women’s National Teams. In 2012, Emslie received a full scholarship to play at Florida Atlantic University, where she tallied 29 goals and 10 assists in 76 matches.
Of their other imports on the Angel City roster this season, Megan Reid (28), who was born in California and played at the University of Virginia but she qualifies to play for Canada where her mother was born and received her first WNT invite for Canada as a training player ahead of the 2024 CONCACAF W Gold Cup. Reid has been with the team since its first season in 2022 and started 19 of the 23 games she has played in. After finishing college in 2017, she played with Lamorinda SC of California of the WPSL and trained in Denmark.
English international midfielder Katie Zelem (28) played in 10 games after joining from Manchester United this summer, where she played for six seasons. She previously played one season abroad in Italy with Juventus in 2017/18 after years at Liverpool. Long-time NWSL midfielder and Costa Rican international Raquel “Rocky” Rodriguez (31), who has been in the league since 2016 and spent the last four seasons with Portland Thorns, had one goal in 21 games.
After the team made a vibrant run to the playoffs last season under then interim head coach English native Becky Tweed, in her first season as a permanent head coach this year, they frustrated followers by not meeting expectations. There are still questions about her tactics, particularly in midfield; she needs a strong start in 2025 or she could be looking for another job by mid-season. Note: On December 9, Tweed was dismissed as head coach by the club, with Eleri Earnshaw (39) a former Welsh international midfielder, stepping in as interim head coach while the club searches for a permanent replacement. Earnshaw has coached collegiately as an assistant at Central Connecticut, Yale, LIU and Fordham on the East Coast as well as the Gotham FC’s Reserves in 2021. She has been with Angel City, first as a performance analyst and then as an assistant coach, since 2022.
In their 7-0 win over Juarez, American youth international forward Messiah Bright (24) scored a hat-trick—the first in the club’s history—while Claire Emslie scored twice. Bright also set a club record for most goals in a single game. Bright’s initial goal in the first minute also set a record for the fastest goal in club history, while defender Megan Reid scored in the third minute, for the second fastest goal in ACFC history. Forward Christen Press played in her first game after returning from injury that has kept her off the field since June of 2022.
Ahead of the club’s last regular season game of the season against Portland (a 3-0 loss away on November 1), Bright talked about her second season in the league (with one goal in 21 games) after playing last season with the Orlando Pride (where she scored six goals in 22 games): “This was definitely a growth season, not only for myself, but for my teammates as well. I think that every team has their hiccups and we are a really young group. Our mentality still remains the same as it would to other teams. It wasn’t the season that we were looking forward to, but that just comes with the growth of things. We’re just super excited to still be a unit and go through the phase of playing for each other, knowing and learning ourselves and who we are as far as our identity. We’ll be ready to come back stronger next season.”
Bright planned to change her off-season plans ahead of the 2025 season, with pre-season training to begin in January, explaining that: “This will be my second off-season. It’s kind of been a trial and error for me in that aspect, just seeing what works best for me, and what’s the best environment for me to be training in. I have decided to just stay out in LA for a while to see how I like it. Last year I spent my off-season back home in Dallas (she played collegiately at Texas Christian University) and realized that wasn’t really the best thing for me with limits of distraction and everything.”
On August 22, team captain and New Zealand international defender Ali Riley was placed on the Season-Ending Injury (SEI) list due to a chronic and persistent leg injury that has kept her out for the majority of the 2024 NWSL season. The Los Angeles native has served as ACFC’s team captain since the 2022 inaugural season and has appeared in 54 matches in all competitions for the club, scoring three goals and three assists, Prior to joining ACFC, Riley spent her first two seasons in the NWSL with the Orlando Pride, making her debut in the 2021 Challenge Cup and in total played in 20 games for Orlando.
She previously played for years in Sweden, England and Germany. Riley has been a member of the New Zealand Women’s National Team since 2007, serving as team captain since 2017. She has played in five consecutive WWC Finals since China 2007 and four Olympic Games Finals since China 2008. She helped the Football Ferns qualify for the 2024 Olympic Games Finals in Paris but her injuries kept her from competing.
Merritt Mathias, who has played every one of the NWSL’s 12 seasons, is retiring at the end of the 2024 season. She played in the first-ever NWSL match, with FC Kansas City in April of 2013, and she will retire just shy of her 200th regular-season cap at 196. She won three league titles in her time with FC Kansas City, the Seattle Reign and North Carolina Courage. She was a U.S. youth international and won one senior cap in 2018. Over the past two seasons with Angel City, she missed games due to two knee surgeries, receiving a diabetes diagnosis, the flu, pneumonia, a sprained ankle this summer, and more knee issues.
She also worked with the NWSL Players Association on collective bargaining agreements, securing additional protections for player safety and pay increases, including for the most recent agreement that will run to 2030. About her work with the NWSLPA, she said: “I entered this league in 2013 when it was absolutely nothing and it has significantly changed. I can be a part of the generation that left something so much better than when I found it.” Mathias has certainly done that on and off the field and we wish her all the best in the future.
French international midfielder Clarisse Le Bihan’s contract was terminated mutually during the season. Le Bihan originally joined ACFC during their 2022 inaugural season, occupying one of their international spots for the past three seasons. Le Bihan, acquired via transfer from Montpellier HSC of Division 1 Féminine in June 2022, compiled four goals and four assists in 53 match appearances in all competitions in the NWSL. Le Bihan spent six seasons with Montpellier, appearing in 109 total matches and scoring 29 goals. She has 16 caps (with four goals) with the French Women’s National Team. She also won a European Championship with the U-19 French Women’s National Team in 2013, was a member of the 2016 Olympic French Women’s National Team as an alternate, and played in the 2017 EURO Championships in the Netherlands. She joined Lazio in Italy’s Serie A in July and scored once in Lazio’s 2-2 derby tie with Roma on August 30.
Off the field, Angel City FC was dealt competitive sanctions by the NWSL, imposed for violating salary-cap rules by having additional agreements signed with five players in 2023 that weren’t disclosed to the league and pushed their compensation over the team cap maximum. The penalty included a damaging three-point standings deduction this season. Angel City argued that the child-care payments did not count against the salary cap and asked that the three-points be restored as they still had a chance (albeit remote) for the playoffs when they were two points away from the playoffs with two games left, but the NWSL rejected their petition. The NWSL’s 2023 competition manual stats that up to $5,000 in child-care payments (which had tax implications) did not count against a team’s salary cap.
Payments over $5,000 counted as player compensation and against the salary cap. In addition to the points penalty, the NWSL fined the club $200,000 and suspended President and CEO Julie Uhrman and General Manager Angela Hucles Mangano—who resigned at the end of the season—from being involved in any player transactions for the remainder of 2024. This was the first time in 12 NWSL seasons that a club was deducted standings points. In the old WPS, magicJack in Florida was issued multiple point deductions for various transgressions during the 2011 season—the club sued the league at one point, which ultimately folded after the season. Along with the six point penalty assessed to Canada during their first round games at the 2024 Summer Olympics for their coaches using drones to spy on opponents, we may start to see these point deductions more often, which have been quite rare on the women’s side in European leagues.
At the end of July, the club announced the launch of the “Angel City Impact Fund,” which aims to create a more equitable world for all. The non-profit’s inaugural initiative will be expanding ACFC’s community partnership with the City of Los Angeles Department of Recreation and Parks, with the goal of overcoming the significant challenges young girls and gender-expansive youth face in the soccer eco-system across the region. Over the next two years, the planned initiatives will collectively serve over 7,000 youth annually across Los Angeles, providing no-cost and low-cost access to soccer, leadership training, and a robust coaching pipeline. The program will tackle the following critical issues:
The notable lack of representation among coaches, particularly those identifying as BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, People of Color), female, or gender expansive.
Narrow and inconsistent coaching standards.
The prohibitive participation costs that disproportionately affect families in under-resourced communities.
The absence of dedicated spaces and programs designed explicitly for girls and gender expansive youth.
An overemphasis on elite-level training at the expense of broader participation and engagement.
A controlling stake of the club was sold to Willow Bay and Bob Iger during the season, making it the most valuable women’s sports team in the world with a $250 million valuation, which previously had been rated at $180 million. Bay is the dean of the USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism in L.A., and Iger is the CEO of the Walt Disney Company. The new owners will invest $50 million to support the club’s future growth. American owner Avram Glazer of Manchester United had shown interest in the sale process as well.
Seattle Reign (6-5-15, 23 points; Thirteenth)
Given head coach Laura Harvey’s resume with the club, including making three League Final matches in her 8.5 seasons at the club (2013-2017 and mid-2021 to the present), she is permitted a pass on this season, which was a massive disappointment. The Reign were 11th in goal scoring with only 27 goals in 24 games and allowed the most goals in the league with 44. With forward Bethany Balcer being shipped to Louisville late in the season (see above) and U.S. (and former Mexican international) Sofia Huerta (31) moving on loan to France’s Olympique Lyon—where she has played in six matches thus far in the 2024-25 season—the Reign lost some top talent during the 2024 season.
Huerta explained on Instagram: “As a little girl growing up in Boise (Idaho), I had a dream of playing professional soccer, and I have been so lucky to achieve that dream. Throughout my career, I also have dreamt of playing in Europe and competing in the Champions League, and now I have this unique opportunity to go on loan to Olympique Lyonnais.”
She trained with the club in 2020 when they owned the Reign. She is under contract with the Reign through the 2027 season. The 10-year veteran is tied for the league’s career assists record (31) and ranks seventh in league history with 188 regular-season appearances. She has been capped by Mexico and the U.S. at the senior level and was on the U.S. WNT at the 2023 WWC in Australia/New Zealand. Huerta added: “This is not a goodbye, Seattle. This is just an ‘I’ll be back soon.’”
Canadian international Jordyn Huitema (23), American Veronica Latsko and Japanese import Ji So-Yun (33) all tied for the lead in scoring with only 3 goals. Balcer scored five goals for Seattle before her trade to Louisville (see above). Huitema has been featured in a national advertising campaign recently for TJ Maxx, a national clothing and home décor retailer.
Midfielder Melchie Dumornay of Haiti, a new signing this summer by Seattle, was selected as women’s 2023-24 CONCACAF Player of the Year (see: The Week in Women's Football: NWSL (& Tribalfootball) welcome new signings; AFC Club Championship review - TribalFootball.com), which included the participation of coaches and players from CONCACAF Member Associations, as well as media members from the region and fans. Dumornay is the first Haitian to win the CONCACAF Women’s Player of the Year honors and the second Caribbean player (Jamaica and Manchester City forward Khadija Shaw won the title last year). Haiti and Dumornay (21) began their 2023/24 season by competing in the FIFA Women’s World Cup in Australia and New Zealand.
Dumornay played in all three Group Stage matches against England, China, and Denmark. Dumornay also represented her nation in the Road to W Gold Cup tournament later in the year, where she finished as joint top scorer with eight goals as Haiti finished in second place in its group and qualified for the 2024 W Gold Cup Preliminaries in February in Los Angeles, where they lost 1-0 to Puerto Rico and did not make the tournament Finals.
At the club level with Olympique Lyonnais in the French first division, during the 2023/24 season Dumornay appeared in 20 matches and scored nine goals across all club competitions. She also earned her the 2023/24 UEFA Women’s Champions League Young Player of the Season award. She scored 20 goals in 123 matches for Montpellier in France over eight seasons. With Seattle she has scored once in ten matches.
Other imports this year were Hannah Glas (31) of Sweden—who played in seven games—and Ana Crnogorcevic (34)—who played in 10 games late in the season and was a puzzling choice to bring back to the league (see more at: The Week in Women's Football: NWSL (& Tribalfootball) welcome new signings; AFC Club Championship review - TribalFootball.com).
The club is likely to go through a total changeover for 2025. A big question is whether Jess Fishlock (37), the Welsh international and iconic Reign player, will return. She won an A-League title with Melbourne City in 2016-17 as a player-coach after Joe Montemurro—now Olympique Lyonnais’ head coach—was promoted to head the men’s side for Melbourne City, and that could be a role that she looks for (or a full-time coaching position after retirement) if she leaves the NWSL during the off-season. Despite the Reign’s struggles, earlier this month she helped Wales qualify for their first major senior international finals for the EUROs next summer in Switzerland (see: The Week in Women's Football: Reviewing '25 Euros playoffs; TP Mazembe pull off shock CAF title triumph - TribalFootball.com). She first played for Wales at the senior level in 2006 against Switzerland.
Houston Dash (5-5-16, 20 points; Fourteenth)
The Dash has always struggled on and off the field for their eleven years in the league, which we have chronicled since the beginning, from poorly performing imports, a coaching carousel, and marketing snafus, but this season was an unmitigated disaster. After hiring Spanish native and former head coach at Celtic in Scotland Fran Alonso (see more in: The Week in Women's Football: NWSL preseason review - Alonso leaves Celtic for Houston - Tribal Football), he was last seen on the team’s training ground on June 26 and coached his last match on June 22—as the team was 3-5-6 with 14 points at the time.
At first his absence was described as an illness, then a leave of absence before the club parted ways with him in late September. Interim head coach Ricky Clarke—who no one really knew but had coached for a year at Georgia State University as an assistant and for a few months with Seattle Reign—is a native of England and led the Dash in twelve regular season games, winning two and losing ten. He was released at the end of the season by the team at the bottom of the league. Clarke is the sixth different person to coach the Dash since the start of 2022, including interims.
The core problem was letting now Gotham head coach Juan Carlos Amoros get away—he was the only head coach to ever get the team into the playoffs ever (in 2022), but Gotham swooped in and offered him a three year contract and a lot more security, while the Dash seemingly couldn’t decide if they wanted to keep him.
Oh, we should add that they fired their goalkeeper coach early in the year for violating the NWSL's anti-fraternization policy, which says coaches: “may not engage in, develop, continue, or pursue any romantic and/or sexual relationships or encounters, even when consensual, with any employee (including NWSL players or trialists) over whom they currently have direct or indirect supervisory authority or management influence.”
Houston brought in Emma Wright-Cates to the technical staff in September for the remainder of the 2024 season The Greater Manchester, England native brings extensive experience coaching at the collegiate and played professionally in England. Wright-Cates spent the last two years at Southern Methodist University in Dallas and four years at the University of the Incarnate Word in San Antonio. Wright-Cates also coached at George Washington University, Christian Brothers University and Southeastern Louisiana University.
During her time in North Texas, she also coached and played for the Fort Worth Panthers of the Women’s Premier Soccer League (WPSL). Wright-Cates played with the Doncaster Belles and Everton in England’s Women’s Premier League and won a league title with Everton during the 1997-1998 season. Wright-Cates played college soccer in the United States at the Division I level with Central Connecticut State University and Division II level with Slippery Rock University. She could remain with the club in some capacity into the 2025 season.
During the season, the club also dumped General Manager Alex Singer and, after the season, Swedish native Pablo Piñones-Arce as Technical Director, who was hired in March to work with Singer to establish: “a robust soccer operation framework for the Dash,” including oversight of roster construction. Pinones-Arce (43), a former Swedish youth international, led Hammarby to the 2023 Damallsvenskan title in a stellar performance. The Swedish media is bewildered as to why Pinones-Arce wasn’t given a chance but it wasn’t him—it’s how the Dash is run. Team President of Business Operations Jessica O’Neil—who seems to survive at the Dash when no one else can— explained earlier this year how she saw his change in responsibilities after Singer was let go in July: “Thanks for bringing up Pablo because he’s a part of the sort of collective approach right now. He and I are in frequent communication as of late to make sure that, from a roster standpoint as the trade window opens, as players might have questions about contracts, etc., that we address all of those.”
Former Houston Dash player and former Orlando Pride general manager Erik Ustruck has been operating as a consultant and effectively as General Manager, since August, according to ESPN. On December 10, former USWNT international and Angel City Vice President Angela Hucles was named as the President of Women’s Soccer.
In March record-signing and Mexican international forward María Sánchez (see above) requested a trade just three weeks into the season, which seemed to send a message across the league that the Dash was once again in turmoil. It came only a few months after re-signing with the team as a restricted free agent for a deal that made her the highest-paid player in the league (see more in: The Week in Women's Football: NWSL review; Sanchez expectations at San Diego; watching Minnesota Aurora pitch - Tribal Football). She was traded to the San Diego Wave on the league’s trade deadline day. O’Neil called the Sanchez move “a personal issue,” but others seemed to have the same “personal issue” during the season as a number of Dash players asked to leave Houston, according to ESPN. The Dash had 17 players entering free agency when the league’s window opened on September 1, more than any other team in the league, including a number of starters—like a famous airline advertisement in the States once said, “Get me out of here!”
Jessica O’Neill said: “Our reputation is really important to me, because ultimately, perception is reality. So, we are actively trying to make sure that people understand that there’s so much potential with the Houston Dash as an organization. There’s also been significant investment and progress since I arrived here (in February 2022), and ultimately since Ted (Segal) became the majority owner of the team just about six months before I arrived.”
I suppose that things probably can’t get any worse at the club but don’t expect the Dash to make a stunning turnaround on the field like the Orlando Pride did this season. The re-build of the Dash on the coaching and playing side will take some time and we will follow this team’s efforts to try to turn things around… yet again… as always.
After the 2023 season, letting 2021 NWSL Defender of the Year Caprice Dydasco (31) leave as a free agent to Bay FC also hurt the franchise. The money earned by trading Sanchez to San Diego ($500,000) was used by Alex Singer to acquire Brazilian defender Tarciane (21), who played in 11 games this year and won a Silver Medal at the Paris Olympics this past summer. Tarciane is very highly rated in women’s football and could be a key talent for the Dash to build around.
The Dash were bottom of the league in scoring with 20 goals in 26 games and tied for 12th with Angel City with 42 goals allowed. American-born Mexican international Diane Ordonez (23) led the team with five goals followed by Houston-area native and Venezuelan international Barbara Olivieri (22) with four goals, after her move from Monterrey of Mexico in early 2023. Among notable achievements, during the season, U.S. international goalkeeper Jane Campbell made 150 starts, the first goalkeeper to do that in the NWSL for a single club. Zoe Matthews (17) became the youngest Dash player ever and is a U.S. youth international.
Houston Dash signed Costa Rican international Gabriela Guillén (32) and Gracie Brian (23) to short-term loans from Dallas Trinity FC of the new USL Super League late in the season. Guillén made three starts for Dallas Trinity FC this season and has 88 career appearances for the Costa Rican Women’s National Team after making her senior team debut in 2012. Guillén was a member of Costa Rican side at the 2015 WWC in Canada and again last year in Australia/New Zealand. Guillén played four years with Alajuelense Fútbol Femenino in Costa Rica after starting her professional career with Saprissa FF in Costa Rica. She played collegiately at Creighton University in Omaha, Nebraska.
Brian has made three appearances (with one start) for Dallas Trinity FC and reached the final of The Soccer Tournament earlier this summer with the North Carolina Courage, scoring three goals. Earlier this year, Brian participated in preseason training camp with reigning NWSL Shield winner San Diego Wave FC. The midfielder played collegiately at Texas Christian University, where she earned first team All-Big 12 honors in three consecutive seasons and scored 35 goals with 27 assists in 101 starts during five seasons.
In mid-July the Dash signed forward Madison Wolfbauer (24) to a National Team Replacement Contract. Wolfbauer also played with the North Carolina Courage in The Soccer Tournament (TST) 2024 and won the Women’s Golden Boot with five goals and was named to the TST Women’s Best Seven team. She also played professionally in France with Thonon Evian Grand Genève FC at the start of 2022 and finished the year in Iceland with ÍBV-íþróttafélag. She signed with Keflavík ÍF the following year where she finished with 23 appearances as a defender and scored two goals. She played with Bowling Green State University in Northwestern Ohio for a team that won the 2021 Mid-American Conference (MAC) title. She scored 10 goals in her final season with the Falcons and was named the MAC Offensive Player of the Year.
Houston Dash and forward Cece Kizer mutually agree to end her contract in early September. Kizer (27) joined the Dash prior to the 2024 season in a trade with the Kansas City Current She appeared in seven games for the team this year across all competitions. She has played at the international level for the U.S. U-23 WNT and played at the University of Mississippi. A few days later, she signed a multi-year contract with Gotham FC.
Their European internationals: forward Ramona Bachmann (Switzerland) and midfielders Elin Rubensson (Sweden) and Sarah Puntigam (Austria)—all between 31 and 33 years-of-age—played 50 games combined in 204 and yet only scored two goals—both by Bachmann. Rubensson (31) was released from her contract in early December and is expected to return to Sweden.
Off the field, former U.S. national team goalkeeper Tim Howard joined the club as a minority owner of the Houston Dynamo of Major League Soccer and the Dash—he played at Manchester United and Everton in the EPL for over a decade.
Expansion Franchise News
Just before the 2024 NWSL League Championship match on November 23, league commissioner Jessica Berman said that the league had narrowed the race for the 16th expansion franchise slot—joining the bizarrely named BOS Nation FC (of Boston)— between Cincinnati, Cleveland and Denver. At this point, Cincinnati seems to be the odds-on favorite, with FC Cincinnati’s MLS Organization behind the effort. In addition, just days before Berman’s announcement, WNBA superstar Caitlin Clark joined the investor group for the southern Ohio city.
Social media posts rose from 10,000 posts a day to nearly half a million because of Clark’s involvement—she is one of the most popular players in American sports currently for men and women. Clark plays in the WNBA in Indianapolis, which is about 100 miles west of Cincinnati, and hopes to be impactful on the club if they are successful in joining the NWSL. If Cincinnati wins the bidding race with Clark involved, she would add to the growing list of sports celebrities involved in the NWSL: former NBA L.A. Lakers legend is involved in the Washington Spirit among other teams in other sports.
Hamilton County’s government (in Ohio) has proposed a $5 million grant to develop a training site for the team, which the bidding group identified as a key aspect in team success, after interviewing women’s clubs in the NWSL and Europe.
FC Cincinnati of Major League Soccer General Manager Chris Albright said he thinks it would be “incredible” for the city to join the league: “I think we’re in the bid process and I think (it) would be a tremendous boost to have a women’s professional franchise in Cincinnati. I think it speaks to the infrastructure that Carl (Lindner) and Jeff (Berding) and (MLS team) ownership have built (with FC Cincinnati) that we have a ready-made situation for an NWSL team.”
Albright saw a huge advantage for a NWSL team to join the same ownership group as the MLS side: “Obviously, we have a lot of infrastructure already built—between front office, scouting and coaching. We’ve been supportive the entire way as part of that process to let everyone know at NWSL that we do have, again, infrastructure to be supportive for that team to have success quickly.”
Berding emphasized that the NWSL side would have a “completely separate” staff that would be “fully engaged to support, lead, manage, (and) run the (women’s team’s) business,” but with the support of the team’s executives.
The team would play at FC Cincinnati’s TQL Stadium, which was built for $300 million and opened for the 2021 season. FC Cincinnati controls the booking of events, which would be a plus for the NWSL side. FC Cincinnati ended the 2024 season with the eighth-largest average attendance in the league, at 25,265 in a stadium that holds 26,000 and has hosted U.S. men’s and women’s national team games. The league is expected to name the 16th franchise before the new year. Multiple sources said that the expansion fee for the 16th NWSL team could approach $100 million. Boston and Bay FC, which began play this year, each paid $53 million to enter the league when awarded spots in 2023.
The other two finalists are Cleveland—three hours north—which has announced plans to build a $150 million stadium for the NWSL side and Denver, which has released very few plans and announcements since starting their bid in 2023 and had also explored entering the USL Super League.
Commissioner Berman said: “There’s probably nothing more important than our teams controlling their own destiny, both from a stadium and a training facility perspective.” She said that the league was working on a “white paper” for stakeholders to help illustrate the benefits for communities when investing in purpose-built infrastructure for their women’s teams.
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 X: @TimGrainey