With 26 games in 2024, all teams have played 16 matches. In part 1, we examine the top seven teams in the league: Orlando Pride, Kansas City Current, Washington Spirit, NJ/NY Gotham FC, Portland Thorns, North Carolina Courage and Chicago Red Stars. Last season the six playoff qualifiers were: San Diego, Portland, North Carolina, OL Reign, Angel City and champions Gotham FC.
To date, only Portland, North Carolina and Gotham FC would repeat in the top six, while Kansas City, Orlando, and Washington would qualify after missing out last season, if they maintain their form all season.
Next week, in part 2, we will review the seven teams in the bottom half of the table: expansion side Bay FC, Racing Louisville, San Diego Wave, Angel City FC, Houston Dash, Seattle Reign and another expansion side, the Utah Royals.
NWSL Review—First Third of the Season—Part 1
2024 NWSL Regular Season Review after 16 games of the 26 game season—Part 1
Orlando Pride (11-5-0, 38 points; First)
The Pride has been stellar this season and ran off eight consecutive wins—an NWSL record—before tying San Diego 1-1 on the road on June 7. Barbra Banda of Zambia has been superb in her first season in the league, scoring 10 goals in her first 10 games to lead the goal scorers’ race and set a record as the first player to hit double figure goals in the fewest number of games. The team did set a NWSL record for the longest unbeaten streak with 14 matches to start a season and 15 overall (dating back to the 2023 season) matches and then continued the streak into Week 15.
On May 24, Orlando extended its unbeaten streak to 10 games and wins to eight in a row after a 2-1 home win over Portland in front of a season high home crowd of 9,226 on a Friday night on a holiday weekend in the States, with Zambian international forward Barbra Banda scoring both goals within a ten minute spell in the first half (30’ and 40’); the Pride held off a fightback after a goal by Portland’s Izzy D’Aquila (22), in her second season with the Thorns, in the 71st minute while the Thorn’s Portuguese international Ana Dias (26)—who joined the NWSL after three years in Russia with Zenit St. Petersburg—
hit the crossbar seven minutes from full-time.
After the Portland win, Brazilian international midfielder Marta said about their long unbeaten streak: “It’s something that we dreamed about from the beginning, and we worked very hard. We never give up; I never give up in my life so I’m never (going) to give up dreaming about this situation. You look behind and see everyone running after us, so we just have to run (faster).”
Head coach Seb Hines said: “This is a club that’s reached the playoffs one time since its existence (for the 2016 season). We missed out by fine margins last year (tying Gotham FC with 31 points for the last playoff spot but finished seventh with an inferior goal differential of -1 vs. +1) and that was disappointing, but that just added fire to our belly to come into this year and show everyone what we can do. I think we’re still very much underrated from the outside. We know what we’re capable of. You know, if anyone would have said going into this game that this was going to be a blockbuster game, someone would have laughed at you.”
Hines also talked after the win over Portland at home about how the Pride’s ownership has invested in a number of top players for this season, including Barbra Banda, which has yielded astounding results: “It looks great, right? With Barbra (Banda) in particular, we knew what we were getting; we were getting a goal scorer. We got a player who has an eye for a goal and puts herself in really good positions for goals. Building that chemistry is probably happening quicker than we’ve thought. But she finds a way and it’s brilliant to see.
"Even the second goal today, you would feel like the chance is gone, but she finds a way to find the back of the net. I think she puts fear in defenders as well, which is a compliment to her and the presence (she) shows on the field. But like you said, the acquisitions we brought in this year has added that little bit more quality to the group and you can see that everything is coming together nicely. I think we started this journey at the start of last year.
"We had a rough start. I always remember that first game away at Portland, we were down 4-0 after the first half. But I felt we played well, and from that moment we’ve progressed really well to this point. We just need to continue to move forward; we need to continue to stay humble. Of course, we’re happy we’re at the top of the table right now, but there’s still a lot of growth within this team. We still have players to come back from injury as well. It’s a very exciting time for the Pride.”
On June 21, the Pride hosted the Utah Royals and blasted the expansion team 6-0 in front of 9,656 fans. Barbra Banda scored two goals with two assists while Marta also added two goals. Summer Yates picked up her fourth goal of the season in first-half stoppage time and Ally Watt scored her second goal of the year in second-half stoppage time. The six goals set a team record for most goals in a NWSL game and also their largest margin of victory. With four saves, goalkeeper Anna Moorhouse and the Pride defense picked up a sixth clean sheet of the year.
Seb Hines said after the game: “It was an outstanding performance, flawless really, (with) the amount of goals the players scored and to get a clean sheet. I think most importantly it was for the fans tonight. When you look at the (big) picture and look at days like today, it means a lot for the community, and so we had to do our job tonight. The players fully did that and put on a real show for the fans and the supporters who stood by us and (have) gone through moments of adversity over the eight years (of their NWSL history). That performance epitomizes what this team is about and the determination, their grit and their relentlessness to go after it and get a comprehensive win.”
Marta concurred, focusing on their goal output after ties in their previous two matches, scoring only once in a 1-1 tie in San Diego and 0-0 draw in North Carolina: “Amazing, it was a really special night. I never have lived these moments in Orlando with this team. Of course, I’m so happy and proud of the team for everything that we did and showed together on the field… I think everybody thinks about the last two games and we were not happy with the performance and were not scoring enough, especially in the last game. Tonight we were determined to do something different, to score all of the goals that we didn’t score in the last two games. I think we did a good job when we talk about defense and when we go into the attack, we go with passion and a hunger to score, so I think this makes a huge difference with us.”
Marta also talked about the difference that Barbra Banda has made on the team this season: “She works so hard defending and on offense. We know how fast she is and we need to work to put the ball in the space and a good position for her. I think we did good and that’s why we have the system. A couple of years ago, we created a lot of chances but didn’t have that player to finish the service. This year with her and of course, because of her, it opens more space for other players. She scored two goals today but we had a lot of other chances from other players, so I think it’s collective work and we are happy to have her here and I hope she keeps doing that.”
Barbra Banda added: “Feels great playing at home and having three points. I think we dedicated this game to the community of the Orlando Pride and I think it was very good for us because we dominated the game from the first (minute) to the end. I think the team really worked so hard.”
Orlando has embraced Banda since she first joined the team earlier this season: (see: The Week in Women's Football: Celebrating Barbra Banda's Orlando arrival; deep analysis on India - Tribal Football and The Week in Women's Football: Barbra Banda's near $3M move to Orlando Pride; examining Jan transfers report - Tribal Football) and she has been so sincere since her arrival about her appreciation of the support from the Orlando fans.
This is a special season for the league and particularly for Orlando as Banda has simply been extraordinary and is tied for the league lead in goals with 12, along with Temwa Chawinga of Kansas City. Currently, I see her as one of the top five players in the world though many in the game are just learning about her, after being marooned in the semi-obscured Chinese League—particularly during the COVID years—with Shanghai Shengli for four seasons after two campaigns in Spain with Logrones. Brazil’s Marta, the six-time FIFA World Player of the Year, is closing in on the end of her career while Banda is seemingly just entering her prime. If Banda has another stunning Olympics this summer like she did three years ago, she will start to receive more global attention and acclaim, which she absolutely deserves. For me, at this point, she is the 2024 NWSL Player of the Year hands down, particularly with her effect on and contribution to the Pride’s turnaround this season.
On May 30, the Pride signed another Zambian international midfielder in Grace Chanda to a one and one-half year contract, beginning after the summer Olympics. She comes from Madrid CFF in Liga F and was one of three finalists for the African Women’s Footballer in 2022. That year, Chanda signed with BIIK Kazygurt in Kazakhstan and scored a hat-trick in her UEFA Women’s Champions League debut to lift the club to a 5–1 victory on August 18, 2022.
She was the first Zambian women’s footballer to appear in the UEFA Women’s Champions League. Just a month later she signed with Madrid CFF on a two-year contract. In 2022-23 season, she scored three goals with two assists in 26 games as Madrid finished fifth in the league. For the Zambian national team, she scored eight goals at the 2020 CAF Women’s Olympic Qualifying Tournament, from which the Copper Queens qualified for their first ever Olympic Games finals.
In late June, the Pride signed a new agreement with defender Brianna Martinez, keeping her with the club through the 2025 season. She was selected 17th overall in the 2023 draft by Racing Louisville. After signing with Orlando, she played in 23 matches across all competitions last season. In 2024, she has played in 13 matches, starting in eight. She played collegiately at the University of Notre Dame in Indiana, was called into a U.S. U-23 national team camp in 2022 in Portland and was capped at the U-19 and U-20 levels.
English native Anna Moorhouse (29), who is in her third season with the Pride after coming to the team when now Manchester United head coach Marc Skinner was directing the team, has been outstanding in goal for the Pride this season. She recorded her league leading seventh shutout of the season (tied with Shelby Hogan of Portland) in Round 15 on June 30 as the Pride defeated Angel City 3-0 in Los Angeles, with Brazilian international Adriana scoring twice and Barbra Banda scoring the third goal in the 96th minute.
She joined Orlando from Bordeaux of France, after playing in England with West Ham United, Arsenal and Doncaster Rovers. The next day, Moorhouse was brought into England’s national team camp for the first time, ahead of UEFA EURO 2025 qualifiers this month against Republic of Ireland at home and Sweden away.
On July 6, in arguably one of the biggest games in NWSL history as this was the latest in the regular season that two undefeated teams had ever met, Orlando and Kansas City faced off in the Current’s new CPKC Stadium and Orlando ended the Current’s 17 game undefeated streak (over two seasons) with a 2-1 win, with Banda (her twelfth of the season) and Marta (from the penalty spot for her fifth goal in the 2024 regular season) both scoring for Orlando, offsetting a goal from Malawian international Temwa Chawinga.
Orlando now has a slim goal differential (+20 vs. +18 for K.C.) in the race for the 2024 NWSL Shield. At the Olympic Games break, the Pride now has a 16 game unbeaten run to start the season, tying Seattle for the longest regular-season unbeaten streak, set in 2014 at the start of the season (13 wins and 3 draws). Overall, the Pride are undefeated in their last 17 regular season matches, dating back to the final match of the 2023 season; they are now tied for this record with Kansas City, who’s streak they snapped with this win. It was Kansas City’s first loss in their new home stadium after six wins and two ties since it opened on March 16.
Kansas City Current (10-5-1—35 points; Second)
Through the first 14 games of the season, Kansas City and Orlando had identical 9-5-0 (W-D-L) records to remain undefeated, though the Washington Spirit remained on their tails by only one point behind, with one more win but three losses. A wild game at home on May 18 saw K.C. take a 3-2 lead against Racing Louisville from defender Gabrielle Robinson’s (22) goal off of a Temwa Chawinga assist in the 92nd minute, only for Racing Louisville’s Savannah De Melo to tie the game up in the 13th minute of second half stoppage time.
Two weeks later, again at home, the Current blasted Seattle Reign 5-2 with Malawian international Chawinga scoring twice—with the assist and one goal coming within 89 seconds of the second half restart to give the Current a 4-2 lead—and adding one assist. The win enabled Kansas City to extend their goal differential over Orlando (+14 to +10) for the top spot, though even on points. The win extended the club’s ongoing unbeaten streak to a franchise-best 14 matches, which dated back to the end of the 2023 season.
Note, later in May, Robinson tore her ACL and was placed on the Season Ending Injury list. Robinson was the 15th overall selection for Kansas City in the 2023 NWSL Draft. Signing a new three-year extension in the offseason, she was the only field player to start every game and play every minute for the Current through the first 10 games of the season. A U.S. youth international, she played at West Virginia University.
Veteran midfielder Lo’eau La Bonta has been in terrific form all season and has five goals, while her midfield mate Vanessa DiBernardo has four goals and five assists.
First-year Brazilian forward Bia Zaneratto will miss the Olympics Games Finals with a stress fracture in her foot. Bia has five goals and four assists on the season and has combined well with Chawinga, who leads the club with 12 goals (tied with Barbra Banda of Orlando for the league lead) and 6 assists.
Off the field, General Manager Camille Ashton stepped down from her role in a surprise announcement.
She explained: “I am thankful for my time in Kansas City (starting in January of 2022). It was important to me to dedicate my time and efforts to ensure a successful 2024 season by building the championship-caliber roster that’s currently near the top of the table. I am proud of what we have accomplished here. I look forward to the next step in my personal and professional journey.”
Caitlin Carducci stepped in as an interim general manager. Carducci has worked in operations for the club since November 2023 and prior to that was the Vice President of Member Programs at U.S. Soccer and the Director of Player Affairs at the NWSL.
Note: Ashton, shortly after her announcement with Kansas City, took over the General Manager job at the San Diego Wave (see more in Part 2 of our NWSL review next week).
Washington Spirit (11-1-4, 34 points; Third)
On May 18, the Washington Spirit scored four goals in 36 minutes in a 4-2 win over Angel City at D.C.’s Audi Field in front of 13,342. U.S. international Trinity Rodman scored twice, along with singles from Casey Kruger and Ouleymata Sarr of France, with rookie Croix Bethune adding two assists. D.C. even scored an own goal in the first half for one of Angel City’s goals—this was a really big win against a fading Angel City team (see more in Part 2 next week). Sarr leads the side with seven goals while Bethune is second with five while leading the league with nine assists.
D.C.’s 1-0 win on June 8 in Utah in front of 8,486 fans thanks to a first half goal by rookie Kate Wiesner (23), her first NWSL goal after playing at Penn State University; she has played in 11 games this season with five starts. This was the Spirit’s fourth consecutive win, while Utah had lost five in a row entering the game. Washington is playing well and focused on the Pride and the Current—the first team unbeaten after 16 weeks with the Current having only one (to the Pride—after 16 weeks)—as the Spirit is well placed in third and only four points from top spot and one behind second in hopes of bounding over either team or both, if they slip up in their quest to capture a first round playoff bye.
Croix Bethune, who has been stellar all season as a rookie, a week later scored a late equalizer with a screamer from a deflected ball from five yards out for the Spirit against San Diego in front of 19,897 at Audi Field on June 15 in a 1-1 tie. She was selected as an alternate for the U.S. Olympic Games Finals side in Paris later this month.
Off the field, English international defender Esme Morgan (23) signed a four year deal with the Spirit after playing at Manchester City in the WSL. She was an unused substitute during last year’s Women’s World Cup Finals in Australia/New Zealand.
Morgan explained her move Stateside in a press release: “I wanted to join the Spirit because they have the ambition and tools to be the best team in the NWSL, and trying to achieve that will be a great but enjoyable challenge. On an individual level too, the opportunity to work under (incoming coach) Jonatan (Giráldez, from Barcelona), one of the world’s best coaches, is really exciting, and I look forward to learning from him and pushing myself to become the best player I can be, hopefully helping the team to success.”
She could be a hugely impactful import to a very strong Spirit team this year.
The Spirit will play WSL side Arsenal this summer at Audi Field on August 18; the Gunners played earlier this summer in Melbourne, Australia (see: The Week in Women's Football: A-League check; Mexico for Lehmann; Liga MX review - TribalFootball.com). On August 25, Arsenal will play five time reigning WSL champions Chelsea at Audi Field in the second game of a doubleheader, with the Spirit playing the Kansas City Current in a regular season match, with huge implications for the playoffs (see above).
NJ/NY Gotham FC (9-4-3, 31 points; Fourth)
At the conclusion of week 12, reigning champions Gotham FC had won three in a row and five of their last seven matches, with two ties, for an undefeated run of collecting 17 out of 21 points available in those games. On June 15, NJ/NY Gotham FC extended the club’s unbeaten streak to eight games with a 2-0 road win over Racing Louisville at Lynn Family Stadium in the Kentucky city.
Midfielder Yazmeen Ryan netted her first goal of the season, while forward Ella Stevens scored her career-high fifth goal of the 2024 campaign and is tied for the team lead with U.S. international midfielder Rose Lavelle. With the result, Gotham FC has now won its last four straight matches and was undefeated in its last eight matches, and became the first NWSL team to record five shutouts in 2024.
On June 19, rookie Maycee Bell (23) came off the bench to score a 99th-minute winner for Gotham FC in San Diego against the Wave (2-1) to extend its winning streak to five games and unbeaten streak to nine games, tying the club record set between September 4, 2021 and May 1, 2022. Bell played at the University of North Carolina and scored her first NWSL goal.
Note: Gotham fell to Washington 2-0 at home on June 23 to snap their long undefeated streak.
Rookie Maycee Bell scored a 99th minute winner as a substitute for Gotham FC when they defeated San Diego Wave 2-1 away on June 19. Photo courtesy NJ/NY Gotham FC.
U.S. international Lynn Williams captured the all-time NWSL scoring record with her 79th career goal on May 19 against the Chicago Red Stars (2-1) to take over the National Women’s Soccer League for most goals across all competitions, which was 78 and held by Australian international forward Sam Kerr (now Chelsea FC), which she has held for seven years since leaving the NWSL for the WSL.
Williams has scored 13 goals in all competitions since joining Gotham FC last season, including the club’s opening goal in the 2023 NWSL Championship win over the Seattle Reign. She debuted in the league in 2015 with the Western New York Flash. Across regular season games, Williams has the second-most goals in league history with her 67 scores, only 10 goals away from the league record, again held by Sam Kerr.
Reigning National Women’s Soccer League champions Gotham FC and the newly-crowned, seven-time Women’s Super League champions Chelsea FC Women will play an international club friendly on Monday, August 19 at Red Bull Arena in Harrison, New Jersey. The match will mark each team’s return to action after the conclusion of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, providing a meaningful competitive opportunity against a quality opponent. German international goalkeeper Ana-Katrin Berger (33) will face the club that she spent six years and won four league titles with before joining Gotham FC for this season.
On June 7, midfielder Sinead Farrelly was placed on the season-ending injury from post-concussive syndrome that requires a long term rehabilitation effort.
Later that day, she announced her retirement from the game. After nearly eight years and initially retiring from professional soccer in 2016, Farrelly made a triumphant return to the game by joining Gotham FC as a 2023 preseason training camp non-roster invitee. She earned her way onto the roster and signed a contract with the club in March, then ultimately helped the team win the league title.
She also was capped by Ireland last year and was part of their first ever WWC Finals side in Australia/New Zealand. Gotham FC Head Coach Juan Carlos Amorós said about her: “Coaching Sinead has been one of the highlights of my career. She is an exceptional player and person, she is a ‘magician’ on the pitch. She has helped us all to be better, and I am grateful she decided to join us for her comeback. She has proven that anything is possible and has changed the women’s game and Gotham FC for the better. She will still be part of the team now and forever part of Gotham FC’s history.”
Prior to making her return with Gotham FC, Farrelly previously played for Kansas City in the league’s inaugural season in 2013 season and with the Portland Thorns in 2014 and 2015. Before the start of the NWSL she played in the old WPS with the Philadelphia Independence and two seasons with Apollon in Cyprus She played collegiately at the University of Virginia. She was such a good dribbler and midfield force during her career—she will be missed by both club and country.
Also, forward Taylor Smith’s (30) contract was mutually cancelled by the club and the player on June 28. She joined Gotham FC in June 2022. Smith appeared in 27 matches with 19 starts, scoring three goals and two assists across all competitions. In the 2023 regular season, she appeared in eight matches (five starts) and scored one goal and one assist.
An eight-year NWSL veteran, Smith previously played for the Seattle Reign from 2019-20 and with the Western New York Flash/North Carolina Courage, winning a league title with the Rochester-based Western New York Flash as a rookie in 2016. She also played in Australia with Newcastle Jets and on loan with Brighton & Hove Albion in England. I hope she finds another team and continues her impactful and strong career.
U.S. head coach Ciara Crinion named 19 players who were born in 2009 while forward Mak Whitham was the only player born in 2010 to the under-15 women’s national team that defeated Germany (4-0) on June 11 in Nordhorn and the Netherlands (2-0) on June 14 in Schalkhaar. Whitham (13) had played as a guest player with Gotham FC in pre-season, scoring in the game-winner in the Women’s Cup in Colombia.
She scored a goal in the win against Germany for the U-15’s. It will be interesting if she turns professional in the next year or two and, if she stays in America, with which team she signs with. She is a native of California but Gotham FC general manager Yael Averbuch was very impressed with her integration with the team during the Colombia trip and Whitham could be signed under the league’s youth scheme, though her contract would have to last through 2028.
Portland Thorns (8-3-5, 27 Points; Fifth)
Interim head coach Rob Gale was still undefeated after being installed five games into the season, until a 4-1 loss at home to high-flying Kansas City Current on June 23 during Week 14. U.S. international forward Sophia Smith was red-carded in injury time in their 1-0 home win on June 8 against North Carolina in front of 21,025 fans. She had scored the winning goal earlier in the second half from a penalty kick but when the ball went out of bounds near the Portland bench, she pulled it back under where she was sitting and hid it for a bit and then pretended that she had trouble grabbing ahold of it.
The referee had no patience for the shenanigans and gave her a yellow card—her second—so the red card meant that she would sit out an important Cascadia Cup match the next weekend in Seattle against the Reign. Smith tried to plead with the referee as to “what did I do?” but it was clear to fans in the stadium and those watching on television that her behavior was quite uncalled for. Gale seemed apoplectic with the call by the referee but then said after the game that he didn’t know what happened.
The Thorns, with the win, had won seven of their last eight games and the next week, without Smith, left Seattle after a scoreless draw. I thought the move was bush league by Smith and Portland’s reaction to it and the resulting appeal was quickly shot down by the NWSL. The NWSL had an Independent Review panel review the incident and they denied the appeal, finding it frivolous. Thus:
- Portland had to forfeit its bond of $10,000.
- Portland lost the right to appeal any other decisions for the remainder of the current season and the following season in 2025 (including playoffs for both seasons).
- The suspension and fine related to this appeal were doubled, therefore, Smith was issued a two-game suspension and an increased fine.
Per the NWSLPA’s rights in the collective bargaining agreement to appeal discipline for on-field conduct, the NWSLPA appealed the doubling of the player discipline to the NWSL Review Committee. The NWSL Review Committee unanimously upheld the NWSLPA appeal, resulting in the league rescinding the additional one game suspension and associated incremental fine for Smith.
Some felt she should have been suspended for five games or more as her ploy was a bad example for youth players. At the Olympic Games break, Smith does lead the team in scoring with 10, and is third in the league overall behind Barbra Banda and Temwa Chawinga, who are joint top with 12 goals. Tied for second on the Thorns with three goals are Olivia Moultrie—who was not included on the roster for the Paris Olympics—and Canadian international Janie Beckie.
Portuguese international Ana Dias (26) scored the winner away against Houston in a 2-0 win on May 17 away in flooded downtown Houston; it was her first goal of the season. Dias won two Russian League titles in the past three years with Zenit, scoring 18 goals last year and 12 during the season before.
On July 2, the club permanently acquired Nigerian international defender Nicole Payne (23), who to that point had played in ten games (six starts) for the Thorns while on loan from Paris Saint-Germain in France. Her new contract keeps her in Portland through the 2025 season. She was raised in the State of Alabama and played at West Virginia University and the University of Southern California. She has been capped six times by Nigeria’s senior team after playing for U.S. youth teams; her sister Toni played for Nigeria at last year’s WWC Finals in Australia/New Zealand. Both players were selected to Randy Waldrum’s final Olympic Games Finals roster for Nigeria.
North Carolina Courage (8-1-7, 25 points; Sixth)
A midseason run of five losses and only one win in six matches hurt the side, but their strong early start (four wins and only two losses to start the season) helped them to hang around in the playoff mix. One highlight came in their 3-0 loss to Houston away on May 24 as defender Kaleigh Kurtz broke the NWSL consecutive minutes played record. surpassing Amber Brooks’ record of 6,483 minutes in the 43rd minute of the match against Houston.
Casey Murphy also made her 300th NWSL regular season save in the 23rd minute, denying Michelle Alozie with a kick save from her close range shot. Canadian international Bianca St-Georges (26) made her 50th NWSL regular season appearance, entering the match as a substitute in the 65th minute. This is her sixth year in the league but first with Carolina after five campaigns with the Chicago Red Stars, following college at West Virginia University. Rooke Landy Mertz (23) made her professional debut as a substitute in the 84th minute. She played one year at the University of Dayton before spending four years at the University of Pittsburg.
An undefeated run of four matches from Round 13-16 (three wins and one tie) left the club in the top six at the Olympic Break. Forward Ashley Sanchez (25), who arrived this season after four years with the D.C. Spirit, has scored a goal in each of the last three matches (all wins) and hopes to add to her three goals in the final third of the season. American forward Tyler Lussi (29), in her eighth season in the league and second with the Courage after playing at Princeton University in New Jersey, leads the team with four goals.
The club made two midseason signings of huge importance from two-time reigning A-League Women champions Sydney FC—Matildas attacking midfielder Cortnee Vine (26) to a three year contact through the 2026 season and Matildas defender Charlotte McLean (24) to a two year contract. This is the first stint abroad for the very highly thought of Vine, who played the last four seasons with Sydney FC and scored 30 goals with four assists to lead the club to three straight Premierships from 2020-21 through 2022-23 and back-to-back Grand Final championships in 2022-23 and 2023-24.
With Australia’s WNT, she has 28 caps and played in all seven 2023 WWC games, including scoring the winning penalty kick during the deciding kicks after 120 minutes against France in the quarterfinals. She will be part of the Matildas side for the 2024 Olympic Games Finals.
Vine said about her move to the NWSL and the Cary, North Carolina-based side: “The biggest reason I’m excited to join the Courage is their style of play. They play beautiful, possession-based football. And I’m excited to be part of the culture. I know some of the players and used to play with Denise O’Sullivan (with Western Sydney Wanderers in 2019/20). She’s a humble person and a fantastic player and I can’t wait to be a part of the culture she’s spread with the Courage.”
In the A-League Women, Vine also played with the Brisbane Roar, Newcastle Jets and Western Sydney Wanderers. Across eight seasons, Vine scored 36 goals and added 19 assists in 105 appearances.
Charlotte McLean was Sydney’s Player of the Year last year as a center-back. She won three Premierships (regular season title), and two league titles in four seasons with the Sky Blues. Last season Sydney had the best defense in the league, conceding less than one goal a game in the regular season and keeping 12 clean sheets, including in the Grand Final. McLean made 74 appearances and contributed 38 clean sheets in four seasons with Sydney FC.
McLean said about her move to the NWSL: “The Courage are one of the most successful teams in the history of the NWSL and I’m so excited to be a part of such a successful club and culture. They play a really beautiful style of football, and this will be a great place to develop the technical side of my game and learn from these amazing players and coaches.”
This will be her first time playing for a club outside of Australia.
In the second edition of an open 7-on-7 tournament called The Soccer Tournament, held at the Courage’s home stadium in Cary, N.C. this summer, a U.S. Women’s Team (including WSWNT retirees Heather O’Reilly (39) and Ali Krieger (39)) defeated the North Carolina Courage 6-3 for the title and the $1 million prize.
The Women’s Best 7 side included former USWNT forward Kealia Watt (32)—who played for Burnley FC of England where she has an ownership stake—Rosie Hughes (28) of Wrexham Red Dragons, who has been featured in the FX Series Welcome to Wrexham, N.C Courage pair Madison Wolfbauer (24)—who has played the last two seasons with Keflavik in Iceland after one campaign with IBV—and goalkeeper Lauren Kellett (who just finished at Texas Christian University and will play in the USL Super League this fall with the Tampa Bay Sun) and Jordan O’Brien (31) with the Tampa Bay Sun 7-a-side team, who has played with River Plate of Argentina since 2019, after time in the NWSL, Iceland and Norway.
Also on the Best XI was Shea Moyer (25) of Angel City 7’s, who went to Penn State U. and played last season with Ankara BB Fomget in Turkey after time with ASA Tel Aviv University in Israel and Throttur in Iceland, and Tessa Dellarosa (20), who played with the U.S. Women’s team and is currently at the University of North Carolina and with the U.S. U-20 national team. Former University of North Carolina Tar Heels goalkeeper Lindsey Harris (30) won the tournament Women’s Golden Glove—she played last season in the Saudi Arabian Women’s Premier League for Al-Qadsiah.
Chicago Red Stars (7-2-7, 23 points, Seventh)
The Red Stars lost three in a row at the end of May and into June, including a huge event on June 8 against Bay FC as they had previously announced early in the season that the game would be held at iconic Wrigley Field—the home of the Chicago Cubs baseball team and occasional home to the Chicago Sting in the NASL days of the late 1970’s and early 1980’s. The goal was to break the NWSL attendance record of 34,130 set by Seattle in 2023 for Megan Rapinoe’s last game with the Reign. The Red Stars did that with a fantastic crowd of 35,038 to establish the new league benchmark for a single match, in a game that was also televised nationally.
Chicago Red Stars president, Karen Leetzow said: “On behalf of the Red Stars, I would like to thank all fans and every person who helped us welcome this record-breaking crowd to Wrigley Field. Chicago has truly shown the country what’s possible when we level the playing field with a centrally located stadium that is easy to access, and give these world-class athletes the support they deserve.
"Our club could not be prouder to call Chicago home tonight. This historic match is not just momentous for the Red Stars, but for the NWSL and the future of women’s professional soccer. Tonight, Chicago proved once again that fans are hungry to witness the intense level of competition that exists on the pitch every week in the NWSL and around the world. Hosting this record-breaking crowd would not have been possible without the support of the Chicago Cubs, the Ricketts family and our sponsors. Thank you to everyone who had a hand in the success of our ‘Red Stars Take Over Wrigley Field’ match.”
On the field, Bay FC dominated play and built up a 2-0 lead before Chicago’s Penelope Hocking scored a late goal in the 93rd minute to reduce the deficit to one. Penelope Hocking’s goal came 25 years after her father, Denny Hocking, hit a home run at Wrigley Field. Another connection to baseball is the Red Stars forward Mal Swanson is married to current Cubs shortstop Dansby Swanson.
After the loss to Bay City, the Red Stars went on the road to Kansas City and came home with a well-earned point from a 2-2 tie on July 14, with a goal and an assist by Mal Swanson, who assisted Sam Stabb’s goal in the 90th minute to share the points. Chicago then lost in their first match after the June international window at North Carolina (3-1) on June 23. They won for the first time after earning one point from their last five games with an emphatic 3-0 win in San Diego against the Wave on June 28, after head coach Casey Stoney was relieved of her post earlier in the week (see more in next week’s NWSL Review—Part 2).
Mal Swanson scored her then sixth goal of the season and rookie Jameese Joseph (22), who played at N.C. State and has been to youth national team camps in the past, scored her first goal of the season and added one assist. The following week, on July 6, Chicago shut out Houston 1-0 at home as Mal Swanson scored her seventh goal of the season (for fourth in the league) on an assist by Leilanni Nesbeth (22), for the first point ever by a Bermudian in the NWSL (and she is the first from her country to even play in the league) Swanson has now scored in four-straight matches for the Red Stars, tying her with Jen Hoy who did the same in 2014. Australian international Sam Kerr holds the club record with goals in six straight matches (she played with Chicago in the 2018 and 2019 seasons).
The club signed Karina Baez of Mexico as an assistant coach in mid-June. She has been a scout with the Mexican WNT since 2023. Baez has coached at the youth level with UNAM Pumas, Pachuca and UANL Tigres. She became the head coach of UNAM Pumas women in 2021.
- 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