Charles Jackson
The NWSL always loves to keep the audience on their toes, with last week’s run of games proving that early season form may not define each team – for better or worse.
The reversal of fortune has been good news for the Portland Thorns, who are on a five-game winning streak after moving Mike Norris from head coach to technical director, moving up from last to fourth in the process. There are also signs of life for the Houston Dash, who picked up just their second win of the season on Sunday, and NJ/NY Gotham FC, who have scored in four straight games after scoring just twice in their first four games. On the other hand, a North Carolina Courage team that looked very convincing early in the season has won just one of its last five, the most recent of which was a 1-0 loss to the Kansas City Current on Sunday.
As the NWSL approaches the halfway point of the season, here’s a look at the weekend that was – and the body of work some teams are already building.
Resurgent Thorns
What a difference a change of coach makes for the Thorns, who have looked like a more familiar version of themselves since Rob Gale took charge a month ago. The team’s offensive performance has stood out in correcting course, scoring 15 goals in the last five games, a stretch that includes Saturday’s 4-0 victory over the Seattle Reign. Sophia Smith has risen up the league’s top scorer charts along the way and now has eight goals this season, three more than Angel City’s Claire Emslie in second place.
It’s a big improvement on the six goals scored in the first four games and part of a more purposeful offensive operation by the Thorns. They are taking fewer shots per game (12.2 since the coaching change, 19.25 before) and created fewer chances (9.2 now, 15.75 previously), but now have an average of 1.82 expected goals, more than Norris’ 1.43. The Thorns are also putting path more shots on the board now – 54.1% of shots hit the target, compared to 33.8% before – all with slightly less possession. The team averaged 52.1% possession under Norris, but since Gale joined, they have 48.3%.
Arguably, there is one more notable change for the Thorns in recent weeks – their defensive stability. The Thorns were the highest-scoring team in the NWSL last year and have much of the same personnel at the top this year, suggesting things would change in their favor on offense at some point. The 2022 NWSL champions, however, were in the bottom three for goals conceded in 2023 and have started 2024 in porous fashion, conceding 10 goals in four games. That number has dropped to just four in the last five, and Gale has rotated his backline options at a similar rate to Norris earlier this season. The reversal in defensive performance serves as a vote of confidence in the Thorns’ offseason recruiting, as they signed wingers Marie Muller and Nicole Payne and are running with goalie Shelby Hogan while Bella Bixby is on maternity leave.
The downward turn of courage
For the few weeks of the season, the Courage looked real and Sunday’s match against the Current was poised to be the first look at a showdown at the top of the NWSL table. Although the score was close in the 1-0 defeat, it was one of the few metrics in which the margins were close.
The possession-loving Courage held the advantage in this category with 54.5% possession, but were outscored 21-7 and lost the expected goals battle by 2.89 to 0.33. Although the Courage are not a high-scoring team and are middle of the pack with 12 goals this season, the match against Current was easily their worst attacking game of the season. It’s a worrying trend because this could be the main way Sean Nahas’ team saves itself from its most troublesome problem – their opponents outplay them most of the time.
The Courage have been defeated in six of their nine games this season, which hasn’t been too concerning in the first four games of the season. Although they conceded 38 shots – the fourth fewest in NWSl at the time – they limited opponents to just nine shots on goal, the best defensive performance in the league after four games, and conceded just three goals. They have fallen considerably since then, falling into the bottom five in those categories, considering 70 shots and 27 shots on target and letting in eight goals. It raises questions about the sustainability of this strategy, especially for a team that likes to have possession of the ball, especially in a championship where offensive talent is getting better and better.
Nielsen’s Thrilling Victory
The weekend’s action concluded with a dramatic finale in Los Angeles, where the Houston Dash picked up their second win of the season with a 1-0 victory over Angel City. The hosts were arguably the better team with almost 60% possession and 13 shots to the Dash’s eight, but the visitors limited Angel City to just 0.94 expected goals, outperforming them in that category with 1.14.
Paige Nielsen scored in the 98th minute to secure the three points, providing a victory for a team that desperately needed one during a season that has had its fair share of forgettable moments, including the Maria Sanchez commercial saga. It’s also already been an exciting season for Nielsen, who was surprisingly traded from Angel City to the Dash a month ago.
“I think my wife was yelling at me every day,” Nielsen said in the postgame press conference. “I think I cried every day. I mean, she chose to marry me and I don’t think she understood what that meant if I got traded, but she can work remotely so we’re working things out. I think I cried for two days straight just because we’ve started to build a life in Los Angeles and it feels like home, but we’re also so excited about what Houston can bring us. If it means an affordable home or less traffic – me. I literally want to bang my head against the car in the traffic in Los Angeles, but there are so many positives that can come from this that I really needed to process all my feelings because it was so sad.”
Nielsen’s comments mark the latest chapter in growing discontent with league negotiations, a concept familiar to American sports but one that appears at odds with football’s structure. It could be a topic of conversation for the NWSL’s next collective bargaining agreement, which will begin in 2027, but NWSL Players Association executive director Meghann Burke has already advocated eliminating negotiations without players’ consent.
