Wednesday is a day for two monitors All 9 teams play this week. 3 of tonight's teams play again this weekend (Sky Blue doesn't). Two games on a Wednesday night. 👌#UTAvNJ | #SEAvPOR | #NWSL pic.twitter.com/tmOAoUANZl— National Women’s Soccer League (@NWSL) August 7, 2019
[#7.UTA-NJ.#9] Sauerbrunn for Vincent; Press for Jónsdóttir. They have arrived 💪 pic.twitter.com/xsC3JouCTV— Utah Royals FC (@UtahRoyalsFC) August 8, 2019 Lloyd for Lewandowski (and Skroski => RCB, Dydasco => RB, James => RM). Locked in 🔒 #UTAvNJ #SBFC💻 @YahooSports pic.twitter.com/JLkWS0y3uk— NJ/NY Gotham FC (@GothamFC) August 8, 2019 Utah: Q (OK =>) O'Hara (<= OUT) Laddish / OUT (=) Moros / SEI (=) Lytle Ratcliffe / BACK (USA) Sauerbrunn O’Hara Press Sky Blue: Q (OK =>) Kawasumi Lewandowski (<= OUT) Richardson / OUT (=) Freeman Tiernan / BACK (USA) Lloyd / INTL (CRC) Rodríguez
[#4.REI-POR.#2] J.Taylor for Balcer; Long for Andrews; McNabb for Theresa (a late scratch? Theresa starts) Here is your Reign FC Starting XI for tonight's match against @ThornsFC. Kickoff is scheduled for 7 p.m. PT#ShePlaysHere #BeBold #RFCvPOR pic.twitter.com/sM03rLk1CA— Seattle Reign FC (@reignfc) August 8, 2019 Franch for Eckerstrom; Sonnett for Reynolds; Horan for Brynjarsdóttir; Heath for Foord. Tonight's lineup at @ReignFC.Watch the match live on @YahooSports. #BAONPDX #RFCvPOR pic.twitter.com/OCGNTLLei2— Portland Thorns FC (@ThornsFC) August 8, 2019 Reign FC: Q none / OUT (=) Cox Rapinoe Utsugi / 45D Ld.Williams / SEI (=) Betos Fishlock J.Johnson T.Smith Spencer Watson / BACK (USA) Long Portland: Q (OK =>, starting) Klingenberg (<= OUT) Carpenter / OUT (OK =>) Pogarch (=) Salem / BACK (USA) Franch Heath Horan Sonnett Please note that before the opening whistle, Reign FC inserted Theresa Nielsen for Kristen McNabb. By rule, this does not use up a sub. Reign FC will instead have six players on their bench today and McNabb is unable to play#RFCvPOR | 0-0— Seattle Reign FC (@reignfc) August 8, 2019 Panorama of crowd at kickoff in Tacoma for @ThornsFC vs. @ReignFC on a Wednesday night. #BAONPDX #NWSL @NWSL pic.twitter.com/fEIzgqQdzk— Luke Fritz (@LukeFritz64) August 8, 2019
[UTA-NJ] 27' 1-0 LaBonta dribbles quickly ahead of pursuit from circle top to 24m center, dinks a pass through box top 2/5 left. Skroski stretches and deflects ball up centerline, still perfectly in Press's stride to 8m center. Sheridan comes out past 6-top, Press one-touch mini-chips over her left hand, into 1/4 right back low. .@L0momma helps set it up and @ChristenPress isn't missing from there. 0-1 | #UTAvNJ pic.twitter.com/9a3lTN6eRH— National Women’s Soccer League (@NWSL) August 8, 2019 29' 2-0 LaBonta chases down a ball to 2m mid-right, pulls a cross back to 10m center. Press runs on, one-touch right instep half-volley outswings past Sheridan's dive, into left side netting 1/3 high. Remix. @L0momma ➡️ @ChristenPress x ✌️2-0 | #UTAvNJ pic.twitter.com/1zK8lQh3gC— National Women’s Soccer League (@NWSL) August 8, 2019
HT 2-0. Hoy reaches 100 NWSL caps! Congratulations on hitting 💯 @Jenhoy2! #SBFC #NWSL pic.twitter.com/SJYYNl8IrR— NJ/NY Gotham FC (@GothamFC) August 8, 2019
[REI-POR] 43' 0-0 Barnes long serve from midfield box left to 6m center, Groom jumps amidst a pack and heads leftward to 4m 3-left. Ball drops at Yanez's foot -- and under it, as Yanez swings for a one-touch low volley and whiffs, like a batter just late to a fastball inside. +1'. HT 0-0. Reign FC 6(2)-(1)7 shots(sog), 0-2 corners, 3-10 crosses, 2-0 offsides, 7-7 fouls. Both defenses are winning
Since the coaching change, Sky Blue have been fun to watch. I hope they conquer the game at Red Bull. I thought losing McCaskill was going to sink them, but no, getting Eddy was a net plus.
[UTA-NJ] 46' 2-0 Sky Blue subs in (1 of 3) #14 Kenie Wright for #7 Jennifer Hoy. 48' 3-0 Boquete passes inside-out to Weber up left touch past circle top. RB Dydasco sags way off her to double-team Press down box left, Weber outpaces Eddy to 18m box left, snipes a ground pass to 12m left post. Rodriguez comes right-to-left with a 1-step lead on E.Johnson, twists into a one-touch left instep half-volley mini-lob across mouth, over Sheridan's dive into back right edge 1/4 high. .@UtahRoyalsFC are just rolling as @AmyRodriguez8 adds to the lead.3-0 | #UTAvNJ pic.twitter.com/8p46ggLesI— National Women’s Soccer League (@NWSL) August 8, 2019
[REI-POR] 55' 1-0 Catley stands over ball at 22m wide left and directs traffic, putts a pass down wide left for Onumonu. Ball pushes Onumonu off ball, loses footing while underhitting a pass-away inside, falls down at 1m. Onumonu rounds her and tightropes along endline, through box left foot. Cross to 7m 6-top 2-right, Groom steps back and heads down to 2m 1/5 right, it bounces behind Menges. White follows ball practically into Franch's wicket, pokes/scuffs and microtouches ball or decoy-fakes, ball trickles through Franch's legs into 1/3 right back low. .@ify_on22 brings the skill, @rosiewhite13 brings the finish.1-0 | #SEAvPOR pic.twitter.com/x6ZaFcXlHz— National Women’s Soccer League (@NWSL) August 8, 2019 59' 1-0 Reign steal at box top, Onumonu passes square right to White at arc top left post. White touches centerward, shoots right instep bend over Franch, off right 90, it reflects back into box. Groom half-volleys, Ball clears up box left. Theresa intercepts and jukes past Klingenberg to arc top mid-right, shoots to goal center face-high, Franch catches. The crossbar comes between @rosiewhite13 and a second goal.1-0 | #SEAvPOR pic.twitter.com/kikrWoQyOF— National Women’s Soccer League (@NWSL) August 8, 2019 60' 1-0 Raso tightropes along right endline to 1m 5-right, shoots right instep toward right post, Murphy blocks with left forearm, Reign clear.
67' 1-0 Portland subs in (1 of 3) #9 Caitlin Foord for #23 Margaret Purce. 68' 1-0 Reign FC subs in (1 of 3) #11 Darian Jenkins for #2 Shea Groom. 72' 1-0 Reign FC subs in (2 of 3) #24 Bethany Balcer for #25 Ifeoma Onumonu. 75' 1-0 Portland subs in (2 of 3) #2 Katherine Reynolds for #27 Elizabeth Ball.
[UTA-NJ] 60' 3-0 Yellow card on Kenie Wright, for a foul. 61' 3-0 Yellow card on Hoy, who's on the bench. For delay? 62' 3-0 Boquete passes to Press at midfield left touch. Press dribbles at Dydasco to 30m mid-left, does a dump-and-sprint chase due north and toasts Dydasco with speed, to 10m mid-left. Press stutter-steps on the run, pulls left instep shot across mouth, Sheridan coolly reads that, dives and blocks. The people want a @ChristenPress hat trick, but this time @Kailen_Sheridan with the 🛑3-0 | #UTAvNJ pic.twitter.com/7I6MiI7o2y— National Women’s Soccer League (@NWSL) August 8, 2019 64' 3-0 Utah subs in (1 of 3) #66 Gunnhildur Jónsdóttir for #24 Katie Stengel. 68' 3-0 Utah subs in (2 of 3) #15 Erika Tymrak for #8 Amy Rodriguez. 80' 3-0 Utah subs in (3 of 3) #13 Makenzy Doniak for #20 Mallory Weber. FT 3-0.
[REI-POR] 78' 1-0 Yellow card on J.Taylor. 80' 1-0 Klingenberg hops over Theresa(?)'s slide-try at box top wide left, crosses to 6-top right post. Sinclair jumps into Catley's back, drills a header down just wide right low. 82' 1-0 Portland subs in (3 of 3) #11 Dagný Brynjarsdóttir for #25 Meghan Klingenberg. 83' 1-0 Reign FC subs in (3 of 3) #8 Celia Jiménez Delgado for #31 Rosie White. 87' 1-0 Murphy goes low to catch ball at own 6-top. Stoppage, Murphy has ... a finger injury? Trainer tapes it, Murphy resumes. +5'. 5,865! Tonight's attendence: 5,865#RFCvPOR #ShePlaysHere #BeBold— Seattle Reign FC (@reignfc) August 8, 2019
90+2' (of +5') 1-0 Stoppage for Catley, down on one knee. 90+3' (of +5') 1-0 Foord backpass to box top arc right(?), Horan shoots one-touch right instep, slices it way wide right and high. 90+5' (of +5') 1-0 Raso crosses from 12m wide right to 9m 1/3 left, Jenkins heads across. Portland pass to Sonnett at arc top, she turns and shoots right instep just over bar. 90+6' (of +5') 1-0 Portland serve through box, just past Brynjarsdóttir and over endline right. 90+7' (of +5') 1-0 Portland left throw-in at circle back, dumped high into box, Murphy collects. FT 1-0. This must be Andonovski's game plan: tenacious defense + ugly hustle goal by White. (Incessantly attacking Portland's box counts as ball denial ) Portland sent in many dangerous crosses, but never had the wide-open spaces to construct their usual goals -- so it worked
So, how is it that the Reign is in the top 4 NWSL teams while while scoring less than one goal a game? Has a playoff team ever scored less than a goal per game? Any views on why Seattle is so good on defense? Murphy has been good at GK, but few shots ever get through the back line to her. We know Barnes and Catley are best XI candidates, but Oyster, Nielson, and Celia must be doing pretty well also. I'm still a fan of Bethany Balcer, although she hasn't scored any goals recently. She seems to be good at passing, heading, and defending.
Not in NWSL, but there have been a few close calls: SEA got 3rd in 2018 with 27 goals in 24 games CHI got 3rd in 2016 with 24 goals in 20 games It has happened in MLS before, i.e. Colorado getting 29 goals in 30 games in 2004, but that's basically it. It's come close in the 34-game era twice, both times with the last playoff qualifier in the West (who, notably, got into the playoffs with a losing record in each case). MLS is a generally higher-scoring league, though, especially since the DP rule came into effect - there's been less than 2.6 goals per game only three times in MLS' entire history, a "low spell" from 2009-11.
[#5.WAS-CHI.#3] Matthews for Logarzo; Harrison for Huster (and Bailey => RB); Lavelle for P.Nielsen (and Sullivan => RCB). The XI for tonight's match against the Red Stars.#WASvCHI // #CatchTheSpirit pic.twitter.com/rb9oQKLUtj— Washington Spirit (@WashSpirit) August 10, 2019 Naeher for Boyd; Davidson for K.Johnson (and Wright => FW); Ertz for Stanton. Business Trip in the Capitol. Starting XI for #MKOT, presented by @MagellanCorp. pic.twitter.com/OF2LN06Snl— Chicago Red Stars (@chicagoredstars) August 10, 2019 Washington: Q none / OUT (OK =>) Logarzo P.Nielsen (INTL =>) Pugh (=) McGrady / MAT (=) Eubanks / BACK (USA) Lavelle Chicago: Q (<= OUT, starting) Colaprico (<= INTL, starting) Davidson (<= INTL, not) Brian / OUT (=) Jahansouz Mautz Vasconcelos / BACK (USA) Ertz Naeher
[#8.ORL-HOU.#7] Pickett for Greening; King for Pressley; Emslie for Hill. Your Pride XI taking on Houston coming up at 7:30 pm. 📺 https://t.co/qNJdd7bMXZ#ORLvHOU | #VamosOrlando pic.twitter.com/dL3r11X3HL— Orlando Pride (@ORLPride) August 10, 2019 Chapman for Agnew; Polkinghorne for Prisock; Schmidt for Nairn; Fields for Simon. Tonight's Starting XI in Orlando.#DashOn pic.twitter.com/ImXij2Xwp3— Houston Dash (@HoustonDash) August 10, 2019 Orlando: OK (<= Q) Edmonds (<= OUT) Callahan / Q (OK =>) Kennedy (=) Morgan / OUT none / 45D (OK =>) Pressley / MAT (=) Leroux / BACK (USA) Harris Houston: OK (<= Q) Chapman / Q none / OUT none / SEI (=) Latsko McCoy Prince / BACK (MEX) Romero Harris's 100th NWSL cap! It's a big one for @Ashlyn_Harris as we get set for kickoff in Orlando.🇺🇸💻 | @YahooSports | https://t.co/UERGGsUqSN🌍💻 | #NWSL site/app | https://t.co/zoEm98IMlb#ORLvHOU pic.twitter.com/1LYJkcah1W— National Women’s Soccer League (@NWSL) August 10, 2019
[WAS-CHI] 06' 0-0 Kerr squares past Staab to Wright at 13m center, she flicks ball past Kellond-Knight and chases to 7m 1/3 left. Staab leaves Kerr and follows ball, slides and stuff-blocks ball off Wright's foot, harmless pop-up to Bledsoe. 6' - Thats our rook! Staab slides in to block the chance!#WASvCHI // #CatchTheSpirit pic.twitter.com/WF7E1CGH98— Washington Spirit (@WashSpirit) August 10, 2019 08' 0-0 Short longball from midfield right touch inswings behind Staab, perfectly into Kerr's stride to 10m mid-right, one-touch right instep shot goes wide left. That ball from Casey Short 😍Short finds Kerr with the run in behind but the shot goes wide.#WASvCHI | #MKOT pic.twitter.com/SCT7Ih6nlY— Chicago Red Stars (@chicagoredstars) August 10, 2019 HT 0-0.
[ORL-HOU] 13' 0-0 Pickett shoots a low line drive from 25m 6-left to crossbar 1/4 left, Campbell tips it over. President Campbell doing presidential things 🙋♀️👿 0-0 🦊 #ORLvHOU pic.twitter.com/wLuJLNoZTp— Houston Dash (@HoustonDash) August 10, 2019 16' 0-0 Emslie(?) floats a shross from wide right to right 90, Campbell jumps and claws it out, Houston clears. 22' 0-0 Houston fk at circle top left, Huerta scoops it into box, Orlando volleys it out to 30m mid-left. Chapman races Marta head-on to it, wins race and taps ball away, Marta sticks sole out and spikes Chapman's left shin/ankle. Stoppage, Chapman crawls away from the pain, resumes with a heavy limp. 31' 0-0 Marta turns to 9m box left, fast ground cross to 4m left post. Emslie slides down and flicks across mouth past Campbell stranded at near post, too flat, wide right. 31' Brain. Does. Not. Compute. How. Does. That. Not. Go. In. #ORLvHOU | 0-0 pic.twitter.com/Zz4ZhooMMC— Orlando Pride (@ORLPride) August 11, 2019
[WAS-CHI] 46' 0-0 Washington subs in (1 of 3) #2 Arielle Ship for #7 Amy Harrison. 46' 0-0 Colaprico jams Sullivan's turn and undercuts her. Foul, yellow card on Colaprico. 49' 0-0 Dougherty Howard fouls Ertz in center circle. Stoppage, Ertz stays down, trainer applies ... left knee stability test 51' 0-0 Ertz limps off, teeth clenched but not needing assistance. 52' 0-0 Chicago resume with 10. Wright drives down wide right, cross to 2m 2-right, Bledsoe catches low. Ertz returns!
56' 0-0 Ship(?) high-presses Ertz at cricle center, Ertz does about five consecutive drag-backs to create separation. Ertz longball down box right for Wright(?) chasing, her cross blocked over endline right. 60' 0-0 Lavelle does a stutter-and-go down mid-left to 1m, low shross to 2m left post, Naeher dives and double-punches away. 🚨 Naeher Alert 🚨#MKOT pic.twitter.com/7BEwTiLQIE— Chicago Red Stars (@chicagoredstars) August 11, 2019 65' 0-1 Short right throw-in at 7m, to DiBernardo at 3m. One-touch backpass to Short dribbling away from Hatch to 15m right touch, she launches a quick crossbody cross to 6-top 1/4 left. Nagasato has inside position on Bailey, hop-heads down off Bledsoe's left hand, into right side netting just behind post. .@CaseyShort3 delivers another dangerous ball and this time it leads to the opening goal as @Yuki_Ogimi nods it home. 0-1 | #WASvCHI pic.twitter.com/NdhXrq1SNj— National Women’s Soccer League (@NWSL) August 11, 2019 70' 0-1 Washington subs in (2 of 3) #5 Megan Crosson for #20 Cheyna Matthews. 72' 0-1 Chicago subs in (1 of 3) #9 Savannah McCaskill for #26 Tierna Davidson (and Wright => RB).
Is it unusual for a coach to watch up to the entire first half from a higher vantage point away from the sideline? I heard that about Marc Skinner coaching Orlando earlier tonight, and I remember about two years ago commentators pointing out how John Herdman had the same preference when coaching Canada's WNT.
83' 0-1 McCaskill receives behind Sullivan at arc left, ground pass to 9m right post in Ertz's stride. Ertz slides down flat on back, slices right foot volley (folly?) way wide right Ertz was the only player in the box, probably could have taken a couple of touches. .@chiredstarsPR opens up the @WashSpirt defense, but just can't find the finish to double the lead. 0-1 | #WASvCHI pic.twitter.com/PbB0DZv6zi— National Women’s Soccer League (@NWSL) August 11, 2019 84' 0-1 Washington subs in (3 of 3) #17 Cali Farquharson for #28 Elise Kellond-Knight. 85' 0-1 Chicago subs in (2 of 3) #23 Brooke Elby for #12 Yuki Nagasato. +5'. 90+5' (of +5') Chicago subs in (3 of 3) #7 Nikki Stanton for #10 Vanessa DiBernardo. FT 0-1. Chicago hops into 1st on 29 pts from 16 matches. That Short-to-Nagasato combo is how China WNT sneaks up on teams. You think the action is harmlessly moving away from goal, and somebody across the field makes one front-cut past an unwary defender, and a tiny window of opportunity opens up. So just drill until you can hit that window in tempo, like a shoot set in volleyball. It may take 75' for the far-side defender to fall asleep once
[ORL-HOU] 60' 0-0 Daly(?) backheels square right into K.Mewis's stride through arc top. King chases, reaches out right forearm from behind, makes contact at box top center, shoves K.Mewis down tumbling into box. Foul just outside box, but ... 61' 0-0 ... DOGSO, red card on King Welp, she was last defender back. 64' 0-0 Houston fk at 17m center, K.Mewis dummies over ball, Huerta shoots way high and still rising.
69' 0-0 Orlando subs in: - (1 of 3) #12 Kristen Edmonds for #25 Joanna Boyles - (2 of 3) #15 Rachel Hill for #23 Marisa Viggiano. 74' 0-0 Marta protests a call in the right corner, continues her verbiage for 15+ seconds, ends with a wave-off gesture. Yellow card on Marta. 76' 0-0 Houston subs in (1 of 3) #15 Cecelia Kizer for #13 Sophie Schmidt. 79' 0-0 Houston subs in (2 of 3) #17 Kyah Simon for #24 Jamia Fields.