Week 21 of the NWSL season saw a slight change in playoff seeding. Here is a quick recap of all of the happenings around the league.
Weather delays, draws, and a ton of goals. That was the story of Week 21 in the NWSL. Houston put four up on Washington on Friday night. Saturday saw Sky Blue and Utah play to a draw, a weather delay in North Carolina, and Chicago tie the Thorns in Portland. Then Sunday the Courage beat Orlando in the second part of the match.
Strong second half sees Houston demolish Washington’s defense.
If you have followed the NWSL at all this season, you probably know about Washington and their inability to score. But on Friday night, the underlying problem of a weak defensive game was what shined through. The first half was not great from Washington, but they went into the locker room only down by one. Then the second half rolled around and things fell even more apart for the Spirit.
Just 13 minutes after the break, Houston doubled their lead. Things would get worse for Washington in the 76th minute when Sofia Huerta bagged a brace to put the home team up by three. The dagger came in the 84th minute when Australian international Kyah Simon put away the fourth to seal it. Washington would give up four goals on 10 shots on goal in the Friday night matchup.
Late goal from Amy Rodriquez steals a point for Utah.
The Utah Royals traveled to New Jersey on Saturday to take on the winless Sky Blue FC. Sky Blue looked as if they might pull out their first victory of the season early on in this game. Katie Johnson put the home team up early in the first half and double the lead just after halftime.
Things would get interesting in the 58th minute when Sky Blue committed an own goal to bring things within one. Stoppage time rolled around and in the dying seconds of the game, Amy Rodriguez put home the equalizer. There was controversy surrounding the goal as the referee had indicated there would be three minutes of stoppage time, and Rodriguez would score in the fourth minute. The referee indicated that it was because Sky Blue goalkeeper Kailen Sheridan was time wasting, but no card was given.
Portland storms back to take a point vs. Chicago.
In their third game in a week, Chicago took a commanding 2-0 lead on the road in Portland. Sam Kerr scored the first goal just before halftime and then just four minutes after halftime, she tucked home her second of the game.
Portland would not go down without a fight however. In the 60th minute, Tobin Heath beat Red Stars goalkeeper Alyssa Naeher for the first goal for the Thorns. Just nine minutes later, Thorns captain Christine Sinclair tied the game up with an assist coming from Tobin Heath. Thorns goalkeeper Adrianna Franch kept the game even late in stoppage time when Vanessa DiBernardo sent in a shot that Franch sent off the post.
Courage pick up three points after long weather delay.
The North Carolina Courage and Orlando Pride started their game on Saturday night, but lightening in the area forced the game to be stopped in the 22nd minute. The game resumed on Sunday morning in the 22nd minute and tied at 0-0.
An own goal by Orlando’s Shelina Zadorsky put North Carolina up 1-0 in the 75th minute. Six minutes later, Debinha doubled the lead for the home team on an assist from Lynn Williams. Williams then put the nail in the coffin in the 88th minute with an assist from Merritt Mathias. After the game, the Courage were presented with the Shield for clinching the best regular season record.
Coming up.
The Seattle Reign will play host to the Houston Dash on Tuesday night. The match will kick off at 10:30 p.m. ET and will be streamed on the NWSL website.