Four games, one victory marked the first weekend of National Women’s Soccer League play. No team scored more than one goal.
Sky Blue FC edged the Western New York Flash 1-0, while the Boston Breakers and Washington Spirit tied 1-1 as did the Chicago Red Stars against the Seattle Reign FC.
Portland Thorns FC traveled to Kansas City for the league’s debut match and played a 1-1 draw against FC Kansas City. Mexico striker Renae Cuellar scored the league’s first goal to give the home team a 1-0 lead three minutes into the game.
Canada’s top forward, Christine Sinclair, got the equalizer in the 66th minute.
The USA’s top offensive players, Western New York Flash’s Abby Wambach, and Alex Morgan, who plays for Portland, were held scoreless.
Washington appeared on the verge of winning its opener, leading at the end of regulation, but Sydney Leroux scored in the first minute of stoppage time to earn the tie for Boston.
Average attendance for the first weekend of action was 3,321, which is a deceptive number given that the game in Kansas City attracted an overflow crowd of 6,784 at a high school field at Shawnee Mission North District Stadium.
The low number was 1,255 for Chicago’s home game. The game in Boston was declared a sellout with only 2,634 fans in the stands.
Portland, which is reported to have sold over 7,000 season tickets, expects a crowd of over 12,000 for its home opener on April 21 against Seattle.
Modest Expectations
Everything about the new eight-team league has been low key. The unique aspect is that the NWSL is being administered by U.S. Soccer, which is picking up the salaries of the U.S. WNT players under contract. Canada’s soccer federation is funding the salaries of 16 Canadians, and Mexico is doing that for 12 Mexican national team members.
The interest from the three federations is to keep their national team players involved in a competitive professional league leading up to the 2015 FIFA Women’s World Cup in Canada.
Players from the three North America federations are spread throughout the league. The other rostered players are being paid by the individual clubs with salaries ranging from $6,000-$30,000.
The league structure is also a lean operation, with offices in Chicago at US Soccer headquarters. There has been little funding for promotions, and the league had no television contract going into the season.
The league debuted with little fanfare nationally, with opening day promotions falling on the home clubs in their local communities.
The Strongest, The Weakest
Just which teams will finish where will be sorted out as the season progresses. After all, that is why the regular season schedule is played.
However, a look at final rosters gives some indication of which team’s might succeed on the basis of talent, and which ones might struggle, either at the defensive end of the field, or offensively.
Portland is considered the front runner, given that the Thorns are starting two of the top strikers in the world, Sinclair and Morgan. However, Kansas City, basically held the Portland offense in check for the opener.
FC Kansas City will give everyone a difficult game. The expectation is that this club is solid from front to back and is the most rounded team in the NWSL. Guellar was considered to be a key, and she delivered in the opening game.
The Western New York Flash looks good on paper with U.S. stars Wambach and Carli Lloyd on board. Adrianna French (Oklahoma State), a solid if not spectacular player, is in goal, but the Flash’s back line is suspect.
The Boston Breakers, which also played in the now defunct WUSA and WPS as middle-of-the-league teams, may be ready to challenge in the NWSL.
The Breakers have Leroux and Heather O’Reilly, two hard working U.S. WNT veterans, and Australia’s Kyah Simon to fuel the offense.
But there are real question marks in the Boston defense, including in goal. The ultimate success of the club will be determined by how well the defense plays. They held Washington to one goal, but the Spirit is considered to be one of the weaker offensive teams.
The Spirit defense will be led by veteran defender Ali Krieger and goalkeeper Ashlyn Harris. The rest of the squad is a collection of untested professionals, most of whom have collegiate ties to the Washington, DC, area.
Included are Florida State rookie Tiffany McCarty, a Maryland native, and Caroline Miller, who was the ACC Player of the Year from the University of Virginia.
Sky Blue FC, coached by former Washington Freedom head coach Jim Gabarra, has U.S. captain Christie Rampone anchoring the back line. Kelly O’Hara, an offensive star at Stanford who now starts at left back for the U.S., will move back up top for her club team.
Brittany Bock (Notre Dame) and Canada’s Sophie Schmidt are in the middle, and the goalkeeper is San Diego’s Brittany Cameron, who will share duties with Jill Loyden, when she recovers from an injury suffered with the U.S. team during the Algarve Cup.
The Chicago Red Stars played in the WPS before dropping out after one season. They are back with Canada’s Erin McLeod in goal. Lori Chalupny, the UNC standout whose national team career ended after several concussions, is a solid midfielder for Chicago.
The Red Stars get an offensive boost next month when Inka Grings, a German International, arrives. She played 16 years with FCR 2001 Dusburg and 96 time for the German national team. Expect this team to finish in the middle of the standings.
Finally, the Seattle Reign FC is without two of the top U.S. WNT stars. Megan Rapinoe will join the team after her season in France with Lyon is over. Goalkeeper Hope Solo is recovering from wrist surgery, and will not be available until late in the season, if at all.
Seattle rookie midfielder Christine Nairn (Arnold, MD), who starred at 2012 NCAA Division I College Cup runnerup Penn State, is among the top-rated first year pros.