Five things NWSL: No defense against the dark arts, and manager outfits
Everything you need to know and more after six weeks of the 2025 NWSL season.
Courage change tactics
Winless and bottom of the table after five weeks, the North Carolina Courage were coming under pressure. Head coach Sean Nahas has been known not to stray from his ball possession, short-passing, and slow-build tactics; the football purist often asks his fans to trust the process. When Plan A doesn’t work, simply do Plan A better.
Well, the Courage found a Plan B. Over the weekend, Nahas switched to a back three and pushed his wing-backs up in a 3-4-2-1. This, in turn, moved Ashley Sanchez back into her preferred central ‘number 10' role.
Advanced to right wing-back from right-back, Ryan Williams scored her first-ever professional goal and got the assist for Sanchez’s 90th-minute winner to make it 3-2. The Courage were more direct and vertical, making the most of a back-and-forth affair. Especially at 2-1 down, the verve to get forward as quickly as possible was relentless.
North Carolina completed 340 passes against Kansas City, the fewest in a match for the club since a 1-0 defeat to Gotham in April 2023. The Courage’s win was also the first for anyone against the Current this season.
Gotham master dark arts
Cometh the hour, cometh the shi*housery. One thing we learned from Gotham’s 3-0 win over the Spirit is that The Bats know how to use the dark arts to kill momentum and sit on a lead.
I was so moved by the art of the delay, performed dutifully by Ann-Katrin Berger, Gabi Portilho, Esther, Jess Carter, and Jaelin Howell, that I had to rewatch the match and get my stopwatch out on the second viewing.
After Gotham went 1-0 up in the fourth minute, thanks to promising rookie Sarah Schupansky’s first professional goal, the team went on to contribute to the ball being out of play for 12:191 in the first half and 10:36 in the second half (22:55). The ref added on 7:00 in the first half and 5:00 in the second, so not enough to make up the difference Gotham and the referee bled away.
The most extraordinary thing was that after Berger took a second three-minute break for treatment in the first half, Gotham scored immediately from the restart. Just before half time, Schupansky’s corner kick was glanced home by Esther to make it 3-0. The Spaniard then duly went over to celebrate in front of the home fans. Wind-up queen.
Foul record broken by new ref
Where were you when the Portland Thorns and Racing Louisville smashed the NWSL record for the most fouls ever in a match?
Yes, 41 total fouls were committed on Sunday at Providence Park. Quite amazingly, it was a very even 21-20 split.
The contest was undoubtedly extremely physical. But even so, I think new referee Corbyn May was overawed by the occasion and the Thorns’ famous home support. May was officiating his first-ever NWSL regular season match, having previously only taken two Summer Cup matches in 2024.
Despite being awarded two penalty kicks, including one to make it 3-3 in the 10th minute of second-half stoppage time, Portland captain Jessie Fleming wasn’t all that impressed by May’s calls or the antics of her opponent.
"Probably one of, if not the most frustrating match I've ever been a part of as a player. So I think the league needs to look at that closely. And yeah, I think Louisville should be embarrassed,” she said.
May had a tough day, but I don’t think his lack of control necessarily favoured either side. Racing were probably the better team on the day and will be gutted to drop points so late.
Who wore it best?
Perhaps the biggest matchup of the weekend was the battle between the wardrobes of the head coach of the Houston Dash and Utah Royals, Fabrice Gautrat and Jimmy Coenraets.
Before the match, the two clocked each other in the same tight black polo shirt, slim fit black jeans, and white Nikes with black ticks, and had to acknowledge the irony of the situation.
“He’s like, nice outfit,” Gautrat said of his interaction with Coenraets pre-match. “I was like, yeah, I just kept it traditional today. I just kept it low key. I mean, I'm always all black anyways. So, yeah, we, we laughed about it.”
Let us know in the comments which gaffer you think pulled off the look best.
Hard to beat Bay
Along with several other clubs stuck in the crush of the middle of the NWSL table, it is proving quite difficult to figure out Bay FC’s ceiling.
What I think we can deduce right now is that this team is not going to get rolled over by anyone. Bay is yet to concede more than two goals in a single game, has two clean sheets, and is tied third for goals against (6) and expected goals against (6.4).
Abby Dahlkemper and Joelle Anderson are a surprise success as a centre-back pairing and Kiki Pickett is turning heads both on-ball and off-ball as the anchor in midfield.
Bay feel like they’re going to be in every match they play. But perhaps Hannah Bebar getting more minutes when she has finished university, or signing another creative outlet could help this team be more than just defensively stout.
Maybe the key will be more standout moments of individual quality from superstar Rachael Kundananji, who scored her first goal of the year over the weekend.
These calculations include VAR from a Gotham action, such as Esther’s second goal, which was reviewed for two minutes.