Hello and welcome back to NWSL Crunchtime, The Cutback’s newsletter for the business end of the National Women’s Soccer League season.
If you missed last week’s NWSL Crunchtime, then get caught up right here.
There are now just three matches left in the NWSL regular season. To add a little more tension, there’s now a Fifa international window bringing everything to a halt. Will teams get some rest and come back refreshed? Or will absent stars cause training and fatigue issues?
For now, let’s get into the latest stories, from a big red card in the Rose City to a comeback in Kentucky.
A costly red for Wilson
The Portland Thorns lost more than just their match this past weekend. With the score at 0-0, leading goalscorer Sophia Wilson was sent off for pulling Laís Araújo’s hair, and the Thorns went on to lose 4-2 to the Boston Legacy.
Portland, sitting in seventh, really needed points from that game. In the thick of the playoff race, the Thorns still need five points from their final three matches to guarantee a top-eight finish. Instead, they suffered a rare and embarrassing home loss and damaged their goal difference.
Wilson will serve a suspension of at least one game for her red card, but based on the history of hair pulls in the NWSL, there is a decent chance it could be doubled.
That would rule Wilson out of the Thorns’ upcoming matches away to Bay FC and at home to the North Carolina Courage. The Courage sit one place below Portland and are a direct rival for a playoff spot.
Portland’s local rivals, the Seattle Reign, could be the team that benefits most from Wilson’s suspension. The Reign are currently in ninth, just two points below the playoff line, and will hope her absence opens the door for them.
Looking at the video of the pull, there’s an argument to be made that the Portland forward was trying to grapple with Laís Araújo’s shirt before grabbing her hair. If intent is taken into account, that could offer Wilson a lifeline.
She is the Thorns’ most important player, so the league’s decision could have a major bearing on their season.
DeMelo returns after illness
When Racing Louisville midfielder Savannah DeMelo came off the bench in the 90th minute of Saturday’s 1-1 draw against the Utah Royals, it was her first time on the pitch in 384 days. Brecken Mozingo scored a banger to equalise for Utah in the 96th minute.
DeMelo suffered a medical emergency away to the Seattle Reign on 14 September 2025. ESPN also reported that she is suing the team’s medical partner, University of Louisville Health, for failing to diagnose a heart condition that led to her collapse last year.
Last week, the 28-year-old extended her contract with Racing until the end of 2027, with an option for 2028.
“I’ve really been anticipating this moment, and I was just really excited to be able to do it here,” DeMelo said. “Obviously, I wish we could have held onto the three points, but I think that’s the best the team has looked in a while. And I think we should be proud of that performance.
“It definitely was a surreal moment, being able to step back onto the pitch cause there were sometimes I didn’t know if I was going to be able to do that again.”
Wave & Spirit roll to playoffs
Two more teams have joined Gotham FC in the NWSL playoffs: the San Diego Wave and the Washington Spirit. The Wave beat the Orlando Pride 2-1 away on Friday, and the Spirit closed out the weekend with an enthralling 3-2 win away to the Houston Dash.
Both teams are returning to the playoffs for another crack at the title. Last year, San Diego were beaten in the quarter-finals, while the Spirit finished runners-up in the final.
The Wave have now won four in a row and are one of the most in-form teams in the NWSL behind Angel City. Jonas Eidevall’s young team are really growing into the season. Last weekend, San Diego started two 18-year-olds, Kimmi Ascanio and Melanie Barcenas, alongside three attacking players aged 24 or under: Gia Corley, Trinity Byars and Lia Godfrey.
The Spirit are running hot and cold, having won four of their last 10. That inconsistency has partly been caused by the absence of midfield maestro Leicy Santos since August.
Houston (and basically Orlando) are done
Technically, only one more team, the Houston Dash, bit the dust this past weekend and were mathematically eliminated from playoff contention. But, in a bold move by NWSL Crunchtime, I think we can add the Orlando Pride to this list because their path to the postseason is now highly unlikely.
With three to play, the Pride are nine points behind the North Carolina Courage in eighth and have an inferior goal difference by 18 goals (+11 vs. -7).
That means there are now five teams officially done for 2026, and really six if we include Orlando. Both Houston and Orlando need a head coach and will head into the off-season with soul-searching to do and questions to answer.
Orlando will have to decide whether to promote assistant head coach Yolanda Thomas, who is serving as interim coach. The Pride have won two, lost two and drawn one since Thomas took the helm. Meanwhile it feels highly unlikely that Houston would stick with their interim coach, Jaime Frias.
The Dash don’t have a star like Barbra Banda to build their attack around, but this week’s announcement that Kiki van Zanten has signed a new two-year contract offers some encouragement for the future.
What to watch out for
The international break means there’s no NWSL until Friday 16 October. So this tantalising table will stay just as it is for nearly two weeks.
When the league does resume, do not miss Washington Spirit vs. Gotham FC [17 October, 12.30pm ET / 5.30pm UK] in a rematch of last year’s NWSL Championship Final.
Gotham won that final 1-0 nearly a year ago. They also won the most recent league meeting, this past July, by the same scoreline. Incredibly, it was Rose Lavelle who scored the winner on both occasions. The former Spirit player certainly has a knack for decisive goals in big games.
As two original NWSL clubs, we’ve seen this fixture a lot over the last 13 years. This will be the 46th meeting between the two East Coast rivals, with the Spirit holding a narrow edge in the all-time head-to-head record: Spirit W 17 - Gotham W 16 - D 12.
Defeat for the Spirit would end their hunt for the NWSL Shield and move Gotham one step closer to topping the table for the first time in their history. With a six-point cushion over the Spirit and a four-point lead over the San Diego Wave in second, a draw wouldn’t be a terrible result for Gotham.