After getting off to the kind of dominant start most expected, the past week has brought a bit of a reality check for the Thorns, courtesy of Sky Blue FC.
First, SBFC went up to Portland and upset the Thorns at home.
After a few weeks of largely unsurprising results, the National Women's Soccer League got a little dose of unpredictability on Thursday night, setting things up for an interesting weekend.
The biggest shock came in Portland, where the first-place and previously-unbeaten Thorns lost, 1-0, to Sky Blue FC, locking the two into a tie atop the league standings.
This weekend brings three more games in the National Women's Soccer League, following up on the league's first mid-week match, which was held on Wednesday.
And so we begin our look ahead with a quick look back, followed by a preview of Saturday's NWSL action.
It took three weeks, but there's finally some separation in the National Women's Soccer League.
After four of the league's first five matches ended in 1-1 draws, the past five have provided winners, including all four games this weekend. It's still early, but the NWSL picture is starting to take shape, with the Portland Thorns unsurprisingly on top, the Western New York Flash surprisingly at the bottom, and a few others making noise as well.
The opening weekend of the inaugural National Women's Soccer League season is in the books, with draws galore and a surprising result involving an expected title contender.
Three of the four matches ended in a deadlock, with the Boston Breakers earning a point via a stoppage-time equalizer and Sky Blue FC pulling the lone victory of the week with an upset of the Western NY Flash.
Two players who grew up playing soccer in Wisconsin will be teammates in the National Women's Soccer League.
Forward Casey Loyd (Cedarburg) signed with FC Kansas City earlier this week, joining defender Lauren Sesselmann (Green Bay Notre Dame) on the roster for the inaugural NWSL season.
Fans of women's soccer in and around the Nation's Capital can finally start planning their 2013. Today, the NWSL announced the schedule for its inaugural season, and we now know when the Washington Spirit will be playing each of their 22 games in the new women's top flight.
They'll open on the road before welcoming Abby Wambach and the Western New York Flash to the Maryland Soccer Plex for the first home game in club history - and the first of a four-match homestand.
Today the NWSL announced the schedule for the fledgling women's pro soccer league. With only eight teams and a 22 match schedule it is quite unbalanced. Seattle Reign FC plays Portland, Chicago Red Stars and FC Kansas City four times (2 home, 2 away). The Reign meet the Washington Spirit (2 home, 1 away) and Western New York Flash (2 away, 1 home) on three occasions and face both Sky Blue FC and Boston Breakers in a home and home .
The National Women's Soccer League 4 round draft will begin on Friday at 8am. Draft order was determined with an analysis of the strength of each club and a weighted draw.
Via Ussoccer.com: The National Women's Soccer League announced today the order for the league's inaugural college draft, which will take place on Friday, Jan.
2013 brings the excitement of (another) fresh start in the world of women's soccer. This year will see the launch of the third professional league since the founding of the WUSA in February of 2000. Despite three Olympic gold medals for the U.S. Women's National Team since that time, the country has struggled to sustain a professional environment to hone and develop homegrown talent.
SOMERVILLE, Mass. In a seesaw affair at Dilboy Stadium, the Boston Breakers fell 3-2 to Sky Blue FC in preseason play on Wednesday night.
Kelley O'Hara collected a brace while Sophie Schmidt scored the game-winner late for Sky Blue, while Heather O'Reilly and Lianne Sanderson both notched goals for Boston.
After winning six straight matches to take the top spot in the WPS table, the Independence
traveled to New Jersey on Saturday night and played one of their worst games of the season. After a
listless first half, Casey Nogueira netted a second half brace to give Sky Blue the 2–0
victory.
Some 18 weeks after breaking a bone in her knee in Sky Blue FC's final preseason match (way back on
April 5th), goalkeeper Jenni Branam returned between the posts for the defending champs, but the
visiting Chicago Red Stars put a damper on her first game back. A fourth minute tally from Ella
Masar and a little insurance care of Karen Carney were all the Red Stars needed to hand Sky Blue
their fourth consecutive loss.
As temperatures reached nearly 100° in the Philadelphia area on Saturday, even the announcers
of the WPS match between the Philadelphia Independence and New Jersey's Sky Blue FC were shiny with
sweat during the pregame introductions.
The Independence made things even hotter for the visitors with a 4–1 win.
FC Kansas City will open and close their inaugural season at home this season, according to the just releasedNWSL schedule. FC Kansas City hostthe league's inaugural game, as theyplay the Portland Thorns on Saturday, April 13th at home.
Fans will be able to see Alex Morgan and the Portland Thorns twice this season, Hope Solo and the Seattle Reign also twice this season, and finish theFourth of July Weekendwith a Sundaygame against Abby Wambach and the Western New York Flash.
Today US Soccer held their press conference on the new women's league being established in the United States and after the announcement we learned the name of the Kansas City team, FC Kansas City, "The Blues."
Kansas City will be one of 8 teams in the league, the Chicago Red Stars, Boston Breakers, Western New York Flash, DC United women, Sky Blue FC, Portland, and Seattle.
Abby Wambach could get her 200th cap on Wednesday night against Scotland in Nashville, Tenn.
U.S. head coach Tom Sermanni has named the 18 players that will suit up against Scotland on Wed., Feb. 13 for the match at LP Field in Nashville, Tenn. The match will kick off at 7 p.
U.S. head coach Tom Sermanni has named the 18 players that will suit up against Scotland on Saturday, Feb. 9, at EverBank Field in Jacksonville, Fla., in what will be the first match of the year for the U.S. Women and the first match at the helm for Sermanni. Fans can watch live via a video web stream on ussoccer.
Those looking for hopeful news about women's professional soccer in the US may have been
heartened by the announcement on Thursday that Western New York Flash and Boston Breakers had
officially committed to participate in the Women's Premier Soccer League's new Elite Division. As
PSP wrote last Wednesday, WPSL president Jerry Zanelli had extended an offer to WPS teams to join
the new league for the 2012 season so that players could maintain fitness and form while WPS worked
on the business of re-launching the league in 2013.
Hector Rueda Lookalike Wilman Conde is New York Bound - FinallyThe New York Red Bulls,
having just wrapped up Tim Ream's long-awaited transfer to Bolton, didn't waste much time in
finding his replacement, announcing today the signing of Colombian central defender Wilman Conde.
Conde was most recently on the books of Mexican club Atlas, where injuries limited his playing time
in 2011 to just 13 games.
A stoppage time goal from Lianne Sanderson kept the Independence in the race for a first place
finish in WPS on Sunday night at Widener University. Tasha Kai gave Philly the lead on 17 minutes
with a wonderful strike from distance only to see her opener cancelled out seven minutes later by
an Eniola Aluko goal.
The Independence take on Sky Blue for the second time in two weeks on Sunday at Widener
University. The game will be the last regular season home game of the season, and final game at
Widener University with the Independence hosting their playoff game at PPL Park.
Did you buy a ticket for the Independence match against Atlanta on Sunday after seeing some of
the Women's World Cup? Or are you just making it down to Widener University for the first time?
Here's what you've missed so far during Philadelphia's 2011 campaign:
Tasha Kai scored a hat trick against her former team and Laura Del Rio scored a 78th minute
winner with her first touch of the game as the Independence twice came from behind to knock off New
Jersey based Sky Blue FC. The win moves Philadelphia to the top of the WPS table for the first time
in team history.
Justin Mapp talks about how welcome he felt when he came to the Union, what he's doing in the
off season, and the team's focus on winning in 2011. "Our fans are the best in the league. They're
loud. They're supportive. They're passionate. When we start stringing wins together, these fans are
going to be the ones who deserve it.
The final week of the WPS regular season determined the fourth team to grab the last playoff
spot, and who would host the Super Semi Final. Sky Blue FC and the Boston Breakers battled it out
to a scoreless draw, while FC Gold Pride finished the season as strong as ever with a 4-1 win over
the Philadelphia Independence.
Although the Independence have made the playoffs in their inaugural year, they could hardly have
done so in a less encouraging fashion.
Coming off of three losses in a row, the Independence traveled to the West Coast to face Marta
and FC Gold Pride, a team that over their first two meetings they had managed only one goal while
conceding five.
The Philadelphia Independence traveled to Piscataway, New Jersey, to face defending WPS
champions Sky Blue FC on Sunday, a team that they had beaten in their three previous encounters. A
win for the Independence would have solidified their hold on second place behind league leading FC
Gold Pride, critical for the expansion team's post-season plans because the second place team gets
an automatic play-off berth as host in the semi-finals.
Can you believe it, the Union and Manchester United will have different approaches to this
evening's friendly?
In more plainly obvious news, the Inquirer says that tonight's match is one more way for Man Utd
to extend its world wide reach. In response to the familiar, for American soccer fans, description
of the club as the New York Yankees of soccer, The article includes this awesome quote in response
from a sports marketer Simon Wardle: "Manchester United is what the Yankees wish they were.
In Women's Professional Soccer, parity is often the name of the game, and things were no
different on Wednesday night at Yurcak Field in New Jersey. FC Gold Pride came to the Garden State
to take on Sky Blue FC in the final regular season edition of "The Battle of Teams That Choose to
Not Identify Geographically".
In Women's Professional Soccer, parity is often the name of the game, and things were no
different on Wednesday night at Yurcak Field in New Jersey. FC Gold Pride came to the Garden State
to take on Sky Blue FC in the final regular season edition of "The Battle of Teams That Choose to
Not Identify Geographically".
The Atlanta Beat came to New Jersey with something to prove. The expansion Beat currently sit in
last place in the Women's Professional Soccer table and had just one win on the season coming into
Sunday night's match. A win against defending WPS champions Sky Blue FC would go a long way towards
making the case that the Beat are on the way up.
The national women's soccer league in the USA kicked off on Tuesday, with the participation of eight teams across the country from Seattle to Portland to Washington, New Jersey and Boston.
Sky Blue FC, captained by Christie Rampone defeated Western New York Flash 1-0 , as an own goal proved enough to separate the sides and propel Sky Blue to the top of the embryonic standings.
Netherlands announced 23 players to face the USA on April 9 in the Hague. The Dutch have quite a bit experience on their roster, with 12 players owning 30 or more caps. The most capped player on the roster is former WPS player Daphne Koster, who has played 128 times for her country while scoring six goals.
Brazil's 'Mulher of the moment' is undoubtedly Rosana, who scored the
winning goal against Australia in Brazil's opening game of the Women's World Cup last week. The
midfielder who plays for Centro Olimpico in Sao Paulo told Futbolita about her thoughts living the
dream at the Women's World Cup.
