NWSL playoff recap: Gotham FC stun Ok.C. Present, Spirit advance, extra

The NWSL‘s quarterfinals blitz is over. Have you ever caught your breath? In lower than 48 hours this weekend, the league that virtually trademarked chaos outdid itself with two stoppage-time equalizers, three extra-time matches — and one which progressed to a penalty shootout — and an upset of arguably the very best group in league historical past.

It was just like the telenovela that’s the NWSL crammed a marathon of latest episodes into one binge-worthy weekend.

Who’s left standing? Not the No. 1 seed Kansas Metropolis Present, who smashed NWSL data for factors (65), wins (21) and targets allowed (simply 13). As a substitute, the semifinalists are the final 4 league champions: the Orlando Delight, NJ/NY Gotham FC, Portland Thorns and Washington Spirit.

NWSL SEMIFINALS:
– (2) Washington Spirit vs. (5) Portland Thorns, Nov. 15, midday ET
– (4) Orlando Delight vs. (8) Gotham FC, Nov. 16, 3 p.m. ET

Here is how we bought right here.

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Down go the favorites

(1) Kansas Metropolis Present 1, (8) NJ/NY Gotham FC 2 (AET)

The Kansas Metropolis Present are the deepest group within the NWSL, however as head coach Vlatko Andonovski lamented after his group’s loss on Sunday, “the sport is completely totally different” once they’re lacking MVP and two-time Golden Boot winner Temwa Chawinga and breakout ahead Michelle Cooper, and so they solely have “half of Bia” Zaneratto on account of a sprained MCL.

The burden of Chawinga’s absence particularly was finest illustrated within the twenty ninth minute, when the Present loved one of many few transition moments on which they sometimes feast.

Debinha beat two defenders and performed Nichelle Prince in behind for a one-on-one with Gotham goalkeeper Ann-Katrin Berger, however Prince shot at a savable peak for Berger after which fired the rebound off the German goalkeeper. Chawinga has been computerized and inevitable in these conditions, and her very presence creates these alternatives. Nonetheless, these alternatives had been few and much between on Sunday.

Gotham, led on the again by veteran Emily Sonnett, was compact defensively and managed the ball. Kansas Metropolis is all the time glad to concede possession and strike on the counterattack, however Gotham saved the sport in entrance of them and benefitted from their opponent’s absence. The risk behind by no means materialized for Kansas Metropolis.

Andonovski mentioned “it was a recreation of margins,” whereas Gotham head coach Juan Carlos Amoros mentioned they “confirmed the very best model of ourselves.” Each of these issues are true. Gotham has been cold and warm this season, however they had been by no means going to repeat their pedestrian efficiency of the week prior in North Carolina that cursed them with the No. 8 seed.

Kansas Metropolis was a shadow of itself on Sunday. Their protection, which was virtually impenetrable within the common season, made some uncommon however expensive errors, together with when center-back and potential NWSL Defender of the 12 months Kayla Sharples stepped too aggressively to a ball and bought beat by Jaedyn Shaw for Gotham’s opening aim within the 68th minute.

Kansas Metropolis’s assault too typically sputtered within the windchill and temperatures under freezing. Present winger Ellie Wheeler‘s stoppage-time equalizer to increase the sport was shocking given how Kansas Metropolis struggled to create alternatives. In the end, Gotham ahead Katie Stengel struck a 121st-minute winner practically completely, and Gotham is transferring on. Gotham additionally superior with out Esther González (hip), who scored 13 targets this season, two fewer than Chawinga.

This wasn’t fairly David beating Goliath — Gotham is barely two years faraway from a championship, had top-of-the-line groups final yr, and gained the primary Concacaf title earlier this yr — however there isn’t any getting round that it is a main disappointment and a failure for Kansas Metropolis.

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The champs are nonetheless right here

(4) Orlando Delight 2, (5) Seattle Reign FC 0

Every other savvy veteran participant would have achieved the factor she is instructed to do when main within the closing moments of a recreation: Run to the nook, preserve the ball and kill the clock. However Marta, the six-time world participant of the yr and best ever, is not simply any participant.

So, when the Orlando Delight captain picked up the ball in her personal half together with her group main the Seattle Reign 1-0 and the allotted 5 minutes of stoppage time already handed, she ran, and ran … and a few 75 yards later, after she beat two defenders her junior and drifted close to the nook, she defied typical knowledge and turned her physique inward to run towards aim.

Marta hates kicking the ball to no one, she later admitted. As a substitute, the Brazil star went for the step-over and Sam Meza, the third recovering defender, fouled her within the field. Luana, stepped up and buried the penalty, and the defending NWSL champions sealed arguably their finest efficiency of the yr to advance to the semifinal.

As if Marta hadn’t entertained us sufficient with the encore to final yr’s tantalizing semifinal aim — or together with her dramatic protests caught in up-close, dizzying vogue by the brand new referee physique digicam — she adopted up after the sport with a soulful rant about how folks “speak a lot s—” concerning the champions, and it motivates her.

Who disrespected them, and the way? Or, extra seemingly, do the Delight really feel forgotten within the shadow of the Kansas Metropolis Present’s historic season? Pay no thoughts. The Delight seemed like their 2024 selves, the group that began final season unbeaten by 23 video games and gained the double.

Marta’s Benjamin Button-esque season was one of many many catalysts of that run final yr, however the Delight gained the Protect and Championship final yr behind peak performances throughout the roster from a number of position gamers. These performances have returned on this latest run of success, together with in Friday’s quarterfinal win over Seattle. Haley McCutcheon, hereby often known as “McClutcheon” for her playoff targets, scored the game-winning aim for Orlando on Friday. Emily Sams performed shutdown one-on-one protection. Jacqueline Ovalle, new to this entire NWSL playoff drama as a then-world-record switch in August, utilized the sauce and served crosses into harmful areas.

Lacking nonetheless is injured star Barbra Banda, however the Delight may need momentum on their aspect.

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Spirit bent, not (completely) damaged

(2) Washington Spirit 1, (7) Racing Louisville FC 1
(AET; Spirit advance 3-1 in penalty shootout)

Is the very sight of Washington Spirit goalkeeper Aubrey Kingsbury intimidating to opponents in a penalty shootout? “What do you suppose?” Spirit head coach Adrian Gonzalez requested after his group survived and superior in opposition to a plucky Louisville group, drawing fun from the crowded press room.

Kingsbury saved two penalties and Racing Louisville missed one other on Saturday within the shootout. Racing’s penalties had been collectively poor, maybe an indication of the stress lastly attending to a group enjoying its first playoff recreation in entrance of a raucous, partisan crowd after taking the sport to the brink.

However this wasn’t Kingsbury’s first rodeo. She saved all three penalties she confronted in final yr’s semifinal shootout to assist the Spirit advance.

Washington wanted her, too, on Saturday as star ahead Trinity Rodman watched from the bench on account of a latest MCL sprain, fullback Gabby Carle left the sport with a hamstring damage, and rising USWNT center-back Tara McKeown exited in additional time with an ankle damage that had her on crutches within the tunnel afterward.

Rosemonde Kouassi and Present Monday carried the offensive load for Washington, and the Spirit did nearly all the pieces proper — staying compact, successful second balls, limiting transition moments to hopeful lengthy balls — till they did not. Louisville ahead Kayla Fischer scored a scrappy, deflating stoppage-time equalizer on an extended ball excessive, and teammate Emma Sears inside a whisker of a game-winner a couple of moments later.

There was palpable aid within the briefly subdued crowd after that miss, however the noise shortly returned, and the Spirit finally prevailed. As cliché as it might sound, Washington’s expertise shone by on Saturday as a group that got here inside arm’s attain of a championship final yr. The Spirit managed the sport at the same time as destiny turned its again on them ever so briefly.

“If I am trustworthy with you, I feel that [mental aspect] is extra necessary than the techniques for me,” Gonzalez mentioned, including that he and the gamers all work with sports activities psychologists. Their work contains psychological preparation for penalties.

Heart-back and England worldwide Esme Morgan embodied the Spirit’s joyful resolve. She buried her spot kick, the Spirit’s second of the shootout, and emphatically pumped her fists to the group. Just a few moments later, after Kingsbury’s second save clinched a semifinal berth, Morgan was within the stands main a chant and waving a supporter’s flag.

The Spirit proceed to do issues the laborious method within the playoffs: They wanted additional time or penalty kicks twice final yr and twice of their run to a 2021 NWSL Championship. “It is a loopy league,” Morgan mentioned after Saturday’s match. “You’ll be able to’t change off for one second, so we’ll study from it.”

Is Washington wholesome sufficient to win all of it? That very same query looms this week.

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Right here come the Thorns!

(3) Portland Thorns FC 1, (6) San Diego Wave FC 0 (AET)

The Thorns had been the third of 4 quarterfinal winners to state that they had been counted out and written off by the broader public. And whereas the development is odd and borderline ludicrous at a macro stage, Portland makes essentially the most legitimate level.

They started this season in eerily related vogue to 2024: with a humbling loss in Kansas Metropolis adopted by unsteady outcomes. The Thorns’ solely win of their first 5 video games was a 1-0 end result over the (particularly on the time) lowly Utah Royals. However issues started to click on when the calendar flipped to September, and Portland has misplaced solely twice in 9 video games since together with Sunday’s quarterfinal victory over San Diego. The midfield triangle of Sam Coffey, Olivia Moultrie and Jessie Fleming has pushed that success, and maybe eased the sting of the group buying and selling fan-favorite Hina Sugita in October.

Guess who mixed to create their lone aim on Sunday? That is proper — and Moultrie began the play by forcing the turnover earlier than delivering the cross to the again submit on a platter for Reilyn Turner.

What’s so totally different about this Thorns group now? Eight of the 11 starters on Sunday had been the identical as that opening day loss in Kansas Metropolis. How has a Thorns group that misplaced a number of starters to damage in preseason, performed with out star Sophia Wilson (maternity go away), and wobbled into the summer season break, outlasted that steamrolling Present group?

“That takes time to construct,” mentioned Thorns head coach Rob Gale on Sunday. “You do not wave a magic wand from the stands and all of the sudden all of it comes collectively. It is a turnover of the group coping with adversity. All of that, it takes time. However they’ve caught collectively all through, and any time it bought just a little dicey or we had a nasty end result, we rebounded.

“The bounce-back means of this group has been completely excellent all season lengthy. However it takes time. No massive cellies; we ain’t achieved but.”

Portland has essentially the most championships (three) in NWSL historical past, the latest coming in 2022. It’s the NWSL’s most storied franchise, a spot that World Cup champions and world-leading goal-scorers have known as dwelling. This rendition of the Thorns lacks the relative star energy and dominance of these yesteryear groups, however Coffey and Moultrie are two of the holdovers from that 2022 squad.

Possibly this Thorns group was written off in the summertime. Possibly we have all been too distracted by Kansas Metropolis, and now we have failed to acknowledge different brewing successes.

Portland would be the underdog once more within the semifinals, however with so many well being questions surrounding Washington, and the playoffs blown open, what can be the Thorns’ impossible title so far is inside attain.