Posted by

Emily Dulhanty,

May 16, 2013 Email Emily Dulhanty

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With the first five weeks of the NWSL completed, here is a look at how the league and its teams, especially the Canadians on each team, are doing:



Standings: Points Played W T L GF GA Portland 13 5 4 1 0 9 3 Sky Blue 10 5 3 1 1 7 4 Boston 8 4 2 2 0 8 4 WNY 7 5 2 1 2 6 6 Kansas City 7 4 2 1 1 5 3 Washington 3 5 0 3 2 5 7 Chicago 2 5 0 2 3 3 10 Seattle 1 5 0 1 4 2 8

Key Notes:



Portland Thorns FC

With no injury threats, plenty of attacking force, and a back line that has defied early doubts, the Thorns seem to be in a great position heading into week six. Early concerns of a midfield that looked utterly disjointed have also been squashed, and this is partly due to coach Cindy Parlow’s decision to move Christine Sinclair into an attacking midfield position, instead of pairing her directly with Alex Morgan up top.



Since the change was made after the team’s week one draw in Kansas City, Sinclair has seen way more of the ball, and has been able to show her dominance in winning balls from box-to-box and setting up goals, in addition to tallying two goals herself.



Canadian keeper Karina Leblanc has not been tested very often in the first five weeks, but has been reliable when called upon. So far, Leblanc’s diving save against a half volley from Chicago midfielder Julianne Sitch in week five has been her shining moment.



Sky Blue FC

With ten points after five games, Sky Blue FC are in a good position, however inconsistency may prove to be their biggest problem. They have shown they are capable of competing against good teams like Western New York, however they looked flat and unable to create many chances in a midweek game with Chicago that ended in a tie. Sky Blue needs to concentrate on getting their forwards more involved, in order to be more dangerous in the final third.



Sophie Schmidt has been great for Sky Blue, and has shown she can provide much needed support to Sky Blue’s forward line from the midfield. Schmidt has three goals so far. Sky Blue’s other Canadian, Melanie Booth, made her NWSL debut in week five.



Boston Breakers

Despite being a game behind, Boston still shows up in third place in the standings with eight points after four games. A very fast forward line, including Sydney Leroux, as well as a midfield that had instant chemistry have produced eight goals so far.



Canadian Adriana Leon did not get many minutes in the team’s first three games, however Leon played the entire second half in their week five game. In addition, a tweet from the Boston Breakers revealed that Leon also played in the Breakers reserves game on Tuesday, in which she scored two goals.



Defender Rhian Wilkinson was great at providing crosses into the box in the team’s first two games, however a hamstring injury has kept her out of the team’s last two games. An injury report from the NWSL this afternoon did not contain any signs that Wilkinson is still injured.



Western New York Flash

After starting the season with two losses and a tie, the Flash have seemed to put a rocky start behind them, as they have won their last two games and looked strong while doing it. USWNT stars Abby Wambach and Carli Lloyd are both back in the lineup, after Wambach missed one game due to a concussion and Lloyd missed the team’s first four games recovering from a broken shoulder.



The two young Canadians on the Flash have not played many minutes so far, but that was somewhat expected given the amount of players the Flash have back from their WPS and WPSL Elite title winning teams. Jodi-Ann Robinson has mostly been used as a second half sub, and Bryanna McCarthy made her NWSL debut last week when subbed in to help preserve a one goal lead over FC Kansas City.



FC Kansas City

A fifth place standing for Kansas City is slightly misleading, as the club is one of two teams that have only played four games in five weeks. Early on, Kansas City have shown that they are a very well rounded team.



Desiree Scott has been great in the midfield at winning balls and preventing a team like Portland from creating much against them in week one. In addition to her dominance in the middle of the park, last week she made a goal line save to keep her team within one goal of Western New York, in a 2-1 loss.



Lauren Sesselmann has also been very reliable for Kansas City at left back, and this bodes well for the CanWNT, as they rely on Sesselmann to get forward and help in the attack.



Washington Spirit

After five weeks, the Washington Spirit is one of three teams who are winless, however the Spirit look as though they are close to a breakthrough. They played a stretch of their best soccer last week in a 1-1 tie with Boston, however their main problem still lies in a lack of offensive production. Coach Mike Jorden may have to continue to tweak the starting line up to help get his forwards involved, and it is the responsibility of these forwards to look for goal, rather than a wasteful pass, more often.



Besides goalkeeper Ashlyn Harris, who has made some incredible saves to keep her team in games, Diana Matheson has been the Spirit’s best player. Matheson has been very productive for the Spirit so far, and commentators from around the league have mentioned that she is “all over the field” on more than one occasion.



Robyn Gayle has played significant minutes for the Spirit at the back and has been reliable, however somewhat shaky at times when playing against teams who pressure high, like the Portland Thorns. Last week, Candace Chapman made her NWSL debut after recovering from a long injury, and looked strong in her 45 minutes against Boston.



Chicago Red Stars

Recent news that midfielders Leslie Osborne and Ella Masar were both injured in last week’s game against the Portland Thorns is very concerning for Chicago, who are already missing defensive midfielder Shannon Boxx due to a minor knee surgery, and defender Amy LePeilbet due to a more serious ACL injury. It is unclear how long Osborne and Masar are expected to be out, but Boxx should be back in a few weeks.



Help is also on the way in the form of two German players, Inka Grings and Sonja Fuss. Only time will tell if these two players can help a team that is struggling to look dangerous in front of goal.



On the other end, Erin McLeod and Carmelina Moscato have been plenty busy with defensive work. Moscato has been reliable at the back, however has been beaten in 1v1s with some of the league’s faster players, such as Sinclair, Morgan and Leroux. McLeod has also been solid, and despite some criticism that she let in a “soft” first goal against Portland in week five, the game video actually shows the ball being deflected before reaching McLeod.



Seattle Reign FC

At the bottom of the standings with only one point after five games, Seattle has just not been good enough. The Reign rarely produce dangerous possession in the final third, and it shows in that they have only scored two goals in five games. Reinforcements in USWNT stars Megan Rapinoe and Hope Solo are set to join the team in the near future, after Rapinoe’s time in France with Lyon and Solo’s recovery from wrist surgery, and an immediate impact from the two will be needed in order to salvage Seattle’s season.



Emily Zurrer and Kaylyn Kyle have both seen significant minutes for the Reign. Despite some dangerous defensive giveaways, Zurrer has been great at the back, particularly in 1v1s with players such as Sinclair and Morgan. Kyle has formed a great partnership with midfielder Jessica Fishlock, and the two will look to translate some of the balls that they win into chances on goal in upcoming weeks.



Tiffany Cameron has also seen significant minutes in recent weeks after joining the team late due to school commitments, however she hasn’t provided much to Seattle’s offense so far.



Attendance Watch:

Much has been made of early attendance figures across the league, with many proposing that the numbers are disappointing and too low. However, as with any new entity, it is going to take time for each team to gain a steady fan base who are willing to support their hometown team weekly (besides Portland, who is an outlier in terms of attendance given their MLS connection). In addition, the fact that school for youth soccer players (a huge market in women’s soccer) is still in session, it is reasonable to believe that as the season continues and teams gain more attention in their respective cities, attendance numbers will rise.



Here are the average attendances across the league (taken from match recaps on NWSLsoccer.com) so far after five weeks of action:



Team # of Home Games Average Attendance Portland Thorns FC 1 16, 479 FC Kansas City 2 5,424 Washington Spirit 4 4,177 WNY Flash 3 2,977 Boston Breakers 2 2,874 Seattle Reign FC 1 2,618 Chicago Red Stars 3 1,813 Sky Blue FC 3 1,586

Goal of the first five weeks:

Last Saturday’s 1-1 draw between the Washington Spirit and Boston Breakers featured quite possibly the most impressive goal of the young NWSL season. Washington’s Lori Lindsey took a pass from Diana Matheson, and rocketed a shot from just inside the box into the upper left corner. Watch it here:







Week 6 Games



Thursday May 16th



Washington Spirit @ Seattle Reign FC 10pm ET



Sky Blue FC @ Portland Thorns FC 10:30pm ET



Saturday May 18th



Boston Breakers @ FC Kansas City 8:35pm ET



Sunday May 19th



Washington @ Portland Thorns FC 5pm ET



Sky Blue FC @ Seattle Reign FC 9pm ET



All games will be live streamed, as per usual. Check the NWSL Youtube channel for direct links to the streams.