Now that every NWSL team is officially past the 20-game mark, attention turns to the table where several teams are jockeying for playoff position. As of Monday, Gotham has a healthy three-result lead with 44 points in 21 matches.
Then, Washington and Portland each have 37, and Utah and San Diego have 36, setting up some high-pressure matches over the next month.
Let’s take a look at which teams and players helped themselves this week, as well as some other interesting storylines from around the league:
San Diego stays on pace with Utah
This week, the standings pressure fell on the Wave, who entered this weekend’s matchup needing a win against the Royals to keep up. They got it with a season-high four goals, which included a brace from Trinity Byars as well as goals from Melanie Barcenas and Ludmila.
The win moved San Diego into a tie with Utah, but the Royals do have the edge in goal differential.
Bad weekend for handballs
There were two high-profile handballs in this week’s matchups, but only one team was able to capitalize on the awarded penalty kick.
That was Kansas City, which sent Debinha to the penalty spot in the 51st minute. She buried her attempt to equalize and help the Current earn a point at home against the Seattle Reign.
Angel City was called for a handball in the 86th minute of its match against Gotham FC, but when Guro Reiten fired her shot into the lower right corner, Angelina Anderson was there for the save. The two sides ended in a scoreless draw, and Gotham is now unbeaten in nine straight matches.
Berger joins rare company with 10th clean sheet
One specific area that’s helped to set Gotham apart is the team’s league-low 13 goals allowed. With this week’s scoreless draw, Ann-Katrin Berger tied her own club record of 10 clean sheets and became just the second in league history to record 10+ in multiple seasons. She joins Nicole Barnhart (FC Kansas City 2013, Utah Royals 2019).
It’s Ashley Sanchez, again
Speaking of PKs, Ashley Sanchez scored one of her own for North Carolina and it happened to be the latest goal scored in NWSL history. While 90+17’ is an absurd time to score a goal, she earned this one by drawing a foul in the box. She now has 13 goals after her brace and is in the lead for the Golden Boot race. Sanchez also has three assists, which ties her with Portland’s Pietra Tordin for goal contributions.
Behind Sanchez, Barbra Banda has 12 goals, then Trinity Rodman, Evelyn Ijeh and Sophia Wilson each have 10.
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