The 2024 NWSL common season has come to a detailed, with all 14 groups enjoying their season finales this previous weekend. After finishing the ultimate slate of video games, eight groups have superior to the playoffs, with an opportunity to vie for the NWSL Championship on November 23.
This upcoming weekend will see a busy set of quarterfinal matchups to kick off the postseason. Here is the whole lot it’s essential know concerning the NWSL playoffs.
The common season resulted in one of the uneven ultimate standings in current reminiscence. Almost the entire playoff spots have been set heading into this weekend, with some groups securing a postseason berth a month in the past. (Evaluate this to final season, when the desk was so tight heading into the ultimate common season video games that there was on Resolution Day.)
Within the high seed is the Orlando Satisfaction, who wrapped up a with a win over Seattle Reign FC to win the NWSL Protect with 60 factors. Orlando in early October off 23 straight unbeaten video games, earlier than getting their one recreation later towards the Portland Thorns. The Satisfaction have been sturdy on each ends of the sphere this season, boasting a league-high aim differential (26, tied with Kansas Metropolis) after permitting solely 20 targets this season (tied with Gotham for the bottom within the league).
Washington Spirit and Gotham FC are subsequent within the standings with 56 factors every — a quantity that, in some other season, would have clinched the Protect. (Within the 2023 season, the San Diego Wave earned the Protect with simply 37 factors.) Though the Spirit sneaked simply forward of Gotham on aim differential, each groups are sturdy contenders with stacked rosters and the potential to make an actual run for the NWSL championship.
Kansas Metropolis Present holds the fourth spot and also will host a playoff recreation. With 57 targets, the Present have scored probably the most within the league, led by powerhouse and NWSL Golden Boot winner Temwa Chawinga. In her first season within the league, Chawinga completed the season with 20 targets, an NWSL .
The North Carolina Braveness are subsequent, ending with a 12W-3D-11L file. The Braveness’s 39 factors characterize an enormous dropoff between the highest 4 seeds and the second 4; the fourth-place Present ended the season with 55 factors.
The Portland Thorns and Bay FC secured the sixth and seventh seeds, respectively, after wins over Angel Metropolis FC and the Houston Sprint this weekend. Each groups sit at 34 factors, with Portland getting a slight edge as a result of aim differential. The Thorns will attempt to create a storybook ending for Canadian legend Christine Sinclair, . Bay, in the meantime, makes the playoffs in its inaugural season — an achievement that shouldn’t be ignored, whatever the ultimate end result.
The Chicago Pink Stars, who have been already assured a playoff berth, personal the eighth and ultimate spot after dropping 3-1 to the Present on Sunday. Though the workforce has star USWNT ahead Mallory Swanson and keeper Alyssa Naeher, the workforce has struggled towards the top of the season. Chicago misplaced its final three video games, with all three losses coming towards playoff groups by two-goal margins. The Pink Stars might want to get some confidence again earlier than touring to face Orlando on Friday.
Outdoors trying in: Racing Louisville, who may have superior to the postseason with a Portland or Bay loss this weekend, as a substitute finishes in ninth place.
There are two main modifications to the NWSL playoff format this season, with the principle one being the growth of the postseason discipline. The highest eight groups, fairly than the highest six, advance to the playoffs — a product of the league increasing to 14 groups this yr. Consequently, each workforce will take part in a single-elimination quarterfinal spherical.
This marks a change from the previous three seasons, the place the highest two seeds acquired a bye to the semifinal spherical. Counterintuitively, eliminating byes is prone to profit the highest seeds: Throughout these three seasons, just one top-two seed — the 2022 Portland Thorns — has received a semifinal recreation after getting a bye. (Portland additionally went on to win its third NWSL Championship that season.) Now, all groups can be on equal footing — and equal enjoying time — all through the postseason.
Following the 4 quarterfinals, the winners of these matchups will meet for 2 semifinal video games the weekend of November 16. The timing of these video games will rely upon the host and the potential scheduling points for shared stadiums.
The NWSL Remaining will happen on Saturday, Nov. 23, , the primary stadium constructed particularly for a girls’s skilled sports activities workforce.
Quarterfinals
Orlando Satisfaction (1) vs. Chicago Pink Stars (8), Friday, Nov. 8, 5 p.m. PT
Kansas Metropolis Present (4) vs. North Carolina Braveness (5), Saturday, Nov. 9, 9 a.m. PT
Washington Spirit (2) vs. Bay FC (7), Sunday, Nov. 10, 9:30 a.m. PT
NJ/NY Gotham FC (3) vs. Portland Thorns (6), Sunday, Nov. 10, 12:00 p.m. PT
Semifinals
Winner of ORL/CHI vs. winner of KC/NC, Nov. 16 or 17, time/location TBD
Winner of WAS/BAY vs. winner of GFC/POR, Nov. 16 or 17, time/location TBD
Remaining