Photo by Harry Figiel courtesy of Seattle Reign FC
As results played out in the National Women’s Soccer League over the weekend, the playoff picture became a little clearer, with each team only having two games left to play. Here is what the standings look like now and how the past weekend’s results affected each team.
At the top of the table, NJ/NY Gotham FC failed to clinch the Shield as they lost 1-0 to the Washington Spirit. Washington’s rivalry win clinched their spot in the postseason alongside Gotham and San Diego. Gotham still sit at the top of the standings with 55 points, but the Spirit are close behind with 52 in third place.
Even closer are the San Diego Wave in second place with 54 points after defeating North Carolina Courage 2-1. This result was incredibly damaging for the Courage, who were then leapfrogged by the Seattle Reign, putting them into ninth place and out of the playoffs for now.
Seattle got a much-needed 3-1 victory over the Chicago Stars in order to bring their season total to 43 points, compared to North Carolina’s 42. The win pushed them into eighth and the last playoff spot.
The Reign’s result also officially eliminated the Orlando Pride from playoff contention, joining the other teams already eliminated from the possibility of a postseason: Chicago Stars, Racing Louisville, Bay FC, Houston Dash and Boston Legacy. Orlando got the win they needed to stay alive initially, but Seattle’s win sealed their fate.
Still with an extremely slim chance of qualifying for the playoffs and in 10th place is the expansion Denver Summit. With 38 points, they would need to win their remaining two games while two of Seattle, North Carolina, and Portland each lost their last two in order to make it (this would tie them with the Thorns, so they’d need to maintain a better goal differential too).
The middle of the top eight is still tightly contested and in flux. The Portland Thorns barely kept themselves a point ahead of their Cascadia Rivals, salvaging a 2-2 tie with Bay FC. The Kansas City Current earned a big 2-0 victory over the Utah Royals to vault them into the top four for now with their third consecutive win. Meanwhile, Utah slid down to sixth place, level on points with Angel City, who have the superior goal differential. The LA club continued their remarkable ascent up the table with a 3-2 win after facing a two-goal deficit in Denver to extend their unbeaten streak to eight games.
So while the number of teams still in the running for the eight playoff spots has dwindled to 10, the seeding and playoff matchups are still up in the air with all to play for.
