NWSL Week 15 Recap- Thorns reign supreme in Cascadia, Gotham stymie Washington, and more Sophie Schmidt magic for Houston

Another late release today, but we should be back to the normal Sunday posts starting next week. Let's do it:

1. A suddenly thriving Jessie Fleming and Portland executing the press

   As a long time believer in the Canadian captain, it's been mighty satisfying to see her put in the type of performances that are becoming increasingly commonplace in 2025 after a rough 2024. Fleming played a large part in two of the four Portland goals Sunday against Seattle --the first, a delightful first time lob for Reilyn Turner to pound home, the second a one time pass into the path of Hina Sugita who fed Pietra Tordin for Portland's 4th-- but it's her work rate at the top of Portland's 4-2-4 press that has quickly made her an invaluable piece of Rob Gale's 11.

   
   

   One week after Washington's three back shredded Portland's rather chase-y attempts at boxing the Spirit in (Spirit manager Adrian Gonzales took a pretty funny non-malicious shot at the structure of Portland's press compared to Gotham's), Portland throttled Seattle's own three back for most of the night. The 4-2-4 Portland runs is pretty standard and good teams can play through it, but it's really worked well against teams that have less attacking threat. Fleming plays at the top of the 4-2-4 with whoever the center forward is at the time because her work rate allows her to put pressure on the opposition's centerbacks. Portland's shape was much better against the Reign than the week prior, dropping off a bit in structure instead of chasing aimlessly. Portland's pressing triggers are pretty clear: The center two at the top of the 4-2-4 push the ball wide, where the wide two at the top then press the wide player. Here's an example, Fleming forcing Jordyn Bugg backwards before the ball goes wide and Olivia Moultrie presses.

   
   
   
   

   What Portland want you to do is try to force the ball up the middle, where Sam Coffey and Hina Sugita are waiting. When teams play through the midfield successfully -- as Washington did over and over again with Croix Bethune the week prior-- it can get ugly fast because of how quick the numbers advantage flips once you get past that first bank of four......but Seattle just never really figured it out.

   
   

   (Special shoutout to young RB Mallie McKenzie who dealt with the dangerous Dahlien quite well after Dahlien had tortured Portland's usual RB Kaitlyn Torpey in the reverse fixture)

   
   

2. Seattle torn apart in Portland

   Seattle's downright horrific display Sunday afternoon against their rivals was surprising for a few reasons, not the least of which being how open Laura Harvey's normally compact 3-4-2-1 played.

   
   

   There are certain personnel issues that didn't help: No Phoebe McClernon meant that Sofia Huerta was pushed back from wingback into the Reign back three -- an immensely odd decision given Madison Curry, plenty capable of playing as a wide CB, was ALSO on the field-- and she never really looked comfortable there. It's possible that Harvey's intent in playing Huerta at the center of her back three was to give Seattle the opportunity to spray out balls over Portland's first line of four, but outside of a few switches to Emeri Adames and Maddie Dahlien, we never really saw it happen. I'm a little curious to hear the reason Lynn Biyendolo isn't starting over Jordyn Huitema. I assume it's a minutes management thing --and I also assume that spot will eventually go to Mia Fishel given the financial outlay-- but I think we've seen enough of Huitema to know she's not the prodigy that she was promised to be at 16.

   
   

   That said, it looked at times like Seattle just didn't show up despite a rather impressive away contingent making the drive down the I-5. Jordyn Bugg got smoked 1v1 a few times by Reilyn Turner; and Fleming, Hina Sugita, and Sam Coffey had the beating of Sally Menti, Sam Meza and Jess Fishlock throughout. The goalscorer Adames was comfortably Seattle's best player on the day, but we saw far too little of Dahlien. Seattle also failed to drop Fishlock and Adames back to support Meza and Menti, meaning that Portland rarely had to deal with the overloads that caused them so many problems against the Spirit. It's hard to imagine Laura Harvey being all too pleased with an xGA of a ridiculous 4.35, especially given the final score easily could have been five or six had the Thorns not botched a few of their better opportunities.

   
   

3. The North Carolina Courage and the tale of the no good, very bad press conference

   Moments before I hit publish on last week's column, the news broke that the Courage had fired manager Sean Nahas. The news was broken in a way, for anyone with any experience with the NWSL's, well, let's say questionable history set off some alarm bells: No "thank you" to the outgoing coach, just a tart "The North Carolina Courage have terminated the contract of Head Coach Sean Nahas, effective immediately."

   
   

   The following day's press conference, held in theory to address the firing, did the exact opposite. Via a hailstorm of verbal nothings ranging from the now-infamous "multitude of reasons" line, new Courage CSO and ex City Group-er Ceri Bowley demonstrated that he really didn't have a good grasp on either how to conduct an important press conference, or how calling a press conference to address a specific issue and then not addressing said issue would come off. With reporters repeatedly attempting to discern what the reasons were for Nahas's abrupt dismissal (and whether those reasons were above the the belt), Bowley repeated a version of the same generality over and over again. While Bowley did eventually state that there were no non-performance reasons associated with the firing, North Carolina had, by that point, dug themselves quite the hole, especially given the still-looming specter of Paul Riley.

   
   

   Perhaps in response to the tidal wave of online mockery the Courage received for the sham of a press conference, the team did allow a club spokesperson to give the following statement post-loss in Houston:

   
   

   "The termination stemmed from a combination of compounding performance issues, culture issues, and a perceived lack of fit which created an environment club leadership felt was untenable and needed to make a change at the head coach position"

   
   

   Nahas is a smart guy and a high level tactical coach relative to many of his NWSL peers, but he is as headstrong as he is dogmatic, and it seems likely (without any inside info!) that he ran a pretty tight ship and wanted more control than his new boss was willing to afford him. To his credit, Nahas had finally switched up his formation to give it a bit more verticality, but the root structure and principle behind his style remained the same. The club's somewhat blurry citation of "culture issues" could open the door for something slightly more nefarious, but it seems, at least for now, that Nahas and North Carolina's new leadership group headed by Bowley simply did not get along. Perhaps it was a personality thing, maybe the FO was irritated about how their big money signing Jaedyn Shaw was being utilized, or maybe they just want to bring in their own coach.

   
   

   Or, as Bowley would say, perhaps it really was just a multitude of factors.

   
   

4. Another late show from Sophie Schmidt in Houston

   I guess the veteran Canadian is just Houston's late game goal scorer now? A week after her late equalizer against Bay, Schmidt tapped in a last second game winner against North Carolina after Yaz Ryan told Maycee Bell to get in the weight room.

   
   

   I have a challenge for the readers of these recaps: Is there an NWSL player who has scored goals in back to back games for which the minutes the goals were scored add up to a higher tally than Schmidt's 183?

   
   

5. Gotham's grand defensive stand

   After a first half red card to winger Geyse, Gotham seemed destined for a miserable last 60 minutes against a Spirit team not lacking in firepower.

   
   

   And yet, Gotham's defense, still strong as ever, held strong, limiting the Spirit less than one cumulative xG on just 11 total shots, with only two of those chances exceeding 0.15 xG. Gotham's shape with ten players was mostly faultless all match. Manager Juan Carlos Amoros didn't make any moves when Geyse was sent off, instead opting to simply condense the existing 4-3-3 shape and force the Spirit to play around it. Washington really struggled to do much of anything for large swathes of the match, Gotham's veteran CB pairing of Jess Carter and Emily Sonnett marshaling the back line and stepping in front to pick off passes as the Spirit inevitably got more and more frustrated. The Spirit couldn't find a way to unlock Gotham through the midfield, and often resorted to low-percentage crosses from wingback Gabby Carle. Washington's complete unwillingness to play down the left hand side didn't help: Gift Monday, ostensibly playing on the left side of Washington's front two, consistently got dragged left with the Spirit playing through Rose Kouassi and Carle on the right.

   
   

   

   via @nwslstat

   Perhaps most importantly was Gotham's willingness to step forward when they got the chance to do so. Teams playing a player down frequently sit in too deep and do it too soon, but Gotham did a great job --particularly late in the 2nd half-- of getting their foot on the ball and giving themselves a rest with some possession. Really impressive stuff.

   
   

6. Jordyn Bloomer's big day foils an improved Orlando

   Louisville's keeper saved not one, but two penalties as Louisville managed to hold an improved Orlando side to a draw. For Louisville, Bloomer's heroics in net covered up what wasn't one of Louisville's finest performances of late, as Orlando allowed Bev Yanez's side to have more of the ball in an attempt to mitigate Louisville's press.

   
   

   For Orlando, manager Seb Hines returned to what worked so well last season: Holding in a midblock, and finding their speed up top on the counter. You can see the difference between where Orlando and Louisville had most of their defensive actions on the graphic below: Louisville's characteristically high press with Orlando sitting a little deeper.

   
   

   

   via @nwslstat

   This still wasn't a vintage performance from the Pride and the penalties inflated the overall xG, but it was (mostly) better than we've seen over the past few months. I'd call this comfortably Prisca Chilufya's best game start to finish, an encouraging sign for an Orlando side currently a tad thin across their front line. Ultimately, however, it was two more home points dropped for the Pride, who suddenly find themselves three points from falling to sixth and well within the sights of Washington, San Diego, and Portland....all of whom sit either level with or within two points of the Pride.

   
   

7. San Diego's issues up top

   The Wave remain one of the league's most interesting flawed teams. I've made a promise to myself to (attempt to) stop mentioning the whole xG over-performance thing on its own, but Jonas Eidevall's attempts (and those of his players) to finagle some more chance creation out of the non-Delphine Cascarino attacking group via a combination of personnel switches and tactical tweaks has been a fascinating start to the Wave's second half of the season.

   
   

   There's almost certainly a better way to do this, but here's a transcript of my notes on SD's issues on Saturday:

   - Cascarino moving central far more than usual with Corley filling the wide spaces.

   - Playing a CB (Wesley) at RB in place of Lundkvist means the Wave aren't able to run their typically overlapping patterns through Cascarino.

   - Ascanio is moving central in more familiar positions, but isn't a useful wide player.

   - Unsure what Adriana Leon is doing out there.

   - McKaskill and Dali switching sides?

   - Trinity Armstrong is v good.

   
   

   It may be that youngster Mel Barcenas offers a little more flair than substance at this point in her young career, but I'd like to see SD give her a few more opportunities. Leon has been more useful than I expected, but I'd rather just stick Ascanio at the nine at this point and see what happens.

   
   

8. Angel City's 4-3-3 switch

   One fun part of watching a new coach, especially when said coach arrives midseason, is observing which of the existing crop of players the coach think fits the way he wants to play. In the case of Alex Straus, we're seeing him figure it out in real time.

   
   

   Angel City played a 4-2-3-1 under both Becki Tweed and interim Sam Laity, but, as discussed last week, have switched to what plays much more like a true 4-3-3 under Straus. While these formations may seem relatively similar on paper -- four defenders, three central midfielders, two wingers, and a striker-- the 4-3-3 single pivot asks completely different things from the midfield trio than its double pivot counterpart.

   
   

   The biggest change is that Angel City now require someone who can cover ground to play as that single pivot. Angel City's recent midfield adds --Alana Kennedy and Katie Zelem-- are not really single pivot players, or at least not in the NWSL where transition is still king. This means that Madison Hammond has suddenly become arguably the most crucial holding midfield piece for Straus, starting each of the last four matches after not starting once through the first11 weeks. Hammond is a fine, rotation-quality six who works hard, keeps the ball moving, and can cover some ground, but she's no Taylor Flint. She's in the team presumably because she can do some of the defensive covering work that Zelem might struggle with, but her actual defensive stats are pretty mediocre. On the other side of the ball, she's not technical enough to be a super effective ball-playing pivot in possession.

   
   

   

   
   

   I don't mean to pile on Hammond, because what is going on in front of her is actually the more frustrating element of Straus's switch. Kennedy Fuller has moved back from a pure 10 to more of an 8, with Jun Endo playing the highest of the three. Fuller is taking a little while to adjust to her deeper role, but I do think she's capable of playing there because of the combination of her workrate and technical ability. Endo, however, has struggled at the ten, frequently drifting wide and getting in the way of her wingers. The excellent-as-ever Jordan Angeli pointed this out a few times, including once near the end of the first half where Endo made a run that dragged additional defenders into Thompson's space while she was isolated against Kennedy Wesley. Watch the clip with the volume on: Angeli is essentially saying that Fuller is more used to playing underneath Angel City's front three than Endo, which might just be growing pains, but is also something to keep an eye on going forward.

   
   
   
   

   A bright spot for Angel City? Riley Tiernan, who almost single handedly changed the game at the start of the second half by coming out like someone in SD's locker room had insulted multiple members of her family. Go watch the first 15 minutes of the second half again if you can. Fun, fun player.

   
   

   (Another bright spot? Rookie Evelyn Shores who, at the very least, managed to hold her own against the super-dangerous Cascarino)

   
   

9. Color me intrigued, Ella Masar

   I can appreciate an interim coach who is #TryingSomeStuff, and that description certainly applies to Chicago, who ran out a diamond 4-1-2-1-2 against Bay. Chicago, at the very least, look like they know what they're doing even if they are playing Shea Groom --great goal, by the way!-- at the ten in the year of our lord 2025.

   
   

   It does help that the health is improving along the backline. Natalia Kuikka appears fully healthy, and new signing and hair-pulling queen of the Euros Kathrin Hendrich has arrived to form one half of a newly sturdy veteran CB pairing with Sam Staab. Don't be surprised if Chicago play a little bit of spoiler for a few teams in the second half of the season.

   
   

10. Montoya gets weird

    You know who else was #TryingSomeStuff in Week 15? Bay manager Albertin Montoya who ran out a truly bizarre 3-back against Chicago with just one natural CB (Kelli Hubly) on the field to start the match.

    
    

    

    via @nwslstat

    Tess Boade's return to the starting 11 underneath a front two of Rachael Kundananji and Penelope Hocking meant that rookie Taylor Huff was shuffled to left wing back, which, although she did manage to tap in Bay's goal from a corner, meant that she was much further from the action than she probably should be given her immense value in the attacking third. Montoya kept mostly the same shape in the second half but brought on Karlie Lema for Hocking and shifted Huff to the right side.

    
    

    Bay is missing both Abby Dahlkemper and Emily Menges, the former through injury and the latter an excused absence, but Montoya has not been afraid to play Joelle Anderson at his second CB spot in this season and still elected to go with Caprice Dydasco and Alyssa Malonson at the wide CB spots in the back three against the Stars. We'll see if this is a forced change or something Montoya tries again.

Goal of the Week: Let's go with Tordin's rapid response vs. Seattle, courtesy of some excellent play from Jessie Fleming and Hina Sugita: