NWSL Week 6 Recap- Portland stun Gotham, Angel City Collapse in Orlando, and North Carolina break their duck

1. The Caiya Hanks Game

   Remember last week when I wrote about Seattle winger Maddie Dahlien's evisceration of Portland FB Kaitlyn Torpey? Well, Thorns rook Caiya Hanks had an even more dominant performance against Gotham stand-in RB Nealy Martin in the Tuesday Champion's Cup weekend extra match, running riot down the left side for the full 90 minutes.

   
   

   For those who have watched Portland this year, this Hanks performance has been coming. The Wake Forest product has shown flashes --including a late cameo the week prior in Seattle-- of being a really high level NWSL winger. Hanks has a little Alyssa Thompson to her game: She has a low center of gravity and excellent close control in addition to her electric pace, which allows her to face up defenders and get them off balance at the end of runs. I feel like I've seen this exact fake-cross shimmy from Thompson in this spot multiple times over the past two years. Bruninha ain't exactly the BEST defensive right back in the league, but this is a murder.

   
   

   With Reilyn Turner inexplicably started on the right wing yet again, everything came (and had to come) through the rookie, and she was more than up to the task. Hanks had some Wilson-esque dummy turns to release herself into space, burst into empty space behind Gotham's line, and really should have done even better than the still-impressive goal and assist night she finished with. Bruninha and Martin had no chance. Like, NO CHANCE.

   
   

   Enjoy this supercut of Hanks' Tuesday night. You can caveat and minimize given the lack of defensive ability and speed on Gotham's right, but this was a completely dominant performance by a rookie against a Gotham team that has outscored its last three non-Portland opponents 10-1, including a 4-0 and 3-0 shellackings of Angel City and Washington respectively either side of their trip to Providence Park. Most importantly for the Thorns, Hanks provides a level of threat in behind that they simply do not have on their roster without mainstays Sophia Wilson and Morgan Weaver. She leads the team in progressive carries per 90 by a large margin and is second behind Turner in npxG per 90. As I say every week, the Thorns probably have a capped ceiling so long as Rob Gale is their manager (see Portland's dire performance on Sunday against Louisville) but every week one of their kids give fans something to be excited about....and that's really all you can ask for in a transition season.

   
   

2. Ally Sentnor stuck on the wing

   Utah and Houston's Friday night face-off was one of two teams projected (by me!) to exceed expectations this season but instead find themselves languishing in a spoon race through five weeks. For Utah in particular, the underperformance can be directly tied to attacking injuries. Utah came into their Week 6 match without arguably their top three wing options in the SEI'd Cloe Lacasse, Japanese star Mina Tanaka, and new addition Bianca St. Georges....who had started every one of Utah's first five games.

   
   

   Utah signed NWSL vet Cece Kizer to provide some attacking help and gave her the start against Houston. Instead of playing Kizer on the wing, however, Utah manager Jimmy Conraets shifted Ally Sentnor out of her preferred 10 role and onto the wing with Kizer playing more centrally. While Kizer and Sentnor are both versatile enough to play across the front line, Kizer always has looked best to me when she has room on the wings to stretch her legs while Sentnor is a dynamic playmaker who thrives centrally underneath the striker. In practice, the idea was probably to have Sentnor invert with Danish attacking FB Janni Thomsen providing the width on the Utah right, which is how it played out over the course of the match. Here's the average position map from Friday's match, with Sentnor's position circled in red.

   

   via @NWSLstat

   Almost all of Utah's width on the right side came from Thomsen overlapping the inverting Sentnor, who frequently went on mazy runs with the ball from right to left. Thomsen had a relatively poor game, frequently giving the ball away in good areas and struggling to contain Houston's left sided overloads when Yaz Ryan shifted wide to combine with Ryan Gareis and Christen Westphal. It didn't help that Sentnor often failed to track Houston runners from her unfamiliar right wing spot and frequently found herself tucked too far inside. Here is one such instance from the first half- You can see Sentnor trying to identify who should be marking Westphal as Houston keeper Jane Campbell readies a kick up field. In theory, the opposing left back SHOULD be the responsibility of the right winger, but Sentnor finds herself stuck in between, and Houston creates an overload, ultimately leading to a chance for Maggie Graham.

   
   

   It's hard for me to fully blame Utah for what's been an almost inexplicable run of injuries --Key midfield cog Claudia Zornoza was added to the list after exiting 20 minutes in to this one-- but Conraets hasn't dealt with the absences all that well. This looks like a slightly better drilled version of first half of 2024 Utah....and I don't mean that as a compliment. It was, however, good to see Brecken Mozingo and her new hair have a good second half!

   
   

3. Angel City's 70 minutes of promise

   I know. I understand Angel City collapsed in spectacular fashion. I get that they displayed some tactical naivety late in the game. Yes, it was an own goal that lost them the game. All this is true.

   
   

   Through the first 70 minutes, however, Sam Laity's side had put together what I would call one of their best ever performances on the road in Orlando. The double pivot of Katie Zelem and Alana Kennedy (finally!) had a grip on Orlando's midfield. Rookie forward Riley Tiernan was cutting through Orlando's usually rock solid back four, continuing her impressive first quarter of the season. Attacking midfielder Kennedy Fuller was finding space between Orlando's double pivot and back line. Wingers Alyssa Thompson and Claire Emslie were pressing high, forcing Orlando to play long.

   
   

   Perhaps most impressively, CBs Sarah Gorden and young Savy King played Barbra Banda about as well as I've seen any CB duo since the Zambian joined Orlando a year ago. Here are three clips of Gorden and King winning 1v1 battles against Banda --Gorden might be the only CB in the league who wins the race shown in the second clip-- but nothing shows Banda's lack of impact the more than how isolated she was on the pass map. This is so good!

   

   via @NWSLstat

   
   
   
   
   
   

   Then came the last 20 minutes. Angel City's propensity to come out a little too hot and tire late in the second halves of games is nothing new, but they are not a team that has shown themselves able to defend in a low block despite the quality of their individual defenders, and the loss of Kennedy to yet another nasty looking shiner, combined with Orlando's incredible depth off the bench ultimately spelled doom for a flagging unit that struggled to keep any hold of the game. Here are the game states for their six matches in 2025:

   
   

   

   via @NWSLstat

   
   

   

   
   

   

   
   

   

   
   

   

   With the exception of Week 3 against Seattle (a Reign side that famously like to sit back in a low block on the road) Angel City have really struggled in second halves over the course of the season. There's some working out to do here: Is it the hyper aggressive first halves? Is it a depth issue? The naivety of youth? A combo of all three?

   
   

   Regardless, this is comfortably the best I've felt about Angel City since they've existed as a franchise. Their core group of the Thompsons, King, Gorden, Fuller, Zelem, and Claire Emslie is an excellent mix of youth and experience, Tiernan has been a revelation up front, and they have a new manager coming in a matter of months. Hard to see a world where better times aren't ahead.

   
   

4. Orlando's super "subs"

   Orlando, for their part, have had a few not-so-good performances over the last few weeks. They were very fortunate to escape Seattle with three points two weeks ago, lost to the Spirit despite controlling the game last week, and were completely outplayed by Angel City for the first 70 minutes on Sunday at home. Young Ally Lemos struggled next to Morgan Gautrat in the Pride double pivot and picked up an early yellow, Prisca Chilufya had a tough time with the always impressive when healthy MA Vignola, and Cori Dyke looked slightly overwhelmed dealing with Alyssa Thompson and Riley Tiernan at the back.

   
   

   But, like great teams do, they turned it on when it mattered. Led by a pair of FB substitutions --Oihane Hernandez and Carson Pickett-- as well as the introduction of usual starters Ally Watt and Haley McCutcheon, the Pride ramped up the pressure and completely overwhelmed an exhausted Angel City side in the Florida humidity. Orlando hasn't been quite at the level of last year's double winning side, but they do have substantially more depth. Oihane has looked excellent in limited minutes as an attacking FB, Grace Chanda just returned from injury. Chilufya is still figuring things out, but figures to be a great second option for Hines behind Watt, and they have two excellent LBs in Kerry Abello and Pickett. Gautrat only played in 17 matches last season due to injury, but has started all five she has played in this season.

   
   

   Orlando's metrics remain excellent, and they figure to be a team that will only get stronger as the season goes on. The Shield race is going to get exciting, folks.

   
   

5. Amoros wins the battle of the Spaniards

   Despite Washington's long list of injuries growing even longer with Ashley Hatch sidelined for a half due to being in concussion protocol (Giraldez said she had a concussion and the broadcast said she didn't), the Saturday morning Big CBS slot promised an exciting tactical duel between Spaniards Juan Carlos Amoros and Jonatan Giraldez.

   
   

   Gotham, coming off a shocking 4-1 setback on Tuesday night in Portland, kept mostly the same team but brought Brazilian winger Geyse in on the right to replace Bruninha. Geyse's presence shifted Bruninha back into RB, with Nealy Martin allowed to return to her preferred position at the base of the Gotham midfield triangle with Taryn Torres dropping to the bench.

   
   

   Washington's shape is so fluid that it can be hard to tell exactly what "formation" they play. Defensively, it looked like a back four with Esme Morgan at LB, but, like many teams, it was very clearly a 3-back both in possession and in the press, with Gabby Carle pushing high on the right. The issue was that Washington, usually so smooth to transition from their attacking shape into their defensive shell, really struggled with Gotham's, well, Gotham-ness. One of Gotham's defining features when building from the back in their 4-3-3 is that they use GK Ann-Katrin Berger as an auxiliary center-back because of her passing ability. This allows the CBs to pull wide and the FBs to push high. If the opposing team presses -- as Washington do in the clip below-- Berger has the range to pick out a dropping Esther or one of Gotham's two eights in midfield, who in turn start the attack with numbers because of how Gotham sucks teams higher than they want to be.

   When the Spirit have the mobility of Hal Hershsfelt to cover for the pressing players, this is a little less of a concern. When they don't, they get opened up. Esther was full-on Esther-ing Saturday morning. The typically sturdy Spirit CB trio of Tara McKeown, Rebecca Bernal, and Esme Morgan were repeatedly drawn higher than they would have wanted to track the Spaniard's frequent forays into the midfield. After drawing and dispatching a penalty and scoring yet another perfectly placed header off a corner, Esther completed her Week 6 combined hat trick, taking the lead in the MVP race. Insane player.

   
   

   My last note on this game is that while the majority of the Spirit injury talk has --understandably-- focused on the attacking and midfield absences, the loss of Casey Krueger has been arguably the most important. Washington don't have another natural option at LB, and Esme Morgan has been forced to cover those areas whether Washington is in a back three or a back four, and has looked mostly uncomfortable doing so behind a young wide midfield group consisting of Courtney Brown and Chloe Ricketts. Krueger's absence has also impacted Washington going forward: The relative early success of Giraldez's 3-4-3 (and indeed much of last year's vertical dynamism) relied on Krueger providing the balance on the left to Carle on the right. Without Krueger on the left, the Spirit look distinctly lopsided and its allowed defenses to focus on the Spirit right.

   

   via @NWSLstat

6. Houston's decision making in the final third

   Houston has been an interesting team to watch this year. At times, they look legitimately exciting: Yaz Ryan and Delanie Sheehan have unsurprisingly been the key pieces; and Gareis, Graham, Avery Patterson, and Barbara Olivieri (who had an extremely productive second half cameo) have all looked promising. Houston are, however, exceedingly reliant on their wingers and midfielders for goals: The Dash have not had a striker score a goal in 2025.

   
   

   One of the knock on effects of the lack of an effective striker is that Houston have frequently looked indecisive when it comes time for the final ball. Here's Ryan passing herself out of a clear shooting opportunity on her left foot two minutes into the game:

   Here is Ryan Gareis, the poster child for "needs more end product" with her head down and failing to play Messiah Bright into space early, taking an extra touch to allow the Utah defense to regroup:

   
   
   
   

   ....and here is Sheehan, also on her left, cutting the ball back despite having a clear look at goal:

   
   

   Fortunately for Houston, there was no indecisiveness from Sheehan on her late winner, a bomb on the half volley in stoppage time.

   
   

7. Sean Nahas.....mixing things up?!?

   Sean Nahas is not a man prone to changing his mind --the guy is nothing if not confident in his own tactical acumen-- but desperate times call for desperate measures: North Carolina's switch to a back three at home against the league leading Current was nothing if not an admission that something needed to change for the winless Courage.

   
   

   This was not, to be clear, a sea change of a tactical switch up. Nahas' 4-3-3 generally plays as a 3-4-2-1 in possession anyhow, but the key move on Saturday was bringing his FBs higher up the field as wingbacks to provide the width that the Courage so frequently lack. North Carolina plays through their fullbacks so much anyhow that this was a relatively logical switch. The typically brilliant Ryan Williams scored her first NWSL goal simply by being given license to roam forward and get behind the Current's back four.

   
   

   While the Courage are not your typical last place team, their win against the previously indomitable Current --the second time in two years the Courage have ended a Current 14 match unbeaten run in Cary-- was nonetheless both massively important in terms of getting Nahas' team out of their rut, and in terms of reminding everyone that the NWSL, while more stratified than ever, is still capable of providing shock results on a weekly basis.

   
   

8. Temwa Chawinga, Injured

   This, from KC beat writer Daniel Sperry, is concerning. If it is indeed just a knock, fine....but it's hard to overstate how impactful this could be on the Shield race if the defending MVP is out for even a month.

   
   

9. Jaelin Howell

   The Gotham midfielder's performance in a more attacking role against the Spirit was vintage Howell. The FSU product was FLYING around, and her battle with Spirit midfielder Narumi Miura was an old school six-on-six rock fight. I'm sure Spirit fans will be displeased with her, well ~less than gentle style of play~ but Howell has contributed in the attacking third this season more than she has at virtually any point over the course of her NWSL career. It appears that Amoros has figured out a way to get the most out of her as an 8: Howell has started and gone the full 90 in every match in 2025, and her partnership with Portilho and Reale on the Gotham left side is starting to blossom. For a player that's been all too frequently injured over the first four years of her pro career, it's good to see Howell get a real consistent run out for a team that really needs her.

   
   

   (Hilariously, no player has drawn more fouls than Howell in 2025)

   
   

10. Bay FC, distinctly mediocre

    Bay's hot finish to 2024 powered by a more vertical attack gave many hope that Albertin Montoya's group could take a step up to, if not the top four, fringe contention. Through six weeks, however, Bay have been nothing more than average at best, and while their defensive numbers are better, their offensive metrics are actually substantially worse, especially when looking at npxG. Here's a comparison of their per 90 base metrics from 2024 to 2025:

Per 90 Metrics	2024	2025
Expected Goal Differential	-0.02	-0.01
Expected Goals	1.43	1.3
Non Penalty Expected Goals	1.37	0.93
Expected Goals Against	1.45	1.06
Shot Creating Actions	22.31	18
Points	1.31	1.33

Even more concerning is the fact Bay have not established any sort of rhythm or identity despite playing comfortably the easiest schedule by opponent of any team in the NWSL. Through Week 6, Bay have played the entire bottom four and only one of the current NWSL top six; yet still have the third worst offensive metrics in the league. When you take into account two of their six goals scored have come via Kiki Pickett (Bay's best player through six weeks for my money) long range screamers, things get even more worrisome.

The similarities in performance year by year is, frankly, not all that surprising when you take into account that the roster is nearly identical. The burden is almost entirely on Rachel Kundananji, who hasn't been quite as effective as she was last year through no fault of her own. Beyond Kundananji, it's been rookie Taylor Huff who has provided the most juice, with striker Asisat Oshoala continuing to, well, stink. This is NOT what Bay thought they were getting when they brought the Nigerian in from Barcelona....but Oshoala has always been more of a poacher than a creator, and the simple fact is that Bay have been a subpar-at-best chance creation side.

Yikes!

There are two parts to this: Montoya is a 4-3-3 keep-ball guy by nature who almost certainly dislikes the idea of reverting to the more open style that worked so well for Bay at the end of 2025, but he may have to suck it up if he wants to get his side firing again. The second part is that Bay may just need a bit of a talent infusion, particularly while Tess Boade is out. I'm not OUT on Bay as a potential 2025 sleeper after a six week sample, but they have some things to figure out.

Goal of the Week: The aforementioned winner from Houston's player of the season so far against Utah: