NWSL Week 9 Recap- The Baby Thorns obliterate Houston, Seattle park their way to victory, and Bay change shape

1. Pietra Tordin's post-up game

   In preparation for Portland's trip to Mexico for the Champion's Cup Semi-finals Wednesday, manager Rob Gale featured a rotated front four with rookie striker Pietra Tordin getting the start up top for the Friday night clash against the Dash in Houston. Tordin has gotten comfortably the fewest minutes of Portland's awesome rookie class a third of the way through the 2025 season: CB Jayden Perry, recently rewarded with a three year extension, has gotten most of the acclaim with the former Wake Forest winger Caiya Hanks establishing herself as Gale's first choice on the Thorns left when healthy.

   
   

   Tordin has, however, quite rapidly established herself as a high level hold-up striker despite playing less than 200 minutes in her rookie campaign. The Princeton product has demonstrated an impressive blend of old-school hold-up number 9 play with some of the silkiest technical ability you'll see in the NWSL, a league whose goal scoring leaders tend to --with the notable exception of Esther-- possess significantly more pace than Tordin does. It's exceedingly rare to see a striker adapt to the physicality of the league as fast as Tordin has: She's not as big as the only true hold-up nine in the league getting real minutes right now (Ashley Hatch) but her body control, technique, and spatial awareness allow her to play bigger than she is.

   
   

   Here's her goal: Her first two touches are outrageous, but it's the body feint onto her left to create the space that is particularly impressive. Dare I say a little late-career Alex Morgan-y!

   
   
   
   

   Tordin's 25th minutes opener was always coming- She had been combining with Mimi Alidou and Caiya Hanks throughout the first quarter or so of the game. The first clip shows her finding space to receive a ball from Hanks with her back to goal, once again body-feinting away from the defender and creating space to send Hanks through on goal on the overlap. The second clip again shows Tordin with her back to goal executing a delightful Cruyff turn (albeit one intended for herself) that falls to Alidou for a clear look at goal.

   
   
   
   
   
   

   I don't particularly want to get into the "should she start" discourse here, but I know that it will inevitably balloon after Friday's performance, so here's my take: Do I think Tordin is already a better player than either of the Reilyn Turner/Deyna Castellanos duo that has been getting the majority of Portland's minutes up top? I do. Do I think she should get starts on occasion? Most definitely. Am I all that fussed about a rookie striker who just turned 21 getting eased into pro play? Not really. Is her inevitable lack of minutes in 2025 going to frustrate me as a Thorns fan anyways? Absolutely.

   
   

   Ultimately, I believe that Tordin is so talented that she'll get the time she needs in Portland, or --and I hope this does not happen-- go elsewhere when her deal expires. Portland is going to have some decisions to make in 2026 whether or not they can convince Sophia Wilson to come back: Even without Wilson, they are on track to have nine players --Tordin, Hanks, Castellanos, Turner, Alidou, Olivia Moultrie, Morgan Weaver, Jessie Fleming, and Payton Linnehan-- fighting for four spots along their front line in 2026. Depth is good, but that level of talent sitting on the bench simply ain't gonna happen. I am, both as a fan and an analyst, curious to see how their new FO deals with it.

   
   

2. A concerning trend in Orlando

   When Temwa Chawinga stuck the ball past Anna Moorhouse to give KC a 1-0 lead they would never relinquish, it marked the fifth straight game Orlando has conceded first.

   
   

   Orlando's problems run beyond conceding first, but for a team that thrives on space, giving the opposition something to sit on is not an ideal way to play. We saw Kansas City struggle with similar issues in 2024, most notably against this very Orlando team. Orlando's key attacking metrics are down from 2024: Their npxG/90 and shot creating actions per 90 are both down around 25% from last season.

   
   

   There are enough factors involved in chance creation that it's hard to draw a direct line between game state and offensive production, but I find it notable that Orlando has already taken more than double the amount of shots (28) than they did in the entirety of 2024 (12) from losing positions through nine weeks. Similarly, they have already exceeded their 2025 xG generated from losing positions, which simply tells us what we already know: They have spent substantially more time chasing the game than they did in 2024. The first image is Orlando's chance creation in 2024 in negative game states, the second shows the same data from 2025.

   
   
   

   
   
   

   The good news for Orlando is that the quality of chance creation is about the same regardless of game state, but the simple reality of playing from behind is that you need to score multiple times to achieve the same result.....and Orlando has only scored twice from trailing positions in 2025 (once against Angel City in a win, once in the draw against North Carolina). If Orlando was creating a similar level of chances as they were last season, I'd be less concerned --and they're still comfortably a top 3 side-- but for a team that is trying to keep pace with a scorching KC offense, they'll need to start improving, and fast.

   
   

3. Seattle about to find out how far HarveyBall will take them

   I've been pretty open about my distaste for Laura Harvey's style of soccer. It's ugly. I think it inherently underutilizes talent. I was happy to see it fail spectacularly in 2024.

   
   

   On Saturday morning post-tornado delayed kickoff in Louisville, the Reign set up in the ickiest of 5-backs, playing five natural defenders and two defensive midfielders behind a front three of Maddie Dahlien (promoted from wingback), Lynn Biyendolo (whose job it is to run as much as she can without touching the ball) and Jordyn Huitema (whose job it is to take as much contact as her body can stand). Ji So Yun can't seem to get on the field because, well, what's the point? Seattle nearly set an NWSL record for fewest passes in an NWSL game despite playing a Louisville team I would hardly call a possession juggernaut. They accumulated a grand total of 11 passes into the final third with Dahlien the only Reign player to have an open play touch inside the Louisville box. Let me repeat that: ONLY ONE REIGN PLAYER HAD AN OPEN PLAY TOUCH INSIDE THE LOUISVILLE PENALTY BOX. This was Seattle's heat map:

   
   

   

   Nasty work! (via @NWSLstat)

   While Seattle has not been 2024 Chicago-levels of lucky despite the park and bark strategy, there are some indicators that the dam could break relatively soon: The Reign have conceded 10.1 xG on the season, good for 7th in the NWSL at just over one per match. That number on its own is really not too bad given how much time they spend in a defensive shell. They have, however, outperformed that xGA by three goals already, which, when combined with their atrocious offensive output (Seattle has generated just 8 xG in 9 games) points to the likelihood of impending regression. Sometimes regression doesn't hit! The games aren'y played on fbrefdotcom! We'll find out soon enough with Seattle.

   
   

   I will, despite harboring a general resentfulness borne from spending two hours of my morning watching Louisville huff and puff at Seattle's front door, give the Reign some credit: The 2025 version of Seattle has been noticeably more structured than the 2024 edition, and the addition of Dahlien and Biyendolo has given them the bite on the counter that they lacked in 2024. Sam Meza has been brilliant in central midfield three weeks running and Harvey has been an excellent game-day tactician, getting many of the small decisions right. On Saturday, it was pushing Dahlien high to take advantage of the space left behind by Louisville's press instead keeping her at the wingback spot the rookie has occupied for much of the season. Harvey has also done a good job at mitigating for the lack of midfield talent Seattle has without Jess Fishlock, shifting Huitema back underneath.

   
   

4. Louisville's impotence

   After Louisville's impressive 1-0 win against Gotham last week, I spent some time praising Bev Yanez's team's pressing structure and work rate, while also noting the one-dimensionality of Louisville's attack. Little did I know that Racing would give me the poster child game for everything that they do well and don't do well just one week later. For the vast majority of the game, Louisville's press had Seattle completely trapped. The first time Seattle were able to get Racing out of their high press structure was in the 30th minute. Emma Sears was running wild down the wing, Sav Demelo was finding pockets under Seattle's two-woman midfield, and it seemed a matter of time before Louisville found an opener.

   
   

   By the time the half ended, it felt as though Seattle were holding on under intense Louisville pressure, but the halftime stats showed that Louisville had taken 10 shots, but put only one on target. They had five corners, but hadn't generated a real chance from any of them. It only got worse in the second half: Louisville took another 10 shots and put none on target. Only one of those ten shots was taken from inside the Seattle penalty area. Despite Louisville's control of the ball, Seattle was largely untroubled the entire second half. Color commentator Jordan Angeli was doing her best as an avatar for Racing's fanbase, getting steadily more apoplectic with every lazy cross or impatient bomb from outside the box.

   
   

   After a strong start to the season --at least from a chance-creation perspective-- Louisville have nose-dived. With the exception of the 3-3 draw against the Thorns, Louisville have generated just three chances classified as "good" or "great" by American Soccer Analysis' xG model over their past four matches. In their four games to start the season, Louisville had generated 10 such chances. That's really bad! Equally bad is the fact that of Louisville's nine goals on the season, five have been on "poor" quality chances. Even WORSE is that of Louisville's attackers, only Emma Sears has a positive finishing rate above expected.

   
   

   That's a lot of jibber jabber advanced stats to say two things: Louisville aren't generating high quality chances despite their seemingly improved play overall, and their attackers aren't taking the high quality chances they do get. Yanez should be running through attacking film with her team to identify the many wasted opportunities to create better chances, because a team seeing as much of the ball as Louisville are really shouldn't be having these type of issues.

   
   

   (And, with all due respect to tireless Kayla Fischer, a talent infusion up top wouldn't go amiss)

   
   

5. Chicago look better, still lose

   Chicago continues to play a more aggressive style under interim manager Masaki Hemmi, who has brought a noticeably higher line and a stronger emphasis on ball retention to Bridgeview. Since Hemmi took the reins, Chicago's possession percentage has jumped from under 40% to 46%, a difference that would take them from comfortably bottom to ninth in the league. The improvement isn't quite showing up in the metrics as of yet, but the eye-test shows a notable improvement, particularly from Ludmila, Jameese Joseph (why exactly did she not start against the Courage?), and Julia Grosso; who have been central to Chicago's more aggressive stye.

   
   

   Chicago, of course, still lost to North Carolina on Saturday via a couple of excellent Manaka Matsukubo finishes (more on her shortly), but the final score doesn't quite tell the whole story. Ludmila missed THREE 1v1s with Casey Murphy, the third of which came just before she drew a penalty on Murphy that was overturned by VAR. I don't generally like to make the refereeing central, but I simply have no idea how this penalty was overturned. Well, that's not entirely true: the reason it was overturned was because Murphy's left leg gets the slightest knick on the ball (something neither commentator on the match seemed to catch), but that same leg completely wipes out Ludmila after the fact. If any other player --in any other position-- makes that challenge anywhere else on the field, it's not even a question as to whether it's a foul or not. It doesn't matter that Murphy gets a slight touch first, that's a foul! Am I crazy?

   
   

   The Stars also really don't help themselves. Manaka's first came just moments after Ludmila's first 1v1 miss, the young Japanese playmaker getting about 5 seconds in the pocket between Chicago's two centerbacks to receive the through-ball from Denise O'Sullivan to poke home. They probably (no, definitely) don't have the talent to play the more aggressive style Hemmi wants from them, and their defensive structure certainly hasn't gotten better even if they are pressing more. Could Chicago be the destination for the rumored-to-be-NWS-bound Rashidat Ajibade? A second raid of Atletico Madrid, perhaps?

   
   

6. Manaka hourz in North Carolina

   Speaking of North Carolina's young playmaker: It's hard to say whether North Carolina's shift towards allowing its opponents more of the ball is making them THAT much better --I need a little larger sample size on that one-- but one player it certainly HAS benefited is Manaka. Manaka's two goals both came from more open games states. In the first, she took up a wonderful position in the hole between the two CBs before darting towards goal when the coverage finally arrived, and her second was a delightful looping curler from a standstill, leaving Naeher no chance in the Chicago net.

   
   

   Nahas has been open about his adoration for Manaka --he's called her North Carolina's best player-- and it makes sense. She's been, for my money, the best of North Carolina's three attacking midfielders. The 20 year old leads the Courage in both npxG and expected assists through nine weeks, and ranks behind only O'Sullivan (!) in shot creating actions. With Jaedyn Shaw's Courage career off to a slower start as Nahas tosses her from position to position like a bean bag, Manaka has taken the mantle of North Carolina's most effective attacking player from Ashley Sanchez. It's easy to see why Nahas showers Manaka with praise- As shown in her first goal, she's so good at finding open pockets in packed in defenses, but she's also a more willing goal scorer than she gets credit for, something North Carolina badly need. If the Courage are to continue to turn their season around, Manaka will be a big part of it.

   
   

7. Rose Kouassi gets Chesky'd at Audi

   Ahh the Chesky. A rite of passage for the most talented NWSL attackers. Feel your jersey getting grabbed? No foul. A shove in the back? Absolutely not, you flopped. A blatant trip? Nah, nothing in it.

   
   

   Danielle Chesky represents the worst of NWSL referees. To put it nicely, she, uh, likes to let things go, and does so in particularly frustrating ways. To get Chesky'd as an attacker means you're doing something right. Usually, the "something right" is beating your defender so many times that said defender gets steadily more physical until the attacker is forced to retaliate. On Saturday evening, Kouassi beat Utah left back Neria Rabano like a drum. Kouassi led all players in successful dribbles and touches inside of the opponent's penalty area, but the counting stats don't really do her justice in terms of overall impact on the game. She was EVERYWHERE. Rabano will be having nightmares, as will Utah RB Janni Thomsen who had to deal with the Ivorian late in the second half after Kouassi switched to the left side.

   
   

   The trademark feature of the Chesky is the "foul called on the offensive player in frustration after getting hacked relentlessly by her defender." Kouassi got hit with a few of those in the second half, Utah's hapless defenders tugging and kicking at Kouassi with near impunity before Chesky whistled Kouassi for a frustrated shove. The Chesky most commonly afflicts skilled players that want to stay on their feet: Think Sophia Wilson, Trinity Rodman, Temwa Chawinga, and Rachel Kundananji; and Kouassi is getting increasingly nearer to that level of threat with every passing game.

   
   

   Anyhow, Rose: I'm sure you're frustrated, but wear this as a badge of honor.

   
   

8. Utah: C'mon man

   This was Utah's best result in quite some time, but I actually came away feeling worse about them than in previous weeks. For those that read these recaps weekly, I've been bullish on Utah's potential to turn things around. Offensively, I remain optimistic: Utah did some things well against a porous Washington defense in the first half, Ally Sentnor and Mina Tanaka finding the typically massive gaps between Washington's midfield and defensive line. Aubrey Kingsbury didn't cover herself in glory on either of the parries that led to the two non-own goal Utah scores, but the opportunism and resilience in the face of a potent Spirit attack sparked to life by the return of Croix Bethune to the starting lineup was promising.

   
   

   For me, the more concerning element of Utah's game throughout the season, despite the anemic chance creation and goal numbers, has been the play of their defense. It had already been bad --Utah's 14.7 xGA was worst in the league coming into Saturday night's match-- but that number ballooned to an astonishing 18.7 (or over 2 xGA per match) after Washington's relentless attack got their hands on Utah's painfully ragged backline. Everything was bad for Utah: Kouassi bullied whoever was marking her. Bethune was Bethune-ing and finding space wherever she wanted it. Ashley Hatch was physically dominant against Lauren Flynn and Kate Del Fava. At one point in the second half, Rabano decided to loft a floating duck of a clearance from the sideline right onto the top of her own 18 yard box. Utah was making mistakes that would frustrate me if they came from the 10 year old boys I had coached hours before the match at Audi kicked off. It was dreadful stuff.

   
   

   So, once again: C'mon Utah. Help yourselves out.

   
   

9. Kimmi Ascanio taking her chance

   The 17 year old has, seemingly, won the very open battle for the Wave's number 9 spot despite being a more natural number 10. After coming off the bench in San Diego's first five matches, the teenager has started the last four, scoring three goals on just four shots. Ascanio isn't your traditional striker: She's not particularly pacy, she's small, and isn't going to do a lot of hold-up for you. She is, however, an excellent off-ball mover possessing a deft touch with her right foot. Below are clips of her three goals: The first is a little nudge into the bottom right corner after finding the open space for a cut back, the second is some excellent movement behind Thorns CB Jayden Perry before dispatching a stooping header into the top corner, and the third is another outside of the right poke into the top right corner against Gotham.

   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   

10. Bay kicks the 4-3-3

    The weekend's last match saw an in form Angel City side visit San Jose to take on a, well, less than in-form Bay team. Over the course of Albertin Montoya's nearly 1.5 years in charge, Bay have been almost exclusively a 4-3-3 side. In the first half of 2024, Montoya naively tried to go with two attacking eights in front of a more defensive six (typically Kiki Pickett) before tightening things up in the second half of 2024 by playing the more defensively capable Dorian Bailey or Joelle Anderson instead of Deyna Castellanos in one of his two 8s.

    
    

    Montoya has kept pretty much the same shape in 2025, with rookie Taylor Huff replacing the injured Tess Boade in the attacking 8 spot. The defensive performance has remained relatively similar from season to season: Bay's xGA/90 in 2025 is 1.31, down from 1.45 in 2024. So far so good. Their offense, however, has cratered. Bay's npxG/90 is sitting at a woeful 0.98, down 35% from the 1.37 they were at in 2024. The two players who have filled the striker position, Asisat Oshoala and Caroline Conti (who started in her natural midfield role against Angel City) have combined for 0.6 npxG. Gross.

    
    

    Montoya's response Saturday was getting his best and most dangerous attacker in Rachel Kundanaji central, and giving Huff a pure 10 role in front of a double pivot of Conti and Bailey. Kundananji gave Angel City fill-in CB Megan Reid fits throughout, Conti and Bailey stymied what had been a potent Angel City offense, Huff was arguably the player of the match after being freed up to play a fully attacking role, and wingers Penelope Hocking and Rachel Hill helped cover the dangerous Alyssa Thompson and Christen Press.

    
    

    Bay's chance creation still wasn't very good overall despite the two goals, but they did look, at least anecdotally, much more comfortable in their new shape. Let's see if Montoya sticks with the change in weeks to come.

    
    

    Goal of the Week: With all due respect to Manaka and Ashley Hatch for their (very similar) bending efforts, I'm giving it to Tordin for her first pro goal: