The National Women's Soccer League kicked off their tenth year in style, welcoming two new expansion sides into the fold as the regular season began. The league has expanded from 10 to 12 clubs, and the level of competition showed over opening weekend as the 12 clubs split wins and losses with no draws as end results. Fans can watch NWSL regular season action on Paramount+.
Let's take a look at some power rankings among the teams after week one.
NWSL regular season power rankings
| Rank | Team | Change | Analysis |
|---|---|---|---|
1. | Washington Spirit | – | The 2021 reigning champions got off to a hot start in week 1. Defeating OL Reign 2-1 while showing off their dynamic attack. Anna Heilferty has made an impact already, slotting in higher up the pitch in her more natural position and recorded an assist on the Spirit's opening goal while creating five chances. |
2. | Portland Thorns FC | – | The team had a dominant performance against Kansas City, winning 3-0. Long-time Thorns players Christine Sinclair and Meghan Klingenberg had big roles with Sinclair recording a goal and an assist while Klingenberg created three chances and assisted on the Thorns third goal. |
3. | Angel City FC | – | The Los Angeles expansion side picked up their first regular season win. What's more impressive is that they did it with less time on the ball against a North Carolina Courage side that's been undefeated in the Challenge Cup. The team did well to secure the game, enduring a long stretch of attacking pressure from the Courage. |
4. | NJ/NY Gotham FC | - | Finally a breakout game in attack as they defeated the Pride 3-0 after struggling offensively in the Cup. The team scored three goals in a 12 minute span during the first half behind a strong game from Kristie Mewis who led the team in chances created with three, while recording a goal and an assist. |
5. | Chicago Red Stars | - | It took almost four hours, thanks to a lightning delay, but Chicago gutted out a 2-1 victory without two of their key players in Mal Pugh and Morgan Gautrat. Down the stretch the team relied on solid goalkeeping from Alyssa Naeher, who made five saves while facing an NWSL record 47 crosses by Louisville. |
6. | San Diego Wave FC | – | The new expansion side picked up their first regular season win in dramatic fashion with a late game goal by Jodie Taylor in the 86th minute of play despite being out shot 11 to 5. |
7. | OL Reign | - | With only three of their ten shots on target the Reign dropped their regular season opener to the Washington Spirit. |
8. | North Carolina Courage | - | After going undefeated in Challenge Cup group play, the Courage suffered their first loss against Angel City. The Courage were active in the final third, spending more time on the ball with 61% of possession while recording 19 crosses, but were unable to nab an equalizer against the expansion side. |
9. | Racing Louisville FC | - | A tough weather delayed match had all the goals during the first half hour of play before lightning warnings set in. The team set a new record for most crosses in a match with whopping 47, but were unable to get a result despite more attempts on target, 6 to 3. |
10. | Kansas City Current | - | Kansas City won their Challenge Cup group stage, but looked unimpressive against an elite team from the west as they lost 3-0 against Portland. The team had no answers for the Thorns as they recorded just one shot target while on the road in Portland. |
11. | Orlando Pride | - | Not a great day when the best thing you can say for Orlando is they didn't concede any goals in the second half. They did welcome the return of Erin McLeod back in net, and Sydney Leroux was available off the bench. |
12. | Houston Dash | - | Off the field headlines overshadowed the match as head coach James Clarkson was recently suspended as a result of the NWSL with NWSL Players Association joint investigation. The team dropped a potential result in the final minutes of regulation, with tough body language throughout, as they matched two shots on goal against San Diego. |
