NWSL: Week 7 Roundup, Standings, and Team of the Week

A pack for playoff contention is starting to emerge in NWSL.

Memorial Day is the unofficial start of summer for many, if you caught the Houston Dash game, you might have felt summer had been around for a while. Temperatures were over 90 degrees and the heat index hit triple digits. But due to the television requirement the Houston Dash and Seattle Reign played in the middle of the heat and it looked like an exhausting and dangerous affair.
Houston’s Rachel Daly needed to be treated on the field for heat exhaustion and thankfully she is recovering. Hopefully this is an eye opener for the league to show they can’t afford to have players performing in this heat.

Houston was also in the news after the match when it was announced Randy Waldrum would no longer be the head coach. He will still have a role on the team but this was a change that frankly needed to be made for the Dash. Waldrum’s record at Houston was 19-39-13, with the ammout of talent that team has, it’s just not acceptable.

Elsewhere, Chicago made some waves on and off the field. Their week started with the signing of Japanese international Yuki Nagasato. She has over 130 caps for Japan and 58 goals to go along with that. On the field they topped North Carolina 3-2 and looked every bit like the team many expected in preseason.

Match Recaps

North Carolina 2 – Sky Blue 0
The first mid week game of the season was a nice bounce back for the Courage. Kalien Sheridan did all she could, making 11 saves, but couldn’t hold off the North Carolina attack enough. Both Lynn Williams and Samantha Mewis found a way past her for all three points.

Houston 0 – Seattle 2
Cue up Rob Thomas and Santana, because man, it was a hot one. Seattle got the goals and the points, but most importantly Rachel Daly sound like she is doing well after she needed to be treated for heat illness.

Chicago 3 – North Carolina 2
Is the Red Stars team we expected all year finally here? It sure looked like it against North Carolina. They took advantage of a team playing their third game in a week and were clinical in their finishing.

Sky Blue 2 – Orlando 1
Sky Blue FC stayed right in the thick of things at the top of the table with a win over Orlando. After the Pride opened the scoring with a Jasmyne Spencer goal, Sam Kerr responded right before halftime. Maya Hayes got the late winner for Sky Blue’s third home win in three tries.

Kansas City 3 – Washington 2
The offense finally got rolling for Kansas City. After some were surprised by Sydney Leroux’s inclusion to the latest US National team roster, she scored two against Washington. Becky Sauerbrunn got the game winner with a rare headed goal from the centerback.

Portland 2 – Boston 0
Portland blitzed the breakers, going up 2-0 after just five minutes. The first was an own goal off a Nadia Nadim corner, the second came from long distance via Amandine Henry. With the international break coming up, Portland is sitting in a solid position with several players getting a chance to recover from injuries.

Standings

1. North Carolina Courage, 15 pts, +2 GD
2. Chicago Red Stars, 13 pts, +3 GD
3. Sky Blue FC, 13 pts, +1 GD
4. Seattle Reign FC, 12 pts, +7 GD
5. Portland Thorns FC, 12 pts, +4 GD
6. FC Kansas City, 11 pts, +2 GD
7. Boston Breakers, 8 pts, -1 GD
8. Orlando Pride, 6 pts, -3 GD
9. Houston Dash, 6 pts, -8 GD
10. Washington Spirit, 4 pts, -7 GD

Team of the Week