Welcome back Fearless readers. It’s time once again to cover all the happenings from the NWSL this week. We had some exciting draws and a few statement wins, as every team remains statistically alive in the playoff race. If you’re a team that’s not named Kansas City Current, you’re still fighting for a playoff spot, and what fun battles they’ve been. Let’s get into it.
Cooking with a wooden spoon
History made ✅
KK Ream becomes the YOUNGEST goal scorer in NWSL regular season history with her game-winner vs. Portland!
The upset of the weekend, and one of the upsets of the season to date, was the Utah Royal’s 2-1 victory over the Portland Thorns, in Portland. The Thorns rarely lose at home, and the expectation wasn’t that they would lose to the last place Royals. But the Royals scored one early and one late, which was the game winner by the youngest goal scorer in league history KK Ream, and held off a late surge with a rocket from new Thorn Julie Dufour, to take only their second victory of the season.
Utah has been a pest of a team since the season restart, and they have played particularly sound team defense since losing their star Ally Sentnor in a trade with the Kansas City Current last month. Their back line has been hard to get behind, and Mandy McGlynn had her best match in a while against Portland, helping save the three (3) points for her side. As for Utah, they did complete a bit of business before the deadline by acquiring Slovenian internationals striker Lara Prašnikar from Eintracht Frankfurt. It provides them with another goal scorer as they push to play the role of spoiler and potentially push for that final playoff spot. The bottom of the table is a fun place right now.
We have our first playoff team
CURRENT CLINCHED‼️
Our spot is secured for the 2025 @nwslsoccer.com Playoffs. Stay tuned for ticket info #KCBABY 👏
— KC Current (@kansascitycurrent.bsky.social) August 31, 2025 at 3:38 AM
The Kansas City Current became the first team in the NWSL 2025 season to clench a post season birth with their 2-0 win over the North Carolina Courage at home. Goals were scored by Izzy Rodriguez and Lo LaBonta from the penalty spot. KC is obviously striving to lock up the Shield as soon as possible, and they seem well on their way. Temwa Chawinga did leave the match with a knock, but the Current kept on rolling (I’m sorry) avenged one of their two losses from this season.
The Courage are still firmly in the playoff chase, but will need to win their next few matches against teams around them in the table to get back into the top eight (8) spots. They will need to start converting their chances and holding a lead to do so.
Orlando and the no good, very bad week (plus a few days)
Final from Orlando pic.twitter.com/QAGi6cFkjG
— Orlando Pride (@ORLPride) August 30, 2025
Listen, if there is one team that had zero pressure to win in the league this season, it was the Orlando Pride. They won the double last season while on their way to making history. That record may only stand for a season with how their rival, the Current, are playing, but they’ve won the only professional championship for their city, and they have no pressure to repeat. They are also in the CONCACAF W competition and just completed the most expensive transfer in women’s football history (for now) with the transfer of Lizbeth Ovalle from Tigres.
With all of that in mind, it has still been a rough few weeks for the defending champs. They were a part of the match in Kansas City that was delayed for nearly four (4) hours, and in that match, Barbra Banda also suffered a season ending injury. They then traveled to Los Angeles and were upset by a 1-0 scoreline, and they dropped three (3) more points at home this past weekend with a 2-0 loss to Gotham FC.
Orlando is still in the playoff picture, and still in the hunt for a home playoff match, but their streak without a win is longer than expected, and they may take a few more weeks to dig themselves out. The expectation is still playoffs, and maybe even a home playoff match, but this isn’t the same Orlando as last season. I’m interested to see who they will be by the end of October. I won’t hit a full panic for them since Ovalle and Elyse Bennett are joining the side, but it’s dodgy for now.
Ludmila has entered the chat
Ludmila shoots, Ludmila scores 🙂↕️
One of my favorite parts of the split NWSL season is watching a player come to life in the second half of the season. This year’s candidate is Ludmila of the Chicago Stars. She has scored five (5) goals in the last three matches, including the fastest hat trick in NWSL against the Courage, and has placed herself firmly in the Golden Boot race with nine (9) goals. She can’t stop scoring, and Chicago can’t stop being the cardiac kids, having gone unbeaten in five (5) matches thus far.
For a team that struggled to score in the first half of the season, they have given every opponent a fight, even if it’s taken them until late in a match to do so. The never say die attitude from a team at the bottom of the table is huge and shows that this is a team to build on and invest in for the future. They may not be the Red Stars anymore, but they still have that famous Red Star grit and direct play brilliance that made them perennial semifinalist and finalist teams in the first decade of the league. No one knows how good Chicago is, but very few would argue that they aren’t a ton of fun to watch.
Football is designed to break your heart
Okay, so the actual quote is about baseball, not football. Baseball is my first love, and Ken Burns Baseball is my comfort documentary. I quote it often, so this may not be the last time I pull from there. Nevertheless, I have always found this quote more fitting for the beautiful game, because footy is the sport where the best team doesn’t win most often. The most deserving team may not always get a result. A franchise can do everything right to build a roster and keep players, and it may not matter.
I waited to write this article until Monday night because of the rumors of Alyssa Thompson’s departure to Chelsea. Well, she was listed as an excused absence on Sunday, which meant the rumor mill became hotter than ever. Monday gave us further proof that it is likely if, not when for the 20-year-old winger. Angel City has made no bones about the fact that they’re building for the future, and the biggest piece of that is Alyssa Thompson. She rewarded that effort by signing an extension through 2028, along with her sister, earlier this season.
But a lot can change in a few months, and we will soon know more details about exactly what those changes are. That’s of little consolation to a fanbase that feels hurt and betrayed by their future walking out of the door. The new CBA makes sure that all player moves are signed off by the player, so if Thompson goes, it must be what she wants. No club should stand in the way of labor wanting to move, even with a contract locked in. It is the right thing to do to grant a player’s wish, and it is also good business sense. You block a player’s move; other players may be reluctant to look at your franchise when the time comes. Your own club, your own star, your own hometown kid, can break your heart.
Sometimes, football is just cruel in that way. There may be one or more offending party in due time. There may be none, and we are just living in a world where 20-year-olds make decisions on a whim. I’ve helped raise a few and worked with me throughout my decade plus in higher education, and young people do this. They change their mind; they make a different decision today than they made yesterday. The players that remained played well enough to secure a 2-1 victory and grew LA’s unbeaten streak to four matches. They are point back of the playoff line, and they managed to snag three points from tie. Even in grief, there’s growth there. It’s not linear, but it’s consistent. My words to ACFC fans are, let it hurt, and then, love the players that stayed harder. It won’t heal all wounds, but it will help you start.
—
Sylvia Bullock is 1/2 of Shea Butter FC and the world’s foremost Christen Press and Crystal Dunn truther. She’ll be covering the NWSL every week for Fearless SC. You can find her on BlueSky at Southern Sylvs.
The 2025 WNBA schedule has provided a plethora of thrilling endings, but this final stretch to wrap a bow on the regular season has the potential to be one of […]
