Tag: OL Reign

Sofia Huerta leaves USWNT camp with hamstring injury

Huerta will leave camp early after picking up a knock in USWNT training

The U.S. women’s national team may have posted a solid win in Julie Ertz’s final match before retirement, but the news was not all good on Thursday night.

U.S. Soccer communications told reporters after the match that defender Sofia Huerta was unavailable to play due to a hamstring injury picked up during this international window.

Per the federation, the 30-year-old will go back to Seattle to rejoin OL Reign rather than continue on to Chicago, where the USWNT will face South Africa again on Sunday evening. No timeline for her recovery was provided.

Huerta was one of four players to watch the 3-0 victory in Cincinnati in street clothes, joining Mia Fishel, Midge Purce, and Megan Rapinoe. U.S. Soccer had announced before the match that only 23 of the 27 players in camp would dress for each game in this window, with Rapinoe only set to play in Chicago.

No mention was made of any further injuries, nor was a replacement for Huerta named. With Crystal Dunn, Emily Fox, Casey Krueger, and Emily Sonnett all in the squad, it is not likely that someone will be brought in on such short notice.

The USWNT has already had to make two injury-related changes to its roster, adding Purce and Angel City left back M.A. Vignola after Rose Lavelle and Kelley O’Hara were deemed unavailable. Vignola, a Cincinnati native, picked up her first-ever cap after replacing Dunn at halftime.

Huerta injury could impact NWSL playoff race

While Huerta’s availability for the second of two friendlies may or may not be a missed chance to impress the team’s future coach, it’s guaranteed that the Idaho native’s absence would damage OL Reign’s prospects of making the NWSL playoffs.

Huerta has been a virtually ever-present starter at right back for Laura Harvey over the last two seasons, starting 35 of a possible 41 games. Moreover, Huerta’s crossing ability is a massive part of how the Reign create chances. Only three players have attempted more crosses than Huerta’s 125 in the NWSL this season, and she sits fifth in switches of play. Among defenders, Huerta’s 55 shot-creating actions are second only to Racing Louisville’s Carson Pickett in 2023 regular season play.

In other words, the Reign — who have scored just three goals in the club’s last eight competitive games — badly need for this to be a minor hamstring tweak rather than a full-blown strain.

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NWSL Weekend Take-Off: Pure chaos takes hold as Portland Thorns retake league lead

Nothing is ever what it seems in the NWSL

Does anyone want to win the NWSL Shield this season?

That’s the question at this point, after first place exchanged hands yet again. In the last 11 rounds of games, we’ve woken up on Monday with a new team atop the table eight different times. The Portland Thorns’ triumph over Cascadia rivals OL Reign, coupled with the San Diego Wave stumbling against a Kansas City Current side that kicked off in last place, gave us yet another change in the race for the Shield.

Let’s take a quick look at this insightful video that explains how this entire season has felt.

The Thorns do appear to be this season’s “best” team, whether you approach it from the eyeball test, data, or results. Portland can hit heights no one else can hit, and have shaken off Sophia Smith’s injury thanks to Best XI candidate Morgan Weaver.

However, as impressive as the Thorns can be, there are only 11 points separating Portland from the Chicago Red Stars in 12th. A team that hasn’t won a regular season game since June has nonetheless stayed above the playoff line all season. There are three rounds of games to go, and no one has been eliminated or clinched a postseason berth.

NWSL chaos, never change.

OL Reign’s Tullis-Joyce joins Manchester United in women’s record transfer for goalkeeper

A popular player is leaving Seattle for the WSL

Deadline day for the Women’s Super League saw a world record transfer for a goalkeeper in women’s soccer.

Phallon Tullis-Joyce has joined Manchester United, departing OL Reign in a deal reported by Sounder at Heart to be worth nearly $160,000.

“Today has been pure excitement for me,” said Tullis-Joyce in a press release from her new club. “Manchester United is such an historic club, that has already done so much in the women’s game. I’m so honored to get this opportunity.”

“Phallon joins us at an exciting time for Manchester United Women, as we embark on our first European season,” added manager Marc Skinner. “We are delighted to welcome Phallon to our family.”

The transfer fee and various add-ons surpass the financial side of Kailen Sheridan’s December 2021 move from NJ/NY Gotham FC to the San Diego Wave, which is believed to be the previous global record for a goalkeeper in women’s soccer. That deal saw the Wave put up $130,000 in allocation money, along with a guarantee that the then-expansion club would not select any players from Gotham in that year’s expansion draft.

With the Red Devils, Tullis-Joyce may have a battle on her hands. England No. 1 Mary Earps was the subject of a huge amount of transfer speculation following the World Cup, but a mooted move to Arsenal was not completed before the WSL’s deadline closed late on Thursday.

A blow for OL Reign on and off the field

Tullis-Joyce finishes her three years in Seattle with 47 appearances in all competitions, and holds the club record for regular-season shutouts (13). The 26-year-old was ever-present in goal as the Reign won the 2022 NWSL Shield.

Tullis-Joyce became a fan favorite in Seattle, particularly through a series of comedic videos on her second love, marine biology. Tullis-Joyce majored in the topic during her time at the University of Miami.

“Phallon is someone who we value and has achieved quite a lot both on and off field during her time here,” Reign GM Lesle Gallimore said in a club statement. “We worked with Phallon and Manchester United to make sure all parties were satisfied with the move and once we got to an agreement, everything moved pretty quickly. We will be forever grateful for Phallon’s achievements with OL Reign and wish her all the best in the WSL.”

In the meantime, it appears that the Reign have been preparing for Tullis-Joyce’s departure in recent games. Claudia Dickey and Laurel Ivory have both appeared in recent games, with Ivory most recently getting the nod in the team’s Challenge Cup semifinal loss to Racing Louisville.

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NWSL commissioner Berman: Portland Thorns, OL Reign sales expected by end of 2023

NWSL expects two historic clubs to change hands in the near future

Two of the NWSL’s seemingly intractable situations are apparently nearly solved.

The league’s commissioner Jessica Berman says that sales of the Portland Thorns and OL Reign are on course to be finished by the end of 2023.

Speaking to reporters ahead of Saturday’s Challenge Cup final between the North Carolina Courage and Racing Louisville, Berman said both the Thorns and Reign had received formal interest from multiple parties, with this week marking a preliminary deadline for potential buyers to submit bids.

“Portland and the Reign are still for sale, and those processes are underway. This week was a preliminary deadline for both of those teams in their respective and independent sales processes,” said Berman. “Both have achieved multiple bidders being interested, and we still expect for both of those transactions to close by the end of the calendar year.

“We continue to work very closely with the incumbent owners both in Portland and in Seattle to ensure that the new ownership group meets the standards and criteria for the league.”

Portland has been for sale since December 2022, a development that came shortly after the Yates investigation and joint NWSL/NWSL Players’ Association investigations found that owner Merritt Paulson and other Thorns officials took steps to avoid scrutiny over the reasons the club dismissed disgraced former manager Paul Riley in 2015.

The Reign, meanwhile, went on the market in April 2023, a development that came to pass after Washington Spirit owner Michele Kang began the process of taking over the women’s team at the Reign’s parent club, French power Olympique Lyon. Kang recently said that her acquisition of Lyon is on course, but awaits approvals from the NWSL (most likely tied to the sale of the Reign) and French authorities.

Berman offered some details on each club’s status, which she said involved “slightly different” situations.

“I’ll start with sort of the ordinary circumstance when a team is being sold. That’s probably most similar to what’s happening with the Reign,” explained Berman. “Until a team is sold, the incumbent ownership group, of course, retains all rights and obligations on behalf of their franchise. So, from a governance perspective, from a management perspective, the expectation is that they will continue to operate in the ordinary course of business.

“So, it’s really business as usual from the Reign’s perspective, in that the individuals who have been managing and governing the team are the same individuals that existed previously. So, there really has not been a change in circumstance in terms of how the club is being operated.”

In other words, Lyon — still technically under the control of a group fronted by U.S. businessman John Textor — is running the show with the Reign until the NWSL club’s sale is finalized and approved. That means that the OL Groupe still has a seat on the NWSL Board of Governors, as is customary for club owners.

That issue is the discrepancy between the two different sales, as Berman broke down.

“From a Portland perspective, obviously that situation is unique because we carry forward the aftermath of Merritt [Paulson] having stepped off the Board of Governors,” said the commissioner. “In terms of the business of the club [being different from the Reign], the one change is that Merritt is not on our board.”

Berman clarified that Portland does still have a representative on the Board of Governors, but declined to specify who that would be, citing the possibility of breaking league rules. The Athletic reported that the Thorns are represented by club CEO Heather Davis, who was appointed to that role by Paulson in January 2023.

NWSL clubs in a new era

The profile of owners and ownership groups within the NWSL has changed dramatically over the last two-plus years. From the moment Kang went through with her $35 million acquistion of the Spirit — a club that at the time trained at a high school in the Virginia suburbs and played nearly half of its games on turf at unloved exurban venue Segra Field — valuations have gone through the roof.

Another recent sale saw the Chicago Red Stars, possibly the most distressed asset in NWSL, sell for $35.5 million, with $25 million of further investment promised by an ownership group lead by Chicago Cubs and Chicago Sky part-owner Laura Ricketts. Expansion side Bay FC, meanwhile, reportedly pledged $125 million in total investment, including a $53 million expansion fee and a guarantee to build a dedicated training facility.

With deep-pocketed ownership in place with Angel City FC, the Kansas City Current, and San Diego Wave and improved investment in clubs like NJ/NY Gotham FC and the North Carolina Courage (both of which have within the last two years brought in stars from other sports as investors), the days where a team would sell for small potatoes are over.

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NC Courage, Racing Louisville into 2023 NWSL Challenge Cup final

A long-standing contender and a first-time finalist will meet in Saturday’s Challenge Cup final

The battle for the 2023 NWSL Challenge Cup is down to the North Carolina Courage and Racing Louisville.

North Carolina will host Saturday’s final, as both lower-seeded sides went on the road to win semifinals over the Kansas City Current and OL Reign, respectively.

Kickoff on Saturday is set for 12:30 p.m. ET. CBS will broadcast the game over the air, while Paramount+ is the streaming option.

North Carolina sealed a second straight home Challenge Cup final thanks to a dramatic 1-0 win at Children’s Mercy Park, where Brianna Pinto fired home a stoppage-time winner.

After largely dominating the first half, the Courage found the going more difficult as Kansas City — who started with an uncharacteristically conservative approach — started to high-press after the break.

That expansive change resulted in both teams finding golden looks. The Courage somehow survived a wild scramble in their goalmouth after a corner, with two Current shot attempts striking goalkeeper Casey Murphy while she was on the ground, and Narumi Miura — possibly the smallest player on the field — blocking a third.

At the other end, North Carolina couldn’t quite find the target from promising positions, with Kerolin, Tess Boade, and especially substitute Mille Gejl not able to produce a finish.

That set the stage for Pinto, whose energetic appearance off the bench was capped off with a goal on the turn six minutes into stoppage time.

On the west coast, a different sort of game played out. Laura Harvey understandably opted for a heavily-rotated side after playing Sunday night, while Louisville (benefitting from an extra day’s rest) came out close to full strength.

The Reign’s relatively unfamiliar lineup may have contributed to the concession of the first and only goal the team gave up in this Challenge Cup. It was simple stuff: Sam Hiatt’s misplaced pass went right to Kirsten Davis, who used a slick move to set up a pinpoint shot past goalkeeper Laurel Ivory.

Louisville could have possibly found a second, but as the game wore on OL Reign did everything but score. Chance after chance fell their way, perhaps none better than two normal starters (Emily Sonnett and Jordyn Huitema) linking up after a half-cleared ball into the box.

Sonnett’s delivery couldn’t have been better, but Huitema wasn’t able to snap the ball down past Katie Lund.

Louisville had to hang on for dear life, but through some blocks and grit, Racing has a shot at a first-ever trophy on Saturday.

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OL Reign’s Balcer tears into CBS over NWSL Challenge Cup scheduling snafu

“Screw CBS and put that game on YouTube for all I care”

After multiple NWSL scheduling stumbles, Bethany Balcer has had enough.

The OL Reign attacker lit into the league and its broadcast partner CBS, taking to social media to criticize the scheduling of Sunday’s Challenge Cup final.

“It BLOWS my mind that we have had the challenge cup for [three] years and we still are making the same mistakes,” read an Instagram story Balcer posted Wednesday morning.

Balcer then laid out the details of her complaint: the Reign are the Challenge Cup’s top seed, with 14 points and zero goals conceded in group play.

Nonetheless, because CBS has mandated a 12:30 p.m. ET broadcast for the final on September 9, a win over Racing Louisville on Wednesday night would result in the Seattle-based club boarding a plane to take on either the Kansas City Current or North Carolina Courage.

“Last year, we got the top seed, but couldn’t host the semifinal due to field scheduling conflicts that the league wouldn’t let us work around,” said Balcer, alluding to the Reign having to give up a home-field semifinal in 2022’s tournament.

In that incident, the Seattle Sounders’ CONCACAF Champions League final created a scheduling conflict, with that match and the Challenge Cup semifinal falling on the same day.

In a convoluted sequence of events, the match was initially scheduled for Segra Field — a widely disparaged exurban venue that the NWSL had once deemed insufficient to host a Washington Spirit league match — before being moved on short notice to Audi Field (which itself appeared to have a scheduling conflict that required some shuffling to alleviate).

The Reign would fall to the Spirit on penalties, having spent the entire week in the D.C. region to play Washington in a coincidentally-scheduled league match just days before the Challenge Cup semifinal.

“This year we got the top seed (AGAIN), and we actually get to host the semifinal (yay progress), but if we win we can’t host the final because the game would have to be at 9 a.m. [Pacific] because our CBS deal doesn’t give us any other time slot,” continued Balcer. “This happened with the NWSL Finals two years ago, because CBS gave us a horrid time.”

In that episode, the 2021 NWSL Championship game was scheduled for 12:00 p.m. ET, again due to a broadcast window on CBS. The league initially awarded hosting rights to the Portland Thorns, but that required a 9:00 a.m. local kickoff time, something that sparked widespread pushback from players, fans, media, and just about anyone else in the NWSL’s orbit. Racing Louisville’s Lynn Family Stadium was the eventual host as the Spirit defeated the Chicago Red Stars in extra time.

Balcer: ‘Screw CBS and put that game on YouTube for all I care’

For Balcer, repeating the same issues at the potential detriment to the competition itself is enough of an issue to say that she’s essentially done with the CBS broadcast deal altogether.

“Screw CBS and put that game on YouTube for all I care,” stated Balcer. “No wonder we struggle to get the exposure and views we want…because what the league is giving us is S—.

“Once again, our reward for being the top seed is having to travel across the country to play a team who we should be playing at home during a 3 game week where we have the least amount of time to turnaround going from Sunday to Wednesday to Saturday.”

As any writer of persuasive essays will tell you, it’s good to offer a clear, concise, and strong expression of your overarching point. Balcer delivered on that front, calling out anyone that might have been involved in a decision that does not follow the competition’s own rules.

“The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results…well our league is looking pretty insane to me,” said Balcer. “Put the game on at 7pm local time for whoever is the top seed. If that is too difficult, you aren’t in the right job and you don’t care about growing the women’s game.”

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NWSL Weekend Take-Off: Playoff race tension grows after Racing Louisville, Angel City both win

No team can ever relax in the NWSL

The NWSL is built to ensure late-season drama.

There’s no other conclusion to reach after another weekend that could have blown the standings wide open instead drew the entire table closer together. For the second time in recent weeks, the schedule set things up for the top six to largely push the bottom six adrift. Four of the six games over the weekend paired a team in a playoff position up against a team on the outside looking in.

And just like last time, the results largely skewed towards a tighter, more tense race. Racing Louisville and Angel City FC got big wins to keep pace, the Washington Spirit had a surprising stumble at home, and the only match between teams in playoff position ended up somehow being a bonkers 3-3 draw.

With four games to play, the gap from top to bottom is only 11 points. The teams in seventh and eighth are within six points of first. If you pull up Google’s NWSL standings and look over at the “last five” column, you’ll see more red X images signaling a loss for the teams in the top six (12) than in the bottom six (eight).

The seatbelt sign for this NWSL season should be flashing, because we’re about to have a turbulent landing.

NWSL Weekend Take-Off: Sophia Smith injury looms as playoff pressure ramps up

Bad news for Portland, while Angel City picked up a huge win

The NWSL regular season returned from its World Cup slumber last week, but with several big names not truly ready to come back just yet, it was only this past weekend where the league felt truly “back.”

There were major developments: multiple draws for teams in the top six, paired with Angel City’s win over OL Reign, breathed life into the race for the final playoff spots. However, we’d be remiss if we didn’t start off with the league-wide show of support for Jenni Hermoso and the players of Spain’s World Cup-winning national team.

“Contigo Jenni” was on wrist tape all over the league, while fans — and not only those in supporters’ groups — brought banners reading the same. This is a league that knows all too well how vital it is to push abusive figures out of the game, and the resumption of club play isn’t going to mean the issues with Luis Rubiales, Jorge Vilda, and their enablers in Spain are going to be pushed aside.

That said, a different unfortunate piece of news bubbled up this weekend, with Sophia Smith suffering a knee injury of (as yet) unknown severity. An injury to the runaway MVP favorite is hardly the news anyone out there wanted, and it could change the entire complexion of this season’s stretch run.

Let’s sort through the good and the bad:

NWSL Weekend Take-Off: Orlando Pride serves notice, broadcast woes are back

We see you, Orlando Pride

The World Cup is over, but the drama is not, because the NWSL is already back.

We’re not just getting to loosen up and ease into the league’s return, either. The NWSL stretch run is literally here, with each team down to its final six games. The standings are packed tightly, and the next few weeks before the September FIFA window are going to feel like a full-on sprint.

Some teams were fully prepared to get moving at full speed. With four teams outside the playoff places hosting games over the weekend, this was a huge opportunity for most of the league to either get seriously into the mix, or for teams in the top six to keep the chasing pack at bay.

The Orlando Pride got off the line fastest with a blowout victory, while the Kansas City Current came up with a gutsy win that effectively kept their playoff hopes alive. Racing Louisville and the Houston Dash came back to get draws, but neither side is in a place where home draws are going to get the job done.

We’re going to be attempting a format experiment here, at least with the next couple of Take-Offs. The hope is that with a little streamlining, the column is more easily digested. We’re thinking less of a minivan and more of a hatchback.

And with that in mind, let’s get this car on the road.

When will World Cup players return for NWSL teams?

Notes on returning World Cup players from all 12 NWSL teams

The World Cup may still have a final and third-place game to finish, but the NWSL is done waiting.

The league’s break from regular season play concludes Friday, with the Kansas City Current and OL Reign kicking off a full slate of matches.

It’s awkward timing, with a few players still participating at the World Cup, others still recovering from a physically and mentally grueling process, and yet more having come back quickly after the group stage. With 61 different NWSL players going to the World Cup, there are probably 61 unique situations to deal with here.

Pro Soccer Wire knows fans want to know when their team’s internationals will be back in uniform, so we’ve done the relevant social media research and Zoom press conference recording. Consider this a status update for all 61 World Cup participants as the NWSL playoff chase truly gets underway.