A very fine sendoff for Sinc, and the NWSL playoffs are set
The IX: Soccer Monday with Annie Peterson, Nov. 4, 2024
Apologies for the short and late post today. I have some new responsibilities at The Associated Press that include additional work and travel. And I haven’t quite figured out how to manage my time with the new duties.
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Also, I don’t know if you all are the same way, but this election has me absolutely stressed out. Here’s the lone message I’d impart before Tuesday: Please vote. Let’s put aside the notion that one vote won’t make a difference. It might! Voting is a right and a privilege that we have in a democracy, and your voice does matter.
Now, onto soccer. It was decision weekend in the National Women’s Soccer League,. and now the playoffs are set.
Racheal Kundanaji scored a pair of goals and Bay FC became the just second expansion team to make the playoffs with a 3-2 win over the Houston Dash. Bay also set a new expansion team record with 11 regular season victories.
Bay was helped by the Current’s 3-1 victory over Chicago, which allowed them to leapfrog the Red Stars for the seventh seed. Chicago finished in eighth, meaning it has the daunting task of next facing the top-seeded NWSL single-season record breakers, the Orlando Pride.
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“It’s an incredible season, not only to finish top of the table, but to set new records with 18 wins, 60 points, that was our motivator going into this game,” Pride coach Seb Hines said after the team defeated the Seattle Regin to close the season. “A lot of talk has been these last three games after winning the Shield. ‘What are you playing for?’ We put a big emphasis on finishing with the most points in NWSL history, the most wins in NWSL history, so we can ultimately take that record and make it difficult for anyone else to try and beat it.”
Bay will visit No. 2 seed, the Washington Spirit, at Audi Field. The Current landed with a fourth seed and will face No. 5 North Carolina at CPKC Stadium.
The Thorns defeated Angel City and got help to jump into the No. 6 seed. They’ll head to New Jersey to face third-seeded Gotham.
Temwa Chawinga won the Golden Boot with 20 goals (in 25 games) in her first-ever NWSL season. The Current forward from Malawi was also the first player to score against every team in the league. The Current also set the league record for goals in a season, with 57.
Finally, fans honored Christine Sinclair in Portland’s final regular season game. The Thorns icon is retiring at the end of the season. She has played for Portland since the start of the league, and is one of just three players active this season that have spent their NWSL careers with just one team.
There was an epic tifo:
And of course, Sinclair scored. It was an absolute fairytale sendoff. Afterward, she spoke with a cutout of herself with her dog, Charlie.
The links:
ESPN Power Rankings heading into the playoffs.
NWSL hits 2 million attendance mark
ESPN’s Jeff Kassouf suggests the Summer Cup was a one-off.
The league announces a bunch of stuff surrounding the playoffs.
Men is Blazers becomes a media partner with the NWSL
Goal.com handed out player grades after the USWNT friendlies.
Meg Linehan looked at the international window for The Athletic.
Nice story on Emma Sears from the Olympic channel’s Courtney Hill.
Oh and there’s this!
Lots of YouTube videos in this post, but thought I’d let Morgan Weaver, Becky Sauerbrunn and of course Christine Sinclair speak for themselves after the 3-0 victory over Angel City in the final regular season game:
| Mondays: Soccer |
| By: Annie Peterson, @AnnieMPeterson, AP Women’s Soccer |
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| By: Joey Dillon, @JoeyDillon, Freelance Tennis Writer |
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| By: Howard Megdal, @HowardMegdal, The Next |
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| By: Lela Moore, @runlelarun, Freelance Writer |
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