Soccer Monday: Recapping the NWSL quarterfinals and a look forward to the semis

The Orlando Pride hosted the Chicago Red Stars on Friday night to kick off the postseason and advanced to the semis with a 4-1 victory. Not surprisingly, Barbra Banda stole the show with a pair of goals. She nearly had a hat trick, but deferred to Marta for a second-half penalty kick.

“I asked her if she wanted to take it because I wanted so bad to see three goals from her today, she’d be the first to have a hat trick for the Pride, but I hope she saved it for the next game,” Marta said. “I’m happy I put in the ball.”

Haley McCutcheon also scored for the Pride, who won a playoff game for the first time in franchise history. Jameese Joseph scored about three minutes later for the Red Stars.

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A tearful Mallory Swanson was comforted by Alyssa Naeher in the aftermath of the Red Stars’ loss.

The Current played their way into the semifinals with a 1-0 victory over the North Carolina Courage on Saturday. Who scored? Well, that would be Temwa Chawinga, of course.

This season’s Golden Boot winner scored in the eighth minute and then the teams battled it out the rest of the way. Afterward, Current coach Vlatko Andonovski suggested that Chawinga was facing “unfair” physical challenges from opponents.

This was evident in stoppage time when Chawinga was tackled by North Carolina’s Bianca St-Georges, who then taunted her. Ellie Wheeler came to her teammate’s defense, and in the end both St-Georges and Wheeler were handed yellow cards.

“It wasn’t just this game. If you look at the season, every game they’re overly physical against her,” Andonovski said. “It’s not fair for Temwa. They’re targeting her. They’re going directly at her. And I just hope that as we go forward, she gets more protection from the referees.”

Banda and Chawinga helped push their teams to the semifinals. And, naturally, Trinity Rodman did the same for the Spirit.

Rodman forced an own goal in extra time and the Spirit came from behind to defeat upstart Bay FC on Sunday morning. Six minutes into extra time, Bay defender Caprice Dydasco saw Rodman’s cross late and accidentally directed it into the goal.

And of course, the pants:

Finally, the defending champions Gotham FC defeated the Portland Thorns. And of course it was Rose Lavelle who delivered the go-ahead goal seven minutes into stoppage time.

“It’s always nice to score in stoppage time so you don’t have to go into overtime,” Lavelle said.

It was the final NWSL game for Portland legend Christine Sinclair, who was given an appreciative ovation from the fans at Red Bull Arena when she subbed out in the second half. Portland already said its goodbyes, but this one still stings for a lot of people. The end of an era.

It’s been quite a year for retirements, and Soccer Monday will dive into this in a later post. Among the league’s luminaries who have played their final NWSL games are Sinclair, Alex Morgan, Kelley O’Hara, Merritt Mathias and Desiree Scott.

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As for next week: the Banda v. Chawinga show is a must-watch. Will Banda get that elusive hat trick? Will Chawinga get physically targeted? I expect the big names, like Banda, Chawinga, Rodman and Lavelle to continue to drive their teams. This is where those kinds of players excel, when the pressure is greatest.

The Pride and the Current played to a scoreless draw in Orlando earlier this season. The Pride also prevailed in the match at CPKC Stadium. The edge here likely goes to the Pride.

As for the other semifinal, Gotham is so talented and so deep. Esther is a force, and frankly, I never discount a team that has Lynn Williams on the roster. That said, the Spirit won both of its regular season games against Gotham this season.

And, this happened this morning. Big get for Emma Hayes:

Now, for the links:

Kansas City Star with a column on Andonovski’s redemption with the Current.

Fun visuals on the Trin Spin from the Washington Post

Rodman spoke to The Athletic: My Game in My Words

This is good from The Athletic on player anxiety in soccer.

Nice story from Jonathan Tannenwald at the Philadelphia Inquirer on Ali Krieger

Henry Bushnell’s lookahead to the semifinals for Yahoo Sports

Steph Houghton spoke to the BBC about fighting for equal pay.

Berman says the NWSL is in the process of selling the rights for a 16th team.

Why are North Korea’s women’s national teams so good?

Netflix has a new doc, The Kiss That Changed Spanish Football

The Guardian on Canada’s drone scandal

No plans to expand the African Women’s Champions League.

And finally, the College Cup bracket is out. Check this out on NCAA.com