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3rd season of the National Women's Soccer League From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The 2015 National Women's Soccer League season was the third season of the National Women's Soccer League, the top division of women's soccer in the United States. Including the NWSL's two professional predecessors, Women's Professional Soccer (2009–2011) and the Women's United Soccer Association (2001–2003), it was the ninth overall season of FIFA and USSF-sanctioned top division women's soccer in the United States. The league was operated by the United States Soccer Federation and received major financial backing from that body. Further financial backing was provided by the Canadian Soccer Association and the Mexican Football Federation. All three national federations paid the league salaries of many of their respective national team members in an effort to nurture talent in those nations.
Season | 2015 |
---|---|
Champions | FC Kansas City |
NWSL Shield | Seattle Reign FC |
Matches played | 90 |
Goals scored | 251 (2.79 per match) |
Top goalscorer | Crystal Dunn (WAS), 15 goals |
Biggest home win | SEA 5–1 WNY (Apr 12) KC 4–0 WNY (Aug 8) |
Biggest away win | NJ 0–3 CHI (June 28) HOU 0–3 SEA (Aug 22) |
Highest scoring | POR 5–2 BOS (Aug 5) |
Longest winning run | 6 games Seattle Reign FC (July 22 – August 26) |
Longest unbeaten run | 8 games Seattle Reign FC (May 2 – July 11) (July 22 – September 5) |
Longest losing run | 4 games Boston Breakers (July 22 – August 5) Houston Dash (August 1 – August 21) |
Highest attendance | 21,144 @ POR 0–1 SEA (July 22) |
Lowest attendance | 953 @ NJ 1–3 WAS (Apr 26) |
Total attendance | 454,100[1] |
Average attendance | 5,046 |
← 2014 2016 →
All statistics correct as of September 6, 2015. |
In January, Jeff Plush was named NWSL commissioner,[2] replacing Cheryl Bailey.
To accommodate the 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup, the league announced it would take a two-week break from June 7–19, reduce the season to 20 games, and extend the playing calendar into September.[3]
For the second straight season, FC Kansas City defeated the NWSL Shield winners Seattle Reign FC 1–0 to win the NWSL championship.[4]
Two teams, the Dash and Reign, do not make their stadiums' entire capacity available for home games, instead restricting ticket sales at a lower level. The full capacities of their venues are included in parentheses and italics.
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Note: All of the teams use Nike as their kit manufacturer.
Players were acquired through the 2015 Allocation of national team players on January 14[6] and the 2015 NWSL College Draft on January 16,[7] as well as free agency and trades.
Notable acquisitions and losses
Abbreviation and Color Key: Boston Breakers – BOS • Chicago Red Stars – CHI • Houston Dash – HOU • FC Kansas City – KC • Portland Thorns FC – POR Seattle Reign FC – SEA • Sky Blue FC – NJ • Washington Spirit – WAS • Western New York Flash – WNY Win • Loss • Tie • Home Game | ||||||||||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Club | Match | |||||||||||||||||||
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | |
Boston Breakers | POR | HOU | WNY | CHI | POR | NJ | KC | WAS | SEA | WNY | KC | CHI | CHI | NJ | SEA | POR | WAS | KC | SEA | HOU |
4–1 | 3–2 | 3–1 | 3–0 | 1–0 | 1–1 | 1–0 | 1–1 | 2–3 | 0–2 | 2–3 | 1–1 | 1–2 | 3–1 | 1–2 | 5–2 | 2–1 | 3–0 | 1–3 | 0–1 | |
Chicago Red Stars | SEA | POR | NJ | BOS | HOU | KC | SEA | WNY | NJ | HOU | BOS | BOS | WAS | KC | POR | NJ | WAS | WNY | WNY | HOU |
3–2 | 2–2 | 1–0 | 3–0 | 2–2 | 1–2 | 0–0 | 3–1 | 0–3 | 1–2 | 1–1 | 1–2 | 1–1 | 2–2 | 2–1 | 1–1 | 1–2 | 0–0 | 0–2 | 1–1 | |
Houston Dash | WAS | NJ | BOS | KC | CHI | POR | NJ | POR | WNY | WAS | CHI | KC | WNY | KC | WAS | NJ | SEA | SEA | BOS | CHI |
2–0 | 1–1 | 3–2 | 0–2 | 2–2 | 0–1 | 1–1 | 0–0 | 2–0 | 1–0 | 1–2 | 1–1 | 0–1 | 3–2 | 3–1 | 0–2 | 1–2 | 0–3 | 1–0 | 1–1 | |
FC Kansas City | NJ | WAS | SEA | HOU | WNY | WNY | CHI | BOS | POR | SEA | WAS | BOS | HOU | HOU | CHI | WNY | POR | BOS | WAS | NJ |
0–1 | 3–1 | 1–0 | 0–2 | 0–1 | 0–0 | 1–2 | 1–0 | 1–1 | 2–1 | 3–0 | 2–3 | 1–1 | 3–2 | 2–2 | 4–0 | 3–0 | 3–0 | 0–0 | 2–3 | |
Portland Thorns FC | BOS | WNY | CHI | WAS | BOS | HOU | WAS | HOU | KC | NJ | NJ | SEA | SEA | WNY | BOS | CHI | KC | NJ | WAS | WNY |
4–1 | 1–0 | 2–2 | 2–2 | 1–0 | 0–1 | 2–1 | 0–0 | 1–1 | 2–1 | 1–0 | 0–1 | 3–0 | 0–2 | 5–2 | 2–1 | 3–0 | 1–0 | 3–3 | 2–3 | |
Seattle Reign FC | WNY | CHI | KC | WAS | NJ | CHI | NJ | BOS | KC | WNY | WNY | WAS | POR | POR | BOS | HOU | HOU | BOS | NJ | WAS |
5–1 | 3–2 | 1–0 | 3–1 | 1–1 | 0–0 | 3–0 | 2–3 | 2–1 | 1–1 | 4–2 | 3–0 | 0–1 | 3–0 | 1–2 | 2–1 | 0–3 | 3–1 | 1–1 | 1–2 | |
Sky Blue FC | KC | HOU | WAS | CHI | SEA | WAS | BOS | HOU | SEA | CHI | POR | POR | WNY | BOS | WNY | HOU | CHI | POR | SEA | KC |
0–1 | 1–1 | 1–3 | 1–0 | 1–1 | 1–0 | 1–1 | 1–1 | 3–0 | 0–3 | 2–1 | 1–0 | 3–3 | 3–1 | 1–2 | 0–2 | 1–1 | 1–0 | 1–1 | 2–3 | |
Washington Spirit | HOU | KC | NJ | SEA | POR | NJ | WNY | POR | BOS | HOU | KC | SEA | CHI | HOU | BOS | WNY | CHI | KC | POR | SEA |
2–0 | 3–1 | 1–3 | 3–1 | 2–2 | 1–0 | 3–2 | 2–1 | 1–1 | 1–0 | 3–0 | 3–0 | 1–1 | 3–1 | 2–1 | 1–1 | 1–2 | 0–0 | 3–3 | 1–2 | |
Western New York Flash | SEA | POR | BOS | KC | KC | WAS | CHI | HOU | BOS | SEA | SEA | NJ | HOU | POR | NJ | KC | WAS | CHI | CHI | POR |
5–1 | 1–0 | 3–1 | 0–1 | 0–0 | 3–2 | 3–1 | 2–0 | 0–2 | 1–1 | 4–2 | 3–3 | 0–1 | 0–2 | 1–2 | 4–0 | 1–1 | 0–0 | 0–2 | 3–2 |
Scores listed as home-away
Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Seattle Reign FC | 20 | 13 | 4 | 3 | 41 | 21 | +20 | 43 | NWSL Shield |
2 | Chicago Red Stars | 20 | 8 | 9 | 3 | 31 | 22 | +9 | 33 | NWSL Playoffs |
3 | FC Kansas City (C) | 20 | 9 | 5 | 6 | 32 | 20 | +12 | 32 | |
4 | Washington Spirit | 20 | 8 | 6 | 6 | 31 | 28 | +3 | 30 | |
5 | Houston Dash | 20 | 6 | 6 | 8 | 21 | 26 | −5 | 24 | |
6 | Portland Thorns FC | 20 | 6 | 5 | 9 | 27 | 29 | −2 | 23 | |
7 | Western New York Flash | 20 | 6 | 5 | 9 | 24 | 34 | −10 | 23 | |
8 | Sky Blue FC | 20 | 5 | 7 | 8 | 22 | 28 | −6 | 22 | |
9 | Boston Breakers | 20 | 4 | 3 | 13 | 22 | 43 | −21 | 15 |
The initial determining factor for a team's position in the standings is most points earned, with three points earned for a win, one point for a draw, and zero points for a loss. If two or more teams tie in point total, when determining rank and playoff qualification and seeding, the NWSL uses the following tiebreaker rules, going down the list until all teams are ranked.
If two teams tie:
If three or more teams tie, the following rules apply until only two teams remain tied, at which point the two-team tiebreakers listed above are used:
Considering each week to end on a Sunday
Team \ Week | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Seattle Reign FC | 1 | 4 | 6 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 6 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
Chicago Red Stars | 5 | 5 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 |
FC Kansas City | 6 | 7 | 8 | 5 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 7 | 5 | 7 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 |
Washington Spirit | 7 | 6 | 2 | 4 | 5 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 |
Houston Dash | 3 | 2 | 4 | 6 | 7 | 7 | 4 | 5 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 5 | 4 | 6 | 6 | 7 | 7 | 5 |
Portland Thorns FC | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 7 | 8 | 7 | 8 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 8 | 7 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 6 |
Western New York Flash | 9 | 9 | 9 | 8 | 8 | 9 | 7 | 8 | 6 | 8 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 6 | 6 | 7 | 7 | 8 | 8 | 7 |
Sky Blue FC | 4 | 3 | 5 | 7 | 6 | 8 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 7 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 6 | 6 | 8 |
Boston Breakers | 8 | 7 | 7 | 9 | 9 | 6 | 8 | 3 | 4 | 6 | 6 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 9 |
Top scorers
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Top assists
|
(Minimum of 900 minutes played)
Rank | Goalkeeper | Club | GP | MINS | SOG | SVS | GA | GAA | W-L-T | SHO |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Michele Dalton | Chicago Red Stars | 12 | 1080 | 58 | 47 | 11 | 0.917 | 6–1–5 | 5 |
2 | Nicole Barnhart | FC Kansas City | 17 | 1530 | 70 | 54 | 16 | 0.941 | 8–6–3 | 8 |
3 | Haley Kopmeyer | Seattle Reign FC | 11 | 990 | 52 | 41 | 11 | 1.000 | 7–1–3 | 4 |
4 | Michelle Betos | Portland Thorns FC | 14 | 1260 | 63 | 45 | 18 | 1.286 | 5–7–2 | 2 |
5 | Brittany Cameron | Sky Blue FC | 20 | 1792 | 114 | 87 | 27 | 1.357 | 5–8–7 | 4 |
6 | Erin McLeod | Houston Dash | 11 | 932 | 74 | 60 | 15 | 1.364 | 3–4–3 | 2 |
7 | Kelsey Wys | Washington Spirit | 11 | 990 | 51 | 35 | 16 | 1.455 | 5–4–2 | 3 |
8 | Chantel Jones | Western New York Flash | 13 | 1155 | 81 | 60 | 21 | 1.615 | 4–4–5 | 2 |
9 | Alyssa Naeher | Boston Breakers | 12 | 1080 | 95 | 65 | 30 | 2.500 | 2–9–1 | 0 |
The top four teams from the regular season will compete for the NWSL Championship.
Semi-finals | Championship | ||||||||
1 | Seattle Reign FC | 3 | |||||||
4 | Washington Spirit | 0 | |||||||
1 | Seattle Reign FC | 0 | |||||||
3 | FC Kansas City | 1 | |||||||
2 | Chicago Red Stars | 0 | |||||||
3 | FC Kansas City | 3 |
Chicago Red Stars | 0–3 | FC Kansas City |
---|---|---|
Johnson 66' | Report | Rodriguez 12', 25' Tymrak 21' |
Seattle Reign FC | 3–0 | Washington Spirit |
---|---|---|
Mathias 52' Yanez 71' Rapinoe 75' Nogueira 90' |
Report |
Month | Player of the Month | Club | Month's Statline | |
---|---|---|---|---|
April | Christen Press[20] | Chicago Red Stars | 4G, 1A in 2 games; Red Stars 1-0-1 in April | |
May | Sofia Huerta[21] | Chicago Red Stars | 5G, 1A in 5 games; Red Stars 3-0-2 in May | |
June | Kim Little[22] | Seattle Reign FC | 3G, 1A in 3 games; Reigh FC 3-0-0 in June | |
July | Carli Lloyd[23] | Houston Dash | 3G in 3 games; Dash 2-1-1 in July (2-0-1 in Lloyd appearances) | |
August | Crystal Dunn[24] | Washington Spirit | 6G, 1A in 6 games; Spirit 2-1-3 in August |
Award | Winner | ||
---|---|---|---|
Golden Boot [46] | Crystal Dunn | Washington Spirit | 15 goals |
Rookie of the Year [47] | Danielle Colaprico | Chicago Red Stars | Played in all 20 games |
Goalkeeper of the Year [48] | Michelle Betos | Portland Thorns FC | 1.286 GAA, 45 saves |
Defender of the Year [49] | Becky Sauerbrunn | FC Kansas City | 990 minutes |
Coach of the Year [50] | Laura Harvey | Seattle Reign | 13–3–4 regular season |
Most Valuable Player [51] | Crystal Dunn | Washington Spirit | 15 goals, 3 assists |
NWSL Best XI [52] | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Position | First team | Second team | ||||
Goalkeeper | Michelle Betos | Portland Thorns FC | 45 saves | Nicole Barnhart | FC Kansas City | 8 shutouts |
Defender | Lauren Barnes | Seattle Reign FC | 1,800 minutes | Stephanie Cox | Seattle Reign FC | 1,800 minutes |
Defender | Julie Johnston | Chicago Red Stars | 1.10 team GAA | Kendall Fletcher | Seattle Reign FC | 2 goals, 2 assists |
Defender | Amy LePeilbet | FC Kansas City | 1,800 minutes | Arin Gilliland | Chicago Red Stars | 1.10 team GAA |
Defender | Becky Sauerbrunn | FC Kansas City | 1.00 team GAA | Leigh Ann Robinson | FC Kansas City | 1,800 minutes |
Midfielder | Jess Fishlock | Seattle Reign FC | 8 goals, 2 assists | Danielle Colaprico | Chicago Red Stars | 1,776 minutes |
Midfielder | Kim Little | Seattle Reign FC | 10 goals, 7 assists | Lauren Holiday | FC Kansas City | 2 goals, 2 assists |
Midfielder | Allie Long | Portland Thorns FC | 10 goals, 4 assists | Carli Lloyd | Houston Dash | 4 goals |
FW // MF | Crystal Dunn | Washington Spirit | 15 goals, 3 assists | Keelin Winters | Seattle Reign FC | 1,654 minutes |
Forward | Christen Press | Chicago Red Stars | 10 goals, 2 assists | Sofia Huerta | Chicago Red Stars | 6 goals, 3 assists |
Forward | Beverly Yanez | Seattle Reign FC | 9 goals | Megan Rapinoe | Seattle Reign FC | 5 goals, 5 assists |
NWSL Championship Game MVP[4] | ||
---|---|---|
Player | Club | Record |
Amy Rodriguez | FC Kansas City | Scored the game-winning goal |
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