SoccerWise - NWSL Season Predictions & Week 1 Preview

Episode Date: March 13, 2025

David and Jordan give you all their season predictions down to the last spot in the standings. They talk through their preseason MVP predictions and all their position awards. And then they dig into every single match team by team to get you previewed for the weekend. 8:30 NWSL Player Award Predictions28:00 Standings Predictions38:30 Match By Match Weekend Preview Soccerwise Live 2pm ET Every Tuesday/Wednesday/Thursday on Youtube/Twitch/Twitter

Hey everybody, welcome to Soccer Wise, an evening recording edition as the sun literally sets in my face as we are ready for the first weekend of NWSL action. We're not talking in weeks anymore. We're not even talking in days. We are down to hours at this point We're recording this 49 hours before the season starts. Yeah, that really just hit you. I can't believe you did that math though, too That was good math. Well, it's exactly two days plus technically 33 minutes. I will say of all the skills we have shown in the openings of this show, that is not

really one of the higher ones so far. Yeah, okay, okay. I get that. What's the highest that we've shown? Well you're obviously your acoustic skills. You're able to do the full soundboard and all of that. The sun is about to set. Do you have a sunset?

No. I told you about the green flash. The sun is about to set. Do you have a sunset? No. I told you about the green flash. So I went to the Florida Keys this weekend and I went and watched the sunset in this square, which is like a famous thing you're supposed to do, is packed, completely crowded. We're watching it.

I obviously forgot my sunglasses. So I'm like looking away and looking back and looking away and looking back. And I'm like pretty good about taking in those moments for the most part and like I'm not a very slow person I don't relax very often but I'm pretty good about that stuff and at the last moment after it happened I was like oh I'm gonna stay here forever and just like watch the Sun after and then I was like no you know what like I don't know and then I turned my head and my family goes whoa did you just see the green flash and apparently there's a green flash after the sunset I googled it after it's like pretty rare there's a

pretty good chance I will never see that in my life because I turned my head. That's a bummer that you missed that. I didn't realize it was rare. Because you told me about this before we got on. Have you seen it? I have not seen it. But when the sun is setting and it's that low, you actually can look at it. What doesn't hurt your eyes. Yes.

Okay. This one was a little tougher I think because it was purely over water. So maybe. So it's just a little reflective. You're just like this. If you're not watching on YouTube right now, go look at that. Go watch. What minute is it?

2.30 around then. I was in the mountains and I saw a shooting star. No. Yeah. It was so pretty. I don't know what it is about a shooting star. So majestic. Yeah.

Well, as someone who lives in a city, seeing stars at all is a huge deal for me. I'll visit people in suburbs that are not that far from cities and I'll be like, can we go outside and look at the stars? And they're like, it's just kind of a normal day. And it's like, well, normally I see Delta Airlines, American Airlines and maybe one planet. Flashing stars. Exactly.

Yeah. And so I agree. Shooting stars are exciting. We are going to get our NWSL season started. It is a shooting star. I didn't really have a transition. It was a good try. It was a good try. You were all over my TV this week because I went and watched For the Win, I think is what it's called, the Amazon series that came out with all the behind the scenes about NWSL and you are very much a central part of it. Did you get your SAG card after? Are you now officially part of the Actors Guild? Well, actually, that's where I was. I was auditioning for a new film that's coming up.

It's not documentary this time. It is a feature film. I did not get a SAG card. I didn't know I was in it either until all these people were like, Jordan, you're really in this documentary. So I have not watched it. I need to before the season starts. So as we know, I have 48 hours and what now? 50 minutes. 33 minutes. Yeah, to be able to do that. But I've heard pretty good things. I think it's cool to have a documentary. I don't know. I don't want to give it any judgment until I've seen it. Yeah. Lisa Carlin is the one who should get a SAG card. Yeah. She is the voice of 90% of it. Go Lisa!

To her credit. And it's awesome. They're all clips out of Attacking Third. And it was just like the cleanest setups for all the things that happened. As well as many other people, many broadcasters. And then the behind the scenes with the players is really fun. I will say this to everyone without trying to do a spoilers, even though it's a documentary. So we know the boat sinks at the end, as my dad would say. It ends really, really strong. So it is worth watching all the way through past the championship into the end because

there's actually actually thought that was maybe the best part was catching up with the players from Orlando and Washington, one month, two months after the championship and sort had Aubrey Kingsbury on this show last week and I asked her about it and she goes, well, I gave up two shots and one goal and we lost. So yeah, I didn't forget about the game. And you're like, right. Yeah, this is a huge part of your life. Trinity Rodman, very central to the show. Kylie Strum has some really interesting comments about winning and what it meant for her in that moment and all that type of stuff.

So it's definitely worth watching. It's definitely something to get you sort of locked in as you get towards the season. There's some behind the scenes stuff. But I think the biggest thing for me was just bringing back the emotion of the last month of the season, the playoffs, when the stakes were at its highest

and we really felt like we really learned about a lot of teams. And I think what's interesting coming into today now is there's half the teams where they're exactly the same. And so you're like, okay, right. How do I carry on what I thought about Bay at the end of last year, what I thought about Washington,

but then the other teams of the Gothams of the world that are completely different, and how do you readset and readjust? And I think that's what this weekend is about. Like we think we know things about some new teams, we feel confident about some teams returning and then it all goes on the field and then it's like, well what do we really have is what we're gonna learn

coming up this weekend. Quick question before we go, we dig into what we were gonna talk about on the documentary. One of the things I like most about documentaries or like the specials, you know, where you get to know athletes a little bit more is you like get new favorites.

You start to really like somebody else because you get to know their story. Was there anybody that stuck out to you as like, oh, I really like, like I'm really intrigued now with this player. There's a few characters. I thought Washington is a fun one because it's like, first of all, you forget that Trini Rodman's younger than all of the rookies from last year. And then you're like, oh, right.

And you get to see like Hal Hirschfeld in her situation, around all the players and all of that. But I think Kylie Schramm is like the big star that comes out of it and her talking about her pathway and maybe not believing she would end up making it and then getting to come back and the opportunity. And I think we knew this when it happened, but her getting to present Seb Himes with,

or tell him and how much it meant to her because of what he meant to her career. Which is a good reminder. We need to learn Kylie Strum's new last name. Yes, which she is sitting next to her husband for like 80% of the interviews. They flash his name every once in a while. It then end and then it goes away and I said out loud Oh, I need to remember that and Nander Nander something like that. Yeah, I don't want to get it wrong

Yeah, but there is a lot of new names to learn coming into this season We are going to start off now with our awards So we're gonna run through MVP We are going to start off now with our awards. So we're gonna run through MVP, golden boot, goalkeeper of the year, defender of the year, midfielder of the year, and then coach of the year. We're going to do our standings, how we see them, and then we're going to name who we believe

will win the championship at the end of all of this. That one I can guarantee will be wrong for both of us, which I think gives us a little bit of confidence to not be too stressed about it. And then we will dig into every single game coming up. So there are two games on Friday night. There are I believe three games, sorry, four games on Saturday. And then the weekend ends on Sunday evening on ESPN2 with Angel City against San Diego.

So all across the map NWSL to watch as we get into this first weekend of the season. Let's go into our awards. Let's start MVP. And why don't you get us started? And what who'd you pick? And what was your thinking? Okay, this was, it shouldn't be that hard of a decision, right? I think there's going to be a lot of people who think Tamwa Shinga is going to repeat. Wait, MVP or Golden Boot? What'd you just say? I said MVP. Oh, I think the fact that you heard-

I had Golden Boot ran down first. Okay. Also, I think they are very closely tied together, which I think is gonna be a large part of this convo. Okay, so maybe should I just do both of them? Sure. Start MVP and okay, there's a lot to talk about Kansas City and what they were able to do last year and can they do that again this year and for that I'm actually gonna go with Vanessa DiBernardo. I think DiBernardo is gonna be the MVP of this 2025 season because this Kansas City team is going to score a lot of goals. And I think

Vanessa DiBernardo is going to get a lot of assists and she is going to be the facilitator of this team. Because it's not just going to be Temwa Schawinga that scores all the goals. I think Bia is going to be the golden boot. So- Wait, whoa. Yeah. Okay. So you have MVP Whoa. Yeah. Okay. So you have MVP and Golden Boot on the same team. Yep. But neither of them is Tamwa Shinga. No. The reigning holder of both of them. Nope. Wow. Okay. I think she's gonna have a great year, but I think her year is going to be supplemented by Bia and driven by Vanessa DiBernardo. Do you get what I'm saying? If everyone is healthy, is Vanessa DiBernardo 100% a starter? Yeah, the way she played last year.

Okay. I was shocked that I thought Vanessa DiBernardo was the midfielder of the year. Yeah, I agree. And if you're the midfielder of the year and you add another really solid piece in the attack in front of you I think you're only gonna be able to do more Yeah

But if so be as healthy and we assume Michelle Cooper's starting and we assume Claire Hutton and Lola Bonta and Tama Shewinger is starting. That's one spot between to be Nia and Vanessa DiBernardo I Would play Vanessa DiBernardo. I would play Vanessa DiBernardo over Dabinha. Okay. I am in a similar line of thinking as you. I went slightly different. I went MVP, Tenwa Showinga.

Okay. And I'm gonna go Golden Boot. I'm gonna go Barbara Banda. All right. I think when you look at the goals per game rate last year and you assume she starts the full year, like she has already done in NWSL challenge cup and like is around the entire time.

I think it's hard for me to predict that Shewinga is going to hit at the same rate and be healthy the same like everything last year was amazing and perfect and it's just hard to assume that that gets repeated and I know I'm sort of doing that with Barbara Banda but she wasn't there at the start of the year. And so it's a little bit different. I also think that Kansas City is gonna win the shield. And so I think it's going to go in the direction of Kansas City. But I think also with these awards,

they're slightly narrative driven and Tema Shingo is right now the star of the team. And so if they play well, if they win the shield and she continues to play at any level like she did last year, feels hard to think that someone's, you know, So if they play well, if they win the shield and she continues to play at any level like she did last year, it feels hard to think that someone's going to take that award away from her. But I don't know that she's going to hit in every single goal scoring at the exact same

rate because you do have the Bias and the Michelle Coopers and all these other players, as well as I think the hope would be you're putting less pressure on her. Like, as the year went along last year year Kansas City had to have her score goals because the rest of the team kind of got hurt and fell apart at times and I think Vlako understands that that can't be the case if they want to go as far as they want to go and so I think they will try and alleviate that to an extent and in watching the game last weekend like with this Orlando team without Adriana it's like from an offensive attacking point of view it's a three-headed monster like it's

Ali Watt and the two attackers in front and Marta is probably not going to carry it for the full season so I think Banda is going to be the same player that she was last year but for a full year and win that golden boot. I think any of the people that you just mentioned could win any of those. And I agree with yours as well. Yeah, I think that this is, it kind of speaks to like, also maybe a little insight in how I vote for things, right? And at the end of the year when this comes to be, like I don't always think the player that scores

the most goals is the MVP of a team. I don't, that's not how I look at a soccer team. So I think if Vanessa DiRinato can stay healthy, the way that this Kansas City team is set up with speed on both sides and speed kills and Bia who is the best nine by far in this league, and if Bia is healthy, this team is gonna score a buttload of goals

and they're gonna come from Schwinga and BIA. That's gonna be a fight, I think, who's the MVP or the golden boot, even on that team. Right. But man, if that's the fight you're having, I am taking it, right? I think we both said, like, last year with Kansas City, the six weeks, five weeks where we saw be a healthy with

Showing it was the best that they looked and there were times where it felt like be a not times It felt like be it was the most important player on that team or X factor Because that's the part where I think it becomes tough. Like you're talking about Vanessa DiBernardo. I think there's a good chance. She's like Kansas City fan vote player of the year and Kansas City wins a trophy, but a different player wins MVP because I don't know that she will get elevated in that conversation. But that is not taking away from what you say, which is she is going to be the linchpin of a ton of what that team does.

And if they do it at a high level, she's a huge reason why. And I think there's a few other players that you look at around the league and you could say they fall in a category like that. Like looking at what, you know, Cariabella looked like this weekend, basically covering the entire left wing. Like that's going to be a huge factor for Orlando if they have a good year. But then when you get to award season, it ends up falling on the big names and all of the pieces like that. I think it's also a window into what our standings are probably gonna look like when we get to the end of this. So that is the two big ones MVP and Golden Boot. Let's get into the position specific ones. Let's start with goalkeeper of the year. Where did you fall on this? This

was hard because we're doing it at the same time as we're trying to make our Like what the rankings at the end of the year are gonna be so I tried not to take my rankings too much into account But I do think that this Houston team has a lot of turnover and they are going to be so much more solid Defensively that they're gonna revert a little bit more back to what they used to be as a really good defensive team. They're gonna be ball-dominant. I think they're gonna give up less chances, but it's gonna showcase Jane Campbell better. So I went with Jane Campbell as the goalkeeper of the year in Houston. It's gonna be a big season, a big transitional season for them, and she is their longest tenured player. She loves playing for the Dash.

She's gonna want to be a big part of their upcoming, their status, their up and up this year. I think Jane Campbell's gonna have a big year. I think that's a really good shout. I think there's this, there's a class of like seven that you could say, and it's completely reasonable. And so I think that Jane Campbell is one of them in there. The other thing is, if she takes over the national team job, if she's getting starts with the US, if

she's consistently getting call ins, like, it's not supposed to affect it, but it will have like, Emma Hayes is saying, in this, especially when you look at the pool in the middle, and you talk about where I'm going to fall with my standings of like Aubrey Kingsbury through a number of American goalkeepers. If Emma Hayes is saying Jane Campbell's the one that I'm going to lean on, there's a pretty good chance a lot of other people feel that way as well. Manny McGlynn, you would assume, as part of that. Yeah. And I think a lot of that will fall on the standings and where they finish.

I'm gonna say that I, I'm gonna do something lame and I'm gonna say Anne Katrinberger back to back. And I think part of it's affected by Jill Lloyd and yelling at us that she's by far the best goalkeeper and difference maker. The other is, I do think that for all the changes that have happened in Gotham, and we'll talk about them as we get to them in the standings

I think their spine is as good as anyone's I think Defensively their spine actually might be better than it was last year as you bring Jalen Howell in I think Jess Carter's like a cheat code defensively whether it's at center back or at the fullback positions Tiana Davidson was just named captain of this team. And so I think they're going statistically, they're gonna have a huge year again, and you're going to see it from Berger. The only issue is the Euros. And that might put players who play in the Euros

or Copa America behind other players in that, they're going to be focused on this other thing. They're going to leave. Like there is a break, so they won't miss games. But as we saw last year, it affects players. Players pick up injuries with national teams that are different, takes them time to get used to league play again and move in and out.

That's my big fear for her, but I went lame and went with the same thing as last year. Yeah, very well could be. She's an excellent goalkeeper, and there are a lot of great goalkeepers in this league. I... Gotham plays a big risk reward system and you can do that because of her. She just has to be consistent throughout all of the, what, 24 matches.

So how many are there? 24? So now we're on to defend... Yeah, I think 26. 26. That's right. Now we're on to defender of the year. We are ready. We are locked in. I'm so ready. 26th weekend. For the weekend. Now we're on to defender of the year. I will, I'm just going to say mine and then as we get through yours, I might think out loud the 37 other names I was considering. Perfect. Yeah, great. But I'm going to go with Abby Dahlkemper. I'm going to try and follow the trend from

last year, which I said in our preview show, from her, the moment she stepped on the field on, for Bay, they were a top five team. And so I think this year they've kept consistency, especially with the question marks and goal behind her. I think you're going to see the the fact the effect she has on the team. She is a big name player, whether it gets her back into the national team or not, I'm not sure. I think she's someone that will garner conversation around that. And I have Bay pushing a little bit higher into the postseason this year. And so that's the name that I landed on. These get really tricky because you're now in such a big pool of players right and I think you

can go in a lot of different directions I think that's a good shot we saw Abby dog Kemper completely change this Bay team and add an element of stability that they did not have until she got there. I think that could be a possibility, but they don't have a goalkeeper right now. And I, gosh. And shout outs are a team award. They are not a goalkeeper award. No, yeah.

So, okay. I like that. I'm going, if you had to guess one team that I'm gonna go towards, where would you guess? Are you going to say Kate Del Fava? I want to say Kaylee Real. Oh, okay. Kaylee Real similarly was injured at the beginning of the season, didn't come in until later on in the year last year and really helped solidify the back line for Utah.

So much that it allowed Tejada to push into the midfield. Now you have a really good communicator. She can score goals with her head in attack. She can help solidify what Utah wants to do defensively. They are way more organized under Jimmy Coonratz. I think she's going to play every minute of this season and I think Hailey Reel is going to be the defender of the year. Okay, so I was close. Oh my gosh. Yeah. For you. Um, that is, that was not where I expected this to go.

But also I went off the rails as well. I feel like I've thrown some curve balls. I like to mix it up a little because why not? I appreciate that. It's predictions. Because. Do whatever you want. 100%.

And like I went through it and was like You could name three Orlando players right now Yeah, that have a legitimate shot at being a front-runner Hafaela being now arguably the biggest one after the performance we saw in Friday and you're like, okay Maybe the best center back in the league is fully back for the best defense in the league Which probably should have is why I should have landed on Anna Morehouse for goalkeeper of the year because she set the records last year. They'll probably do so once again. I was leaning heavily on Tara McKeown as well because I do think I liked what I saw from

her on Friday in distribution of like that next step from Washington. Now you take that pressure on and you're still one of the top defenders can pop up for goals. All of that. I was thinking Kayleigh Kurtz as well. Like there's a lot of different things you can throw in there. Yep. All of the Gotham centerbacks, all of that. Um, so yeah, going off the map, I think it's great and I think it's fine. And why not? Yeah. Why not? And Utah, I think could have a good year, but

Kaylee Kurtz could win it too, because if Kaylee Kurtz plays like she has for the last three she's a three-time Iron Woman yeah for North Carolina yep if she has another year like that you can't how do you not give her defender of the year you have played four straight seasons in a row you deserve something I don't disagree with you and that's why I was between her and Abby Dahlkemper for me and then I don't know what I don't know what got me over the line to pick one or the other. We now go to midfielder of the year.

I assume I know what you're about to say. You do? Well if you picked an MVP who's a midfielder don't you have to pick them as midfielder of the year? No. Oh interesting. Okay. I'm making up my own rules here.

I appreciate that. So what's it gonna be? Um, I'm gonna go Denise O'Sullivan for North Carolina. Love that. Yeah With the addition of Jayden Shaw and we've talked a lot about Ashley Sanchez and what she can add to this team The glue for North Carolina for years has been Denise O'Sullivan and I don't think she has gotten near as much appreciation for what she can do as she deserves and with some changes in this North Carolina team she's the thing that stays consistent and they need consistency out of her and she provides it game in and game out. I think North Carolina is going to be more potent in the attack She's gonna have a hand in that but also she's gonna do everything right defensively

so I I'm gonna I'm gonna be rooting for Denise O'Sullivan for this midfielder of the year. I Love that. I'm very excited about North Carolina. I have them fourth in the standings. I'm just gonna say that right now we tell Boom, there you go. And I think that Four to five jump though is going to feel like a big deal this year, because as I said a million times,

it was a 16 point gap from five to four last year. And so I think for them to make that jump and get closer to the top three teams, it's gonna feel like a whole new season, even though it's one spot, if that's the way it finishes. And so I think they're going to get a lot of attention. I think a lot of players are. I was considering Ashley Sanchez in this whole thing.

I'm a huge fan of Ashley Sanchez, and I'm very excited to see what it looks like with Jayden Shaw for her. But I think Denise O'Sullivan is as good a shot. The other thing is, I think Denise O'Sullivan covers a little bit more of what you lost with Nerumi. I think her responsibility is going to be massive this season.

I think you're going to see that if this team's able to succeed. I'm going to go with Lola Bonta. I think if Kansas City wins the way I think they're going to win, she connects this team in a way that's a little different front to back. And she pops up with big goals because she reads the game so well. But she also gives a ton of cover for Claire Hutton to do the same thing. And so I think it's going to fall to one of that Kansas City trio and whether it's

DiBonardo or Hutton, like, I don't know. I won't be shocked any of the ways. But I do think Lola Bonta has a bit of a like good PR case, which is everyone loves her and everyone wants her to succeed and she's having this like amazing stage of her career late on and I think people are very engaged in that and so I think that's a good way to garner votes. Yeah, I would be into that too. She's had an excellent career and she just keeps getting better.

It's like I don't, I wouldn't guess when I think she would retire, right? Like she has been better every year over the last four years than she was the year before and that's a pretty good spot to be in as you go into your veteran error let's just call it Taylor Swift style. That takes us I believe to our final award which is coach of the year. Do you want to go first? No I was just gonna say I didn't write one down yet so Do you want to go first? No, I was just gonna say I didn't write one down yet. So I forgot we were doing coach. So you go first and let me let me think.

Okay, I'll give you a little time to think about it. To me, it fell between two people. It was between Sean Nehas and Vlachko Ananofsky. If the season goes the way I'm predicting, and my guess is that Vlachko would win it. If they win the shield, I think he'll win it. I think my feeling is that Yonatan Heralde is not going to feel like a new name. And so I think it's hard to win awards like this if it's not a new thing. Like it's almost like you meet your mind immediately goes to like someone that surprised you or someone who's done something different. And I think it's hard to do that with a team that went to a final last year and

was in second place to kind of go from there. And I think Seb Himes probably the same thing of like unless they dominate and rattle off records and finish first and have 12 straight you know undefeated games and all that type of stuff I think it's hard for him to win it and so unless the team takes takes a serious jump, I don't see anyone else standing out. And so I went flat go. Looking at my standings, I think that that's where I would go to is Vlachko and Anovsky because I agree. I think Kansas City is going to win the shield.

I think they're going to be a really difficult team to stop this year. It's going to be hard to stop Kansas City. And they had a very good first year with Vlachko Andonovsky at the at the reins. And so but but Seb Hines year was just that much better. And and so he was in the running doesn't win the first year. Can you make this team a little bit better? I think he's going to and they're going to win the shield. And so I think it's going to be probably by then a no-brainer that Vlachuanonovsky is the coach of the year.

Yeah. He changed the team as he had to last year. It was a huge part of the season for Kansas City. And so they went in an award this year. I don't think, or they won a trophy this year. I don't think they're going to be fully healthy. And so you're going to see again his ability to impact the roster through the season, but also change, getting players confident, all the types of things that I think you see the effect of a coach on. But I would not be shocked pretty much if it's any of

what I end up having as the top eight right now. So let's get into our standings. How do you want to do this? I feel like we just need to go our own. Let's do it. Yeah, I think we just have to go one through 14, right? Let's rip it. You want to go first? Okay. I can go first. I have Kansas City winning the shield number one.

Yep. Congratulations. Thank you. Thank you very much. Thank you. I have Orlando in second. Third, the Washington Spirit. I have North Carolina in fourth. This is where it might

get a little different. Okay, so far we are exactly the same. So I don't need to read it as well. Okay. We are exactly the same one through four. Okay. Let's talk about this for a second then. So we both think Kansas City takes a jump this year. Do you think that Orlando, Washington are taking a step back? Like how do you view it? No, I think it's going to be, um, I don't think either team is taking a step back. I am a little, after the first game, watching the Spirit play, a little concerned about their depth. And that you want me to rattle off the injury list? Yeah the injury list was what three lines?

Three full lines long. I only pulled out the names that I thought had to be in here for our preview which was Kroy Bethune, Ule Saar, Rose Kuasi, Paige Metair, Kaisha Syla, Heather Stainbrook, and that of course does not include Andy Sullivan who's out for the year. Right. So, I think it depends on that and some of the players that they can get back healthy. I think the spirit still and that's, this is still a deep team, right? But they were second in the league last year and they were all of our quote unquote underdogs to actually win the whole thing. And so, can the spirit team be the same or can they take that next step?

I think they will take a different step, but it will be dependent on who is available for them. I think Orlando is going to have a really good year again, but Orlando, I don't foresee them having a non-l losing streak for 20 games. Yeah. Which just adds a little bit more parity to this. So I think that they'll still all three of those teams will be consistent. I think North Carolina will be very consistent.

But North Carolina will make the jump because they are going to be more potent in the attack. They are. So I agree with everything you said. I think for Orlando, it's just like pure odds of like they won so many one goal games or they stole a tie last year in which normally just doesn't go your way that like all in one season. So it's a perfect year. And I think talent wise and setup wise and all of that, they're there.

And so I would just be surprised if it all happens again this year. But I don't think they've taken a step back in any way. Like it feels like they've supplemented the roster, they add Oane, which is going to be a difference maker. Haffael coming back, like there is no clear hole where then for a couple other teams, there's some holes that I questioned. North Carolina, I am so excited about North Carolina.

I'm so excited with Jaden Shawkin B. I do worry a little bit, as I said, about that replacement for Narumi in central midfield and just being hard to play against even if you are more potent. And I think that is something we saw in the road games, which was like they didn't, they weren't able to create offensive chances

because they wanted to keep their numbers compact, even though they were in possession because they didn't want to give up chances. And I don't know that that becomes easier this year if you're not as strong in midfield, but yet they're going to have the danger to create goals. And so I think they will open up a little more in those moments. And I think if they do that, they will start to ship some goals. And then I question where the results fall. That's my only big question mark there.

Otherwise, I think Jayden Shaw is this perfect fit on top of what they were last year. They didn't have Caroline last year. This is not a replacement one for one. This is a replacement from two years ago when they had the MVP, which Jayden Shaw then becomes just a huge bonus on what was the fifth place team last year Which I think is gonna be massive so that takes us through our top four seeds where we both have the same home So now we are into five You can continue

I have the Utah Royals Yeah, going west to Utah. I think this team showed last year, nobody wanted to play them through the stretch. And they just signed Bianca St. George. They're getting stronger. Tanaka and Centenor have a really good connection up front. Their midfield with that Spanish influence with Zornoza and Tejada. Love it.

They add Alex Lowe. They add two fullbacks who one is a Spanish international, one's a Colombian international. Love to get forward. Love to have the ball. I think Utah, great goalkeeping, solid center back pairing. Watch out. Utah is climbing the table people. Okay.

Um, so that's five. What do you have after that? I probably shouldn't do that for every team huh? That's not that. No you can. Uh, then I have Gotham. Okay. I think Gotham will be there.

And then I have Houston. Wow. From 14 to seven. Hey. That's a huge jump. Gotham went from last to winning. Yeah. But they won out of like yeah that's actually true they were like seventh place. I think Houston Houston's gonna make the playoffs because that's one two three four five six seven. Yeah seventh. Yeah. Right. And then who do you have have? This is where it got really muddled for me and I was struggling. I put Seattle as eight because I was, I didn't know. I like Bay better as a team, but they don't have a goalkeeper. How am I right now?

How am I going to put Bay in a playoff position where they don't have a goalkeeper with experience and end of his cell? Yeah. I think that's fair. Although they have a lot more returning structure than Seattle does, right? Seattle, well, I love a lot of the pickups they made. I don't know how the connections work on the field yet, and it might take them a little time to get there.

Yeah, maybe I just trust Laura Harvey to figure it out. Just for- To be fair, I have Seattle eighth too. Yeah, oh, you do? So I don't question it. Yeah, my differences were I have Gotham five, I have Bay 6, I have Utah 7, and I have Seattle 8. So I have Houston outside of the playoffs in 9th, so taking a jump, but I don't know how big that jump can be over the course of the season.

I think I'm still really high on Gotham. I had a conversation with someone about Juan Carlos Amoros. And I actually think if you even look at last year, his ability to elevate an Ellis Stevens maybe better than he can elevate a Crystal Tun might be his skillset. And now you look at a team that's bringing in five rookies and like needs players to fill holes, but that's for depth.

When you look at their starting 11, you're still talking about a spine of national team players. I love the idea of what Jalen Howell can be in this team. And I think for her to settle, to be somewhere she wants to be and be somewhere where she can start to restart things, which Seattle couldn't be, I think, on the fly in the middle of the season and then you talk about still all of the high-level quality of like a Rose LaValle and all of that I think this team is gonna be really good so I still have them at five. Bay as I said coming off the back of last year I understand the goalkeeping holes high on Utah as well and then Seattle having at eighth I think they're gonna be really fun I'm excited that it is Seattle against

Gotham this weekend because those are two teams where you're like, these are huge question marks I want to see how it all works and we get to see that out the gate. Then I have Houston at 9 Followed by San Diego Angel City Louisville Portland and then Chicago to close out outside the playoffs. What do you have from 9 on? Okay, I have Bay Ninth I have San Diego tenth Angel City 11th then Louisville Chicago

Yeah, Portland as the last team. Okay, so we're pretty similar Yeah, we are what we are similar A few just like shuffled places. I do think this is going to be a more competitive year in NWSL. I don't think the gap is going to be as big, but I'm worried about those teams at the bottom. I think a week ago when we got ready to do the preview show, it was like no question it's going to be a tighter league. And then of course over the last seven days of you have Portland basically losing. I mean, you could argue they've lost from retirements and now injuries and players being

out and Sophia Wilson being out for the year on maternity leave, all of that. They've lost basically starting 11 outside of the goalkeeper position. It is such a massive loss to try and cover. I haven't been able to watch, but I've been following a lot of Portland's preseason. I think from what I'm hearing people feel pretty good about the way they've looked. Like they've looked fairly cohesive. You've got obviously a lot of players now that you're going to lean on where can Jesse Fleming elevate her game? Can Olivia Moultrie? Can this be her year? Can Spanstra sort of be a threat and be consistent? And I think Sam Coffey as great as she was last year,

there was so much focus on national team. Now she comes back for the full year. She's going to be the leader of everything that happens. So, again, I don't think the floor is going to fall out on these teams, but it's just hard to imagine them competing. The one that I had a lot of trouble with actually was Louisville, because for as much as I'm frustrated with the lack of moves this offseason, I really like the way they finished last year and I love that midfield and

Balser now for a full year and back. He like there's a lot of talent in that group There's not a ton of depth and I think I worry over a long season if anyone gets hurt. There's not a ton to fill in Yeah Interesting well that takes us into our games a ton to fill in. Mm hmm. Mm hmm. Yeah. It'll be interesting. Well that takes us into our games. What's going to be my biggest regret do you think? Do we have an idea on that yet? On all of this?

Your biggest regret. I'm sure one of the teams will tell us what our biggest regret is. Yeah that's fair. They'll you know laminate our standings and. Love a lamination love being proven wrong. And I hope I am wrong about every single team. And that all the fans can tell us. Let's start on Friday night. This weekend we get NWSL started two games at 8pm. On

Friday night Orlando against Chicago and Houston against Washington. On the Orlando Chicago front Joe chats reporting on blue sky that Mallory Swanson is still away from the team and will not be with the squad on Friday per a team spokesperson so any hopes and I think they were very slim because she did not play in preseason that she would be available for this game those are gone so you're looking at a team now starting the year where they finished last year they lost 4 to 1 in the postseason. It was an avalanche against them against an Orlando team that has now played one competitive match and Chicago has

to go on the road to contend against them. What are you watching for in this one? And I guess we haven't really talked about it. What did you make of Orlando's performance last week? I thought there were some really interesting things about Orlando. It showed a couple of different ways that they can build out of the back, play in different formations in their build with different personnel along that back line, which we expected with some of these players that they brought in but also have gotten healthy. And they showed that they can attack, right?

And sometimes it takes a couple of games to find that last piece in the attack. For Orlando, I'm looking about their cohesion in the attacking third and can they figure out a way to not allow Chicago to get set in a low block? Like maybe pull them out a little bit, see if they can defend higher up on the field and try to utilize the space in behind which they can really punish a team with. And then for Chicago, the main thing I'm looking at is how cohesive is this unit defensively? Because they have not made a lot of moves. You just mentioned

Mallory Swanson not with the team. Their outlets are few and far between. Remember, Ludmila still can't play in this game because of that red card. Yeah, no, I didn't remember that. Yeah. Thank you. Yeah, so they're not going to have the outlets that they typically have. So if that's the case, and you're going to you're going to build your team on being defensively tight as a unit. Let's see if they can be defensively tight because this is this is not the team you maybe want to test that with. But if you can frustrate Orlando, you're just trying to get

something on the transition here. S- Shout out to John Rawlins in the chat which I did not have open and now I do who says it is Kylie Nadanner. Emphasis on Dan in the middle. K- I knew it was like banana. I heard them say something about like it's like banana. Nadanner.

S- There you go. And huge shout out to Zippy Tuna who gave us a nice contribution in a super chat saying got my rain season ticket for the supporter section. Can't wait for this weekend playoffs would be great after last year. And I think for both of us, to me it's going to be a fun year for Seattle. It's going to be bounce back. It's going to be a competitive team. Maybe it's not in the echelon of where they were before the ownership switch just because

I think you're still a transfer window behind. but I still think it's going to be really fun and we will get to that Seattle Gotham game, which might be the must watch of the weekend. Although this Washington Houston game is up there as well. Washington winning the NWSL challenge cup. Clearly you don't want to face them in penalty kicks. Like that's just a given. So don't let your team get to the penalties. For the playoffs, we have to remember that they win if they tie. So in every preview we do for a Washington playoff game,

it's like, well, this team has a disadvantage because if it goes to penalties, you've already lost the game because they are clearly so dominant in that position. And they are facing off against Houston. Again, one of those, I think it's gonna be really fun. I also think when you look at the development that Washington, I think we saw a lot of it in the Orlando game. I mentioned it on the recap show on Monday of I think Washington invited Orlando's pressure higher and tried to play

through it on the ground composed in ways that we didn't see a lot last year. And I think that's that Jonathan Heralde as what's the next step to try and become your Barcelona of NWSL or whatever it can be. And then we look at a Houston team that we think is going to be North Carolina Courage DNA. And so I think this is a lot of figuring it out stuff for us. But I think it's going to be a really fun soccer game where both teams are willing to open up and let the game play. I am really excited to see what Fabrice Gattraw has done with this team. I don't know how he's going to coach. We speculate, but have no idea really

how this team is going to play. I'm excited to see how they're going to play. But if anybody watches MLS, we saw the first weekend of MLS was a lot of trying to play out of the back and teams gifting other teams goals. Well, what is Washington Spirit like the most? A quick transition, good defensive posture, win the ball high up on the field and score goals. So I think Houston needs to be aware of that and pick and choose the right times to play through. But this should be a fun match. This should be a really fun match. I am still super excited for the Yasmine Ryan like superstar error that we're about to get of it's the big trade. A lot of it's gonna be built on her shoulders and I think obviously her

previous connection with Delaney Sheehan is going to be a large part of what they lean on early and I think that's a huge part of them being harder to play against and being cleaner in central midfield and all the other things that they're gonna try and do on top of being more dangerous in the attacking third. And so I'm really excited to see that play out against a really good midfield in Washington. I think you saw it again in the last game. I had Lacey Santos in my midfielder of the year conversation because I think if Croi

Bethune come when she comes back, I'm going to say, I think Lacey Santos is still the 10 in this team. And I just I love the way she connects with players around her and the quick passing and her ability to get out of tight spaces. And if they do build out of the back, when they pull teams wide, it's going to be Lacey Santos having dropping in a ton instead of Nerumi and Hal Hirschfeld because those two are going to be marked to pick up the ball and whether it's on the half turn and get going the other way or just helping you relieve that pressure, I think she's going to have a huge year.

Yeah, add her to that list that we have earlier. Of our 400 players. And the Washington, obviously I read off the injury list. So those are all players I would assume are unavailable once again Rose Koasi I think one of the big ones of the ones you thought would be available and was a huge part of their playoff run At the end of last year. So those are the two Friday night games. Then we move to Saturday. It's an early start I believe it's on ABC and it is a 1245 game between Kansas City and Portland

And it is a 12-45 game between Kansas City and Portland. Portland and Kansas City both made signings today, which was a little surprising to me this close to the start of the season for Portland. They signed Kaia Hanks, a junior from Wake Forest, who was a Mac finalist last year as she helped lead them to a college cup. 11 goals and 12 assists for Wake Forest, now coming into Portland. And we both said it in the pre-show of, if you're a rookie attacker, Portland's a smart place to sign

because you're gonna play. We could see Kai Hanks starting this game against who we think are gonna win the shield in Kansas City in a really fun environment. But it's a good signing for them. They need forwards. I think Pietro Tordin as well, another who we saw dominate with the U-20s, another forward attacking option as a rookie that I think is going to play a ton for this team. It seems like Daniel Castellanos is the center forward coming out of preseason with Sophia Wilson, of

course, not available for the year. So it is going to be a lot of question marks in those areas. And so Portland's gonna have to figure it out on the fly. And it's a brutal way to start at Kansas City and like a day game at Kansas City, which somehow feel higher energy than night games. It's like the only building maybe I've ever seen in the world where you're like, oh, day game, it's gonna be bad instead of lights down night games. It's like the only building maybe I've ever seen in the world where you're like, oh, day game, it's going to be bad instead of lights down night game.

And it just, it just roars and it just has this energy. Yeah. That game was five to four last year in this opening game, but Sophia Wilson was the star for Portland and, and Janine Becky, Janine Sonis now scored the other goal. It just, I don't think we're gonna see that in this one. I think this is gonna be, we'll see what Portland has worked on in the off season, but I think Kansas City at home, tempo, tempo, tempo, they're gonna try to run at this Portland team.

Yeah, it is gonna be the perfect start to that Saturday. It's gonna be an electric soccer game. We then move to 5 p.m. We have Louisville against North Carolina and these are two of the teams that are bringing back, you could argue the most pieces from last year, very little change, but obviously that's North Carolina team for the first time with Jaden Shaw.

If you had to guess right now, what position do you think Jaden Shaw starts in on Saturday? The nine. Okay. I'm hoping to see her on the right wing because I still want to see Hannah Bedford start for this team. I do like the idea of not putting so much requirement on Jaden Shaw, of having to occupy center backs and being out late and Go and find the game and swap with Ashley Sanchez and all of that But a lot of that might come later like that might be connection stuff of this is maybe one of the drawbacks if she believes Which is like Jayden Shaw was not with the team for a large part of

Off of the preseason and she has never played with this group So it might be more straightforward to start at the center forward position and have your role more clearly identified. Or she starts as a winger and Menaka starts as a nine right and then you have those three I mean I can't my brain just kind of gets broken a little when I think of Menaka Sanchez and Shaw just like dancing around in the middle of the field. Absolutely. And then you go on the other side to this Louisville team and they've lost, you know, obviously the main pieces at center back, but they return a ton from this group. And I would be surprised if Bethany Balser doesn't score 12 or 14 goals this year.

Like, she's going to be chances. Yeah, she should. And Louisville is really reliant on their channel play and how they can create in the channel and get crosses into a nine. And that is exactly what Bethany Bolster thrives on. My question is, is we didn't see the best Savannah D'Amelio last year.

And when Savannah D'Amelio can occupy spaces, and if Ari Borges is healthy and Taylor Flint is behind those two in the midfield, this is gonna be a good Louisville team but it has to be consistent and I think you're at, if you're DiMello, you're at that stage in your career where it has to be every game you are one of the best players on the field. The weird part for me for Savannah DeMello last year was I thought she looked better when she started on the wing. I thought it gave her the options to find the game where she wanted to rather than the

responsibility to carry the game. But I think the idea is she's an Elite 10 in this league and maybe in the world and that's Louisville ceiling. And so I think the balance of that is if Ari Borges is healthy and fit and available, do you start De Grande and do you push Demillo out wide, but then you need someone else to give you width out wide. And it's also going to be tough because Emma Sears obviously had a huge year and is their rising star. And so you have options on the wing.

You want Demillo to start in the middle? But the game maybe is a little easy for her if she doesn't so it's going to be a huge part of what we watch With this evil team. It's gonna be really really fun And I think Louisville they're going to be one of the big question marks this season of like where's the range and where do they fall? That takes us into your favorite game of the weekend 730 p.m. Eastern time on Saturday, Utah against Bay. Last year was the expansion bowl. I don't think we're going to be reliant on a Kate Del Fava set piece goal this time. I think there's a little more danger in these two teams.

Mm hmm. It should be really interesting because I think heading into the end of the year, Rachel Kunananji proved that she's not just Bay's best player, she wants to be the best player in NWSL. And I'm very curious to what she in particular worked on in the offseason, what her focus was and if she increased technically in tight areas and her ability to cross, like find that final pass, Bay is going to be dangerous to play against. And then I think this Utah team is shaping up as one of the most solid 11s in the league. And I want to see how they implement that.

We had the chance to talk to Kate Del Fava last year and she just said that with Jimmy Coonratz that the game plans that he gives them, they've already seen scenarios before they even hit the field. They know what to expect. They are so prepared. And I'm eager to see what that looks like with a couple of new key pieces in this team. And the good thing is like I think both of these teams are going to really be cont in this team. And the good thing is, like, I think both of these teams are gonna really be contenders this year.

Yeah, I completely agree with you. You mentioned it in the standings conversation. Zorinosa and Tahara are like must watch in midfield. And then when you have the ability to then have players drop off the front line and connect with them, but their passing is second to none, Their comfort under pressure, their technical ability, like it's just the game becomes much easier for everyone when you have a known quantity and an outlet like them and a safety valve and they are so fun to watch and they are awesome. And

then the night is going to end with that Seattle Gotham game. The Lin being doleable is what I wrote down. Uh, obviously Lin, former really Williams now being dole traded from Gotham to Seattle with Jalen Howell going the other way. Uh, and it was a huge part of Seattle's off season of trying to elevate the attack and get it back to the levels that it was at. And obviously Megan Rapinoe's retirement and many other things. And then because of the ownership switch They didn't make any moves really in the last offseason and then since last summer

They have been playing catch-up and trying to get there They made a million moves if you want to see stuff like this, by the way You should subscribe to our patreon and get you access to our discord as well as our depth charts which I have 99% updated and gotten right and I have I have 99% updated and gotten right. And I have yellow tabs for all the big signings. We have notes for everyone who's been signed, re-signed and every player that's left, all the moves they've made,

how long they've signed their contracts, all this type of stuff. So being Dolow added to the attack with Hudama, Hajdama as well as Serna Gorvich, that's gonna be huge. Matty Dalian from UNC, I think is many people's early favorite, four Rookie of the Year, was arguably the best attacker in college, comes into this team, can add some aggression on the counter attack, in transition some speed to the attack as well. And then Madison Curry, I think is going to be the one.

I think we're going to see a lot of Lindby and Dolo starting out wide, playing as a second forward and then Curry gives that width. And I think that's a really good setup for Jordan Heidema, who went underrated of just how isolated she was last year and has struggled to fit in in NWSL. And I think having someone around you in being Dolo who can also make near post runs and be a finisher and challenge centerbacks, let's Heidema hunt for goals a little more in the box. Well earlier you said this is maybe the must watch game of the weekend. Is that because

I this is my game? 100% I just take your schedule and I print it out, I laminate it and I post it to the wall. I'm really excited that this is the first game of the year that Maura and I get to call an eye on. It has some really interesting matchups. When you talk about Seattle, the things I hear are speed, speed and speed. They added a lot of speed and they needed to add speed. It was a slow team last year and they were punished because of that.

Laura Harvey is a great coach in this league and I'm interested to see what Madison Curry can do in this Within this group how their back line will look Does Jordan bug play a big role in this? And I'm really I'm really excited to see what this season means for her but then Serna Gorsuch has had some games under her belt she has a whole preseason you add by Andolo and Andelian this is gonna be a front line that has some pace to it and some trickery and remember they lost Veronica Latsko in preseason with an ACL so they're gonna need players to finish but they're also gonna need consistent workers like that's what Latsko gave them is like you knew what to expect from her every single game.

It should be a good one. Stay up with us. 10 p.m. Saturday night. I will be there with you. I am excited for it. It closes out our Saturday and then to close out the weekend. As I said one game on Sunday we have Angel City against San Diego. From a coaching

point of view this is a bizarre matchup. It is Jonas Eidevall's debut in NWSL. Former Arsenal coach hired in a odd circumstance as Jill Ellis left the club but Eidevall got hired and Angel City still does not have a permanent head coach so Sam Lady is the head coach right now on an interim basis under Mark Parsons who was hired as sporting director. It leaves a lot of unknown around this game but of a lot of excitement I think for the San Diego team. It's also a lot of pieces that have never played in NWSL. Like a lot of the additions they have made have come from outside the league. So it's how quickly can they get comfortable in NWSL and then how quickly can they gel as a group?

Mm-hmm. One of those players I'm looking forward to watching is Dali and what she can do, the French international within this group. Because it's a hard league to adapt to, or it can be a hard league to adapt to, can she take on the leadership role that she is used to taking on

and be the key link-up player for this San Diego team. I think there's gonna be a lot of responsibility on her and on her shoulders. And then Angel City has a lot of good pieces. They do. Are we gonna see a healthy Kristen Price? Are we gonna see Sydney LaRue from the start of games or as a super sub again? I like City Leroux as a super sub because she comes in and like wreaks havoc and I think that it's such a good role for her so what is the front line look like? Can the Thompson sisters create like something like the Bash brothers you know like when they're on

when they're on the field watch out. There are some interesting story lines but also a lot on the line between these two teams because Even though they're newer to the league this is a rivalry and you want to win this game early in the season Against the team just down the road from you. It would be the perfect start for both these teams of like Angel City Don't have head coach. There's some unknown Last year was a disappointment. Okay, you beat San Diego week one Now you're rolling San Diego the other side you on other side of all debut can be beating your local Southern California rival. It's a silly question. I know because it's like fullback and who cares, but I don't know that

Gisele Thompson is a starter in this team. I assume she'll start at left back, but they have, they made the trade for Savvy King and then gave her a new contract. So like at left back, but they have, they made the trade for Savvy King and then gave her a new contract. So like at some point there's an assumption that she will start for this team because that's the number two pick from last year. You have M.A. Vinola and then they sign Moriah as a starting right back. So if the idea was you're going to swap Giselle Thompson, I don't know that that happened. So yeah, I just think that's interesting in terms of she showed with the national team she can play at a really that happened. So yeah, I just think that's interesting in terms of She showed with the national team. She can play at a really high level So she has to be a starter and depth is great

They didn't have depth last year so you can understand but the savvy King trade still is a little odd to me and that Sort of goes in at all Otherwise, I'm really excited to see Julie do for play for this Angel City team I'm excited to see Alyssa Thompson play off someone who has the ideas of how to open up the game for her and not have to create everything for herself. And that's the possibility for this Angel City team. And that's how we will close out our weekend. And that's how we close out our episode as well.

Everything previewed for you. We have the show from last week. We had every single team with Jill Lloyden and Lori Lindsay, six and a half minutes, seven minutes on the ones that I let you run over and couldn't get under control, but we still hit the whole show on time. You are over your time. Exactly. Those have been haunting me in the back of my head over the last week. And now we get to it. We get to watch the games play out as our first year here at Soccer Wise covering from start to end of the season because last year we started in the middle. And so I'm really excited for us to follow all of this and all the big events that are going to be

happening over the course of the year and be here with you for your coverage. So don't forget to subscribe to our Patreon if you get an opportunity. It gets you access to the Discord where we'll be chatting about the games as we always are, as we were during the Challenge Cup last week as we will be every weekend, as well as our depth charts which I am religiously trying to update as everyone decides to change everything at the last second. And then 37 players will be injured this weekend as well. Enjoy the final weekend or enjoy the first weekend. Week one baby! weekend as well. Enjoy the final weekend or enjoy the first weekend. Week 1 baby! Woohoo! And thank you all for listening.