Call it irony. Call it predictable. Call it justice. Either way, the higher seed won every single game in the quarterfinal and semifinal rounds of the 2024 NWSL playoffs.
The NWSL's defining characteristic has long been its parity from top to bottom, but this year, 16 points separated fourth from fifth place; 40 points was the gulf between top and bottom in the table. The four best teams -- Shield winners Orlando Pride, the Washington Spirit, NJ/NY Gotham FC, and the Kansas City Current -- were in a league of their own.
So, the expansion of the playoffs to eight teams (in a 14-team league) meant several below-.500 teams made the postseason. All of them, along with Gotham FC and Kansas City, are now watching the rest of the playoffs from home.
Did they have successful seasons? Where does each team go from here heading into 2025? We're putting a bow on all the NWSL's eliminated teams and will update this as the playoffs roll on.
Kansas City Current (16W-3L-7D, fourth in regular season)
Playoffs: Eliminated by No. 1 Orlando Pride, 3-2 in semifinals
Kansas City scored more goals (57) in a season than any team in history. Golden Boot winner Temwa Chawinga accounted for 20 of those, which is also a league record.
And somehow, this Current team didn't even fully fire on all cylinders because forward Bia Zaneratto, who looked like she might be the early favorite to win MVP, didn't even play 900 minutes this season due to a recurring foot injury that ended her Olympic hopes and her season.
Add a healthy Bia next year for a full season with Chawinga, Debinha, and Michelle Cooper -- whose stock rose dramatically in this sophomore professional campaign -- and this team might break its own single-season scoring record again.
The midfield trio of Lo'eau LaBonta, Vanessa DiBernardo and 18-year-old Claire Hutton might be the best in the NWSL. Each has a legitimate claim to being considered on the all-league squad. There is a foundation here, including with head coach Vlatko Andonovski, that suggests this is a team ready to compete for years to come.
"I think that two years ago, we got to the final on pure momentum," LaBonta said of Kansas City's loss to Portland in the 2022 NWSL Championship. "I think we had some luck, and then obviously, the next year we weren't as great. So, I think this year, this one hurts even more because we had all the tools, right? We just didn't fully execute in this game. But it gives us so much hope and fire for next year, because we have those tools.
"We know everybody who walks into that building wants to win and is going to give their all. So, when you see it from the people on the sideline, the people on the field, people in the front office, it gives you hope and gives you some support to help you win next year."
So, how can they improve?
The easy answer is in defense, but they already knew that and did something about it over the summer. Despite being unbeaten past the halfway mark of the season, the Current used the most recent transfer window to completely revamp the spine of their defense.
Kansas City signed veteran German goalkeeper Almuth Schult to replace former U.S. international Adrianna Franch, then made separate trades for center-backs Alana Cook and Kayla Sharples. Andonovski used the late summer to make them familiar with each other and the rest of the squad, and a team that had been bleeding goals early in the season (especially on set pieces) conceded only three times in its final eight games of the regular season.
They have ample (and young) depth at full-back, too all with the kind of attacking profiles Andonovski likes.
Yes, there were defensive breakdowns in the 3-2 semifinal loss to Orlando. Yes, there were mistakes at an individual level (Sharples' turnover on the third goal) and as a group (conceding too much time and space to the Pride), but please, find me a team that is stopping either that emphatic Banda goal or that magical Marta tally. I'll wait.
Kansas City will likely spend the offseason looking for another big defensive signing to further shore up the back line. Andonovski said recently that newly appointed general manager Caitlin Carducci "rebalanced the cap" with outgoing summer transfers (when she had the interim tag), which means they have money to spend this offseason. That sounds like a threat to the rest of the league.
NJ/NY Gotham FC (17W-4L-5D, third in regular season)
Playoffs: Eliminated by No. 2 Washington Spirit, 3-0 in penalty shootout (1-1 AET) in semifinals
Looking for flaws in a team that did almost everything right even under extreme travel and load circumstances this year -- and after losing a semifinal in a penalty shootout -- feels like an exercise in carping.
Yes, this was last season's champion, and the team widely dubbed (from the outside) as a "super team" after adding four U.S. internationals in free agency, and there's an argument that the goal was championship or bust. That would be too narrow a view considering the quality of the top four in the NWSL this season, and the argument that the "super team" title might better apply to any of the other top three teams.
If there was a single issue to point out about Gotham from the brief sample size of the 2024 postseason, it was the team's defending on set pieces. They allowed the Portland Thorns to equalize on a defensive set piece moments after going ahead in their quarterfinal meeting -- and in a game Gotham largely controlled from the run of play.
Aubrey Kingsbury saves all three shots during penalty kicks to send the Washington Spirit to the NWSL final.
Then Gotham conceded an equalizer in second-half stoppage time to the Spirit in the semifinal, when they were on the verge of returning to the NWSL Championship.
Still, the foundation of the team's future is there at least in the short-term.
"I'm really proud of players that have been here for years and helped the players that are new coming in," Gotham defender Tierna Davidson, who signed with the team last offseason, said after the semifinal loss. "I'm proud of the players are new coming in and adapting to different styles of play or different roles that are asked of them. So, I'm really happy with this team. I'm really happy with what everyone has done. And that's kind of a good way to end the season, in the sense of, like, I feel good about what this team is putting out onto the field.
"Obviously, we wanted to win today, and we wanted to be able to win next weekend, and we fell short of that. But I'm really proud of this team."
Gotham utilized its depth better than any team in the league this year while playing more games than any other team due to making runs in two other competitions.
The big, noticeable difference between Gotham and the other three semifinalists? Gotham scored 41 goals in the regular season and only really got hot offensively in the final months. Contrast that with Kansas City's league-record 57 tallies, 51 for Washington and 46 for Orlando. Gotham could stand to be more clinical in front of goal.
Chicago Red Stars (10W-14L-2D, eighth in regular season)
Playoffs: Eliminated by No. 1 seed Orlando Pride, 4-1 in quarterfinals
It isn't surprising that the lowest-ranked seed in the playoffs put in the worst performance of the quarterfinals. It really isn't surprising considering the opponent was the top-ranked Orlando Pride team that nearly finished the season unbeaten. But if there were ever a way to underscore the danger of overexpanding the playoffs, it was right there for everyone to see in the curtain raiser to the postseason.
Chicago got throttled by Orlando and looked doomed from the opening minutes. The Pride opened up a 4-0 lead before a self-induced error by Orlando goalkeeper Anna Moorhouse gifted Chicago a consolation goal. The Red Stars would have needed to play a perfect game to even have a shot at what would have been the biggest upset in NWSL history, and they didn't come close. Orlando owned the midfield, and Chicago left massive gaps for forward Barbra Banda to run into. Banda scored twice, including a third Orlando goal on effectively the final play of the first half.
"We had some plays in the back that were just way out of character," Chicago head coach Lorne Donaldson said after the loss. "As coach, maybe I should have fixed something back there. It's not the players, I just got it wrong."
Watch the Game Highlights from Orlando Pride vs. Chicago Red Stars, 11/09/2024
Still, this season is one of marked improvement for Chicago. In 2023, the Red Stars finished in last place during an unnecessarily long ownership transition that left the team in limbo for much of the season. Backed by new majority owner Laura Ricketts and Donaldson as coach, the Red Stars jumped out to a bright start in 2024, defining themselves as a gritty defensive team that was happy to concede possession, frustrate teams, and take their chances on counterattacks. It's a formula that can work in the NWSL -- but it has its limits.
A season-ending injury to defender Sam Staab in July left Chicago thin at the back. Cari Roccaro, usually a holding midfielder, filled in admirably at center-back, but the team's lack of depth and experience, combined with an in-progress transformation, meant it was nowhere near competing with the league's best. Chicago failed to secure a single regular-season victory over any team in the top five.
This offseason will be about building depth around star forward Mallory Swanson, who is entering year two of a five-year contract.
"Obviously, we'll look to get some better players -- a few veterans and a few young players," Donaldson said. "You build a team by getting better players. As I told the team, the unfortunate thing about sports [is] not everybody's going to be around. There will be changes in our team, just like any other team."
Bay FC (11W-14L-1D, seventh in regular season)
Playoffs: Eliminated by No. 2 seed Washington Spirit, 2-1 (AET) in quarterfinals
No lower seed entered the playoffs hotter than Bay FC, and the visitors nearly pulled off the upset in Washington, D.C. Forward Asisat Oshoala put Bay FC ahead in the 82nd minute to give the No. 7 seed hope, but Washington defender Tara McKeown called back memories of her forward days with an emphatic equalizer four minutes later in front of a raucous home crowd at Audi Field.
An own goal by Bay FC defender Caprice Dydasco decided the match six minutes into extra time. It was a cruel ending for a team that put in a gritty, defensive performance that was emblematic of the midseason transformation that got them to the playoffs in the first place.
"Who would have thought that six months ago, seven months ago, that we would have been playing the Spirit in the playoffs and we're taking them into overtime?" Bay FC coach Albertin Montoya said after the quarterfinal loss.
Caprice Dydasco accidently scores in her own goal to give the Washington Spirit a lead in extra time to help lead them to the NWSL semifinals.
Few people is the likely answer.
Bay FC was just the second NWSL expansion team to make the playoffs in its first season (San Diego Wave FC, 2022), making this campaign a successful launch. The team spent over $1 million on transfers, including a world-record €735,000 transfer fee (about $788,000 at the time, plus the possibility of $75,000 in add-ons) for forward Racheal Kundananji, and it loaded up their attack. They were poor and organized defensively to start the season, however, and they needed recalibrating.
Kiki Pickett took ownership of a holding midfield role after an early-season injury to Alex Loera, and the August arrival of center back Abby Dahlkemper marked a tangible turning point for this team. The 2019 World Cup winner with the United States scored in her first game for Bay FC, and Bay went 5W-3L-1D after she arrived.
Dahlkemper looks like her old self (a USWNT starter and top center back at her best), and Bay looks to have the spine of its team in shape. Kundananji and Oshoala looked well adapted to the league in the second half of the season, too. The foundation is there -- if they can keep the group together and build on it.
Portland Thorns FC (10W-12L-4D, sixth in regular season)
Playoffs: Eliminated by NJ/NY Gotham FC, 2-1 in quarterfinals
There were more disappointing NWSL teams this season (San Diego went from Shield winners last year to 10th and could have finished last heading into the final weekend), but Portland's erratic season was the most concerning among the playoff teams.
The Thorns made a coaching change only four matches into the season after the identity problems of 2023 carried into the new season. Then they won six straight matches, a run that led them to remove the "interim" tag from head coach Rob Gale. A seven-game winless streak after the Olympic break followed that decision.
Portland is a team stacked with individual talent, including star striker Sophia Smith. But too often this season and last, the Thorns relied on the USWNT star to be their lone outlet and source of relief from pressure when their midfield struggled, and their backline (and rotation of goalkeepers) bent and sometimes broke.
Temwa Chawinga's initial shot gets blocked, but she gathers the rebound and buries a goal for the Current.
Smith could be seen in conversation with her teammates on multiple occasions during the quarterfinal at Red Bull Arena as the Thorns struggled to break Gotham's waves of early pressure. Worryingly, she limped off the field with assistance in stoppage-time after having her right ankle evaluated. The ankle has bothered her since the Olympics, and Gale said postgame that Smith has "barely been able to train."
Overall, another offseason of soul-searching awaits in Portland. Forward Christine Sinclair officially played the final match of her two decade-plus career. She spent all 11 years of the NWSL's existence in Portland, and her retirement leaves a potential leadership gap for the Thorns. Defender Becky Sauerbrunn, another veteran leader, is out of contract.
Defensively, the Thorns need to figure out their preferred unit, including in net. (Bella Bixby, who had been the No. 1, missed the season on maternity leave.) But beyond that, they really need to own an identity beyond counterattacking through Smith. There's too much talent there -- including in midfield -- to not dictate games more often. And expectations remain high for the three-time league champions.
This year was one of transition for the Thorns. That comes with its own challenges, but the expectations will be higher come 2025.
"We're a club that's building and growing under our new ownership, and there's lots to look forward to with the new facilities," Gale said, alluding to the training center new ownership has promised to build. "It's a young, young squad but to a person they never turned on each other. You saw how much effort they put in as a group."
North Carolina Courage (12W-11L-3D, fifth in regular season)
Playoffs: Eliminated by the Kansas City Current, 1-0 in quarterfinals
Arguably no team owned and projected a sense of identity more than the North Carolina Courage this season.
Like last year, the Courage kept possession more than any other team in the league, offering a counterpoint to the notion that the NWSL is only about transition. The problem is that the NWSL still is so often about transition, and North Carolina often dominated on-ball stats, losing matches due to momentary errors. It happened in the regular season, and it happened again to a degree in the quarterfinal loss to Kansas City.
Rose Lavelle scores Gotham FC's winning goal against the Portland Thorns in the 97th minute to advance in the NWSL quarterfinals.
For all the beautiful soccer the Courage played this year, they lacked a go-to scorer and too often tried to walk the ball into the net. Their 34 goals scored this season was the least among the top six teams. After the loss to Kansas, Courage head coach Sean Nahas called the team's struggles to get around goal "the story of our season."
Nahas also rightfully pointed out that his team has dealt with injuries throughout the year, none more difficult than the absence of 2023 league MVP Kerolin, whose 10 goals last season ranked second best in the NWSL. She tore her ACL on the final weekend of the regular season in 2023.
Insert a healthy Kerolin into this Courage team for the entire season, and perhaps North Carolina is contending for a home playoff game. She played in only four regular-season games this year, and though she started in the quarterfinal, she wasn't 100% and couldn't go the full 90.
Nahas called the 16-point gap from fourth to fifth "writer talk, not football talk" ahead of the playoffs. Indeed, the difference between North Carolina and Kansas City on the day was marginal, and the Courage will feel unlucky to have lost.
But a common theme among the top four teams is an MVP-level forward. Another way to look at the difference between the two teams in the quarterfinal is that Kansas City has Temwa Chawinga, who scored the game's lone goal and buried 20 in the regular season to set a new league record.
That's the missing piece from an otherwise strong North Carolina team. The answer could be as simple as getting a healthy Kerolin back, but nothing is ever simple: Kerolin is a free agent, and there was wide speculation last winter that she would move abroad. Her stock has risen exponentially since she arrived in North Carolina nearly three years ago and keeping her in Courage country could be difficult.
"I haven't even thought about it," Nahas said about next year. "I just know that we have to sort of lock up our players now and figure out what's their plan, and we go from there. I'm just tired of getting knocked out in the first round, so we have to figure out ways that we can see beyond it, but these are the moments that you relish and you learn from."