It's Monday, and another week of NWSL action is in the books, which means it's time for ESPN's Power Rankings. Our rankings are derived from a combination of key season statistics (points per game, goal differential, expected goal differential), recent performance, the Opta computer ratings and the observations of our writers. Who's climbing the table? Who's in free fall? Our writers and statistical models have ranked all 14 clubs in the league after Matchday 6. Let's dive in. - Stream on ESPN+: NWSL, FA Cup & more (U.S.)
3. Portland ThornsPrevious ranking: 4 Next match: Wednesday at Bay FC, 10 p.m. ET It's Sophia Smith's world, and we're just living in it. The superstar found the back of the net twice in Chicago as she picked the Red Stars apart all game. More importantly, the Thorns' defense, which was shipping goals early in the season, put up its first clean sheet in the 2-0 win. 4. Orlando PridePrevious ranking: 8 Next match: Wednesday vs. North Carolina Courage, 7 p.m. ET Barbra Banda had the assist on Orlando's first goal, scored the second and drew the penalty for the third in a 3-2 win over the Spirit. Watch out, y'all: Banda is here, and she's a menace. 6. San Diego Wave FCPrevious ranking: 7 Next match: Friday at Seattle Reign FC, 10 p.m. ET The Wave defense was a bit shaky, but that didn't matter because they got to bring Jaedyn Shaw, Elyse Bennett and María Sánchez off the bench. That's an obscene amount of firepower to unleash on a tired Bay FC defense and it worked out, with Bennett setting up Shaw for the winning goal in a 2-1 victory. 7. Racing Louisville FCPrevious ranking: 6 Next match: Sunday at Orlando Pride, 6 p.m. ET When you score a go-ahead goal in the fifth minute of stoppage time, you're supposed to win. Unfortunately, Racing allowed Gotham to hit right back and they had to settle for an astounding fifth draw in six matches. Rookie Reilyn Turner continues to look like the answer up front. 8. Chicago Red StarsPrevious ranking: 8 Next match: Wednesday vs. Washington Spirit, 8 p.m. ET The Red Stars had yet another great goal line clearance in their loss to Portland -- this time by Natalia Kuikka -- but it's probably not a good sign that they need goal line clearances so often. As exciting as Chicago's quick start to the season was, this team still needs a little more juice on the ball. 9. Angel City FCPrevious ranking: 9 Next match: Friday at Utah Royals FC, 9:30 p.m. ET Angel City did a good job sitting back and limiting Kansas City for most of the match, Claire Emslie scored a terrific goal and Rocky Rodríguez appears to be just what the team needed in midfield. Unfortunately, they don't have quite the firepower to match up with a team like the Current and fell 3-1. 10. NJ/NY Gotham FCPrevious ranking: 12 Next match: Saturday vs. North Carolina Courage, 7:30 p.m. ET Gotham looked stuck in mud for stretches against Louisville, but Rose Lavelle kicked them into high gear once she came off the bench with 15 minutes to g. Health continues to be a concern for Lavelle and Gotham, but we got a glimpse of just how dangerous they can be when they have her pulling the strings. Of course, they still conceded in extra time to fall behind, but they answered two minutes later -- in the 97th minute -- through Lavelle for the draw. 11. Bay FCPrevious ranking: 11 Next match: Wednesday vs. Portland Thorns, 10 p.m. ET Bay will rue some of their missed chances as they failed to capitalize on a Wave defense that had some communication issues, especially on balls in the air. A loss in San Diego is hardly reason to worry and, maybe most importantly, the injury that forced Asisat Oshoala off appears to be minor. 12. Seattle Reign FCPrevious ranking: 10 Next match: Friday vs. San Diego Wave FC, 10 p.m. ET The Reign are now bottom of the NWSL table after their loss in North Carolina. They didn't create much going forward again and while the absence of star attacker Jordyn Huitema is part of that, this is hardly a new problem. Seattle really needs to play faster with the ball. 14. Utah RoyalsPrevious ranking: 14 Next match: Friday vs. Angel City FC, 9:30 p.m. ET The addition of former Lyon star Amandine Henry is already looking shrewd as she played a big role in Utah holding the center of the pitch in her debut. The Royals still don't seem to have much of an idea of what to do in the final third, though, so they settled for a scoreless draw with Houston.
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