2022 NWSL Season Previews: Chicago Red Stars, Portland Thorns FC, Washington Spirit
/The 2022 NWSL season is nearly upon us! We’ll be publishing three team previews every weekday until the NWSL regular season opens on Friday, April 29, 2022. Previews will be released in reverse order of how each team finished in the 2022 Challenge Cup’s group stage. You can find all of them here!
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Chicago Red Stars: No ride on the L train for the Red Stars
By Arielle Dror
Going into the 2021 season, the Chicago Red Stars felt like a team composed of question marks, following the departure of a consistent goal scorer and the acquisitions of players that had sometimes struggled to reach their full potential. And while Chicago wasn’t always the most entertaining team to watch, they were good (and extremely lucky – more on that later). The team surprisingly ranked within the top four teams for both xGD and g+ differential, only falling below two teams that had consistent positive narratives throughout the season. They solidly secured a home playoff game and then earned their second Championship berth in a row (third, if you count the 2020 COVID Challenge Cup as the league final), before losing to the Washington Spirit in extra time. That night, longtime coach Rory Dames resigned; the Washington Post released a series of reports that revealed misconduct from Dames over two decades the next day. By December, several players, including veterans like Sarah Gorden and the irreplaceable Julie Ertz, were traded away. Chicago was left with an anemic roster, no coach, and even more questions than they had at the beginning of 2021.
Entering the offseason without a coach, the team was nearly inactive in the acquisition market. Though they signed several of their draft picks, the only experienced player (re)joining the team is former Red Star Yuki Nagasato, who spent one season in Louisville. Australia’s Adelaide United’s Chelsie Dawber – who scored 10 goals in the previous A-League Women season – signed with the team during the Challenge Cup. Whether new players will join in the summer as the European transfer window opens again is unknown, but the Red Stars have not historically been a team to sign big overseas talent (Sam Kerr arrived in Chicago having already played several NWSL seasons, so she doesn’t count). The roster that we see now is most likely pretty close to the final roster we’ll see this season.
Own goal to the rescue
While Chicago previously relied heavily on one player (see: Christen Press, Sam Kerr) to shoulder the majority of their goalscoring, the responsibility was distributed more evenly in 2021. Yet, Chicago’s forwards weren’t necessarily prolific finishers, and the team really made it as far as they did thanks to tremendous luck. By the postseason, the Red Stars’ leading goalscorer was neither MVP nominee Mal Pugh, nor was it any of the cadre forwards on their roster. Instead, it was the amorphous Own Goal who helped them earn four of their 11 wins (six goals!) in the regular season. Of their goalscoring contingent with corporeal forms, very few of last season’s goalscorers remain available for the Red Stars this season. Leading goalscorer Kaelia Watt tore her ACL minutes into the Championship match and will likely miss a large portion of the season. Two other players were traded away, and two more will miss most of the season on maternity leave.
Prior to the offseason upheaval, it seemed as though Chicago’s attack would see a potential major upgrade with the arrival of draft pick Kelsey Turnbow from Santa Clara. Chicago fans were hopeful that the team would benefit from both her goalscoring and playmaking talents, but she was traded away to San Diego before setting foot in market. Another highly touted draft pick from the Bay Area, Stanford’s Madison Hayley, never reported to training camp.
In the Challenge Cup, there are signs of promise. The good news is that Mal Pugh has been in her best form in years, scoring four goals in the Challenge Cup. Forward Ella Stevens and wingback Bianca St.-Georges have each stood out as creators throughout the Challenge Cup. The bad news is that Chicago has only scored eight goals, making Mal Pugh the primary offensive threat so far this season. Rookie Ava Cook has also looked promising, earning 1.84 xG in 292 minutes, but has yet to find the back of the net. Forward Sarah Luebbert is set to return to the team sometime this summer after a year on loan with Liga MX Femenil Champions Club América where she’s scored nine goals so far. The Red Stars’ offensive responsibilities seem to fall primarily on standout Mal Pugh, and if this continues, the team might be in trouble. Pugh has historically been prone to injury and will also likely be away from the team for portions of the season as the USWNT attempts to qualify for the 2023 World Cup this summer. If players like Cook and Stevens step up and Luebbert successfully reintegrates back into the team, then the Red Stars will have a competitive, if not formidable, offense. If not, the team might see shades of last year, where they ended up reliant on lucky Own Goal to propel them towards the playoffs.
Elsewhere on the pitch
Following the loss of their 2021 Iron Woman and Defender of the Year nominee Sarah Gorden, Chicago clearly planned to rely on USWNT defender Tierna Davidson to lead their backline. However, that is not to be this season as Davidson tore her ACL early in the Challenge Cup and will be out for the season. With veteran fullback Casey Krueger also on maternity leave for most of the season, the backline will primarily be made up of younger players. In the Challenge Cup, the Red Stars have opted to play three-back formations primarily with Kayla Sharples, last season’s right back, Tatumn Milazzo, and Zoe Morse. Although they played different positions last year, their strengths were similar according to g+. Both were adept at receiving the ball in dangerous areas and creating chances, but less so at distributing the ball or breaking up opposition play. Morse, on the other hand, has played fewer than 500 minutes in her previous two seasons with the Red Stars. However, her biggest strength according to g+ in that limited time has been her passing skills, so there’s potential for her to balance out what Milazzo and Sharples might lack.
The midfield is perhaps the one line that will remain with some degree of consistency for the team. The Red Stars have relied on the same core pool of midfielders for several years now: Vanessa DiBernardo, Danielle Colaprico, and 2021 MVP Nominee Morgan Gautrat. While the midfield also had one or two players earn significant midfield minutes over a season (Julie Ertz, Nikki Stanton, Sarah Woldmoe), the trio were the only Chicago midfielders to earn substantial minutes over the past several seasons. With so much rotation on the other lines, their dominant presence in the middle of the pitch will likely be paramount at keeping the team together.
While the Red Stars entered the Challenge Cup looking like a team that was missing the pieces to be consistently competitive, they’ve started off the season on a good note with a 2-2-2 record in the Challenge Cup. As the new players in the lineup continue to adjust and players return from injury/maternity leave/loan/etc., there’s a chance that Chicago could be quite good. Whether they make it far into the playoffs again is anyone’s guess, but if one thing is true about the Red Stars, it’s that their consistency at making a postseason run consistently surprises us all.
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Portland Thorns FC: Portland is eh-okay for 2022
By Arianna Cascone and Lydia Jackson
The Portland Thorns had an impressive 2021, as they won the Challenge Cup, Women’s International Champions Cup, and the NWSL Shield last season. Portland lost in the semifinals of the 2021 NWSL Playoffs to the Chicago Red Stars, dissipating their chances at securing the season’s final trophy. The Thorns are in a good position to return to the NWSL Playoffs in 2022, though coaching changes and off-season roster moves suggest the path might not be as smooth as it was in 2021.
Mark Parsons’s departure
At the start of the 2021 campaign, the Thorns reported that their head coach Mark Parsons accepted the head coaching position for the Netherlands Women’s National Team, and that the 2021 season would be his last in the Rose City. Parsons coached the Thorns from 2016 through 2021 and amassed a 73-32-35 overall record, accumulating more regular season wins and points than any other NWSL club during that stretch. In addition to 2021’s accolades and successes, Parsons’s Thorns resume also includes an NWSL Championship (2017), an NWSL shield (2016), four playoff appearances, and two trips to the NWSL Championship game (2017, 2018).
The new head coach of the Thorns, former Canadian Women’s National Team player Rhian Wilkinson, joins the club following an assistant coaching stint with the England Women’s National Team. This will be Wilkinson’s first head-coaching gig at a professional club, having previously served as the head coach of Canada’s U-20 and U-17 Women’s National Teams and the Girls Elite REX program in Canada. While we might expect to see some growing pains as the Thorns transition from the Parsons era, Wilkinson is taking over a club with a storied history of NWSL success that’s returning most of their roster from 2021 and is therefore in a good position to make another playoff run in 2022.
Off-season movement and returners
Portland is returning players that accounted for ~68% of their 2021 minutes, including their starting goalkeeper in Bella Bixby and most of their defensive core in Becky Sauerbrunn, Emily Menges, Meghan Klingenberg, Kelli Hubly, Natalia Kuikka, Madison Pogarch, and Meaghan Nally. Portland’s defense will be without Christen Westphal, as they traded her to San Diego Wave FC (with Amirah Ali) in exchange for protection in the 2022 NWSL Expansion Draft. It’s also worth noting that Sauerbrunn was out of the 2022 Challenge Cup following surgery to repair a torn meniscus, but that she’ll (allegedly) be back in time for the 2022 Regular Season. That aside, there are some notable names missing from the Thorns’s 2022 roster.
NWSL MVP Finalist Angela Salem announced her retirement in the offseason (and later joined the Washington Spirit’s technical staff as an assistant coach), and Lindsay Horan joined Lyon on loan through June 2023. Crystal Dunn will also be out this season, as she is expecting her first child in May. In an attempt to shore up the midfield, Portland signed Japanese midfielder Hina Sugita. Sugita has played for Japan’s Women’s National Team 27 times, including appearances in both the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup. Regardless, it remains to be seen whether Sugita will help Rocky Rodriguez and company fill the gigantic Salem- and Horan-sized holes in Portland’s midfield. Portland also signed Canadian Janine Beckie, the former 8th-overall pick in the 2016 edition of the NWSL draft. It’s unclear where Beckie will slot into the Portland lineup, given her history as a winger, striker, center midfielder, and full back, but check out this ASA piece for a full breakdown of Beckie’s recent performances and speculation of how she’ll make an impact in Portland. In her first appearance for the Thorns in their final 2022 Challenge Cup matchup, she lined up as a winger and recorded four shots (with two on target).
As for the forward line, Portland traded away Simone Charley and Tyler Lussi to Angel City FC to protect themselves during the 2021 Expansion Draft. Charley’s departure will be felt in the Thorns’s final third, as she was tied with Canadian legend Christine Sinclair for the second-most goals on the team in 2021, despite having played ~300 fewer minutes than Sinclair. Charley also ranked #1 for strikers in raw goals added per 96’ with 0.54 (players >1200 minutes). However, with the return of Sophia Smith, Morgan Weaver, and Sinclair, Portland will still be a goal-scoring threat in 2022.
It’s also worth mentioning that in 2021, Portland led the league in shots taken per match while holding their opponents to the second-fewest shots per match, behind the Chicago Red Stars (below).
The Thorns had the highest expected goals (xG)-for per match and the lowest xG against per match, meaning they had a relatively busy attack, but their defense effectively quelled their opponents’ attacking threats. Regardless, Portland’s offense technically under-performed in terms of their expected goals per match, as they scored fewer goals than expected, similarly to several other clubs. Portland’s defense allowed fewer goals than expected, though they also had the fewest expected goals against per match and fewest goals conceded per match in 2021 relative to other teams. The fact that Portland is returning their #1 goalkeeper and most of their defenders in 2022 should therefore be a positive sign for Thorns fans, despite offensive worries.
Challenge Cup performance and 2022 Regular Season prognosis
In the Challenge Cup group stage, the Thorns performed…better than expected? They were 0-1-1 in the series with OL Reign, with the Cascadia Rivalry picking up right where it left off in 2021. Half of the West Region was made up of expansion teams – which have historically been the league’s weakest teams – in San Diego Wave FC and Angel City FC. Portland came away with two wins against San Diego, but only beat Angel City once, ultimately falling to them in the final Challenge Cup match-up that saw five Portland players and their head coach sidelined due to COVID-19 protocols. Following that loss, the Thorns finished second in the West behind OL Reign with 10 points and ultimately missed the Challenge Cup semifinals.
We can expect to see Portland make another playoff run this season, finishing in the top six of all 12 clubs. In reality, the Thorns have a solid case for another NWSL semifinals appearance, though their head-coaching change and off-season roster shuffling paired with the NWSL’s parity and the addition of two expansion sides will make for a tough road to the top.
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Washington Spirit: Another Staab at a title in 2022
The Spirit won the league! After years of flirting with a championship-caliber roster, Washington finally lifted their first trophy despite unparalleled levels of disorder within the club. In last season’s preview on this very site, I mentioned, “I am positive about them going forward - the issues discussed defensively and an increased level of continuity up front need to be addressed if they are to continue their upwards trajectory in recent seasons.” One of these statements proved prophetic (I’m currently accepting payment for palm readings, fortune telling, etc.): the Spirit had the highest goal average per 90 last regular season at 0.48, and one of their players secured the league’s Golden Boot in Ashley Hatch. The defensive side also completely changed due to Kris Ward’s newfound emphasis on actually coaching and working on defending. Going into this year, what should the Spirit do, armed with this information and the success they found? Simple: Lean into it and keep at it!
Stability!
The relative stasis of the Spirit’s roster is one thing that plays in their favor – turnover this summer for other clubs in the league is seemingly at an all-time high due to the 2022 Expansion Draft and increased player say in the decision process. With 80% of Head Coach Kris Ward’s team coming back in 2022, Ward is focused on building off what proved so successful during the last few months of the 2021 campaign rather than trying to start fresh. It’s clearly working for him, as the Spirit have yet to lose a game with Ward at the helm. In fact, the Spirit haven’t lost a game since August 2021.
Players who logged minutes in the 2022 Challenge Cup group stage shown.
Looking at the Spirit’s roster more closely, the average ages and breakdown of minutes (2021 season shown above) looks favorable for them. In the 2022 Challenge Cup, they’ve had XIs with an average age of 26.2 years old, which is below the league average of 27.4. Clearly, age is on their side. Importantly, players that play a majority of the Spirit’s minutes, like Trinity Rodman, Ashley Hatch, and Ashley Sanchez, are in their “peak ages.”
With regard to departures, the two major ones that should be noted are Paige Nielsen and Tegan McGrady who left for Angel City FC and San Diego Wave FC, respectively. Both gave the Spirit depth and quality in defense, with Nielsen being a valuable depth/rotation option at center back, and McGrady known for her ability to fly forward in attack. That being said, immediate replacements in the shape of Amber Brooks (OL Reign) and Gaby Vincent (Kansas City Current) were brought in. Experienced goalkeeper Nicole Barnhart, who acts as a one-woman average age booster, was also brought in to augment the list of Spirit keepers, headlined by regular starter and 2022 Goalkeeper of the Year winner Aubrey Kingsbury.
Tactics: Less orchestral, more heavy metal
In terms of tactical set-ups, the Spirit settled into a fairly consistent 4-2-3-1 under head coach Kris Ward, and early signs this year point to more of the same in that regard. I spoke on this in last season’s preview, but the Spirit began last campaign playing a back three system that was quickly abandoned. The team’s style shifted naturally, too. Under the departed Richie Burke, the Spirit focused heavily on keeping the ball, too often to their detriment. Speed of possession through the thirds was often slower relative to it is now, and the team used extreme width as a means to open up possession options inside the pitch.
Kris Ward moved away from this style simply by looking at the weapons at his disposal and leaning into their strengths. Trinity Rodman and Ashley Sanchez are incredibly dynamic and pacey players up front, Ashley Hatch is a fantastic target forward to play off of, and Sam Staab’s direct passing ability from the center of defense is a huge asset for stretching opposing teams. The new head coach let the shackles off them and leaned into a quicker, more vertical style of play. This has manifested itself in the data in terms of output.
Since Ward took over in September of last year, the Spirit rank first in xG (1.89 per 90), xG difference (1.19 per 90) shots (21.20 per 90), pace towards goal (2.64 m/s) and are the second-most direct team in the league behind the Red Stars, considering the 2022 Challenge Cup and 2021 Regular Season all together. Despite this change in style, one constant in the team will be USWNT player Andi Sullivan. A skilled controller of possession in the middle of the park with the ability to pick a final pass (and break up play to boot), Sullivan will be relied on to knit the Spirit’s attack together.
Continuing off this theme of hyper-activity, Kris Ward has the Spirit playing a high pressing game that was nonexistent under the previous regime. On the CBS podcast Attacking Third, defender Sam Staab discussed how the Spirit were actually working on/training defensive tactics for the first time. This is manifested in a positive xG difference that leads to a strong, title winning, formula at the back end of the season. While signs were there that pressing was the way forward for the Spirit long term prior to Burke’s departure, Ward took this and ran with it.
Using the same factors that have been highlighted previously, youth and athleticism, the Spirit play a much higher line than in seasons past and compress the pitch to prevent opponents the ability to play out of the back easily. In doing so, Washington also create attacking opportunities for themselves: winning the ball back high up in the final third translates into the ability to shoot quickly and minimize the opposition’s ability to get numbers behind the ball. While NWSL matches are guaranteed chaos, the Spirit turn that up to 11 (on a scale of 1-10, of course), and it favors them!
What do we expect?
After winning the championship last season, and seemingly finding a way of playing that fits the squad perfectly, the bar has been set: get back to the title game. Nothing is guaranteed in a league that has a playoff system, of course, but with a youthful squad (especially the most exciting and dynamic player in the league in the form of Trinity Rodman) that also has bits of experience in the spine of the team, they should strive to do just that. Moving away from the more idealistic style of teams in the past, and instead leaning into a system/approach that A) fits the needs of the players and B) suits the NWSL style of play was a brilliant decision by the new coaching staff and should serve them well in the long run. By playing a fast and exciting attacking system, as well as bringing similar levels of chaos in defense, the Spirit will be real contenders for a championship once again.