Providence Park Magic, North Carolina's proof of concept, KC's road woes, and more.

It’s hard to beat a top-of-the-table clash at Providence Park, and last Friday night, the Thorns proved they deserve to be in the conversation with Gotham, Washington, (Utah?) and San Diego among a crowded NWSL table. 

The 21,743 on hand created a pressure-cooked environment, heightened by Pride night and the potential return of Morgan Weaver after a long 622-day wait. 

Midge Purse threatened to hit the release valve early, hitting the back of the net within two minutes, but the Thorns found their stride, equalizing through Renee Lyles’s volley to the back post that froze AKB. 

The 2nd half saw Jessie Fleming put Portland on the front foot, only for Sam Kerr to emphatically slam home her first since returning to the NWSL.

Portland went down to 10 when Jayden Perry took Sam Kerr to the ground as she threatened to break free on goal. Perry’s Red Card ultimately saved a share of the points, but the best was yet to come with Morgan Weaver preparing on the touchline.

It’d been 2 years since Weaver took the pitch at Providence Park; perhaps one of the best players to never represent the senior USWNT was ready to provide crucial reinforcements.

The Thorns have been dancing around the top of the table all season, and while they’re still trying to fill a Sam Coffey-sized hole, the additions of Sophia Wilson and, now, Morgan Weaver from their long-term absences can potentially push them into the truly elite of the league.

Going toe for toe with Gotham certainly proves something. The defending champs have seemed like a buzzsaw at times this season, and answered the loss with a 1-0 midweek win over Bay FC. 

Purse scored in the opening flurry for the second time in a week, and has been in a great run of form since the break. Her usage has been interesting to track as well. Against Seattle, Bay was camped on the right wing as Seattle looked to collapse into their defensive shell. In Portland, Purse started on the wing as a more aggressive wingback before falling back into a deeper average position against Bay as Gotham worried about the young squad’s speed in transition. 

Gotham stays just two points off of the Spirit as a gap is opening between the top of the table and 3-6 behind them. 

Buy or Sell: Orlando vs North Carolina Courage.

A playoff 6-pointer took center stage on Friday night, and Mak Lind’s Courage ran over the Orlando Pride. The Courage have been capable of this all year long but have suffered through the inconsistency of a young roster. The average age of the Courage’s starting midfield was 20 years old in the win over Orlando, including the third-ever teenager-to-teenager connection when Erica Meg Parkinson found Lauryn Thompson breaking out against a flat-footed Pride backline. 

It’s taken some time to adjust to the sale of Manaka Matsukubo, but EMP has already shown glimpses, while Evelyn Ijeh has 9 goal contributions (7 goals, 2 assists) in the last 8 matches, and Ashley Sanchez continues to revitalize her career.

Remarkably, Ijeh is still underperforming her expected goal contributions but her presence in the middle of the pitch has opened up room for Sanchez to showcase why she was once one of the USWNT’s rising stars.

Sanchez is now second in the league in goals and goal contributions fresh off a night where she led the Courage in chances created. 

As an aside, there’s now an interesting dilemma for Emma Hayes with Sanchez blazing a new path this season. In the USWNT’s bid to expand the player pool, Sanchez has been on the outside looking in, but as Ally Sentnor and Emma Sears’s club form has waned, will the former USWNT up and comer get a call? Sanchez hasn’t received a call up since the October 2024 friendlies against Iceland and Argentina, she should have done enough at this point.

Meanwhile, the Pride were in trouble before Banda left for WAFCON and that problem is only exacerbated after North Carolina blazed past Orlando 5-0 as the hopped over the Pride into seventh for the time being. 

Seb Hines has failed to find an answer for Banda’s goal scoring and presence against the ball at the top of the formation and they have lacked the speed to go toe to toe with team’s like the Courage who can ping balls out of the midfield into streaking wingers. 

Two wins and four losses since the World Cup break has Orlando on the verge of falling out of the playoff spots if either ACFC or Bay FC win this weekend. 

Orlando had too much turnover this offseason and hasn’t yet been able to build back their depth in the same way, and it shows when Banda is gone and Marta and Ovalle are struggling. The contributors that helped the Pride win the historic double are mostly gone, and they have yet to find replacements for Emily Sams, Ally Brazier, Adriana, or even Carson Pickett, all while Anna Moorhouse has become the worst goalkeeper in the league. 

I’m selling on the Pride, as much as I believe in Caitlin Carducci’s roster building ideas, it’s just time to start the rebuild.

KC Current continues to flounder away from CPKC.

The Current trounced Racing Louisville as they returned home following a tough loss away to the Boston Legacy. Chris Armas has been experimenting with positioning in the absence of Temwa Chawinga and Michelle Cooper, and while that didn’t work with a fluid front three of Gianna Paul, Debinha and Haley Hopkins on the weekend, it was Amelia White who really thrived down the right side in the Michelle Cooper role. 

Finding an answer on the right would be a boon for Chris Armas’s selection dilemma but it’s also worth remembering how shorthanded Louisville were as they rotated between ACFC on the weekend and a chance to escape the basement when they host Chicago on Saturday.

So, it’s worth pondering: why can’t the Current tap into its “run downhill so fast that you don’t know what hit you” attack away from CPKC? 

There’s a difference in mentality on the road in this country; home sides are expected to control more of the ball, and when KC haven’t been able to win the battles out wide, they’ve struggled. It’s something they’ve done well in their wins vs Denver and North Carolina, both games where the opposing FBs left enough room for either Temwa Chawinga, Croix Bethune, or Michelle Cooper to exploit behind the line. 

It won’t matter when they host ACFC this weekend, but the only teams worse than KC away from home are well under the playoff line. 

Is there anything Sporting Director Ryan Dell can do to find more reliable depth pieces? It depends on how much space the Ally Sentnor trade bought them after the Temwa extension and Dibernardo activation. 

Even then, the underlying numbers say that the Current are both one of the best attacking clubs in the league and are third in the league in expected goal differential. 

Yet, it’s all going wrong away from home, is there an explanation?

Ally Sentnor’s shot selection dilemma.

ACFC sent $850,000 in intra-league transfer funds to Kansas City for Ally Sentnor after flipping Kennedy Fuller to Bay FC. Since then, Sentnor has enjoyed some great play, especially in creating chances in transition, but the uptick in opportunities to shoot has highlighted her poor decision-making in the final third. 

Sentnor has been better in her return to the midfield, play worth 0.22 goals added after a season of -0.55 g+ in Kansas City. Yet, Sentnor is without a goal contribution in four matches since arriving out west.

The talent is there, but the problem is clear in Sentnor’s 47 shots this season; only 10 have been on target for 2 goals. It’s poor shot selection evident in the amount of shots she takes after drawing multiple defenders in transition.

Despite USWNT callups and the trade to KC, Sentnor doesn’t appear to be improving at the rate of her peers, especially in a year when Croix Bethune might just be the most impactful player in the league. 

Sentnor is on her third team in her third year as a pro; maybe it’s the lack of stability that’s affected her development to this point, but something has to change.

The Spirit’s season-defining shift. 

The Spirit played out two 1-0 wins this week, first at home against a much improved Denver Summit and on the road against a formidable Utah. 

There was a moment in the match vs Denver that signals the biggest improvement for the Spirit over last year. Stuck in another deadlock, Leicy Santos tracked all of the way back to seal out Yazmeen Ryan’s attempt to cut inside, turned out of a sure giveaway against crashing Summit defenders to relieve the pressure and kickstart a brilliant counter attack that ended with Rodman’s curling pass into Sofia Cantore. 

If you scratch off the first month of the season where the Spirit lost to Portland in the opener and followed that up with three straight draws, the Spirit have won 33 of 39 points with their only losses coming away to San Diego and away to Gotham FC at Citi Field. 

The Spirit are one of the biggest overperformers in the league this season, second to Portland, but even if they do fall back down to earth, it’s only falling back to the rest of the top four.

There’s a clear explanation, while San Diego should be top of the table given everything they’ve created this season, but the Spirit have the players who have proven they can produce out of nothing all while missing key depth to WAFCON. 

It’s pragmatism, and the Leicy Santos play vs Denver proves it.