#nwsl

#nwsl

Louisville and North Carolina entered Sunday's NWSL Decision Day as the two teams fighting for the eighth and final playoff spot, and Racing Louisville had to defeat Bay FC if North Carolina also won due to the Courage's superior goal difference, which is the first tiebreaker. The North Carolina Courage defeated Gotham FC 3-2 on Sunday in a simultaneous match.

Rose Lavelle scored the tying goal in the 85th minute as Gotham FC fought back for a 2-2 draw with Racing Louisville in the National Women's Soccer League on Sunday. With the draw, Gotham (9-7-9) clinched a spot in the NWSL playoffs with one match of the regular season still to play. It is the third consecutive year Gotham has made it to the postseason. In the other NWSL match on Sunday, the Portland Thorns also clinched a playoff spot with a 1-0 win over Angel City.

The Current fell 1-0 to the Houston Dash on Saturday, but it's star Temwa Chawinga that may go down as the far more impactful loss. After suffering a non-contact injury in the first half, the forward was carried off the field. While the severity of the injury isn't known, Kansas City head coach Vlatko Andonovski said after the game that Chawinga's injury was in the "upper leg" rather than the knee. Even so, plenty of folks in Kansas City will be holding their breath.

The NWSL still lacks a unified academy system, but with the college draft being abolished and combines -- including a youth combine to scout talent as young as 13 -- age is not holding recruitment back as it did in years past. Now, more teams are increasingly identifying young players who can make a difference -- and several already are, in big ways.

"I think the biggest thing for me and just taking those conversations and soaking everything in that I can from all the coaches that I have, is mostly the consistency piece," Sears said. "I think that I have been a lot more intentional with the way that I'm playing, and I think that has ultimately benefitted my game. "I feel like I've found myself in a little bit more of a flow state in games and

The outstretched glove of Thorns goalkeeper Mackenzie Arnold prevented Alyssa Malonson from giving Bay FC a 2-0 lead from 11 yards out in the 39th. Moultrie got the Thorns level in the 51st with a low shot past Bay goalkeeper Jordan Silkowitz. The 20-year-old Thorns midfielder then deftly curled a direct free-kick around the Bay wall and just inside the post to make it 2-1 in the 69th.

The Portland Thorns will retire the No. 12 jersey of longtime forward Christine Sinclair in a ceremony at Providence Park on Oct. 4. Sinclair will also be the first player inducted into the team's Hall of Fame. Sinclair retired in 2024 as the world's leading international goal scorer with 190 goals for Canada. She was one of the first players in Thorns history, joining the team ahead of the inaugural NWSL season in 2013.

She's an extremely talented player that can do things that probably no other can,

As we have been doing, we are keeping tabs on who could win the MVP award with a rolling tracker every five games.

"I love seeing fellow NWSL athletes here represented in WAFCON. I think it is so important to see that African players are excelling in the NWSL, and then coming and excelling at WAFCON, just like Banda and Racheal Kundananji have shown."

Bay FC has signed Leah Freeman, a talented first-team All-American goalie, marking her first professional contract. Freeman is excited to join her home club and contribute.

The NWSL established a policy in 2021, stating: athletes who transition from male to female are eligible to compete if they declare their gender identity is female subject to testosterone levels being within typical limits of women athletes.

Heath noted, "I think I had a few more mountains I wanted to climb with football, even though I'm really grateful for the career that I had."