The NWSL delivered its annual dose of playoff chaos. What’s next?
By Lesley Ryder
We come to the NWSL playoffs each fall with high expectations for quality clashes. Dazzling dribbles and white-knuckle penalty shootouts on a single weekend. Three of the four quarterfinals needed extra time to find a winner, and the wire-to-wire league leaders fell at home to the 8th seed underdogs. The best news? We get to do it all over again next weekend.
Heartbreak feels good in a place like this. Well, maybe not yet if you’re a Kansas City Current fan.
Friday: Orlando vs Seattle
The 2025 playoffs kicked off with another ageless performance from Marta. The defending double winners faced a pesky Seattle side that created a league worst NUMBER of expected goals per game on the season. Haley Mcutcheon opened the scoring for Orlando in the 21st minute, but Seattle pressed for an equalizer. They were a crossbar away from a tie score on a Sally Menti free kick in the 63rd minute.
There’s something about a big moment that turns Marta into a supernatural being. The 39 year-old Brazilian created McCutcheon’s goal-scoring opportunity in the 21st minute, and put the game on ice by drawing a penalty in the 96th minute. As time ticked past the initial 5 minute minimum of stoppage time, Seattle sent one last ball into the mixer. The attempt was headed away from goal, and Marta picked up the loose offering. She sprinted away past Emeri Adames, 20 years her junior, and Phoebe McClernon, who was six years old when Marta made her Athens Olympic debut. She was finally taken down for a penalty 70 yards later by Sam Meza, who turned seven after Marta won her second gold medal in Beijing.
Then, Marta handed the ball to Luana, who missed all of last season battling Hodgkin’s Lymphoma. Luana struck the ball true, sealing the win for the Pride almost a year to the day of being declared cancer-free.
“Nothing is impossible” Luana said when asked about her thoughts during the decisive kick.
That was just the *first* quarterfinal.
Saturday: Washington vs Louisville
Saturday brought more late-game dramatics with the playoffs’ first penalty kick shootout. The Washington Spirit seemed to get on the board early with a set piece goal by Rose Kouassi, but after a lengthy look at VAR, it was determined that Leicy Santos was offside, and affecting the play. Washington held possession and momentum for much of the match, but the score remained deadlocked through the first hour of play.
In the 73rd minute, the Spirit scored again, and this time, it stuck. Rose Kouassi lofted a cross to the 6’ box, and Gift Monday won the header, putting it past Jordyn Bloomer. Kouassi celebrated with a cheeky callback to the VAR decision in the first half.
Racing Louisville, making their first-ever playoff appearance, would not be dispatched so quickly. After Monday’s goal, Louisville outshot the Spirit 7-2 in the final minutes of play. In the closing minutes of stoppage time, Louisville’s Courtney Peterson sent a long ball downfield. Kayla Fischer beat Kate Wiesner in a race to the loose ball, and poked it past a charging Aubrey Kingsbury for Racing Louisville’s first-ever playoff goal.
Extra time could not solve the deadlock, and the two teams went to penalty kicks. Both keepers came into the showdown with a history of heroic shot-stopping – Kingsbury made three saves in a row to send the Spirit to the final last season, and Bloomer became the first goalkeeper to make two penalty saves in a single match earlier this year.
It was Kingsbury who once again played the hero for the Spirit’s playoff advance. Bethany Balcer struck first for Louisville, but the side could not match the Spirit’s clinical penalty strikes. Kingsbury made two saves in a row to secure the Spirit’s passage to the semifinals.
After the match Gift Monday dedicated her goal to the Spirit fans, and her late father, who passed away during the international break. “He made me who I am today. He trained me on how to keep believing and keep moving on.”
Sunday: Kansas City vs Gotham, Portland vs San Diego
Sunday’s doubleheader capped off a momentous quarterfinal weekend. Top-seeded Kansas City hosted 8th seed Gotham for a sunny, but frosty matinee.
The shield winners came into the match missing two key goal scorers in Temwa Chawinga and Michelle Cooper. Brazilian striker Bia Zaneratto carried on for the club through a knee injury. The Current struggled to take hold of the match without their star attacking trio at full strength. Ally Sentnor nearly put the home side ahead in the 17th minute with one of her signature strikes from outside the box, but Gotham’s Ann-Katrin Berger was up to the task, parrying the chance away from danger. Nichelle Prince followed with a pair of chances in the 29th minute, but she could not find the back of the net for the home side.
Gotham may have come into the match as the lower seed, but by halftime, they looked to be the team in control of the match. According to FotMob, they bested the Current on possession, pass completion, and Expected Goals.
In the 68th minute, it was Gotham who found the game’s first goal. Blockbuster midseason signee Jaedyn Shaw won the ball off KC’s Claire Hutton, and dribbled past Kayla Sharples and tucked her shot in the left corner to put Gotham ahead. Kansas City responded with a series of substitutions, Haley Hopkins, Ellie Wheeler, and Alex Pfeiffer to try and save their season.
As the minutes ticked away, it seemed Gotham had the upset in hand. But in the 6th minute of stoppage time, the home side finally answered. Lo’eau Labonta sent a pass to Ellie Wheeler, who dangled past Katie Stengel to beat Ann-Katrin Berger on the short side.
Kansas City carried the late goal’s momentum with them through the first extra time period. They held Gotham shotless in the first 15 minutes, putting up 5 shots of their own, but they could not find a breakthrough goal. In the second period, Gotham finally got their chance. In the 121st minute, Gotham won a free kick at the halfway line. Ann-Katrin Berger sent her kick downfield, and 90th minute Gotham substitution, Kayla Duran won the ensuing header. The ball fell to Jaedyn Shaw, who flicked it to Katie Stengel in open space. Stengel ripped a bar-down shot past Lorena and stunned the home crowd to silence. Gotham’s walkoff goal secured the first top seed upset in the NWSL Playoffs since the new playoff format began last year.
“I’m sorry, but ‘Underdog’ my ass. We are not an underdog” Jaedyn Shaw said in Gotham’s post-match media availability. The side managed to knock off the top seed without Esther, their leading goal-scorer. Head coach Juan Carlos Amoros described Esther’s injury progress as “close” saying she could have played a few minutes, but with the blustery weather conditions, he preferred to play it safe. All eyes on next weekend’s availability report as the team flies to warmer weather in Orlando.
Amazingly, there was still more playoff soccer to watch. Portland hosted San Diego in a rematch of the 2022 semifinal. Though the two sides were capable of high-scoring power, the match proved instead to be a cagier affair.
Portland made the most of their limited time on the ball. In the 44th minute, midfielder of the year nominee Olivia Moultrie rang a shot past a diving Kailen Sheridan, but hit the woodwork. In the second half, Reilyn Turner smacked a 63rd minute bicycle kick attempt safely to the waiting arms of Sheridan.
San Diego controlled possession for much of the match, but they struggled to create meaningful scoring chances. In the second half, they took ten shots, but only managed to put one of them on frame. With both teams scoreless at the end of regulation, they became the third match to need extra time to find a winner.
Unlike the day’s previous match, the home side struck first early in the extra period. In the 94th minute, Olivia Moultrie shook two San Diego defenders and laid a perfect cross to a waiting Reilyn Turner. Turner headed the opportunity home, and the Thorns took the lead.
The Thorns shut down San Diego in the first extra time period, but San Diego came out swinging with their best scoring chance of the match in the 106th minute. Jordan Fusco slipped a pass through the Portland backline and Trinity Armstrong broke free and hit her shot off a charging Mackenzie Arnold’s face. Portland survived the frame, and booked their 10th semifinal ticket, the most in NWSL history.
But wait, there’s more!
The four remaining teams all happen to be the last four winners of the NWSL championship. On Saturday, the Washington Spirit host the Portland Thorns at 11AM CT on CBS. Washington fans will be keeping an eye on the availability reports after Trinity Rodman stayed on the bench, and defenders Gabby Carle and Tara McKeown left the quarterfinal match with injuries. At Tuesday morning’s training, Spirit head coach Adrian Gonzalez appeared optimistic noting time was on the team’s side, but said he wouldn’t have a decision before the end of the week.
Orlando and Gotham will face off in Sunday’s match at 2PM CT on ABC. The defending double winners hope to make their return to Championship weekend. They’ll have to go through an upstart Gotham side, who’d be all too happy to send another top seed to their winter vacation.