Jump to content

NWSL Season


MrsC

Recommended Posts

Alex Morgan never takes the PK's so that decision was a bit confounding. I also don't know why Allie Long kept attempting (and missing) the PK's over Christine Sinclair (pre-injury obviously). Hopefully the Thorns have been working on PK's in practice because that has been one of their weak spots this year.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Replies 86
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Looking forward to the playoffs! What does everyone think of this years championship contenders? Portland are a slightly surprising omission but they have had some issues this season. Time to get rid of Riley maybe?

I'm looking forward to the playoffs.  I would be shocked if we don't see Seattle in the final but I would really like to see Chicago as the second team.  Partly because they have so many Canadians, partly because I have gotten to know some of their Supporters group and they are a good bunch but mostly because I would love for Karina's last pro game to be in Portland. I have no doubt they will give her the sendoff she deserves.  If the game wasn't on a Thursday I would almost fly to Portland to see that.

 

Paul Riley is a whole other conversation, but rather than take this topic too far off of Canadian Women, I will just say I am not a fan  :)   

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Any plans to attend an NWSL game next season?

 

I will definitely go to some games next year. I am hoping to make a road trip to Portland and I will probably fly to one other NWSL city to see a Thorns game.  I would like to see a game in Washington but Chicago seems to be the only city I can fly to direct out of Winnipeg so it will likely be Chicago again.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Alex Morgan never takes the PK's so that decision was a bit confounding. I also don't know why Allie Long kept attempting (and missing) the PK's over Christine Sinclair (pre-injury obviously). Hopefully the Thorns have been working on PK's in practice because that has been one of their weak spots this year.

Has Sinclair missed a PK while playing for Portland Thorns?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Canadians in the 2015 NWSL season  ranked by minutes per game:

 

     NAME                         TEAM                           GAMES         MINUTES        MINUTES per GAME         notes

 

1. Karina LeBlanc       Chicago Red Stars             8 gp             720   min          90         min/g

2. Erin Mcleod             Houston Dash                   11 gp             932   min         84.72    min/g

3. Christine Sinclair     Portland Thorns                 9  gp            735    min         81.6      min/g      

4. Sabrina D’Angelo     Western NY Flash             7  gp             555   min         79         min/g         drafted into NWSL

5. Allysha  Chapman     Houston Dash                  5 gp              376   min         75.2      min/g

6. Diana Matheson       Washington Spirit              9 gp               633  min         70.33    min/g

7. Rachel Quon            Chicago Red Stars          17 gp             1046 min          61         min/g        

8. Adriana Leon            Chicago Red Stars          5  gp               211  min          55.4      min/g   

9. Chelsea Stewart       Western NY Flash            3  gp                150 min          50        min/g     not allocated , but earned a contract -- later waived by the club

10. Kaylyn Kyle                 Portland Thorns          12 gp            587  min          48.9      min/g

11. Lauren Sesselmann    Houston Dash                1 gp              45 min          45         min/g          injured most of the season.

12. Rhian Wilkinson           Portland Thorns            1 gp             45  min          45         min/g          injured most of the season

13. Nkem Ezurike               Boston Breakers         12 gp             417 min          34.75   min/g

14.  Melissa Tancredi         Chicago Red Stars        8 gp             246 min         30.75    min/g         

15. Jonelle Filigno              Sky Blue                       5 gp             98   min          19.6      min/g           

16. Sarah Robbins              Portland Thorns           1 gp                2 min            2         min/g        not allocated, but earned a contract --later waived by the club.

 

notes: Three of the top four players are keepers. Christine Sinclair is the only Canadian field player in the 80s min/game. Jonelle Filigno only averaged about 7.5 minutes per game in her first four games. She then played 68 minutes in her last game of the season which raised her minutes/game average. D'Angelo is positive for Canada -- she was drafted into the NWSL and posted some decent numbers.

 

             A comparison with the Australians in the NWSL will give the Canadian numbers some scale:

 

 

Matildas in the 2015 NWSL  ranked by minutes per game:

 

1.Kyah Simon                 Boston Breaker forward                 7 gp      630 min         90     min/g

2.Caitlin Foord               Sky Blue full back                           10gp     895 min         89.5  min/g

3.Michelle Heyman         Western NY  forward                       9 gp      798 min        88.6  min/g

4.Claire Polkinghorne    Portland Thorns defender               9 gp      779 min        86.5   min/g

5.Sam Kerr                     Sky Blue forward                             9 gp      766 min        85.11 min/g

6.Ellie Brush                   Houston Dash defender                15 gp    1274 min        85      min/g

7.Steph Catley                Portland Thorns defender              1 gp        45 min        45      min/g        injured most of the season

8.Haley Raso                 Washington Spirit forward                8 gp      182  min       22.75 min/g

 

notes. Some prominent Matildas didn't play in  NWSL this year. Katrina Gorry (2015 AFC player of the Year) and Lisa De Vanna (named to the 2015 WWC best 23 list) stayed in Australia. And post-WWC Emily Van Egmond and Elise Kellond Knight (also named to the 2015 WWC best 23 list) were signed by German clubs.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

It's too bad that Holiday is retiring already.  She was excellent in the final game, and still has the chops to compete at the highest level.  Maybe her retirement has something to do with her heart problem that may have affected her in that game?

I though the final was excellent; definitely worth watching.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

She's had a fantastic career, hit for the cycle, won fistfuls of trophies and won NCAA, NWSL, Olympics and World Cup.  If Jrue Holiday is a postal worker she probably keeps working and because they want to have a family she keeps working around it and is the breadwinner.  When he makes $10 million a year in the NBA and is coming off a serious injury and needs support it all falls into place.  She doesn't seem like the type to hang around after it's all getting old anyway. Great role model for young girls.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

   Interesting trade rumour. Although Canadian allocations are still unknown at this time, as it stands, if the rumoured trade happens then Allyscha Chapman would be free to play leftback in Houston and Christine Sinclair could be playing with Lindsay Horan in Portland.

http://www.si.com/planet-futbol/2015/10/21/alex-morgan-uswnt-star-nwsl-trade-portland-thorns-orlando

In addition:

Update:

        

Link to comment
Share on other sites

There were times this year I wondered why Canadian players were benched while American counterparts played.  It's probably even worse for Mexican players.  It's good that the Canadians get enough income to stay in the game, but it's my feeling that they aren't generally getting enough experience from this system.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

OFFICIAL NWSL PROTECTED/UNPROTECTED LIST for the 2015 NWSL EXPANSION DRAFT:


http://www.nwslsoccer.com/News/898183.html

Boston Breakers: Nkem Ezurike -unprotected

Chicago Red Stars:  Adriana Leon - unprotected, Melissa Tancredi -unprotected, Rachel Quon -- unprotected

Houston Dash: Allyscha Chapman -- protected,  Erin Mcleod --unprotected, Lauren Sesselmann--unprotected

Portland Thorns: Christine Sinclair -- protected, Rhian Wilkinson -- unprotected

Sky Blue: Jonelle Filigno -- unprotected

Washington Spirit : Diana Matheson -- protected

Western New York Flash: Sabrina D'Angelo- unprotected

 

                                  

Link to comment
Share on other sites

OFFICIAL NWSL PROTECTED/UNPROTECTED LIST for the 2015 NWSL EXPANSION DRAFT:

http:// http://www.nwslsoccer.com/News/898183.html

Boston Breakers: Nkem Ezurike -unprotected

Chicago Red Stars:  Adriana Leon - unprotected, Melissa Tancredi -unprotected, Rachel Quon -- unprotected

Houston Dash: Allyscha Chapman -- protected,  Erin Mcleod --unprotected, Lauren Sesselmann--unprotected

Portland Thorns: Christine Sinclair -- protected, Rhian Wilkinson -- unprotected

Sky Blue: Jonelle Filigno -- unprotected

Washington Spirit : Diana Matheson -- protected

Western New York Flash: Sabrina D'Angelo- unprotected

                                

I wonder why the Dash wants to protect Chapman, she is not that good.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

[ 1 ] I am surprised that so many Canadians were left unprotected by their NWSL teams. Perhaps I should not have been given how few of them are 90 minute starters. It does raise the question: should the CSA be allocating their players to the NWSL ?

[ 2 ]   Allyscha Chapman made a positive impression on the Houston Dash with her pace, work rate and aggressive play but she only played 5 games for them.  Perhaps, as she plays more games in the future, the Houston Dash could change their mind about her. To me, the Houston Dash  valued, and thus protected, Allyscha  Chapman because they are  really thin on defence ,especially after the loss of Megan Klingenberg ( USWNT and Houston Dash starting leftback) due to the upcoming expansion draft. In addition, the Houston Dash spent most of the 2015 NWSL season overhauling their backline. First, Stephanie Ochs, who's a forward converted to a fullback, tore her ACL. Then the  Dash converted , Ella Masar, a forward, to fullback. And out of desperation, the Houston Dash had to release Puskas nominee Stephanie Roche to free up an international slot to acquire Australian defender Ellie Brush.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

[ 1 ] I am surprised that so many Canadians were left unprotected by their NWSL teams. Perhaps I should not have been given how few of them are 90 minute starters. It does raise the question: should the CSA be allocating their players to the NWSL ?

[ 2 ]   Allyscha Chapman made a positive impression on the Houston Dash with her pace, work rate and aggressive play but she only played 5 games for them.  Perhaps, as she plays more games in the future, the Houston Dash could change their mind about her. To me, the Houston Dash  valued, and thus protected, Allyscha  Chapman because they are  really thin on defence ,especially after the loss of Megan Klingenberg ( USWNT and Houston Dash starting leftback) due to the upcoming expansion draft. In addition, the Houston Dash spent most of the 2015 NWSL season overhauling their backline. First, Stephanie Ochs, who's a forward converted to a fullback, tore her ACL. Then the  Dash converted , Ella Masar, a forward, to fullback. And out of desperation, the Houston Dash had to release Puskas nominee Stephanie Roche to free up an international slot to acquire Australian defender Ellie Brush.

 

Re Stephanie Roche release that is what the Dash said about needing an international slot, but IMHO she was not good enough for the NWSL pace and did not fit at all in the team.  Apart from her fluky goal that earned her so many votes, she didn't have anything else.  It was just a publicity thing bringing her over to attract spectators.  Bad decision.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

re. Stephanie Roche

It's true, she isn't an NWSL caliber forward. Her Puskas nomination was given out too easily and no consideration was given to the degree of difficuly of the shot. While it was a pretty goal , the caliber of play in the Women's National League (WNL) of Ireland is not very high. Had she been facing a tougher centerback like Wendie Renard, or Julie Johnston, or Kadeisha Buchanan it's likely that Stephanie Roche would not  have scored that goal.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...
  • 1 month later...
  • 2 weeks later...
  • 2 weeks later...

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.


×
×
  • Create New...