2015 National Women's Soccer League season

The 2015 National Women's Soccer League season was the third season of the National Women's Soccer League, the top division of women's soccer in the United States. Including the NWSL's two professional predecessors, Women's Professional Soccer (2009–2011) and the Women's United Soccer Association (2001–2003), it was the ninth overall season of FIFA and USSF-sanctioned top division women's soccer in the United States. The league was operated by the United States Soccer Federation and received major financial backing from that body. Further financial backing was provided by the Canadian Soccer Association and the Mexican Football Federation. All three national federations paid the league salaries of many of their respective national team members in an effort to nurture talent in those nations.

National Women's Soccer League

Season	2015
Champions	FC Kansas City
NWSL Shield	Seattle Reign FC
Matches played	90
Goals scored	251 (2.79 per match)
Top goalscorer	Crystal Dunn (WAS), 15 goals
Biggest home win	SEA 5–1 WNY (Apr 12) KC 4–0 WNY (Aug 8)
Biggest away win	NJ 0–3 CHI (June 28) HOU 0–3 SEA (Aug 22)
Highest scoring	POR 5–2 BOS (Aug 5)
Longest winning run	6 games Seattle Reign FC (July 22 – August 26)
Longest unbeaten run	8 games Seattle Reign FC (May 2 – July 11) (July 22 – September 5)
Longest losing run	4 games Boston Breakers (July 22 – August 5) Houston Dash (August 1 – August 21)
Highest attendance	21,144 @ POR 0–1 SEA (July 22)
Lowest attendance	953 @ NJ 1–3 WAS (Apr 26)
Total attendance	454,100[1]
Average attendance	5,046
← 2014 2016 → All statistics correct as of September 6, 2015.

In January, Jeff Plush was named NWSL commissioner,^[2] replacing Cheryl Bailey.

To accommodate the 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup, the league announced it would take a two-week break from June 7–19, reduce the season to 20 games, and extend the playing calendar into September.^[3]

For the second straight season, FC Kansas City defeated the NWSL Shield winners Seattle Reign FC 1–0 to win the NWSL championship.^[4]

Teams, stadiums, and personnel

Stadiums and locations

See also: List of National Women's Soccer League stadiums

Two teams, the Dash and Reign, do not make their stadiums' entire capacity available for home games, instead restricting ticket sales at a lower level. The full capacities of their venues are included in parentheses and italics.

Team Stadium Capacity Boston Breakers Soldiers Field Soccer Stadium 4,500 Chicago Red Stars Village Sports Complex 3,600 Houston Dash BBVA Compass Stadium 7,000 (22,039) FC Kansas City Swope Soccer Village[5] 4,000 Portland Thorns Providence Park 20,438 Seattle Reign FC Memorial Stadium 6,000 (12,000) Sky Blue FC Yurcak Field 5,000 Washington Spirit Maryland SoccerPlex 5,126 Western New York Flash Sahlen's Stadium 13,768

Breakers Red Stars Dash Kansas City Thorns Reign Sky Blue Spirit Flash Locations of teams for the 2015 National Women's Soccer League season.

Personnel and sponsorship

Note: All of the teams use Nike as their kit manufacturer.

Team	Head coach	Captain	Shirt sponsor
Boston Breakers	Tom Durkin	Katie Schoepfer Kassey Kallman Julie King	Steward Health Care
Chicago Red Stars	Rory Dames	Lori Chalupny	CJ Wilson Mazda
Houston Dash	Randy Waldrum	Ella Masar	BBVA Compass
FC Kansas City	Vlatko Andonovski	Becky Sauerbrunn	Research Medical Center
Portland Thorns	Paul Riley	Christine Sinclair	Providence Health & Services
Seattle Reign FC	Laura Harvey	Keelin Winters	Moda Health
Sky Blue FC	Jim Gabarra	Christie Rampone	Meridian Health
Washington Spirit	Mark Parsons	Ali Krieger	ProChain Solutions, Inc.
Western New York Flash	Aaran Lines	Brittany Taylor	Sahlen's

Player acquisition

Players were acquired through the 2015 Allocation of national team players on January 14^[6] and the 2015 NWSL College Draft on January 16,^[7] as well as free agency and trades.

Notable acquisitions and losses

• Carli Lloyd, the scoring and assist leader for the US women's national team in 2014,^[8] was traded from the Western New York Flash to the Houston Dash on October 16, 2014.^[9]
• Heather O'Reilly, the scoring and assist leader for the Boston Breakers in 2014,^[10] was traded from Boston to FC Kansas City on October 27, 2014.^[11]
• Samantha Kerr, the leading scorer for the Western New York Flash in 2014,^[10] was traded from Western New York to Sky Blue FC on November 24, 2014.^[12]
• Sophie Schmidt, a veteran Allocated Player for the Canadian women's national team, announced in January 2015 she would not play for either Sky Blue FC or the NWSL in order to focus on the 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup.^[6]
• Morgan Brian, the two-time Hermann Trophy winner, was chosen No. 1 overall by the Houston Dash in the College Draft on January 16, 2015.^[7]
• Jessica McDonald, the leading scorer for the Portland Thorns in 2014,^[10] was traded from Portland to the Houston Dash during the draft on January 16, 2015.^[13]
• Jodie Taylor, the leading scorer for the Washington Spirit in 2014,^[10] was traded from Washington to the Portland Thorns during the draft on January 16, 2015.^[14]
• Abby Wambach, the scoring and assist leader for the Western New York Flash in 2013,^[15] announced on March 18, 2015, she would not play for either Western New York or the NWSL in order to focus on the 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup.^[16] Her rights were subsequently traded to the Seattle Reign in exchange for Sydney Leroux.

Competition format

• Each team will play a total of 20 games, 10 home and 10 away.
• Each team will play all opponents twice, once home and once away, plus four opponents an extra time, split two opponents at home and two away.
• The four teams at the end of the season with the most points will qualify for the playoffs.

Results table

^[17]

Abbreviation and Color Key: Boston Breakers – BOS • Chicago Red Stars – CHI • Houston Dash – HOU • FC Kansas City – KC • Portland Thorns FC – POR Seattle Reign FC – SEA • Sky Blue FC – NJ • Washington Spirit – WAS • Western New York Flash – WNY Win  • Loss  • Tie  • Home Game
Club	Match
	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20
Boston Breakers	POR	HOU	WNY	CHI	POR	NJ	KC	WAS	SEA	WNY	KC	CHI	CHI	NJ	SEA	POR	WAS	KC	SEA	HOU
	4–1	3–2	3–1	3–0	1–0	1–1	1–0	1–1	2–3	0–2	2–3	1–1	1–2	3–1	1–2	5–2	2–1	3–0	1–3	0–1
Chicago Red Stars	SEA	POR	NJ	BOS	HOU	KC	SEA	WNY	NJ	HOU	BOS	BOS	WAS	KC	POR	NJ	WAS	WNY	WNY	HOU
	3–2	2–2	1–0	3–0	2–2	1–2	0–0	3–1	0–3	1–2	1–1	1–2	1–1	2–2	2–1	1–1	1–2	0–0	0–2	1–1
Houston Dash	WAS	NJ	BOS	KC	CHI	POR	NJ	POR	WNY	WAS	CHI	KC	WNY	KC	WAS	NJ	SEA	SEA	BOS	CHI
	2–0	1–1	3–2	0–2	2–2	0–1	1–1	0–0	2–0	1–0	1–2	1–1	0–1	3–2	3–1	0–2	1–2	0–3	1–0	1–1
FC Kansas City	NJ	WAS	SEA	HOU	WNY	WNY	CHI	BOS	POR	SEA	WAS	BOS	HOU	HOU	CHI	WNY	POR	BOS	WAS	NJ
	0–1	3–1	1–0	0–2	0–1	0–0	1–2	1–0	1–1	2–1	3–0	2–3	1–1	3–2	2–2	4–0	3–0	3–0	0–0	2–3
Portland Thorns FC	BOS	WNY	CHI	WAS	BOS	HOU	WAS	HOU	KC	NJ	NJ	SEA	SEA	WNY	BOS	CHI	KC	NJ	WAS	WNY
	4–1	1–0	2–2	2–2	1–0	0–1	2–1	0–0	1–1	2–1	1–0	0–1	3–0	0–2	5–2	2–1	3–0	1–0	3–3	2–3
Seattle Reign FC	WNY	CHI	KC	WAS	NJ	CHI	NJ	BOS	KC	WNY	WNY	WAS	POR	POR	BOS	HOU	HOU	BOS	NJ	WAS
	5–1	3–2	1–0	3–1	1–1	0–0	3–0	2–3	2–1	1–1	4–2	3–0	0–1	3–0	1–2	2–1	0–3	3–1	1–1	1–2
Sky Blue FC	KC	HOU	WAS	CHI	SEA	WAS	BOS	HOU	SEA	CHI	POR	POR	WNY	BOS	WNY	HOU	CHI	POR	SEA	KC
	0–1	1–1	1–3	1–0	1–1	1–0	1–1	1–1	3–0	0–3	2–1	1–0	3–3	3–1	1–2	0–2	1–1	1–0	1–1	2–3
Washington Spirit	HOU	KC	NJ	SEA	POR	NJ	WNY	POR	BOS	HOU	KC	SEA	CHI	HOU	BOS	WNY	CHI	KC	POR	SEA
	2–0	3–1	1–3	3–1	2–2	1–0	3–2	2–1	1–1	1–0	3–0	3–0	1–1	3–1	2–1	1–1	1–2	0–0	3–3	1–2
Western New York Flash	SEA	POR	BOS	KC	KC	WAS	CHI	HOU	BOS	SEA	SEA	NJ	HOU	POR	NJ	KC	WAS	CHI	CHI	POR
	5–1	1–0	3–1	0–1	0–0	3–2	3–1	2–0	0–2	1–1	4–2	3–3	0–1	0–2	1–2	4–0	1–1	0–0	0–2	3–2

Scores listed as home-away

League standings

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Seattle Reign FC	20	13	4	3	41	21	+20	43	NWSL Shield
2	Chicago Red Stars	20	8	9	3	31	22	+9	33	NWSL Playoffs
3	FC Kansas City (C)	20	9	5	6	32	20	+12	32
4	Washington Spirit	20	8	6	6	31	28	+3	30
5	Houston Dash	20	6	6	8	21	26	−5	24
6	Portland Thorns FC	20	6	5	9	27	29	−2	23
7	Western New York Flash	20	6	5	9	24	34	−10	23
8	Sky Blue FC	20	5	7	8	22	28	−6	22
9	Boston Breakers	20	4	3	13	22	43	−21	15

Source: NWSL
Rules for classification: Tiebreakers
(C) Champions

Tiebreakers

The initial determining factor for a team's position in the standings is most points earned, with three points earned for a win, one point for a draw, and zero points for a loss. If two or more teams tie in point total, when determining rank and playoff qualification and seeding, the NWSL uses the following tiebreaker rules, going down the list until all teams are ranked.

If two teams tie:

1. Head-to-head win–loss record between the two teams.
2. Greater goal difference across the entire season (against all teams, not just tied teams).
3. Greatest total number of goals scored (against all teams).
4. Apply #1–3 to games played on the road.
5. Apply #1–3 to games played at home.
6. If teams are still equal, ranking will be determined by a coin toss.

If three or more teams tie, the following rules apply until only two teams remain tied, at which point the two-team tiebreakers listed above are used:

1. Points per game against all other tied teams (total all points earned in games against tied teams and divide by games played against tied teams).
2. Greater goal difference across the entire season (against all teams, not just tied teams).

Weekly live standings

Considering each week to end on a Sunday

Team \ Week	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21
Seattle Reign FC	1	4	6	3	4	5	6	6	3	2	2	2	2	2	1	1	1	1	1	1	1
Chicago Red Stars	5	5	3	2	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	2	2	2	2	2	2	2
FC Kansas City	6	7	8	5	2	3	3	4	7	5	7	4	3	4	4	5	4	3	3	3	3
Washington Spirit	7	6	2	4	5	2	2	2	2	3	3	3	4	3	3	3	3	4	4	4	4
Houston Dash	3	2	4	6	7	7	4	5	5	4	4	6	6	6	5	4	6	6	7	7	5
Portland Thorns FC	2	1	1	1	3	4	5	7	8	7	8	7	7	7	8	7	5	5	5	5	6
Western New York Flash	9	9	9	8	8	9	7	8	6	8	5	5	5	5	6	6	7	7	8	8	7
Sky Blue FC	4	3	5	7	6	8	9	9	9	9	9	9	9	9	7	8	8	8	6	6	8
Boston Breakers	8	7	7	9	9	6	8	3	4	6	6	8	8	8	9	9	9	9	9	9	9

Source: ^{[citation needed]}

Statistical leaders

Top scorers As of September 6, 2015[18] Rank Player Nation Club Goals 1 Crystal Dunn USA Washington Spirit 15 2 Kim Little SCO Seattle Reign FC 10 Allie Long USA Portland Thorns FC Christen Press USA Chicago Red Stars 5 Beverly Yanez USA Seattle Reign FC 9 6 Jess Fishlock WAL Seattle Reign FC 8 7 Jessica McDonald USA Houston Dash 7 8 Sofia Huerta MEX Chicago Red Stars 6 Samantha Kerr AUS Sky Blue FC Kristie Mewis USA Boston Breakers Nadia Nadim DEN Sky Blue FC Amy Rodriguez USA FC Kansas City

Top assists As of September 6, 2015[18] Rank Player Nation Club Assists 1 Kim Little SCO Seattle Reign 7 2 Vanessa DiBernardo USA Chicago Red Stars 5 Kealia Ohai USA Houston Dash Kelley O'Hara USA Sky Blue FC Megan Rapinoe USA Seattle Reign FC 6 Jen Hoy USA Chicago Red Stars 4 Allie Long USA Portland Thorns FC Sam Mewis USA Western New York Flash Christine Nairn USA Washington Spirit Amy Rodriguez USA FC Kansas City Meleana Shim USA Portland Thorns FC Lynn Williams USA Western New York Flash

Goalkeeping

As of September 6, 2015^[18]

(Minimum of 900 minutes played)

Rank	Goalkeeper	Club	GP	MINS	SOG	SVS	GA	GAA	W-L-T	SHO
1	Michele Dalton	Chicago Red Stars	12	1080	58	47	11	0.917	6–1–5	5
2	Nicole Barnhart	FC Kansas City	17	1530	70	54	16	0.941	8–6–3	8
3	Haley Kopmeyer	Seattle Reign FC	11	990	52	41	11	1.000	7–1–3	4
4	Michelle Betos	Portland Thorns FC	14	1260	63	45	18	1.286	5–7–2	2
5	Brittany Cameron	Sky Blue FC	20	1792	114	87	27	1.357	5–8–7	4
6	Erin McLeod	Houston Dash	11	932	74	60	15	1.364	3–4–3	2
7	Kelsey Wys	Washington Spirit	11	990	51	35	16	1.455	5–4–2	3
8	Chantel Jones	Western New York Flash	13	1155	81	60	21	1.615	4–4–5	2
9	Alyssa Naeher	Boston Breakers	12	1080	95	65	30	2.500	2–9–1	0

NWSL Playoffs

Further information: NWSL Playoffs

The top four teams from the regular season will compete for the NWSL Championship.

	Semi-finals					Championship
	1	Seattle Reign FC	3
	4	Washington Spirit	0
						1	Seattle Reign FC	0
						3	FC Kansas City	1
	2	Chicago Red Stars	0
	3	FC Kansas City	3

Semi-finals

September 13, 2015

12:30pm (CDT)

Chicago Red Stars	0–3	FC Kansas City
Johnson  66'	Report	Rodriguez 12', 25' Tymrak 21'

Toyota Park
Bridgeview, Illinois

Attendance: 2,013

Referee: Karen Abt

September 13, 2015

6:30pm (PDT)

Seattle Reign FC	3–0	Washington Spirit
Mathias  52' Yanez 71' Rapinoe 75' Nogueira 90'	Report

Memorial Stadium
Seattle, Washington

Attendance: 5,021

Referee: Christopher Spivey

Championship

October 1, 2015

6:30pm (PDT)

Seattle Reign FC	0–1	FC Kansas City
	Report	Sauerbrunn  76' Rodriguez 78'

Providence Park
Portland, Oregon^[19]

Attendance: 13,264

Referee: Katja Koroleva

Individual awards

Monthly awards

See also: NWSL Player of the Month

Month	Player of the Month		Club	Month's Statline
April		Christen Press[20]	Chicago Red Stars	4G, 1A in 2 games; Red Stars 1-0-1 in April
May		Sofia Huerta[21]	Chicago Red Stars	5G, 1A in 5 games; Red Stars 3-0-2 in May
June		Kim Little[22]	Seattle Reign FC	3G, 1A in 3 games; Reigh FC 3-0-0 in June
July		Carli Lloyd[23]	Houston Dash	3G in 3 games; Dash 2-1-1 in July (2-0-1 in Lloyd appearances)
August		Crystal Dunn[24]	Washington Spirit	6G, 1A in 6 games; Spirit 2-1-3 in August

Weekly awards

See also: NWSL Player of the Week

See also: NWSL Goal of the Week

Week	Player of the Week		Club	Week's Statline
Week 1		Megan Rapinoe[25]	Seattle Reign FC	3G, 1A
Week 2		Christen Press[26]	Chicago Red Stars	2G, 1A
Week 3		Crystal Dunn[27]	Washington Spirit	2G
Week 4		Becky Edwards[28]	Western New York Flash	1G, 1A
Week 5		Sofia Huerta[29]	Chicago Red Stars	2G, 1A
Week 6		Sofia Huerta[30]	Chicago Red Stars	2G
Week 7		Bianca Henninger[31]	Houston Dash	8 saves
Week 8		Crystal Dunn[32]	Washington Spirit	1G (GWG)
Week 9		Jessica Fishlock[33]	Seattle Reign	1G, 1A
Week 10		Michelle Betos[34]	Portland Thorns FC	4 saves, 1G (GTG)
Week 11		Crystal Dunn[35]	Washington Spirit	1G (GWG)
Week 12		Sinead Farrelly[36]	Portland Thorns FC	1G (GWG)
Week 13		Shea Groom[37]	FC Kansas City	1G (GWG), 2A
Week 14		Michelle Heyman[38]	Western New York Flash	1G
Week 15		Beverly Yanez[39]	Seattle Reign FC	2G
Week 16		Crystal Dunn[40]	Washington Spirit	3G (GWG)
Week 17		Alyssa Naeher[41]	Boston Breakers	12 saves in August 8 Spirit game
Week 18		Crystal Dunn[42]	Washington Spirit	1G (GWG)
Week 19		Kim Little[43]	Seattle Reign FC	3G (GWG)
Week 20		Crystal Dunn[44]	Washington Spirit	2G 1A
Week 21		Karina LeBlanc[45]	Chicago Red Stars	19 Shots/10 SOG/9 Saves vs Houston

Annual awards

Award	Winner
Golden Boot [46]	Crystal Dunn	Washington Spirit	15 goals
Rookie of the Year [47]	Danielle Colaprico	Chicago Red Stars	Played in all 20 games
Goalkeeper of the Year [48]	Michelle Betos	Portland Thorns FC	1.286 GAA, 45 saves
Defender of the Year [49]	Becky Sauerbrunn	FC Kansas City	990 minutes
Coach of the Year [50]	Laura Harvey	Seattle Reign	13–3–4 regular season
Most Valuable Player [51]	Crystal Dunn	Washington Spirit	15 goals, 3 assists

NWSL Best XI [52]
Position	First team			Second team
Goalkeeper	Michelle Betos	Portland Thorns FC	45 saves	Nicole Barnhart	FC Kansas City	8 shutouts
Defender	Lauren Barnes	Seattle Reign FC	1,800 minutes	Stephanie Cox	Seattle Reign FC	1,800 minutes
Defender	Julie Johnston	Chicago Red Stars	1.10 team GAA	Kendall Fletcher	Seattle Reign FC	2 goals, 2 assists
Defender	Amy LePeilbet	FC Kansas City	1,800 minutes	Arin Gilliland	Chicago Red Stars	1.10 team GAA
Defender	Becky Sauerbrunn	FC Kansas City	1.00 team GAA	Leigh Ann Robinson	FC Kansas City	1,800 minutes
Midfielder	Jess Fishlock	Seattle Reign FC	8 goals, 2 assists	Danielle Colaprico	Chicago Red Stars	1,776 minutes
Midfielder	Kim Little	Seattle Reign FC	10 goals, 7 assists	Lauren Holiday	FC Kansas City	2 goals, 2 assists
Midfielder	Allie Long	Portland Thorns FC	10 goals, 4 assists	Carli Lloyd	Houston Dash	4 goals
FW // MF	Crystal Dunn	Washington Spirit	15 goals, 3 assists	Keelin Winters	Seattle Reign FC	1,654 minutes
Forward	Christen Press	Chicago Red Stars	10 goals, 2 assists	Sofia Huerta	Chicago Red Stars	6 goals, 3 assists
Forward	Beverly Yanez	Seattle Reign FC	9 goals	Megan Rapinoe	Seattle Reign FC	5 goals, 5 assists

NWSL Championship Game MVP[4]
Player	Club	Record
Amy Rodriguez	FC Kansas City	Scored the game-winning goal