2017 National Women's Soccer League season

The 2017 National Women's Soccer League season was the fifth 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 eleventh overall season of FIFA- and USSF-sanctioned top-division women's soccer in the United States. The league is operated by the United States Soccer Federation and receives major financial backing from that body. Further financial backing is provided by the Canadian Soccer Association; both national federations pay 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	2017
Dates	April 15–October 14
Champions	Portland Thorns FC
NWSL Shield	North Carolina Courage
Matches played	120
Goals scored	344 (2.87 per match)
Top goalscorer	Sam Kerr (17 goals)
Biggest home win	ORL 5–0 SKY (Aug 12)
Biggest away win	HOU 0–4 NC (Sep 27)
Highest scoring	SEA 5–4 SKY (Jul 22) SKY 5–4 SEA (Aug 19)
Longest winning run	5 games North Carolina Courage (Aug 5 – Aug 30) Orlando Pride (Aug 8 – Sep 2)
Longest unbeaten run	9 games Orlando Pride (Aug 8 – Sep 30)
Longest winless run	10 games Boston Breakers (Jul 7 – Sep 10)
Longest losing run	6 games Houston Dash (May 6 – Jun 17)
Highest attendance	21,144 POR 3–1 CHI (Sep 30)
Lowest attendance	428 KC 2–1 POR (Aug 16)
Total attendance	609,957
Average attendance	5,083
← 2016 2018 → All statistics correct as of October 1, 2017.

The reigning champions Western New York Flash did not play under that name; the franchise was sold, relocated to Cary, North Carolina and rebranded as the North Carolina Courage.^[1]

After schedule disruptions in the previous two years caused by the 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup and the 2016 Summer Olympics, NWSL teams in 2017 once again played 24 games, a schedule last played during the 2014 season.^[2] The Courage won the NWSL Shield (the regular season), topping the Portland Thorns by two points.

The NWSL Playoff semifinals were held October 7–8, 2017, and were won by the Thorns and the Courage. The NWSL Championship Game was held on October 14, 2017 at Orlando City Stadium in Orlando, Florida.^[3] The Thorns won 1–0, becoming NWSL Champions, their second championship.

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 4,000 Chicago Red Stars Toyota Park 20,000 Houston Dash BBVA Compass Stadium 7,000 (22,039) FC Kansas City Swope Soccer Village (primary)[4] Children's Mercy Park (secondary) 3,500 18,467 North Carolina Courage Sahlen's Stadium at WakeMed Soccer Park 10,000 Orlando Pride Orlando City Stadium 25,500 Portland Thorns Providence Park 21,144 Seattle Reign FC Memorial Stadium 6,088 (12,000) Sky Blue FC Yurcak Field 5,000 Washington Spirit Maryland SoccerPlex 4,000

Breakers Red Stars Kansas City Dash Courage Pride Thorns Reign Sky Blue Spirit Locations National Women's Soccer League teams.

Personnel and sponsorship

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

Team	Head coach	Captain	Shirt sponsor
Boston Breakers	Matt Beard	Julie King Natasha Dowie	Steward Health Care
Chicago Red Stars	Rory Dames	Christen Press	Illinois Bone and Joint Institute
Houston Dash	Omar Morales (Interim)	Kealia Ohai Amber Brooks	BBVA Compass
FC Kansas City	Vlatko Andonovski	Becky Sauerbrunn	Domino's
North Carolina Courage	Paul Riley	Abby Erceg	Blue Cross & Blue Shield of North Carolina
Orlando Pride	Tom Sermanni	Ashlyn Harris Ali Krieger	Orlando Health
Portland Thorns	Mark Parsons	Christine Sinclair Tobin Heath	Providence Health & Services
Seattle Reign FC	Laura Harvey	Jess Fishlock Lauren Barnes	Microsoft
Sky Blue FC	Vacant	Christie Pearce	Meridian Health
Washington Spirit	Jim Gabarra	Shelina Zadorsky	ProChain Solutions, Inc.

Coaching changes

Team	Outgoing manager	Manner of departure	Date of vacancy	Incoming manager	Date of appointment	Ref.
North Carolina Courage		Franchise relocation		Paul Riley	January 30, 2017	[5]
Houston Dash	Randy Waldrum	Mutual separation	May 29, 2017	Omar Morales (interim)	May 29, 2017	[6]
Sky Blue FC	Christy Holly	Mutual separation	August 16, 2017			[7]

Competition format

• Each team played a total of 24 games, 12 home and 12 away.
• The four teams at the end of the season with the most points qualified for the playoffs.

League standings

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	North Carolina Courage	24	16	1	7	38	22	+16	49	NWSL Shield
2	Portland Thorns FC (C)	24	14	5	5	37	20	+17	47	NWSL Playoffs
3	Orlando Pride	24	11	7	6	45	31	+14	40
4	Chicago Red Stars	24	11	6	7	33	30	+3	39
5	Seattle Reign FC	24	9	7	8	43	37	+6	34
6	Sky Blue FC	24	10	3	11	42	51	−9	33
7	FC Kansas City	24	8	7	9	29	31	−2	31
8	Houston Dash	24	7	3	14	23	39	−16	24
9	Boston Breakers	24	4	7	13	24	35	−11	19
10	Washington Spirit	24	5	4	15	30	48	−18	19

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,^[8] going down the list until all teams are ranked.

1. Head-to-head win–loss record between the teams (or points-per-game if more than 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.

NOTE: If two clubs remain tied after another club with the same number of points advances during any step, the tie breaker reverts to step 1 of the two-club format.

Weekly live standings

Considering each week to end on a Sunday.

Week →	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22
Team ↓
North Carolina Courage	4	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	2	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1
Portland Thorns	3	4	3	2	3	5	5	3	4	4	5	5	4	3	3	2	2	2	2	2	2	2
Orlando Pride	10	10	10	10	9	8	8	7	6	7	6	6	6	7	7	4	4	4	4	4	4	3
Chicago Red Stars	9	6	8	4	6	3	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	1	2	3	3	3	3	3	3	4
Seattle Reign FC	5	2	5	6	2	4	4	5	5	5	3	4	5	4	4	5	5	6	5	5	5	5
Sky Blue FC	6	8	6	8	4	2	3	4	3	3	4	3	3	5	5	6	6	5	6	6	6	6
FC Kansas City	2	3	7	7	8	7	6	6	7	6	7	8	9	9	10	8	7	7	7	7	7	7
Houston Dash	1	7	4	5	7	9	9	9	10	9	8	7	7	6	6	7	8	8	8	8	8	8
Boston Breakers	8	5	2	3	5	6	7	8	9	10	9	9	8	8	8	9	9	9	9	10	9	9
Washington Spirit	7	9	9	9	10	10	10	10	8	8	10	10	10	10	9	10	10	10	10	9	10	10

Washington Spirit and Boston Breakers were eliminated from playoff contention in Week 18 on August 26, 2017 after losing their respective games.^[9][10] FC Kansas City and Houston Dash were both eliminated in Week 20 on September 9, after the Chicago Red Stars gained one more point in a tie against FC Kansas City.^[11][12] Sky Blue FC was eliminated later that weekend after a loss against the Washington Spirit.^[13] Seattle Reign was the last team to lose a playoff spot after a defeat in Week 21.^[14]

In Week 19, North Carolina Courage was the first team to clinch a playoff spot.^[15] Later that week, Portland Thorns clinched the second playoff spot.^[16] Both Chicago Red Stars and Orlando Pride clinched the remaining two spots in Week 21.^[17]

Attendance

See also: National Women's Soccer League attendance

Average home attendances

Ranked from highest to lowest average attendance.

Team	GP	Attendance	High	Low	Average
Portland Thorns FC	12	211,830	21,144	14,471	17,653
Orlando Pride	12	74,233	14,452	4,273	6,186
Houston Dash	12	54,938	6,707	1,258	4,578
North Carolina Courage	12	52,672	7,020	2,383	4,389
Seattle Reign FC	12	48,449	6,041	2,727	4,037
Washington Spirit	12	41,891	5,200	2,365	3,491
Chicago Red Stars	12	38,379	4,934	1,827	3,198
Boston Breakers	12	34,754	4,321	2,276	2,896
Sky Blue FC	12	31,355	3,451	2,008	2,613
FC Kansas City	12	21,456	3,340	428	1,788
Total	120	609,957	21,144	428	5,083

Updated to games played on October 1, 2017.^[18]

Highest attendances

Regular season

Rank	Home team	Score	Away team	Attendance	Date	Stadium
1	Portland Thorns FC	3–1	Chicago Red Stars	21,144	September 30, 2017 (2017-09-30)	Providence Park
2	Portland Thorns FC	2–0	Houston Dash	19,672	August 19, 2017 (2017-08-19)	Providence Park
3	Portland Thorns FC	4–0	Washington Spirit	19,141	September 2, 2017 (2017-09-02)	Providence Park
4	Portland Thorns FC	2–0	Boston Breakers	18,637	May 27, 2017 (2017-05-27)	Providence Park
5	Portland Thorns FC	2–1	Washington Spirit	18,478	July 22, 2017 (2017-07-22)	Providence Park
6	Portland Thorns FC	2–1	Houston Dash	18,243	August 5, 2017 (2017-08-05)	Providence Park
7	Portland Thorns FC	4–1	Orlando Pride	18,193	October 7, 2017 (2017-10-07)	Providence Park
8	Portland Thorns FC	1–0	North Carolina Courage	16,804	July 15, 2017 (2017-07-15)	Providence Park
9	Portland Thorns FC	1–3	Sky Blue FC	16,736	June 17, 2017 (2017-06-17)	Providence Park
10	Portland Thorns FC	3–0	FC Kansas City	16,199	June 28, 2017 (2017-06-28)	Providence Park

Updated to games played on October 7, 2017.^[18]

Statistical leaders

Top scorers Rank Player Club Goals 1 Sam Kerr Sky Blue FC 17 2 Marta Orlando Pride 13 3 Megan Rapinoe Seattle Reign FC 12 4 Christen Press Chicago Red Stars 11 5 Alex Morgan Orlando Pride 9 Lynn Williams North Carolina Courage 7 Christine Sinclair Portland Thorns FC 8 8 Natasha Dowie Boston Breakers 7 Jessica Fishlock Seattle Reign FC Ashley Hatch North Carolina Courage Updated: October 1, 2017[NWSL Stats 1]

Top assists Rank Player Club Assists 1 Nahomi Kawasumi Seattle Reign FC 9 2 Shea Groom FC Kansas City 6 Meghan Klingenberg Portland Thorns FC Adriana Leon Boston Breakers Marta Orlando Pride 6 Daphne Corboz Sky Blue FC 5 Taylor Lytle Sky Blue FC Camila Orlando Pride Lynn Williams North Carolina Courage Updated: October 1, 2017[NWSL Stats 1]

NWSL Playoffs

Further information: NWSL Playoffs

The top four teams from the regular season competed for the NWSL Championship. In one semifinal, the North Carolina Courage defeated the Chicago Red Stars 1–0 on a dramatic 89th-minute goal. In the other, Portland Thorns FC defeated the Orlando Pride 4–1. One week later, in the final on October 14, Portland defeated North Carolina 1–0 to claim the NWSL Championship.

	Semi-finals					Championship
	2	Portland Thorns FC	4
	3	Orlando Pride	1
						2	Portland Thorns FC	1
						1	North Carolina Courage	0
	1	North Carolina Courage	1
	4	Chicago Red Stars	0

Semi-finals

October 7, 2017

12:30pm (PDT)

Portland Thorns FC	4–1	Orlando Pride
Henry 12'  80' Sonnett 15' Raso 71' Sinclair 82'	Report Report	Kennedy 23'

Providence Park
Portland, Oregon

Attendance: 18,193

Referee: Timothy Ford

October 8, 2017

3:30pm (EDT)

North Carolina Courage	1–0	Chicago Red Stars
O'Sullivan 89'	Report Report	Colaprico  36'

Sahlen’s Stadium at WakeMed Soccer Park
Cary, North Carolina

Attendance: 10,017

Referee: Ramy Touchan

Championship

October 14, 2017

4:30pm (EDT)

North Carolina Courage	0–1	Portland Thorns FC
	Report Report	Heath  41' Raso  45+1' Horan 50' Brynjarsdóttir  72'

Orlando City Stadium
Orlando, Florida

Attendance: 8,124

Referee: Danielle Chesky

Individual awards

Monthly awards

Player of the Month

See also: NWSL Player of the Month

Month	Player of the Month		Club	Month's Statline
April		Rose Lavelle[19]	Boston Breakers	1 goal, 1 assist in 3 games; Breakers 2-1-0 in April
May		Sam Kerr[20]	Sky Blue FC	2 goals, 2 assists in 5 games; Sky Blue FC 3-2-0 in May
June		Sam Kerr[21]	Sky Blue FC	3 goals, 1 assist in 4 games; 30th career goal
July		Megan Rapinoe[22]	Seattle Reign FC	5 goals in 4 games; Reign FC 2-1-1 in July
August		Alex Morgan[23]	Orlando Pride	7 goals, 2 assists, 13 shots on goal, 11 chances created
September		Marta[24]	Orlando Pride	2 goals, 13 chances created, 85.5% passing accuracy

Team of the Month

See also: NWSL Team of the Month

Month	Goalkeeper	Defenders	Midfielders	Forwards	Ref
April	Stephanie Labbé, WAS	Estelle Johnson, WAS Becky Sauerbrunn, KC Emily Sonnett, POR	Julie Ertz, CHI Debinha, NC Rose Lavelle, BOS Jess Fishlock, SEA Sam Mewis, NC	Kealia Ohai, HOU Lynn Williams, NC	[25]
May	Kailen Sheridan, NJ	Samantha Johnson, CHI Becky Sauerbrunn, KC Casey Short, CHI	Danielle Colaprico, CHI Amandine Henry, POR Rose Lavelle, BOS Sarah Killion, NJ	Nahomi Kawasumi, SEA Christen Press, CHI Sam Kerr, NJ	[26]
June	Stephanie Labbé, WAS	Casey Short, CHI Abby Dahlkemper, NC Ali Krieger, ORL Estelle Johnson, WAS	Marta, ORL Sam Mewis, NC Jess Fishlock, SEA	Megan Rapinoe, SEA Sam Kerr, NJ Ashley Hatch, NC	[27]
July	Jane Campbell, HOU	Amber Brooks, KC Abby Dahlkemper, NC Casey Short, CHI Taylor Smith, NC	Andressinha, HOU Julie Ertz, CHI Marta, ORL McCall Zerboni, NC	Sam Kerr, NJ Megan Rapinoe, SEA	[28]
August	Katelyn Rowland, NC	Steph Catley, ORL Emily Sonnett, POR Ali Krieger, ORL Taylor Smith, NC	Marta, ORL Sam Mewis, NC Lindsey Horan, POR	Hayley Raso, POR Alex Morgan, ORL Sam Kerr, NJ	[29]
September	Adrianna Franch, POR	Emily Menges, POR Kelley O'Hara, NJ Becky Sauerbrunn, KC Casey Short, CHI	Alanna Kennedy, ORL Marta, ORL Sam Mewis, NC	Shea Groom, KC Christine Sinclair, POR Lynn Williams, NC	[30]

Weekly awards

See also: NWSL Player of the Week

See also: NWSL Goal of the Week

See also: NWSL Save of the Week

Week	NWSL Player of the Week		NWSL Goal of the Week		NWSL Save of the Week		Reference
	Player	Club	Player	Club	Player	Club
1	Haley Kopmeyer	Seattle Reign FC	Rachel Daly	Houston Dash	Ashlyn Harris	Orlando Pride	[31][32]
2	Jess Fishlock	Seattle Reign FC	Danica Evans	Orlando Pride	Mônica	Orlando Pride	[31][33][34]
3	Adriana Leon	Boston Breakers	Camila	Orlando Pride	Adrianna Franch	Portland Thorns FC	[35][36][37]
4	Francisca Ordega	Washington Spirit	Jess Fishlock	Seattle Reign FC	Ashlyn Harris	Orlando Pride	[38][39][40]
5	Nahomi Kawasumi	Seattle Reign FC	Christen Press	Chicago Red Stars	Alyssa Naeher	Chicago Red Stars	[41][42][43]
6	Christen Press	Chicago Red Stars	Sofia Huerta	Chicago Red Stars	Abby Smith	Boston Breakers	[44][45][46]
7	Sydney Leroux	FC Kansas City	Becky Sauerbrunn	FC Kansas City	Danielle Colaprico	Chicago Red Stars	[47][48][49]
8	Lindsey Horan	Portland Thorns FC	Lindsey Horan	Portland Thorns FC	Adrianna Franch	Portland Thorns FC	[50][51][52]
9	Sam Kerr	Sky Blue FC	Camila	Orlando Pride	Aubrey Bledsoe	Orlando Pride	[53][54][55]
10	Poliana	Houston Dash	Vanessa DiBernardo	Chicago Red Stars	Steph Catley	Orlando Pride	[56][57][58]
11	Megan Rapinoe	Seattle Reign FC	Sam Kerr	Sky Blue FC	Stephanie Labbé	Washington Spirit	[59][60][61]
12	Sam Kerr	Sky Blue FC	Lindsey Horan	Portland Thorns FC	Aubrey Bledsoe	Orlando Pride	[62]
13	Andressinha	Houston Dash	Toni Pressley	Orlando Pride	Aubrey Bledsoe	Orlando Pride	[63][64][65]
14	Megan Rapinoe	Seattle Reign FC	Megan Rapinoe	Seattle Reign FC	Alyssa Naeher	Chicago Red Stars	[66]
			Christen Press	Chicago Red Stars
15	Arielle Ship	Washington Spirit	Sofia Huerta	Chicago Red Stars	Adrianna Franch	Portland Thorns FC	[67]
16	Sam Mewis	North Carolina Courage	Marta	Orlando Pride	Adrianna Franch	Portland Thorns FC	[68]
17	Sam Kerr	Sky Blue FC	Sam Kerr	Sky Blue FC	Ashlyn Harris	Orlando Pride	[69]
18	Hayley Raso	Portland Thorns FC	Alex Morgan	Orlando Pride	Ashlyn Harris	Orlando Pride	[70][71][72]
19	Shea Groom	FC Kansas City	Julie Ertz	Chicago Red Stars	Jane Campbell	Houston Dash	[73][74][75]
20	Whitney Church	Washington Spirit	Christine Sinclair	Portland Thorns	DiDi Haracic Whitney Church	Washington Spirit	[76][77][78]
21	Adriana Leon	Boston Breakers	Rachel Daly	Houston Dash	Ashlyn Harris Mônica	Orlando Pride	[79][80][81]
22	Jess Fishlock	Seattle Reign	Alanna Kennedy	Orlando Pride	Ashlyn Harris	Orlando Pride	[82][83][84]

Annual awards

Award	Winner	Team	Notes
Golden Boot [85]	Sam Kerr	Sky Blue FC	17 goals
Coach of the Year [86]	Paul Riley	North Carolina Courage	NWSL Shield Winner
Rookie of the Year [87]	Ashley Hatch	North Carolina Courage	7 goals, 1 assist, 1,200 minutes
Goalkeeper of the Year [88]	Adrianna Franch	Portland Thorns FC	11 shutouts, 80 saves, 0.83 GA/A
Defender of the Year [89]	Abby Dahlkemper	North Carolina Courage	Played all 2,160 minutes
Most Valuable Player [90]	Sam Kerr	Sky Blue FC	League record 17 goals

NWSL Best XI
Position	First team [91]			Second team [92]
Goalkeeper	Adrianna Franch	Portland Thorns FC	11 SO; 80 saves	Katelyn Rowland	North Carolina Courage	8 SO, 39 saves
Defender	Casey Short	Chicago Red Stars	2,004 minutes	Steph Catley	Orlando Pride	2,032 minutes
Defender	Abby Dahlkemper	North Carolina Courage	2,160 minutes	Abby Erceg	North Carolina Courage	1 goal, 2 assists
Defender	Becky Sauerbrunn	FC Kansas City	1,980 minutes	Meghan Klingenberg	Portland Thorns FC	6 assists
Defender	Ali Krieger	Orlando Pride	2,160 minutes	Emily Menges	Portland Thorns FC	2,063 minutes
Midfielder	Jess Fishlock	Seattle Reign FC	7 goals, 2 assists	Danielle Colaprico	Chicago Red Stars	1,093 minutes
Midfielder	Sam Mewis	North Carolina Courage	6 goals, 3 assists	Julie Ertz	Chicago Red Stars	4 goals, 3 assists
Midfielder	McCall Zerboni	North Carolina Courage	23 starts	Lindsey Horan	Portland Thorns FC	4 goals, 2 assists
FW // MF	Marta	Orlando Pride	13 goals, 6 assists	Sofia Huerta	Chicago Red Stars	6 goals, 4 assists
Forward	Sam Kerr	Sky Blue FC	record 17 goals	Alex Morgan	Orlando Pride	9 goals, 4 assists
Forward	Christen Press	Chicago Red Stars	5 GWG	Megan Rapinoe	Seattle Reign FC	12 goals, 1 assist

NWSL Championship Game MVP
Player	Club	Record
Lindsey Horan	Portland Thorns FC	Scored the game-winning goal