Christen Press and Makenzie Doniak battle during the Red Stars’ win over the Courage. (Photo copyright Lewis Gettier)
| W | L | D | GF | GA | PTS | |
| North Carolina Courage | 4 | 2 | 0 | 8 | 7 | 12 |
| Sky Blue FC | 3 | 2 | 1 | 10 | 8 | 10 |
| Chicago Red Stars | 3 | 2 | 1 | 7 | 5 | 10 |
| Seattle Reign FC | 2 | 1 | 3 | 15 | 10 | 9 |
| Portland Thorns FC | 2 | 1 | 3 | 7 | 5 | 9 |
| FC Kansas City | 2 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 3 | 8 |
| Boston Breakers | 2 | 2 | 2 | 7 | 6 | 8 |
| Orlando Pride | 1 | 2 | 3 | 7 | 9 | 6 |
| Houston Dash | 2 | 4 | 0 | 6 | 12 | 7 |
| Washington Spirit | 1 | 4 | 1 | 7 | 13 | 4 |
Results and Schedule
| Boston Breakers | 2-2 | Portland Thorns FC |
| Dowie (38) | recap | Nadim (57, pk) |
| White (48) | att: 3,321 | Nadim (83) |
| Sky Blue FC | 2-1 | Houston Dash |
| Killion (20, pk) | recap | Andressinha (40) |
| Rodriguez (85) | D’Avanzo | |
| att: 2,476 |
| Washington Spirit | 0-1 | FC Kansas City |
| recap | Newfield (39) | |
| Gordon | ||
| att: 3,714 |
| North Carolina Courage | 1-3 | Chicago Red Stars |
| Williams (55) | recap | Press (30, pk) |
| att: 4,786 | Huerta (37) | |
| DiBernardo (45) |
| Seattle Reign FC | 1-1 | Orlando Pride |
| Yanez (40) | recap | Marta (52) |
| att: 4,037 |
Week 7 Wednesday
Sky Blue FC at North Carolina Courage, 7:30 p.m. EDT
Week 7 Saturday
Seattle Reign FC at Houston Dash, 4:00 p.m. EDT
North Carolina Courage at Chicago Red Stars, 4:00 p.m. EDT
Orlando Pride at Sky Blue FC, 7:00 p.m. EDT
Washington Spirit at FC Kansas City, 8:00 p.m. EDT
Boston Breakers at Portland Thorns FC, 10:00 p.m. EDT
What they said
Orlando Pride coach Tom Sermanni (via Seattle Reign FC)
(On the match as a whole) “We’re delighted to come here and come away with a point. This is a bit of a fortress, and Seattle has a habit of scoring a great many goals. To come away with a 1-1 draw is a great result for us. We had to play tough the last 25 minutes, I thought we had great momentum the start of the second half, but as it kept going it looked like we got a little bit nervy. We put ourselves in a considerable amount of pressure, but I thought we defended valiantly, and really kind of toughed out the game in the last 25 minutes. All in all, if I was given a point before we came here I would’ve gladly taken it.”
(On Ashlyn Harris’ status) “I’ve barely talked to them at the end of the game, but we think it’s something up around the hip flexor, and hopefully it’s not too serious. At this stage we need to get it assessed and go from there. I didn’t see what happened to her to be honest.”
(On the defensive performance) “I think what we did was defend really well, we got bodies where we needed bodies, we blocked things where we needed to block things, and we got people behind the ball when we had to. We just kept things tight. One of the things we talked about before we started leading into the game was to make sure we didn’t get ourselves stretched and outnumbered defensively. I thought we did that really well and the defensive discipline was good, so that any opportunity that Seattle got they had to work really hard for.”
(On Marta fitting in with the squad) “The first thing with Marta is she has fit in unbelievably well both on and off the field, she’s been an absolute pleasure and treasure. Great professional, great with the players, and really has fit in the team very easily. I think it’s probably since we’ve had two Brazilians in the team and our club has got Brazilian ownership. In a sense coming into the team might’ve been a little easier with the environment. She’s just fit in exceptionally well and it’s ironic in a sense that, not so much tonight but in previous games, the amount of opportunities that Marta has created. I’m really waiting for Alex [Morgan] to come back and I’m sure she’ll finish off a lot of chances. It was tough enough last year because we didn’t create a lot being a first year team, and Alex was working exceptionally hard for the occasional chance that she got during the games. But I think with Marta and being enough of a team now and Alex coming back in, I think we got two of the most potent strikers in the league. I’m very much looking forward to it.”
Story lines to follow
Here are some story lines we’ll be following this week:
-How serious is the injury to Ashlyn Harris?
-Can the Breakers, Red Stars, and Blues get back to back results against the same opponents?
-Can the Dash halt their losing skid against team they have never taken a point off?
-How many minutes will Mal Pugh play after first full week of training?
