The 2024 National Women’s Soccer League Championship is set. The top two teams on the table, the Orlando Pride and Washington Spirit, will meet for the top prize in domestic women’s soccer. Here are some early storylines to watch when the NWSL descends on Kansas City this week.
Marta back in the bigtime: Marta had never been on the winning side of an NWSL playoff game before this season, but this will not be her first time playing for a trophy in a U.S. pro league. During the three-year run of WPS (Women’s Professional Soccer), Marta played on the top club every season and won in two of three trips to the final. At that time she was the undisputed best player on earth. She is a few notches below that today but at 38 she just enjoyed a remarkable season that was her best since before the pandemic. She punctuated it with a stunning goal on Sunday that turned out to be the game-winner to send the Pride to the final.
Rookies leading the way: While a 38-year old provides the heart and soul for Orlando, the Spirit are led by an incomparable class of rookies that has helped transform a mid-table team into a title contender in one season. Even with likely Rookie of the Year Croix Bethune sidelined since August, her fellow freshmen have continued to carry a good deal of the load. When the Spirit season was down to its final breaths, rookie Makenna Morris delivered a free kick that rookie Hal Hershfelt finished to send Saturday’s semifinal into overtime. The 2015 draft class from the team that became the Courage included five players — Abby Dahlkemper, Sam Mewis, Lynn Williams, Jaelene Daniels (neé Hinkle) and Katelyn Rowland — who were part of multiple NWSL Championships, but that group did not have a fraction of the impact as actual rookies as the Spirit’s current group, which also includes Heather Stainbrook, Kate Wiesner and Courtney Brown.
How will Kansas City react as a neutral city? For the second straight year, the host city’s team was knocked out in the semifinals. A year ago, the Wave was eliminated in the penultimate round, but 25,011 still turned out to San Diego’s Snapdragon Stadium to see Gotham knock off the Reign in the final. Kansas City is a different animal though. CPKC Stadium seats only 11,500, a figure the Current reached in all 13 regular season matches and one playoff game. Filling the place should still happen but it will be interesting to see what the vibe is on the heels of the disappointment of Sunday’s semifinal loss.
New coach, new keeper: Foreign-born coaches are no strangers to the NWSL having won all but two championships and swept Coach of the Year honors. But Jonatan Giráldez is the first coach to arrive in the league on the heels of major success in Europe and then be successful here. Not only did the Spirit win a league-record equaling 18 games in Giráldez’s first season, he did part of his coaching from afar while Barcelona was finishing their season. Assistant Adrian Gonzalez deputized and when Giráldez arrived the team barely missed a beat. Giráldez’s Spanish influence was evident in Washington this season.
On the Orlando side, Anna Moorhouse will become the first goalkeeper born outside North America to start an NWSL Championship. At one time, teams were loathe to use international spots on defensive players, but that trend has changed. Three of the four keepers in this year’s semifinals are from Europe with the German duo of Ann-Katrin Berger and Almuth Schult having helped steady ships at Gotham and Kansas City respectively.
The Rodman factor: When the Spirit played in the NWSL Championship three years ago, Trinity Rodman was just 19. She was also the best player on the park that day in Louisville, as her energy helped turn the match around in the second half. Her pass helped win the penalty that tied the match, and a later pass found Kelley O’Hara for the championship-winning goal in extra time. Will this be the weekend Rodman takes the crown as the undisputed queen of American soccer?
