National Women's Soccer League 2014

National Women's Soccer League 2014
master	Kansas City FC
Teams	9
Games	108
Gates	328  (ø 3.04 per game)
spectator	445,487  (ø 4125 per game)
Top scorer	Kim Little (16 goals)
← 2013 2015 →

The National Women's Soccer League 2014 is the second season of the US women's soccer league National Women's Soccer League . The regular season began on April 13 and ended on August 20, 2014 with the catch-up game Sky Blue FC against Houston Dash . This was followed by a play-off with the four best teams of the season, which played the NWSL championship in two semi-finals and one final. The defending champion was Portland Thorns FC , the 2013 regular season the Western New York Flash franchise finished first.

The financial support of the league by the Mexican Football Association, as in the 2013 season, was initially uncertain. This was justified by the fact that only a comparatively few of the players posted by the association had been able to prevail in their respective teams.

First place after the regular season was Seattle Reign FC . Last year's champions Portland were able to qualify for the play-offs in third place, but were eliminated in the semifinals against FC Kansas City . This was able to prevail in the final against Seattle 2-1 and thus secure the title for the first time.

Participating franchises

The same eight franchises took part in the 2014 season as in the previous year, plus the newly founded Houston Dash as the first expansion of the NWSL field of participants. A larger expansion of the field of participants originally planned was initially discarded, but the inclusion of Dash was announced in December 2013. The Sky Blue FC was before the season starts in discussions with the men's team of New York Red Bulls for the purpose of cooperation in various fields, including the use of the Red Bull Arena as a home ground. However, the owners of Sky Blue FC ultimately rejected an already negotiated concept for cooperation.

Franchises and venues

The Boston Breakers moved from Dilboy Stadium in Somerville to the much larger and more centrally located Harvard Stadium for the 2014 season , while FC Kansas City moved to the smaller Stanley H. Durwood Stadium , which is equipped with a football field .

franchise place Stadion capacity Boston Breakers Somerville , Massachusetts Harvard Stadium 30,323 Chicago Red Stars Lisle , Illinois Sports Complex at Benedictine University 3,000 Houston Dash Houston , Texas BBVA Compass Stadium 7,000 Kansas City FC Kansas City , Kansas Verizon Wireless Field at Durwood Stadium 3,200 Portland Thorns FC Portland , Oregon Providence Park 20,438 Seattle Reign FC Seattle , Washington Memorial Stadium 6,000 Sky Blue FC Piscataway Township , New Jersey Yurcak Field 5,000 Washington Spirit Washington, DC Maryland SoccerPlex 5.126 Western New York Flash Elma , New York Sahlen's Stadium 13,768

Breakers Red stars Dash Kansas City Thorns Reign Sky blue Spirit Flash 2014 National Women's Soccer League venues

Players

Prior to the season, a total of 50 national players from the United States , Canada and Mexico were allocated to the nine participating franchises in the so-called player allocation :

→ National Women's Soccer League 2014 / Player Allocation

This was followed by a so-called draft round, in which the new Houston Dash franchise was allowed to choose a total of up to ten players from the other franchises:

→ National Women's Soccer League 2014 / Expansion-Draft

A second draft round followed, in which the teams were able to sign college players:

→ National Women's Soccer League 2014 / College Draft

mode

In the regular season, each team played a total of 24 games, including twelve home and twelve away games. Each team played three games against the eight other teams; Two home games and one away game were played against four teams, one home game and two away games each against the four other teams.

The four best-placed teams at the end of the season qualified for the play-offs. The semi-finals, in which the first placed fourth and the second placed third, took place on 23/24. August. The two winners met in the final, which was held on August 30th.

statistics

table

Pl.	society	Sp.	S.	U	N	Gates	Diff.	Points
1.	Seattle Reign FC	24	16	6th	2	050:200	+30	54
2.	Kansas City FC	24	12	5	7th	039:320	+7	41
3.	Portland Thorns FC	24	10	6th	8th	039:350	+4	36
4th	Washington Spirit	24	10	5	9	036:430	−7	35
5.	Chicago Red Stars	24	9	8th	7th	032:260	+6	35
6th	Sky Blue FC	24	9	7th	8th	030:370	−7	34
7th	Western New York Flash	24	8th	4th	12	042:380	+4	28
8th.	Boston Breakers	24	6th	2	16	037:530	−16	20th
9.	Houston Dash	24	5	3	16	023:440	−21	18th

for the play-offs qualify

Results

In the absence of real match days, the games are given for each team in chronological order, with the results line by line from the perspective of the respective team.

team	game
	1	2	3	4th	5	6th	7th	8th	9	10	11	12	13	14th	15th	16	17th	18th	19th	20th	21st	22nd	23	24
Boston Breakers (BOS)	SEA	HOU	NJ	NJ	CHI	CHI	KC	POR	WHAT	KC	WHAT	SEA	NJ	WNY	WHAT	SEA	HOU	POR	WNY	WNY	KC	POR	CHI	HOU
	0: 3	2: 3	3: 2	0: 1	1: 3	1: 4	0: 2	4: 1	2: 3	0: 2	2-0	0: 2	1: 1	1: 2	3: 3	2: 3	1: 2	3: 6	4: 2	3: 4	1: 2 1	2-0	0: 2	1-0
Chicago Red Stars (CHI)	WNY	WHAT	KC	NJ	HOU	BOS	BOS	HOU	NJ	WHAT	SEA	NJ	WNY	KC	POR	POR	SEA	POR	SEA	HOU	WHAT	KC	BOS	WNY
	1-0	0: 1	0: 1	1: 1	1-0	3: 1	4: 1	3: 1	2-0	0: 1	1: 3	2: 2	0: 2	0: 1	2: 2	1: 1	1-0	1: 1	1: 1	0-0	1: 2	2: 1	2-0	3: 3
Houston Dash (HOU)	POR	BOS	SEA	KC	CHI	POR	KC	CHI	WHAT	WNY	WNY	KC	WHAT	NJ	WNY	BOS	WHAT	CHI	SEA	POR	SEA	NJ	BOS	NJ
	0: 1	3: 2	0: 2	0: 4	0: 1	0: 1	2: 2	1: 3	2: 3	2: 1	3-0	2: 1	1: 2	0: 1	1: 4	2: 1	1: 1	0-0	1: 4	0: 1	1: 4	1: 3	0: 1	0: 1
Kansas City FC (KC)	NJ	WHAT	POR	CHI	HOU	WNY	WHAT	SEA	HOU	SEA	BOS	WNY	BOS	HOU	CHI	POR	NJ	POR	WNY	NJ	WHAT	SEA	BOS	CHI
	1: 1	1: 3	1: 3	1-0	4-0	1: 2	2: 1	2: 3	2: 2	1: 1	2-0	1-0	2-0	2: 1	1-0	1-0	5-0	1: 7	1: 1	2: 1	1: 2	1: 1	2: 1 1	1: 2
Portland Thorns FC (POR)	HOU	NJ	KC	WNY	SEA	HOU	WNY	NJ	BOS	WNY	WHAT	WHAT	NJ	KC	CHI	CHI	KC	CHI	BOS	WHAT	SEA	HOU	BOS	SEA
	1-0	1: 1	3: 1	1: 1	0: 1	1-0	2: 1	0: 1	1: 4	0: 5	2-0	6: 1	1: 2	0: 1	2: 2	1: 1	7: 1	1: 1	6: 3	1: 1	0: 5	1-0	0: 2	1-0
Seattle Reign FC (SEA)	BOS	WHAT	HOU	NJ	WHAT	POR	KC	KC	WNY	NJ	CHI	BOS	WNY	NJ	WNY	BOS	CHI	CHI	POR	HOU	KC	HOU	WHAT	POR
	3-0	3: 1	2-0	2-0	2: 1	1-0	3: 2	1: 1	2: 2	3: 1	3: 1	2-0	2: 1	0-0	2: 1	3: 2	0: 1	1: 1	5-0	4: 1	1: 1	4: 1	1: 1	0: 1
Sky Blue FC (NJ)	KC	POR	BOS	SEA	BOS	CHI	WNY	WHAT	POR	CHI	SEA	CHI	BOS	POR	SEA	HOU	KC	WHAT	KC	WNY	HOU	WNY	WHAT	HOU
	1: 1	1: 1	2: 3	0: 2	1-0	1: 1	0: 2	3: 3	1-0	0: 2	1: 3	0: 3	2: 2	1: 1	2: 1	0-0	0: 5	4: 2	1: 2	1-0	3: 1	3: 2	1-0	1-0
Washington Spirit (WAS)	WNY	KC	SEA	CHI	SEA	KC	WNY	NJ	HOU	BOS	CHI	BOS	POR	POR	HOU	BOS	WNY	HOU	NJ	POR	KC	CHI	SEA	NJ
	1: 3	3: 1	1: 3	1-0	1: 2	1: 2	3: 2	3: 3	3: 2	3: 2	1-0	0: 2	0: 2	1: 6	1-0	3: 3	1-0	1: 1	2: 4	1: 1	2: 1	2: 1	1: 1	0: 1
Western New York Flash (WNY)	WHAT	CHI	POR	KC	NJ	WHAT	POR	SEA	HOU	KC	POR	HOU	CHI	SEA	BOS	SEA	HOU	WHAT	KC	BOS	NJ	BOS	NJ	CHI
	3: 1	0: 1	1: 1	2: 1	2-0	2: 3	1: 2	2: 2	1: 2	0: 1	5-0	1: 2	2-0	1: 2	2: 1	1: 2	4: 1	0: 1	1: 1	2: 4	0: 1	4: 3	2: 3	3: 3

¹ The game was abandoned after the 1st half due to a storm and counted with the half-time score.

Legend
Home game	Away game

List of goalscorers

space	Player	society	number
1	Kim Little	Seattle Reign FC	16
2	Amy Rodriguez	Kansas City FC	13
3	Jessica McDonald	Portland Thorns FC	11
	Jodie Taylor	Washington Spirit	11
5	Nahomi Kawasumi	Seattle Reign FC	9
	Samantha Kerr	Western New York Flash	9
	Allie Long	Portland Thorns FC	9
	Heather O'Reilly	Boston Brekers	9
9	Lauren Holiday	Kansas City FC	8th
	Carli Lloyd	Western New York Flash	8th
	Diana Matheson	Washington Spirit	8th

NWSL Championship Play-offs

The four best-placed teams of the regular season qualified for the play-offs.

Semifinals

The semi-finals took place on August 23 and 24, 2014.

	Result
Kansas City FC	2: 0 (0: 0)	Portland Thorns FC
Seattle Reign FC	2: 1 (0: 0)	Washington Spirit

final

The final was played on August 31, 2014 at Starfire Sports Stadium in Tukwila , Washington , as Memorial Stadium , home of Seattle Reign FC since 2014, was occupied that day.

Seattle Reign FC		Kansas City FC
	final August 31, 2014 in Tukwila, Washington Result: 1: 2 (0: 1) Spectators: 4,252 Referee: Margaret Domka Match report
	Hope Solo - Lauren Barnes , Stephanie Cox , Kendall Fletcher , Elli Reed (84th Mariah Nogueira ) - Jessica Fishlock , Kim Little , Keelin Winters - Nahomi Kawasumi , Sydney Leroux (67th Beverly Goebel ), Megan Rapinoe	Nicole Barnhart - Kassey Kallman , Nikki Phillips , Leigh Ann Robinson , Becky Sauerbrunn - Jen Buczkowski , Lauren Holiday , Merritt Mathias (71st Amy LePeilbet ), Jenna Richmond , Erika Tymrak (76th Liz Bogus ) - Amy Rodriguez (64th Sarah Hagen )
	1: 2 Megan Rapinoe (86.)	0: 1 Amy Rodriguez (22nd) 0: 2 Amy Rodriguez (56th)
	Hope Solo (90th + 3 ')	Amy LePeilbet (79th)
	Player of the Match: Lauren Holiday

Change of coach

franchise		Trainer	reason	date	Table position	successor
	Boston Breakers	Cat Whitehill (player-coach, interim)	End of the interim period	03.09.2013 1	Before the start of the season	Tom Durkin
	Portland Thorns FC	Cindy Parlow	resignation	05.12.2013	Before the start of the season	Paul Riley

¹ Date of announcement

Honors

	Laureate	Runner-up	Third place
Most successful goalscorer	Kim Little , 16 goals ( Seattle Reign FC )	Amy Rodriguez , 13 goals ( Kansas City FC )	Jodie Taylor , 11 goals 1 ( Washington Spirit )
Rookie of the year	Julie Johnston ( Chicago Red Stars )	Kealia Ohai ( Houston Dash )	Crystal Dunn ( Washington Spirit )
Goalkeeper of the Year	Alyssa Naeher ( Boston Breakers )	Hope Solo ( Seattle Reign FC )	Ashlyn Harris ( Washington Spirit )
Defender of the Year	Becky Sauerbrunn ( FC Kansas City )	Alexandra Krieger 2 ( Washington Spirit )	Julie Johnston 2 ( Chicago Red Stars )
Coach of the year	Laura Harvey ( Seattle Reign FC )	Mark Parsons ( Washington Spirit )	Vlatko Andonovski ( FC Kansas City )
Most Valuable Player ( MVP )	Kim Little ( Seattle Reign FC )	Verónica Boquete ( Portland Thorns FC )	Amy Rodriguez ( Kansas City FC )

¹ Jessica McDonald also scored eleven goals, but needed three more games than Taylor.

² Shared second place.

Web links

• Official website of the league

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Caitlin Murray: Mexico yet to commit allocations to 2014 NWSL season , equalizersoccer.com (English). Retrieved September 4, 2013.
2. ^ Caitlin Murray: Exclusive: Gulati confirms no NWSL expansion for 2014 , soccerwire.com (English). Retrieved September 4, 2013.
3. ↑ Dan Lauletta: It's official - Houston Dash to join NWSL for 2014 , equalizersoccer.com (English). Retrieved December 13, 2013.
4. ↑ Dan Lauletta: Sky Blue nix Red Bull deal, look to future , equalizersoccer.com (English). Retrieved December 13, 2013.
5. ↑ Boston Breakers to Play at Harvard Stadium in 2014 ( Memento of the original from February 5, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , bostonbreakerssoccer.com (English). Retrieved January 7, 2014. 
6. ↑ Dan Lauletta: FC Kansas City to play to fewer seats, no football lines , equalizersoccer.com (English). Retrieved January 8, 2014.
7. ↑ Dynamo welcome NWSL expansion team: Houston Dash , soccerbyives.net (English). Retrieved April 18, 2014
8. ^ Reign FC confirms its new home will be Seattle Memorial Stadium , seattletimes.com (English). Retrieved April 18, 2014
9. ↑ National Women's Soccer League 2014 Schedule , nwslsoccer.com (English). Retrieved April 22, 2014.