National Women's Soccer League 2017

National Women's Soccer League 2017
master	Portland Thorns FC (2nd title)
Teams	10
Games	120 + 3 play-off games  (of which 120 played)
Gates	344  (ø 2.87 per game)
spectator	609.957  (ø 5083 per game)
Top scorer	Samantha Kerr (17 goals)
← 2016 2018 →

The National Women's Soccer League in 2017 was the fifth season of the US women's soccer league National Women's Soccer League . The regular season began on April 15 and ended on October 1, 2017. This was followed by a play-off with the four best teams of the season, which played out the NWSL championship in two semi-finals and one final. The defending champion Western New York Flash's franchise was transferred to North Carolina before the start of the season and is now running under the name North Carolina Courage .

First place after the regular season and thus winner of the NWSL Shield was the North Carolina Courage, the successor to last year's NWSL champions. In addition, the winner of the NWSL Shield 2016, Portland Thorns FC , the Chicago Red Stars (as in the two previous years) and, for the first time in their history, the Orlando Pride qualified for the play-offs.

In the first semifinals, Portland clearly beat Orlando 4-1. In the second semifinals, the decision was made shortly before the end of the game for North Carolina, which defeated Chicago 1-0. The final was played by North Carolina and Portland, with Portland winning its second title after 2013 with a 1-0 win .

Franchises and venues

The pre-season franchises took part in the 2017 season. North Carolina Courage took over the playing rights of defending champion Western New York Flash.

franchise place Stadion capacity Boston Breakers Boston , Massachusetts Jordan Field 4,100 Chicago Red Stars Bridgeview , Illinois Toyota Park 22,000 Houston Dash Houston , Texas BBVA Compass Stadium 7,000 Kansas City FC Kansas City , Missouri Swope Soccer Village 3,557 North Carolina Courage Cary , North Carolina WakeMed Soccer Park 10,000 Orlando Pride Orlando , Florida Orlando City Stadium 25,517 Portland Thorns FC Portland , Oregon Providence Park 21,144 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

Breakers Red stars Dash Kansas City Pride Thorns Reign Sky blue Spirit courage 2017 National Women's Soccer League venues

Players

Before the season, the so-called player allocation was used to allocate national players from the United States and Canada to the ten participating franchises.

→ National Women's Soccer League 2017 / Player Allocation

This was followed by a so-called draft round, in which the teams were able to sign college players:

→ National Women's Soccer League 2017 / 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 six teams and two games against the other three teams.

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

statistics

table

Pl.	society	Sp.	S.	U	N	Gates	Diff.	Points
1.	North Carolina Courage	24	16	1	7th	038:220	+16	49
2.	Portland Thorns FC	24	14th	5	5	037:200	+17	47
3.	Orlando Pride	24	11	7th	6th	045:310	+14	40
4th	Chicago Red Stars	24	11	6th	7th	033:300	+3	39
5.	Seattle Reign FC	24	9	7th	8th	043:370	+6	34
6th	Sky Blue FC	24	10	3	11	042:510	−9	33
7th	Kansas City FC	24	8th	7th	9	029:310	−2	31
8th.	Houston Dash	24	7th	3	14th	023:390	−16	24
9.	Boston Breakers	24	4th	7th	13	024:350	−11	19th
10.	Washington Spirit	24	5	4th	15th	030:480	−18	19th

for the play-offs qualify

Results

The games are given for each team in chronological order, 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)	KC	NJ	SEA	NC	CHI	POR	POR	ORL	NC	NC	HOU	WHAT	CHI	SEA	HOU	KC	WHAT	HOU	ORL	NJ	ORL	POR	WHAT	NJ
	0: 2	1-0	3-0	0: 1	1: 1	2: 2	0: 2	0: 2	1: 3	0: 1	0-0	1-0	0-0	1: 1	0: 1	2: 2	2: 2	1: 3	1: 2	0: 1	2: 4	0: 1	3-0	3: 4
Chicago Red Stars (CHI)	HOU	KC	POR	HOU	BOS	NC	NC	SEA	WHAT	NJ	SEA	ORL	BOS	NJ	ORL	ORL	POR	SEA	KC	WHAT	NC	KC	HOU	POR
	0: 2	1-0	0: 1	2-0	1: 1	3: 1	3: 2	1-0	1: 1	2: 1	1: 2	1-0	0-0	2: 2	2: 1	1: 1	2: 3	1: 2	1: 3	2: 1	2: 1	0-0	3: 2	1: 3
Houston Dash (HOU)	CHI	SEA	WHAT	CHI	NJ	NJ	SEA	WHAT	ORL	ORL	BOS	KC	POR	WHAT	BOS	POR	KC	BOS	POR	SEA	NC	CHI	NC	KC
	2-0	1: 5	1-0	0: 2	1: 3	1: 2	0: 2	0: 2	2: 4	2-0	0-0	2: 1	1: 1	2: 1	1-0	1: 2	0: 1	16.8.	0: 2	0: 1	0: 1	2: 3	0: 4 2	1: 1
Kansas City FC (KC)	BOS	CHI	NJ	ORL	POR	WHAT	WHAT	NC	SEA	SEA	POR	HOU	NJ	ORL	BOS	NC	HOU	POR	CHI	ORL	NJ	CHI	SEA	HOU
	2-0	0: 1	0: 1	1: 1	0-0	1-0	3: 2	0: 2	2: 2	1: 1	0: 3	1: 2	2: 3	1: 4	2: 2	0: 1 1	1-0	2: 1	3: 1	1: 2	4: 1	0-0	1-0	1: 1
North Carolina Courage (NC)	WHAT	POR	ORL	BOS	ORL	CHI	NJ	CHI	KC	BOS	BOS	NJ	SEA	POR	SEA	KC	SEA	WHAT	WHAT	CHI	HOU	NJ	HOU	ORL
	1-0	1-0	3: 1	1-0	1: 3	1: 3	2-0	2: 3	2-0	3: 1	1-0	0: 1	2-0	0: 1	1-0	1: 0 1	2: 1	2-0	3: 2	1: 2	1-0	1: 1	4: 0 2	2: 3
Orlando Pride (ORL)	POR	WHAT	NC	KC	NC	SEA	NJ	BOS	HOU	HOU	NJ	CHI	WHAT	KC	CHI	CHI	WHAT	NJ	BOS	KC	BOS	SEA	POR	NC
	0: 2	1: 1	1: 3	1: 1	3: 1	1: 1	1: 2	2-0	4: 2	0: 2	3: 2	0: 1	2: 2	4: 1	1: 2	1: 1	3-0	5-0	2: 1	2: 1	4: 2	1: 1	0-0	3: 2
Portland Thorns FC (POR)	ORL	NC	CHI	SEA	KC	BOS	BOS	NJ	NJ	WHAT	KC	SEA	HOU	NC	WHAT	HOU	CHI	KC	HOU	SEA	WHAT	BOS	ORL	CHI
	2-0	0: 1	1-0	2: 2	0-0	2: 2	2-0	2-0	1: 3	0: 1	3-0	0: 2	1: 1	1-0	2: 1	2: 1	3: 2	1: 2	2-0	2: 1	4-0	1-0	0-0	3: 1
Seattle Reign FC (SEA)	NJ	HOU	BOS	POR	WHAT	ORL	HOU	CHI	KC	KC	CHI	POR	NC	BOS	NJ	NC	NC	CHI	NJ	POR	HOU	ORL	KC	WHAT
	1: 1	5: 1	0: 3	2: 2	6: 2	1: 1	2-0	0: 1	2: 2	1: 1	2: 1	2-0	0: 2	1: 1	5: 4	0: 1	1: 2	2: 1	4: 5	1: 2	1-0	1: 1	0: 1	3: 2
Sky Blue FC (NJ)	SEA	BOS	KC	WHAT	HOU	HOU	NC	ORL	POR	POR	CHI	ORL	NC	KC	CHI	SEA	WHAT	ORL	SEA	BOS	KC	WHAT	NC	BOS
	1: 1	0: 1	1-0	3: 4	3: 1	2: 1	0: 2	2: 1	0: 2	3: 1	1: 2	2: 3	1-0	3: 2	2: 2	4: 5	1: 4	0: 5	5: 4	1-0	1: 4	1: 2	1: 1	4: 3
Washington Spirit (WAS)	NC	ORL	HOU	NJ	SEA	KC	KC	HOU	CHI	POR	BOS	ORL	HOU	POR	NJ	ORL	BOS	NC	CHI	NC	POR	NJ	BOS	SEA
	0: 1	1: 1	0: 1	4: 3	2: 6	0: 1	2: 3	2-0	1: 1	1-0	0: 1	2: 2	1: 2	1: 2	4: 1	0: 3	2: 2	0: 2	1: 2	2: 3	0: 4	2: 1	0: 3	2: 3

¹ The game was abandoned on July 22nd due to a thunderstorm in the 39th minute of the game and was later rescheduled for August 10th.

² The game between Houston and North Carolina, scheduled for August 27, was canceled due to the approaching Hurricane Harvey and rescheduled for September 27.

Legend
Home game	Away game	victory	draw	defeat

List of goalscorers

space	Player	society	number
1	Samantha Kerr	Sky Blue FC	17th
2	Marta	Orlando Pride	13
3	Megan Rapinoe	Seattle Reign FC	12
4th	Christians Press	Chicago Red Stars	11
5	Alex Morgan	Orlando Pride	9
	Lynn Williams	North Carolina Courage	9
7th	Christine Sinclair	Portland Thorns FC	8th
8th	Natasha Dowie	Boston Breakers	7th
	Jessica Fishlock	Seattle Reign FC	7th
	Ashley Hatch	North Carolina Courage	7th

Spectator table

	society	spectator	per game	workload
1.	Portland Thorns FC	211,830	17,653	083.5%
2.	Orlando Pride	74,233	6,186	024.2%
3.	Houston Dash 1 2	54,938	4,578	054.8%
4th	North Carolina Courage	52,672	4,389	043.9%
5.	Seattle Reign FC	48,449	4.037	067.3%
6th	Washington Spirit	41,891	3,491	068.1%
7th	Chicago Red Stars	38,379	3,198	016%
8th.	Boston Breakers	34,754	2,896	070.6%
9.	Sky Blue FC	31,355	2,613	052.3%
10.	Kansas City FC	21,456	1,788	050.3%

¹The home game against Seattle Reign FC was played at the Toyota Stadium in Frisco (20,500 seats) due to the effects of Hurricane Harvey .

²The home game against North Carolina Courage took place at HEB Park in Edinburgh (9,735 seats).

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 October 7th and 8th, 2017.

	Result
Portland Thorns FC	4: 1 (2: 1)	Orlando Pride
North Carolina Courage	1: 0 (0: 0)	Chicago Red Stars

final

The final was played on October 14, 2017 at the Orlando City Stadium in Orlando . As in previous years, a neutral location was determined where the final took place.

In its second finals after 2013 , Portland was able to secure the title again. The team prevailed 1-0 against North Carolina.

North Carolina Courage		Portland Thorns FC
	final October 14, 2017 in Orlando , Florida Result: 0: 1 (0: 0) Spectators: 8,124 Referee: Danielle Chesky Match report
	Katelyn Rowland - Abby Dahlkemper , Abby Erceg , Jaelene Hinkle , Taylor Smith (12th Makenzy Doniak ) - McCall Zerboni , Samantha Mewis - Denise O'Sullivan (86th Stephanie Ochs ), Kristen Hamilton (39th Jessica McDonald ), Ashley Hatch , Lynn Williams Trainer: Paul Riley	Adrianna Franch - Emily Sonnett , Emily Menges , Meghan Klingenberg , Katherine Reynolds - Lindsey Horan , Amandine Henry (90 '+ 3rd Allie Long ), Tobin Heath - Ashleigh Sykes (54th Dagný Brynjarsdóttir ), Hayley Raso (69th Nadia Nadim ) , Christine Sinclair Trainer: Mark Parsons
		0: 1 Lindsey Horan (49th)
		Tobin Heath, Hayley Raso, Dagný Brynjarsdóttir
	Player of the Match: Lindsey Horan (Portland Thorns FC)

Change of coach

date	society	Table position	Trainer	reason	successor	source
29 May 2017	Houston Dash	9.	Randy Waldrum	Leave of absence	Omar Morales

Honors

The choice for the awards at the end of the regular season was made by the franchise owners, the general managers and coaches, the players, selected journalists and - via online voting - the fans.

	Prize winner
Most successful goalscorer (NWSL Golden Boot)	Samantha Kerr ( Sky Blue FC )
Rookie of the year	Ashley Hatch ( North Carolina Courage )
Goalkeeper of the Year	Adrianna Franch ( Portland Thorns FC )
Coach of the year	Paul Riley (North Carolina Courage)
Defender of the Year	Abby Dahlkemper (North Carolina Courage)
Most Valuable Player ( MVP )	Samantha Kerr (Sky Blue FC)

NWSL Best XI
position	Best XI			Second team
goal	Adrianna Franch	Portland Thorns FC	80 saves, 11 clean sheets	Katelyn Rowland	North Carolina Courage	39 saves, 8 clean sheets
Defense	Casey Short	Chicago Red Stars	1,915 minutes of play	Stephanie Catley	Orlando Pride	2,032 minutes of play
Defense	Abby Dahlkemper	North Carolina Courage	2,160 minutes of play	Abby Erceg	North Carolina Courage	1 goal, 2 assists
Defense	Becky Sauerbrunn	Kansas City FC	1,980 minutes of play	Meghan Klingenberg	Portland Thorns FC	6 templates
Defense	Alexandra Krieger	Orlando Pride	2,160 minutes of play	Emily Menges	Portland Thorns FC	2,063 minutes of play
midfield	Jessica Fishlock	Seattle Reign FC	7 goals, 1 assist	Danielle Colaprico	Chicago Red Stars	1,903 minutes of play
midfield	Samantha Mewis	North Carolina Courage	6 goals, 3 assists	Julie Ertz	Chicago Red Stars	4 goals, 3 assists
midfield	McCall Zerboni	North Carolina Courage	3 goals, 1 assist	Lindsey Horan	Portland Thorns FC	4 goals, 2 assists
Forward / midfield	Marta	Orlando Pride	13 goals, 6 assists	Sofia Huerta	Chicago Red Stars	6 goals, 4 assists
Storm	Samantha Kerr	Sky Blue FC	17 goals, 4 assists	Alex Morgan	Orlando Pride	9 goals, 4 assists
Storm	Christians Press	Chicago Red Stars	11 goals, 4 assists	Megan Rapinoe	Seattle Reign FC	12 goals, 1 assist

Individual evidence

1. ↑ North Carolina Football Club Enters into Agreement to Acquire Rights to NWSL's 2016 Champions Western New York Flash ( Memento of the original from January 10, 2017 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. . northcarolinafc.com (English). Retrieved April 9, 2017 
2. ↑ Kansas City FC vs. North Carolina Courage postponed due to weather , nwslsoccer.com (English). Retrieved August 13, 2017
3. ↑ Kansas City FC vs. North Carolina Courage match rescheduled for Aug. 10 , nwslsoccer.com (English). Retrieved August 13, 2017
4. ↑ Houston Dash vs. North Carolina Courage Game Postponed Due to Hurricane Harvey ( Memento of the original from October 29, 2017 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. , northcarolinafc.com (English). Retrieved October 28, 2017 
5. ↑ Houston Dash vs. North Carolina Courage Game Rescheduled for Wednesday, Sept. 27 ( Memento of the original from October 29, 2017 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. , northcarolinafc.com (English). Retrieved October 28, 2017 
6. ↑ Houston Dash host Seattle Reign FC in first match since Hurricane Harvey , houstondynamo.com (English). Retrieved October 28, 2017.
7. ↑ Houston Dash and Randy Waldrum mutually part ways. In: houstondynamo.com. May 29, 2017. Retrieved June 6, 2017 . 
8. ↑ 2017 NWSL Awards Finalists Revealed , nwslsoccer.com (English). Retrieved October 28, 2017
9. ↑ Sam Kerr wins 2017 Golden Boot , nwslsoccer.com (English). Retrieved October 28, 2017
10. ↑ Rookie of the Year: Ashley Hatch, North Carolina Courage , nwslsoccer.com (English). Retrieved October 28, 2017
11. ↑ Goalkeeper of the Year: Adrianna Franch, Portland Thorns FC , nwslsoccer.com (English). Retrieved October 28, 2017
12. ^ Paul Riley voted NWSL Coach of the Year , nwslsoccer.com (English). Retrieved October 28, 2017
13. ↑ Defender of the Year: Abby Dahlkemper, North Carolina Courage , nwslsoccer.com (English). Retrieved October 28, 2017
14. ↑ NWSL MVP: Sam Kerr, Sky Blue FC , nwslsoccer.com (English). Retrieved October 28, 2017
15. ↑ 2017 Best XI announced , nwslsoccer.com (English). Retrieved October 28, 2017
16. ↑ NWSL announces Second XI selections , nwslsoccer.com (English). Retrieved October 28, 2017

Web links

• Official website of the league