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Our long winter of discontent is about to draw to a close, as the 2025 National Women’s Soccer League season officially kicks off on Friday. All 14 teams look differently than they did a year ago, some moreso than others. Let’s ask some real questions of every club’s prospects for the new year.
Part II, clubs No. 7-1, will be out on Friday!
How far can the Houston Dash’s glow-up go?
Are the Houston Dash in for a dramatic reversal of fortunes? It would not be unprecedented, considering the worst-to-first 2023 NWSL Champions Gotham FC and 2022 Kansas City Current, who finished the season as league runners-up after concluding the previous year second from bottom.
Houston’s 2024 season was simply a hot mess. The club scored the league’s fewest goals in 2024, and scored twice or more just four times all season. The Dash’s previously stout defense — led by veteran goalkeeper Jane Campbell — came under heavy duress, tying Angel City for the most goals shipped. Head coach Fran Alonso was mysteriously missing in action for most of the season, and general manager Alex Singer was let go in July. The team also lay dubious claim to the oldest roster in the NWSL. Former Angel City FC GM Angela Hucles Mangano now enters the fray as the team’s GM and president of women’s soccer operations.
The team’s roster appears to be freshened up, with the recent attacking additions of Yazmeen Ryan and Delanie Sheehan from Gotham FC and Messiah Bright from Angel City, and seasoned veterans Danielle Colaprico and Christen Westphal from the San Diego Wave. Ryan has been among the U.S. women’s national team’s most exciting revelations from the post-Olympics Emma Hayes era. She will be tasked with revitalizing the Dash’s moribund attack. A trio of Dash stalwarts also return for full seasons from maternity leave — Katie Lind, Ryan Gareis and Allysha Chapman.
Debut head coach Fabrice Gautraut (the 11th manager in the organization’s 11-year history) will be responsible for overseeing and managing this makeover. After years of stagnancy and organizational instability, rumors of a possible sale swirl around the club. Houston, do we no longer have a problem?
Can Laura Harvey propel the Seattle Reign back to regularly competing for the throne?
It is fair to say the Seattle Reign captured very few positive headlines last year. The 2023 NWSL Championship finalists had a forgettable season. It was the team’s first ever year without club legend Megan Rapinoe. The club underwent a change in ownership and ended its association with parent club OL Groupe, resulting in its current moniker. After so much transition, Laura Harvey’s side simply never found a run of form on the field. They started badly and ended badly, losing nine of its first 12 matches and five of its final six. That consistently dreadful form plummeted the Reign to 13th place, the franchise’s worst season in more than a decade. Does hope spring eternal in Seattle?
The club will look to benefit from the pedigree of four-time NWSL champion forward Lynn Biyendolo (née Williams). Goalkeeper Cassie Miller and fullback Madison Curry will hope to backstop an inconsistent back line. The Reign’s roster does appear to be a bit slight, and may also look to NCAA signings Maddie Dahlien, Emily Mason and Maddie Prohaska to mesh with the Reign’s veterans. The front office has demonstrated its patience by backing longtime head coach Harvey and keeping much of its roster intact. Jordyn Huitema (entering her age-24 season) will need to capitalize on her long awaited promise this season. Reign veterans Lauren Barnes and Jess Fishlock may be in the twilights of their careers, but will hope to provide at least one final silver lining following a stormy season.
Can Angel City finally produce a blockbuster playoff run?
It is not a stretch to suggest Angel City FC are similar to men’s sports leviathans like the Dallas Cowboys or Manchester United. All three teams carry titanic monetary value relative to their immediate competition, and consistently top their respective leagues in attendance, revenue, engagement, and attention. However, all three clubs garner attention more for their respective brands than their recent sporting achievements. As of yet, Angel City lacks a key factor the Cowboys and Manchester United share: a (distant) history of titles. The recent sale of the Los Angeles-based team to Willow Bay and Bob Iger transforms Angel City into the most valuable women’s sports team in the entire world. Will this be the season during which the club’s laudable off-the-pitch success translates into end-of-season awards?
New sporting director Mark Parsons certainly hopes so, as the club plans to premiere its new head coach this summer . The ever-present Sam Laity (who has coached within the NWSL since its inception) will serve as interim head coach. Teenage ingénues Alyssa and Gisele Thompson will be crucial to a strong season. There are still questions about the star quality of Angel City’s roster, as it ushers in just three new signings, including former second overall draft pick Savy King. The spotlight has never shone so brightly on a team in a city where the red carpet rollout is a matter of course.
Is there smooth sailing ahead for the San Diego Wave?
2024 began with such promise for the San Diego Wave. Then-manager Casey Stoney’s side was victorious in the curtain-raising 2024 Challenge Cup, on the heels of its 2023 NWSL Shield. Weeks later, the club inked former Houston Dash record signing María Sánchez via trade. The auspicious start proved to be a red herring. Just three months later, Stoney was sacked following a string of poor results. The club then made headlines for allegations of a toxic work environment under former president Jill Ellis. A revolving door of head coaches (including USMNT legend Landon Donovan) followed. The club whimpered to a 10th-place finish. The rough seas only worsened, with the retirement of Alex Morgan and the transfers of Naomi Girma and Jaedyn Shaw.
The Wave have undergone a stark reinvention in less than a calendar year, with new owners, a new GM, and a new head coach. Former Arsenal gaffer Jonas Eidevall arrives in southern California to help right the ship, but question marks linger from his departure from the North London club. Will there be a return to form for the once start-up sensations amid so much change?
Can Ally Sentnor and Mina Tanaka bring their international successes to Utah?
The Utah Royals encountered several mountains that proved too steep to summit last year. The side returned to the NWSL after a four-year absence. It boasted the youngest roster in the league, led by first overall pick Ally Sentnor. The team was helmed by franchise legend Amy Rodriguez, the Royals being her first head coaching gig. The newly reformed Royals got off to a rough start, to the tune of a 1-11-1 record. Rodriguez was pink-slipped that June. The club then discovered some form under interim (now permanent) head coach Jimmy Coenraets, earning a positive result in 10 of its 15 final matches.
Cloé Lacasse arrived from Arsenal in late August and took no time to adjust. She scored four times in nine matches, including the franchise’s first half trick. Royals fans should feel particularly buoyed by the attacking brilliance displayed by Sentnor and new arrival Mina Tanaka for their respective national teams in the SheBelieves Cup last month. Sentnor missed several games last year to captain the U.S. U-20 squad to third place in the World Cup. Sentnor seamlessly transitioned that attacking liveliness to the senior squad when she was promoted last autumn, and scored two brilliant goals at SheBelieves. That would be outdone by her teammate Tanaka, who scored four goals for the eventual tournament champions Japan. If Sentnor and Tanaka can develop an effective partnership in Utah, it could be quite a regal season indeed.
Can Racing Louisville keep up with the pack?
It will now be five years since the starting gun sounded on the Racing Louisville franchise, and it has yet to sustain a period of on-field momentum. The Kentucky-based side has come close, but still has no playoff experience. The team missed the expanded pool by four points last season, thanks to a slew of draws in the first half of 2024.
Head coach Bev Yanez has a decent squad, lined with both current and former U.S. players. Emma Sears has had strong showings for the U.S. in the domestic offseason, and Savannah DeMelo remains on a quest to regain her breakout form in her rookie season. The club’s summer acquisition of forward Bethany Balcer last year made a quick impact as she nabbed three goals and one assist in her 10 appearances. Balcer also ranked second in the league in total xG behind Temwa Chawinga. Will this finally be the year Racing Louisville kicks on?
Who will score the Portland Thorns’ goals?
News of Sophia Wilson (née Smith)’s pregnancy is delightful for both she and her husband Michael. However, it is difficult to overstate the degree of a loss Wilson’s offensive productivity will be for the Portland Thorns. Last season, Wilson ranked in the upper pantheon (alongside Barbara Banda and Temwa Chawinga) in goals, assists, expected goals, total shots and goal-creating actions. With Wilson, three of the Thorns’ four goal scorers will be elsewhere than Providence Park in 2025.
Morgan Weaver starts the season on the SEI list and club legend Christine Sinclair hung up her boots last year. Only prodigious talent Olivia Moultrie remains to pick up the goal scoring slack. Moultrie had the Thorns’ second-highest goal tally last year with five; a fraction of Wilson’s 12. The Thorns barely qualified for the postseason last year following a woeful post-Olympics campaign — logging just seven of a possible 24 points to end the season.
Forward Pietra Tordin arrives from Princeton having logged an impressive four goals in seven matches at the 2024 FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup. Other youngsters Payton Linnehan and Reilyn Turner will also be called upon to open their goal scoring accounts. It is impossible to replace a once-in-a-generation talent such as Wilson. It may not be a bed of roses for Portland this season, but who within the squad will step up and assure the franchise does not experience the sting of a losing season?
