2025 nwsl week 12: xG race charts & g+ pass networks

Week 12 saw twenty-four goals, a 3-0 win that featured two red cards for the winners, a post 85th minute two goal comeback, Utah trying to turn Bianca St. Georges into White Chawinga (it almost kinda worked but not really), and Portland putting the Spirit in a sleeper hold. Here’s how every game went down in xG race charts and goals added (g+) passing/receiving networks.

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Realized I’ve only explained these charts at the start of the season, which was silly. The xG charts are straightforward, but the pass networks include custom data from American Soccer Analysis in order to spotlight passing and receiving impact. These are measured using ASA’s goals added (g+) metric, which calculates how much each touch—in this case passing & receiving—changes their team’s chances of scoring and conceding across two possessions.

(If you want to fully nerd out, here’s a deep dive into the methodology of g+.)

• Player bubble position: Average passing position

• Player bubble size: Passes attempted

• Player bubble color: Passing g+ rating

  • Passing g+: Pass value added (according to xPass)

• Ring color: Receiving g+ rating

  • Receiving g+: Pass value added through reception

• Lines: Pass volume between players

houston dash 2-3 san diego wavé

Unfortunately for Houston it took them a half to wake up, and by the time they were done yawning, stretching and removing their sleeping cap, they were down 2-0. Then 3-0 before they finished brushing their teeth.

A couple second half bangers made things spicy, but credit to the Wavé for doing a bit of defending by attacking and creating the best chance of the game after Houston got two back. San Diego was also able to make sure only one Houston shot registered xG after Yazmeen Ryan’s 72nd minute strike.

houston dash

Not much effective passing going on out there except from the two widest center backs. Yazmeen Ryan is the only player sporting positive receiving g+, and in terms of shot creation she did a lot with it. She took four of the Dash’s 11 shots and created an additional shot for Bárbara Olivieri, but only two managed to be above average xG chances.

san diego wavé

Savannah McCaskill in a deeper role has been a bit of a revelation. (Though it’s a thing me and a few people spent her Angel City tenure crying out for as Freya Coombe and Becki Tweed kept insisting she was an attacking midfielder for some reason. Anyway.)

Kenza Dali’s positioning is hilarious, but San Diego’s high press meant that everyone who wasn’t in the backline was parked in their attacking half. Dali, Adriana Leon and Delphine Cascarino all had positive receiving g+, which tormented the left side of Houston’s defense.

utah royals 0-3 gotham fc

I don’t even know what to say about Utah anymore. It’s been clear from the first month of the season that they needed to change their approach. Head coach Jimmy Coenraets has done some intermittent tweaking, but not enough. They’re still playing into the hands of pretty much every other team in the NWSL while their slow, paint-by-numbers approach in possession limits their own chances to score.

Fam, Jaelin Howell burst through their high line, dribbled into the box and scored. Jaelin Howell, fam. Jaelin Howell. I like Jaelin Howell, but there’s a reason that was her first regular season goal.

utah royals

Lotta hanging out in their own half with only Bianca St. Georges as an outlet high up the pitch. Which was a strange decision, considering St. Georges is neither Temwa Chawinga or Barbra Banda.

But St. Georges deserves a lot of credit for repeatedly latching onto long passes to put up high receiving g+. In the first half it led to Utah’s two highest chances of the game (which accounted for over half their total xG). Though, because she is not Banda or Chawinga, neither turned into a goal.

gotham fc

Utah make it easy so Gotham did the obviously easy thing to do: press high, build through the flanks, attack the spaces between the fullbacks and center backs, win the game, have a snack on the ride home, sleep comfortably, awake refreshed.

bay fc 0-1 orlando pride

This race chart is a perfect illustration of the usefulness of expected goals. Bay took an absurd twenty shots at the champs, but only four registered as above average chances. In fact, two were fairly big chances (.44, .24), but the other sixteen shots were awful and/or gifts for the troop on the moon.

bay fc

Normally Bay’s pass networks look organized, with attacking struggles often only highlighted by the details. This match though, Orlando put them in the octagon. Bay were squished super narrow, and without fullbacks getting high enough to provide width, their walloping of sixteen below average xG quality shots was all they had to fight back.

orlando pride

Three of the four members of the backline had terrific passing g+, and lots of passes. Everyone else struggled due to the focus on restricting Bay’s midfield. Having Barbra Banda allows Seb Hines to not have to focus much on the attack. The Pride have more clever ways of getting the ball to Banda than just punts, but the bulk of their efforts match-to-match are geared toward stopping the opposition—because Banda is inevitable.

What I said earlier about St. Georges not being Banda or Chawinga was no slight, it’s just an acknowledgment of the rare skills both possess. Banda played the same role against Bay, and put up a similarly high receiving g+. The difference is that Banda turned those receptions into four shots, only one above average xG in quality, but scored on a .04 xG shot.

chicago tsars 2-2 seattle reign

If you only watched the first and last 15 minutes of this you had yourself one hell of an afternoon. Ludmila had a bonkers two minute spell that gave Chicago a very early and very unexpected 2-0 lead, then everybody had a little nappy poo until eventually Emeri Adames’ .26 xG chance woke Seattle up. Eventually the Reign equalized through two goals from outside of the box.

chicago tsars

I call this one the warm, tender loving embrace of game state. With a multi-goal lead the impetus for Chicago’s possession to actually lead to something lessened. They managed to play keepaway until around the hour mark.

In the first half they managed 50% possession and 73% pass completion, but in the second it dropped to 38% possession (understandable with a multi-goal lead), but just 66% pass completion on only 90 passes attempted. Oof. Extra strength oof. Mega oof, tbh.

seattle reign

Due to one first half sub and two halftime subs, and Seattle not doing much in possession through the majority of the first half, this pass network only represents minutes 21-50. Welp.

kansas city current 4-2 rahsing louisville

Reminder: xG charts don’t plot own goals, because numbers cannot comprehend. Anyway, Kansas City’s very early 3-0 lead, and the ease with which they were scoring, made it feel like an onslaught was coming. It probably could have, but the Current did a bit of game management, which is always risky in the NWSL.

Louisville underscored this for the nine-billionth time in the league’s existence, and got it to 3-2 before Temwa Chawinga did Temwa Chawinga things.

kansas city current

When a team as talented as Kansas City drop three early goals it makes them even more difficult to contend with. They were able to keep things compact, limit spaces for their opponent to play out of midfield, while not taking positional risks to attack.

The Current have followed the ‘keg stand first half/tea party second half’ formula all season. It makes sense both from a common sense and player safety perspective. This is a brutal league that plays through brutal summers, so limiting high intensity running can have long-term benefits. They’re getting a lot of practice, and so far they’ve only been bitten once. But out of the ten goals the Current have allowed this season, nine were scored in the second half.

rahsing louisville

Not a lot going on in terms of passing and receiving g+. Sarah Weber has found her fit within the team in recent weeks, and posted the only positive receiving g+, if just barely. But Louisville need outlets beyond just Sears, and Weber starting to step up could be really important. For Louisville’s first goal, she made the pass before the assist by receiving possession behind the Current’s backline.

angel city 1-2 north carolina courage

Angel City fans would probably appreciate it if NWSL teams would stop welcoming Mr. Straus to the NWSL. I am sure he feels thoroughly welcomed by now. Persistently welcomed, even. Perhaps perpetually and relentlessly welcomed.

Pretty sure Bayern Munich never had anyone put up 24 shots at an average of .13 xG per shot, and if by some miracle they have, it was certainly not done to them by a team hanging out near the bottom of the table. Sorry to pile on, but, welcome to the NWSL yet again, Mr. Straus.

angel city

Gisele Thompson had herself a nice little game in terms of passing g+. Her assist to Riley Tiernan (who I wrote about last week) was an absolute dime. Alyssa Thompson is still in fourth espresso mode, but she’s now finding the same problem Trinity Rodman faced from the wing (and Sophia Wilson before her switch to center forward)—a whole lotta defenders in the way.

Straus needs to find a way to get M.A. Vignola and/or Kennedy Fuller working alongside her so defenses have more to think about than forming a wall in front of Alyssa Thompson.

north carolina courage

Sean Nahas missed coaching the match again and I definitely with him well and am sending good vibes.

North Carolina’s wingbacks succeeded in being able to spend time in the attacking half, and being productive while hanging out there. Ryan Williams had positive passing and receiving g+, while Tyler Lussi went full Mad Max war boy from the wingback position. This benefitted the Courage out of possession by pinning Vignola deeper than she likes to be, which held her to low passing g+, and poor receiving g+ too.

Cortnee Vine’s insertion has given the Courage a much needed vertical dimension. She posted yet another game with exceptionally high receiving g+ from a central attacking position, the threat of which creates pockets for other attacking players

portland thorns 2-0 washington spirit

If you think of xG race charts as actual races held over the course of a full match then Portland dropped a Sha’Carri Richardson type performance. As soon as the Spirit started closing the gap, they took off and didn’t slow down until the final whistle.

This was the flattest full game performance the Spirit have had in a while, and credit has to be given to Portland, who were relentless in their intensity and execution.

portland thorns

This was Jessie Fleming’s best game as a Thorn. It wasn’t just the nutmeg assist, which as extra filthy, but the free role she played gave her the ability to pop up in dangerous places at the most inopportune times for the opposition.

Sam Coffey was incredible as well, constantly jumping forward to intercept passes or pressure Spirit players attempting to play out. Sam Hiatt had a terrific game in possession, and put up an uncommonly high receiving g+ for a center back.

washington spirit

Yikes.

Center back Tara McKeown was the only outfield starter to put up positive passing g+, while everyone else floundered. Portland took a page from North Carolina and pressed the Spirit high but without jumping to the goalkeeper. In doing so they were better positioned to disrupt the attempts to switch the field that turned the match against North Carolina.

Uncommonly for the Spirit, they never found answers. Washington still created a handful of above average xG chances, but the finishing wasn’t there and they were never able to sustain enough pressure to force their way through.

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