2025 nwsl week 4: xG race charts & g+ pass networks

Kendrick Lamar would approve of Week 4 in the NWSL. Every single away team except one went into their opponent’s house and took all three points, which is a might fine contribution to the year of the hater. The one home team that won, Gotham, scored just one goal prior to suddenly and unexpectedly dropping three on the normally defensively stout North Carolina Courage.

Yeah, it was one of those weeks in the NWSL, and I loved it. Here’s what it all looked like according to xG race charts and g+ passing/receiving networks.

utah royals 0-1 portland thorns

Well damn.

Hina Sugita’s very clever assist across the front of goal gave Reilyn Turner a .64 xG chance that she buried. Turner was also credited with an even higher value chance in the 42nd minute after Olivia Moultrie dribbled into the box and forced a panicked save that deflected the ball to Turner crashing in at the far post. It was contact close to goal, but it all happened so quickly that the value was likely inflated a bit.

Still, without those two chances things look a bit kinder to Utah, but still not great. Their best chance ended up being nearly half their total xG, and was taken by 15-year-old KK Ream.

After becoming a believer throughout the second half of last season I am now starting to lose faith in whatever Jimmy Coenraets is trying to do. He’s appears to be doing a Belgian Marc Skinner thing, which no one should ever be doing.

This is the NWSL. You can’t routinely invite this much pressure and expect to be able to consistently play through it. Some of it is personnel, but I’m not sure this would work if he had five Aitana Bonmatis. Hopefully on one of his twelve-mile runs he realizes the error of his ways and, ya know, does something that could, instead, maybe work.

Reilyn Turner was a box crashing menace, and Hina Sugita found a ton of time and space to cook. She was the only player on either team to register positive passing and receiving g+.

Moultrie and Castellanos seemed to get in each other’s way a bit, but Sugita used both moving centrally to find and fill gaps elsewhere—which is when she’s at her most dangerous.

rahsing louisville 0-2 washington spirit

When both teams’ xG totals are this low, anything on the scoreline except 0s usually means individual brilliance came into play. And, yeah. The Spirit contained Emma Sears, then Leicy Santos hit an absurd free kick and Ashley Hatch continued her ridiculous scoring streak with a backwards glanced header.

The Spirit’s availability reports are crimes against good soccer, but even in this phase they’re finding ways to win games. That should be a tad scary for teams who have lost to them already, particularly if they’re ever able to get to full health.

Turns out the ‘Sears go route’ play did not work so Louisville was forced to come up with an alternate strategy, which, well.

Part of the reason Sears struggled was due to the Spirit putting a lot of people in her way. Courtney Brown was deployed as a left forward on paper, but was more like a left midfielder in practice. Also, with Rebeca Bernal dropping in between the center backs in buildup (then straight up playing as the center of a back three in the second half), the speedy Esme Morgan was able to keep an eye on Sears as well.

Louisville coach Bev Yanez probably should have tried switching Sears to the other flank, especially since Makenna Morris, an attacking fullback, was on the other side.

Anyway, Rebeca Bernal and Tara McKeown had the team’s highest passing g+, which tells you the type of match it was. The good news for the Spirit is that both were able to establish strong forward passing links into the attacking half, which is a much more positive sign for their buildup.

houston dash 1-3 angel city

I won’t lie I got quite a few chuckles from the stat ‘the only undefeated NWSL teams are Orlando, Kansas City, and……Angel City.’ One of those things is extremely not like the other, and I expected the Dashaissance to end all that.

Ah, well, nevertheless.

While it lives on another week, I still think there are flaws and they quite obviously aren’t on Orlando and Kansas City’s level. But Alyssa Thompson has been on another level to start the season and that is helping, a lot. Of Angel City’s thirteen shots, Alyssa was involved in five, including two of their three goals.

Sean Nahas is that you?

Yeah, this is weird too. Goals change games though, and running out to a 2-0 lead before the half hour mark turns most English managers into the worst versions of themselves. It worked, and they even got a third.

Riley Tiernan is also learning how, when and where to run, instead of being out there doing cardio like a Peloton instructor handed a kit. She was available for passes in good areas, and also has positive passing g+ as an advanced central player who isn’t a #10.

seattle reign 0-1 orlando pride

This is the reason I call Orlando a horror movie villain. Reign put in work and looked quite good doing so, but Orlando pushes to get an advantage—which they can almost always do through Barbra Banda, Marta, Ally Watt or Summer Yates—and then they strangle you.

Seattle had their chances, but Orlando make it so tough to actually get the ball across the line.

Laura Harvey let them vroom! I’m so excited, and I hope the result doesn’t discourage her. This was the youngest XI named this season, and the youngest for the Reign since 2013, and they looked dangerous against the most defensively diabolical team in the league.

In the second half they generated three separate chances above .30 xG. With only slightly below average finishing they walk away with a point, with average finishing they walk away with a stunning upset and a couple more.

Orlando are experts at managing games. With Banda, they don’t have to take a ton of risk to maintain a dangerous threat in the attacking third. They’re patient, and know exactly what to do when they get an advantage.

san diego wavé 0-2 kc current

Kansas City wanna be Orlando so bad. Vlatko wanna be Seb so bad.

Kansas City got early Debinha magic plus a pen, and then decided their day was done. The final score suggests that it was, but the race chart shows the Wavé waking up in the middle of the second half.

San Diego managed just one shot between the start of the match and the hour mark. That’s stinky. After that, though, they managed seven, which included a .34 xG shot from Adriana Leon, and a .11 shot right at the end.

While it doesn’t matter how many goals you win by, particularly in April of a long regular season, habits and a false sense of comfort could come back to haunt the Current at an inopportune moment.

Lotta big bubbles for defenders, lotta small bubbles for everyone else. Kinda tells you where the ball spent most of its time when San Diego had possession.

Debinha is continuing her absurd start to the season. I dunno what happened, but she’s been vintage NC Courage Debinha, and that is a terrifying thing for a team already loaded with talent, including an unstoppable attacking force like Temwa Chawinga.

gotham fc 3-1 nc courage

Oh dear (derogatory). Not for Gotham, obvs, but definitely for the Courage.

With Jaedyn Shaw and Ashley Sanchez in your lineup it should be illegal to play an NWSL game in which your team goes without a shot from the 28th minute to the 94th. I don’t care if Mercury is in microwave and Godzilla rises from Earth’s core at halftime, that should never ever happen. Ever. Once more: ever.

For Gotham, it seems like Juan Carlos Amorós found a balance between cage match and playing actual soccer. It worked, and quite well. Gotham were also able to find a bit of width, while still hosting Wrestlemania when necessary.

Reale was awesome in this game, and Ella Stevens was as well. Anytime you see a player with a green bubble and ring, it means they had positive g+ in passing and receiving, which in turn means they were being a menace to the opposition. Stevens also dropped an assist after slick footwork to get a cross off and onto the head of Esther.

Same ol’, tbh. The passing connections are there, but the majority are happening in North Carolina’s own half. There’s also no central target to speak of, again. Matsukubo was in her own half, and Jaedyn Shaw ended up chillin by the center circle (which is fine) but without an advanced target (which is not).

Something has to change because this can’t be it. This team is too talented to have zero wins and just three goals scored. Beyond what it means for North Carolina specifically, at the moment two of our nation’s most uniquely creative central creators are being wasted, which can impact their national team careers.

bay fc 1-2 chicago tsars

For reasons I may or may not explain later, Chicago winning made me crank Rage Against the Machine. For this, I thank them.

Bay seems fine. This is kind of what they want, the forward connections are a bit weak, but Chicago forces that with how deep they drop to defend. Kundananji was too isolated and left with too much to do 1v1, while Lema struggled without space behind to run into.

One of the my favorite things is a player who loves a stage. I didn’t know before, but I certainly know now that Ludmila is one of those players. She was unplayable against Bay FC. She tormented everyone they put in front of her, including spinning Abby Dahlkemper around.

I also gotta shoutout Jameese Jospeh, who showed flashes of brilliance last season and is continuing to develop this season. Her assist to Ludmila was inch perfect, and rightfully won NWSL Assist of the Week. Keep cookin, comrades.

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