2026 nwsl week 6: g+ pass networks & shot charts

I loved this weekend of NWSLing. We had three red cards (including a coach red card), two games featuring at least five goals, five games decided by a one goal margin, and expansion team on expansion team violence that resulted in two stoppage time goals completely flipping a result.

The data has even more nuggets for us to snack on, so let’s.

quick explainer

If you want some deeper info on the nerdery that’s about to follow, I got you. Read and reference this explainer for a breakdown of all the elements on the shot charts and goals added (g+) passing networks I’ll be dropping all season. The good Cata Bush helped bring these to life, and there’s a lot of data captured across the two visualizations.

Week 6

Both teams over 1.0 xG, 15+ shots taken apiece, two quality chances each, but no goals. Mia Fishel had the two highest quality shots of the match, which bodes well for the Reign’s proof of concept with her up top instead of Huitema, but couldn’t get either shot across the line.

Houston were pretty much forced to lean into building with college talents, but the approach is close to my heart. I’ve always been adamant that the biggest and most unique benefit the NWSL has is the pipeline of college players that come into the league every year. Houston have been starting four rookies, regularly. Leah Klenke, Linda Ullmark, Kate Faasse and Kat Rader have all taken up important roles within the team, and are playing well.

Head coach Fabrice Gautrat’s defensive gameplan sometimes leads to an inability to play out of midfield, but Faasse and Kiki Van Zanten (another former college star) each managed a quality chance.

(Maggie Graham sky high passing g+, I see you.)

I’ve generally liked what Laura Harvey has been trying to do with the Reign this season. They aren’t the purveyors of SufferBall that they were last season, but they’ll need to find a way to restore some central creativity without Jess Fishlock. In this game they got bogged down in midfield, and the highest g+ passing rating among non-defenders was Sam Meza’s—who managed to be merely average.

This game was nuts. The Spirit had a 2-0 lead int he first six minutes, Sandy MacIver saved a penalty, Barbra Banda did Barbra Banda things and brought the Pride back 2-2, then Claudinha The Child and Trinity Rodman tacked on two more for Washington.

The penalty inflates Orlando’s xG quite a bit. Without it the xG is 1.31 to 1.44, and highlights the Spirit’s bonkersness in finding the back of the net four times from that number.

Orlando’s high line caused them problems in the first six minutes but the press and counterpress helped them keep the game open by disrupting the Spirit’s possession, which gave them enough time to let Banda do her work.

In the second half the Spirit figured out their possession game, and were able to capitalize on Orlando’s high line two more times.

Washington are starting to cook, and they’re suddenly a deep team as well. Midweek, head coach Adrián González subbed both fullbacks for rest purposes, and the two coming on handled Emma Sears just as well as the starters.

Against Orlando, Claudia Martínez’s much deserved first start led to a goal, and Rose Kouassi coming off the bench to assist Trinity Rodman. Andi Sullivan also came into the game for Hal Hershfelt, which helped the Spirit control more of the game. It took a minute, but this is the scary hours team we were expecting to see to start the season.

Kansas City used two first half goals, and some luck, to pick up their third win of the season. it was desperately needed, even though the leakiness of the defense conceding 2.44 non-penalty xG is still a problem.

Mak Lind is wild for this one.

That high of a line against Temwa Chawinga is bold af (and led to five quality chances from KC, with only one becoming a goal). While the positioning is aggressive, the low volume of passing connections and average to poor passing g+ meant that only four of their 18 shots were on target, and it took until the 81st minute for them to generate a quality chance.

It is extremely funny that Debinha’s absence through injury gave head coach Chris Armas the transformative idea to field players in their more natural positions. Turns out knowing about women’s soccer and the players you’re going to coach is important.

Unless I guess the owner who hired you would be too embarrassed to admit a mistake and therefore accepts poor performances and results while you try to build a house in a hurricane or whatever.

Stinky.

The red card sucked but was necessary. In the future, I’d advise not whacking a player in the back if you want to stay on the pitch.

It can be hard to play and chase a goal while a player down, but the one thing a team really shouldn’t do is exactly what Angel City did: aimlessly and impatiently yeet the ball up the pitch. When at full strength, there are ways to rely on 1v1 dynamism and/or specific runs and passes to tilt the odds of connecting with long balls in your favor. But with just ten—and without Niehues in particular, who is a big part of Angel City’s ball winning in the attacking half—the approach only made them a lot easier to defend.

Being up a goal and a player informs this, so I’m not gonna cackle like I normally would.

I will say though, Utah has impressed me. This was a well-managed game—even if some of the tactics they used to frustrate Angel City were borderline diabolical, but that stuff is part of the game too—against an opponent with the talent to pose more threats than they were allowed.

Chat is .37 of your overall .94 xG coming from one shot good? You say it depends? On if you scored from that shot? Well they didn’t, so.

Sure.

Portland spread the Stars out and passed around them to generate six quality chances, of which they only scored one. In the end the two goals from 1.66 xG seems fair enough, but it would have been more embarrassing for Chicago had Tordin managed to score one or both of her .25 and .29 chances.

Regarding the pass network though, oh dear, Sophia Wilson is back. The double high passing and receiving g+ is a thing she does more consistently than anyone else in the NWSL, and when she’s scoring, makes her one of the most difficult players to defend.

The battle of the new kids did not go the way most people (including me) thought it would go. If you removed the colors and logos and asked which shot map belonged to which team, I would absolutely fail.

Prior to this game, Denver looked like the most complete and capable team, but Boston had been finding their groove in recent matches. Part of that is realizing that while they want to do football, this league demands soccer, and finding the right balance is key.

Boston seemed cursed for much of this match. If their players weren’t missing chances on their own, Abby Smith was going God Mode to keep the ball out of the net.

However, once Aïssata Traoré came on as a sub, her intelligent chance creation in and around the box gave them a touch more of the directness and skill they needed to not just rescue a point, but find the winner.

There’s still some work to be done to link in the final third, but I like that Alba Caño is finding advanced spaces to receive the ball. I also dig the her working with Barbara Olivieri to alternate who drops and who goes forward.

There are definitely some things starting to look promising for the Legacy, but I’m gonna need them to find a way to make sure the player with the highest passing g+ isn’t right back Bianca St. Georges. No disrespect, but that energy can only carry so far.

Denver tried to control the match and let Boston do their thing, thinking they’d be able to find mistakes to pounce on. Instead they managed just one quality shot, and were pushed back in their own half. Without a ton of speed to threaten vertically, Boston were able to remain advanced without worrying about anyone threatening the space behind their backline.

Summit has shown that they are very good at playing an organized style that capitalizes on mistakes that happen or that they force, but when a game requires something more, they can struggle to find it.

Side Note: Natasha Flint is the truth. Her receiving g+ was as high as Amanda Gutierres’, and she has an outrageously quick shooting trigger and exceptional shot placement. I highly recommend waiting for the reverse angle of her banger against Boston.

Jordynn Dudley setting up Jaedyn Shaw for the .59 xG tap-in on the doorstep is a sequence of events that should concern most teams in the league.

On the other side, the ‘Emma Sears’ part of the ‘Emma Sears, Set Pieces, and Chaos’ gameplan has stopped working. I’m not totally sure she’s anywhere near 100% healthy, but she’s had one assist since the start of April. In this game she managed just .04 xG and zero point zero zero zero expected assists (xA).

One of the worst things a non-versatile team that lacks creation can do is concede an early goal against Juan Carlos Amorós’ Gotham FC. And the above is why. They held 62% of the possession, played deep, and disrupted progressive service and vertical connections. The only hope of them loosening their boa constrictor-esque scheme was to change the game state, and well…

Louisville instead did this. Yikes.

Milliet and Petersen are typically higher, and have players ahead of them. Sears’ positioning is informed by her switching flanks, so while she didn’t play centrally, it was still difficult for her to space behind the line, and for her teammates to find her.

It wasn’t all bad, Rahsing managed tree quality shots, but for O’Kane and Flint, who missed or had their shot saved. Emma Sears needs help, and soon.

/giggles

Though tbf, Kenza Dali’s penalty inflates the xG. Non-penalty numbers has this a much more even 1.25 versus Bay’s 1.07 (except more than half of that came from Kundananji’s goal in the fifth minute lol).

JonasBall sputtering for a second match in a row? Interesting.

On a slightly less hater ass note, I know Lia Godfrey has been amazing and I love when rookies take to the league so well. But Gia Corley starting while Godfrey comes off the bench makes more sense to me than the other way around.

I dunno what to make of Bay, only that head coach Emma Coats might need to send an edible arrangement to Racheal Kundananji. Turns out she’s good, and having a consistent goal threat up top makes things a bit easier for the young midfield she’s rockin with. Bonus good stuff also happens when Kundananji scores, imagine that. ◼︎

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