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Welcome back to Full Time, where we’re hoping your week is significantly less chaotic than this halftime interview. It’s Meg Linehan, Steph Yang, Jeff Rueter and Melanie Anzidei here, with Emily Olsen on a well-deserved vacation. Onward:
History: Orlando claims first NWSL Shield
The Orlando Pride won their first NWSL Shield with a 2-0 defeat of the Washington Spirit yesterday.
“It means so much,” said Marta, who scored a penalty in the win. “We worked so hard from (the) beginning. I waited so long for this moment.” (Related: Marta, 38, recently told us she wants to play “at least two more years.“)
Orlando won at home in the rain in front of 7,729 fans, and league commissioner Jessica Berman presented the club with the newly redesigned Shield trophy created by Tiffany & Co. 💎
The Pride (17-6-0) have gone on a remarkable undefeated run this year, but it was a long road to earning their first postseason appearance since 2017. Some key points:
- The team hit its lowest ranking in the standings ever in 2022, finishing 10th out of 12 teams.
- Orlando began a rebuild in 2023 under coach Seb Hines and new general manager Haley Carter. They finished seventh in the standings.
- Earlier this year, the Pride paid what was then the second-highest transfer fee ever for the rights to Zambian international Barbra Banda, who has 13 goals for the season — second in the Golden Boot race (more on that later).
Let’s go to Steph with more …
Steph’s Set Piece: Scenes from the Pride’s turnaround
On a rainy night in Orlando, three days before a hurricane was due to make landfall, the Pride found the culmination of two years of hard rebuilding as they clinched the NWSL Shield.
Long after the fans had left, team members were celebrating inside the stadium. Marta and Kylie Strom and coach Seb Hines dutifully went through postgame media, with players crashing Hines’ session and cheekily asking him what he’d learned this season. But as soon as the players were released from their obligations, they took the new NWSL Shield — still slightly damp from being awarded in the rain — and scattered into the club level of the stadium. Hines joked that he’d gotten to see the actual trophy for all of two minutes, as the players understandably wanted to keep it close and pass it around among themselves.
Taking the elevator from the press box on the third floor, past the second-floor club level, then down to the exit on the first was simply an exercise in atmospheric storytelling as the car passed from relative quiet, then through the heavy bass reverberations of “SHOTS SHOTS SHOTS SHOTS SHOTS,” and then dipped back into relative quiet again. You absolutely can’t begrudge the players their celebration, even as they have to fly out in two days to face Portland away as one of three remaining games in the regular season.
Big Deals: Breaking down Angel City’s sanctions
Angel City’s back in the news, and it’s once again for reasons they’re not enjoying. On Friday, the NWSL announced the league had conducted an investigation and found violations of the 2024 salary cap to the tune of $50,000 for four weeks — then handed down a $200,000 fine for the club, suspended president/CEO Julie Uhrman and general manager Angela Hucles Mangano from all player transaction duties for the rest of the year, and most crucially, docked the team three points.
It’s the first time there’s ever been points docked in the league as a sanction. Plus, as Jeff Kassouf reported, $200,000 was the maximum fine commissioner Jessica Berman could levy without needing approval. Example set, to say the least.
Angel City’s still alive in the playoff hunt for at least another week after their 1-0 win in Seattle, but this example is going to open up some bigger questions. The league has promised more audits, but what happens if another team gets dinged for a violation and the season is already done? Will the NWSL retroactively adjust the season results? Could teams start 2025 with negative points?
The league has drawn its line in the sand: Circumventing the cap will bring down the hammer.
A Golden Boot: Chawinga keeps it rolling
As Temwa Chawinga goals go, Saturday’s was surprisingly direct.
KC Current were bearing down hosting Racing Louisville, with Debinha pulling the strings as they entered the final third. The Brazilian put ounce-perfect weight on her pass, rolling the ball right into Chawinga’s stride. From there, it all looked too easy: a clever first touch, a couple of controlled dribbles on her right foot to strafe toward the center of the box and a cool slotted finish to open the scoring — less than two minutes after the match kicked off.
The 26-year-old Malawi international has been unstoppable in her first NWSL season, rippling the net for 18 goals. The goal against Louisville — which tied Sam Kerr’s NWSL single-season record from 2019 — was Chawinga’s ninth while dribbling at least five yards with the ball:
Chawinga has scored against 12 of 13 possible opponents this season. The outlier? The San Diego Wave, who held her scoreless across a 72-minute shift in March. She’ll have another chance to complete the set on Oct. 19, when Landon Donovan’s side heads to CPKC Stadium.
Full Time First Looks
Emma in the U-S-A: USWNT manager Emma Hayes has kept busy while touring the United States, making stops at various NWSL matches ahead of a trio of October friendlies. This trip is very much about business, with a little fun sprinkled in between in places like Portland and Seattle.
“I’ve offended a legend”: Recently retired Canadian great Christine Sinclair hopped on the “Good Vibes FC” podcast with Sam Mewis and Becky Sauerbrunn and told a hilarious tale of the time she swapped jerseys with Sauerbrunn. Spoiler: It did not go as planned.
Esther, again: It wasn’t enough for Esther González to win a World Cup with Spain and NWSL championship with Gotham in a three-month span last year. The Spanish forward keeps upping the stakes, and is now the fastest player to contribute to three goals in a league match: one assist and two goals in four minutes and 20 seconds.
Programming note: The next edition of this newsletter will hit your inbox on Oct. 21.
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(Top photo: Mike Watters / Imagn Images)
