As the NWSL barrels towards the playoffs, teams are fighting tooth and nail to solidify their position in the postseason picture.
The NWSL Championship is beginning to come into view on the horizon, but there are ongoing stories to be told, and still plenty of time for new ones to be written.
We’ve been covering the most dramatic of those stories for the past several weeks. And as the regular season comes to a close, some of those teams and players are centering themselves more firmly in the spotlight, while others are emerging onto the stage hoping to capture the imagination of NWSL fans across the globe.
As we enter the business end of the NWSL season, here are some updates on the players to keep an eye on, and some new ones that are hoping to make some magic in the final months of the season.
Marta
Anyone who follows soccer at any level can recognize that it is often much more about the journey than it is about the destination.
For Marta, the journey has turned her into one of the greatest soccer players to even lace up a pair of boots.
For almost two decades, she has seemed to flip everything we know about soccer on its head. Goals should be precious, they should be rare. For Marta, that’s never been the case, she has come by them with ease, with certainty.
She’s scored a mind-boggling 130 goals in 258 games in her club career, with a combination of flair, technique, and tenacity that the game has never seen. All while playing with the grace and respect and love for the game that inspired a generation of young women all over the world who have come to play with and against her
But despite the journey being so sweet, Marta has ultimately found herself falling short of reaching her ultimate destination with club and country. Finishing 2nd in the 2007 World Cup, runner-up in the 2014 Champions League Final, and claiming the silver medal on three occasions in the Olympics.
After recently announcing her retirement from international soccer after this year’s Olympics, the clock is undoubtedly beginning to tick on Martas legendary career. And it seems written in the stars that this year's edition of the Orlando Pride seems like the team that has what it takes to finally help Marta lift her first ever NWSL championship trophy.
But let’s not get confused, Marta doesn’t need any trophy or medal to solidify her place in the pantheon of soccer’s best. That truth has been etched in marble for years.
But a championship for Orlando Pride in 2024 would echo through generations, a perfect ending to the remarkable story of Marta’s career.
It would validate the reality that some way, somehow, soccer will always give back much more than we can give it.
It’s Marta, on the podium, trophy above her head, putting a final, perfect bow on a career unlike anything we’ve seen before, or anything we’ll ever see again.
Bethany Balcer and Janine Beckie
Despite holding on to the 8th and final NWSL playoff spot as they headed into the Olympic break, Racing Louisville knew that something needed to change.
After being held scoreless in 8 of their first 20 NWSL matches in 2024, the front office decided that injecting some life into their attacking options was their best chance to enter the playoff picture not just as a participant, but as a threat to the top teams in the league.
Racing Louisville quickly got to work in the August transfer period, bringing in two proven NWSL attacking threats.
Their first move was to bring in Bethany Balcer from Seattle Reign in exchange for captain Jaelin Howell and $50,000 of allocation money.
Balcer, a 27-year-old forward, has been a prolific and consistent goalscorer in her. Her ability to finish chances, hold up play, and win headers has instantly made her one of Racing Louisville’s most important players.
Racing Louisville’s next task was finding a player to provide support for Balcer in the attacking third. The wasted little time, adding Olympic gold medalist Janine Beckie from Portland Thorns in exchange for impressive rookie Reilyn Turner.
Beckie, a 30-year-old Canadian international brings a wealth of experience and leadership to Racing Louisville, bringing her years of experience from the NWSL and WSL to a team looking to make some noise in the playoffs.
These changes have been paying dividends. Balcer has 3 goals in her first 6 games for Louisville, and Beckie has added another for good measure. More importantly, Racing Louisville has come back from a goal down to win 2-1 in two consecutive games.
If Balcer and Beckie continue to prove that they were the missing pieces in a team that was already challenging for a playoff position, Racing Louisville could be the team that cause havoc in the NWSL playoffs for some of the teams at the top of the league.
More on Bethany Balcer and Janine Beckie
Trinity Rodman
After lighting the world on fire at the Paris Olympics, Trinity Rodman has no interest in stepping out of the spotlight any time soon.
The 22-year old Washington Spirit star has returned to the NWSL on a mission. Not only scoring goals and assisting her teammates, but creating goals out of thin air.
In her first game back, she scored in a 4-1 demolition of one of the league’s best teams, KC Current. After a difficult 1-1 draw against San Diego Wave, Rodman decided to start taking games over again.
It started in D.C. against the Portland Thorns. After going down 1-0, Rodman took things into her own hands, collecting the ball on the left wing, weaving through two Thorns defenders into the box and slotting into the bottom corner to tie the game, before circling back to celebrate with the newest NWSL celebrity investor, Magic Johnson.
But she wasn’t finished. In the 96th minute, Rodman picked the ball up on the right wing, beat her defender and played a beautiful cross in for Leicy Santos to head into the Portland net, giving the Spirit a massive three points against an impressive Portland Thorns team.
Rodman has continued to make life unbearable for NWSL defenders, scoring another stunner and assisting again in a 3-0 win against Houston Dash, making her the youngest player in NWSL history to reach 50 goal contributions.
They say soccer is a game of moments. And there is arguably no one who can produce a moment of magic quite like Trinity Rodman.
In the play-offs, these moments can change everything. They can turn players into heroes and heroes into legends.
The Washington Spirit may have to manage the workload for their young superstar towards the end of the season, as she left in the 2nd half in a loss to Kansas City with intense back spasms.
But if the Spirit can get their young superstar back to 100% before the opening whistle blows on their run to the NWSL Championship in Kansas City, they have all the pieces in place to write the story of Trinity Rodman as an NWSL Champion much sooner than we thought.
Temwa Chawinga
We can talk until we’re exhausted about tactics and movements or systems and strategies, things that seem so vitally important to finding success in the NWSL in 2024.
But the reality of the game remains as simple as ever: put the round thing into the rectangular thing.
And when it comes to that singular truth about soccer, it’s hard to argue that anyone is more important to their team’s championship hopes than Temwa Chawinga.
Despite KC Current’s slow restart to the post-Olympics NWSL season, Chawinga hasn’t faltered, scoring 4 times in 5 games since August 25. She now sits at the top of NWSL’s goal scoring leaderboard with 16 in 20 games so far in 2024, with another 6 assists for good measure.
Not only has she blown the Gold Boot Race wide open (she now leads Barbra Banda by 3 goals), she has a chance to break Sam Kerr’s NWSL record of 19 goals in a single-season.
But Chawinga and her KC Current teammates have much more at stake than that. An NWSL Championship match in their home stadium is on the line. And when the intensity gest ratcheted up a few notches and goals become harder to come by, a player with the pace and finishing prowess of Temwa Chawinga are as valuable as they come.
Kerolin
Despite not having started a match since last October, 2023’s NWSL MVP Kerolin is ready to leave her mark on the 2024 season for the North Carolina Courage.
After tearing her ACL towards the end of last season, the 24-year-old Brazilian forward finally returned to the field in the 73rd minute of her team’s 2-1 defeat to Louisville last Saturday.
Her return couldn’t come at a better time. With 5 games to find her footing back in the business end of a dramatic NWSL season, Kerolin is ready to prove to NWSL fans all across the country that she is still the most dangerous player in the world.
North Carolina Courage have performed well in her absence, currently sitting fifth in the NWSL standings, with midfielder Ashley Sanchez beginning to assert herself as one of the most dynamic midfielders in the league.
But a championship run won’t be easy for Kerolin, Sanchez and the rest of the Courage. They look to be heading towards a play-off battle with KC Current, Washington Spririt, or NY/NJ Gotham FC, all teams that have superstar talent, and results to prove it.
But these teams don’t have Kerolin, and the young Brazilian has been waiting a long time to kick down the door and turn this NWSL season’s script upside down.
And Finally…
There are only five game weeks left of this NWSL regular season. Which means five weeks for players to play that one pass, score that one goal, or make that one save that can turn the tides of their season. With the final four playoff spots up for grabs, the stakes have never been higher.
Follow along with us to see who is going to punch their ticket to the postseason, and give themselves a shot at the NWSL championship.