There were no draws in week one of the Women's Super League. Both Manchester clubs won their opening games with City thrashing Everton at Goodison Park; Arsenal made a bold statement beating London rivals and defending Champions Chelsea at the Emirates; Aston Villa rained on Leicester City's WSL debut, and there were victories for Tottenham Hotspur and Brighton & Hove Albion...
Manchester City sent out an opening-weekend warning to all of their title rivals, dismantling Willie Kirk's new-look Everton side at Goodison Park. Summer signings Vicky Losada and 'Bunny' Shaw scored either side of Janine Beckie's low drive to give the visitors a three-goal lead at half time. Steph Houghton converted a trademark free kick midway through the second period. The Toffees ploughed on bravely until the final whistle trying to get a consolation strike on the board, but it just wouldn't happen for them...
We're back in the NWSL for Part 2 of the August review. At one point during the month, Portland had a seven point lead. Then they had to forego league duties for a week to contest the WICC at Providence Park. That gave North Carolina a chance to make up ground and, by the end of Week 15 the gap would be reduced to four. Meanwhile, a BIG name was going to announce their impending retirement and a certain winless franchise was about to get a certain 'monkey' off their back...
We're back in the NWSL for an August review. At one point during the month, the Portland Thorns had a seven point lead. Then they had to forego league duties for a week to contest the WICC at Providence Park. That gave North Carolina Courage a chance to make up ground and, by the end of Week 15 the gap would be reduced to four. Meanwhile OL Reign smashed out four wins in five and climbed from 8th to 3rd...
After two seasons of almost total nullification the FA Women’s National League kicked off again on the 15th August. That meant the AFC Wimbledon Ladies were back in action, and with lofty ambitions: to win the single promotion spot up for grabs in Division One South East. Former rivals Ipswich Town had been elevated one level (through FA restructure and an excellent competitive record) to the Southern Premier. So, this season the D1SE league title genuinely feels up for grabs for a good half-dozen clubs…
All the way back in week 1 it looked as though Portland may lead out a Shield procession from the start, but North Carolina and Orlando soon had something to say about that. By week 10, however, these rivals were 5th and 7th respectively. The Thorns, meanwhile, have shown how much talent they can call on, even with their national team stars over in Tokyo for the Olympics. Three wins and a draw during July - and only one goal conceded - has lifted them up to top spot with a slight gap emerging between them and Gotham FC in second...
Ok, it might seem a bit disingenuous to put North Carolina in the headline given Orlando (aptly) were able to hold on to top spot during Pride Month, but three wins on the spin has Paul Riley's side back in the hunt for another regular season Shield. Orlando, meanwhile had kept their scoreboard moving with a couple of draws and a comeback victory over basement dwelling Kansas City. But the early pacesetters would end the month with Houston inflicting a first defeat on Marc Skinner's squad during Week 6...
We're heading over the 'pond' now for a look back on the National Women's Soccer League during May. There can't have been too many pundits predicting that Orlando Pride would make the early running - or any kind of running - given their underwhelming track record in recent seasons. But Marc Skinner's squad had a very good month, picking up three wins and and a draw to lead the field...
It took FC Barcelona Femení just 36 minutes to drive a wrecking ball through Chelsea's aspirations to win their first Champions League title at the Gamla Ullevi in Gothenburg. The Spaniards were ahead inside the first minute from Melanie Leupolz's unlucky own goal. Alexia Putellas then doubled their advantage from the penalty spot. Aitana Bonmatí's neat finish made it 3-0 on 20 minutes, and winger Lieke Martens teed up Caroline Graham Hansen for Barcelona's fourth with nine minutes still remaining in the first half. It is Barcelona's first UWCL title and they become the first club to have won the Champions League in both the men's and women's competitions...
It was the final day of the WSL campaign and all matches kicked off at the same time. Less than two hours later Chelsea were crowned League Champions for the second successive year, Brighton would achieve their best ever league position at the expense of Bristol City who were relegated. Spurs would win for the first time in eleven matches, while Villa would do something Everton couldn't all season - get a point off a top four side. West Ham didn't manage to get that elusive home win, but against Manchester City was that really much of a surprise? We're doing it slightly differently this week. Here's a minute-by-minute on how week 22 played out in the FA Women's Super League...
