We also have thoughts from newly named Angel City head coach Alex Straus of Bayern Munich and Norway and feature Houston Dash’s Jamaican international Kiki Van Zanten.
2025 NWSL Regular Season—First Half Review—Part 2
NJ/NY Gotham FC (5-3-5—W-D-L, 18 points; Tied for Eighth)
Spain 2023 Women’s World Cup winner Esther Gonzalez leads the league in scoring at the break with 10 goals—she has also scored for Spain in the Nations League and at the 2025 EURO finals—and scored the winning goal for Gotham after following up from her own missed penalty kick in the 82nd minute against UANL Tigres of Mexico to win the 2025 CONCACAF W Champions Cup, the inaugural tournament, (see last month’s column: The Week in Women's Football: Reviewing Liga MX, CONCACAF Cup and AFC Champions League - TribalFootball.com). Their W Champions Cup win may, over time, be viewed as even more important than their 2023 NWSL League title win as it was a triumph in the region for the league as well as the team—though that 2023 league win was the reason Gotham qualified for the final tournament.
Gotham is tied for eighth in the league in scoring with North Carolina on 18 goals in 13 games—they are very dependent on Esther but a few other consistent scoring options would help in the latter stages of the season, as she attracts a lot of attention from opposing defenses. Geyse (27) of Brazil has two goals and four players have one goal each.
In goal, German international goalkeeper Ann-Katrin Berger—who joined the club in 2024 after five seasons at Chelsea in England—has been stellar and her outstanding 1.00 goals against average is tied for fourth best in the league; the team’s 13 goals allowed is also tied for fourth best in the league with Seattle. Berger is playing with Germany at the 2025 UEFA Women’s EURO Finals in Switzerland.
Gotham extended the Gonzalez’s contract through 2027; she first signed with Gotham in 2023 and scored the game-winning goal in their first NWSL Championship Game in club history in her debut season and then led the club in goals in 2024 with nine. She also won three Liga F titles and a Copa de la Reina with Real Madrid.
Esther talked with Sports Illustrated about coming to the NWSL and Gotham FC and why she extended her contract: “Gotham creates an environment that isn’t built on individualism, it’s built on team effort. So, whether it’s me today or tomorrow a different player in that race for the Golden Boot, that is what helps me to evolve—being part of a family working collectively to achieve the ultimate goals of the club… The club makes me feel at home and taken care of—there is no other team that could offer that to me, so I am comfortable and excited to extend here.”
Esther talked about what she likes about the NWSL and her perceptions of it: “My reason for agreeing (to join the NWSL after the 2023 Women’s World Cup is) that the NWSL is one of the best leagues in the world, (and) the competitive nature of the teams—you never know what is going to happen between the top of the table and the bottom of the table. Every match you play in, you have to prepare like it is a final. That’s the level here and caliber of players on the pitch. There are a lot of international players who are at the top of their game and want to play in the NWSL, and there’s a reason for that.”
Esther was named as the NWSL Player of the Month for April and again in June, as voted on by the media, including TribalFootball.com.
For Spain, Esther has tallied 36 goals in 53 appearances as of July 9, including in the UEFA Women’s EURO 2022 and the 2023 World Cup, and the first two matches of the 2025 UEFA Women’s EURO.
This season, with the elimination of the NWSL draft, Gotham signed a half dozen American rookies, a change from previous years when the club typically only signed one out of the draft. Defender Lilly Reale (22) and forward Sarah Schupansky (22) have each scored one goal in their 13 games, while midfielder Sofia Cook (21) has played in five matches and contributed to the season; 15-year-old Mckenna Whitham has played 55 minutes across six games and is one to watch in the future as she develops around such a strong core of veterans.
North Carolina Courage (5-3-5—W-D-L, 18 points; Tied for Eighth)
The Courage needs to up their goalscoring as midfielder Manaka Matsukubo (21) of Japan leads the way with only four goals, while defender Felicitas Rauch (29) of Germany (who just missed the 2025 EURO’s finals squad) and American forwards Ashley Sanchez (26) and Brianna Pinto (25) each have scored twice. Seven players have scored one goal so they do have a good balance among their team. American international goalkeeper Casey Murphy (29) has played in all 13 games and has three shutouts. The Courage has had a solid start to the 2025 season thus far as they aim to make the final eight and a playoff spot for the third year in a row.
Matsukubo was named to the NWSL’s Best XI of the Month for May as she scored three goals during the month. She scored both goals in the Courage’s 2-0 win over Chicago on May 17 (winning Player of the Week honors from the league as well) and scored a goal and added an assist in a 5-2 loss in San Diego against the Wave on May 25. American defender Ryan Williams (29) earned back-to-back Best XI honors for March and April at the start of the year.
The North Carolina Courage will host Chivas de Guadalajara, Mexico on Friday, July 25, at 7:30 p.m. ET at WakeMed Soccer Park in Cary. On July 9, they play UANL Tigres Femenil at the same location, during the NWSL’s summer break.
Chivas de Guadalajara Femenil is the women’s team of the historic Club Deportivo Guadalajara. Launched in 2017 when the Liga MX Femenil was started, Chivas de Guadalajara Femenil won the league’s first-ever title in Apertura 2017. They added a Clausura 2022 title and then the Campeón de Campeones in the same year, held between the Apertura and Clausura title winners.
Courage President Francie Gottsegen said about the game against Tigres: “We are extremely excited to bring world-class talent to First Horizon Stadium in July. With the break in the NWSL regular season schedule, it was paramount to find high-quality opponents who could help our team stay in top form and bring entertaining soccer to our fans and community. As the NWSL and Liga MX Femenil continue to grow, we’re proud to connect these two cornerstone leagues of North American women’s soccer. We can’t wait to welcome Tigres Femenil and show them what the Triangle soccer community is all about.”
Founded in December 2017 with the formation of Liga MX Femenil, Tigres UANL Femenil — affectionately known as “Las Amazonas,” has won six league championships: Clausura 2018, Clausura 2019, Guardianes 2020 (the first tournament of the season during the COVID years), Guardianes 2021, Apertura 2022, and Apertura 2023. They won three Campeón de Campeones titles (2021, 2023, 2024).
The Courage played Rayadas de Monterrey twice in the past; an exhibition in Monterrey ahead of the 2023 season, and at home during the NWSL x Liga MX Femenil Summer Cup group stage in 2024. The teams split the meetings, with each side winning at home.
On July 9, the Courage and Tigres UANL tied 0-0 in Cary, with the match called off after 77 minutes due to inclement weather in the area. Australian international Cortnee Vine and Manaka Matsukubo had good chances to score just before the weather delay, but Tigres held the Courage to a deadlock. Marisa (Bova) Jordan (24) in goal had her first start of the season and made important saves to earn the clean sheet. She has been with the club since 2021 and played at Purdue University in Indiana.
Bay FC (4-3-6—W-D-L, 15 points; Tied for Tenth)
Bay FC needs more consistency though they did put together a three match unbeaten run starting on May 17 with a 2-0 win over Angel City at home, followed by a 2-2 tie in Houston and a 1-0 home win over Portland. They then lost to Orlando (1-0) at home and away to Gotham FC (2-1) to end the first half of the season. There is a sense of uncertainty over this franchise as there is an on-going league investigation of head coach Albertin Montoya for alleged verbal abuse of players, which started in March and is still not over.
Any rebuild or even new player acquisition seems to be on hold until this issue is resolved. American forward Penelope Hocking (26) leads the team in scoring with four goals. Amazingly, Nigerian international forward Asisat Oshoala (31), a former star forward in China (with Dalian Quinjian), England (with Liverpool and Arsenal) and Spain (Barcelona), has no league goals this year, but was called into Nigeria’s national team for the African Women’s Cup of Nations, where she promptly scored the opening goal in the fourth minute of a 3-0 first group game win over Tunisia on July 6.
Angel City FC (4-3-6—W-D-L, 15 points; Tied for Tenth)
Defender Vanessa Gilles (29), a Canadian international and gold medalist in the 2020 Olympics—who was on loan to Olympic Lyon—has been transferred to Germany’s Bayern Munich as of July 1. She scored ACFC’s first-ever regular-season goal on April 29, 2022. Gilles currently has 54 caps for Canada, with eight goals. Since joining Lyon, Gilles made 77 appearances, scoring nine goals with five assists. She has helped the club win the 2022 UEFA Champions League, 2022 Division 1 Féminine league, and 2024 Division 1 Féminine league. Gilles expressed disinterest in returning to play in the U.S. after President Trump made demeaning statements about Canada, including his exceedingly far-fetched plans to take over the country.
The club signed Southern California native goalkeeper Hannah Seabert through the 2026 season as a free agent. She previously played at Sporting Clube de Portugal in Lisbon. Seabert said: “I’m so excited to come back to the States to be a part of my home team. As soon as Angel City was announced, I knew I wanted to be a part of it. I fully believe in what this club stands for and is doing in women’s sport. I hope to help this team progress towards its goals and to build towards fulfilling its complete potential.”
Seabert was the team captain at Sporting in 2024-25 after joining them in 2022 and helped the side win the 2022 Portugal Cup and 2024 Portugal Super Cup titles. She played in 87 games with Sporting, the most by a goalkeeper in club history, and won the Goalkeeper of the Year Award for Liga BPI three times. The native of Riverside, a suburb of L.A., played at Pepperdine University in nearby Malibu. She trialed with Orlando in 2017 and then played for Vålerenga in Norway’s Toppserien, and then with Fortuna Hjørring in Denmark, where she was named Player of the Year. In Scandinavia, she won the 2020 Norwegian League, 2020 and 2021 Norwegian Cup, 2019 Danish Cup, and 2018 Danish League titles.
In March, Brazilian midfielder Maiara Niehues (20) signed a three-year contract with Angel City through 2027. She played with Sporting Clube de Portugal in Lisbon during the past three seasons, appearing in 57 games, scoring 18 goals. Before moving to Portugal, she played at home in Brazil with S.C. Internacional, appearing in matches for their senior, U-20, U-18, U-17, and U-16 teams from 2020 to 2022. Originally from Itapiranga, Santa Catarina, in southern Brazil, Niehues played two games for the U-20 Brazil Women’s National Team in the 2024 U-20 Women’s World Cup in Colombia, where they defeated Cameroon 3–1 in the Round of 16, before a narrow 1–0 quarterfinal loss to ultimate champions North Korea.
Angel City also signed forward Sveindís Jónsdóttir (24) as a free agent from Frauen-Bundesliga powerhouse Wolfsburg, through the 2027 season. She will come to the NWSL after the conclusion of the 2025 Women’s EURO Finals, where she is playing for Iceland, for whom she has 12 goals and 12 assists in 48 appearances after making her senior WNT debut in 2020.
Jónsdóttir has spent the past four seasons with Wolfsburg, where she appeared in 93 matches in all competitions, tallying 22 goals and 16 assists. While with Wolfsburg, Jónsdóttir was loaned to Kristianstads DFF in Sweden, scoring six goals in 21 appearances in 2021. In 2020, she won the Icelandic championship with Breiðablik, while also being named the Úrvalsdeild Player of the Year and captured the Úrvalsdeild Golden Boot award as the top scorer. In 2021, she was named the Icelandic Women’s Footballer of the Year and in 2022, she won the Frauen-Bundesliga championship with VfL Wolfsburg.
Another new Nordic native signing from the German league is head coach Alexander Straus (49), who started in June after finishing his third year with Bayern Munich, winning the league title for the third consecutive time. Before joining Bayern, Straus coached SK Brann and Sandviken in the top flight of his native Norway, as well as Norwegian youth women’s national teams. He told the media in his introductory press conference that he had previous opportunities to coach in the U.S.—without naming them—but was very attracted to the Angel City job: “Compared to other opportunities I’ve had, including the location, everything about this club, this team, which has been well-documented all over the world in the media, intrigues me. I think there is still a lot of work to be done, but it’s not done over 24 hours or one week or three weeks.”
He discussed what he saw as differences for coaching in America (albeit he had only had two training sessions in Los Angeles to date) and in Europe with the media in early June: “It’s a completely different culture (in the U.S.). A different league. But football is a small world. There’s this weird gap in understanding between Europe and the U.S. We don’t really know how good the best teams are on either side. I needed to find out. I’m halfway through my career, and I didn’t want to wait until I have grandchildren to take that leap.”
He then narrowed in on a key difference between NWSL teams and clubs in Europe: “In Europe, even with clubs like Bayern or Chelsea, there’s still a men’s team getting the lion’s share (of attention, resources, etc.). Here, at Angel City, we are the team. That’s rare. The facilities, the focus, the fan base, it’s a powerful setup. That’s something America has ahead of Europe right now… It’s not about where they’re from, it’s about the environment they’re coming into. We often overstate the difference between American and European (soccer). The structure is different. (For the NWSL) There is a wage cap. It’s a playoff league. But ultimately, it’s about creating a good environment for good players.”
He also emphasized that: “I wanted to see what we can do to get the legacy of Angel City to become like the other big sports brands in the city (Los Angeles Rams of the NFL, Los Angeles Dodgers baseball, Los Angeles Lakers of the NBA and Los Angeles Kings ice hockey team), to become the same here. That excites me.” He comes to a team that is the most highly valued women’s sports franchise in any sport in the world, and if any women’s sports teams in Southern California can reach the awareness and respect level of the Dodgers, Lakers and others, ACFC is the club. It was an interesting parallel for Straus to draw and shows his vision and ambition.
Straus acknowledged that the style of play in the NWSL is different from Europe and he hopes to bring some insights to modify their traditional physical and full-throttle play: “If you’re still going to (be a transitional league) for the next five, ten years, then you would maybe struggle to get the players that you should welcome to this league to play the football that is needed; those exciting players coming over from Europe that can do this. We’re not there, but if we bring a top player from Barcelona to us, (for example,) we need to have an environment where she can play her football. Adaptation is important. I think it’s not either-or, but you need to have to have an identity in what you do. You need to stand for something.
"If not, you would fall for everything. We should add a bit more control, so you don’t have games where everybody beats everybody. Some part of it is exciting, but being the team that is not being beat and is beating everybody, that’s where you want to be in the end. We need to make this league grow, as well. Growth, I believe, is to be open and to adapt to new things and new ideas and new concepts of how we’re going to solve things.” He concluded by emphasizing that things will not change overnight: “There’s no shortcuts and we want to do this the right way and make it lasting when we become successful. That means that you sometimes sacrifice things in the short term to do things in the longer term, but I think the club needs stability in the players and management.”
After his first game with the team in a 2-2 tie at home versus Chicago on June 7, Straus talked a little more about the differences in the game between the two continents: “In the U.S., it is less structured and (more of an) open game; it is physical but in a different way—more high press… More one-on-one situations than what I’m used to.” He was very impressed with the crowd: “It was a crazy atmosphere. We had 16,000, 18,000, 20,000, I don’t know (17,538) but it felt like 100,000 in the stands. That was new and it was a beautiful stadium and in that case it was a fantastic experience. Of course, we wanted to give everybody a win to go home, we tried and we will try again the next time and we will give a lot of good experiences for our fans.”
New signing Sveindís Jónsdóttir was impressed that Angel City was recruiting Straus, explaining to The Athletic: “I’d already been talking to Angel City, and I was trying to decide what I wanted to do, and then I saw that he’s gonna be the coach, and it made me more excited about Angel City, knowing how well he’s done for Bayern. I know his style of play. He can make every team look good and play well. It made my choice even easier.”
Straus talked about his philosophy in coaching, even though in his first few training sessions in early June he was missing about half of his players due to international duty: “I need to adapt to (the players); the players don’t adapt to me… When we have the team together for something like a mini-preseason, it’s easier to get those (tactical ideas) in place. So, my goal is that from August (onward), we will start to see tendencies of what we’re going to look like. Then, we’re going to build on that going into the winter, and then have a full preseason. We should be very set come the start of next season. That is my goal and my target.”
While finishing the 2024-25 season with Bayern Munich, he said that he watched all of Angel City’s games but did not try to influence anything done by interim head coach Sam Laity, explaining that: “I stayed away because I only had the capacity for one team at the time. At that time, I had to focus on Bayern, but I was up to date (on Angel City’s season thus far).” He also made an interesting point that: “A calm routine needs high pressure moments (which are) attributes I bring; I have been there before and been successful.”
Laity was in charge of the team before Straus arrived for this season and the plan was for him to stay on, helping Straus with his vast experience in the NWSL since year one in 2013, mostly as an assistant to Seattle Reign and then as head coach in Houston in 2022 and 2023.
Canadian defender Megan Reid (29), in her fourth season with ACFC, talked to the media about what it was like to work with Alex Straus during his first few days in L.A.: “It’s been really fun having Alex around. He’s one of those people that’s unintentionally funny, which makes training and meetings a blast. I’m really looking forward to what he’ll bring to the table at Angel City. I think that’s the sentiment amongst the staff and the locker room as well.”
TribalFootball.com asked Straus, after coaching women youth national teams in Norway, about his thoughts on the structure of youth soccer in America and what he would like to see done differently. His answer was very intriguing: “I can and I will give you a short answer. I could talk for an hour as this is a very complex question to answer. I’ve played a lot of your (U.S.) youth national teams in my career and most are very difficult to play against because of their speed physicality and they are good athletes. It is a very exciting American national team…
"There is a lot of talent. It comes down to how female soccer is in America. America has American football, and basketball but not in Europe…My generation, I saw with all humbleness, in America I would grow up and play football, basketball and other sports. My sister would just play soccer. In Europe, for men it is football, football, football. Girls are prioritized higher in this sport here than historically in Europe. Now it is better in Europe. There is more recognition. (It is) cultural differences.”
He continued, focusing on what could be changed with youth coaching in America: “On coaching (youth), I’m really careful to talk. My perception is where you get athletes, having the same amount of decision-making training, with tactical knowledge, all of these can be amazing. I’ve coached two days here in America. The discussions we have are different. We talk about tactical concepts, which players from a very young age are interested in (and) how they will solve problems. Maybe problem-solving type of training is something we can grow here in America in the future.”
I have been on two calls with Alexander Straus prior to the summer break and have found him to be extremely intelligent, humble and engaging; he clearly wants to drive Angel City to qualify for the playoffs every year, after qualifying only once in their three seasons. I think he will turn out to be a monumental hire for the club.
ACFC has launched the “Seats of Strength” initiative, a year-long ticketing program designed to provide first responders and those impacted by recent fires across Los Angeles with the opportunity to attend ACFC games free of charge.
Angel City 7’s, sponsored by ACFC, played in the 2025 The Soccer Tournament (TST) annual event in Cary, North Carolina from June 5-9, with both the men’s and women’s winning side taking home $1 million dollars. Unfortunately, AC7’s had the U.S. Women (with former national teamers) in their group, who were the defending champions from last season, the first in which women had a separate bracket.
Their other group opponents were Austin (Texas) Rise FC—an entirely women-owned semi-professional team in the WPSL—and Process FC, using experienced professionals—including Panamanian internationals Marta Cox and Katherine Castillo, rising stars and undiscovered talent. Two other NWSL teams had TST sides in 2025: the North Carolina Courage and Kansas City Current II (WPSL). Unfortunately, none of the NWSL-aligned sides made it out of the group stage, with Angel City finishing fourth with no wins and NC and KC finishing in third with one win each. The U.S. Women won the title for the second consecutive season in 2025.
Angel City 7’s were coached by U.S. 1999 Women’s World Cup champion and 1996 Olympic Gold Medalist goalkeeper Saskia Webber. Shawna (Gordon) Palmer was the assistant coach; she was a former NWSL player who also played in Sweden and Australia and is the founder of Football for Her, an LA-based nonprofit providing free soccer to girls and nonbinary youth. The roster included former Angel City goalkeeper Brittany Wilson, USC alum and Philippines Women’s National Team forward Dominique Randle (30)—who played at the University of Southern California and last season with Al-Amal in Saudi Arabia—and former UCLA and current Durham WFC in England forward Kaila Novak (23), who was a youth international for her native Canada.
Houston Dash (3-2-8—W-D-L, 11 points; Twelfth)
The Dash is at the tail end of the table—once again—under their first year American coach Fabrice Gautrat, who had previously been an assistant coach in the league with Chicago and North Carolina. He has to show some improvement in the second half of the season or he could be relieved of his duties ahead of 2026, as the Dash has tended to go through head coaches quickly—almost a revolving door. They have had injuries, including Switzerland international forward Ramona Bachmann, who is out for the season with a knee injury and thus missed the 2025 Women’s EUROs in her home country.
Their top scorers are two Americans: Avery Patterson (23) with three goals in nine games in her second year with the Dash, playing in 33 games in total, while Maggie Graham (23) has three goals in 13 games. American forward Diana Ordonez (24), who plays internationally for Mexico, recently moved to UANL Tigres in Monterrey at the end of May for a transfer fee. Venezuelan international Barbara Oliviera (23) has two goals and has been impactful in her third year with the Dash. She grew up in Texas and played at Texas A&M University and with Monterrey Rayadas before joining the Dash for the 2023 season.
Despite their horrid record, Houston has a lot of talented players, as shown recently when they had eight players called in for national team duty in the June window, including Ramona Bachmann and Diana Ordonez. Avery Patterson of the USWNT faced her club teammate Kiki Van Zanten of Jamaica on June 3 in St. Louis, a 4-0 win for the U.S. Barbara Olivieri of Venezuela played against New Zealand on May 31 (a 3-1 win) and June 3 (a 2-1 defeat) in Spain. Evelina Duljan of Sweden was called into their U-23 national team squad. Forward Michelle Alozie joined Nigeria for a friendly against Cameroon on June 3 (a 2-0 win). Midfielder Sarah Puntigam represented Austria in two UEFA Women’s Nations League matches against Scotland in Glasgow on May 30 (a 1-0 win) and Germany on June 3 in Vienna (a 6-0 defeat). Puntigam is Austria’s all-time most capped player, with 156 caps and has scored 24 goals.
In late March, Houston Dash signed Brazilian youth international defender Rebeca Costa Da Silva (19) from Cruzeiro, where she won two Minas Gerais state titles (north of Sao Paulo in the middle of the country) at the start of the season. She helped the team reach the quarterfinals of the Campeonato Brasileiro de Futebol Feminino in 2024, their best ever finish in league play. She helped Brazil reach the quarterfinals of the 2024 FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup, where they lost to eventual champions Korea DPR. She signed a three year contract through the 2027 season with a mutual option for 2028.
Dash President of Women’s Soccer, Angela Hucles Mangano said: “Adding Rebeca to the team was a priority as we evaluated a number of opportunities during the primary transfer window and we are thrilled to add a player that brings both versatility and depth to the roster. She is ready for a new opportunity that will challenge her both as a player and as an individual as she moves to a new country for the first time. We look forward to supporting her during this transition and welcoming her to the environment and culture we’re establishing in Houston.”
She has not played in any league games to date but started and played the first half of a July exhibition game against Monterrey (see more below).
In December of 2024, the Dash extended Jamaican international midfielder Kiki Van Zanten’s (23) contract for two more years, with a mutual option for the 2027 season, even though she missed a good portion of the 2024 season with a foot injury sustained in a game against the Washington Spirit in April that required two surgeries. The Dash showed their belief in her and they were impressed with her commitment to recover. Interim general manager Erik Ustruck highlighted her value: “Kiki”s resilience stood out as she worked her way back from injury, and we’re excited about what she can bring to the team next season. Her versatility is invaluable as we shape a new identity for the club.”
Kiki Van Zanten played collegiately at the University of Notre Dame and had 27 goals and 9 assists in 95 matches. The Dash selected her 21st overall (second round) in the 2024 draft. In order to select her, the Dash sent $120,000 in allocation money to the Utah Royals so they could have that draft spot. She has played for Jamaica since 2022 and scored the winner in the 102nd minute against Costa Rica (1-0) in the third place playoff during the 2022 CONCACAF qualifiers for the 2023 WWC, where Jamaica made the knockout stage in their second consecutive Women’s World Cup. She has played in five games thus far for the Dash after returning from her injury.
She has discussed her difficult 2024 season recently with the press and noted that she had not played for the Dash for 399 days, though before her NWSL return she got to play for Jamaica (against Mexico, a 4-0 loss) on April 8 in Houston at Shell Energy Stadium in front of 2,500 fans. She said that when she was recovering, she stayed engaged with the Dash by watching film: “I'm watching my team play; I’m watching the other teams play. So, if and when I’m back out there, I’ll have as much information and as many ideas as possible about the tactics we might face.”
The 2023 WWC veteran for Jamaica talked about playing for the Reggae Girlz: “It’s always an honor to represent Jamaica. We’re a small country, but we’re so powerful. We were one of the few teams to make the knockout rounds at the World Cup… I’m always excited to get back to that group. With this upcoming opponent (U.S.), it’s going to highlight some holes that we may have and figure out what we really need to work on before we go into World Cup qualifiers or any major tournament.
"That’s something that we did prior to the last World Cup; we spent two weeks in Australia and played against Spain, Croatia and Australia. In those matches we found out what we needed to work on when we played against these high-level teams. We took that, made it better, got to the World Cup and didn’t lose any games in the group stages. It’s hard and tough when you play these powerhouse national teams outside of tournament time, but the benefit in the long run is worth it to us.”
Jamaica is on a four game losing and scoreless streak, allowing 18 goals with no goals, against Mexico (4-0, 3-0 in April in Kansas City and Houston), to the U.S. on June 3 in St. Louis (4-0) and against England on June 29 in Leicester.
Kiki was on Jamaica’s side with her sister Amelia (20) for the June friendlies’ Amelia (Mimi) plays at Florida State University and played for the U.S. at youth levels but was capped at the senior level by Jamaica in 2024. The sisters started the friendly game at the end of June against England.
The Dash defeated Rayadas de Monterrey of Mexico at Shell Energy Stadium on July 8 during the summer break. Rayadas is in preparation for the 2025 Campeón de Campeones against Pachuca CF, between the winners of the two championships during the 2024-25 season, and the 2025-26 Apertura. On July 8, in front 5,637 fans, the Dash defeated Monterrey 4-0 with goals from American midfielder Delanie Sheehan on an assist by Austrian international Sarah Puntigam and then goals by Avery Patterson, who scored her first goal for the U.S. last month, while American rookie Maggie Graham and Jamaican international Kiki Van Zantem added goals in the last 20 minutes.
Canadian international defender Allysha Chapman and Brazilian international midfielder Rebeca earned their first starts of the year for the team and their first appearances in 2025. Rookie defender and U.S. youth international Zoe Matthews (18) made her first appearance of the year when she entered the game in the 63rd minute. Houston had a huge advantage on shots (19 vs. 3) and shots on goal (9 vs. 0) over Monterrey.
Monterrey is coached by Amelia Valverde, who guided her native Costa Rica to the 2015 and 2023 Women World Cup finals, and has done so well since moving to the Mexican club game—winning two league titles since joining Rayadas for the 2023-24 Clausura.
They signed four new players for the Liga MX Femenil Apertura 2025 campaign. Australian international Emily Gielnik (33) has joined from Melbourne Victory—she has played for clubs in Canada, England, Germany, Japan, Norway and Sweden. American-born Allison Veloz (24) joined the team at the end of June after making her professional debut with Club Necaxa last year. She played at Long Beach Community College and Northern Arizona University in the States. Defender Ashlyn Fernandez (21) was born in Florida, went to Tulsa University and played for Mexico at the 2021 U-17 WWC. Juana Plata (25) is another American who played at Texas State and Lamar Universities and plays internationally for El Salvador. This was the first meeting between the two sides since a friendly at Houston Sports Park in 2018.
At the international level, Houston's most recent international fixture was against the 2025 Clausura champions from Mexico, C.F. Pachuca Femenil, at Shell Energy Stadium as part of the 2024 NWSL x Liga MX Femenil Summer Cup. Houston secured a 2-0 victory, finishing the group stage with a 2-1-0 (W-L-D) record in the inaugural edition of the competition. Houston’s first victory in the tournament also came at home against a team from Mexico, following a 2-1 triumph over Tigres Femenil.
Chicago Stars (1-3-9—W-D-L, 6 points; Thirteenth)
Chicago has only one win and six points from their first 13 games and has had two head coaching changes since the start of the season. They have scored only 10 goals, the lowest total in the league and allowed 27, only two fewer than Utah Royals, who have allowed the most in the league. Ludmilla (31) of Brazil has been a bright star with four goals in 11 games. In defense American internationals Sam Stabb (28) have been solid and long-time American international goalkeeper Alyssa Naeher has played in ten games, but was placed on the 45-day injury list on July 1 with an upper body injury.
Despite their record, this team has considerable talent such as American veteran Shea Groom (32), who won two league titles with FC KC in the early year of the league and has one goal in 11 matches. The Stars needs another forward to pair with Ludmilla, a midfield engine and some more defensive backups.
On June 11, the Stars announced that they had signed German international defender Kathrin Hendrich (33) to a two year contract with an option for 2027; she won a 2024 Olympic Bronze Medal last summer. German WNT. She played for German at multiple youth levels and earned her first senior cap in February 2014; as of July 9, has 84 caps (with 5 goals). She was named to Germany’s rosters for the 2019 and 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cups, 2017, 2022 and 2025 UEFA Women’s European Championship rosters and earned a bronze medal with the 2024 German Olympic Women’s Soccer Team.
She played the past five seasons with Frauen Bundesliga power VfL Wolfsburg. Before joining Wolfsburg for the 2020-2021 season, the defender spent time with Bayer 04 Leverkusen, 1. FFC Frankfurt and Bayern Munich.
Chicago Stars FC placed goalkeeper, Mackenzie Wood, on the 45-day injury list retroactive to May 14. Mackenzie Wood first signed with the Chicago Stars in 2023 and was loaned to French club Stade de Reims Féminines for the season. After rejoining the Stars for the 2024 season, Wood made her National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL) debut on May 12, recording three regular-season appearances and tallying eight saves on the season. She earned her first NWSL shutout over Gotham FC in NWSL x Liga MX Femenil Summer Cup play on July 20, 2024, making three saves in the match.
Additionally, the Chicago Stars have signed goalkeeper Stephanie Sparkowski, to a roster relief contract with Naeher out. Sparkowski joined the Stars for the 2025 preseason as a non-rostered invitee and most recently joined the United States Under-23 Women’s National Team training camp during the April international window. Sparkowski played collegiately at the University of Michigan from 2021-2024, making 39 appearances and recording 159 saves with six shutouts.
The Chicago Stars, in late March, extended the contract of Portuguese international forward Nádia Gomes (29) through June 20, 2025 and then again through July 31, 2025, even though her contract ended after the 2024 season and the optional year was not picked up by the club. Gomes was the 2023 USL W League National Player of the Year for the San Francisco Glens SC, scoring 17 goals in 15 games. Gomes originally joined Chicago Stars FC on a one-year contract with a one-year option in 2024. Last season she played in nine games. She has one goal in seven matches this season for the Stars. Gomes previously played collegiately at Brigham Young University, tallying 23 goals and 23 assists over 83 career appearances She was selected in the 2018 NWSL draft by the Orlando Pride as a national team replacement player that season.
Head Coach Lorne Donaldson, who took Jamaica to the Round of 16 at the 2023 WWC, helping to eliminate Brazil at the group stage during that run, was released six weeks into the season and the club named Masaki Hemmi as interim head coach. When Donaldson was released, the Stars were in last place with one win and five losses. Donaldson, an iconic youth coach in Colorado, was brought on for the 2024 season, following a last place finish in 2023 under former long-time college coach Chris Petrucelli. They finished 10-2-14 and made the playoffs in eighth place in 2024 under Donaldson but fell 4-1 to eventual champions Orlando in the quarterfinals.
Hemmi (38) joined the Stars under Donaldson from USL Championship club New Mexico United, where he was a director of player personal and first assistant coach. He was an associate head coach of WE-League side INAC Kobe in his native Japan for one season in 2021. He played minor league soccer in the U.S.
American rookie forward Micayla Johnson (17) and Hemmi talked to the media on May 15, ahead of their 2-0 loss to North Carolina away, about why she chose to turn professional at such a young age: “I’d say one of the things is just the development, all the things I can learn from being in this environment every day. All the players here, they have a lot of experience, and I can learn from them every day.” Johnson also talked about what she has learned in her first season as a professional: “I just think in the youth game, defending wasn’t really as important… I could just hang out on top, let my defenders do the work. But when you go into higher levels, I’ve learned that you gotta help them out too, and we gotta win the ball back and then, when you win the ball back, that’s when you can attack.”
Masaki Hemmi talked about Micayla Johnson’s impact on the team: “Micayla has done an exceptional job since she’s joined us. Every day, just the way she goes about every training session is so mature, in terms of a young professional player. Just even (being able to) explain what she’s working on, so she can improve, is already impressive. Definitely, I wasn’t this mature when I was 17 years old. So, it gives a sense of responsibility (and assures us) that she’s in the right developmental path and improving. I think that the defending part of it is, every player on the field is very good. They’re professional players. So, every player needs to be accounted for in transition, defending or proactively defending, for that matter, I think you’re on the board. I think she is one of the best one-v-one attacking players on our roster already, (with) how she can position herself to increase her actions on the ball, and just really having the confidence, knowing that she can go to any defender in this league and have production.”
Johnson has played in ten regular season matches as of the summer break.
Hemmi also talked about measuring improvements during the season: “Yeah, it’s a day-by-day improvement, I would say. Making sure that in training, everything is purposefully designed, and the more areas we can improve, the better. However, there’s a fine-tuned line of, ‘Okay, this might be too much information, too many tasks to improve.’ So really narrowing down, ‘This day, we improve this for this weekend.’ That’s kind of how we’re approaching it.”
Hemmi added that he felt that the team was improving: “I think, even looking at the stats, I think possession rate has improved, but also the xG (expected goals) numbers have been as well, especially the last game (an exciting 3-2 home loss to the Washington Spirit on May 10); I think we’re creating a lot of chances from different areas. xG is expected goals, but however, I look at it as the quality of the chances we’re getting, and I think those portions have improved also. I don’t think we’re giving up much in the defending part of it. I think we gave up a few chances, and we got punished on a few of those occasions. So really, yes, we’re improving, but we also need to fine tune. We know that the margin of error for these games are so small, so we got to make sure that we’re improving and finetuning in some of the areas.”
Hemmi left the club effective July 3 during the summer break to pursue other opportunities, compiling a 0-3-4 record in the Windy City. He took over as head coach of troubled Lexington SC in the USL Super League. Long-time Chicago player Ella Masar (39) was appointed as interim head coach for the rest of the season. She played at the University of Illinois and for Chicago in WPS and the NWSL as well as for clubs in Canada, Norway, Sweden and Germany. She played for the U.S. at youth levels and won one full cap in 2009. She has been an assistant coach with the Kansas City Current and filled in as acting head coach of Chicago at the end of the 2023 season and helped the U.S. U-23 WNT earlier this year.
This team does not have to be shut down and rebuilt—the question is, will Stars’ management give Masar the time and resources to build a team that can compete in a league that she knows well. She is iconic in Chicago’s women’s professional soccer history and is definitely a good choice; she takes the number of women coaches in the league now to three, along with Laura Harvey in Seattle and Bev Yanez in Louisville.
However, the club has made it clear that they are conducting an extensive search for a permanent head coach since letting Donaldson go; the club indicated in early July that they were in the final phases of that process, indicating that someone could still come on during the break or early in the second half of the season. We would assume that it would be a coach from Europe, like Angel City, San Diego and new side Boston (for 2026) have done, brining in a Norwegian, Swedish and Portuguese coach, respectively. If it is not Masar, then Chicago would have four head coaches in 2025, which is way too many.
Utah Royals (1-2-10—W-D-L, 5points; Fourteenth)
There are not many positives to focus on in the Royals second season, with one win thus far in 2025. U.S. international Ally Sentnor (21) is a winner—guiding the U.S. U-20’s to a FIFA Bronze Medal in 2024 in Colombia and the University of North Carolina to a second-place finish in the College Cup in 2022—in her second season with Utah, deserves much better. The Royals have scored only 11 goals in 13 matches—the second worse total in the league—and allowed the most goals (29), despite having U.S. international Maddy McGlynn (26) in goal, who played with Gotham and Pitea of Sweden before joining Utah for their first season in 2024. American forward Bre Mazingo (24) and Canadian international Bianca St. Georges (28) each have three goals to lead the team.
Belgium native head coach Jimmy Coenraets—who was about as far off the radar as you can get when stepping in last season after former U.S. international Amy Rodriguez was let go with a 2-2-11 (W-D-L) record—finished the 2024 season with a 7-2-4 record and raised hopes. He would need to replicate that record at least to hang onto his job, or Utah will be on the market for yet another head coach.
Tim Grainey is a contributor to Tribal Football. His latest book Beyond Bend it Like Beckham on the global game of women’s football. Get your copy today. Follow Tim on X: @TimGrainey