2015_NWSL_season

2015 National Women's Soccer League season

2015 National Women's Soccer League season

3rd season of the National Women's Soccer League


The 2015 National Women's Soccer League season was the third season of the National Women's Soccer League, the top division of women's soccer in the United States. Including the NWSL's two professional predecessors, Women's Professional Soccer (2009–2011) and the Women's United Soccer Association (2001–2003), it was the ninth overall season of FIFA and USSF-sanctioned top division women's soccer in the United States. The league was operated by the United States Soccer Federation and received major financial backing from that body. Further financial backing was provided by the Canadian Soccer Association and the Mexican Football Federation. All three national federations paid the league salaries of many of their respective national team members in an effort to nurture talent in those nations.

Quick Facts Season, Champions ...

In January, Jeff Plush was named NWSL commissioner,[2] replacing Cheryl Bailey.

To accommodate the 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup, the league announced it would take a two-week break from June 7–19, reduce the season to 20 games, and extend the playing calendar into September.[3]

For the second straight season, FC Kansas City defeated the NWSL Shield winners Seattle Reign FC 1–0 to win the NWSL championship.[4]

Teams, stadiums, and personnel

Stadiums and locations

Two teams, the Dash and Reign, do not make their stadiums' entire capacity available for home games, instead restricting ticket sales at a lower level. The full capacities of their venues are included in parentheses and italics.

More information Team, Stadium ...

Personnel and sponsorship

Note: All of the teams use Nike as their kit manufacturer.

Player acquisition

Players were acquired through the 2015 Allocation of national team players on January 14[6] and the 2015 NWSL College Draft on January 16,[7] as well as free agency and trades.

Notable acquisitions and losses

Competition format

  • Each team will play a total of 20 games, 10 home and 10 away.
  • Each team will play all opponents twice, once home and once away, plus four opponents an extra time, split two opponents at home and two away.
  • The four teams at the end of the season with the most points will qualify for the playoffs.

Results table

[17]

More information Club, Match ...

Scores listed as home-away

League standings

More information Pos, Team ...
Source: NWSL
Rules for classification: Tiebreakers
(C) Champions

Tiebreakers

The initial determining factor for a team's position in the standings is most points earned, with three points earned for a win, one point for a draw, and zero points for a loss. If two or more teams tie in point total, when determining rank and playoff qualification and seeding, the NWSL uses the following tiebreaker rules, going down the list until all teams are ranked.

If two teams tie:

  1. Head-to-head win–loss record between the two teams.
  2. Greater goal difference across the entire season (against all teams, not just tied teams).
  3. Greatest total number of goals scored (against all teams).
  4. Apply #1–3 to games played on the road.
  5. Apply #1–3 to games played at home.
  6. If teams are still equal, ranking will be determined by a coin toss.

If three or more teams tie, the following rules apply until only two teams remain tied, at which point the two-team tiebreakers listed above are used:

  1. Points per game against all other tied teams (total all points earned in games against tied teams and divide by games played against tied teams).
  2. Greater goal difference across the entire season (against all teams, not just tied teams).

Weekly live standings

Considering each week to end on a Sunday

More information Team \ Week, Seattle Reign FC ...
Source: [citation needed]

Statistical leaders

Goalkeeping

As of 6 September 2015[18]

(Minimum of 900 minutes played)

More information Rank, Goalkeeper ...

NWSL Playoffs

The top four teams from the regular season will compete for the NWSL Championship.

Semi-finals Championship
      
1 Seattle Reign FC 3
4 Washington Spirit 0
1 Seattle Reign FC 0
3 FC Kansas City 1
2 Chicago Red Stars 0
3 FC Kansas City 3

Semi-finals

More information Chicago Red Stars, 0–3 ...
Attendance: 2,013
Referee: Karen Abt
More information Seattle Reign FC, 3–0 ...
Attendance: 5,021
Referee: Christopher Spivey

Championship

More information Seattle Reign FC, 0–1 ...
Attendance: 13,264
Referee: Katja Koroleva

Individual awards

Monthly awards

More information Month, Player of the Month ...

Weekly awards

More information Week, Player of the Week ...

Annual awards

More information Award, Winner ...
More information NWSL Best XI, Position ...
More information NWSL Championship Game MVP, Player ...

References

  1. "Archived copy". ussoccer.app.box.com. Archived from the original on September 13, 2015. Retrieved June 6, 2022.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  2. "Jeff Plush is new commissioner of women's soccer league". January 6, 2015. Archived from the original on June 26, 2018. Retrieved January 14, 2017.
  3. Kassouf, Jeff (August 27, 2014). "NWSL to play 20-game schedule, break for World Cup; national team players to miss 7–8 games". Archived from the original on December 16, 2014. Retrieved August 27, 2014.
  4. "FCKC CROWNED 2015 NWSL CHAMPIONS IN 1–0 WIN OVER SEATTLE". NWSL. October 1, 2015. Archived from the original on October 6, 2015. Retrieved October 2, 2015.
  5. "FC Kansas City to play at Swope Soccer Village in 2015". January 13, 2015. Archived from the original on September 28, 2015. Retrieved January 13, 2015.
  6. Kassouf, Jeff (January 14, 2015). "NWSL announces list of 42 subsidized players". The Equalizer. Retrieved January 16, 2015.
  7. "Dash select Brian No. 1 overall in 2015 NWSL Draft". The Equalizer. January 16, 2015. Retrieved January 16, 2015.
  8. "2014 Statistics". U.S. Soccer. December 31, 2014. Retrieved January 16, 2015.
  9. de Jesus Ortiz, Jose (October 16, 2014). "Dash trade 2 players, draft pick for Lloyd". Houston Chronicle. Retrieved March 18, 2015.
  10. "2014 Player Statistics". NWSL. December 31, 2014. Archived from the original on January 7, 2015. Retrieved January 16, 2015.
  11. Gier, Kathleen (October 27, 2014). "FC Kansas City acquires national team member Heather O'Reilly in trade". The Kansas City Star. Retrieved March 18, 2015.
  12. DiVeronica, Jeff (November 24, 2014). "Trade it again, Sam: WNY Flash deal Kerr". Democrat and Chronicle. Retrieved January 16, 2015.
  13. Goldberg, Jamie (January 16, 2015). "Portland Thorns trade Jessica McDonald to the Houston Dash". The Oregonian. Retrieved January 16, 2015.
  14. Goldberg, Jamie (January 16, 2015). "Portland Thorns acquire forward Jodie Taylor through a series of trades". The Oregonian. Retrieved January 16, 2015.
  15. "2013 Player Statistics". NWSL. Archived from the original on September 3, 2014. Retrieved March 18, 2015.
  16. Geary, Molly (March 18, 2015). "USWNT's Abby Wambach will not play in 2015 NWSL season". Sports Illustrated. Retrieved March 15, 2015.
  17. "National Women's Soccer League". Nwslsoccer.com. Retrieved April 21, 2015.
  18. "2015 Player Statistics – Leaderboards". National Women's Soccer League. Archived from the original on January 7, 2015. Retrieved September 11, 2015.
  19. "PROVIDENCE PARK NAMED HOST SITE FOR 2015 NWSL CHAMPIONSHIP". National Women's Soccer League (NWSL). August 17, 2015. Archived from the original on August 19, 2015. Retrieved August 18, 2015.
  20. "REIGN FC'S MEGAN RAPINOE VOTED NWSL PLAYER OF THE WEEK". Nwslsoccer.com. April 15, 2015. Archived from the original on April 20, 2015. Retrieved April 18, 2015.
  21. "RED STARS' CHRISTEN PRESS VOTED NWSL PLAYER OF THE WEEK". Nwslsoccer.com. April 21, 2015. Archived from the original on July 10, 2015. Retrieved April 23, 2015.
  22. "SPIRIT CRYSTAL DUNN VOTED NWSL PLAYER OF THE WEEK". Nwslsoccer.com. April 28, 2015. Retrieved April 29, 2015.
  23. "FLASH'S BECKY EDWARDS VOTED NWSL PLAYER OF THE WEEK". Nwslsoccer.com. May 5, 2015. Retrieved May 6, 2015.
  24. "RED STARS' HUERTA VOTED NWSL PLAYER OF THE WEEK". Nwslsoccer.com. May 12, 2015. Archived from the original on July 10, 2015. Retrieved May 12, 2015.
  25. "RED STARS' HUERTA VOTED NWSL PLAYER OF THE WEEK". Nwslsoccer.com. May 19, 2015. Archived from the original on July 10, 2015. Retrieved May 19, 2015.
  26. "DASH'S BIANCA HENNINGER VOTED NWSL PLAYER OF THE WEEK". Nwslsoccer.com. May 27, 2015. Archived from the original on July 10, 2015. Retrieved May 27, 2015.
  27. "SPIRIT'S CRYSTAL DUNN VOTED NWSL PLAYER OF THE WEEK". Nwslsoccer.com. June 2, 2015. Archived from the original on June 7, 2015. Retrieved June 21, 2015.
  28. "SEATTLE REIGN FC FISHLOCK VOTED NWSL PLAYER OF THE WEEK". Nwslsoccer.com. June 9, 2015. Archived from the original on June 22, 2015. Retrieved June 21, 2015.
  29. "PORTLAND'S MICHELLE BETOS VOTED NWSL PLAYER OF THE WEEK". Nwslsoccer.com. June 23, 2015. Archived from the original on July 17, 2015. Retrieved June 29, 2015.
  30. "SPIRIT CRYSTAL DUNN VOTED NWSL PLAYER OF THE WEEK". Nwslsoccer.com. July 1, 2015. Retrieved July 14, 2015.
  31. "THORNS FC SINEAD FARRELLY VOTED PLAYER OF THE WEEK". Nwslsoccer.com. July 7, 2015. Archived from the original on July 17, 2015. Retrieved July 14, 2015.
  32. "FC KANSAS CITY SHEA GROOM VOTED NWSL PLAYER OF THE WEEK". Nwslsoccer.com. July 14, 2015. Archived from the original on July 15, 2015. Retrieved July 14, 2015.
  33. "WNY FLASH MICHELLE HEYMAN VOTED NWSL PLAYER OF THE WEEK". Nwslsoccer.com. July 21, 2015. Archived from the original on July 23, 2015. Retrieved July 23, 2015.
  34. "REIGN FC BEVERLY YANEZ VOTED NWSL PLAYER OF THE WEEK". Nwslsoccer.com. July 28, 2015. Retrieved July 28, 2015.[permanent dead link]
  35. "SPIRIT'S CRYSTAL DUNN VOTED NWSL PLAYER OF THE WEEK". Nwslsoccer.com. August 4, 2015. Retrieved August 4, 2015.
  36. "BREAKERS ALYSSA NAEHER VOTED NWSL PLAYER OF THE WEEK". Nwslsoccer.com. August 11, 2015. Archived from the original on August 14, 2015. Retrieved August 15, 2015.
  37. "SPIRIT CRYSTAL DUNN VOTED NWSL PLAYER OF THE WEEK". Nwslsoccer.com. August 18, 2015. Archived from the original on August 22, 2015. Retrieved August 19, 2015.
  38. "REIGN FC KIM LITTLE VOTED NWSL PLAYER OF THE WEEK". Nwslsoccer.com. August 25, 2015. Archived from the original on August 27, 2015. Retrieved August 25, 2015.
  39. "SPIRIT'S CRYSTAL DUNN VOTED NWSL PLAYER OF THE WEEK". Nwslsoccer.com. September 1, 2015. Archived from the original on September 5, 2015. Retrieved September 1, 2015.
  40. "RED STARS' KARINA LEBLANC VOTED PLAYER OF THE WEEK". Nwslsoccer.com. September 10, 2015. Archived from the original on October 6, 2015. Retrieved September 10, 2015.
  41. "SPIRIT FORWARD CRYSTAL DUNN WINS 2015 GOLDEN BOOT". Nwslsoccer.com. September 7, 2015. Archived from the original on September 25, 2015. Retrieved September 23, 2015.
  42. "DANIELLE COLAPRICO VOTED ROOKIE OF THE YEAR". Nwslsoccer.com. September 14, 2015. Archived from the original on September 25, 2015. Retrieved September 23, 2015.
  43. "THORNS FC'S MICHELLE BETOS VOTED GOALKEEPER OF THE YEAR". September 16, 2015. Archived from the original on September 22, 2015. Retrieved September 23, 2015.
  44. "FCKC'S BECKY SAUERBRUNN VOTED DEFENDER OF THE YEAR". September 21, 2015. Archived from the original on September 24, 2015. Retrieved September 23, 2015.
  45. "SEATTLE REIGN FC'S LAURA HARVEY VOTED COACH OF THE YEAR". September 18, 2015. Archived from the original on September 22, 2015. Retrieved September 23, 2015.
  46. "SPIRIT FORWARD CRYSTAL DUNN VOTED NWSL MVP". September 23, 2015. Archived from the original on October 7, 2015. Retrieved September 23, 2015.
  47. "NATIONAL WOMEN'S SOCCER LEAGUE ANNOUNCES 2015 BEST XI – National Women's Soccer League". nwslsoccer.com. Archived from the original on September 25, 2015. Retrieved September 26, 2015.

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