The 2014 National Women's Soccer League season was the second season of the

National Women's Soccer League The National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) is a women's professional Association football, soccer league and the highest level of the United States soccer league system#Women's leagues, United States soccer league system (alongside the USL Supe ...

, the top division of women's soccer in the United States. Including the NWSL's two professional predecessors,

Women's Professional Soccer Women's Professional Soccer (WPS) was the top-level professional women's soccer league in the United States. It began play on March 29, 2009. The league was composed of seven teams for its first two seasons and fielded six teams for the 2011 ...

(2009–2011) and the

Women's United Soccer Association The Women's United Soccer Association (WUSA) was the world's first women's soccer league in which all the players were paid as professionals. Founded in February 2000, the league began its first season in April 2001 with eight teams in the Uni ...

(2001–2003), this was the eighth 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 The United States Soccer Federation (USSF), commonly referred to as U.S. Soccer, is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization and the official governing body of soccer in the United States. It is a full member of FIFA and governs American soccer ...

and received major financial backing from that body. Further financial backing was provided by the

Canadian Soccer Association The Canadian Soccer Association (; branded as Canada Soccer) is the governing body for soccer in Canada. Headquartered in Ottawa, Ontario, the federation is a full member of FIFA and governs Canadian soccer at the international, professional, a ...

and the

Mexican Football Federation The Mexican Football Federation (), abbreviated as FMF is the official governing body of football in Mexico. It administers the men's and women's national teams with all its youth teams, the national teams of futsal and beach soccer, Liga MX wit ...

. 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. The regular season began the weekend of April 12–13 and ended August 20, with the championship game played on August 30.

FC Kansas City FC Kansas City was an American professional women's soccer club based in Kansas City, Missouri. The team was one of the eight founding clubs of the National Women's Soccer League in 2012, and began play in 2013. They were two-time NWSL champio ...

defeated the

NWSL Shield The NWSL Shield is an annual award given to the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) team with the best regular season record as determined by the NWSL points system. The NWSL Shield has been awarded annually since 2013 and is recognized as a ...

winners

Seattle Reign FC Seattle Reign FC is an American professional soccer team based in Seattle, Washington, that competes in the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL). Founded in 2012, it is one of eight inaugural members of the NWSL. Since June 2024, the Reign ar ...

2–1 to win the NWSL title. The league had announced it would not expand for the 2014 season and was not expected to contract. However, after a push from the

Houston Dynamo Houston Dynamo Football Club is an American professional soccer club based in Houston. The club competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Western Conference. Established on December 15, 2005, the club was founded after their fo ...

, the league approved the expansion of the

Houston Dash The Houston Dash are an American professional soccer team based in Houston, Texas, that competes in the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL). The Dash began play in the 2014 season. The team plays its home games at Shell Energy Stadium. His ...

Teams, stadia, and personnel

Stadia and locations

See also List of National Women's Soccer League stadiums Two teams, the Dash and Reign, do not make their stadia's 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''. The Boston Breakers, FC Kansas City, and Seattle Reign FC moved to new stadia for 2014, while the Houston Dash was an expansion franchise.

Personnel and sponsorship

Note: All teams use

Nike Nike often refers to: * Nike, Inc., a major American producer of athletic shoes, apparel, and sports equipment * Nike (mythology), a Greek goddess who personifies victory Nike may also refer to: People * Nike (name), a surname and feminine giv ...

as kit manufacturer.

Player Acquisition

Players were acquired through the 2014 Allocation of national team players announced on January 3, the 2014 NWSL Expansion Draft (for expansion team Houston) on January 10, and the

2014 NWSL College Draft The 2014 NWSL College Draft was the second annual meeting of National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) franchises to select eligible college players. It was held on January 17, 2014, at the NSCAA Convention in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and was ope ...

on January 17, as well as free agency, trading, and loans. Notable acquisitions *

Christen Press Christen Annemarie Press (born December 29, 1988) is an American professional Women's association football, soccer player, entrepreneur, and sports journalist. She plays for Angel City FC of the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) and the Unit ...

, top scorer of the

2013 Damallsvenskan The 2013 Damallsvenskan, part of the 2013 Swedish football season, is the 26th season of Damallsvenskan since its establishment in 1988. The season began on 13 April 2013 and ends on 20 October 2013. Tyresö FF are the defending champions, having ...

in Sweden, was allocated to Chicago. *

Nahomi Kawasumi is a Japanese footballer who plays either as a midfielder or forward for Japanese club Albirex Niigata. A full international since 2008, she won gold at the 2011 World Cup as well as silver at the 2012 London Olympics and 2015 World Cup. Dur ...

, named Best Player of the 2013 L. League in Japan, was loaned to Seattle from

INAC Kobe Leonessa INAC Kobe(INAC神戸レオネッサ, Ainakku-Kōbe Reonessa) is a professional Japanese women's soccer, football club from Kobe, founded in 2001. INAC stands for International Athletic Club, while Leonessa means Lioness in Italian language, Ita ...

. *

Beverly Goebel Beverly Goebel Yanez (born Beverly June Goebel; July 19, 1988) is an American soccer coach and former professional player. She is the head coach of Racing Louisville FC in the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL). Yanez played as a forward for ...

, top scorer of the 2013 L. League in Japan, was loaned to Seattle from

. *

Kim Little Kim Alison Little (born 29 June 1990) is a Scottish professional association football, footballer who plays as a midfielder for and captains Arsenal W.F.C., Arsenal of the English Women's Super League. Before her retirement from international ...

PFA Women's Players' Player of the Year The Professional Footballers' Association Women's Players' Player of the Year is an annual award given to the player who is voted to have been the best of the year in Women's football in England, English women's football. The award has been prese ...

for 2012–13 and top scorer of the

2012 FA WSL The 2012 FA WSL was the second season of the FA WSL, the top-level women's football league of England. The season began on 8 April 2012 and was scheduled to end in October 2012. The league had a break between 8 July and 19 August to allow prepa ...

in England, was signed as a free agent by Seattle. *

Verónica Boquete Verónica Boquete Giadáns (born 9 April 1987) is a Spanish professional association football, footballer who plays as a Forward (association football), forward or midfielder for Italian Serie A (women's football), Serie A club ACF Fiorentina ( ...

, Player of the Year of the 2011 WPS in the U.S., was signed as a free agent by Portland, arriving June 7.

Competition format

* Each team will play a total of 24 games, 12 home and 12 away. Each teams will play four opponents twice at home and once away, and will play the other four opponents once at home and twice away. * The four teams at the end of the season with the most points will qualify for the playoffs. The two semi-final games will be played on the weekend of August 23–24, and the final will be played on August 30.

Results table

''Scores listed as home-away''

League standings

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: # Head-to-head win–loss record between the two teams. # Greater goal difference across the entire season (against all teams, not just tied teams). # Greatest total number of goals scored (against all teams). # Apply #1–3 to games played on the road. # Apply #1–3 to games played at home. # 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: # 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). # Greater goal difference across the entire season (against all teams, not just tied teams).

Positions by gameweek

''Considering each week to end on a Sunday''

Positions by games played

NWSL Playoffs

The top four teams from the regular season qualified for the championship playoffs. The highest-seeded semi-final winner then hosted the championship final.

Semi-finals

Championship

Attendance

Average home attendances

Ranked from highest to lowest average attendance. A new NWSL attendance record of 19,123 was set on August 3 in a game between Portland and Houston at Providence Park in Portland, breaking the previous record of 17,619 set in 2013.

Playoff Attendance

Semi-final No. 1, August 23, Portland at Kansas City: 2,997 Semi-final No. 2, August 24, Washington at Seattle: 4,540 Final, August 31, Kansas City at Seattle: 4,252

Statistical leaders

Top scorers

Source:

Top assists

Source:

Goalkeeping

(Minimum of 1,080 Minutes Played) Source:

Individual awards

Weekly awards

Monthly awards

Annual awards

Statistics

Scoring

* First goal of the season:

Amy Rodriguez Amy Joy Rodriguez Shilling (; born February 17, 1987) is an American soccer coach and retired professional player who most recently served as head coach of Utah Royals of the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL). During a career that spanned 1 ...

for

against

Sky Blue FC Gotham Football Club is an American professional soccer team based in the New York metropolitan area that competes in the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL). Founded in 2006 as Jersey Sky Blue, the team was known as Sky Blue FC from 2008 un ...

(April 12) * Earliest goal in a match: 33 seconds **

Jessica McDonald Jessica Marie McDonald (born February 28, 1988) is an American association football, soccer commentator and former professional player. She played for National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) clubs including the Chicago Red Stars, Seattle Reign FC ...

for

Portland Thorns Portland Thorns FC is an American professional soccer team based in Portland, Oregon, that competes in the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL). Established in 2012, the team began play in 2013 in the then-eight-team NWSL, which received supp ...

against

Chicago Red Stars Chicago Stars Football Club is an American professional soccer team based in the Chicago metropolitan area that competes in the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL). A founding member of the Women's Professional Soccer (WPS) league as the Chic ...

(July 17) * Latest goal in a match: 90+4 minutes **

Yael Averbuch Yael Averbuch West (born Yael Friedman Averbuch; November 3, 1986) is an American former professional soccer player. She was formerly the executive director of the National Women's Soccer League Players Association and is the current general ma ...

for

Washington Spirit The Washington Spirit are an American professional Association football, soccer team based in Washington, D.C. that competes in the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL). It is a continuation of the D.C. United Women of the USL W-League (1995� ...

against

(August 2) * Widest winning margin: 6 goals **

1–7

Portland Thorns FC Portland Thorns FC is an American professional Association football, soccer team based in Portland, Oregon, that competes in the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL). Established in 2012, the team began play in 2013 in the then-eight-team NWSL ...

(July 13) * Most goals scored in a match: 9 **

6–3

Boston Breakers The Boston Breakers were an American professional women's soccer club based in the Boston neighborhood of Allston. The team competed in the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL). They replaced the original Breakers, who competed in the defu ...

(July 20) * First Own Goal:

Amy Barczuk Amy Elizabeth Barczuk (born October 28, 1990) is a retired American professional soccer player. She was a defender for the Western New York Flash and Boston Breakers in the National Women's Soccer League. Early life Barczuk grew up in Centennia ...

Western New York Flash The Western New York Flash (WNY Flash) was an American women's soccer club based in Elma, New York, that most recently competed in the United Women's Soccer league in 2018. They won league championships in four different leagues: the USL W-Leag ...

for

(April 13) * Average goals per match: 2.98

Hat-tricks

Discipline

* First yellow card:

Allie Long Alexandra Linsley Long (born August 13, 1987) is an American soccer player who plays as a midfielder. She played for Portland Thorns FC, Seattle Reign FC, and NJ/NY Gotham FC in the National Women's Soccer League, and represented the United S ...

for

against

(April 12) * First red card:

Lisa de Vanna Lisa Marie De Vanna (born 14 November 1984) is an Australian former professional Association football, soccer player who played as a Forward (association football), forward. She played for Adelaide Sensation, Western Waves, Doncaster Rovers Bel ...

for

against

* Most yellow cards in a match: 9 **

3–1

– 4 for Seattle and 5 for Chicago * Most yellow cards: 6 ** Courtney Jones (

)

Streaks

* Longest winning streak: 7 games **

, games 1–7 **

, games 11–17 * Longest unbeaten streak: 16 games **

, games 1–16 * Longest winless streak: 8 games **

, games 17–24 * Longest losing streak: 6 games **

, games 19–24 * Longest shutout: 587 minutes by

Nicole Barnhart Nicole Renee Barnhart (born October 10, 1981) is an American retired soccer player who played as a goalkeeper. She played professionally for FC Gold Pride and Philadelphia Independence in Women's Professional Soccer, and FC Kansas City, Utah ...

for

* Longest drought: 379 minutes for

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:National Women's Soccer League 2014

2014 The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...