The 2021

NWSL Challenge Cup The NWSL Challenge Cup, currently known as the UKG NWSL Challenge Cup for sponsorship reasons, is an annual tournament organized by the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL), the top-tier women's league in the United States soccer league system. T ...

was a league cup tournament that took place during the

2021 National Women's Soccer League season The 2021 National Women's Soccer League season was the ninth 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 ...

. It began on April 9 and ended May 8, one week before the start of the regular season. It was the second iteration of the

tournament, which had started in 2020 in response to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...

and was announced as a regular event later in 2020.

Portland Thorns FC The Portland Thorns FC is an American professional women's soccer team based in Portland, Oregon. Established in 2012, the team began play in 2013 in the then-eight-team National Women's Soccer League (NWSL), which receives support from the Uni ...

won the 2021 final over

NJ/NY Gotham FC NJ/NY Gotham FC is a professional women's soccer team based in Harrison, New Jersey. Founded in 2006 as Jersey Sky Blue, the team was known as Sky Blue FC from 2008 until 2020. A founding member of the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) in 201 ...

in a

penalty shootout The penalty shootout is a method of determining a winner in sports matches that would have otherwise been drawn or tied. The rules for penalty shootouts vary between sports and even different competitions; however, the usual form is similar to pe ...

Format

While the inaugural Challenge Cup took place entirely in a single "

bubble Bubble, Bubbles or The Bubble may refer to: Common uses * Bubble (physics), a globule of one substance in another, usually gas in a liquid ** Soap bubble * Economic bubble, a situation where asset prices are much higher than underlying funda ...

" location during the

, the 2021 Challenge Cup was played in home markets. The 10 NWSL teams were organized into two regional divisions of five teams each. Every team played four games within their division, with the two division winners competing in the

final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: * Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which decides a winner for an event ** Another term for playoffs, describing a sequence of con ...

on May 8. The full schedule was released on March 9, 2021, along with tournament rules and regulations.

Tiebreakers

The initial determining factor for a team's position in the standings was 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 were equal on points after completion of the preliminary round, the following criteria were applied to determine team rankings: # Superior goal difference in all divisional matches. # Greatest number of goals scored in all divisional matches. # Lowest team conduct score relating to the number of yellow and red cards obtained, where only one of the below point totals shall be applied to a player in a single match: ## yellow card: 1 point; ## indirect red card (as a result of two yellow cards): 3 points; ## direct red card: 4 points; ## yellow card and direct red card: 5 points. # Drawing of lots by the NWSL.

Final

The final was hosted by the team with the best record across both divisions. The final was 90 minutes; in the event it was tied, teams would proceed directly to a

with no

overtime Overtime is the amount of time someone works beyond normal working hours. The term is also used for the pay received for this time. Normal hours may be determined in several ways: *by custom (what is considered healthy or reasonable by society) ...

periods.

East Division

Standings

Games

---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ----

West Division

Standings

Games

---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ----

Championship

won the right to host the

by finishing with the best record across both divisions. The game finished in a 1-1 draw after the regulation 90 minutes, so it proceeded to a penalty shootout. Each team missed one penalty kick during the first five rounds, both hitting a shot off the crossbar. In the seventh round, Gotham FC, shooting first, had a shot saved by Portland goalkeeper Adrianna Franch, and

Morgan Weaver Morgan Victoria Weaver (born October 18, 1997) is an American soccer player who plays as a forward for Portland Thorns FC. College career Weaver played college soccer at Washington State from 2016 to 2019. She scored her first collegiate goals ...

converted Portland's try to win the tournament.

Statistics

Goalscorers

Statistics do not include penalty-shootout goals.

Discipline

A player would be automatically suspended for the next match in the tournament for the following offenses: * Receiving a red card (red card suspensions may be extended for serious offenses); * Receiving two yellow cards in two matches, unless the second yellow card was accumulated in the final match of divisional play; * Only direct red card suspensions would be carried over to the NWSL regular season. The following suspensions were served during the tournament:

Awards

Debinha Débora Cristiane de Oliveira (born 20 October 1991), known as Debinha Miri or simply Debinha, is a Brazilian professional football forward who plays for the Kansas City Current in the National Women's Soccer League and the Brazil women's nati ...

of the

North Carolina Courage The North Carolina Courage is a professional women's soccer team based in Cary, North Carolina. It was founded on January 9, 2017, after Stephen Malik acquired National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) franchise rights from the Western New York ...

was voted the tournament's Most Valuable Player.

DiDi Haracic Didi may refer to: Arts and entertainment * "Didi" (song), a song by Khaled * Didi, the principal character in '' Didi's Comedy Show'', a German comedy television show * Didi Pickles, mother of Tommy and Dil in the cartoons ''Rugrats'' and ''Al ...

(

) and Christine Sinclair (

), whose teams faced off in the

, were the other two MVP finalists. Adrianna Franch of the Portland Thorns was voted the MVP of the championship game. She was also named

NWSL Player of the Week The National Women's Soccer League Player of the Week is a weekly soccer award given to individual players in the National Women's Soccer League. The honor is awarded to the player deemed to have put in the best performances over the past week by ...

for her play in the championship game.

Weekly awards

Broadcasting

NWSL's broadcasting partnership with

CBS Sports CBS Sports is the sports division of the American television network CBS. Its headquarters are in the CBS Building on W 52nd Street in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, with programs produced out of Studio 43 at the CBS Broadcast Center on W ...

and

Twitch Twitch may refer to: Biology * Muscle contraction ** Convulsion, rapid and repeated muscle contraction and relaxation ** Fasciculation, a small, local, involuntary muscle contraction ** Myoclonic twitch, a jerk usually caused by sudden muscle co ...

continued. In the US,

CBS Sports Network CBS Sports Network (a.k.a. CBSSN) is an American pay television network owned by the CBS Entertainment Group unit of Paramount Global. When it launched in 2002 as the National College Sports Network (later College Sports Television also known a ...

(CBSSN) aired the opener, a rematch of the 2020 NWSL Challenge Cup Championship between

Houston Dash The Houston Dash is a professional women's soccer team based in Houston, Texas. It joined the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) in the 2014 season, and is affiliated with the MLS team Houston Dynamo FC. History Establishment On November ...

and

Chicago Red Stars The Chicago Red Stars are a professional women's soccer club based in Bridgeview, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago. A founding member of the Women's Professional Soccer (WPS) league, they have played in the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) sin ...

, on April 9, as well as three additional games; the final game on May 8 was available on

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainm ...

and

Paramount+ Paramount+ is an American subscription video on-demand service owned by Paramount Global. The service's content is drawn primarily from the libraries of CBS Media Ventures (including CBS Studios), Paramount Media Networks (formerly Viacom Media ...

; and all other games were streamed exclusively on Paramount+. Every game was available on Twitch internationally, including in Canada when games were not on CBS Sports Network.

JP Dellacamera John Paul "JP" Dellacamera (born January 11, 1952) is an American play-by-play sportscaster primarily for Major League Soccer with the Philadelphia Union, as well as major soccer tournaments and ice hockey. Commentary career Soccer In the 1 ...

and

Aly Wagner Alyson Kay Wagner (born August 10, 1980) is an American sports broadcaster and retired soccer midfielder who last played for Los Angeles Sol of Women's Professional Soccer and the United States women's national soccer team. She is a two-time Ol ...

commentated on the opening game and the final, while Jenn Hildreth and

Lori Lindsey Lori Ann Lindsey (born March 19, 1980) is a retired American soccer midfielder who last played for Canberra United in the Australian W-League and was also a member of the United States women's national soccer team player pool. She played one ...

provided commentary in three other games on

CBSSN CBS Sports Network (a.k.a. CBSSN) is an American pay television network owned by the CBS Entertainment Group unit of Paramount Global. When it launched in 2002 as the National College Sports Network (later College Sports Television also known a ...

. Marisa Pilla returned to the coverage as sideline reporter. Commentators for

and

coverage included play-by-play announcers Mike Watts,

Jordan Angeli Jordan Leigh Angeli (born May 31, 1986) is an American former soccer player from Lakewood, Colorado. She last played in 2015 for the Western New York Flash in the National Women's Soccer League after a preseason trade with the Washington Spiri ...

, Josh Eastern, Joe Malfa and Josh Tolle, and match analyst

, Jen Cooper,

Kaylyn Kyle Kaylyn McKenzie Kyle (born October 6, 1988) is a former Canadian soccer player who last played as a midfielder for the Orlando Pride in the National Women's Soccer League. She was also a member of Canada women's national soccer team, winning a ...

, Lisa Roman and

Kacey White Kacey Dell White (formerly Burke; born April 27, 1984) is an American professional soccer midfielder and coach. She most recently played for the Atlanta Beat of Women's Professional Soccer and the United States women's national soccer team. Ea ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:2021 NWSL Challenge Cup

2021 File:2021 collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: the James Webb Space Telescope was launched in 2021; Protesters in Yangon, Myanmar following the coup d'état; A civil demonstration against the October 2021 coup in Sudan; Crowd shortly after t ...

2021 in American soccer leagues 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1 ...

2021 National Women's Soccer League season NWSL