NWSL records and statistics

The following is a compilation of notable records and statistics for teams and players in the National Women's Soccer League, which started in 2013.[1]

Statistics for the NWSL Challenge Cup, a competition originally created in place of the 2020 season that was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, are treated separately from regular season statistics.

Champions and shield winners edit

By season edit

Season Playoff final Regular season
Champions Score Runners-up Shield winners Points Runners-up
2013 Portland Thorns FC 2–0
Details
Western New York Flash Western New York Flash 38–38
Standings
FC Kansas City
2014 FC Kansas City 2–1
Details
Seattle Reign FC Seattle Reign FC 54–41
Standings
FC Kansas City
2015 FC Kansas City 1–0
Details
Seattle Reign FC Seattle Reign FC 43–33
Standings
Chicago Red Stars
2016 Western New York Flash 2–2 AET, 3–2 PKs
Details
Washington Spirit Portland Thorns FC 41–39
Standings
Washington Spirit
2017 Portland Thorns FC 1–0
Details
North Carolina Courage North Carolina Courage 49–47
Standings
Portland Thorns FC
2018 North Carolina Courage 3–0
Details
Portland Thorns FC North Carolina Courage 57–42
Standings
Portland Thorns FC
2019 North Carolina Courage 4–0
Details
Chicago Red Stars North Carolina Courage 49–44
Standings
Chicago Red Stars
2021 Washington Spirit 2–1 AET
Details
Chicago Red Stars Portland Thorns FC 44–42
Standings
OL Reign
2022 Portland Thorns FC 2–0
Details
Kansas City Current OL Reign 40–39
Standings
Portland Thorns FC
2023 NJ/NY Gotham FC 2–1
Details
OL Reign San Diego Wave FC 37–35
Standings
Portland Thorns FC

Total trophies by team edit

Italics indicates a defunct team.

Team Seasons* Playoff appearances Championships Shields Challenge Cups Total
North Carolina Courage 7 5 2 (2018, 2019) 3 (2017, 2018, 2019) 2 (2022, 2023) 7
Portland Thorns FC 11 9 3 (2013, 2017, 2022) 2 (2016, 2021) 1 (2021) 6
OL Reign/Reign FC/Seattle Reign FC 11 7 3 (2014, 2015, 2022) 3
FC Kansas City 5 3 2 (2014, 2015) 2
Western New York Flash 4 2 1 (2016) 1 (2013) 2
San Diego Wave FC 3 2 1 (2023) 1 (2024) 2
Washington Spirit 11 4 1 (2021) 1
NJ/NY Gotham FC/Sky Blue FC 11 3 1 (2023) 1
Houston Dash 10 1 1 (2020*) 1
Chicago Red Stars 11 7 0
Angel City FC 3 1 0
Kansas City Current 4 1 0
Orlando Pride 8 1 0
Bay FC 1 0 0
Utah Royals FC 3 0 0
Racing Louisville FC 4 0 0
Boston Breakers 5 0 0

*While there was no 2020 regular season (i.e., it is not included in the second column), 2020 did include the inaugural Challenge Cup, which was won by the Houston Dash. It also included the 2020 Fall Series, in which the "Community Shield" (separate from the NWSL Shield and thus not included here) was won by the Portland Thorns.

Team records edit

Wins edit

Losses edit

Attendance edit

Season Overall Highest Lowest Playoff
mean
Total Mean Median Club Mean Club Mean
2013 375,743 4,270 3,007 Portland Thorns FC 13,320 Sky Blue FC 1,664 6,820
2014 446,311 4,133 3,014 Portland Thorns FC 13,362 Sky Blue FC 1,639 3,763
2015 454,100 5,046 3,367 Portland Thorns FC 15,639 Sky Blue FC 2,268 6,766
2016 555,775 5,558 3,997 Portland Thorns FC 16,945 Sky Blue FC 2,162 10,863
2017 609,960 5,083 3,576 Portland Thorns FC 17,653 FC Kansas City 1,788 12,111
2018 650,562 6,024 4,025 Portland Thorns FC 16,959 Sky Blue FC 2,531 13,3231
2019 792,409 7,337 5,565 Portland Thorns FC 20,098 Sky Blue FC 3,338 8,956
20212 567,072 5,155 Portland Thorns FC 14,391 Chicago Red Stars 3,222 8,774
2022 1,042,063 7,917 Angel City FC 19,105 Orlando Pride 4,385 21,730
2023 1,366,581 San Diego Wave 20,718 North Carolina Courage 5,384

1 A semifinal that would have been played in North Carolina was moved to Portland due to Hurricane Florence.
2 Due to restrictions related to the COVID-19 pandemic, many teams had reduced capacities for part or all of the season, including some games with zero fans.

Goals edit

Regular season records edit

Through 2023 season (regular season games only)[3][4]

Pts rank
(prev.
season)
PPG rank
(prev.
season)
Club Seasons[a] GP W D L GF GA GD Pts PPG 1st 2nd 3rd 4th
Finishing positions
1 (2) 4 (2) Portland Thorns FC 10 (2013–) 226 109 58 59 374 260 +114 385 1.548 2 4 3
2 (1) 3 (1) OL Reign[b] 10 (2013–) 226 105 57 64 337 248 89 372 1.646 3 1 1 1
3 (6) 7 (6) Chicago Red Stars 10 (2013–) 226 95 61 70 321 296 25 324 1.433 2 1 3
4 (11) 10 (11) Washington Spirit 10 (2013–) 226 70 60 96 266 327 -61 270 1.194 1 1 2
5 (12) 13 (12) NJ/NY Gotham FC[c] 10 (2013–) 226 67 58 101 260 319 -89 259 1.146 1
6 (7) 1 (7) North Carolina Courage 6 (2017–) 140 75 28 37 248 140 108 253 1.80714 3 1
7 (4) 11 (4) Houston Dash 9 (2014–) 204 65 45 94 234 289 -55 240 1.1754 1
8 (10) 12 (10) Orlando Pride 7 (2016–) 160 51 33 76 195 256 -61 186 1.1625 1
9 (-) 6 (-) FC Kansas City 5 (2013–2017) 110 45 27 36 152 125 27 168 1.527 2 1
10 (-) 8 (-) Western New York Flash 4 (2013–2016) 86 33 22 31 142 118 24 119 1.384 1 1
11 (-) 16 (-) Boston Breakers 5 (2013–2017) 110 25 20 65 132 212 -80 95 0.864
12 (5) 14 (5) Kansas City Current[d] 3 (2021–) 72 21 15 32 74 101 -27 78 1.0833
15 (3) 2 (3) San Diego Wave FC 2 (2022–) 44 21 10 13 63 43 20 73 1.659 1 1
14 (9) 15 (9) Racing Louisville FC 3 (2021–) 72 16 24 28 69 99 -30 72 1
12 (-) 6 (-) Utah Royals FC 2 (2018–2019) 48 19 12 17 47 48 -1 69 1.438
16 (8) 9 (8) Angel City FC 2 (2022–) 44 16 12 16 54 57 -3 60 1.364

Sort order is points, finishing positions, wins

  1. ^ No regular season in 2020.
  2. ^ Known as Seattle Reign FC from 2013–2018 and as Reign FC in 2019.
  3. ^ Known as Sky Blue FC from 2013–2020.
  4. ^ Known as Kansas City NWSL in 2021.

Playoff records edit

Through 2022 playoffs

Rank Club Championships Runners-up Seasons
qualified
GP W L D[a] Penalty
Wins[a]
GF GA GD PPG
1 Portland Thorns FC 3 1 8/9 12 7 5 0 0 1.750 19 17 +2
2 North Carolina Courage 2 1 4/5 7 5 2 0 0 2.143 14 3 +11
3 FC Kansas City 2 0 3/5 5 4 1 0 0 2.400 10 4 +6
4 Washington Spirit 1 1 4/9 7 4 2 1 0 1.857 10 10 0
5 Western New York Flash 1 1 2/4 4 2 1 1 1 1.750 8 7 +1
6 Chicago Red Stars 0 2 7/9 10 3 7 0 0 0.900 7 16 −9
7 OL Reign 0 2 6/9 8 2 6 0 0 0.750 9 14 −5
8 Kansas City Current 0 1 1/2 3 2 1 0 0 2.000 4 3 +1
9 San Diego Wave FC 0 0 1/1 2 1 1 0 0 1.500 3 3 0
10 NJ/NY Gotham FC 0 0 2/9 2 0 2 0 0 0.000 0 3 −3
11 Orlando Pride 0 0 1/6 1 0 1 0 0 0.000 1 4 −3
12 Houston Dash 0 0 1/8 1 0 1 0 0 0.000 1 2 -1
13 Angel City FC 0 0 0/1 Have not qualified
14 Racing Louisville FC 0 0 0/2
15 Utah Royals FC 0 0 0/2
16 Boston Breakers 0 0 0/5

Sort order is championships, runners-up, PPG, fraction of seasons qualified

  1. ^ a b Draws after 120 minutes are decided by penalties.

Player records edit

Most minutes played edit

NWSL All-Time Minutes Played
Regular Season Only as of December 31, 2023[5]
Rank Player Minutes Played Games
1   Lauren Barnes 18,298 211
2   McCall Zerboni 16,141 204
3   Jess Fishlock 15,305 180
4   Ali Krieger 15,026 176
5   Abby Erceg 14,921 169
6   Allie Long 14,753 172
7   Alyssa Naeher 14,580 163
8   Christine Sinclair 14,426 176
9   Sofia Huerta 14,286 161
10   Becky Sauerbrunn 14,071 164
11   Merritt Mathias 14,020 183
12   Kristie Mewis 13,987 171
13   Emily Menges 13,850 160
14   Vanessa DiBernardo 13,426 166
15   Danielle Colaprico 13,398 165
16   Megan Montefusco 13,257 155
17   Meghan Klingenberg 13,049 156
18   Tori Huster 13,013 159
19   Nicole Barnhart 12,674 144
20   Jessica McDonald 12,593 182

Most appearances, regular season only edit

2013–2023 seasons. 226 total matches for each team.[6]

NWSL Most Appearances
Regular Season Only as of December 31, 2023
Rank Player Games
1   Lauren Barnes 211
2   McCall Zerboni 204
3   Merritt Mathias 183
4   Jessica McDonald 182
5   Jess Fishlock 180
6   Christine Sinclair 176
  Ali Krieger 176
8   Allie Long 172
  Jasmyne Spencer 172
10   Kristie Mewis 171
11   Erika Tymrak 168
12  Vanessa DiBernardo 166
  Abby Erceg 166
14   Danielle Colaprico 165
15   Becky Sauerbrunn 164
16   Amber Brooks 163
  Alyssa Naeher 163
18   Sofia Huerta 161
19   Emily Menges 160
20   Tori Huster 159

Goals edit

Top scorers edit

Goals, regular season only edit

NWSL All-Time Leading Goalscorers
Up to January 1, 2024[16]
Rank Player Goals
1   Sam Kerr 77
2   Lynn Williams 64
3   Christine Sinclair 62
4   Alex Morgan 60
5   Jessica McDonald 54
6   Megan Rapinoe 51
7   Christen Press 47
8   Ashley Hatch 46
9   Debinha 44
10   Carli Lloyd 43
11   Jess Fishlock 42
12   Sydney Leroux 41
13   Amy Rodriguez 39
14   Crystal Dunn 38
  Nadia Nadim
16   Rachel Daly 37
17   Allie Long 36
18   Sofia Huerta 35
19   Kealia Watt 33
20   Kim Little 32
  Sophia Smith
  Jodie Taylor

Leading goalscorers in playoffs edit

NWSL All-Time Playoff Leading Goalscorers
Last updated after 2022 season.
Bold indicates active player
Rank Player Goals
1   Amy Rodriguez 6
2   Crystal Dunn 5
3   Jessica McDonald 4
  Samantha Mewis
5   Debinha 3
  Tobin Heath
  Lindsey Horan
  Megan Rapinoe
  Christine Sinclair
  Lynn Williams

NWSL top goalscorers by season (regular season only) edit

Year Player Goals Games
2013   Lauren Holiday 12 18
2014   Kim Little 16 23
2015   Crystal Dunn 15 20
2016   Lynn Williams 11 19
2017   Sam Kerr 17 22
2018   Sam Kerr 16 19
2019   Sam Kerr 18 21
2021   Ashley Hatch 10 20
2022   Alex Morgan 15 17
2023   Sophia Smith 11 18

Assists edit

Most assists edit

Most assists (career)
Regular Season Only as of January 1, 2024[19]
Rank Player Assists
1   Sofia Huerta 31
  Jessica McDonald
3   Lynn Williams 28
4   Alex Morgan 27
5   Nahomi Kawasumi 26
  Megan Rapinoe
7   Jess Fishlock 25
8   Vanessa DiBernardo 24
  Crystal Dunn
  Tobin Heath
  Sam Kerr
  Yūki Nagasato

Top assists by season edit

Year Player Assists Apps
2013   Lauren Holiday 9 18
2014   Jessica Fishlock 8 22
2015   Kim Little 7 20
2016   Tobin Heath 10 15
2017   Nahomi Kawasumi 9 24
2018   Jessica McDonald 8 23
2019   Yūki Nagasato 8 24
2021*   Trinity Rodman 6 22
  Sofia Huerta 23
2022*   Carson Pickett 6 20
  Mallory Swanson 16
2023   Sam Coffey 8 22

*Joint record

Goalkeepers edit

Clean sheets edit

Most Shutouts (career)
Regular Season Only as of December 31, 2023[19]
# Player Shutouts Apps
1   Nicole Barnhart 52 144
2   Alyssa Naeher 43 163
3   Adrianna Franch 42 127
4   Casey Murphy 32 80
5   Kailen Sheridan 31 117
6   Jane Campbell 30 103
  Aubrey Kingsbury 119
8   Bella Bixby 24 57
9   Ashlyn Harris 22 135
10   Katelyn Rowland 20 60

Saves edit

Most Saves (career)
Regular Season Only as of October 2, 2022[19]
# Player Saves
1   Ashlyn Harris 518
2   Alyssa Naeher 494
3   Nicole Barnhart 468
4   Kailen Sheridan 401
5   Adrianna Franch 395
6   Aubrey Kingsbury 362
7   Michelle Betos 340
8   Jane Campbell 336
9   Erin McLeod 288
10   Haley Kopmeyer 239

Match records edit

As of October 2, 2022

See also edit

References edit

  1. ^ "Stats". National Women's Soccer League. Archived from the original on 7 January 2015. Retrieved 14 June 2014.
  2. ^ a b "Seattle Reign win NWSL Shield for 2nd straight season". ESPN. August 27, 2015. Retrieved April 10, 2023.
  3. ^ "2023 NWSL Stats". FBref.com. Retrieved 2024-04-16.
  4. ^ "NWSL table 2023, form and next opponent". FotMob. Retrieved 2024-04-16.
  5. ^ "NWSL Player Stats".
  6. ^ Cooper, Jen (2024), "Field Player Registry", Keeper Notes NWSL Almanac, pp. 294-362
  7. ^ Sperry, Daniel (June 18, 2023). "Kansas City Current squander late lead, lose to Washington Spirit in NWSL home match". The Kansas City Star.
  8. ^ a b "Sam Kerr finishes NWSL season with bushel of scoring records". Soccer America. Retrieved 19 November 2017.
  9. ^ a b c Siracusa, Claire (20 August 2017). "Sam Kerr scores four goals in Sky Blue FC comeback win". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 27 August 2022.
  10. ^ Purdy, Jacqueline (5 July 2019). "Kristen Hamilton scores four, Courage win 5-2" (Press release). National Women's Soccer League. Retrieved 27 August 2022.
  11. ^ a b "NWSL Friday: Kristen Hamilton packs on four goals for Courage". The Equalizer. 5 July 2019. Retrieved 27 August 2022.
  12. ^ "National Women's Soccer League Official Site | NWSL". www.nwslsoccer.com. Retrieved 28 May 2022.
  13. ^ Togerson, Derek (7 May 2022). "Alex Morgan Scores 4 Goals in Wave FC Win". www.nbcsandiego.com. KNSD. Retrieved 27 August 2022.
  14. ^ Kassouf, Jeff (March 16, 2024). "Kansas City Current open 'game-changing' stadium with 5-4 win". ESPN.com. Retrieved March 16, 2024.
  15. ^ Herrera, Sandra (March 16, 2024). "Alex Pfeiffer becomes youngest NWSL goalscorer at 16 years of age in Kansas City Current's wild win". CBSSports.com. Retrieved March 16, 2024.
  16. ^ Cooper, Jen (2023), Keeper Notes NWSL Almanac, Keeper Notes, p. 8.
  17. ^ Braeback, Jeremiah Mitchell (13 December 2016). "Tobin Heath Named US Soccer Female Player of the Year". Stumptown Footy. Retrieved 5 April 2023.
  18. ^ Ltd, Simplestream. "Nahomi Kawasumi named Player of the Week". www.nwslsoccer.com. Retrieved 2017-12-04.
  19. ^ a b c http://www.fbref.com [bare URL]

External links edit