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NWSL Week Four Takeaways: Aubrey Bledsoe’s Big Game, Utah Royals’ Woes

Aubrey Bledsoe denied Lindsey Horan and others to preserve a draw for the Washington Spirit while the Utah Royals are still figuring out chemistry issues. Read my four takeaways from the NWSL's Week 4 action.
NWSL Week Four Takeaways

Editorial (April 25, 2018) — The North Carolina Courage have not lost their top spot in the NWSL.

The Courage, after three matches in eight days, has the top spot secured. North Carolina holds 13 points, putting them above the Chicago Red Stars with eight points.

Last year, North Carolina won the NWSL Supporter’s Shield. Despite having a large chunk of the NWSL season left to play, North Carolina put themselves in a great position to repeat.

However, they were the only club to be victorious this weekend.

Here are my four takeaways from Wednesday night’s matches and this weekend.

NWSL Week Four Takeaways

Aubrey Bledsoe’s Big Game

Aubrey Bledsoe has been a fortress for the Washington Spirit this season.

Last year, there was a lot of confusion in goal. Stephanie Labbe, Didi Haracic, and Kelsey Wys rotated back and forth for Spirit Head Coach Jim Gabarra.

Now, Bledsoe has cemented herself as the head goalkeeper.

At Providence Park in Portland, OR, Bledsoe recorded five saves in the Spirit’s 1-1 draw against the Portland Thorns. Even more impressive, Bledsoe stopped — with her feet — a penalty kick taken by Lindsey Horan.

In front of 14,485 fans at Providence Park, the odds were stacked against Bledsoe. However, she came up big for Washington to deny Portland the victory — and a crucial three points.

Give it to Bledsoe; she’s becoming one of the best goalkeepers in the NWSL.

Orlando’s Big Boost (Is Yet to Come)

The Orlando Pride earned a much-needed win on Sunday.

Sitting close to the bottom of the table before this weekend, Orlando is missing a lot of their star power, especially from their Brazilian athletes.

Now, Orlando has two big boosts: getting their first win which bumps them up to sixth place and receiving their international athletes back.

It isn’t just the Brazilians, either. Orlando will welcome back Australian internationals Alanna Kennedy and Emily van Egmond. Kennedy has been a prominent member of the Pride’s defense for over a year now.

As for the Brazilians, the Pride are still waiting on Camila, who is recovering from a right knee injury. However, big names like Marta, Poliana, and Monica are back.

The addition of Marta coming back brings up the question of where Chioma Ubogagu will go. The forward has been solid for Orlando this year. Pride head coach Tom Sermanni must not let her get swamped by bigger names like Marta, Alex Morgan, and Sydney Leroux.

Utah Needs to Establish Their Dominance

It’s hard to believe that the Utah Royals are sitting in seventh place.

The new expansion club (that replaced FC Kansas City) has a roster primarily made up of the championship winning 2014 and 2015 NWSL Championship team. However, they’re sitting close to the bottom of the entire league.

Becky Sauerbrunn, Sydney Miramontez, Desiree Scott and Kelley O’Hara are working with goalkeeper Abby Smith for the first time.

Needless to say, there’s going to be a small grace period for mistakes and errors. However, this is the time to move on with little to no errors.

We’re nowhere near crunch time in the NWSL season as it’s only Week 4. However, if Utah doesn’t fix their errors soon, they’ll fall far behind.

Remember, Chicago, Portland, North Carolina, Orlando, and Washington are stacked teams with a ton of talent on international duty.

Utah is only missing one international, Katrina Gorry of Australia. The Royals can’t afford to fall far behind in the standings.

An International Round Up

While this isn’t specifically related to the NWSL, many players are league athletes. Internationally, Australia, China, Thailand, Japan, South Korea, Brazil, and Chile have joined hosts France for the 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup.

Brazil won the Copa América Femenina with Marta, Poliana, Andressinha (Portland Thorns), Debinha (North Carolina Courage) and Thaisa (Sky Blue FC) on their squad.

Meanwhile, Chile qualified for the FIFA Women’s World Cup for the first time ever. Chile placed second in the tournament, behind Brazil.

For Chile, they boast one NWSL player in Washington Spirit forward Yanara Aedo. The 24-year-old scored three goals throughout the tournament against Paraguay and Peru (two goals).

All of the other qualified teams — aside from France — punched their ticket to the World Cup during the AFC Women’s Asian Cup.

Japan won the tournament with Australia claiming second place. Japan won the final match, 1-0, with the game-winning goal scored by Kumi Yokoyama.

The Japanese-winning team had Seattle Reign FC power-duo players Rumi Utsugi and Nahomi Kawasumi on their roster. However, neither scored.

Samantha Kerr, who led the Australians, did, though.

Kerr, the NWSL’s reigning Player of the Year scored two goals. She was joined by fellow NWSL players Kennedy, Lydia Williams (Seattle Reign), Steph Catley (Seattle Reign), van Egmond, Hayley Raso (Portland Thorns) and Kyah Simon (Houston Dash).

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