In this week’s iteration of Anatomy, we’re bringing you a special edition. Let’s call this Anatomy of an Own Goal, courtesy of the Washington Spirit’s backline. The Spirit battled Angel City to a 2-2 draw on Thursday, September 18, and managed to secure a single point from the match after scoring 75% of the goals.

The own goal of interest was the third goal scored, and actually gave Angel City the lead in the 55th minute before Washington’s Croix Bethune saved the day with an equalizer in the 71st. 

Before we break our goal of interest down frame-by-frame, let’s take a look at the sequence in full.

https://twitter.com/AttackingThird/status/1968889986624700590

This one started right around midfield, with Angel City’s central defender Sara Doorsoun-Khajeh collecting the ball at her feet and facing up.

The German international drove forward into space before hitting new teammate Nealy Martin with a square ball. At this point, the sequence was almost stymied by the referee.

In this week’s iteration of Anatomy of a Goal, we’re taking a look at a team that has been in playoff position for the entire season: the Washington Spirit. The team has weathered multiple challenges this year, including star forward Trinity Rodman‘s monthslong injury recovery. Now, she’s back to full capacity, having logged her first 90-minute performance of the year in the Spirit’s 2-0 win over the Reign in Week 19, and the Spirit are downright dangerous. Rodman scored two impressive goals, and we’ll hone in on the first, which ended up being the eventual game winner.

As always, let’s check out the goal in full before we break it down.

In this week’s iteration of Anatomy of a Goal, we’re focusing on the Chicago Stars. In Week 17, though, the Stars may as well be referred to as Ludmila and friends. The Brazilian international managed a perfect hat trick in just over 10 minutes after Chicago found themselves facing a multi-goal deficit for the second time in four days. The hat trick is now the fastest in National Women’s Soccer League history. 

While our Anatomy pick is usually a team-centric effort, we’d be remiss to overlook this work of art. Let’s break down the first of Ludmila’s historic scores from Friday night against the North Carolina Courage.

This may feel like déjà vu, but this week’s Anatomy of a Goal is highlighting yet another Pietra Tordin banger. This time, though, Tordin’s goal came during rivalry weekend, when the Portland Thorns put on a clinic against the Seattle Reign at home. 

Tordin scored the Thorns’ fourth and final goal just one minute after the Reign made it a 3-2 game in the 64th minute. Let’s break it down.

For the final iteration of our Anatomy of a Goal series before the National Women’s Soccer League’s summer break, we’re taking a look at the Portland Thorns’ game-winning goal against the Chicago Stars.

With a quick glance at this season’s week-by-week standings, it may be surprising that Portland only managed to put up a single goal against the perpetually bottom-dwelling Stars. 

In this week’s iteration of Anatomy of a Goal, we’re breaking down Seattle Reign’s game-winning score against the San Diego Wave.

Though the Reign headed into Week 11 a bit hot-and-cold, having traded wins and losses back-to-back in their last four games, the Wave came into this match in second place, riding a six-game unbeaten streak. The Wave’s momentum crashed against the rocks thanks to two Seattle screamers from distance, which handed them their first loss since April.

Let’s check out the goal that had the Reign come out on top.

The United States women’s national team cruised to a 3-0 win over China on Saturday at Allianz Field in the first of two friendlies during this window. With a young and inexperienced roster, including 15 players who had fewer than 20 career international appearances heading into this game, it was another opportunity for the USWNT to test out new combinations of players and on-field strategies. 

And that they did. Head coach Emma Hayes made five changes to the lineup that most recently suited up against Brazil in April. Most notably, this game saw the return of Phallon Tullis-Joyce in goal, with center back Naomi Girma and full back Crystal Dunn back in their rightful places in the backline. Defensive midfielder Sam Coffey and No. 10 Lindsey Heaps also made their returns to the midfield, supplementing the starting XI with some veteran talent.

Despite the lineup changes, there were so many positive takeaways from this game that it was difficult to tell that this group of players have not had many repetitions together. 

Both teams went back-and-forth with goals in quick succession before ending the first half with the Royals leading the Spirit 3-2 thanks to an own-goal by Washington’s Rebeca Bernal. That own goal was nearly a game-winner, too, as it wasn’t until the 12th minute of second-half stoppage time that the Spirit managed to notch the final equalizer. Before we break it down frame-by-frame, check out the entire sequence.

The Orlando Pride are in the middle of a rough stretch. The defending National Women’s Soccer League shield winners and champions opened their season with a dominant 6-0 thrashing of the Chicago Stars before going on to win three-straight games and stay at the top of the standings for the first month of the season.

Since their last win on April 12 against the Seattle Reign, though, the Pride have amassed a 1W-1D-3L record that has left them winless in the month of May. Their most recent match, a physical battle against the first-place Kansas City Current, was a useful exercise to reveal what has been working for the Pride — and what has not worked as well — through the first third of the season. 

Banda as the focal point of the Orlando attack

As was clearly evident in their loss to the Current, the most fruitful attacking strategy for the Pride is any sequence that runs through star forward Barbra Banda. This should not come as a surprise for the player that leads all of the league’s strikers in offensive net goals added, which is a good measure of how much a player’s on- and off-ball play contributes to their team’s chances of scoring (or conceding!) goals (American Soccer Analysis).  

In Friday’s National Women’s Soccer League action, Racing Louisville defeated the Houston Dash 2-1 on the road in a rain-soaked affair that included two lengthy weather delays. The game was a battle between two teams who have been in the bottom-half of the table for the majority of the 2025 season so far, and the performances from both teams in this one certainly reinforced their places in the standings. That is, neither team impressed, and at times, this game was a hard watch. 

Simply put, it’s tough to enjoy a match when both teams are plagued by disorganization on both ends of the field.

Still, in the aftermath of this game, there are a few key takeaways to keep in mind as the season unfolds – particularly for Racing.

Jordyn Bloomer is a viable option in net 

Ahead of this match, Louisville’s No. 1 option in goal, Katie Lund, was ruled out with a hip injury. That saw the end of Lund’s record-breaking 79-straight starts and 7,110 consecutive minutes played among all goalkeepers. A such, head coach Bev Yanez was forced to look at Racing’s goalkeeping depth chart for the first time since October 16, 2021, which is when Lund’s streak started. 

Fourth-year player Jordyn Bloomer, who had never started an NWSL regular season game before this one, was given the start. And after her performance, it was clear that she was ready for the moment.