Women's Soccer

The Portland Thorns edged the Seattle Reign 2-1 in the first NWSL semifinal on Saturday at Providence Park in Portland, a second straight victory over their rivals to advance to the NWSL championship game on Sept. 22. 

Tobin Heath had a goal (and another called back) while Lindsey Horan headed in the winner in the 76th minute. It was a deserved win for a home side that had tremendous support from its fans, who will get to see their team go for a second straight title back at Providence Park against either North Carolina or Chicago. 

In less than three weeks, the Trinidad and Tobago women's national team will face off against the best teams in the region at the 2018 Concacaf Women’s Championship, which doubles as 2019 World Cup qualifying. 

It’s a chance for the Soca Warriors to qualify for their first ever World Cup and they’ve got a real chance — four years ago they finished fourth and lost 1-0 to Ecuador in a two-legged playoff for the final berth to the 2015 World Cup. 

Liga MX Femenil is in its second full year of operation, but if a match this week between Tigres and Chivas is any indication, the rivalries are starting to form.

A top-of-the-table clash between UANL and Guadalajara ended with four players being sent off, two from each team. Tigres won 3-1 on Monday to push their lead to four points over Chivas in Grupo 2 of the 18-team Liga MX Femenil Apertura. 

All four goals were scored in the first half. A double from Katty Martínez in the first seven minutes put UANL on the path to victory. 

The 2018-19 UEFA Women’s Champions League Round of 32 kicked off Wednesday with the likes of Lyon (the three-time defending champion), Chelsea, Wolfsburg, PSG and Linkoping all recording first leg victories.

The most resounding scoreline was Bayern Munich traveling to Serbia to take on Spartak Subotica and winning 7-0. The opening goal of the match was scored by 33-year-old American Gina Lewandowski (no relation to Robert). She previously won this competition with Frankfurt back in 2008, but she has only one USWNT cap to her name.

The NWSL regular season wrapped up this past weekend with a mixed bag of business-as-usual and surprising results. All around the league, for playoff bound teams and doormats alike (we’re looking at you, Sky Blue), the level was turned up to 11, giving fans both feel-good entertainment and high quality football to get excited about heading into the postseason.

The Scotland women’s national team made history on Tuesday. A 2-1 victory over Albania saw it lock up the top spot in Group 2 and secure its place in the World Cup finals next summer for the first time ever.

Scotland’s WWC debut was made possible thanks to a little help from Poland. In one of the more surprising results of this qualifying series, Poland held 18th-ranked Switzerland to a 0-0 draw. A Swiss win would have put it in first to automatically qualify, but with points dropped, opportunity awaited Scotland and they seized the moment. 

First things first, I mean absolutely no disrespect to Marta. When I tackled the impossible task of ranking the 18 greatest female soccer players of all time last week, I concluded with Marta in the top spot. She’s an unreal footballer, but 2018 hasn’t exactly been the best of the 32-year-old’s career. And yet here she is as one of three finalists shortlisted for The Best FIFA Women’s Player 2018.