NWSL

Ladies and Gentlemen, here we are: The 2015 NWSL playoffs. This Sunday, the best four teams from the regular season (The Seattle Reign, Chicago Red Stars, FC Kansas City, and Washington Spirit), will battle it out for a place in the final, and you will be able to catch it all on Fox Sports 1. 

You’re probably asking yourself, “but I don’t know anything about the NWSL? Why should I care when the Chicago Red Stars host FC Kansas City on Sunday, the 13th at 1:30 PM EST?”

It’s been just a few days since she announced her decision to retire, and Rachel van Hollebeke is busy. She starts medical school on Monday, August 31st, just six days after her announcement on the 25th. That’s six days until a transition that is four years in the making begins. 

Rachel has been deferring acceptance to medical school since 2011. Her decision means that her soccer career is ending, and as much as she has been looking forward to medical school, it was a hard choice to make. 

Getting to know your favorite athletes as people is one of the great benefits of social media. People tend to forget that athletes are also everyday people. It’s refreshing to hear about their favorite hobbies, and even see one of them drop the “dougie” every now and then. 

It must be difficult balancing two first teams — a men's team and a women's team — under the umbrella of the same club, but that's what the Portland Timbers and Thorns, and their various associate personnel, have to do to make their business work.

Carli Lloyd's pitch was high and wide, but that is a trifling complaint. At least she did better than poor Gio dos Santos. Lloyd threw out the first pitch for the Seattle Mariners while she and her Houston Dash teammates were in town for a game against the Seattle Reign (which the Reign won, 2-1). 

Time is running out in the NWSL Playoff race, and Wednesday night was one giant tick of the clock. 3rd through 8th are separated by 7 points; 3rd through 6th by just 5. With so little of the season left, and so little separating teams from the postseason, a dropped point or two is a matter of postseason life or death. 

The playoff race in the NWSL just gets tighter and tighter as the season winds down, and Sunday’s match featuring the Chicago Red Stars at the Portland Thorns drove that point home. 5th place Portland beat 2nd place Chicago 2-1, and tied FC Kansas City on points for the last playoff berth. 

A few months ago, Crystal Dunn of the Washington Spirit was left off of the USWNT, and she hasn’t let anyone forget about it since. She currently is the highest scorer in the NWSl with 12 goals in 14 games, and she showed she thoroughly deserved that being in that position with her performance against the Houston Dash this past weekend. 

Women’s soccer has been riding a wave ever since Carli Lloyd scored the goal to end all goals in the 2015 World Cup Final.