Not all opening weekends are built the same, but the 2023 season’s curtain-raisers in the NWSL delivered by the bucketful. With 14 goals across six games, the weekend had everything from total domination to cagey draws, last minute heartbreakers to VAR outrage. It was a lively, engaging, frustrating, chaotic, joyous weekend that helped set the tone for a league that has been waiting to start fresh after a long and rightfully somber 2022.
Here’s a salute to the 2023 NWSL season opening weekend in all its tumult.
Goals goals goals
There were so many candidates for goals to highlight. Here’s just a little sampling of the fun.
We’ve gotta start with Alyssa Thompson’s first regular season professional goal, opener in Angel City’s home loss to Gotham FC. She tees it up from distance and it bangs in under the crossbar off a deflection from the goalkeeper.
Thompson looked pretty unflappable out there; perhaps it helped she got to soft launch in front of a 15,021-strong crowd when Angel City played a preseason friendly against Club América. But she probably didn’t need it. Thompson already looks calm and in control out on the field.
The first goal of the season goes to Mille Gejl and @TheNCCourage! pic.twitter.com/kzmiZwyqbq
— National Women’s Soccer League…
