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NWSL Power Rankings - Week 6

Red Stars rise to the top for the first time this year.

By Kreg Asay

Another week down, and about the only teams not changing are at the bottom of the table, every other team gets shuffled. Chicago was the only team to win on the road this week so they make a big jump to 1st.

I do rankings for both NWSL and MLS a little differently; typically in soccer leagues within the USA, the home team wins more than 50% of the time. Thus I rank any team deviates from the ‘normal’ higher - basically an away team winning will move higher than a home team winning. The same applies for ties - a home team drawing will likely cause them to drop because it’s not what was expected of them.

So without further mindless banter, here’s the power rankings for week 6. (#) indicates last week’s ranking.

  1. Chicago Red Stars (3) - Beat Houston on the road.
  2. Utah Royals (3) - Went to North Carolina once, and tied 1-1. The Royals will remain the Courage’s nemesis for a while longer.
  3. North Carolina Courage (2) - Struggled to find an equalizer at home against the Royals, didn’t fine it until late, and despite pushing for more couldn’t take all 3 points.
  4. Portland Thorns (1) - Lost on the road by 2. Normally that would be a small drop, but two other teams did better.
  5. Washington Spirit (5) - Withstood a fierce Thorn attack to win by 2 goals at home.
  6. Seattle Reign (7) - Made a late comeback to win vs Sky Blue. Need a bit more to move up though.
  7. Houston Dash (6) - Lost at home in a close game vs the Red Stars.
  8. Sky Blue FC (8) - Scored an early goal vs the Reign, but couldn’t hold the lead.
  9. Orlando Pride (9) - Bye Week.

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