FootyPop: Temwa Chawinga Breaks NWSL Record

In this week’s women’s soccer news, Temwa Chawinga made NWSL history; the North Carolina Courage parted ways with their head coach; Denver Summit FC has hired their head coach; and more!

High of the Week

Temwa Chawinga made NWSL history when she scored in Kansas City’s win over the Utah Royals. She became the player to score 30 goals, the fastest doing so in just 40 games. She takes over the record from Christen Press, who did it in 51 games. Chawinga has been a goal-scoring machine for the Current since she joined the NWSL, and it’s been great fun to watch. Her 30th goal was extra special because it was also the game winner and extended their winning streak to eight. The Current is also running away with first place with a 12-point lead with a little under half the season to go.

Low of the Week

This week, the North Carolina Courage announced that they were parting ways with head coach Sean Nahas. The wording of their statement left a lot of questions around the decision. The club statement was very vague, and it made people think that there was some behind the scenes stuff going on, especially after the last couple of years, where the league has dealt with a lot of abuse.

After the Courage’s game against the Houston Dash the club gave a little bit more insight into the decision with a spokesperson stating during the post game press conference that “the termination stemmed from a combination of compounding performance issues, culture issues, and a perceived lack of fit, that created an environment that club leadership felt was untenable to the point that change was necessary at the head coaching position.”

It was also revealed that the players were only made aware of the decision the day that the statement went out to the public. There’s a lot of questions around the decision that we may or may not get answers for, but we do know that right now, assistant coach Nathan Thackery will be the interim head coach. The Courage are currently in ninth place with a 5-4-6 record.

News of the Week

Denver Summit FC announced its first head coach this week, hiring Nick Cushing. He spent seven seasons as the head coach of Manchester City’s women’s side  from 2013-2020. After his time at City, he became the head coach of MLS side New York City FC from 2022-24, and then he went back to Manchester City this spring as the interim head coach for about half of the WSL season.

Denver also made another splash when ESPN reported that they had acquired Ally Watt from the Orlando Pride via trade as their first player in club history, but the forward was loaned back to Orlando for the remainder of the 2025 season.

Goal of the Week

Makenzy Robbe scored an incredible goal for the San Diego Wave in their rivalry game against Angel City FC. Robbe played a cross into the box that took a deflection and landed back at Robbe’s feet, so the forward took a touch and sent a rocket into the side of the net from a difficult angle.

Player of the Week

Jordyn Bloomer has stepped into the starting spot at goalkeeper and done tremendous for Racing Louisville since Katie Lund suffered a season ending injury. In Louisville’s 1-1 draw against the Orlando Pride, Bloomer made two penalty kick saves, marking the first time in league history that a goalkeeper has made two pk saves in a game. She had a total of five saves in the game as well helping Louisville to a big point and positioning them in 7th place of the standings.

Game of the Week

Rivalry week in the NWSL isn’t complete without a Cascadia Rivalry matchup, and it lived up to the hype this weekend. There were three goals in the first half, with the Reign’s Emeri Adames getting the scoring started in just the third minute of the match. Then Portland scored two unanswered goals from Sam Coffey and Reilyn Turner to go into the break leading 2-1. In the second half, the Thorns took over, adding two more goals thanks to Reyna Reyes and Pietra Tordin. Jess Fishlock added a second for Seattle, but they came up short. The matchups between these two clubs never disappoint, and it was the perfect way to end the NWSL weekend.

The Thorns also had a season high attendance with 21,811 fans at Providence Park.

Fav Social Media Post

Portland Thorns royalty Christine Sinclair was in attendance for the Thorns’ big win over the Reign, and she had her niece with her. Her niece was wearing a really cool jersey made out of six put-together Thorns jerseys from throughout the years.