And then there were four.
The NWSL playoff semifinals will get underway this weekend, with the top four sides from the regular season all advancing through the quarterfinal stage as the higher seeds.
On Saturday, November 16, at 12:00 p.m. ET, the number two seed Washington Spirit will host the number three seed NJ/NY Gotham FC at Audi Field in Washington, D.C. The first semifinal match will be broadcast on CBS and streamed on Paramount+ in the U.S.
On Sunday, November 17, at 3:00 p.m. ET, the number one seed Orlando Pride will host number four Kansas City Current at Inter&Co Stadium in Orlando, Florida. The second semifinal will be broadcast on ABC and streamed on ESPN+ in the U.S.
Internationally, the matches will be shown on Optus Sport (Australia), ESPN Africa (Sub-Saharan Africa), ESPN (Latin America), Canal11 (Portugal), TSN / TSN+ (Canada), and ViaPlay (Sweden). All nations not listed can stream for free on the league's streaming platform NWSL+.
THE NWSL SEMIFINALS ARE SET 🗓️
— National Women’s Soccer League (@NWSL) November 10, 2024
Coverage on Sunday will start at 2:30 PM ET!
Presented by @madebygoogle pic.twitter.com/lHC9NSKfD5
The Matchups
There will be no love lost when the Pride meets the Current. During the 2024 season, the two developed quite a rivalry.
In July, Orlando became the first and only team to ever win at Kansas City's new CPKC Stadium. That 2-1 away victory -- where the Pride played nearly an hour with 10 players after Carrie Lawrence was sent off in the first half -- was followed by emphatic celebrations from the Orlando players and staff which upset the Kansas City players and fans.
TAKING THE ALL THREE POINTS BACK TO DUBLANDO pic.twitter.com/Snx6fvCQCV
— Orlando Pride - x (@ORLPride) July 7, 2024
The return fixture in September saw both teams simmer down. A much more buttoned-up match finished 0-0.
Orlando will come in the slightly better rested of the two teams after cruising through their quarterfinal against the Chicago Red Stars 4-1. Kansas City got off to a fast start against the North Carolina Courage but had to stay firm to hold on for a 1-0 win.
Neither Orlando nor Kansas City has ever won an NWSL Championship. In 2024, the Pride took home their first trophy, the NWSL Shield, for finishing top of the standings with a record-breaking 60 points. The Current recently claimed their first piece of silverware when they won the NWSL x LigaMX Summer Cup in October.
The all-East Coast semifinal will pit two recent champions against each other. Gotham is the reigning 2023 NWSL Champions, while the Spirit last won in 2021.
The Spirit won 2-0 home and away against Gotham during the 2024 regular season. However, Gotham did edge a meeting in the Summer Cup group stage 1-0. The Spirit's home-field advantage could be a factor. In four visits to Audi Field since the Spirit started playing there in 2022, Gotham has never won a match in D.C. (3L, 1D).
This team has a Rose, with no thorns on its side 😌🌹
— NJ/NY Gotham FC - x (@GothamFC) November 10, 2024
Rose Lavelle’s goal pushed us forward in our playoff journey!! ☄️ pic.twitter.com/yrTNofcrfQ
However, Gotham may be the fresher of the two sides come Saturday. The Spirit were pushed to extra time in their 2-1 to come from behind quarterfinal victory over Bay FC. Meanwhile, Gotham was saved playing 120 minutes against the Portland Thorns thanks to a goal from Rose Lavelle in second-half stoppage time.
This article was originally published on www.si.com as NWSL Playoffs: Semifinal Bracket, How To Watch, Preview.
