NWSL: Full 2015 Schedule Announced
The schedule for the 2015 NWSL Season has finally been announced. With the season set to kick-off in two months, the league released their full schedule, which can be viewed here.
The NWSL confirmed with the schedule release on Thursday that teams will play a 20 game season. It all begins Friday, April 10 at BBVA Compass Stadium as the Houston Dash take on the Washington Spirit. The World Cup break will occur two months into the season, starting on June 7 through June 18. The regular season ends on September 6 with the playoffs taking place from September 12-September 27.
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Contrary to the original announcement back in August of how they would handle the World Cup, the league will only take one weekend off and will play a number of games on the opening day of the competition. The NWSL also appears to be avoiding any conflicts with the World Cup Final as they will play all games during the weekend of the Final on the Friday before.
The schedule is not as compressed as in the two previous NWSL seasons. Teams will play 20 games in a 21-week span with each team averaging 7.5 days of rest in between each game. There will also only be 14 midweek games in 2015. Compare these stats to those of the 2014 season where teams played 24 games in a 19-week span and 35 midweek games.
After the criticisms of last season regarding playing schedule and length of the season, it’s clear the NWSL is taking initiative in becoming a more professional soccer league. They managed to expand the season into September, a step that brings the league closer to equaling the lengthy seasons in Europe. They also made the season less compact, which is crucial when considering teams do not have large rosters and players are battling in a physical league that will cause a lot of wear and tear.
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Also announced earlier in the day, the Boston Breakers will be moving to Harvard’s Soldiers Field for the 2015 NWSL Season. The team was forced out of Harvard Stadium, which will undergo renovations during the season. Soldiers Field will be expanded to a capacity of 4,000 with standing room. Currently the stadium holds 2,500. The Breakers played a WPS Playoff game at Soldiers Field in 2010.
The stadium is not as much of a downgrade from Harvard Stadium as it seems. There are only soccer lines on this turf field compared to the multi-sport playing surface at Harvard Stadium with lines for soccer, football, and lacrosse. Soldiers Field is also much smaller in capacity than the 30,000 seat Harvard Stadium, which always made the crowd look sparse.
The schedule brings to question the participation of Mexican allocations in the 2015 NWSL Season. Mexico announced that players will not join their teams until July at the earliest. Mexico will keep their players with the team until after the Pan-American games, which end on July 26.
The 2015 NWSL Season is just around the corner now. Training camp is set to begin in just over a month. With the schedule released, teams now know their paths to the 2015 NWSL Championship.