This week, we look at the final results for top women’s leagues in Spain, Germany, Italy, Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Netherlands and the UEFA Women’s Champions League, following up on our look last week of leagues in Lithuania, Ukraine, France, England and Scotland (see: The Week in Women’s Football: Profiling Kaloyan Petkov; Celtic welcome Chinese starlets; Euro League reviews – Tribal Football). We also review the National Indoor Soccer League Women’s second season.
European League Review—Part 2
Spain
Barcelona ran through the 2023-23 season table unbeaten and untied through 27 games but dropped five points in their last three regular season games, tying Sevilla (1-1) on May 10 and losing to Madrid CFF (2-1) in their last game on May 21. Barca finished with 85 points from a 28-1-1 (W-D-L) record and an 118-10 goals for/goals against tally, while Real Madrid was second on 75 points (23-2-3). Levante will play in next season’s WCL along with Barca and Real Madrid as they finished third with 66 points, well ahead of Atletico Madrid on 57 points and the rapidly-building Madrid CF in fifth with 56 points.
Deportivo Alaves and Alhama (both with 20 points) were relegated. Alhama, which had trouble with their attack, were led by Equatorial Guinea international veteran Jade Boho (36) with only three goals in 25 games. Panamanian international midfielder Aldrith Quintero had one goal from 16 games. Some players who could move to other clubs to stay in the top league include Alaves’ top scorer Marta Sanadri (23)—who had five goals in 26 games—Spain native forwards Carla Armengol—who had four goals in 28 matches—as did Sara Carrillo (20) and midfielder Miku Ito (23) of Japan—who had two goals in 18 matches—all four of whom were in their second season with the club.
Spanish international Alba Redondo (26) of Levante won the Golden Boot with 27 goals ahead of Zambian Racheal Kundananji (22) of Madrid CFF with 25 goals, who had eight goals last season with Eibar in the Spanish top flight. Fellow likely African WWC Finalist this summer Asisat Oshoala of Nigeria and Barcelona scored 21 goals for third and Scottish international forward Caroline Weir of Scotland was fourth with 19 goals in a fantastic first season with Real Madrid after moving from Manchester City last summer. The most goals Weir previously had in a season was eight with Man City in 2020-21 and nine with Hibernian in 2012.
Spanish international forward Esther Gonzalez (30) of Spain and Real Madrid was fifth on 16 goals and another Levante forward, Colombian international Mayra Ramirez—who should be set for a spot in the Women’s World Cup Finals squad this summer—was sixth with 14. She joined Levante this season after two years at Sporting de Huelva. North Macedonia forward Natasa Andonova (29) added seven goals in her fourth season at Levante. She previously played at Barcelona, a year in France with PSG, two years in Sweden at Rosengard (winning one league title) and five years at Turbine Potsdam in Germany (winning two titles). Aminata Diallo, who was trying to rebuild her career after accusations that she arranged an attack by hired thugs on a PSG and France national teammate at the time, Kheira Hamraoui, only played four games as a substitute for 76 total minutes (see: The Week in Women’s Football: Real Madrid land Linda Caicedo; Aminata Diallo joins Levante; Matildas WC sellout – Tribal Football).
Germany
Bayern Munich and Wolfsburg staged an exciting race for the title in 2022-23. Eintracht Frankfurt (54 points) was third at the top of the 12-team table with all three teams qualifying for the 2023-24 UEFA Women’s Champions League. In Round 21, the penultimate round, Leverkusen held Munich 0-0 at home but a 4-0 loss the week before on May 14 for Wolfsburg at Frankfurt (4-0) probably put their title hopes to pad. Bayern won their fifth consecutive title by two points over Wolfsburg (59 vs. 57). On the final day of the season on May 28, Bayern Munich blasted Turbine Potsdam 11-1, with braces from Japanese international Saki Kumagi (32), German international Lea Schuller (25) and Serbian international Jovana Damnjanovic (28), with England’s Georgia Stanway (24) also getting on the scoresheet.
Stanway was named to England’s 2023 Women’s World Cup Final side on May 31. Also on May 28, Wolfsburg edged Freiburg 2-1. Turbine Potsdam, one of the traditional powers of German women’s football, and Meppen both went down to Division 2 for next season. It was a sad moment for Potsdam, which has been in the top flight since 1997 (26 seasons) and was founded in 1971; they won six East German women’s league titles, six Frauen Bundesliga titles and two UEFA Women’s Cup/WCL titles in 2004-05 and 2009-10, along with two second place finishes in the tournament. In 2020, they entered into a three-year agreement with men’s side Hertha Berlin, who are now going to fund a women’s side on their own. Their demotion to the second tier was also a blow to independent teams. Red Bull Leipzig is promoted for the 2023-24 season.
Wolfsburg had two of top four league scorers in German international Alexandra Popp (32), who won the Golden Boot with 16 goals, and Ewa Pajor of Poland (26), who added 12 goals for fourth place, while Slovenian international Lara Prasnikar (24) of Eintracht Frankfurt was tied for second with 12 goals with Bayern’s German international Lea Schuller (25). For fourth place Hoffenhiem (48 points), Erelata Memeti of Kosovo (23) had 12 goals (tied for eighth; she was born in Germany) and was the only other top 12 scorer who plays internationally for another country.
Italy
As with Scotland, Italy split into a regular season (with 10 teams) and then a second stage with 5 teams in the Championship Round and 5 teams in the Relegation Round. Roma won the First Round title (48 points), after doing very well in their first Women’s Champions league campaign, with Juventus second (40 points), Inter (35 points) third and AC Milan (34 points) fourth, the latter tied with Fiorentina (34 points). Namibia’s Tabith Chawinga (26) of Inter led the league with 16 goals during the regular season in a fantastic first season back in Europe, after playing for years in China.
TribalFootball.com covered her domestic and international career since she burst onto the Swedish scene with Kvarnsveden in the Elitettan (second tier) in 2015. After scoring 43 goals in 26 matches, she then tallied 15 and 25 goals respectively in 2016 and 2017 in the Damallsvenskan, to the extent that the Swedish national team was exploring if she would qualify for citizenship to play for them, but she then opted for her home nation of Malawi. We do hope that Malawi qualifies for a major African or World Finals someday so that she has a larger stage to display her world-class talents on. Italian international Cristiana Girelli (33) of Italy was second in scoring with 13 and Brazil’s Andreass Alves, in her fourth season at Roma, was third with 9 goals, tied with clubmate and Italian international Valentina Giacinti (29), who is in her first season with Roma after playing with Fiorentina last season. Italian international Martina Piemonte (25) of AC Milan and Italian international Elise Poli of Inter Milan (22) also had nine goals in the regular season, to also tie for third in scoring at the end of the first round.
In the five team championship round, Roma (67 points) won the 2022-23 league title with Juventus second (54 points) and capturing the second WCL spot; AC Milan was third (44 points), Fiorentina fourth (42 points) and Inter Milan finished fifth (39 points). Chawinga again led the scorer’s table in the Championship round with seven goals, three more than any other player; for the entire season she had an outstanding 23 goals in 23 matches, including four braces and a hat trick in a late-season 4-0 win over Fiorentina at home on May 13.
This season, in their UEFA Women’s Champions League debut campaign, A.S. Roma powered through the Qualification Rounds in the League Path, defeating host side Glasgow City 2-1 and then Paris F.C. of France 5-4 on penalties after a scoreless deadlock. In the second round, they defeated Sparta Prague 6-2 on aggregate after 2-1 and 4-1 victories. In the Round of 16, they advanced from their group to the quarterfinals, finishing second by one point to finalists Wolfsburg (14 points vs. 13 points) by defeating both Austria’s St. Polten and Slavia Prague of the Czech Republic home and away. Their fairytale run came to an end in the Quarterfinals when they faced the ultimate 2022/23 European Champions Barcelona, falling 1-0 and 5-1 in the two legs. Roma’s import heavy roster had eight players from Scandinavia—five from Sweden and three from Norway—led by Norwegian internationals Emilie Haavi’s (30) eight goals in 25 games and Sophie Haug (24) with seven goals in 18 matches, with both players in their second season with the Capital city club.
Zara Kramzar (17)—one of two Slovenians on the Roma side—had 2 goals in 12 games from midfield and the Slovenian U-17 international is one to watch in the future at both the club and international level. Roma’s other imports came from Japan, Spain, Austria and Romania, with their full Romanian international goalkeeper Camela Ceasar (25—who moved to Italy when she was five years old) starting the majority of the team’s regular season matches with 18 in her fourth season with the club.
In the Relegation Round of the Serie A Femminile, Sassuolo (38 points), Como (25 points) and Sampdoria (21 points) were safe at the end of the second round, while Pomigliano (21 points) had to play off against Division 2 side Lazio of Rome, who finished second by one point to Serie B winner Napoli (74 points vs. 73 points), who achieved a unique double as their men’s side won the Serie A title this season for the first time since the late 1980’s when Diego Maradona was on the Napoli side that won two titles. Lazio fell at home to Pomigliano 2-0 on June 3 and then Lazio won 1-0 away on June 8 but Pomigliano retained their Serie A status 2-1 on aggregate.
Samp defeated Pomigliano in their last Relegation Round match 4-2 away to ensure their safety. Parma (16 points) were relegated directly. Scottish international forward Lana Clelland (30) of Sassuolo led the Relegation Round scorers with six goals and is in her second season with the club and ninth in Italy, also having also played with Fiorentina, Tavagnacco and Bari. She scored five goals in her last four games in wins over Sampdoria (2-0), Parma (5-4), Pomigliano (2-1) and Como (2-1).
Bosnia and Herzegovina
SFK 2000 won their European record 21st Premijer Zenska Liga title in a row with a 20-1-0 record for 61 points over Emina Mostar (15-2-4 with 47 points). ZNK Siroki Brijeg (15 points) and ZFL Drina (0 points and a stunning goal differential of -219, scoring only once all season with 220 goals allowed) were both relegated from the eight team top tier. SFK 2000 hope to do better in UEFA’s WCL, as in the top European women’s continental competition, they have advanced out of the qualifying rounds only six times in 20 campaigns, but never beyond the Round of 32.
SFK 2000 pair and Bosnia and Herzegovina internationals Maja Jelcic (23) scored 41 goals while Minela Gacanica (18) had 29 tallies. Jelic had two consecutive games with 5 goals each and a pair of consecutive games with four goals each—all within a six-game run in which she had 21 goals. She finished the season with 13 goals in the final five games of the season.
Netherlands Ajax and Twente were separated by one point at the end of the season (55 vs. 54 points) with Ajax taking the title but both clubs made the 2023-24 Women’s Champions League. All of the top 15 scorers were Dutch natives except for Tessa Wullaert (30) with Fortuna Sittard—who scored 20 goals for second in the Golden Boot race, after playing the previous two seasons at Manchester City—and Elena Dhort (25) of Twente, who was tied for eighth in the league with eight goals—both are Belgium internationals. The Eredivisie Women’s leading scorer was Netherlands international Fenna Kalma (23) of the Netherlands with 30 goals in 20 matches, after scoring 33 in 24 matches in 2021-22.
UEFA Women’s Champions League
Barcelona won the UEFA Women’s Champions League title for the second time in three years (and has played in four of the last five finals) after coming back from a 2-0 halftime deficit at halftime, despite having a solid advantage in ball possession (around 60%) over Germany’s Wolfsburg. The final drew a record crowd for women’s football in neutral Eindhoven in the Netherlands of 33,147. Ewa Pajor and Alex Popp scored first half goals for Wolfsburg, but Barcelona had fought back to tie the match by the 50th minute with two goals from Patri Guijarro (with assists from Norwegian international Caroline Graham-Hansen and Spanish international Aitana Bonmati (see more below). Former Wolfsburg player and Swedish international Fridolina Rolfö scored in the 70th minute to give Barca the lead and ultimately the win.
For Wolfsburg’s Pajor, her goal was the competition-leading ninth goal of the season from the group stage on, four ahead of Barça duo Asisat Oshoala and Aitana Bonmatí, Arsenal pair Stina Blackstenius and Frida Maanum, Cloe Lacasse of Benfica and Chelsea’s Sam Kerr.
Bonmatí led the 2022-23 assists title (from the group stage on) with eight, which was three ahead of team-mates Geyse (of Brazil) and Mariona Caldentey, plus Chelsea’s Norwegian import Guro Reiten. Bonmatí’s total of 13 goal contributions (goals and assists combined) led the competition by one over Pajor.
Barca’s iconic forward Alexia Putellas, who has won the Ballon d’Or title as Player of the Year twice in 2021 and 2022, came off the bench for the least few minutes for her first appearance in the Women’s Champions League this season after recovering from an ACL injury. For the game, Barca led Wolfsburg in shots (26 vs. 7), shots on goal (7 vs. 5) and possession (61% vs. 39%).
After the game Barcelona head coach Jonatan Giráldez explained their approach for the second half: “Maybe the half-time score was unfair because of how many chances we’d created and the pattern of play. We made a mistake at the start and we conceded. It’s not about what happens but how you react, and we did that well but then conceded again. At half-time, we wanted to improve ball reception. We had to wake up, be optimistic, realize there were 45 minutes left and it wasn’t impossible.” Patri Guijarro, the Player of the Match, added insight to how the team was able to overcome their 2-0 deficit: “It complicates matters when you concede two goals. We created chances but didn’t take them. We talked at half-time about those small details, the self-belief that we’ve matured since last year and that we didn’t break down after going behind.
“It was everyone’s hunger and belief [that led to victory]. I’m really happy about helping my team win this piece of silverware.” Norwegian international Caroline Graham-Hansen, who was a tremendous positive influence on the right wing in the second half, said: “This game had every emotion it could have. I’m just so happy. Two-nil down at half-time, I had a big flashback to the last final [losing to Lyon in 2021-22 and being down 3-0 within the first 33 minutes] and thought, ‘It’s not going to happen again.'” Wolfsburg head coach Tommy Stroot was gracious in defeat, congratulating Barca and adding: “We saw a great game here in Eindhoven. It was an advertisement for women’s football. Everyone in the stadium and watching on TV saw a game of a great standard with high individual quality—from Barcelona, but also the way we played.
Note: Patri Guijarro announced the next week that she would not be part of Spain’s 2023 Women’s World Cup side for their first group matches in New Zealand. After the EURO 2022 in England, she, along with teammates Alexia Putellas and Aitana Bonmati (who have 198 caps between them) along with 12 others refused to play for head coach Jorge Vilda until the culture of the side change. Vilda and the Spanish Federation dug in and none of the players have seen any international action since, which is a potentially huge setback to this summer’s hopes of making the semifinals.
Guijarro said on RAC1, “As things stand today, I won’t play at the World Cup. Not as things stand, but it’s true I’ve got an emotional hangover today; we’ve just won the Champions League. We’ll see. I think every player wants to play for their country, I don’t know what to tell you. Not as things stand today.”
For Spain at the Women’s World Cup, their Barca midfield trio may be hard to replace and you must feel badly for the players involved. Aitana Bonmati, who has been so good this season in filling in for Alexia Putellas while she was rehabilitating her ACL, was able to play a more advanced, attacking position, and had a goal or an assist in 12 of her side’s 37 WCL goals this campaign (5 goals and 7 assists) and 19 goals in total from 36 matches. She was voted the fifth best player in the latest Ballon d’Or voting for 2022. Bonmati (25) played in Barca’s academy and been with the club for a decade and is instrumental in the club’s passing style. As an only child in a non-footballing family, she first played basketball. She played on local boys’ teams until she was 14, when she joined Barca. She had to take the bus over 25 miles each day from her home outside of city.
She explained about playing in the Barca way to ESPN: “I am certainly one of the examples. I have been at the club for 11 years; I have grown here since I was young. I have not left and come back. I have been through the whole process. I have been playing in the same [Barca] way for many years. I am a player that plays in a key position. In any Barca team, the midfielders are so important, so I feel a like a benchmark in that sense, carrying the [club’s] DNA in me.”
Bonmati further expanded on her role in the Barcelona team and playing with the club’s DNA: “A lot of things are needed really. It seems easy, but understanding football is not that easy. It requires having that pausa, that management of space, knowing where your teammates and your opponents are. It’s important to be constantly aware what is going on behind you and around you. It’s about knowing how to manage moments during a game: what does the team need? When do you need to accelerate or slow down the rhythm? Should we switch play? It’s a combination of things. It’s understanding football and it’s obviously having that technique and those resources to help as a team player.” She felt that Barca’s style every year can change depending on the players and tactics have become more important; she said that their play has been more direct at times in 2022-23: “Our style will always be the same but there are facets, movements, tactical concepts that change, which is what helps you to improve and keep progressing so teams don’t find a way to stop you.”
Barcelona is only the second team to come back from two goals down to win a final of this competition, Wolfsburg having done it against Sweden’s Tyresö in 2014. Wolfsburg has lost four finals after winning their first two in 2012/13 and 2013/14. The latter campaign was the first time the two sides met in the completion, in the quarterfinal stage, when the Catalan club, in just their second season in European competition, were eliminated by a 5-0 aggregate scoreline. They met again in 2019-20 during the COVID delayed campaign, when a much anticipated two leg semifinal held in each country was turned into a central location tournament in the Basque region of Spain, without fans, with Wolfsburg winning the single game 1-0, when 2022-23 game winner Fridolina Rolfo again scored the winning goal, but that time for the Germany side. In 2021-22 Barca knocked Wolfsburg out in the semifinals, 5-3 on aggregate.
In the semifinals, England’s two London-based representatives of Arsenal and Chelsea both lost close aggregate battles to Wolfsburg and Barcelona respectively. Jonas Eidevall’s side drew the first leg at Wolfsburg 2-2 in front of a near sellout of 22,617 at the Volkswagen Stadium (capacity 26,000 for international matches), coming back from 2-0 down as Wolfsburg’s Polish international Ewa Pajor and Icelandic international Sveindís Jónsdóttir gave the home team the lead, but the Gunner’s replies came from Brazilian Rafaelle and Sweden’s Stina Blackstenius. Then in the second leg at the Emirates, Wolfsburg won a stirring match 3-2 and took the tie 5-4. For that match at the Emirates Stadium, Arsenal Women set a club record for attendance with 60,063. Arsenal surpassed their previous WCL record, which was set in the previous round when 21,307 people watched them beat Bayern Munich 2-0 at the Emirates Stadium for a 2-1 quarterfinals aggregate victory.
Last September, Arsenal recorded a Women’s Super League record when they sold over 53,000 tickets at the Emirates for the north London derby against Tottenham Hotspur, which they won 4-0. Arsenal’s usual home ground is Boreham Wood’s 4,500-capacity Meadow Park, which has often been sold out this season and the Gunners are quickly outgrowing it. Arsenal released news that they had sold over 240,000 tickets (30,000 on average for the eight matches this season that have been played at the Emirates — five in the Champions League and three in the WSL).
In the other tie with a London WSL club, Barca beat Chelsea 2-1 on aggregate, drawing the first leg away 1-1 and then falling at home 1-0; Norway’s Caroline Graham Hansen scored in both legs, with her winner in London coming in only the fourth minute.
The quarterfinal legs saw Chelsea dispatch the reigning champions Olympique Lyon of France on penalty kicks. This round also saw some strong attendances, led by Barcelona’s 54,667 against Roma, while the first leg in Italy attracted 39,454:
UEFA WCL Quarterfinals
Bayern Munich 1 Arsenal 0. (Goal: Schueller 39. Att.: 20,000.)
Arsenal 2 Bayern Munich 0. (Goals: Maanum 20, Blackstenius 26. Att.: 21,307.)
(Arsenal wins 2-1 on aggregate.)
Lyon 0 Chelsea 1. (Goal: Reiten 28. Att.: 18,751.)
Chelsea 1 Lyon 2. (Goals: Mjedle 120+8 pen.; Gilles 77, Daebritz 110. Att.: 15,111.)
(Aggregate: 2-2; Chelsea wins 4-3 on penalty kicks.)
Roma 0 Barcelona 1. (Goal: Paralluelo 34. Att.: 39,454.)
Barcelona 5 Roma 1. (Goals: Rolfo 11, 45+2. Leon 33, Oshoala 46, Guijarro 53; Serturini 58. Att.: 54,667.)
(Barcelona wins 6-1 on aggregate)
Paris SG 0 Wolfsburg 1. (Goal: Att.: 17,465.)
Wolfsburg 1 Paris SG 1. (Goals: Popp 20; Diani 30. Att.: 14,367.)
(Wolfsburg wins 2-1 on aggregate.)
Indoor Women’s Professional Soccer Finishes Second Season
The Memphis Americans won the National Indoor Soccer League title again this season for the second year in a row (see our season one review at:The Week in Women’s Football: Interview with Guyana coach Sherry; 1League Canada; Challenge Cup update – Tribal Football). The two-year-old league expanded from four teams to five with the addition of the Tampa Bay Strikers and Central Florida Crusaders joining for this season, while the Rome (Georgia) Gladiators did not return for a second season.
2022-23 NISL Standings W-T-L-GF-GA-GD
Memphis Americans (Tennessee) 11-0-3 64 26 +28
Central Florida Crusaders (Orlando) 8-0-7 87 86 +1
Tampa Bay Strikers (Florida) 8-0-8 88 80 +8
Columbus Rapids (Georgia) 7-0-7 50 62 -12
Fayetteville Fury (North Carolina) 4-0-12 64 89 -25
Four of these teams plan to play in the new World Futsal League, except Columbus, this summer. Each NISL team operates both a men’s team and a women’s team and they play games as double headers in each market.
The Women’s Division Most Valuable Player was Tampa Bay Striker Tesa McKibben, who played collegiately at St. Francis University in Loretto, Pennsylvania over a decade ago; McKibben led the Women’s Division in total points (33/+3), total assists (14/+4) and points per game average (2.8/+.5). She played in three fewer games and finished second in goals (19) to Central Florida’s Alivia Gonzalez (see below). Both players were named as NISL first team all stars (see below). McKibben, originally from Pennsylvania, spent times with FC Saarbrucken in the German second division from 2014-2018 and is a high school and club head coach in the Tampa area.
Alivia Gonzalez appeared in all Central Florida’s games and led league in scoring with 25 goals. She became the first women’s division player to tally more than twenty goals in a season. Gonzalez just finished her career last season at the University of Florida.
The first and second team NISL All Stars are presented below:
2022-23 NISL Women’s First Team – Women’s Division
- Central Florida Crusaders Alivia Gonzalez—F
- Memphis Americans Molly Martin—F
- Tampa Bay Strikers Tesa McKibben—F/M
- Fayetteville Fury Shannon Leghart—D
- Memphis Americans Lauren Odinoo—D
- Memphis Americans Angel Hailey—G
Second Team – Women’s Division
- Columbus Rapids Carlie Bank—F
- Central Florida Crusaders Nicole DiPerna—M
- Memphis Americans Bailey Tadlock—M
- Tampa Bay Strikers Madison Cox—D
- Tampa Bay Strikers Andrea Hauksdottir—D
- Tampa Bay Strikers Catrina Salazar—G
We look at some interesting player news across the five teams, starting with Central Florida Crusaders’ goalkeeper Michelle Melo leaving the indoor club to sign with a Costa Rican outdoor side. The league has players coming from a variety of backgrounds, with some coming out of retirement to play in the professional indoor league, some with multiple children at home, a number of current academy and even college coaches and a few who have professional outdoor league experience.
Central Florida Crusaders
Goalkeeper Michelle Melo started the first two games of the season but was released by the club so she could sign with Deportivo Saprissa Futbol Femenino of Coast Rica in February. Crusaders Head Coach Tom Traxler said: “We’re always excited for our players to have opportunities to grow in the game and further their careers. We support Michelle in every step of the journey and wish her every success that soccer can bring her.” Saprissa, four time league champions, finished the second phase of the Apertura (Opening) Championship in second place to record-title champions Alajelense by three points (37 vs. 34 points), with Alajuelense winning its fifth title in a row.
Lorna Maudslay, played collegiately at Lamar University in Beaumont, Texas from 2009-2012 and spent time with the Doncaster Belles in England. She has been coaching for 10 years. Grace Raji is also from England and played at Lamar University from 2009-2013 and had played for Blackburn Rovers at home after starting her career at the Manchester United Girl’s Academy.
Vanessa Aponte, who grew up in Orlando, played for Colombia at the U-17 and U-20 national team level and was on the U-20 WWC Finals side in Germany in 2010. She played collegiately at the Citadel, playing in 74 games and scoring 27 goals with 19 assists.
Kiara Montenegro, who grew up in Orlando, played at Lees-McRae College in North Carolina from 2017-2021, scoring five goals in 40 games. She previously played with Club Deportivo Escuela Carlos Sarmiento Lora in Colombia and had a tryout with top side Deportivo Cali in 2021.
Midfielder Andrea Lopez was raised in Spain and came to the U.S. to play at Saginaw Valley State University in Michigan from 2019-2021.
Defender Cydney Niedermeyer played at both Nova Southeastern and Temple Universities—in a total of 65 games across her career as a centerback—and then played professionally for two years with the Puerto Rico Sol FC: (see: The Week in Women’s Football: OFC Women’s Nations Cup review; – Tribal Football). She has since been an assistant coach at Auburn University, the University of Nevada-Las Vegas and the University of Florida.
Bridget Callahan played at the University of Central Florida from 2014-17, making the NCAA tournament her last year and then professionally with the Orlando Pride in 2018 and 2019, with nine appearances.
Columbus Rapids
Brittney Conway played at Eastern Washington University in Cheney, Washington (just outside of Spokane). She moved to Columbus to be a Master Resilience Trainer-Performance Expert at Fort Benning, teaching performance psychology skills to soldiers,
Fayetteville Fury
Mayar Elgeyoshi was born in Egypt.
Memphis Americans
Alexis Catt was born in Santiago Chile but grew up in Indiana and played collegiately at Purdue University. She played for Chile’s U-20 national team. She also played internationally informally (in non-FIFA official games) for Haiti when they were training in Indiana in the WPSL-Elite and WPSL around 2012-13, and then helped the side on the physical conditioning side under then head coach Shek Borkowski. Alexis Catt explained the difference between indoor and outdoor soccer on the Perfect Soccer Podcast—episode 71—in March of this year: “It is a mixture of people who understand the indoor game and outdoor players who are just playing inside. That is the easiest way to differentiate it is that there is a true strategy and a different of play…
“We say it is similar to basketball or hockey with 5 players and a goalkeeper. It’s fast [and] allowed to be more physical and high scoring. We play four quarters.”
She said that her coach had played professionally indoor and: “He’s given us a strategy of how to defend—sometimes it’s okay to get beat along the boards and it’s okay for them to get a shot off because you are directing them to a low percentage shot.”
A unique aspect of the Americans’ women’s side is that they will practice with the men’s side, at times doing separate drills by gender, but other times playing together, which Catt felt: “Gives both teams an advantage for different styles of play.”
She does plan to retire now that the 2022-23 season is over, because of the toll from injuries, but still will follow the game and stay involved however she can.
Tampa Bay Strikers
Midfielder/defender Andrea Hauksdottir played at the University of South Florida and for her native Iceland at the youth and full national team level. At home in Iceland, she played for Breidablik and won league titles in 2015 and 2018. In 2021 she played seven games for LeHavre in France and one game for the Houston Dash (9 minutes). In 2022 she played with Club America in Mexico for six games in the 2021-22 Clausura (Closing) Championship during the first season in which imports were fully allowed into the league For Tampa Bay, she scored 13 goals and 4 assists in 8 matches.
Brianna Blethen spent time playing for FC Slovacko Zeny in the Czech Republic during the 2020-2021 season, including in the UEFA Women’s Champions League, and played with Tampa Bay United in the USL’s W League in 2022. The Tampa native, who played at the University of South Florida, said: “It is so exciting to be a part of the growth that is happening in women’s soccer in Tampa Bay. I can’t wait to get the season started and build on what we’ve started. I have always wanted to play professionally, and while I started that journey elsewhere, I love that I get to continue it here at home.”
Forward/midfielder Ishpreen Marway just graduated from high school in the Tampa area. She signed with the Strikers on an amateur contract and will play this fall at the University of Southern Mississippi in Hattiesburg.
Forward/midfielder Kayla Gray played at Eckerd College and the Alpharetta, Georgia-raised player competed for Jamaica at the U-17 and U-20 national team level.
Tampa native Madison Cox played with Tampa Bay United in the USL W League last season and trained with the North Carolina Courage of the NWSL and has international experience with Puerto Rico. She played collegiately for one season at the University of Tampa and three years with Grand Canyon University in Phoenix, Arizona.
Tim Grainey is a contributor to Tribal Football. His latest book Beyond Bend it Like Beckham on the global game of women’s football. Get yours copy today.
Follow Tim on Twitter: @TimGrainey
