With one week left in the regular season, the race to the NWSL playoffs remains tight.

Four teams have locked up their postseason berths, with help from stellar plays, while four other teams remain in the running for the final two spots in the six-team bracket.

NWSL Plays of the Week

Taylor Kornieck’s playoff-sealing equalizer

Kornieck was in the right place at the right time Sunday, slotting in a late-game equalizer against the Orlando Pride to help clinch a crucial standings point and San Diego’s playoff berth.

The Wave midfielder was perched in the box, waiting to pounce on her team’s set piece, before punching in a loose ball. With the goal, the Wave drew level with the Pride in the 87th minute.

With the 2-2 tie, San Diego became the first expansion club to advance to the NWSL playoffs.

While coach Casey Stoney expressed excitement about the club’s postseason berth, she was sober in her assessment of the team’s performance Sunday.

“We set our standards our expectations high and these players and my staff we want to achieve it so there’s just disappointment on the performance,” Stoney said. “I have to be extremely proud of how far we’ve come in a short space and time.”

Debinha’s hat trick

Debinha put on a show Saturday, logging a hat trick to lift the North Carolina Courage to a 3-0 win over Gotham FC to put her team in postseason position. With the win, the Courage control their own destiny heading into the final weekend of the regular season.

Of Debinha’s three quality finishes, perhaps the most impressive goal came in the 34th minute, when she volleyed a perfectly weighted ball past Gotham keeper Michelle Betos.

The 30-year-old’s remarkable showing earned the praise of coach Sean Nahas, who said Debinha is on a “different level.”

“Not sure there is a better player in the world right now,” Nahas said in a Twitter post after Saturday’s match.

Debinha now has 12 goals on the season, tied with Portland’s Sophia Smith for second in the Golden Boot race behind Alex Morgan, who leads the league with 15 goals.

Lo’eau LaBonta’s rocket

Lo’eau LaBonta continued to make her case for NWSL MVP as she helped the Kansas City Current to a 3-0 win Sunday over the Washington Spirit.

The shutout victory was critical for Kansas City, as it secured the Current a place in the NWSL postseason.

LaBonta opened the scoring in the 18th minute, striking a rocket from the top of the box for the go-ahead goal. The 29-year-old ran to the corner flag to revel in her banger, with one of the inventive goal celebrations that has become customary for the Current.

LaBonta has seven goals and four assists through 19 matches played, anchoring a surging Current side through the 2022 campaign.

Honorable mention

Portland’s Taylor Porter put the ball on a string, one-timing a worldie to the upper 90 to help the Thorns to a 3-0 win Sunday over the Chicago Red Stars.

The NWSL playoff race is coming down to the wire, with two postseason spots up for grabs heading into the final week of the regular season.

The Portland Thorns, OL Reign, Kansas City Current and San Diego Wave all have clinched playoff berths, while the Houston Dash, North Carolina Courage, Chicago Red Stars and Angel City FC are in contention for the remaining two postseason slots.

NWSL playoff picture

Houston Dash advance with:

  • Win
  • Tie
  • Loss and Courage loss or tie or Red Stars loss or tie

North Carolina Courage advance with:

  • Win
  • Tie and Red Stars loss or tie
  • Loss and Red Stars tie

Chicago Red Stars advance with:

  • Win and Courage loss or tie
  • Win by more than two goals and Dash loss

Angel City FC advance with:

  • Win and Courage loss

Final weekend schedule

  • San Diego Wave vs. North Carolina — 10 p.m. ET Friday, Paramount+
  • NJ/NY Gotham FC vs. Portland Thorns — 6 p.m. ET Saturday, Paramount+
  • Washington Spirit vs. Houston Dash — 7 p.m. ET Saturday, Paramount+
  • Racing Louisville FC vs. Kansas City Current — 7:30 p.m. ET Saturday, Twitch
  • OL Reign vs. Orlando Pride — 10 p.m. ET Saturday, Twitch
  • Chicago Red Stars vs. Angel City FC — 6 p.m. ET Sunday, Paramount+

Tensions reached a boiling point in the Chicago Red Stars’ Sunday matchup against the Portland Thorns, culminating in a red card for Bianca St. Georges.

The Red Stars defender was ejected in the game’s 59th minute after directing a pair of middle fingers at the referee.

The obscene gesture came after St. Georges seemingly disagreed with a throw-in awarded to the Thorns after a battle for the ball with Portland’s Meghan Klingenberg.

St. Georges’ protest follows the Washington Spirit’s Amber Brooks’ suspension and fine for flipping a pair of middle fingers at the official during her team’s Sept. 10 game.

Chicago was forced to play with 10 players for the remainder of the game, helping Portland to a 3-0 shutout of the Red Stars.

The Red Stars sit seventh in the NWSL standings with one week left on the regular season calendar.

The club is in the running for the remaining two playoff spots, needing a win against Angel City FC on Sunday and a Courage loss or tie to advance. Chicago could also clinch a playoff spot with a win by more than two goals and a Houston Dash loss.

The Chicago Red Stars will host Angel City FC at Toyota Park at 6 p.m. ET Sunday.

Racing Louisville’s Nadia Nadim has torn her ACL, announcing the news on social media Sunday.

“Unfortunately I tore my ACL in my left knee in our last game. Obviously I’m devastated. But I have faced obstacles and rough times since I was a child- so you might say I’m an expert in overcoming them,” Nadim said.

“I was born a fighter and I know that nothing can break me down.”

Nadim’s injury comes one year after the 34-year-old first tore her ACL in Sept. 2021.

The star forward first joined Racing Louisville in June 2021, notching three goals and one assist before incurring the season-ending injury.

With six goals in seven starts, Nadim is Louisville’s leading goal scorer through the 2022 campaign. Her absence is a considerable blow to Racing Louisville, with the club 11th in the NWSL standings and on the outside looking in of a postseason push.

Louisville has two matches reaming on its regular season calendar as the club looks to improve upon its 3-9-8 record.

Chelsea goalkeeper Ann-Katrin Berger appeared in the Blues’ starting lineup for the first time since announcing that her thyroid cancer had returned in August.

Berger helped Chelsea to a 2-0 win over Manchester City Sunday, logging five saves to secure the clean sheet.

The star goalkeeper revealed her cancer diagnosis in a statement posted to social media on Aug. 23.

“I wanted to update fans directly that unfortunately, after four years of living cancer-free, there has been a recurrence detected in my thyroid,” Berger said.

“I’ve said before that as a sportsperson you have to fight every day to be the best you can be and that’s something I will continue to do and I hope by sharing my journey, I can help others that find themselves in a similar situation.”

Berger was first diagnosed in 2017 while playing for Birmingham City but recovered within four months.

The 31-year-old is also the goalkeeper for the German national team, making headlines when she and her girlfriend, England’s Jess Carter, played against one another in this summer’s Euro final.

“She is in a really, really good place now and the doctors being all very positive,” Carter, a star Chelsea defender, said of Berger. “I think she will be back to her best in no time.”

Berger received an outpouring of support after initially revealing her thyroid cancer resurgence, with Chelsea teammate Sam Kerr Tweeting her support, writing, “We are all with you.”

USWNT midfielder Lindsey Horan, who played with Berger for Paris Saint-Germain from 2014 to 2016, Tweeted, “We are all with you Ann. Thinking of you my friend.”

Berger’s Sunday shutout helped Chelsea to its first points of the season after dropping their opener against Liverpool.

OL Reign clinched an NWSL playoff berth Saturday, capping off a week on the road with a 2-0 win over the Houston Dash.

The Seattle-based club picked up nine points in three road games in a productive eight-day sprint that included victories over the North Carolina Courage and Gotham FC.

Bethany Balcer and Veronica Latsko stamped their name on the scoresheet, with OL Reign grinding out a win despite the Dash holding 60 percent of possession.

Saturday marked back-to-back clean sheets for OL Reign, with goalkeeper Phallon Tullis-Joyce notching three saves to keep her side out in front.

“Just can’t speak highly enough of them, really proud of them, and really excited for what this can mean for us, because I think we’ve been a team this year that’s played some really good football, and we feel we’ve not got what we deserve at times,” OL Reign head coach Laura Harvey said after the team’s postseason clinching win.

“Tonight, we had to dig in, we didn’t play the greatest football we can, but we showed our quality in periods and patches.”

OL Reign’s six-game unbeaten streak lifts the team atop the NWSL standings, putting the club in contention for the NWSL Shield. OL Reign will finish out their season at home, taking on the Orlando Pride on Oct. 1 at Lumen Field with an NWSL title on the line.

Debinha put on a show Saturday night, logging a hat trick to lift the North Carolina Courage to an emphatic 3-0 over Gotham FC.

The Brazilian star opened up scoring in the 27th minute, running onto a perfectly weighted ball from Carson Pickett before faking out Michelle Betos and slotting home the go-ahead finish.

Keeping her foot on the gas, Debinha added to her tally in the 34th minute, volleying a lofted cross past the Gotham FC keeper to put North Carolina up 2-0 heading into the break.

Debinha completed her hat trick with another quality finish in the 81st minute, chipping a shot over Betos after finding plenty of time and space on the right flank.

The 30-year-old’s prolific outing earned the praise of Coach Sean Nahas, who said Debinha is on a “different level.”

“Not sure there is a better player in the world right now,” Nahas said in a Twitter post after Saturday’s game.

Debinha now has 12 goals on the season, tied with Portland’s Sophia Smith for second in the Golden Boot race behind Alex Morgan, who leads the league with 15 goals.

The Courage’s shutout caps off an impressive run with four wins in the club’s last five games. North Carolina’s late-season stand has lifted the club to sixth in the NWSL standings, just above the playoff contention line.

North Carolina will end their season with a trip to San Diego on Sept. 30 to take on the Wave with a place in the playoffs in play.

U.S. Women’s National Team veterans Becky Sauerbrunn and Alex Morgan are lending their support to the Spanish national team after players expressed their concerns over head coach Jorge Vilda to Spain’s soccer federation (RFEF).

“The RFEF can confirm that, throughout today, we received 15 emails from 15 players of the women’s senior soccer team… in which they state that the current situation affects ‘significantly’ their emotional state and their health and that, ‘as long as it is not reversed,’ they resign from the Spanish national team,” the Spanish FA said in a statement Thursday.

The Spanish players, however, took issue with that characterization, stating that “We have never asked for the dismissal of the coach as has been commented,” but did ask for “a firm commitment to a professional project.”

The federation has taken a hard line, declining to fire Vilda and demanding players apologize if they want to return to the team.

“The RFEF is not going to allow the players to question the continuity of the national coach and his coaching staff, since making those decisions does not fall within their powers,” the Spanish FA said, warning players that refusing a national team call-up is classified as “very serious infraction and can carry sanctions of two and five years of disqualification.”

In their response, the Spanish players expressed dismay over their private communications being made public by the federation.

Morgan and Sauerbrunn weighed in on the situation over the weekend, joining USWNT teammate Megan Rapinoe in supporting the Spanish players.

“This is so hard to watch knowing the federation is throwing their players under the bus for players asking for better protection, treatment, and professionalism,” Morgan said in a post on Twitter. “Players(the BEST players in Spain) deserve so much better.”

Sauerbrunn also condemned the Spanish federation, writing, “I don’t know the private details, but if 15 of the best players in the world wanted to share feedback I’d respect them enough as people and players to take their concerns seriously.”

The USWNT is set to travel to Spain for an Oct. 11 friendly, but the latest developments and outspokenness of U.S. veteran players throw that matchup into question.

A lot is on the line in the Houston Dash and OL Reign’s Saturday matchup, with a spot in the NWSL playoffs in play.

The Dash and OL Reign can both clinch a postseason berth with a win, adding weight to the Houston-hosted fixture, with the Reign also advancing with a draw.

OL Reign hasn’t missed the NWSL playoffs since 2017, while the Dash will be looking to make the club’s first trip to the postseason.

Houston will be without star Ebony Salmon who leads the team with nine goals on the season, as the English striker is out on COVID-19 protocol.

The Dash prevailed in the team’s last contest, with Salmon notching the game-winning brace. OL Reign, however, is in top form, entering Houston riding a four-game unbeaten streak.

OL Reign and the Houston Dash will face off on Saturday at 8:30 p.m. ET on Twitch.

The Zambia Football Association opened an investigation into claims of sexual abuse Friday.

The Federation initiated the inquiry after accusations were made on social media claiming members of the women’s national team were victims of abuse by the coaching staff.

“Although we have no record of official complaints from anyone on the allegations, we consider these allegations very serious and have opened an inquiry into the matter,” Faz General Secretary Adrian Kashala said in a statement.

“We shall collaborate with the Zambia Police Service and other relevant stakeholders in dealing with this matter.”

The Zambian women’s soccer team has experienced success on the pitch in recent years, making their Olympic debut in Tokyo. The team finished third in this year’s African Cup of Nations, qualifying for the World Cup for the first time.

Kashala has encouraged anyone with information or evidence to come forward to the authorities and the national soccer body.