The 2023 NWSL Championship pits OL Reign against Gotham FC. The league is guaranteed to crown a new champion, as neither franchise has ever won the title before.
In honor of this year’s championship match, Just Women’s Sports takes a look back at the nine previous winners.
2022: Portland Thorns FC
The Thorns won their league-leading third championship, fending off the Kansas City Current in the title game.
After finishing second in the league standings with a 10-9-3 record, Portland received a first-round bye as a result, then beat the expansion San Diego Wave in the semifinals. The 2-1 victory included a goal from Rocky Rodriguez and a stoppage-time winner by Crystal Dunn, who had only recently returned from maternity leave.
The 2-0 win over Kansas City in the final included a memorable goal (and celebration) from Sophia Smith as well as an own goal in the 56th minute. Smith – who became the youngest player to win league MVP that year – also was named Finals MVP.
2021: Washington Spirit
The Washington Spirit won their first title after finishing the regular season in third place with an 11-6-7 record. Ashley Hatch won the league’s Golden Boot that year with 10 total goals.
Hatch provided the stoppage-time winner for Washington in its first-round match against the North Carolina Courage. In the semifinals, goals from Trinity Rodman and Ashley Sanchez sent OL Reign packing in a 2-1 win. The Spirit faced the Chicago Red Stars in the championship, with Kelley O’Hara providing the stoppage-time winner.
Note: The NWSL did not hold a regular season in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Instead, teams competed in the first iteration of the Challenge Cup tournament, which was won by the Houston Dash.
2019: North Carolina Courage
The Courage won the second of their back-to-back titles after also winning the Shield in both seasons. They finished the regular season with 49 points and a 15-4-5 record while also gathering an astounding +31 goal differential – more than double that of second-place Chicago. Lynn Williams was once again the team’s leading scorer with 12 goals.
The Courage beat the Reign, 4-1, in the semifinals thanks to goals from Heather O’Reilly, Debinha and Crystal Dunn, as well as an own goal from the opposing team. And then they topped the Red Stars, 4-0, in the championship game, with Debinha, Dunn, Jessica McDonald and Sam Mewis all getting in on the scoring.
2018: North Carolina Courage
North Carolina won the title and the Shield after finishing the regular season with a 17-6-1 record, 15 points ahead of the second-place Thorns. Goals from Jessica McDonald and Sam Mewis in the semifinal round propelled the team to a 2-0 win over Chicago.
The Courage went on to beat Portland, 3-0, in the final off a McDonald brace and a goal from Debinha. Lynn Williams finished as the team’s leading scorer with 14 goals, while McDonald ranked first in the league in assists.
2017: Portland Thorns FC
Portland’s second NWSL title came four years after its first. The team was led in goals by Christine Sinclair, who had eight on the season. The Thorns finished second in the league in the regular season with a 14-5-5 record, two points behind the North Carolina Courage.
A 4-1 win over the Orlando Pride in the semifinals set up a clash with the Courage in the championship, which Portland won 1-0 thanks to a goal from Lindsey Horan in the 50th minute.
2016: Western New York Flash
The Western New York Flash won the title in 2016 after finishing the regular season fourth in the NWSL standings and barely sneaking into the playoffs. They beat out the Reign for the final playoff spot by two points, finishing with a 9-5-6 record – winning just one more game than Seattle. Lynn Williams was the leading scorer for the team and the league with 11 goals.
The playoffs that season featured extra time in every single game played, with New York beating Portland in the semifinals, 4-3, thanks to a stoppage-time winning brace from Williams.
The Flash would go on to face the Washington Spirit in the final, which finished in a 2-2 tie after regulation and extra time off goals from Williams and Sam Mewis and Williams for New York and a Crystal Dunn brace for Washington. The Flash took home the title with a 3-2 win in the penalty shootout.
2015: FC Kansas City
For the second year in a row, the Reign won the Shield and FC Kansas City won the NWSL title, with the Seattle club finishing as the runner-up. Kansas City finished third in the regular season with a 9-5-6 record, led by Crystal Dunn who had 15 goals.
They beat Chicago in the semifinal, with a brace from Rocky Rodriguez propelling them to a 3-0 win. Rodriguez would play hero again in the championship game, scoring the game’s lone goal in a 1-0 win for Kansas City. This marked the Reign’s last appearance in the NWSL championship until 2023.
2014: FC Kansas City
FC Kansas City won the first of their two NWSL titles in 2014, finishing the season second in league standings with 41 points and a 12-5-7 record. The Reign were far and away the best team of the regular season with 54 points and a +30 goal differential.
Kansas City beat Portland, 2-0, in the semifinal round, setting up a championship showdown between the two best teams of the regular season. Rocky Rodriguez netted a brace to give Kansas City the 2-1 win.
2013: Portland Thorns FC
Portland’s winning history in the NWSL dates back to the first-ever league championship, with star players including Christine Sinclair, Alex Morgan and Tobin Heath gracing the field for the club.
The Thorns beat FC Kansas City in the semifinal round and then Shield winners Western New York Flash, 2-0, in the championship match to take home the title off goals from Heath and Sinclair.
Kelley O’Hara joined Gotham FC as a splashy free agent signing ahead of the 2023 season. And from the very first day of practice, the U.S. women’s national team defender knew the club had championship potential.
On Just Women’s Sports’ Super Show at the NWSL Championship, O’Hara recalled the first day the team came together. First-year head coach Juan Carlos Amorós laid out his vision for the season, and O’Hara felt a spark.
“I was like, wow, this is the first time I’ve sat in a room the first day of season and been like, we could we could win a championship,” O’Hara told co-hosts Christine Williamson and Sarah Gorden.
While Gotham snuck into the postseason as the No. 6 seed, they have won both of their playoff games — the first two playoff wins in franchise history — to reach the NWSL Championship final at 8 p.m. ET Saturday against OL Reign.
Gotham midfielder Allie Long also felt the potential of the team from the start of the season.
“The group that we have is really special,” Long said. “And so I’ve always had this feeling that — of course, you set that goal, and it’s such a competitive league — but yeah, we set that goal. I haven’t taken my eyes off (it).”
The team carries some extra incentive into the championship match, as they are looking to send retiring captain Ali Krieger out with a bang.
“We want to send her out the right way,” O’Hara said.
The Reign are looking to do the same for retiring star Megan Rapinoe. Neither Krieger nor Rapinoe — and neither Gotham FC nor OL Reign — have won a title. And while O’Hara can’t root for Rapinoe, she is glad to see Krieger and Rapinoe end their career on such a fitting stage.
“It’s so good. You can’t write a better script in sports,” O’Hara said. “It’s very, very cool, and they both deserve to have the opportunity to potentially win a championship.”
Get ready for the 2023 NWSL Championship with the Just Women’s Sports Super Show, hosted by Sarah Gorden and Christine Williamson.
The two break down the matchup between OL Reign and Gotham FC while also recapping a hectic 2023 season. Special guests include San Diego Wave’s Jaedyn Shaw, Gotham FC’s Kelley O’Hara and Allie Long, Angel City FC’s Sydney Leroux and Ali Riley, Kansas City’s Lo’eau LaBonta, and Just Women’s Sports’ own Claire Watkins.
It’s the funnest, rowdiest NWSL Championship preview you’ll find anywhere.
Preview the 2023 NWSL Championship by tuning into the Just Women’s Sports Super Show Presented by State Farm, featuring surprise guest appearances by NWSL stars. Watch here.
There are few managers more synonymous with success than OL Reign’s Laura Harvey. In a league currently dominated by a constantly moving carousel of open coaching positions, the original manager of the Seattle Reign has endured, leading the team to their first NWSL Championship appearance since 2015.
Known for her humor, candor and proclivity for sitting on an ice cooler in the coach’s box during games, Harvey is already an iconic figure in NWSL history.
When you speak to her players, Harvey’s strengths as a manager are reflected in their words. She’s described by forward Megan Rapinoe as “the best manager I’ve ever had,” and by defender Sofia Huerta as the only coach she’s had that “knows what they’re talking about, and really cares about the players.” Midfielder Jess Fishlock says her managing style is “just successful, man. It works. It’s such a respectful way of working.” And defender Alana Cook says “she looks after us as humans before players.”
All players say that Harvey is the person who sets the culture upon which everything in the locker room is based. And if the Reign win the 2023 NWSL Championship by defeating Gotham FC in San Diego on Saturday, it will be because they leaned further into that culture rather than turned away from it.
Harvey is the longest-tenured coach in the NWSL, even after stepping away from the Reign from 2018-21. NWSL coaching positions as a whole have become difficult jobs to hold in recent years, either due to off-field misconduct or on-field results.
Harvey has the staunch support of her players for the way she treats them off the field, but the Reign also could be rewarded for patience with results over the years. Harvey famously has led the Reign to three NWSL Shields, an honor many on the team feel is more reflective of a truly successful season than the two- or three-game playoff run to the championship. But the team has also become synonymous with struggling in the playoffs, falling to lower seeds in recent years after earning top-two finishes in the regular season.
Consequently, Harvey’s record in knockout matches has seeped into the conversation about her reputation as a manager over time. Prior to 2023, Seattle had won only two playoff matches in the club’s history — two semifinals in 2014 and 2015. In both of those postseasons, the team fell in the championship match to Vlatko Andonovski’s FC Kansas City, and until this year had not registered another postseason win despite making the semifinals every single season from 2018-22.
Harvey’s knockout record (and her old coaching battles with Andonovski) have followed her, especially after Andonovski was named manager of the U.S. women’s national team in 2019. Harvey, who’d made the jump to become a coach at the U.S. development level in 2018, was considered a contender for the USWNT job after Jill Ellis stepped down in the aftermath of the 2019 World Cup victory. But Andonovski had the consistent record in playoff matches, one of the closest equivalents to international tournament play available at the domestic level.
Fast forward to 2023, and Harvey’s name again was in the mix for the USWNT job after Andonovski struggled to continue the program’s history of excellence with a disappointing Olympic and World Cup run. And once again, the well-respected Seattle coach appears to be left on the shortlist, with reports indicating that the job will go to current Chelsea manager Emma Hayes instead. Hayes, like Harvey, has a history of excellence at the club level, but she also has domestic knockout tournament wins in the FA Cup.
So if the Reign appear to go out of their way to win for their manager on Saturday, the intensity is warranted. The Reign have doubled their playoff win count in 2023, with two assertive victories in the quarterfinals and semifinals. And Harvey’s players have been steadfast in their desire to get over the top of that one final hill and earn their manager the respect they feel she deserves.
“I actually think a lot of people still underrate Laura Harvey as a coach anyway, which is absolutely mind-boggling to me. I don’t understand what else she needs to do,” says Fishlock, who has played for the Reign since their founding in 2013. “Laura has a structure. She knows what she wants, she has her principles, but within that she has fluidity.”
The Reign are known to play some of the most beautiful, free-flowing soccer in the league, stringing long series of passes together to find an opening in the opponent’s defense and put the ball in the back of the net. They’re also strong defensively, with well-drilled pressing triggers that can set an opponent on their heels.
That consistency has been a clear asset to the Reign’s ability to rule the regular season, but Harvey’s players similarly credit their communication structure and steady principles with their ability to execute in the postseason.
“She’s very tactical but also is able to put together a really good group or lineup per game, depending on who shines,” says Emily Sonnett, who has flourished as a holding midfielder for the club after spending most of her professional career as a defender.
She credits the Reign coaching staff with not overcomplicating the game plan, a helpful tool when a player is getting used to a new position: “Laura and the coaching staff have done a really good job of each game [asking] ‘What is actually needed, and can we accomplish that?”
Harvey communicates with the team through her leaders, notably the Reign’s original three of Fishlock, Rapinoe and defender Lauren Barnes.
“She doesn’t really have an ego like that, and really wants that collaboration, and really relies especially on us older players to be her lieutenants out there,” says Rapinoe, who says she wants her final professional game to be a win for her manager almost more than she wants it for herself. “She’s always pulling us in and wanting our opinion, and allowing us the space to be f—ing annoying and ask a million questions all the time. But she empowers us to do that.”
Both the Reign’s desire to win and the tools are clearly there, and have been for years. But the players’ execution of the game plan, Rapinoe says, has let Harvey down in the past more than her own preparation as a coach.
“The thing about Laura, she’s always gonna get up and own the entire loss,” Rapinoe says. “But I think a lot of the knockout games, we’ve just played terrible and haven’t shown up as players.”
“I think being a coach is really difficult,” Huerta echoes. “It’s really hard to have success as a coach, because when the team loses, it’s your fault. [But] the team wins, and the players played amazing. I think it’s hard to be in that position. There’s a lot of turnover, I don’t think a lot of people are on your side. But we’re on Laura’s side. She’s a good coach, she’s really one of the main reasons we’re here.”
Harvey’s principles have guided the Reign to this point, but it’s their newfound ability to play a less beautiful, more punishing style that the team feels could earn them the trophy they’ve long been searching for.
“This year, I don’t think really anybody on the outside envisioned us being in the finals,” says midfielder Rose Lavelle. “And I think we maybe had more of a chip on our shoulder that helped us get here.”
To win an NWSL Championship, the Reign will have to be willing to endure touchy passages of play and lean into their defensive identity against the consistently dangerous Gotham FC attack.
“I think obviously you want entertainment, you want goals, you want flair,” says Cook. “But I think we can make our living on just being solid in that regard and being organized, being hard to break down.”
In other words, it’s possible that this version of OL Reign looks and plays more like a knockout-round winner than any other Reign team in the past. Through injury and absence, they’ve found a toughness that hasn’t always been a part of their identity.
“I think just the overall grit and discipline of the squad this year took a really big step, which is really necessary,” says Rapinoe.
With newfound confidence in their ability to weather the storm, the Reign feel ready to prove they can join the ranks of NWSL champions and forever take the asterisk off the legacy of their manager. Because in the NWSL final, it doesn’t always have to be pretty — you just have to end on a win.
Claire Watkins is a Staff Writer at Just Women’s Sports. Follow her on Twitter @ScoutRipley.
The 2023 NWSL Championship is just around the corner, with Gotham FC and OL Reign facing off for the title.
No matter which team wins, the league will see a first-time champion. Gotham had not won a playoff game until this season, while the Reign claimed their first postseason win since 2015.
Gotham squeaked into the playoffs with the sixth and final berth, but they upset the No. 3 North Carolina Courage and then the No. 2 Portland Thorns. The No. 5 Reign bested No. 4 Angel City FC in the quarterfinals, then upset the No. 1 San Diego Wave in the semifinals.
The NWSL Championship is set for 8 p.m. ET Saturday, Nov. 11, at San Diego’s Snapdragon Stadium.
2023 NWSL playoffs: Seeding
Six teams will compete in the 2023 NWSL playoffs, with the top two seeds receiving byes to the semifinal round.
- San Diego Wave — 37 points, 11-4-7 W-D-L
- Portland Thorns — 35 points, 10-5-7
- North Carolina Courage — 33 points, 9-6-7
- OL Reign — 32 points, 9-5-8
- Angel City FC — 31 points, 8-7-7
- Gotham FC — 31 points, 8-7-7
Six teams did not make the cut for the postseason.
- Orlando Pride — 31 points, 10-1-11
- Washington Spirit — 30 points, 7-9-6
- Racing Louisville — 27 points, 6-9-7
- Houston Dash — 26 points, 6-8-8
- Kansas City Current — 26 points, 8-2-12
- Chicago Red Stars — 24 points, 7-3-12
2023 NWSL playoffs: Schedule
Quarterfinals
Semifinals
NWSL Championship
- (4) OL Reign vs. (6) Gotham FC
- 8 p.m. ET Saturday, Nov. 11 — CBS
Preview the 2023 NWSL Championship by tuning into the Just Women’s Sports Super Show Presented by State Farm, featuring surprise guest appearances by NWSL stars. Watch here.
Rose Lavelle appeared to be taking in the tea during what turned into a viral moment with Emily Sonnett and Abby Dahlkemper following the NWSL semifinals. But according to Lavelle, it’s not as juicy as some might believe.
The moment, in which the 28-year-old midfielder made a face and covered her ears during the conversation, went viral on social media following OL Reign’s 1-0 win Sunday over the San Diego Wave.
“You guys, I wish it was juicier,” Lavelle said Thursday. “And I’m like, I almost want to keep it off the record so people think it’s juicer. But on the record, it wasn’t juicy at all.”
Instead, Lavelle said she, her teammate Sonnett and Wave defender Dahlkemper were talking about how great the game was and how loud the atmosphere was. The crowd broke the NWSL playoffs record for attendance, with 32,262 people packing into Snapdragon Stadium.
“It got so loud,” Lavelle said. “So many people messaged me that they’re like, ‘I need to know what you guys are saying,’ and I was like, ‘I wish I had a juicier answer.’”
Preview the 2023 NWSL Championship by tuning into the Just Women’s Sports Super Show Presented by State Farm, featuring surprise guest appearances by NWSL stars. Watch here.
Kelley O’Hara will not be rooting for Megan Rapinoe in the last game of her professional soccer career.
While O’Hara is excited she’ll get to be on the field for Rapinoe’s sendoff during the NWSL Championship between O’Hara’s Gotham FC and Rapinoe’s OL Reign on Saturday, she’s keeping the battle lines drawn.
“I wasn’t able to go to Pinoe’s last national team game,” O’Hara said during media day on Thursday. “So I was thinking the other day I was like, ‘Oh, wow, I’ll get to be at her last game actually.’ So that’s exciting. I, unfortunately, cannot hope for her to have a good last game.”
That feeling is shared by Gotham midfielder Allie Long, who doesn’t want to hear from Rapinoe until after the final whistle blows. Gotham defender Ali Krieger is also playing in her last game Saturday before she heads off into retirement alongside Rapinoe.
“Once we knew we’re playing them, I’m like, ‘Don’t text me. I don’t want to see you,'” she said. “I feel like maybe if it wasn’t [Krieger]’s last game, Pinoe’s last game [would be different]. I feel very loyal. Even if we’re in season [and] it’s not a final, once the whistle blows, it’s like alright. And maybe before the game, we might hug it out. But we’re not pookies until after.”
O’Hara acknowledged that the narrative of Krieger and Rapinoe playing against one another in the final is “pretty incredible.”
“I mean, you can’t come up with a better storyline than the two of them playing their last game against each other for a championship,” she said. “It’s pretty incredible. And obviously what those two have done for not only this league. but the U.S. team and just soccer in general in this country, around the world, has been incredible.
“It is really crazy that it’s actually happening, and I’m so happy that it is.”
Krieger and Rapinoe will both be looking to win the first NWSL Championship of their careers, as will OL Reign and Gotham FC in the history of their organizations.
Preview the 2023 NWSL Championship by tuning into the Just Women’s Sports Super Show Presented by State Farm, featuring surprise guest appearances by NWSL stars. Watch here.
The NWSL Championship will bring plenty of buzz. But “the most exciting NWSL players aren’t going to be in the final,” Christen Press said on a recent episode of “The RE-CAP Show.”
No. 4 OL Reign will meet No. 6 Gotham FC in the NWSL Championship at 8 p.m. ET Saturday — a game that will prominently feature Megan Rapinoe, 38, and Ali Krieger, 39, as they finish their legendary careers.
Press and co-host Tobin Heath are happy for “elder millennials” Rapinoe and Krieger, but they are “done with retirement games,” as Heath stated on the podcast.
“I want to see the best players in their prime, and the best players that are coming up, and right now, I don’t see any of those two things in this final,” she said.
In the same episode, Press and Heath discussed the playoff format and how it may negatively affect players that had a first-round bye or had to leave training to fulfill U.S. women’s national team duties. The two top-seeded teams — the San Diego Wave and Portland Thorns — fell in the semifinals after long periods of not playing together, making room for the lower-seeded Reign and Gotham in the championship match.
Yet while none of the five NWSL MVP nominees will appear in the final, Press and Heath did give the players and teams who did reach this point their due. They pointed to Gotham forward Lynn Williams and Reign midfielder Emily Sonnett as potential game changers.
Heath highlighted Rapinoe and Krieger’s retirements, which give the match a great storyline. And both were excited that this tournament will end with a first-time NWSL champion. Press and Heath missed the 2023 season with injuries, but Heath won two NWSL titles with the Portland Thorns, and both played with Rapinoe and Krieger on the 2019 USWNT World Cup squad.
“Really, really interesting obviously, two teams that have never won a championship that, for the first time ever, they’ll make history and that’s so exciting,” Heath said. “If you look at a player like Pinoe and Krieger, they both have never won an NWSL Championship either. So it’s huge, one of them is going to do something at the end of their career for the first time.”
Preview the 2023 NWSL Championship by tuning into the Just Women’s Sports Super Show Presented by State Farm, featuring surprise guest appearances by NWSL stars. Watch here.
Both teams competing in Saturday’s NWSL Championship final had key players return from injury during the playoffs.
OL Reign’s Rose Lavelle and Gotham FC’s Kristie Mewis missed long stretches of the regular season. But in the postseason, each has made her presence known on the pitch.
After not playing since Sept. 3 due to a nagging knee injury, Lavelle made her return on Oct. 21 in OL Reign’s first postseason win since 2015. In the Reign’s following game — the NWSL semifinal against the San Diego Wave — Lavelle assisted on Veronica Latsko’s game-winning-goal.
“It’s been really nice to build back my minutes, I’m feeling good,” Lavelle said Thursday. “Hopefully I can shake a little rust off, but I’m happy to be back in a position where I can help on the field.”
HOW DID THAT GO IN?!? 🤯@V_Latsko12 gives @OLReign the lead from an impossible angle! pic.twitter.com/YUiKbPhrfY
— National Women’s Soccer League (@NWSL) November 6, 2023
Mewis made her own return from a lower-leg injury in Gotham’s semifinal game against the Portland Thorns in similar fashion to Lavelle. In Mewis’ first appearance for Gotham since she played for the U.S. women’s national team in the World Cup, she assisted on Katie Stengel’s game-winning tally to send their club to the final.
“Obviously, I’ve been out for a bit so I do feel a little bit rusty, but I feel really good. I’m not in pain anymore, which is a huge deal for me. . . I’m just excited to help the team in any way that I can and play whatever role I need to play,” Mewis said.
KATIEEEEEEE STENGELLLLLLL!!!!!!!!
— NJ/NY Gotham FC (@GothamFC) November 6, 2023
also, welcome back Kristie Mewis. 🥹 pic.twitter.com/WPSdHvCQY1
Both Lavelle and Mewis are expected to be available for the NWSL Championship at 8 p.m. ET Saturday, when either Gotham or OL Reign will emerge as first-time champions.
“I think the team has been so incredible and has absolutely carried everybody to this point,” Mewis said of her squad. “I’m feeling good, I think the team feels so good. We’re in such a good spot mentally and physically right now, so I’m so excited to see what we bring on Saturday.”
Preview the 2023 NWSL Championship by tuning into the Just Women’s Sports Super Show Presented by State Farm, featuring surprise guest appearances by NWSL stars. Watch here.
For Ali Krieger, reaching the 2023 NWSL Championship means a lot. So, too, does the support she has received from Megan Rapinoe, who she’ll be going up against Saturday in the final game of their careers.
The Gotham FC captain never imagined this storybook ending, but Krieger feels “grateful and lucky” that she and her friend get to share the field one last time. Krieger, 39, and Rapinoe, 38, played together on the U.S. women’s national team for years, winning the 2015 and 2019 World Cup titles.
And while they’re not wearing the same jersey this time around, the clash between Gotham FC and OL Reign will allow the soccer world to honor the two retiring stars.
“I am so happy that we get to celebrate together,” Krieger said Thursday.
Krieger announced her impending retirement ahead of the NWSL season, and Rapinoe followed, announcing hers ahead of the World Cup. They’re two of the best to play the game at their respective positions, and they’ve been putting off retirement for as long as they can – especially considering that neither has won an NWSL title yet.
“We were joking around because we’re like, are we really dragging out our NWSL experience to the max like the very last moment, very last game over the years?” Krieger said. “Like, so tired and fighting and playing and training, our very last chance, we really dragged it out. So we’re getting the full experience this year.”
Krieger has watched Rapinoe from up close and from afar, and she has plenty of praise for the Reign forward, calling her “magic” on the field.
“She just is so individually, technically good, and no one’s like it,” she said. “When she’s on the field, she just brings this electrifying element to the game and to the team that you give her the ball and you know something good is gonna happen.”
Krieger and Rapinoe are proud of one another. And while each wants to win as bad as the other, they’ll embark on their next chapters with their friendship stronger than ever.
“She has been rock solid for me as a best friend,” Krieger said.
And while Krieger did not want to delve too deeply into her personal life, she acknowledged her tough time of late. Her wife and former USWNT and Gotham FC teammate Ashlyn Harris filed for divorce in September.
“My personal life has been very difficult since about June, and she’s been there supporting me through that,” Krieger said. “And I think that’s what teammates are for. When you not only go through tough times on the field, when you have tough times off the field and you can lean on those friends that you’ve felt lifelong friendships with.
“I think, no matter what happens, we’re always going to be there for each other and it goes far beyond the playing field.”