2025 NWSL Season Preview Part One: Who is chasing a title in the East?
Full Time: A show about women's soccer
The Athletic
4.8 • 808 Ratings
🗓️ 6 March 2025
⏱️ 52 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
This week's Full Time is the first in a two-part 2025 NWSL Season Preview.
Meg Linehan is joined by former NWSL player-turned-broadcaster Jill Loydon and staff writer at USA Today's Pro Soccer Wire Jason Anderson to analyze the seven teams in what the podcast is calling the 'NWSL East'.
How are Orlando Pride, Washington Spirit, NJ/NY Gotham FC, KC Current, NC Courage, Chicago Stars, and Racing Louisville all shaping up before the start of the regular season? Everything you need to know is in this roundtable.
Meg and Jason also preview the 2025 NWSL Challenge Cup, which will see the Pride take on the Spirit in a rematch of the 2024 NWSL Championship. They will be trying to answer some questions about what that trophy means for both the teams involved and the league as a whole.
PLUS: Meg has the weekly headlines from around the world. From a Goal of the Year contender in LigaMX Femenil to the official delay of the FIFA Women's Club World Cup.
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Articles mentioned on the show:
USWNT’s Sophia Wilson announces pregnancy
FIFA Women’s Club World Cup delay and new Champions Cup explained
Lizbeth Ovalle’s adapted ‘scorpion kick’ – the most startling goal of 2025
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HOST: Meg Linehan
GUESTS: Jason Anderson, Jill Loydon
PRODUCER: Theo Lloyd-Hughes
VIDEO PRODUCER: Myka Rodriguez
EXECUTIVE PRODUCER: Emily Olsen
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Get in touch: fulltime@theathletic.com
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | The future is unpredictable at times, that the open university are the experts in distance learning, allowing you to fit study around your life. |
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| 0:50.1 | The future is open. Hello, it is Megalindhan, and welcome to the whole time with me, Megalindhan. All right, |
| 0:54.3 | 20205 end of its whole season is somehow nearly upon us. So over the next two weeks to get everyone up to speed, we are going to be breaking down all 14 clubs in our two-part NWSL season preview here on full-time, featuring some special guest panelists. |
| 1:06.2 | So coming up in this episode, I will be joined by two guests to break down the seven teams in what we have dubbed the NWSL East. Maybe at some point we'll get conferences or divisions. Who knows? You know, if we're expanding the 30 plus teams, apparently, they got to come in some form. And then in next week, we're going to be focusing on the other seven teams in the NWCL, quote unquote, West. We're going to be staying, though, in the East to kick off, so we had to invite back onto the show for her second appearance, NWSL broadcaster, former goalkeeper for the U.S. Women's National Team, Sky Blue, and the Chicago Red Stars, New Jersey's own, Jill Lloyden. And alongside Jill, we will also be joined by staff writer for USA Today's Pro Soccer Wire, NWSL Media OG, and intrepid reporter from Maryland, deep in the heart of soccer in the district, Jason Anderson. |
| 1:53.3 | But as an appetizer, just like where this falls on the schedule, Jason and I are also going to be previewing the 2025 NWSL Challenge Cup, which is going to see the Orlando Pride take on the Washington Spirit in a rematch of the 2024 championship. |
| 2:08.6 | We are going to be trying to answer the question like, what is the Challenge Cup truly? |
| 2:12.7 | In the Year of Our Lord 2025, what is the Challenge Cup? |
| 2:16.1 | What does it mean? Does it mean something to the players? Does it |
| 2:18.0 | mean something to the league? We're going to find out. I don't know if we got the answer. That's a whole |
| 2:22.1 | lot of show to get to, though. And since it's just me here at the start of things, I want to run down |
| 2:28.0 | some of the biggest soccer stories of the week. And where else could we start? But Nuevo-Lio in mexico with the goal that has broken the internet yes of course i'm talking about jackie ovale for tigres off the jenni ormoso assist against chivas in league a mexico emmeal He was a raccoon in the racquet He was He'll Rebate, Golazzo A goal A goal A goal A goal! |
| 2:34.6 | A Go! All right. All right. A goal is big. |
| 2:51.6 | Go! |
| 2:52.6 | A goal |
| 3:05.6 | who are not part of the soccer world sharing the highlight. |
| 3:07.7 | And that has absolutely, the threshold has been crossed. |
| 3:10.5 | This goal has broken containment. |
| 3:11.9 | I mostly feel bad for everyone who is trying to also score goals in women's professional |
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