NWSL Week 4 in review: Rookies of the year

Week 4 was a strange one, with all the teams except for Western NY, Boston and Chicago already without their USWNT contingent. Of course, with the Flash and Breakers playing each other, the only team that could have had a real advantage was Chicago, who took on Sky Blue FC. Except, it wasn’t Christen Press or Lori Chalupny or any of the Red Stars’ U.S. contingent that found the back of the net. Instead, Chicago’s win came via a rookie and her first pro goal, and the timing couldn’t have been better.

With everyone now without their USWNT players for the foreseeable future, and the rest of the World Cup-bound internationals starting to ship off too, it’s going to be players like Danielle Colaprico, Samantha Mewis and Shea Groom -- all rookies who netted their first professional goals this weekend -- among those writing the stories now. And if Week 4 was any indication, it’s a book that’s going to be worth reading.

Chicago stays unbeaten
With a 1-0 win over Sky Blue FC on Saturday, the Red Stars remain as one of just two unbeaten teams (Portland is the other, but the Thorns had a bye this week). Danielle Colaprico scored for Chicago in the 54th minute, sending a shot past Brittany Cameron for her first professional goal. The goal came when the Sky Blue defense failed to clear the ball following a corner kick, and the ensuing scramble delivered the ball to Colaprico -- twice. The Red Stars rookie’s first attempt deflected off a teammate, but Colaprico made no mistake on the second try.

The Red Stars outshot Sky Blue FC 19-5, as the New Jersey team dropped a second straight and is now winless in its last three, which is also how long its been since Nadia Nadim scored a goal.

Western NY gets a win
Following a bye last week and two rough road games before that, the winless Flash were probably pretty eager to finally get a game on home turf. Of course, it was Boston who wasted little time getting on the score sheet first, with Morgan Marlborough netting her first of the season just 15 minutes in. From there, though, it was all Western NY, with Samantha Mewis finding the equalizer in the 23rd, and Becky Edwards and Sydney Leroux adding one each in the second half.

Houston’s got the Blues
Things started out so promising for the Dash. Houston put up a big win on opening weekend, looking confident and dominant, and like this season was going to be different. And then ... well, things haven’t gone great since. With Saturday’s 2-0 loss to FC Kansas City, Houston is winless in its last three and has lost two straight.

The Blues scored on either side of halftime, with Liz Bogus finding the back of the net just before the break, and Shea Groom netting her first pro goal right after play resumed for the second half.

Seattle gets back to winning
Whether the past two weeks were just some kind of early season stumble, or the first sign that Seattle is hardly the dominant force it was a season ago still remains to be seen. Short-term, however, the Reign look back to being one of the league’s powerhouse teams, or at least one that can always find a way to win. Seattle snapped a two-game losing streak -- and Washington’s two-game winning streak -- with a 3-1 win over the visiting Spirit.

Beverly Yanez, Merritt Mathias and Jess Fishlock all scored for Seattle, while Joanna Lohman tallied the lone goal for the Spirit.