NWSL Rewind: Rapinoe: 'This week was ridiculous'

• by Paul Kennedy  @pkedit, Jul 2, 2017

Megan Rapinoe scored twice in consecutive matches to give the Seattle Reign a pair of wins (2-1 over Chicago and 2-0 over Portland) that catapulted it into third place in the NWSL standings behind only North Carolina and Chicago.



Both the goals against Chicago came from the penalty spot. Against the archrival Thorns on Saturday night, Rapinoe stole the ball from Portland defender Emily Sonnett to set up an easy goal in first-half stoppage time, then put the game away in the 81st minute when she ran on to a long pass from Christine Nairn and used the Memorial Stadium turf to fire a perfectly place volley inside the far post.
 


"From a physical standpoint, this is the best, fittest, strongest I've been," said Rapinoe, who was still recovering from the knee injury suffered in December 2015 that limited her playing time in 2016. "This week was ridiculous, to be able to keep the level and go that hard and be able to play three 90s. The work I did in offseason is paying off. It allows me to go out and play and be able to not really think about it too much and last the whole game and be impactful."

Rapinoe took over the league scoring lead as her four goals gave her nine in 12 games, the most in a season in her nine-year pro career (WPS, Australia, France and NWSL).

NWSL, Week 11 Results
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 28
Houston 0 Boston 0.
Att.: 6,095.
Sky Blue FC 2 (O'Hara pen. 45, Kerr 46) Orlando 3 (Ubogagu 11, Marta 77, Hill 86).
Att.: 3,065.
Portland 3 (Sinclair 15, 75, Raso 32) FC Kansas City 0.
Att.: 16,199.
Seattle 2 (Rapinoe pen. 58, pen. 84) Chicago 1 (Mautz 41).
Att.: 3,586.
SATURDAY, JULY 1
North Carolina 0 Sky Blue FC 1 (Kerr 86).
Att.: 3,056.
Boston 1 (Purce 73) Washington 0.
Att.: 2,523.
Seattle 2 (Rapinoe 45+1, 81) Portland 0.
Att.: 4,270.
Orlando 0 Chicago 1 (Press pen. 68)
Att.: 5,476.
SUNDAY, JULY 2
FC Kansas City 1 (Groom 45+1) Houston 2 (Daly 56, Prince 64).
Att.: 1,703.

NWSL Standings:
1. North Carolina 24 points;
2. Chicago 23;
3. Seattle 20;
4. Sky Blue FC 19;
5. Portland 18;
6. Orlando 15
7. FC Kansas City, Houston 13
9. Boston 12.
10 Washington 11.

NWSL Leading Scorers:
G PLAYER (TEAM)
9+2+2 Megan Rapinoe (Seattle)
6+1+1 Samantha Kerr (Sky Blue)
6+1 Marta (Orlando)
5 Sarah Killion (Sky Blue FC)
5+1 Christen Press (Chicago)
4 Nadia Nadim (Portland)
4 Francisca Ordega (Washington)
4+2 Christine Sinclair (Portland)