2024 NWSL Season-Ending Injuries

Taylor Vincent
Taylor Vincent, Resident NWSL ExpertNovember 19, 2024
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The 2023 NWSL season had 23 SEI’s. The 2024 NWSL season hit that number by the end of August, and with the NWSL Championship this weekend there are currently 32 players with SEI’s on rosters. Here Spotrac takes a look into when the SEI’s occurred and whose rosters were impacted.

February marked the return of players into market and unfortunately those six weeks saw five players join the SEI list before their season even started (Jun Endo—Angel City, Melissa Lowder—Bay FC, Simone Charley—Orlando Pride, Megan Montefusco—Orlando Pride, Gabby Provenzano—Portland Thorns). The first two weekends of the regular season Gotham FC forward Midge Purce and Utah Royals defender Imani Dorsey joined the group of 2024 SEIs. 

A graphical representation of when players were added to the SEI list throughout the 2024 NWSL season

By the end of April—which did include a short FIFA break—the total number of SEI’s was up to 13 including Bay FC’s Alex Loera, Chicago’s Ava Cook, Louisville’s Elli Pikkujamsa, Orlando’s Luana, and Washington’s Anna Heilferty. The May and June months thankfully had a slowdown with only Kansas City’s Gabby Robinson and Gotham’s Sinead Farrelly joining the SEI club. 

July had the internationals exit for the Olympics and the NWSL Summer Cup which saw four more additions to the SEI list, Chicago lost Sam Staab, Kansas City—Alex Pfieffer, Louisville—Kristen Wright, and Seattle—Ryanne Brown. August trended the same with an additional four players, Lyza Bosselmann from Washington, Ali Riley from Angel City, Lauren Flynn from Utah, and Grace Chanda from Orlando unfortunately before she was able to make her Pride debut. 

September’s SEIs included Washington’s Croix Bethune, Gotham’s Kelley O’Hara, and Houston’s Havana Solaun. As the season reaches closer to its ending, the bar for an SEI lowers as there is less time until the season concludes, so it is normal for the SEI’s per month to stay elevated. October was another four SEI month with Washington’s Andi Sullivan, Utah’s Cloe Lacasse, Portland’s Olivia Wade-Katoa, and Houston’s Diana Ordonez joining the club. Following the regular season conclusion, Kansas City’s Bia Zaneratto and Orlando’s Rafaelle Souza were the final members joining 2024’s 32 person SEI class. 

Of the 14 NWSL teams, only San Diego and North Carolina were able to make it through the entire season without a single SEI (although the Courage did have Sydney Collins on the D45 list from before opening day until the NWSL Quarterfinal that closed out their season). 

In 2023 there were 22 regular season games and minimally six Challenge Cup matches for teams, where the Challenge Cup matches were mainly played as midweek games throughout the regular season. 2024 saw 26 regular season matches, with only two midweek games per team and the NWSL Summer Cup did not overlap at all with the regular season but was used to keep games going while players were called away for the Olympics. 

While recovery time between matches was prioritized in the regular season scheduling this year, overall the 2024 regular season started one week earlier than 2023 and there was also the first inaugural Concacaf W Gold Cup which ran from February 20th until March 10th, giving some national team players less than a week before their NWSL seasons started. Compared to 2023 where the NWSL regular season slightly overlapped with the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup, this year there were 13 days between the Olympic soccer final and NWSL regular season games being played. That being said, the 2024 regular season still did end two weeks later than it did in 2023. 

There are a lot of factors which one could blame for the increase of injuries, from field conditions, to number of games, length of the season, etc. but as the league expands in teams and games, there needs to be increased prioritization in player’s safety and health because a 40% increase of season-ending injuries year–over–year is not sustainable for the athletes, teams, or the league. 


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