NWSL Power Rankings: Gotham FC Hot, Utah Royals Rising, Boston Legacy Showing Life

NWSL Power Rankings: Gotham FC stay hot, Utah Royals keep rising, and Boston Legacy finally show signs of life

Teams are starting to show their identities across the league as there's been plenty of movement in our rankings

By Sandra Herrera

May 7, 2026 at 3:59 pm ET • 1 min read

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Never say die in NWSL because who you were last season is not who you are this year. As clubs tick past the quarter mark of the season, teams are solidifying their identities, some are still ironing things out, and others are getting left behind quickly.

Teams are always rising and falling in the league, which means it's the perfect time for my weekly NWSL Power Rankings again. If you're keeping track of power trends between clubs,  here are my previous rankings .

The league officially rang in a new month, and with it comes four more weeks for clubs to stack up performances ahead of another huge season break. The NWSL regular season will pause as the United States welcomes the 2026 FIFA World Cup. If there's a team building towards being a contender for the NWSL Shield, this could be a pivotal time to stake one's claim in the race and among the power rankings.

Portland Thorns are certainly doing that, while somehow evolving at a steady pace. Sophia Wilson is back to scoring goals for the club, but it's the impressive defensive work that's quietly doing the heavy lifting against other contenders. Utah Royals are steadily climbing up the rankings, with a notable team press and midfield trio of Ana Tejada , Narumi Miura , and Mina Tanaka that has emerged as one of the best across the league.

With an opportunity to keep building ahead of another season break down the line, if there are clubs that haven't figured out how to score, that's a huge cause for concern. Looking at you, Seattle Reign , Chicago Stars FC and Boston Legacy .

Though Boston's recent come-from-behind efforts were just the type of chaos that neutral fans appreciate, it's worthy of a bump in the rankings, but I still want to see more from this club over 90 minutes. Along with the likes of Angel City, Houston Dash , North Carolina Courage , San Diego Wave, and Orlando Pride , each team is in a winless slump heading into a new month.

It's still early enough in the season that it feels like it could be anyone's year. Especially if there are any midseason roster additions. In the meantime, it'll be about maintaining form to be among the league's most powerful or the most pitiful.

Now, onto the most recent rankings:

NWSL Power Rankings

Biggest Movers 2 Kansas City Current 2 Angel City FC Rk Teams   Chg Rcrd 1 Portland Thorns Rolling. Just one note in the midfield, and that is Jesse Fleming. The Canadian international is shutting sequences down defensively and opening things up offensively for Olivia Moultrie and Sophia Wilson.

-- 2 Washington Spirit We all love the Spirit's new locker room mascot, Josethe coyote, but the team's sharp form is absolutely a personnel effort. Midfielders Leicy Santos and Rebecca Bernal are quickly dueling for midfielder of the year, as Trinity Rodman stays lethal in attack.

1 3 San Diego Wave FC The Wave dropped in rankings this week, and they'll need to find the back of the net again if they want to move back up. Brazilian international Dudinha is working relentlessly on the pitch to find the breakthrough in the meantime.

1 4 Seattle Reign Still too early to tell if the group might have to really double down on its defensive identity from last year, but they're among the top five teams in the lowest amount of goals scored (seven), so thank goodness for goalkeeper Claudia Dickey. -- 5 NJ/NY Gotham FC Slow and steady often wins the race, but that might be changing for Gotham FC as they keep climbing. Rookie forward Jordynn Dudley is building a pretty strong case to crack more starting lineups.

1 6 Orlando Pride As long as this group has Barbra Banda, they'll always have a chance in games. But that'll be a problem when going up against other teams that know how to score. 1 7 Utah Royals FC Utah cracked the upper half of the rankings last week and they will keep climbing with the form they have right now. If consistency is key in this league, Utah's got that on lock.

1 8 Houston Dash The Texas side went from an exciting start to the year to maybe the most streakiest team. Hopefully, the injury to Kiki Van Zanten isn't too serious, so they can finalize an ideal starting lineup.

1 9 Angel City FC Maybe it's a period of disjointed games or just being snakebit in front of the goal, but Angel City aren't quite generating like they were to start the year, and they need an adjustment asap. 2 10 Kansas City Current Temwa Chawinga is increasing her minutes, but not quite getting the ball for the touches she needs to impact games, so it's a positive that Croix Bethune and Michelle Cooper are scoring in the final third.

2 11 North Carolina Courage Maybe I jumped the gun when I mentioned Houston as the streakiest team right now. If they can chill on getting red cards and figure out how to get Manaka Matsukubo involved a little earlier in games, it could lead to more consistent results.

1 12 Denver Summit FC Feels like Denver need to hang on a little bit longer till Lindsey Heaps joins the roster in the summer. In the meantime, they need to recapture some of that defensive personality that got them through games earlier in the season.

1 13 Bay FC Goalkeeper Jordan Silkowitz is proving once again why she's a reliable presence in the net. With Claire Hutton and Hannah Bebar building in front of the backline, maybe Bay will keep climbing the rankings.

1 14 Racing Louisville FC If it's not a performance with wild momentum swings or physical challenge, then it's not Racing Louisville. The consistency isn't quite there, and it's showing. 1 15 Boston Legacy FC Congratulations to Boston on finally jumping up in the rankings. The squad has been generating, and that's promising. Aïssata Traoré and Amanda Gutierres keep combining and creating, so maybe not all is lost this season. 1 16 Chicago Stars FC Maintained a respectable defensive shape against a top opponent, but the goal scoring is just nonexistent for this team. Loveable losers hasn't been a thing in Chicago since before the 2016 Cubs. Hopefully the Stars aren't trying to bring that back. 1

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_Originally reported by [CBS Sports](https://www.cbssports.com/soccer/news/nwsl-power-rankings-gotham-fc-utah-royals-boston-legacy/)._