There are many ways to measure the success of an expansion team. Are they filling stadiums? Do local fans seem engaged? Do they have an identity on the field? And, of course, are they any good?
It’s generally wise to keep expectations for new sides relatively low. Since 2021, only two of the NWSL’s six expansion teams have made the playoffs—San Diego Wave in 2022, and Bay FC in 2024—and the rest have finished closer to the table’s basement. Evaluating an expansion team by their results, then, is a recipe for disappointment. But there’s a better metric out there, one that corresponds to the NWSL’s best trait: chaos. When I’m judging a new team, what I’m looking for is fun. If I tune into a game they’re playing, am I going to have a good time?
Ten games into its existence, the Denver Summit already has me answering that question in the affirmative. They began the season with a bang—their inaugural match, a loss against Bay, included three total goals and a red card for the new squad. They went on to take points from both of the league’s most recent champions, tying the Orlando Pride 1-1 and beating Gotham 2-0. Then came a couple duds: scoreless draws against Washington and Gotham. Those goose eggs seem to have steeled Denver’s determination to make things happen moving forward, and since the April international window, each game they’ve played in has been full of goals.
On April 25, against then-league leaders San Diego, the Summit went into halftime up 2-0, but let San Diego tie it up before the 60th minute. Soon after, the usually very good defender Carson Pickett was the unlucky recipient of a low Dudinha cross, which deflected off of her into the net. The own goal completed San Diego’s comeback, making for a collapse that Denver will want to forget, but boy did I have a good time watching it.
The same 3-2 scoreline came up again the next week, in the season’s first expansion derby. Rockets from Yazmeen Ryan and Natasha Flint put the Summit up 2-1 over the Boston Legacy. Just when it looked like they had secured the win, Aissata Traoré brushed off pressure from defender Eva Gaetino in the 90th minute and knocked in a ridiculous half-volley. Come stoppage time, because Denver clearly loves to play the martyr, they left Bianca St-Georges by the top of the box with the ball and miles of space. Boom, 3-2 Legacy. It was Boston’s first win of the season, and the second time in a row that Denver had squandered a lead. Bad for Denver? Sure. Good for me, whose only agenda is entertainment? Absolutely.
Then came the match against the Houston Dash, which had dramatic tension before anyone stepped on the pitch. Ryan and Delanie Sheehan, two regular starters for the Summit, had previously been teammates in Houston for all of 2025 and through the first game of 2026. It wasn’t until March 19, two days before Houston’s home opener, that the trade was announced: They’d be shipping up to Denver in exchange for $1 million. If that wasn’t enough, two other key players on Denver’s roster were once on the Dash’s roster: goalkeeper Abby Smith and Denver captain Janine Sonis. It would be crazy if all of them played especially well during that game, right? Right?
Well, as part of Denver’s 4-1 whooping of Houston, Sonis scored twice, both times assisted by Ryan. Between those goals, Sheehan put her own mark on the game by heading in a chipped ball from Ayo Oke. Smith would have had a clean sheet had it not been for a penalty kick deftly taken by Maggie Graham. Turns out, Denver doesn’t always let their opponents claw their way back after racking up a lead—they’re unpredictable!
Sonis scored a brace in the next game too, a 3-1 win over Orlando in which the Pride went down to 10 players. Denver’s most recent game was against the league-leading Utah Royals (you read that right!), and despite taking a good many shots on target, they lost, 2-1.
Even as early-franchise incohesion and early-season blunders are a regular part of Denver’s play, they’ve got a quality roster that produces goals: The Summit leads the league in goals per 90 minutes, with 1.6. Denver’s main strength is out on the flanks, where its fullbacks and wingers work. In Ryan, Sonis, Pickett, Oke, and Ally Brazier, they’ve got five elite wide players. At No. 9 sits Melissa Kössler, a German forward who is largely service-dependent. She can finish quality balls, but give her more to do and she struggles. Good thing she’s got some of the best crossers in the league dishing up assists. Behind Kössler are Sheehan, rookie Devin Lynch, and Flint, a revelation from the USL Super League. Flint (who unfortunately will spend some time out after picking up an injury), Sonis, and Kössler all have four goals on the season. Center back Kaleigh Kurtz, who has now played over 11,000 minutes in a row, has teamed up with the much younger Gaetino to anchor the backline.
Denver’s squad has a nice mix of experience and youth—a core of NWSL veterans who know the physicality the league requires, and international recruits and younger players who are still learning the ropes. You can spot the seeds for long-term success there, even as they struggle in all the predictable ways with being a brand-new group. Denver will hope that the imminent arrival of Lindsey Heaps, who will join up with the team at the conclusion of Lyon’s season, will help foster a true winning mentality.
One thing the roster can bond over: being tall. When player announcements trickled in for the Summit, you could notice a clear trend. Everyone, it seemed, was a mile high. Gaetino is 5-foot-11. Kössler and rookie Olivia Thomas are 5-foot-10. Five field players, including Heaps, are 5-foot-9, and at least eight are 5-foot-8. Oke, at just 5-foot-3, is pocket-sized compared to the rest. The feeling that the club assembled a roster of titans isn’t just anecdotal. Per American Soccer Analysis, which calculated each team’s average height for players who have made at least one appearance this season, Denver is the tallest team in the NWSL at 5-foot-7. (ASA’s database was missing height data for 24 percent of players in the league.)
The team’s height comes through in the way they play. They’re strong, good in the air, and often bumble about clumsily. Denver likes to have possession—they’re capable of stringing together impressive passing sequences—and still they give up silly goals and depend too much on Smith’s vintage form to keep them in games.
The Summit’s inconsistency is precisely what makes them fun to watch, at least for neutrals. It has also caused them to zip around the standings; the Rocky Mountain team’s trajectory through the table is appropriately full of peaks and valleys. It’s uncertain whether Denver can finish above the playoff line, but there’s one thing you can count on: the Summit will deliver goals, both scored and allowed. As beautiful as low-scoring soccer can be, sometimes it’s just nice to be able to see some goals. If an expansion team is providing that, and not only of the conceded variety, I’m happy.
