The playoffs were expanded to include the six teams, with the top two seeds receiving a first-round bye.
The game was a 1–1 draw after 90 minutes; Portland won the ensuing penalty shootout 6–5 to win the cup.
In the playoffs, the Washington Spirit and Chicago Red Stars progressed to the final, which was played on Nov. 20, 2021 in Louisville, Kentucky.
The Courage fired Riley that day, and U.S. Soccer immediately suspended his coaching license.
[5] The next day, the NWSL called off all of its scheduled matches for that weekend, both FIFA and U.S. Soccer announced they were starting their own investigations into Riley, league commissioner Lisa Baird resigned, and league general counsel Lisa Levine was dismissed.
Further reporting revealed systemic failure by NWSL leadership to investigate allegations against Riley, including some made in the 2021 season.
If two or more teams are tied in points, the NWSL uses the following tiebreaker criteria in the order listed:[38] Note: If two clubs remain tied after another club with the same number of points advances during any step, tiebreaker determination restarts at step 1.
Some early-season matches were closed to the public because of COVID restrictions, and when games were opened, many teams had lower average attendances than the most recent regular season in 2019.