NWSL Week 10 in review: The Boston Breakers are a very bad team

There was a moment in Friday night's game between the Boston Breakers and Western New York Flash where it seemed like things wouldn't be that bad. Down 2-0, Breakers rookie Christen Westphal rounded her defender and uncorked a shot from the corner of the 18 that sailed over the head of everyone, including Flash keeper Katelyn Rowland, and into the back of the net. With that 38th-minute goal, Boston had cut Western NY's lead to one, and there was still a lot of game left to be played.

Moments are fleeting, though, and this hopeful one of Boston's was no exception. In a minute, it was gone, the Flash again up by two, and then things got really bad. By the time the halftime whistle blew, the Breakers were down 5-1. Don't forget, Westphal's goal happened in the 38th minute. Western NY scored three times in the span between then and halftime. Boston has scored three times in the span between when the season started in April and now.

By the time it was all said and done, the Flash had put up seven goals to Boston's one, and tied the records for both most goals scored in a game and largest margin of victory in a game.

To watch that game on Friday night -- or hell, to read the box score -- it's hard to remember that there was a time when the hopelessness in Boston wasn't so pervasive as to be practically seeping out of the YouTube stream and into our collective living rooms. After a pretty terrible 2015, Boston made the change that had seemed imminent for the better part of two years, finally parting ways with head coach Tom Durkin and bringing in Matt Beard as his replacement. From the Breakers' own press release announcing Beard as the new head coach: "In August 2012, Beard was appointed full-time manager of Liverpool LFC. In just over a year's time, Beard took Liverpool from the bottom of the table all the way to qualification in the UEFA Women's Champions League, a first for the club. That same year, Liverpool won their first FAWSL title and they successfully defended it in 2014." Boston had finished the 2015 season at the bottom of the table, with just four wins in 20 games, and here was a guy with a history of turning basement dwellers into champions. It was probably crazy to think that Beard would be able to recreate what he'd done in Liverpool in his first season with the Breakers, but still, things in Boston finally felt hopeful. That was September.

Now, it is June. It would be charitable to say that the Breakers are in the same place that they were a season ago, because the reality is that things are, somehow, worse. This week marked the official halfway point of the 2016 season. The Breakers have won just one game. Even FC Kansas City has won two games, and the Blues lost eight key players in the offseason. Houston has even managed two wins, including one without its best player in the injured Carli Lloyd. Both of those teams have also scored six goals, which is double the amount Boston has managed. The Flash, the league's highest scoring team, has 20 goals. Eleven of them have come in their two games against the Breakers.

It was after the last time Boston played in Western NY that Beard penned an open letter acknowledging that things weren't going well. "Obviously, we're frustrated with the results we've had this season," he wrote after a 4-0 loss to the Flash. "We wish we were in a better position. We thank everyone for their patience and want to reassure that everyone is working as hard as they can both on and off the pitch to change the results and get themselves up the league table." At the time, it was Boston's worst defeat of the season. The letter was a noble move, though perhaps an unnecessary one -- we'd all heard the thud of the Breakers hitting rock bottom.

Perhaps, then, the point of the letter wasn't so much about public acknowledgement as it was some last-ditch effort to light a fire under a Boston team that had all but started flying an actual white flag next to the American one at Jordan Field. And if that was the case, it actually seemed to work. Beard's letter appeared on the Breakers' website on June 8. On June 10, Boston played to a 1-1 draw with the Washington Spirit. Message received, fire lit.

Except that a week after Boston's triumphant return to both the scoring column and the not-losing one, the Breakers lost 3-0 to Chicago. The week after that, well, that was this one and the 7-1 loss to the Flash. Turns out that the fire the letter lit was actually just one of those electric logs, and just as fast as someone had turned it on, the wiring got all funky and the thing shorted out.

Just how bad is Boston's season going? The Breakers' 1-8-1 record is the worst in the league. No other team has more than six losses. The Breakers have allowed 22 goals. The next-highest goals against number belongs to Sky Blue, and they've allowed 13. Boston has a minus-19 goal differential. Houston is the next closest and the Dash are only at minus-four. The Breakers have scored three goals all season, and not only has no other team scored fewer than six, but there are five players who have each scored more goals than Boston as team. There are seven others who have each scored as many as the Breakers.

Boston has also allowed more shots (130) and more shots on goal (61) than any other team. Personnel wise, goalkeeper Abby Smith played just one and one third games before suffering a season ending injury. Eunice Beckmann, brought in from Germany as Boston's next great scoring hope, has made four appearances and has yet to register a single shot on goal. McCall Zerboni was traded to the Flash for a pick in the 2017 draft. Sinead Farrelly was never medically cleared to play and is now out for the season. Kyah Simon will likely miss some time as Australia begins its Olympic preparations, and Whitney Engen was called into USWNT camp and will miss at least the next two Breakers games.

There have been other bad NWSL teams before and other NWSL teams struck with injuries, national team call-ups, or just plain bad luck. But in all those cases, whether you're talking the '13 Reign, this year's Dash or last year's Breakers, there was always some glimmer, however small, of hope. For the Reign it was starting that season with 11 games without a win, but also 11 games knowing that each one brought Megan Rapinoe's return from France and Hope Solo's return from injury closer. For the Dash it's that Lloyd too will eventually be back, and that there's a bright future with a pair of rookies in Janine Beckie and Rachel Daly already making major contributions. For Boston it was the long overdue departure of Durkin, bringing in Beard, and beginning to rebuild.

But for the Breakers now, 10 games into a season that feels -- and looks -- hopeless? Maybe now it's that there are only 10 games left to go.

Scores

Wednesday

Portland Thorns FC 2 - 0 Chicago Red Stars

Thursday

Orlando Pride 1 - 0 Houston Dash

Friday

Western New York Flash 7 - 1 Boston Breakers

Saturday

Washington Spirit 1 - 2 Sky Blue FC
FC Kansas City 0 - 0 Seattle Reign FC

Sunday

Orlando Pride 1 - 2 Portland Thorns FC