Boston Legacy FC
“If we focus on little things, on little details, that’s going to be massive in the future.”
Coach Filipa Patão’s Boston Legacy FC hasn’t played since an April 3 loss to San Diego. Barry Chin/Globe Staff
April 24, 2026 | 12:20 PM
3 minutes to read
A three-week international break four games into the NWSL season could have two possible outcomes: It could bring a team’s momentum to a screeching halt, or it could give a struggling team time to reset.
When Boston Legacy FC returns to the field Saturday against Chicago (6:30 p.m., Ion) for its first game since a 1-0 loss to San Diego on April 3, coach Filipa Patão will hope her club falls into the latter category.
With losses in their first four games, the last-place Legacy used the break as a time to focus on what went wrong in the early days of the season.
“It was very good to disconnect a little bit from competition and [spend] some time to work on the process and some principles that we need to continue to work [on],” Patão said.
The Legacy worked on being stronger on the ball, particularly in the build-up and in possible scoring situations. They’ve built an identity as a physical and hard-pressing team off the ball, but they’ve struggled to generate offense and have scored just once (in a 2-1 loss to Utah on March 28).
As a result, much of Patão’s messaging during the break was about being fearless and aggressive in the attacking third.
“We already showed that we can be a tough team to deal with out of possession, so the idea is to continue to improve on that,” Patão said. “If we focus on little things, on little details, that’s going to be massive in the future.”
Six players — Jorelyn Carabalí (Colombia), Josefine Hasbo (Denmark), Barb Olivieri (Venezuela), Nichelle Prince (Canada), Chloe Ricketts (U-20 USA), and Aïssata Traoré (Mali) — spent time with their national teams during the break, while the rest of the club was training in the Commonwealth.
Particularly important for an expansion team was making sure the players who remained stateside spent time together and made personal connections, Patão said — a process that will continue throughout the season and beyond.
“It’s important to work, it’s important to have time with the players, and this [break] gives us time,” Patão said. “At the same time, it gives us some weeks to reflect, to breathe, to restart.”
Goalkeeper Casey Murphy, a 10-year NWSL veteran, said she expected the team to go through an adjustment period. The first four games were all about figuring out the kinks, she said, and the break gave the team a chance to address those issues.
“Now I really feel like this weekend is going to be the start of where we get things going, where we start to climb this ladder, where we turn things around — that turning point for us,” Murphy said.
Sam Angel, who began the year with the Chicago Stars but has yet to appear in an NWSL match this season, could make her Legacy debut against her former team. The club acquired her on loan from the Stars in a move spurred by early-season injuries.
She could help fill the hole left by defenders Nicki Hernandez, who hasn’t appeared in a game since the March 14 opener, and Kaká, who played in the first two matches before undergoing ankle surgery to repair a deltoid ligament rupture and fibular fracture.
“[Sam] is a player that is very adaptable, so this was one of the reasons that we [brought] her — the adaptability that she has to play in different positions, and she has a left foot that can bring us different things,” Patão said.
After Saturday, the Legacy will return to Gillette Stadium for two games. They’ll host North Carolina on Wednesday at 7 p.m., followed by fellow expansion club Denver on May 3 at 3 p.m.
It’s the start of an eight-game stretch before the next major break in the schedule, a pause from June 1-28 to accommodate the men’s World Cup.
“These next eight games are the next phase for us where we need to keep our foot on the gas and keep going,” Murphy said.
Despite the team’s early struggles, Patão said she has no plans to change her messaging or her approach to training.
“We believe that we are [going] the right way,” the coach said. “We just need to focus and think that the next one will be better and the next one will be better and the next one will be better.”
⚽ Get the latest World Cup news
Receive updates on the 2026 FIFA World Cup
