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This is a snappy recap of the week gone by in women’s soccer. There will be lots and lots of gerunds. Here’s the first edition. Oh, and hello again. It’s been too long.

Streaking. Two undefeated, former WPS clubs took the field on Sunday in WPSL Elite Division action. Only one would leave with their perfect record still intact. In the six times the Boston Breakers and Chicago Red Stars met in the former top-flight, each claimed a ‘W’ on three occasions. The resurrected Red Stars tipped the scales in their favor on Sunday. They retained their 100% record and handed the Breakers their first loss of the season. Michelle Weissenhofer’s goal 10 minutes before halftime was the lone goal of the match. Having broken Boston, the Red Stars are now the team to beat in the league.

Drawing attendees. The most star-studded team in the women’s soccer galaxy made their home debut in W-League play Thursday night. Lots of people either turned up or tuned in to watch the Seattle Sounders Women defeat the Colorado Rush 2-1. Over 4,500 people packed Starfire Sports Complex while upwards of 2,000 watched online. Hope Solo, Alex Morgan, Sydney Leroux, and Megan Rapinoe all saw game time, but it was Megan Manthey and Veronica Perez who notched Seattle’s pair of goals. The Sounders returned to action the very next day and scored a 1-0 victory over the Victoria Highlanders courtesy of a Keelin Winters goal. The Sounders are now tied in second place alongside the Colorado Rush in the Western Conference standings.

Drawing games. The WNY Flash faced off against the Philadelphia Fury on Sunday night. The Fury share more than a few similarities with the Philadelphia Independence, so we can pretend it was a re-match between old pals. The match, much like the last time the Flash and Independence met in the 2011 WPS Championship, ended 0-0 after regular time. A hyper-dramatic penalty kick shoot-out wasn’t in the cards this time, though. Paul Riley’s Fury improve to ten points on the season while Aaran Lines’ Flash progress to a 1-2-1 record.

Drawing groups. More on this later, but the draw for the 2012 U-20 Women’s World Cup was held in Japan early this morning. Here’s what we have:

Group A: Japan, Mexico, Switzerland, New Zealand
Group B: Brazil, Korea Republic, Italy, Nigeria
Group C: Korea DPR, Canada, Norway, Argentina
Group D: USA, China PR, Germany, Ghana

Struggling. The Vancouver Whitecaps have traditionally been one of the W-League’s elite sides, which makes the team’s struggles this season so noteworthy. The team remains winless in league play after four matches. A 1-1 draw against the Colorado Rapids Women on Friday boosted them out of last place in the conference, but next Friday’s match against the Sounders could see them return to the basement.

Kept waiting. Go read Dan Lauletta’s frank but necessary tut-tutting of the Philadelphia Fever and Colorado Rapids Women’s tardiness this weekend. Both teams were late for their respective matches after apparently taking time-consuming detours. You don’t need me to tell you this, but women’s soccer as a spectator sport has been a tough – if not impossible – sell. This nonsense doesn’t make it easier.

Operating. Per a USSF news flash, USWNT goalkeeper Ashlyn Harris will undergo shoulder surgery on Monday. She’ll be out of commission for 4-6 weeks which will almost certainly rule out a move to a European club this summer. There’s always the winter transfer window.

Debuting. Becky Sauerbrunn made her debut for D.C. United Women. The W-League team are now 4-0-0 after defeating the Dayton Dutch Lions over two games. Sauerbrunn – naturally – went the full 90 in each. They’re now three points clear of the Fredericksburg Impact at the top of the Atlantic Division in the Eastern Conference.

Rebounding. Three teams are locked on 18 points at the summit of the Damallsvenskan table. Tyresö and Malmö both found wins on the weekend after suffering losses the weekend prior. And meet your new favorite team. Newly promoted Vittsjö are sustaining their David vs. Goliath challenge. They remain level on points with the two Swedish heavyweights. As @dandalbs says, this article on the team’s Cinderella status is well worth a run through Google Translate.

Celebrating. Olympique Lyonnais secured a historic treble on Saturday with a win over league rivals Juvisy. It was the first time a European women’s side has captured a hat-trick of honors in four years. Just another bullet point on the list titled ‘reasons why Lyon are the best women’s club team ever’.

Balling. Alex Popp helped herself to a hat-trick in Germany’s 5-0 win over Romania in Euro Qualifying. The 21 year-old has now scored 19 goals for her country…Speaking of prolific German goal-scorerers, Anja Mittag is the Damallsvenskan’s top goal-scorer on 12 goals. She added another strike to her tally on the weekend in Malmö’s 2-1 win against Göteborg…Christine Sinclair continues to inch closer to Mia Hamm’s all-time goal record. She collected her 134th goal against China last Thursday and remains third on the list behind Hamm and Abby Wambach…Penn State forward Maya Hayes had in hand in five of the New Jersey Wildcats’ six goals in their 6-1 win over the New Jersey Rangers. She netted four goals and recorded an assist.

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