The National Women's Soccer League implemented two hydration breaks per half at a Gotham FC game in New York City for the second time in four days on Saturday due to poor air quality from smoke blown in by distant Canadian wildfires.
Gotham FC defeated Seattle Reign FC on Saturday at Icahn Stadium on Randall's Island, New York, part of Manhattan, after a 2 1/2-hour lightning delay.
Seattle led 2-0 until the 81st minute, when Esther González scored her first of two goals for Gotham. Rose Lavelle scored the game-winner seven minutes into stoppage time, and Gotham became the first team in NWSL history to win a game after trailing by multiple goals in the 80th minute or later, per Opta.
The air quality index (AQI)for the location was 180 about an hour before scheduled kickoff, which is the NWSL's cutoff line between implementing two hydration breaks and delaying kickoff.
There was also a flood watch in effect as heavy rain moved into the area. Kickoff of the match was delayed due to lightning in the area.
The poor air quality and unusual number of hydration breaks took place at a game being played only a few miles away from where Sunday's Men's World Cup final will be hosted. Argentina and Spain will play in East Rutherford, New Jersey, on Sunday.
On Wednesday at Citi Field in Queens, Gotham and the Washington Spirit played a full match on schedule despite a heat advisory with a heat index around 100 degrees Fahrenheit and an AQI around 170. The smell of smoke was palpable on Wednesday and visibility was low, with the sky turning a hazy orange as the 8 p.m. ET kickoff neared.
An announced crowd of 42,175 showed up for Wednesday's match, the second largest attendance in NWSL history. Spirit players and staff expressed frustration with the stoppages every 15 minutes.
"If we have to have a hydration break every 15 minutes, then we shouldn't be playing the game and that's my opinion," Spirit forward Trinity Rodman said. "If we can't go longer than 15 minutes then [motions], but at the end of the day, there's 40,000 people, it's a whole event, so it is really tough. I think it was a really hard situation for everybody to work around."
Washington defender Tara Rudd echoed Rodman.
"I don't know, I think if it were different circumstances, maybe the game would have been pushed," Rudd said. "But because there were so many people here, we played. I don't know. I think, it's not an excuse, but the water breaks even disrupting the game -- two water breaks a half is insane. We could look at the better, I think."
"Can I be honest? I don't like them," Spirit head coach Adrian Gonzalez said of the hydration breaks in his postgame news conference.
Poor air quality is affecting more than 100 million people in the United States as smoke from Canada blew southeast in recent days.
Several events have been postponed or moved.
MLS postponed Thursday's scheduled game in Chicago between the Vancouver Whitecaps and Chicago Fire due to low air quality from the smoke. The game, one of the first in over a month for MLS after a World Cup break, was expected to draw around 40,000 people.
MLS postponed a scheduled game in Cleveland on Friday due to low air quality.
Reign head coach Laura Harvey said on Friday that the team had dealt with the poor air conditions while training in New York ahead of the match.
"We've had more water breaks in training, we've had oxygen in training, those things," Harvey said. "It hasn't interrupted training, but today at the end of training, my eyes were burning and my throat was sore and I was convinced I was getting sick, and then I got reminded that it was the smoke."
ESPN confirmed that the NWSL follows similar protocols to U.S. Soccer for air quality.
An AQI between 150 and 180 requires two hydration breaks, per league rules. An AQI of 180 to 200 calls for possible delay of the game, while an AQI of 200 and above would be grounds for postponement of the match.
Warnings of dangerous conditions were expected to remain in effect through Saturday across a wide swath of the U.S., though there's potential for temporary improvement with storms forecast in some affected areas during the weekend.
In the New York City area, there was also concern about how the smoky air might impact Sunday's World Cup final at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey.
Bob Oravec, a lead forecaster at the National Weather Service based in Maryland, said winds will continue pushing the wildfire smoke east in the U.S., though conditions should be better on game day than on Saturday.
On Thursday, a thick haze tinged with orange and yellow darkened skies across several states and partly obscured Manhattan's skyline.