One of the NWSL’s budding stars hobbled off after a shocking challenge that went unpunished. A USWNT keeper’s head clanged awkwardly off the post. A fan favorite appeared to have a seizure on the pitch.
The North Carolina Courage edged the Washington Spirit 2-1 to claim the NWSL Challenge Cup trophy on Saturday in Cary, North Carolina, but the final score was one of the last things anyone was talking about after the match.
When the Houston Dash won the 2020 Challenge Cup, it was a landmark moment for the National Women’s Soccer League. As the first professional team sport to return to play in the U.S. after Covid-19 shut the sports world down, the NWSL set the example for how leagues like MLS and the NBA could resume during a pandemic. For the players, however, there wasn’t much incentive to win beyond a bunch of Budweiser.
The 2022 NWSL Challenge Cup isn’t over yet, but the 2022 NWSL regular season is upon us. While four teams still compete for the first trophy of the season, expansion club Angel City FC hosts the N.C. Courage at 10:30 p.m. ET on Friday night (live on CBSSN) to open what is sure to be an enthralling campaign. That means it’s time for some NWSL predictions.
To say 2021 was a bad year for women’s soccer in the U.S. would be an understatement of epic proportions. In October, The Athletic detailed horrifying allegations of verbal abuse and sexual coercion by N.C. Courage coach Paul Riley, sending shockwaves through the NWSL.
March Madness is finally here. No, not that silly basketball tournament that once again left your school out (what, just me?). I’m talking real madness: The 2022 NWSL Challenge Cup. If it’s anything like the start of last year’s edition, you won’t want to miss a minute.
The women’s soccer world anxiously awaits the outcome of a much-needed investigation into widespread abuse of players in the National Women’s Soccer League.
Nine of the world’s best footballers want answers. Christen Press, Crystal Dunn, Tobin Heath, Carli Lloyd, Sam Mewis, Alex Morgan, Kelley O’Hara, Megan Rapinoe and Becky Sauerbrunn are questioning how so many kids and women were allowed to be abused repeatedly just for playing the sport they love. And the women’s soccer world hopes they get those answers.
One of U.S. soccer’s greatest strikers is hanging up her boots to join the coaching ranks. Amy Rodriguez, who won at every level, retired from the NWSL on Friday to join her alma mater, USC, as an assistant coach.
A-Rod, as the 34-year-old is affectionately known, won an NCAA title with USC, two Olympic gold medals and the 2015 Women’s World Cup. She led FC Kansas City to back-to-back NWSL titles, scoring 64 goals in 160 matches in her professional career.
The North Carolina Courage are in full-on rebuild mode in the post-Paul Riley era. Lynn Williams is the latest star leaving the storied NWSL club after seven seasons with the Courage/Western New York Flash; the team announced a blockbuster trade to send the USWNT forward to Kansas City on Monday morning.
If you would like to learn how to alienate a club’s fanbase, perhaps irrevocably, you would struggle to find a better case study than the NWSL’s N.C. Courage this week. On Sunday, the club announced the signing of a player, Jaelene Daniels, antithetical to the vast majority of the team’s and league’s fans. After two full days of silence, the club put out a shockingly meek “apology” late Wednesday night, only further upsetting the once devoted fanbase.