Portland Thorns

On Sunday afternoon, the N.C. Courage announced they had signed a one-year deal with retired fullback Jaelene Daniels, formerly known as Jaelene Hinkle. Now NWSL fans across the country — especially in North Carolina — are furious over the signing. On the other side of the continent, the Portland Thorns angered their fans for drafting a player with a history of horribly racist, homophobic and transphobic behavior on Twitter. 

This is not how the NWSL wanted to end what has already been a shit year for the league. 

The 10th annual NWSL Draft was held on Saturday evening, and with the No. 1 overall pick, expansion side San Diego Wave FC selected Stanford defender Naomi Girma, who was U.S. Soccer's 2020 Young Female Player of the Year.

Girma joins a San Diego backline anchored by USWNT veteran Abby Dahlkemper and former Stanford teammate Tegan McGrady. The 21-year-old can also play in midfield, where she may be needed after the club selected a forward, German international Marleen Schimmer out of Grand Canyon University, with its ninth pick in the first round.  

Carli Lloyd passed the torch to Lindsey Horan this year. Lloyd, who won two Women’s World Cups wearing the vaunted No. 10 jersey, bequeathed the number to Horan after retiring. On Thursday night, it was Horan who honored the jersey by being named U.S. Soccer Female Player of the Year. 

Angel City FC and San Diego Wave FC will start to really fill out their rosters during the NWSL expansion draft on Dec. 16, during which time each team is allowed to draft up to nine players from other preexisting NWSL squads. But neither club is waiting around for the expansion draft or the 2022 NWSL Draft two days later to make moves, with one USWNT player heading west and a potential blockbuster trade in the works ahead of Friday’s trade deadline. 

After a period of dominance that yielded every trophy (2020 Fall Series, 2021 Challenge Cup, 2021 Women’s ICC, 2021 Shield) apart from the one that really matters, the top-seeded Portland Thorns suffered heartbreak on Sunday in the NWSL playoff semifinals to the Chicago Red Stars, despite the underdogs missing Mal Pugh, Casey Krueger, Kayla Sharples and losing Kealia Watt to injury in the 29th-minute. 

It was Watt’s substitute — Katie Johnson — who gave the Red Stars the advantage in the 37th minute with a shot from an impossible angle that caught Bella Bixby napping. 

There was a large sense during the USWNT’s last two friendlies against South Korea that the team was growing stale.

To much fanfare (maybe too much?), Carli Lloyd played her final USWNT match last week. At the club level, she’s got at least one more match left before she fully retires. When is Carli Lloyd's last game? That depends on her and her Gotham FC teammates as the NWSL playoffs begin Sunday.