Women's Soccer

When it comes to rookies in the National Women's Soccer League, most of the discussion has centered around No. 1 overall pick Alyssa Thompson. The headlines write themselves when you're talking about an 18-year-old who's already scored some spectacular goals for Angel City and is challenging for the USWNT World Cup squad.

But what about No. 2 overall pick Michelle Cooper, the forward who won the 2022 Hermann Trophy as the nation's best college player with 19 goals and 11 assists in 22 games during her sophomore season at Duke?

United States captain and veteran defender Becky Sauerbrunn will not be included in the squad for the Women's World Cup due to a foot injury she suffered in April, the Athletic reported on Friday.

Sauerbrunn is one of several injured American players to miss the tournament, which kicks off on July 20 in Australia and New Zealand, after attacker Mallory Swanson went down with a knee injury in April.

Things are getting awfully serious now: the kits are revealed, the roster is close to locked and Sports Illustrated has dropped its Women's World Cup preview issue with Alex Morgan, Rose Lavelle, Sophia Smith and Trinity Rodman gracing the cover.

During Barcelona's recent Women's Champions League Final victory over Wolfsburg, nine Spanish players helped show why Barça are the preeminent force of the club game. It should logically follow that Spain are one of the pre-tournament favorites at this summer's World Cup, but on Monday their 30-player provisional roster was released with some big names already omitted before the squad is cut to 23.

Angel City forward Sydney Leroux was in tears Monday night after an emotional return to the field. Leroux had been sidelined for the past 11 months and scored in her first game back during Angel City’s 2-1 defeat to the Chicago Red Stars.

Leroux joined Angel City from the Orlando Pride last June and was only able to make three appearances for the Los Angeles club before a season-ending ankle injury that required surgery.