Women's Soccer

The North Carolina Courage celebrated the accomplishments of Heather O'Reilly as she will be hanging up her boots at the end of the 2019 NWSL season. 

Despite missing three games while on World Cup duty with Australia — where she finished with five goals in four games — the Chicago Red Stars’ Sam Kerr is just one goal shy of the NWSL’s single season goalscoring record. Kerr scored against Sky Blue yesterday to bring her total to 16; the record is the 17 she scored as a member of Sky Blue back in 2017. Time is a flat circle.

I know of no greater natural human curiosity than the one that demands we discover the ball’s final resting place. One of our most beloved sports, golf, is entirely based on this premise. So when a ball actually exits the field of play, the novelty of it all can lead to some of the greatest moments in all of sports.

But sometimes, you don’t want to know the end. Because how can the end be happy when so much random chance is involved? 

The Orlando Pride might just be the worst-named club in the world. Not because Pride is a bad name, but because the ownership and/or marketing team doesn't seem to understand its fans and community.

Sahar Khodayari, a 29-year-old woman facing six months in prison for simply attending a men’s soccer match, died Monday. 

Donald Trump has become the latest figure to join in on the debate surrounding equal pay for the U.S. women’s national team. Sort of. We think. 

The four-time Women’s World Cup champion USWNT is in the middle of a legal battle with U.S. Soccer over equal treatment to the USMNT, which wasn’t even able to qualify for the last World Cup. President Trump received a visit from FIFA president Gianni Infantino on Monday and the two discussed women’s soccer.

Infantino was in D.C. to discuss preparations for the 2026 World Cup, which the U.S. will co-host with Mexico and Canada. 

With men’s club soccer on hiatus due to the international break, the women’s game took center stage in England this weekend with the opening of the new Women’s Super League season. The marquee matchup was a first-ever WSL Manchester derby between City and United at the Etihad Stadium.

The previous attendance record for a WSL match was set by Arsenal last year with a crowd of 5,265; the crowd on hand yesterday in Manchester smashed that with a total of 31,213 spectators.

And they left happy thanks to an incredible strike from Scotland international Caroline Weir. 

Caster Semenya, a record-setting world champion track athlete, is following in the steps of another popular runner, Usain Bolt. Semenya announced Friday she’s joining JVW FC, a South African soccer team. 

Happy to announce my signing with @jvwgirlsfootball for 2020 season. Looking forward to this journey.  pic.twitter.com/9Urd7aQ3NF

Since the 1979 Islamic Revolution, Iranian women have been barred from stadiums to watch men’s soccer matches (or any other sport). The clerical regime claims it promotes promiscuity to see men play in shorts. 

Last week, one of the greatest players in University of North Carolina and USWNT history announced that she’s returning to her old stomping grounds. This time, Heather O’Reilly will be telling others to “get on the line.”

O’Reilly is joining the UNC women’s soccer team alongside Anson Dorrance as the assistant coach. Dorrance’s introduction of O’Reilly truly explained her importance to both the UNC squad and the USWNT — along with, of course, calling her out for mistakes.