This isn’t Little’s first run with OL Reign. She played with the team, then known as Seattle Reign FC, between 2014 and 2016. Scoring 32 goals across 63 regular-season appearances, Little led the club to two NWSL Shield titles in 2014 and 2015 and earned NWSL MVP during the 2014 campaign.
“Bringing Kim back to the PNW is huge, Kim will go down in history as one of the best players to ever play in the NWSL and to have the chance to work with her again is exciting,” OL Reign coach Laura Harvey said in a statement. “I’d like to thank Arsenal for helping make this happen. This is a unique opportunity for us and one that we felt could be a huge impact on our squad in a crazy summer schedule. Kim’s ability and experience will be crucial for us to help continue to push our performances forward and help continue the growth of our young squad.”
OL Reign sits in third in the NWSL standings with a 2-3-1 record to start the season.
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‘The Late Sub’ Tackles Gotham and the Failure of Superteams in the NWSL
Gotham FC banked on a superteam filled with USWNT veterans last season. (Lev Radin/Pacific Press/LightRocket via Getty Images)
In this week's episode of The Late Sub, host Claire Watkins digs into what happened to Gotham FC's 2024 superteam — and whether the NWSL is built for such blockbuster rosters.
With the NJ/NY club kicking off with the same record over the first seven matches in 2025 as the 2024 roster achieved, Watkins uses Gotham to explore "a case study of how a super team does not work in the NWSL."
First, Watkins explains exactly what is meant by a superteam, defining the concept as being rooted in procuring massive talent through free agency — a strategy Gotham employed by signing four former No. 1 NWSL Draft picks and current USWNT veterans Rose Lavelle, Emily Sonnett, Tierna Davidson, and Crystal Dunn to build their 2024 superteam.
"Gotham is a perfect example of why super teams do not translate to the NWSL," says Watkins. "They were very good last year, they finished top four, they make it to the semifinals. They didn't win anything."
The reasons for the failure of a superteam in the NWSL, according to Watkins, include the pressures faced by players balancing the needs of their stacked club roster with their individual development needs to stay atop the international game.
"They need to be playing a certain amount of minutes. They need to be playing in certain positions," notes Watkins. "These players get notes from their US coaches on what they want to see. It's not a failing of anybody's character. It's their job, it's their livelihood. To get back to that level, they have to kind of be of two minds of what's best for them."
Gotham's 2025 roster is seeing as much success as the club's 2024 superteam. (Harry How/NWSL via Getty Images)
NWSL business model rewards parity over superteams
Watkins also digs into the role of the salary cap in NWSL teams' ability to retain top talent.
"It really doesn't seem like the salary cap is going anywhere, and that means the NWSL isn't in a place to reward established stars for the wages that they probably deserve," says Watkins.
Comparing the US league to European dynasties like Chelsea, Lyon, and Barcelona, Watkins explains, "That is not what the NWSL is built for. It's not really what the NWSL wants."
Instead, argues Watkins, the NWSL rewards "teams that build in a different way," by scouting less recognized talent and "building them up into All-Stars" — a "bottom-up" method that creates the league's most successful teams.
It's a lesson that Gotham is learning with the equitable success the club is experiencing this season, despite losing a significant amount of big-name talent from their 2024 superteam in the offseason.
"They haven't really stumbled in the wake of these departures, proving my point," remarks Watkins.
Ultimately, "the NWSL has decided that they don't really want the Gothams of the world," argues Watkins.
"They don't want roster stashing or this top-down talent that can really bulldoze a league. That is the opposite of what the NWSL is selling. And I think that's both cool and a little bit of a harder road sometimes."
About 'The Late Sub' with Claire Watkins
The Late Sub with Claire Watkins brings you the latest news and freshest takes on the USWNT, NWSL, and all things women's soccer. Special guest appearances featuring the biggest names in women’s sports make TLS a must-listen for every soccer fan.
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Dee Lab
May 1, 2025
South Carolina Basketball Coach Dawn Staley Honored with a Statue
A statue of South Carolina head coach Dawn Staley joins A’ja Wilson’s in downtown Columbia. (Carmen Mandato/Getty Images)
The city of Columbia, South Carolina, honored South Carolina head coach Dawn Staley with her very own statue this week, reflecting the three-time national champion leader's legacy as a change-maker in women's college basketball.
The 14-foot bronze likeness, which sits just next to the university's alumni center, reflects Staley's championship prowess, with the statue showing the coach on a ladder holding a cut-down basketball net.
"This statue is a tribute, but it really doesn't encompass what she's delivered for us as a community, what she's done for women’s sports, what she's done for young people, especially young women,” Columbia mayor Daniel Rickenmann told reporters before Wednesday's ceremony.
After her decorated pro career, the six-time WNBA All-Star and three-time Olympic gold medalist took over the South Carolina coaching job in 2008, building the program into the behemoth it is today.
To date, Staley has led the Gamecocks to nine SEC regular-season titles and nine conference tournament crowns as well as seven Final Fours — including appearances in the last five NCAA tournament semifinals.
The four-time National Coach of the Year is far from done, though.
Staley, who turns 55 years old on Sunday, inked a contract in January to remain with South Carolina through the 2029/30 NCAA season.
That blockbuster deal — worth over $25 million — makes her the highest paid women's college basketball coach in history.
Staley's statue joins a nearby one of South Carolina star alum A'ja Wilson. (Adam Hagy/NBAE via Getty Images)
Staley agreed to statue to increase representation
Staley's statue now joins one of former star player and now reigning three-time WNBA MVP A’ja Wilson, who saw her own likeness installed outside Colonial Life Arena in 2021.
Though initially opposed to becoming a bronze sculpture, Staley later acquiesced to the honor in order to boost the currently low numbers of US statues depicting women, particularly Black women.
"I agreed to the statue not for me, but for the girl who will walk by one day and wonder who I was," Staley said at the Wednesday unveiling. "Maybe she'll look me up. She'll see that I did some things in basketball, of course — but I hope she sees much more."
"I hope she sees that I was a champion for equity and equality. That in my own way, I pushed for change... not as someone perfect or extraordinary, but as a regular girl who used her gifts to open doors so other girls wouldn't have to knock as hard."
Dee Lab
May 1, 2025
USWNT ’99ers Story Scores Feature Film Development with Netflix
Feature film "The '99ers" has new life with an acclaimed director. (J Brett Whitesell/ISI Photos/Getty Images)
Like Longman's book, the film will chronicle the USWNT's journey to winning the 1999 World Cup before a then-US record crowd at the Rose Bowl — as well as the ongoing impact that victory has on women's sports worldwide.
Helmed by Liza Chasin from 3dot Productions as well as a production team that includes actor Ryan Reynolds, who co-owns third-tier UK men's soccer club Wrexham AFC, the film will be directed by Nicole Kassell.
Kassell, who's resume includes The Leftovers and The Americans, earned both an Emmy and Director's Guild Award for her work on the HBO series Watchmen.
Screenwriters Katie Lovejoy and Dana Stevens, who wrote Netflix's Love at First Sight and The Woman King, respectively, will pen The 99'ers script.
Netflix boosts women's soccer content in lead-up to World Cups
This is far from Netflix's first foray into women's sports, with the streamer boasting documentaries on tennis star Naomi Osaka and gymnastics legend Simone Biles, among others — and a new series on F1 Academy women drivers dropping later this month.
Even more, the content giant is all-in on women's soccer. After chronicling the 2023 World Cup journey of the USWNT in a four-part docuseries, Netflix closed 2024 by snagging the exclusive US broadcast rights to the 2027 and 2031 Women's World Cups.
While Netflix acquired the rights to Longman's book in 2020, the timing of The 99'ers development is likely an effort to bolster the broadcaster's women's soccer content in the lead-up to the upcoming World Cups.
Claire Watkins
May 1, 2025
Last-Place Chicago Stars Oust Manager Lorne Donaldson
Head coach Lorne Donaldson joined the Chicago Stars ahead of the 2024 NWSL season. (Michael Reaves/NWSL via Getty Images)
The Chicago Stars parted ways with second-year manager Lorne Donaldson on Wednesday, as the last-place NWSL club attempts to bounce back from a dismal 1-5-0 start to the 2025 season.
"We are grateful to Lorne Donaldson for the culture, respect, and sense of self-belief he helped build within our squad. We appreciate his work and wish him the best for the future," said Stars GM Richard Feuz in a club statement.
Stars assistant coach Masaki Hemmi will step up in an interim capacity while the Chicago front office conducts its search for a replacement for Donaldson.
Following an eighth-place finish and short-lived playoff push in 2024, a relatively dormant offseason transfer window, and a somewhat controversial rebrand, Chicago has struggled to find results this season — due in part to a dwindling lineup.
The team's opening day roster featured only six defenders — including an injured Natalia Kuikka, who has yet to make her 2025 club debut after suffering a knee sprain while on international duty with Finland in February.
Superstar USWNT forward Mallory Swanson also remains out indefinitely, having missed the first six games of the NWSL season due to personal reasons.
When points aren't coming, front offices often try to shake things up with sideline changes — though Chicago's troubles appear to extend far beyond the former head coach.
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