The Ardrey Kell (N.C.) girls’ soccer program had appeared in the state championship game three times prior to Kim Montgomery’s arrival as head coach in 2013, all of which came up short.

And now Montgomery has the program vying for a title once again.

Led by a goal and an assist from sophomore Taylor Suarez, who missed several matches during the regular season while playing with the U.S. women’s national U-17 team, Ardrey Kell won a thrilling 3-2 decision over Page to advance to Saturday’s state championship game, pushing the team to No. 7 in the latest JWS high school soccer rankings.

The Knights will take on East Region champion Cardinal Gibbons for the title.

More than 2,000 fans were on hand to watch Ardrey Kell, according to the Charlotte Observer. In front of the crowd, Suarez dazzled, repeatedly beating her defenders and leading breaks toward the net.

Despite an apparent ankle injury to Suarez with less than 13 minutes to play, the Knights locked down defensively and were able to hang on for the victory. They enter the state championship game on a 13-game winning streak and are 25-1-1 on the year.

Click here to see last week’s rankings.

(Note: These rankings do not include teams from Alabama, Arkansas, Colorado, Georgia, Nebraska, North Carolina, Oklahoma and South Carolina as their seasons have concluded.)

1. South County (Va.), 19-0-1

The top-seeded Stallions, winners of 13 straight, advanced to the Class 6 Region C tournament championship with Wednesday night’s 3-0 win over Lake Braddock. They’ll face Alexandria City in Friday’s region final.

2. Liberty North (Mo.), 21-0

Liberty North continues its undefeated campaign as it heads to the state semifinals to take on St. Dominic on Friday night. The Eagles knocked off St. Teresa’s Academy 2-0 in the quarterfinals to advance.

3. Valley (Iowa), 19-0

After blanking Ames 5-0 to claim the Region 2 title, Valley defeated Muscatine 3-1 on Tuesday to move on to the state semifinals. Anna Van Wyngarden, Allyson Hoffa and Grace Olson each found the back of the net to propel the Tigers to victory. They’ll square off against Ankeny Centennial in Thursday’s semifinal.

Here’s a look at those Tiger goals vs Muscatine! ⁦@graceolson22⁩ ⁦@_annavw⁩ (assist ⁦@mallorydg1⁩) ⁦@AllyHoffa⁩ pic.twitter.com/0kwuFDGDI5

— VHS Girls Soccer (@ValleyWDMsoccer) June 2, 2022

4. Saint Thomas Aquinas (Kan.), 16-0-2

Sydney Watts scored twice to lead the Saints to their second straight Class 5A title. After allowing their only goal of the postseason to fall behind 1-0, Watts turned things around for Aquinas to clinch a 2-1 win in the final. The Saints outscored their opponents a combined 32-1 in the postseason.

5. Fort Zumwalt South (Mo.), 24-1

The Bulldogs continue their pursuit of a second consecutive state title after claiming a 4-0 victory over Webster Groves in the Class 3 quarterfinals. In the postseason, they’ve scored 16 times and have yet to allow a goal. They’ll face Smithville to open the state tournament.

6. Lincoln-Way Central (Ill.), 24-1

The Knights are riding a 14-game winning streak into the Class 3A state semifinals, where they’ll square off against Metea Valley on Friday. Emma Vogler and Madi Watt each scored for LWC, which is back in the state tournament for the first time in 15 years.

7. Ardrey Kell (N.C.), 25-1-1

The Knights held on despite allowing Page to pull within a goal two times in the second half of Tuesday’s Class 4A West Regional final.

8. Triad (Ill.), 23-1

The Knights continue to roll through Class 2A with back-to-back wins to open the Super Sixteen. It’s been a little longer than a month since a team has scored on Triad, which will take on Oak Park (Fenwick) on Friday in the state semifinals.

9. Metea Valley (Ill.), 20-2-1

Tyra King and Lucy Burk each had a goal, and Julia Stroub earned a shutout in net to lead the Mustangs to a 2-0 win over Edwardsville. It’s the 12th win in a row for Metea Valley and its first-ever sectional title.

10. Hudsonville (Mich.), 16-0-2

The Eagles scored three goals in the first half to defeat West Ottawa 4-0 in a Division 1 district semifinal Wednesday night. They’ll take on Byron Center in the district final on Friday.

11. Nerinx Hall (Mo.), 20-2-1

The Markers picked up their 15th straight win in resounding fashion, defeating Jackson 5-0 in the state quarterfinals. The win sends them to the final four against Rock Bridge.

12. Evanston (Ill.), 21-2-1

Jocelyn Leigh scored twice in double overtime to lift the Wildkits to a 2-0 win over Libertyville on Tuesday, earning the Class 3A program its second-ever trip to the final four.

13. O’Fallon (Ill.), 20-2

The Panthers’ season is over after they were held scoreless against Edwardsville in a Class 3A sectional semifinal.

14. Oregon (Wis.), 18-0-1

The Panthers continue to dominate after opening sectional play with a 15-0 win. Their quest for an eighth straight appearance in the state tournament resumes Saturday against Burlington.

15. Battlefield (Va.), 15-3

Isabel Kelly’s overtime goal with 12 seconds remaining sent the Bobcats to the Class 6 Region B championship game on Wednesday. Prior to Battlefield’s semifinal matchup against Colonial Forge, Kelly was announced as the Cedar Run District Girls Soccer Player of the Year and followed up her accolade with a pair of goals to deliver a 2-0 win.

16. Colonial Forge (Va.), 15-2-1

A pair of second-half goals ousted the Eagles in the region quarterfinals.

17. Colgan (Va.), 18-2-1

Colgan’s season came to a close with a 1-0 loss to Freedom (South Riding) in the opening round of the Class 6 Region B tournament.

18. Ankeny (Iowa), 18-1

Avery Matthews scored the game’s only goal in the 76th minute Tuesday to send the Hawks past Pleasant Valley and into the state semifinals. They’ve allowed just one goal all season.

Ankeny's @Hawkette_Soccer advances to the Class 3A state soccer semifinal with a win over Pleasant Valley. See the photos here --> https://t.co/AaStM7X2Yz pic.twitter.com/MtjOUdITsX

— Kelsey Kremer (@kelsey_kremer) May 31, 2022

19. Marshall (Mich.), 19-0-1

The Redhawks defeated Coldwater on Wednesday to move on to the Division 2 District 19 championship game.

20. Barrington (Ill.), 22-2

The Fillies clinched their 12th trip to the state tournament in program history, defeating St. Charles East 3-0 in Tuesday’s Class 3A supersectional round.

21. Lyons Township (Ill.), 20-2

The Lions’ season concluded in the sectional finals, where they fell to Glenbard West in overtime.

22. Yorktown (Va.), 17-1-1

South Carolina commit Shay Montgomery scored the lone goal to guide the Patriots to a win over Oakton on Wednesday in the Class 6 Region D final.

23. Marian (Mich.), 10-1

The Mustangs defeated Madison Heights Lamphere 8-0 in a Division 2 District 27 semifinal on Tuesday and will take on Cranbrook Kingswood in the district final on Thursday.

24. Naperville North (Ill.), 19-3-3

The Huskies were unable to overcome a second-half goal as their season came to an end.

25. Hough (N.C.), 22-2-1

The Huskies were undone after Ardrey Kell rallied to win last week’s state quarterfinal, 2-1.

Trent Singer is the High School Editor at Just Women’s Sports. Follow him on Twitter @trentsinger.

Longtime USWNT fixture Carli Lloyd took to Instagram Wednesday morning to announce that she’s pregnant with her first child. 

"Baby Hollins coming in October 2024!" she wrote. The caption framed a collaged image of baby clothes, an ultrasound photo, and syringes indicating what she described as a "rollercoaster" fertility journey.

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In a Women’s Health story published in tandem with Lloyd’s post, the Fox Sports analyst and correspondent opened up about her struggles with infertility and the lengthy IVF treatments she kept hidden from the public eye.

"Soccer taught me how to work hard, persevere, be resilient, and never give up. I would do whatever it took to prepare, and usually when I prepared, I got results," Lloyd told Women’s Health’s Amanda Lucci. "But I found out that I didn’t know much about this world. I was very naive to think that we wouldn’t have any issues getting pregnant. And so it began."

Lloyd went on to discuss her road to pregnancy in great detail, sharing the highs and lows of the process and expressing gratitude for the care and support her family and medical team provided along the way. She rounded out the piece with a nod toward others navigating the same challenges, encouraging people to share their own pregnancy journeys, painful as they may be.

"My story is currently a happy one, but I know there are other women who are facing challenges in their pregnancy journey. I see you and I understand your pain," she said. "My hope is that more and more women will speak up about this topic, because their stories helped me. I also wish for more resources, funding, and education around fertility treatments. There is much to be done, and I hope I can play a role in helping."

The 41-year-old New Jersey native retired from professional soccer in 2021, closing out her decorated career with 316 international appearances, the second-most in USWNT history, in addition to 134 international goals. A legend on the field, Lloyd walked away from the game with two World Cups, two Olympic gold medals, and two FIFA Player of the Year awards.

On Tuesday, FIFPRO announced the launch of Project ACL, a three-year research initiative designed to address a steep uptick in ACL injuries across women's professional football.

Project ACL is a joint venture between FIFPRO, England’s Professional Footballers’ Association (PFA), Nike, and Leeds Beckett University. While the central case study will focus on England’s top-flight Women's Super League, the findings will be distributed around the world.

ACL tears are between two- and six-times more likely to occur in women footballers than men, according to The Guardian. And with both domestic and international programming on the rise for the women’s game, we’ve seen some of the sport's biggest names moved to the season-ending injury list with ACL-related knocks.

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Soccer superstars like Vivianne Miedema, Beth Mead, Catarina Macario, Marta, and England captain Leah Williamson have all struggled with their ACLs in recent years, though all have since returned to the field. In January, Chelsea and Australia forward Sam Kerr was herself sidelined with the injury, kicking off a year of similar cases across women’s professional leagues. And just yesterday, the Spirit announced defender Anna Heilferty would miss the rest of the NWSL season with a torn ACL. The news comes less than two weeks after Bay FC captain Alex Loera went down with the same injury. 

Project ACL will closely study players in the WSL, monitoring travel, training, and recovery practices to look for trends that could be used to prevent the injury in the future. Availability of sports science and medical resources within individual clubs will be taken into account throughout the process.

ACL injuries in women's football have long outpaced the same injury in the men's game, but resources for specialized prevention and treatment still lag behind. Investment in achieving a deeper, more specialized understanding of the problem should hopefully alleviate the issue both on and off the field.

With recent transfers Talia von Oelhoffen and Kiki Iriafen joining first-team All-American JuJu Watkins and the nation’s No. 1 recruiting class at USC next season, the Trojans look to transition from an up-and-coming squad to a legitimate title contender. 

Former Oregon State graduate student von Oelhoffen is the latest collegiate talent to commit to the program, announcing her transfer Monday via ESPN. She follows ex-Stanford leading-scorer Iriafen in the jump to the pair’s one-time Pac-12 rival.

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The 5-foot-11 Washington native was a two-time All-Pac-12 guard during her time at Oregon State. But after the recent dissolution of the Pac-12, the Corvallis side found themselves without a permanent home conference going forward. Many big name players opted to take their skill elsewhere as a result, with von Oelhoffen’s fellow ex-Beaver Raegan Beers announcing her own departure to Oklahoma on Monday.

According to DraftKings, USC is now tied with UConn for the second-best betting odds to win the 2025 NCAA women’s tournament. Dawn Staley’s tested South Carolina side, poised for a repeat performance, holds down the number one spot.

Last year, LSU loaded up in the transfer portal after beating Iowa to win the 2023 national championship. The Tigers were clear favorites coming into the 2023-24 season, but were bounced in the Elite Eight by Caitlin Clark’s Hawkeyes. Shortly thereafter, star transfer Hailey Van Lith opted to transfer a second time, this time signing with TCU. 

Yet while history proves that an excess of star power doesn’t always translate to on-court chemistry, on paper, USC sure looks ready to hold their own — in 2025 and beyond.

The United States and Mexico have withdrawn their joint bid to host the 2027 Women’s World Cup, per a Monday afternoon release from U.S. Soccer and the Mexican Football Federation.

According to the statement, they will instead focus on developing a "more equitable" bid for the 2031 tournament, with the ultimate goal of "eliminating investment disparities" between the men’s and women’s tournaments.

The federations went on to cite the upcoming 2026 Men’s World Cup in the U.S., Canada, and Mexico as an opportunity to build support for local infrastructure, improve audience engagement, and scale up media and partnership deals in preparation to "host a record-breaking tournament in 2031."

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"Hosting a World Cup tournament is a huge undertaking — and having additional time to prepare allows us to maximize its impact across the globe," said U.S. Soccer President Cindy Parlow Cone. "Shifting our bid will enable us to host a record-breaking Women’s World Cup in 2031 that will help to grow and raise the level of the women’s game both here at home as well as across the globe."

The decision leaves just Brazil and a joint bid from Belgium, Germany, and the Netherlands in the running for the 2027 host spot. Brazil — the rumored frontrunner — has never hosted a Women’s World Cup, while Germany hosted the 2011 tournament as a solo venture. 

Furthermore, this postponement doesn’t mean the U.S. is a shoo-in for 2031, as it's been previously reported that 2022 UEFA Women's EURO host England is considering their own Women's World Cup bid. FIFA is scheduled to confirm the winning bid after the FIFA Congress votes on May 17th.