The transfer portal is shaking up the NCAA women’s basketball landscape.

With the new transfer rules in place, players can opt to switch teams without sitting out a year, which raises the stakes for the 2022-23 season.

Just Women’s Sports will be keeping track of all of the players who have entered the portal and those who have chosen their new teams.

Monday, July 11 — Shaylee Gonzales to transfer to Texas

BYU guard and two-time WCC Player of the Year Shaylee Gonzales announced that she’ll transfer to the University of Texas. Gonzales has two years of eligibility remaining.

“I am so thankful for all the relationships and memories that were made,” Gonzales said in a statement at that time. “BYU will always have a place in my heart.”

She was the Cougars’ best player last season, averaging a team-high 18.3 points per game alongside 5.9 rebounds and 4.5 assists.

Former BYU guard and 2x WCC Player of the Year, Shaylee Gonzales, has announced that she is transferring to Texas.

She’ll join the Longhorns with two years of eligibility remaining. pic.twitter.com/QViMWW65xY

— Just Women’s Sports (@justwsports) July 11, 2022

Thursday, May 19 — Saniya Rivers commits to NC State

Saniya Rivers is headed back to North Carolina, with the former South Carolina guard announcing her commitment to NC State.

Wolfpack nation, wassup?!👀🐺 #Committed pic.twitter.com/VsAlX6SUz2

— Saniya rivers🥵 (@Ihoop___22) May 19, 2022

It’s a big pickup for the Wolfpack, who are replacing four starters from last season’s Elite Eight team. Rivers is originally from Wilmington, N.C., and is the third addition this offseason for NC State. The team has also added center River Baldwin (Florida State) and forward Mimi Collins (Maryland).

Coming out of high school, Rivers was a three-time North Carolina Player of the Year, a two-time USA Today Player of the Year for North Carolina, the USA Today National Player of the Year (2021), Gatorade National Player of the Year (2021) and a McDonald’s All-American (2021).

As a freshman, she played in 27 games for the national champions, averaging 2.3 points per game.

Monday, May 16 — Georgia picks up Audrey Warren from Texas

Georgia announced that it has signed Audrey Warren, who will be a fifth-year senior in the upcoming season.

Warren was a key player in Texas’ back-to-back NCAA Elite Eight runs, averaging 10.3 points per game in 2020-21 and 8.2 ppg during 2021-22. She also helped Texas to the Big 12 Championship in 2022.

“Audrey has a tremendous skill set on offense as a three-tier scorer,” coach Katie Abrahamson-Henderson said in a statement. “Her basketball IQ is unmatched. She is a relentless defender who takes pride in getting stops, and inspires her teammates to have that same mentality. Audrey is a winner and knows what it takes to compete at a high level after reaching back-to-back Elite Eights in her college career. She will make an immediate impact on our program here at Georgia.”

Friday, May 6 — LSU lands marquee transfer Angel Reese from Maryland

Former Maryland star Angel Reese is transferring to LSU, the Tigers announced.

The 6-foot-3 forward led the Terps with 17.8 points per game and 10.6 rebounds per game as a sophomore during the 2021-22 season. She was named to the All-Big Ten first team.

She joins storied coach Kim Mulkey, who is entering her second year in Baton Rouge. She won three national titles in 21 years at Baylor before moving to LSU last offseason.

“Angel is coming to Baton Rouge as one of the most dynamic players in the country,” Mulkey said in a statement. “She’s an outstanding scorer with a knack for rebounding that will make an immediate impact in our frontcourt.”

TIGER NATION WHAT’S GOOD???💛💜🐅 @LSUwbkb pic.twitter.com/CDJoq61gfa

— Angel Reese (@Reese10Angel) May 6, 2022

Wednesday, May 4 — Esmery Martinez makes surprise switch to Arizona

Esmery Martinez, a first-team All-Big 12 selection for West Virginia in 2020-21, is joining Arizona, she announced via social media.

The move comes after LSU announced on April 24 that it had signed Martinez, which makes her commitment to Arizona a surprise.

“Esmery is a tenacious rebounder and defender and will fit right into our system in Baton Rouge,” LSU coach Kim Mulkey said at the time.

The Wildcats have lost seven players to the transfer portal, but they have added Martinez and former Oklahoma State guard Lauren Fields to their roster.

Monday, May 2 – Maryland adds Vanderbilt top scorer Brinae Alexander

Maryland is adding Brinae Alexander as a graduate transfer, the school announced Sunday. The forward was the top scorer for Vanderbilt last season, averaging 15.2 points per game behind 36 percent shooting from beyond the arc.

Aijha Blackwell of Missouri is also on the move, transferring to Baylor. The 6-foot guard averaged 15.4 points and 13 rebounds per game during her junior season, earning Blackwell a second-team All-SEC selection.

Iowa State’s Aubrey Joens is transferring to Oklahoma, she announced Friday on social media. Joens notched 63 three-pointers last season, shooting 42.5 percent from deep.

The Arizona Wildcats have added Lauren Fields of Oklahoma State to their roster. The guard averaged 15.4 points per game in her junior year to lead the team.

Sunday, May 1 – Ashley Owusu transfers to Virginia Tech

Maryland’s Ashley Owusu announced Saturday that she is transferring to Virginia Tech.

The star guard averaged 14.3 points and 3.7 assists per game during her junior season at Maryland, helping her team to a Sweet 16 appearance in the NCAA tournament.

Virginia Tech finished with a 23-10 record last season, exiting the NCAA tournament in the first round.

Thursday, April 28 – Dre’una Edwards commits to Baylor

Dre’una Edwards is heading to Texas, as the redshirt junior leaves Kentucky for Baylor.

In her 2021-2022 season with the Wildcats, Edwards led the team in rebounds with 8.2 per game while notching 16.9 points per game. Edwards ended her tenure at Kentucky on a high, sinking the game-winner to clinch the SEC tournament championship for the Wildcats.

The 6-foot-2 forward started her collegiate career at Utah before transferring to Kentucky in 2019.

New destination 📍💛💚💛💚 #committed @BaylorWBB pic.twitter.com/bb3hS6jTcQ

— Dre'una Edwards (@IhoopDrea44) April 28, 2022

Friday, April 22 – Haley, Hanna Cavinder transfer to Miami

Haley and Hanna Cavinder are transferring to Miami, the identical twins announced Thursday night.

The Cavinder sisters join the Hurricanes after three seasons at Fresno State, in which they averaged a combined 34.2 points per game.

Haley recorded 19.8 points and 9.4 rebounds in the 2021-2022 season, notching three triple-doubles and 12 double-doubles. Hanna led Fresno State in steals, posting 51 during the regular season, scoring 14.6 points per game and registering 107 assists.

“Coming into the offseason losing four impactful players, we felt like we had specific needs and Haley and Hanna absolutely helped us meet several of them,” Miami coach Katie Meier said in a statement. “They are huge pieces for our program.”

The twin guards also boast an impressive social media following, including more than 4 million TikTok followers, which has translated to lucrative NIL deals that some estimate have exceeded $1 million.

Haley and Hanna join a Miami team that finished last season with a 21-13 record and went on a postseason run that included an Atlantic Coast Conference championship game appearance, concluding their season with a second-round loss in the NCAA tournament.

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Thursday, April 21 – Chrislyn Carr to join Louisville

Guard Chrislyn Carr, who spent last season at Syracuse and averaged 14.2 points per game, is transferring to Louisville.

The Cardinals also announced last Friday that they are adding Morgan Jones out of Florida State in addition to four freshmen.

After advancing to the Final Four last season, the Cardinals lost three starters, including two to the WNBA draft: Emily Engstler, another Syracuse transfer, and Kianna Smith.

Carr spent two and a half seasons at Texas Tech, where she was Big 12 freshman of the year in 2019, before transferring to Baylor for a semester. She then left for Syracuse.

“She fills a big need at our point guard spot, and is a talented distributor, scorer and defender,” Louisville coach Jeff Walz said. “We believe she is a great fit for our team and are excited to have her join us.”

Friday, April 15 – Abby Meyers headed to Maryland

Princeton standout and AP All-American Honorable Mention Abby Meyers is headed to College Park.

Maryland announced Friday that it would be adding the Ivy League player of the year to its roster. Last season. she averaged 18.2 points and 5.9 rebounds en route to the Ivy League title and the NCAA round of 32.

“I chose to play my final year of college basketball at Maryland because not only am I from Maryland, but I grew up going to the women’s basketball games at the amazing Xfinity Center!” said Meyers. “I have tremendous respect for the program and all it has accomplished under Coach Frese’s leadership, and I want to help continue to build the winning legacy for the one and only Terp Nation.”

Thrilled to officially welcome AP Honorable Mention All-America honoree Abby Meyers to our Maryland family‼️🐢👏

➡️ https://t.co/PkOuOBizEC#TerpFamily x #FTT pic.twitter.com/ldM2Ul91rh

— Maryland Women’s Basketball (@TerpsWBB) April 15, 2022

Thursday, April 14 – South Carolina’s Saniya Rivers enters portal, Duke adds Mia Heide

One day after participating in the championship parade for South Carolina’s national title win, guard Saniya Rivers announced via her social media accounts that she would enter the transfer portal.

Rivers was the Gatorade national high school player of the year in 2021. She averaged 2.3 points in 27 games for the Gamecocks this season.

“Thanks to coach Staley and the rest of the coaching staff and program for affording me with the opportunity to win a national championship in my freshman year with this team,” Rivers wrote. “It has truly been an experience of a lifetime.”

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Also on Thursday, Tulane graduate Mia Heide announced that she would be taking her fifth year at Duke to pursue a business degree.

“I am so grateful for my time and experiences at Tulane University,” she wrote. “I will always be a proud Tulane alum.

“I am very excited to join coach Kara Lawson and the Duke women’s basketball program.”

Heide is one of the more decorated shot blockers in Tulane history, having averaged 1.4 blocks per game. She also averaged 4.9 points, 5.1 rebounds and 1.0 assists during her career.

Tuesday, April 12 – Number of Division I players in portal is nearly double last year

As of Tuesday, 1,143 Division I players are in the women’s basketball transfer portal, according to The Athletic’s Chantel Jennings. Last year, 1,197 players entered the portal.

Those numbers are nearly double that the two previous seasons. In 2019-20, 609 players entered in the portal, and in 2018-19, 641 players entered the portal.

The NCAA changed the portal rule in April 2021, allowing athletes to transfer to a different school once and play immediately. Some of the increase also could be attributed to the extra year of eligibility granted to athletes due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Also on Tuesday, University of South Florida point guard Elisa Pinzan announced that she would be transferring to Maryland for her fifth year of eligibility.

The addition of Pinzan is big for Maryland, which has lost players to both the portal and graduation. Through four seasons with the Bulls, Pinzan scored 917 points and dished out 544 assists. Last season, she knocked down 31.9 percent from 3-point range and helped the Bulls to a 24-9 record and a NCAA Tournament berth.

“While I am excited to finish my career at Maryland, I will always remember where it started,” she wrote.

🤘🏻 #4 out pic.twitter.com/T6C2wXmV4d

— Elisa pinzan (@PinzanElisa) April 12, 2022

Monday, April 11 – Indiana announces additions of Alyssa Geary, Sara Scalia

The Indiana Hoosiers announced Monday the additions of Alyssa Geary and Sara Scalia to its 2022-23 roster, as well as Sydney Parish, which had been reported Saturday.

Geary is a graduate transfer from Providence, having played in 118 games there. As a senior, she averaged 9.6 points, 4.2 rebounds, 2.2 assists and 1.1 blocks per game.

“We are really looking forward to getting Alyssa to Bloomington. When we called, we could tell immediately that this was going to be a good fit,” coach Teri Moren said. “She is going to give us some versatility inside. She has great length, is very skilled and can knock down the perimeter shot, along with being a phenomenal passer. She also has the ability to guard multiple positions.”

Scalia will join the Hoosiers after three seasons at Minnesota, where she recorded 1,158 total points and set a program-record in free throw percentage at 88.8 percent. A 2021-22 All-Big Ten second team selection, she led the Gophers with 17.9 points, 4.3 rebounds and 2.0 assists per game en route to a second-round WNIT appearance. She also shot 41.3 percent from 3-point range.

“Sara is a phenomenal pickup for us. She is one of the very best 3-point shooters in the country,” Moren said. “It is important for us that we find players that fit our culture and mesh with our team. I think we found a perfect fit with Sara. Along with her shooting, Sara can play both on and off the ball. We have had to game plan against Sara, and she was one of the toughest players to prepare for. She has unbelievable shooting range and the ability to get to the rim.”

Saturday, April 9 – Sam Brunelle commits to Virginia, Sydney Parrish heads home to Indiana

Former Notre Dame forward Sam Brunelle, a Virginia native, announced her commitment to the University of Virginia on Saturday.

“The magic thing about home is that it feels good to leave, and feels even better to come back,” she wrote. “I’m coming HOME.”

The magic thing about home is that it feels good to leave, and feels even better to come back… I’m coming HOME 🧡⚔️💙 #GoHoos #wahoowa pic.twitter.com/l7M3dq8WNj

— Samantha Brunelle (@SamBrunelle_33) April 9, 2022

Brunelle played 32 games for the Fighting Irish last season, averaging 6.8 points per game on 45 percent shooting from the field.

Also returning home is Indiana native Sydney Parrish. The former Oregon standout, with three years of eligibility remaining, announced her commitment to Indiana on Saturday.

“What up Hoosier nation, decided it was time to come home,” the guard wrote on social media.

Parrish started all 32 games for the Ducks last season, averaging 8.5 points, 3.3 rebounds and one assist per game. She was also second on the team in 3-point shooting, averaging 35 percent from deep.

Parrish’s addition helps lessen the blow for Indiana, who lose Ali Patberg, Aleksa Gulbe and Nicole Cardaño-Hillary to graduation. Parrish will join returners Grace Berger Mackenzie Holmes and Chloe Moore-McNeil as the Hoosiers look to improve upon their Elite Eight berth in 2021 and Sweet 16 run in 2022.

Friday, April 8 – Oregon State’s Taya Corosdale joins teammates in portal

Oregon State forward Taya Corosdale became the fourth Beavers player to enter the transfer portal in less than a week.

The three-year starter was Oregon State’s leading rebounder last season, averaging 7.4 rebounds and 7.3 points per game.

In addition to Corosdale, sophomores Kennedy Brown and Taylor Jones entered the portal this week. Brown started in 21 games, averaging 7.9 points and 6.3 rebounds, while Jones played just nine games due to injury. Freshman guard Greta Kampschroeder entered the portal last week after starting 25 games last season.

The Beavers join Kentucky, Maryland, Missouri and Oregon in having at least three players enter the portal.

Wednesday, April 6 – Maryland forward Mimi Collins to enter transfer portal; Kierra Fletcher is headed to South Carolina

The exodus from the Maryland program continued, with graduate forward Mimi Collins expected to enter the portal. According to Kareem Copeland of the Washington Post, the decision is based on education, as Collins is looking for a graduate program in communications.

Also on Wednesday, former Georgia Tech guard Kierra Fletcher announced her commitment to South Carolina. A four-year starter with the Yellow Jackets, she missed last season with an injury. During the season before that, she averaged 13 points, 3.7 assists and 5.5 rebounds per game.

Tuesday, April 5 – Maryland loses Angel Reese, Ashley Owusu, two more players to transfer portal

Four players announced their plans to depart from the Terrapins and enter their names into the transfer portal. The first domino to fall was junior guard Ashley Owusu, a former AP All-American and Big Ten freshman of the year.

“I have never started anything that I haven’t finished, and finishing was the plan when I decided to come to College Park,” she wrote in a post on social media. “Unfortunately, events that have transpired on and off the court this year have led me to make the very difficult but necessary decision to continue my education and basketball career elsewhere.”

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Hours after Owusu’s decision was announced, sophomore starter Angel Reese also entered the transfer portal. The top player for the Terrapins this season, she became the first Maryland player to average a double-double since 1975, with a team-best 17.8 points and 10.6 rebounds per game.

Additionally, sophomore guard Taisiya Kozlova and graduate student guard Channise Lewis both entered the portal.

Friday, March 25 – Dre’Una Edwards, Treasure Hunt and Jazmine Massengill to leave Kentucky, enter transfer portal

Three of Kentucky’s starters, who all helped lift the Wildcats to their first SEC tournament title in 40 years, entered the transfer portal.

Dre’Una Edwards, who joined Kentucky from Utah, was the tournament hero for the Wildcats after hitting the game-winner against South Carolina. But after just two years with the program, she has entered her name into the portal.

Massengill will be a fifth-year senior while Hunt will be a junior next season.

Additionally, Aijha Blackwell – the leading scorer and rebounder for the University of Missouri and a three-year starter – entered the transfer portal.

Blackwell marks the fourth Tigers player this offseason to announce her intent to leave the program. Senior forward LaDazhia Williams, freshman guard Izzy Higginbottom and freshman forward Kiya Dorroh are also in the portal.

Thursday March 24 – Rickea Jackson announces transfer to Tennessee

After entering the transfer portal in January, former Mississippi State leading scorer Rickea Jackson announced that she would be transferring to Tennessee.

I’m hereee🍊 pic.twitter.com/A7LEDTaPxL

— RJ👑 (@iamthathooper) March 24, 2022

A 2019 McDonald’s All-American, Jackson led the Bulldogs in scoring her freshman and sophomore years before deciding to transfer. According to her mother, Caryn Jackson, the decision was made “for mental health reasons.”

After an illustrious career for both club and country, Gotham FC and U.S. Women’s National Team defender Kelley O’Hara announced today via Kelley on the Street that she will be retiring from professional soccer at the end of this year, making the 2024 NWSL season her last.

"I have always said I would play under two conditions: that I still love playing soccer, and if my body would let me do it the way I wanted to," O’Hara told Just Women’s Sports in the lead-up to her retirement announcement. "I realized a while back that I was always going to love it, so it was the physical piece that was going to be the deciding factor."

The 35-year-old will retire as a two-time World Cup champion, an Olympic gold medalist, and at least a two-time NWSL champion, depending on where Gotham finishes this season. Her legacy as a player is hard to fully encapsulate, and will forever run through some of the biggest snapshots in USWNT and NWSL history. 

In 2012, O’Hara played every minute of the USWNT’s Olympic gold medal run, after having recently converted into a defender. Her soaring goal off the bench in the 2015 World Cup semifinal is the stuff of legend. And her return from lingering injury to play in every knockout match of the national team’s 2019 World Cup win cemented a storybook international career. 

It was O’Hara who scored the overtime goal in 2021 to earn the Washington Spirit their first-ever NWSL championship, and O’Hara who returned to help see Gotham earn a title in 2023 after years spent in the trenches with the club’s previous iteration, Sky Blue. Her 15-year career spanned two professional women’s soccer leagues in the U.S. (she earned her first professional title in 2010 with WPS’s FC Gold Pride), as well as sweeping changes to the sport both on and off the pitch.

On the field, O’Hara has always been known for a motor that never quits, making the right flank her domain in attacking possession and defensive transition. In recent years, she’s also been celebrated for a competitive fire that raises the level of her teammates, whether she’s in the starting XI or supporting from the bench.

But injuries take a toll, a reality not always seen by the fans watching from home. "I've never taken anything for granted, and I feel like I've never coasted either," O’Hara said of her late-career success in the NWSL despite battling injuries. "I've always been like, 'I gotta put my best foot forward every single day I step on this field' — which is honestly probably half the reason why I'm having to retire now as opposed to getting a couple more years out of it. I've just grinded hard."

Recently, O’Hara has been sidelined at Gotham with ankle and knee injuries, and the situation motivated her to really prioritize listening to her body. "To get injured and come back, and get injured and come back, and just keep doing it, it really takes a toll on you.

"People don't see the doubt that's associated with injury,” she continued. "As athletes we feel a certain way, we perform a certain way, our body feels a certain way, we're very in tune with our bodies. And there's always so much doubt surrounding injury. It’s like, 'Can I feel the way I felt before?' The reality is sometimes you don't."

O’Hara didn’t arrive at the decision to move on from her playing career lightly. But once she began seriously considering making 2024 her final year during the last NWSL offseason, it felt right. "Once I was like, 'Alright, you know what, this will be my last year,' I have had a lot of peace with it," she said. "Truly the only thing I felt was gratitude for everything that my career has been, all the things I've been able to do and the people I've been able to do it with."

She said she’ll miss daily interactions with her teammates and all the amazing memories they’ve created, though she feels lucky to have formed relationships that go beyond sharing a locker room. "You're basically getting to hang out and just shoot the shit with your best friends every day," she reflected. "Which is so unheard of, and I just feel very lucky to do it for so long."

The Stanford graduate also mentioned that the NWSL’s suspension of regular season play in 2020 due to the Covid-19 pandemic made her realize how much playing allowed her the space to simply be creative every day. The tactical elements of soccer provided O’Hara an outlet for problem solving and made use of her naturally competitive edge.

She’s now gearing up to channel her on-field intensity into her post-playing career full time, which is a new chapter she’s excited to begin. "I don't know if the world's ready for it, like the fact that I'm not going to be putting all of my energy into football all the time," she said with a laugh. 

O’Hara said she would like to stay connected to the game in some fashion, whether it be as an owner, coach, or member of a front office. She’s also interested in the growing media space surrounding women’s sports, having provided on-camera analysis for broadcasters like CBS Sports in addition to starting a production company with her fiancée.

"I just feel like I have a lot of passions, and things that excite me," she says. "And I do want to stay as close as I can to the game, because I feel a responsibility — and I'm not sure in what capacity — to continue to grow it."

A sense of responsibility to grow the game has been a consistent refrain for the USWNT and NWSL players of O’Hara’s era, who ushered in a new age of equal pay for the national team and collectively bargained protections for those in the league. The landscape for new players looks different than it did 14 years ago, in large part due to this pivotal generation.

"I feel an immense sense of pride around that, because I don't know if any of us knew that was gonna happen," she said. "We kind of, as things unfolded, took the next step towards changing what women's football looks like in this country and around the world.

"I'm really grateful to have been part of this era with the players that I was [with], not backing down and pushing and knowing that was the right thing to do."

Whatever the future holds, O’Hara is going ahead full throttle. It’s a piece of advice she’d also give to the next generation of professionals looking to make their own impact.

"Whatever you do in life, do it because you love it, and the chips will fall in place," she said. "If you love something, you're willing to do what it takes. You're willing to make the sacrifices, you're willing to handle the roller coaster.

"To me, it's simple. Don't do it for any other reason but that, and I think you'll be alright."

The Phoenix Mercury center spoke with Robin Roberts about her 10-month incarceration, reflecting on her poor living conditions and shaky mental state ahead of her May 7th memoir.

"The mattress had a huge blood stain on it. I had no soap, no toilet paper," Griner told the ABC News anchor in last night’s 20/20 special. "That was the moment where I just felt less than a human." 

She also detailed some of her lowest moments during that time, saying with tears in her eyes that she went so far as to consider taking her own life on more than one occasion. However, the thought of Russian officials not releasing her body back to her family made her reconsider.

"I just didn't think I could get through what I needed to get through," said Griner.

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In February 2022, Griner was arrested and charged with drug possession and smuggling by a Russian court after Sheremetyevo International Airport police found vape cartridges containing hashish oil in her luggage. The cartridges were prescribed by Griner’s doctor for chronic pain back in Arizona, where medical marijuana is legal. In the interview, the two-time Olympic gold medalist said she had a "mental lapse" while packing, and never intended to bring the cannabis products with her when she returned to play for UMMC Ekaterinburg.

"It's just so easy to have a mental lapse," Griner said. "Granted, my mental lapse was on a more grand scale. But it doesn't take away from how that can happen." 

She was later sentenced to nine years behind bars after her Russian attorneys advised her to plead guilty the following July. Griner was then sent to a remote penal colony where she was forced to spend her days cutting cloth to make military uniforms. From there, it only got worse.

"Honestly, it just had to happen," she said when asked about her decision to cut off her signature long locks. "We had spiders above my bed making nests.

"My dreads started to freeze," she added. "They would just stay wet and cold and I was getting sick. You've gotta do what you've gotta do to survive."

Shortly after Griner’s initial arrest, the U.S. State Department classified her case as wrongfully detained, escalating its urgency within the government and calling even more attention to the situation. On December 8th, she was freed in a prisoner exchange negotiated by the Biden administration.

While she told Roberts she was "thrilled" when she got the news, she was also very upset about having to leave fellow wrongful detainee Paul Whelan behind. She also continues to carry guilt about her arrest, saying "At the end of the day, it's my fault. And I let everybody down."

Griner’s memoir, Coming Home, hits shelves on May 7th.

"Coming Home begins in a land where my roots developed and is the diary of my heartaches and regrets," Griner told ABC News in an exclusive statement. "But, ultimately, the book is also a story of how my family, my faith, and the support of millions who rallied for my rescue helped me endure a nightmare."

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.