On Thursday, JWS released a list of NWSL midseason awards. Today, we complete those awards with a rundown of five frontrunners for league MVP three months into the regular season.

The Best Offensive Player and Best Defensive Player from Thursday have made this list, and are joined by three others — two forwards and one defender. We make our pick for midseason MVP at the end.

These are not predictions for who will be named the 2022 NWSL MVP, because a lot can happen between now and the end of the regular season in October, but rather a nod to the players who have stood out from the rest so far.

Let’s dive in.

Mallory Pugh, F, Chicago Red Stars

Mallory Pugh appears to be in the best form of her career. Getting 86 percent of her shots on target, she’s buried a total of six for the Red Stars to sit third in the Golden Boot race. The 2021 NWSL MVP nominee also has two assists and a dribble success rate of 76 percent. On the other side of the ball, she wins 67 percent of her tackles and has made eight interceptions. On Thursday, she was named the best offensive player in JWS’ midseason awards.

This is just unreal, @MalPugh 😱@chicagoredstars | #MKOT pic.twitter.com/YWEBidBqaf

— National Women’s Soccer League (@NWSL) June 4, 2022

Sophia Smith, F, Portland Thorns FC

On a Thorns team full of stars, Sophia Smith manages to stand out with her quick and precise decision-making in the opponent’s box. Leading the league in both shots and shots on goal, she has eight goals and two assists on the year. The 21-year-old is behind only San Diego forward Alex Morgan (11 goals) in the Golden Boot race. Thanks to Smith’s efforts, the Thorns currently lead the league with 29 goals, nine ahead of the second-best Red Stars, and with 80 shots on goal, 16 ahead of Chicago.

“A PLAYER FOR ALL SEASONS”@ThornFC | #BAONPDX pic.twitter.com/LOYFhNIX8h

— National Women’s Soccer League (@NWSL) April 30, 2022

Sofia Huerta, D, OL Reign

Sofia Huerta delivers some of the best crosses in the NWSL, creating two assists and 18 chances so far in 2022. With a 76 percent success on her passes and 67 percent of her shots going on target, Huerta’s accuracy is key to OL Reign’s attack. Defensively, Huerta has a 75 percent tackle success rate to help the Reign’s backline hold opponents to a league-best nine total goals this season.

It's @bethanybalcer who finally puts one in the back of the net for @OLReign!

Watch: https://t.co/vzgSxG3jWg | #BoldTogether pic.twitter.com/LeRlH270Md

— National Women’s Soccer League (@NWSL) May 26, 2022

Alex Morgan, F, San Diego Wave FC

Eleven goals is hard to ignore. Alex Morgan has led the league in goals all season, helping push the Wave to the top of the NWSL standings in their first season as a franchise. Creating nine chances, she also has an assist to her name and has won 75 percent of her tackles.

Stop us if you've heard this before: Alex Morgan scores for San Diego

It's her 11th goal of the season #NJNYvSD (🎥 @NWSL)pic.twitter.com/daWb0iDmxi

— AllForXI (@AllForXI) June 19, 2022

Our pick: Naomi Girma, D, San Diego Wave FC

A rookie has never officially won an NWSL MVP award, but if there’s a player to do it, it’s Naomi Girma.

The May Rookie of the Month has arguably been the best defender in the league this year. Making the NWSL’s Team of the Month for both May and June, the center back is smooth in every aspect of her game — from her passing accuracy of 84 percent, to her one-v-one defending, to her ability to read opponents, leading to 18 interceptions. In the absence of the injured Abby Dahlkemper, Girma has emerged as a leader who’s already worn the captain’s armband, just six months into her rookie year.

The No. 1 2022 draft pick has played every minute of the games she’s been available for, leading a San Diego backline that’s conceded just 11 goals to stay atop the league standings.

Naomi Girma put her body on the line to make a great block ❌ pic.twitter.com/nJXU1VRl97

— Attacking Third (@AttackingThird) June 5, 2022

Jessa Braun is a contributing writer at Just Women’s Sports covering the NWSL and USWNT. Follow her on Twitter @jessabraun.

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.