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Lindsey Horan, Crystal Dunn: Hard to feel proud to play for Thorns

Lindsey Horan has played for the Thorns since 2016 and won an NWSL championship. (Craig Mitchelldyer/ISI Photos/Getty Images)

U.S. women’s national team midfielder Lindsey Horan is on loan from the Portland Thorns with Lyon this season, but she’s still feeling the effects of the turmoil surrounding the NWSL.

Horan has played for Portland since 2016, winning a championship in 2017 and NWSL Shields in 2016 and 2021. She’s always been proud to be a Thorn, but after hearing about the roles Thorns owner Merritt Paulson and former general manager Gavin Wilkinson played in covering up abuse from former coach Paul Riley, Horan is struggling to find that pride.

“It’s hard to read this and look back at that and feel proud to play for an organization like that,” she told reporters on Thursday from London, where she is training with the USWNT. “That’s really hard for me personally, and especially with all the work you’ve put in for that team and that club, that’s where I feel hurt and disturbed and obviously, just so much anger for these players as well.”

Wilkinson was relieved of his duties with the Thorns on Wednesday, along with president of business Mike Golub.

This came after the release of the Sally Yates report on abuse in the NWSL, which found Wilkinson, Golub and Paulson had been complicit in Riley’s sexual coercion and harassment of former players Mana Shim and Sinead Farrelly. Despite conducting an internal investigation of Riley’s behavior and parting ways with the coach in 2015, the club cited on-field results as the reason for his departure and recommended him for his next job.

Paulson still owns the Thorns but said he would be stepping away from team-related “decision-making” as Portland enters the NWSL playoffs.

“I cannot apologize enough for our role in a gross systemic failure to protect player safety and the missteps we made in 2015. I am truly sorry,” he said in a statement on Tuesday.

But many NWSL players don’t think that’s enough.

“It is my opinion that every owner and executive and U.S. Soccer official who has repeatedly failed the players and failed to protect the players, who have hidden behind legalities and have not participated fully in these investigations, should be gone,” Becky Sauerbrunn said on Tuesday.

USWNT and OL Reign star Megan Rapinoe echoed those comments on Thursday, as the team prepares for a friendly match against England at Wembley Stadium on Friday.

“I don’t think Merritt Paulson is fit to be the owner in Portland. I don’t think Arnim [Whisler] is fit to be the owner in Chicago,” Rapinoe said during a press conference.

USWNT member Crystal Dunn has played for Portland since 2020. Prior to that, she was with the North Carolina Courage from 2018-20, where Riley was at the helm from 2017-21.

She feels similarly to Horan when it comes to representing an organization that failed to protect its players in the past.

“Yeah, I think that is probably one of the hardest things as players that we are facing now, is feeling a sense of pride in playing,” she said. “The jerseys that we’re wearing, it’s hard to be happy in them, it’s hard to find joy in wearing it.”

The Yates report, Dunn says, has caused feelings of anger and sadness within the USWNT. Together, the players are trying to find a balance between those emotions and the on-field focus needed to compete with England, the reigning Euro champions, on Friday.

“A lot of us are trying to find joy in playing this game,” Dunn said. “There’s an amazing game ahead of us on Friday. I think we’re all trying to individually navigate that as best we can. Some of us are just able to separate the two and focus on training one training at a time.”

USWNT Caps Summer Friendlies with 3-0 Canada Shutout

Yazmeen Ryan, Michelle Cooper, Claire Hutton, Mandy McGlynn, and Izzy Rodriguez and the rest of the USWNT huddle after their July 2025 friendly win over Canada.
The USWNT finished the summer international window with 11 goals, conceding none, across three matches. (Brad Smith/ISI Photos/USSF/Getty Images)

The world No. 1 USWNT ruled the pitch on Wednesday night, shutting out North American rivals No. 8 Canada 3-0 to finish the international window on a high note.

Catching the Canada backline sleeping, US midfielder Sam Coffey opened the scoring at the 17-minute mark before 19-year-old Claire Hutton claimed her first-ever USWNT goal by heading in a Rose Lavelle corner kick in the game's 36th minute.

Houston Dash forward Yazmeen Ryan then padded the US tally in the waning minutes of the match, finding the back of the net just eight minutes after subbing onto the field.

Despite fielding a young roster, the US overpowered a veteran-heavy Canada side in almost every category, topping their Northern neighbors in shots, shots on target, possession, and — most notably — set pieces.

Canada ultimately couldn't match the game's mental pace or physical battle, as the USWNT scored all three goals off dead ball situations — a free kick, a corner kick, and a throw-in.

"It's not about the opponent," US head coach Emma Hayes said after the match. "It's about what we do, and I felt that was extremely dominant."

With Wednesday's contributions, the USWNT finishes the summer window with 11 goals scored across the three friendlies — and zero goals conceded.

The US now enters an extended break before reconvening for another as-yet-unannounced friendly series in October — but players will be expected to perform in the meantime.

"I said to the players in the end in the huddle, if you want to compete to win the biggest things, it's not what you do here that matters," said Hayes. "It's what you do when you go back to your club."

Seattle Storm Looks to Climb the WNBA Standings in Weekend Gauntlet

Seattle Storm star Nneka Ogwumike high-fives teammates as she's introduced before a 2025 WNBA game.
The No. 5 Seattle Storm will face No. 4 Atlanta and No. 3 New York this weekend. (Soobum Im/NBAE via Getty Images)

The 2025 WNBA regular season returns on Thursday night, with teams at the top of the league standings looking to prove their mettle against close competition across the long holiday weekend.

The No. 5 Seattle Storm have arguably the toughest weekend assignments, taking on the No. 4 Atlanta Dream on Friday before tackling the No. 3 New York Liberty on Sunday.

Four middle-of-the-pack teams will look to close in on a double-digit season win tally while the league's frontrunners strive to maintain their advantage in this weekend's slate:

  • No. 7 Las Vegas Aces vs. No. 8 Indiana Fever, Thursday at 7 PM ET (Prime): Though still without star Caitlin Clark, the Fever hope to harness their 2025 WNBA Commissioner's Cup victory momentum against an Aces side tied with Indiana with an 8-8 season record.
  • No. 5 Seattle Storm vs. No. 4 Atlanta Dream, Thursday at 7:30 PM ET (WNBA League Pass): Seattle will look to make strides against a strong Atlanta side while putting last Sunday's stinging 84-57 loss to up-and-comer Golden State in their rearview.
  • No. 6 Golden State Valkyries vs. No. 1 Minnesota Lynx, Saturday at 8 PM ET (WNBA League Pass): The rising Valkyries must face a Lynx side hunting redemption, as the league-leaders look to bounce back from their stifling Tuesday Commissioner's Cup upset loss.
  • No. 5 Seattle Storm vs. No. 3 New York Liberty, Sunday at 1 PM ET (CBS): With injured Liberty center Jonquel Jones still sidelined, the Seattle Storm will have a chance to steal a weekend game against the reigning champs, as New York struggles to re-find their footing.

With the 2025 WNBA All-Star break looming, early top performers must keep standards high if they want to hold the line when the season crosses the midway point.

NWSL Drops Schedule Framework for Expanded 2026 Season

A soccer ball rests on the pitch at Kansas City's CPKC Stadium before a 2025 NWSL match.
The NWSL will expand to 16 active teams for the first time in 2026. (Jay Biggerstaff/NWSL via Getty Images)

Even with the 2025 regular season on a break, the NWSL is staying busy, announcing its 2026 schedule framework on Wednesday as the league eyes its first-ever 16-team season.

With both expansion clubs Denver and Boston Legacy FC hitting the pitch, the NWSL plans to expand the regular season from its current 26 matches to 30 games per team, ensuring each club plays one home and one away match against each of the league's squads across the 2026 season.

The 2026 campaign will kick off on March 13th and run through November 1st, before the eight-team playoff field battles through the postseason, all aiming to lift the NWSL Championship trophy on November 21st.

Like previous seasons, next year's NWSL play will begin with a preseason appetizer, as the 2025 league champion and 2025 Shield-winner will face off in the 2026 Challenge Cup on February 20th.

Notably, the NWSL will pause regular-season play for nearly entire month of June, in part because the North America-hosted 2026 FIFA Men's World Cup will be using league venues across seven NWSL cities.

The league will also fulfill its CBA-mandated summer break, meaning each team's 30-game 2026 season will take place across 27 total weeks of competition.

Including the Challenge Cup and postseason play, the 2026 NWSL season will include 248 matches.

The league will release more scheduling details at a later date.

Women’s Professional Baseball League Sets Inaugural Tryouts

Wide view of Washington, DC's Nationals Park during a 2025 MLB game.
The Women's Professional Baseball League plans to launch in 2026. (Joe Robbins/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)

Set to debut in 2026, the Women's Professional Baseball League (WPBL) announced Wednesday that it will hold its first-ever tryouts this summer, with the event kicking off on August 22nd in Washington, DC.

The WPBL currently has more than 600 attendees registered for the August tryouts, which will take place across a four-day camp.

For the first three days, players will participate in drills and performance testing at the Washington Nationals' Youth Baseball Academy.

Those evaluations will determine the select group to advance past the first cuts, with those players then competing in live game-play at MLB's Nationals Park on August 25th.

Following that final round, a total of 150 successful athletes will earn invites to the league's inaugural draft in October.

Leading the tryouts will be WPBL EVP of player relations and Team USA baseball star Alex Hugo.

"We are really excited to see all of the players at tryouts this summer and see their incredible skills," Hugo said in the WPBL's tryouts announcement. "We're building a future where girls and women who love baseball can dream as big as they want and now, finally, have a league to call their own."

Co-founded by the first woman to coach in MLB, Justine Siegal, the WPBL plans to launch with six teams in spring of 2026.

When it begins play, the WPBL will become the first US women's pro baseball league since the World War II-era All-American Girls Professional Baseball League, which folded in 1954 following 12 seasons of play.

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