Duke sophomore Michelle Cooper announced on Monday that she’ll be foregoing her remaining college eligibility to begin her professional soccer career in 2023.

“This was such a difficult decision, but one that I made with my heart and the people I trust dearly,” the 20-year-old wrote in a statement. The Blue Devils’ 2022 season ended in a quarterfinal loss to Alabama in November, in which Cooper scored a brace.

Transitioning to the professional game won’t be a huge leap for Cooper, who scored 19 goals and registered 11 assists this season, leading Duke in both categories by a significant margin.

She also captained the U-20 U.S. women’s national team in both the Concacaf Championship and the World Cup, scoring eight goals in Concacaf qualifying to win the Golden Boot as well as the Golden Ball as the tournament’s best player. She scored her final U-20 goal in the World Cup in August, as the U.S. bowed out of a very difficult group stage.

THERE IT IS! 🇺🇸🤩

Michelle Cooper scores the first goal for the @USYNT in the U-20 FIFA Women's World Cup! 🙌 pic.twitter.com/Jc85BtShs6

— FOX Soccer (@FOXSoccer) August 11, 2022

Cooper’s credentials place her in the upper echelon of young American-born talent, but her jump to the pros is also a larger reflection of the way the sport is changing.

Traditionally, even the top women’s college players would sometimes choose to stay in school for their full eligibility, valuing a college scholarship and degree over a professional salary. But as salary opportunities grow year after year in the professional game, norms have begun to change, and Cooper might be just the first of several underclassmen this year to make the same decision.

Tierna Davidson and Sophia Smith left Stanford early to become the first picks in their respective NWSL College Drafts, but both had already featured for the U.S. women’s national team, lending more weight to the decision. Cooper has yet to be called into the U.S. senior team, but she joins a growing group of prospects who have chosen to develop outside of the college game.

Ashley Sanchez (since capped with the USWNT), Brianna Pinto and Mia Fishel made similar decisions to leave college after their junior years. Emily Madril of Florida State recently made a unique jump of her own, forgoing her college eligibility to sign with the NWSL directly, and then going on loan before joining the league through the 2023 College Draft.

Adding to the ease of the process are Name, Image and Likeness rights, which allow college players to sign with an agency without having to make a quick decision to give up NCAA eligibility. Cooper, before her big announcement, had already signed with Wasserman Group (which represents a number of USWNT and NWSL players) and New Balance.

Fans in the U.S., however, will have to wait to see if Cooper follows Pinto and Sanchez to the NWSL, or if she takes a page from Fishel and Catarina Macario’s book and jumps at an opportunity abroad. U.S.-based clubs have the benefit of the NWSL’s new CBA, but Cooper wouldn’t yet qualify for allocation money — setting her salary limit at a non-allocated max contract, which is currently $75,000.

The NWSL also doesn’t have the benefit of player choice for those entering the league; even top talent has to opt into the College Draft. Unlike basketball, the NWSL is competing with leagues that don’t adhere to parity rules, and they occasionally lose talent that wants to be in control of their own destiny.

Whether she hears her name called on the NWSL Draft stage in Philadelphia in January or makes a splashy signing abroad, Cooper is ready for the next level. Fans will just have to wait and see where she takes her talents.

Thank you Duke🤍 pic.twitter.com/6YNjb2cjeV

— michelle cooper (@michelle1cooper) December 5, 2022

Claire Watkins is a Staff Writer at Just Women’s Sports. Follow her on Twitter @ScoutRipley.

Tennis fans saw an epic battle on Monday, as world No. 39 Emma Raducanu forced No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka into a third-set tiebreak in the third round of the 2025 Cincinnati Open.

The British 22-year-old, who burst into the sport's upper echelons by winning the 2021 US Open as an unseeded teenage qualifier, came achingly close to ousting the top-ranked three-time Grand Slam winner in a match that required more than three hours and two tie-breaks to resolve.

"She's world No. 1 for a reason, and I pushed her more than I did at Wimbledon so that's an improvement," said Raducanu, ultimately falling to the 2024 Cincinnati Open winner in Monday's narrow 7-6 (3), 4-6, 7-6 (5) loss.

Clearly affected by the oppressive humidity of the southern Ohio summer, Sabalenka took risks in the match's late stages to offset her 72 unforced errors and her diminishing energy.

"At the end, I went for crazy shots," Sabalenka told the crowd following the 2025 US Open tune-up match. "I think that it was a little bit risky from me and it really helped to put a lot of pressure on her."

Along with Sabalenka, this week's Round of 16 will feature at least four other Top-10 contenders, as 2025 Australian Open victor No. 6 Madison Keys and Kazakhstan's No. 10 Elena Rybakina booked their own Round of 32 wins on Monday, while 2025 French Open champion No. 2 Coco Gauff and 2025 Wimbledon winner No. 3 Iga Świątek enjoyed extra rest as their third-round opponents withdrew due to illness and injury on Tuesday.

Hoping to join the Gauff and Keys's advancing US contingent are No. 4 Jessica Pegula and No. 35 Ashlyn Krueger, who will face Poland's No. 40 Magda Linette and Italy's No. 9 Jasmine Paolini, respectively, on Tuesday.

How to watch the Cincinnati Open

Tennis's best will keep battling for Cincy's trophy — and an edge going into the season's final Grand Slam — this week: The third round will wrap on Tuesday before the Round of 16 kicks off on Wednesday.

Live coverage of the 2025 Cincinnati Open will continue airing on the Tennis Channel.

Indiana Fever superstar Caitlin Clark is feeling the pressure, joining retired WNBA legend Sue Bird on last Friday's podcast to discuss the impact of her recent spat of injuries on league attendance and viewership.

"That's definitely been hard," Clark told Bird about having to ride the bench. "I'm going to go to every road game no matter what, whether I'm playing or not. It's hard because obviously I do feel this responsibility of being out there and playing."

"I sign autographs for way longer when I'm hurt than when I'm active," Clark told Bird, referencing her outsized popularity. "That's never something I wish for, but I still want to make as much time as I can for people."

In total, Clark has missed 19 of the No. 5 Fever's 32 regular-season games — plus this year's Indianapolis-based All-Star Game — as she manages three separate muscle injuries.

Before her injuries, Indiana's 2025 season opener pit Clark against fellow WNBA sophomore Angel Reese and the Chicago Sky earned what is still this year's highest viewership, with 2.7 million people tuning in on May 17th.

Since then, all three rematches have seen the regional rivals face off without one or both of their popular 2024 draft picks.

Despite star absences, however, ratings are up across all WNBA teams, with national networks averaging 794,000 viewers per game through July — a 21% increase over 2024's full-season average.

The mysterious large purple egg stashed inside the Bay Area's Chase Center has hatched, revealing the first-ever mascot for the Golden State Valkyries: a bespectacled raven named Violet.

Violet made her official mascot debut during the No. 7 Valkyries' 74-57 Monday win over the No. 13 Connecticut Sun, with the Golden State crowd welcoming her by singing "Happy Birthday."

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"Ravens are commonly known as Valkyries' helpful and savvy counterparts in Norse mythology," the 2025 WNBA expansion team wrote in Tuesday's press materials, also noting that "because she is near-sighted, she sports gold glasses helping her achieve the excellent eyesight that ravens are known to have."

Nicknamed "Vi," Violet will bring "crucial knowledge [from her daily flights] back for the leaders of Ballhalla to use in battle."

Violet will now join other mascots in the league's spotlight, with teams seeing significant success from the popularity of WNBA-specific characters — sparked by the 2021 debut of New York Liberty icon Ellie the Elephant.

"The cultural phenomenon that Ellie has become today definitely exceeded our expectations," Liberty chief brand officer Shana Stephenson told Andscape last season. "She's become such an integral part of our game-day experience that the energy and atmosphere within our game I don't think would be the same without Ellie."

Chicago has also undergone a mascot revamp recently, replacing the team's old Sky Guy mascot with Skye the Lioness last year.

How to catch Violet the Raven at Golden State

Fans hoping to meet the Valks' new mascot will have a shot on Sunday, when Golden State returns from this week's road trip to host the No. 3 Atlanta Dream in the Chase Center at 8:30 PM ET, airing live on NBA TV.

Currently on a five-game losing streak, the No. 12 Dallas Wings — and star rookie Paige Bueckers — are trusting the process, hunting an upset as they take on the No. 5 Indiana Fever on Tuesday night.

"I think we have a really good young core, we have great pieces to build around, good complementary pieces," Bueckers told reporters on Sunday. "We're all really excited that the front office has doubled down on who we have here right now. I think that's what we're gonna build around."

"We've talked about it enough," the 2025 No. 1 overall draftee continued. "We need to put action behind our words."

First-year Dallas head coach Chris Koclanes has taken much of the heat for the Wings' skid, exiting the court to fans chanting "We want Nola" — a plea for assistant coach Nola Henry to take over the team.

"Stepping into this leadership role, [I'm] being challenged to step outside of character at times and when to hold people accountable in different ways and when to discipline in different ways, so I'm learning," said Koclanes, whose role with the Wings is also his first-ever stint as a head coach — at any level of the game.

"You know we didn't start the season off well, we're not playing how we should be playing. But we need the fans to support us," Dallas forward Myisha Hines-Allen said, directly addressing upset fans after the Wings' Friday loss to the No. 2 New York Liberty.

"At the end of the day, Chris is still our head coach. We still need him."

How to watch the Dallas Wings vs. Indiana Fever on Tuesday

The No. 12 Wings head to Indiana to take on the No. 5 Fever at 7:30 PM ET on Tuesday, airing live on ESPN.