When trades occur abruptly in the NWSL, sometimes the hardest part for players involved is what comes immediately after the phone call. The trade that sent longtime North Carolina Courage captain Abby Erceg to Racing Louisville alongside teammate Carson Pickett took both players by surprise, leaving them with little time to process their emotions.

“I think when [Pickett] and I both got off the call, my first reaction was to cry,” Erceg told the media after their first training in Louisville on Wednesday. “Because you don’t really know how to take that kind of news.”

Describing the following days as an emotional rollercoaster, Erceg and Pickett — who have a house together in North Carolina — quickly had to pack up and move to a new city. The only problem was that Racing Louisville’s preseason had already started.

“I was still in New Zealand when I found out,” Erceg said. “And then we learned that the team here is starting the Monday before I get back. So it’s just, you want to get with the team and you don’t want to be that player that turns up late and you’re just trying to get everything done.”

“I think as professional athletes, you have to understand that you can be traded at any point,” Pickett also told the media. “And so it was a shock, but I think that it was the timing, mainly because we wanted to be here, we wanted to be in Louisville with our new team, but because we kind of found out a little later, they had already started training for a couple days.”

For Pickett, getting traded wasn’t unfamiliar territory. Louisville will be the outside back’s fourth NWSL club after she spent two years in North Carolina. But Erceg had been with the Western New York Flash and then the rebranded Courage since the 2016 season, winning three Championships, three NWSL Shields and the 2022 Challenge Cup as captain of the squad. She and Pickett had anticipated being in North Carolina for a long time.

Erceg expressed her shock and disappointment on social media soon after the trade, which sent U.S. women’s national team defender Emily Fox to North Carolina in exchange for the players. A week earlier, the 33-year-old Erceg had criticized the club for its decision to trade 2021 Rookie of the Year candidate Diana Ordoónez to Houston on NWSL draft night.

“I think when you spend that long at a club, and you don’t get a chance to have the conversation about what your future looks like, it’s tough when you find out that kind of news,” Erceg said. “So there were definitely a lot of emotions initially.”

“I think I immediately felt the hurt that Abby felt, just for her because she had been there for so much longer. She was a captain and things like that,” Pickett echoed.

Without much time to waste, Erceg and Pickett turned their attention to Louisville. Erceg said they relied on resources from the NWSL Players’ Association and new protections written into the league’s first collective bargaining agreement to help with the move.

Louisville also stepped right in to make the pair comfortable. Soon after the trade, the club put together a presentation for Erceg and Pickett to help them get acclimated to the area.

“It had everything you can possibly need,” Pickett said. “It had coffee shops, it had restaurants … housing, it had everything we needed to move. They made us feel so comfortable right away. And I think that honestly, when I got off that call, I was like, I’m ready to go. I don’t even need my couch, my bed. I’m just ready to be there.”

As they get settled into their new surroundings, both players are ready for a new chapter.

“I think soccer is kind of the place where you can just let go of those emotions,” Erceg said, emphasizing that the time to work through emotional upheaval is during the preseason process so that she can be ready to go when the season starts.

While Erceg still has many friends on the Courage, she already has her eye on Louisville’s first match against North Carolina, a club they have never beaten.

“I’ll be nervous, there’s no doubt about it,” she said. “It’ll be a tough game, but at the same time, do I want to beat them? 100 percent.”

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

The 2025 Wimbledon Championships wrapped its second round on Thursday, with the grass court Grand Slam seeing just 15 of the tournament's 32 seeded players advance to the Friday and Saturday's third round.

A full half of the WTA's Top 10 players did not survive the week, with 2024 Wimbledon finalist and world No. 5 Jasmine Paolini joining four first-round star exits by falling to unseeded Kamilla Rakhimova in a three-set, second-round battle on Wednesday.

At the same time, unseeded fan favorites like Japan's No. 53 Naomi Osaka and England's own No. 40 Emma Raducanu secured third-round spots at the London Slam, joining top surviving contenders like No. 4 Iga Świątek and defending Wimbledon champion No. 16 Barbora Krejčíková.

Notably, a full five US players managed to move ahead, tied for the largest national contingent still standing at the tournament.

Led by 2025 Australian Open champion No. 8 Madison Keys, the US group also includes No. 10 Emma Navarro and No. 12 Amanda Anisimova, as well as unseeded players No. 54 Danielle Collins and No. 55 Hailey Baptiste.

With matches against Świątek and No. 7 Mirra Andreeva, respectively, Collins and Baptiste have a tough third round ahead — though Navarro's battle against the 2024 champ Krejčíková arguably headlines Saturday's slate.

How to watch Wimbledon this weekend

While world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka is still holding strong in the dwindling field, this year's Wimbledon play is proving that the London Slam is anyone's to take, as the grass court humbles even the sport's top stars.

Expect the twists and turns to continue as tennis's best battle for spots in Sunday's Round of 16.

Round-of-32 Wimbledon play kicks off at 6 AM ET on Friday, with live continuous coverage of the tournament airing on ESPN.

The 2025 European Championship is officially underway, as Euro action kicked off with a group-stage upset on Wednesday.

Though the 2025 UEFA tournament's opener was a sweltering affair amid a European heat wave, world No. 26 Finland prevailed, earning a 1-0 upset win over No. 14 Iceland in Group A.

Finnish winger Katariina Kosola played hero, curling in the winning goal in the match's 70th minute — just 12 minutes after Iceland midfielder Hildur Antonsdóttir picked up the competition's first red card.

"The result is important for our confidence," Kosola said after Finland's first major tournament win since the 2009 Euro. "It was the kind of goal I have been practicing a lot."

"It's terrible to lose and we feel frustrated," said Iceland head coach Thorsteinn Halldórsson. "It is an even group and we knew Finland were good, but our first half wasn't good enough."

Elsewhere, No. 16 Norway closed out Wednesday's slate on top of Group A, taking three points by defeating host No. 23 Switzerland in day's second match.

Led by captain and 2018 Ballon d'Or winner Ada Hegerberg — who pulled the match even with a second-half strike — Norway battled to a 2-1 comeback win, despite the Swiss side outshooting and out-possessing the Norwegians.

How to watch this week's 2025 Euro action

Group B steals the 2025 Euro spotlight on Thursday.

While No. 13 Italy snagged a 1-0 opening win over No. 20 Belgium to kick off the day, 2023 World Cup champions and tournament favorite No. 2 Spain will face No. 22 Portugal at 3 PM ET.

Friday's Group C slate will pit No. 12 Denmark against No. 6 Sweden at 12 PM ET, before No. 3 Germany contends with No. 27 Poland at 3 PM ET.

Closing out the first group-stage matches will be arguably the toughest draw of the 2025 Euro pool.

Saturday's Group D slate features major tournament debutants No. 30 Wales against the No. 11 Netherlands at 12 PM ET, with No. 10 France taking on defending champions No. 5 England to cap the day at 3 PM ET.

Live coverage of 2025 Euro matches will air across Fox Sports platforms.

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.

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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."

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.