When Angel Reese decided to transfer from Maryland to LSU before last season, she changed the trajectory of LSU women’s basketball. After leading the Tigers to their first NCAA Championship last month, Reese has helped put LSU on the map as the premier destination for transfers.

Coming off the 2023 NCAA title, LSU is the favorite to repeat next year thanks to the additions of top transfers Aneesah Morrow from DePaul and Hailey Van Lith from Louisville.

“It’s lit,” Reese told Just Women’s Sports from Overtime’s Takeover event on Saturday, the day after Morrow revealed her decision. “They say we are building a superteam, so I’m excited.”

A year ago, when Reese was looking for her new home, she visited LSU and promptly canceled planned trips to Tennessee and South Carolina after finding the perfect fit with head coach Kim Mulkey and the school.

This offseason, when Van Lith entered the transfer portal, no other school even emerged as a candidate for the graduate student before she became a Tiger. Morrow’s transfer process was full of fanfare as she posted updates on social media and announced her decision in an NIL-sponsored video. Morrow, the fourth-leading scorer in the nation last season, selected LSU over South Carolina and USC.

pic.twitter.com/wp5Xk3whpQ

— Angel Reese (@Reese10Angel) May 5, 2023

There’s something about LSU — or a collection of somethings, according to Reese — that instantly wins over prospective transfers.

One of those things is Mulkey, with whom Reese quickly developed a close relationship. The Final Four MVP sings her coach’s praises at every opportunity. Van Lith shares a similar bond with Mulkey, having nearly committed to play for her at Baylor a few years ago. Even though she chose Louisville out of high school, she maintained a relationship with Mulkey.

“Coach Mulkey and I have had a great relationship since I was in high school,” Van Lith said when she signed with the Tigers. “I am extremely excited and honored to have an opportunity to play for her. She will help elevate my game and push me to be successful at the next level.”

Van Lith fills a key role on LSU’s roster after Alexis Morris graduated and moved on to the WNBA. LSU needs a point guard who can provide another scoring threat alongside the team’s potent post duo of Reese and Morrow. Van Lith is a skilled attacker who dominates the midrange, which should help LSU open up space in the paint. That’s also how Morris did a lot of her damage for the Tigers last season, and especially during the NCAA Tournament.

Van Lith’s competitive spirit is well-known. After three seasons with Louisville, one of which resulted in a Final Four, the guard has yet to win a title. LSU gives her the opportunity to do so.

eleven pic.twitter.com/GIRiJUgT8r

— HVL (@haileyvanlith) April 27, 2023

That was a key piece in Morrow’s decision as well. The former DePaul star averaged 25.7 points and 12.2 rebounds last season, but told ESPN last week that she felt she had “nothing to show for it” because the Blue Demons weren’t able to secure conference titles and appeared in only one NCAA Tournament during her tenure.

Now, Morrow will play alongside other established stars and be a part of what should be the most dominant frontcourt duo in the country with Reese.

Morrow also wanted a school that would help her become a more well-rounded player and person off the court. She’s particularly interested in growing as a businesswoman and entrepreneur. Once again, in the NIL landscape, LSU is at the forefront.

Reese is the perfect example. She expressed interest in modeling, and on Monday was featured in the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit edition, just one of many off-court deals and accomplishments she’s seen come to fruition at LSU.

Reese and LSU teammate Flau’jae Johnson, who both helped mentor some of the top girls’ high school players in the country at the Overtime Takeover event this past weekend, led the men’s and women’s Final Four field in social media following. Reese, 21, also led all March Madness athletes in NIL merchandise sales.

“When I came to LSU, I had 70k followers and now I have going on 2 (million),” Reese said of her social media platforms. “(LSU) embraces it, and coach Mulkey lets you be who you are. On the court, she makes sure you come into practice and handle your business, but outside she doesn’t make you sit in a box and be one thing.”

Reese’s newest trophy-seeking teammates are ready for that, too.

“The chip is on our shoulder, for sure,” Reese said. “Everyone is going to be coming at us, just like last year, but that makes the game fun.”

Eden Laase is a Staff Writer at Just Women’s Sports. Follow her on Twitter @eden_laase.

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.