The NWSL has not slowed down since crowning the Washington Spirit as champions in late November. In the past two weeks, there have been a flurry of trades and teams have submitted their protection lists as the league prepares for the expansion draft on Thursday and college draft on Saturday.

The expansion draft kicks off the events at 7 p.m. ET on CBS Sports Network, the NWSL YouTube channel and Paramount+, where expansion clubs Angel City FC and San Diego Wave FC will get to select one player from each NWSL team and a total of one U.S. allocated player.

Four clubs have made deals with the new California teams to receive full immunity in the expansion draft, including the Chicago Red Stars, Kansas City Current, NJ/NY Gotham FC and the North Carolina Courage. Racing Louisville FC and Portland Thorns FC are protected from Angel City, and the Washington Spirit have received protection from San Diego. In addition, OL Reign and the Spirit each have partial roster protection from Angel City.

It’s hard enough to keep track of all the trades, lists and draft orders, let alone process the potential effects of each club’s decisions. Now is a good time to get caught up, so let’s discuss where each team stands heading into a week that will define the 2022 NWSL season.

One week out!

Where will you be watching the @NWSL draft from?

— Just Women’s Sports (@justwsports) December 11, 2021

Thriving

San Diego Wave and Angel City FC

With the partial rosters they’ve formed through trades and signings, Angel City and San Diego are already posing threats in 2022. ACFC has pieced together a strong and versatile core of Sarah Gorden, Julie Ertz and Christen Press. Currently, they have the slight edge over San Diego, who did almost as well in signing Kailen Sheridan, Abby Dahlkemper, Tegan McGrady and Alex Morgan (if the deal with Orlando is finalized on Dec. 17, as The Athletic reported last week). That might change after San Diego takes advantage of their first picks in the first and third rounds of the college draft.

Racing Louisville

Since Racing Louisville traded Christen Press’ playing rights to Angel City for expansion protection, a natural first-round pick in the 2022 draft and $75,000 in allocation money, they’ve been setting themselves up for the future. They’re in the best position of any team in the college draft with the second, fourth and 16th overall picks. While it might take at least a year for the rookies adjust, Louisville could become a contender sooner than people think, especially with rising stars like Ebony Salmon and Cece Kizer. Kizer just completed a breakout season, in which she started all 22 games and led the team with five goals.

One development to watch this week is the status of Savannah McCaskill and Yuki Nagasato, players Racing left unprotected for the expansion draft. Both played key roles in Louisville’s attack this past season, with McCaskill tallying two goals and three assists in 22 starts and Nagasato contributing two goals and two assists in 18 starts. Worst case scenario, Louisville loses only one of them to San Diego since the club is fully protected from Angel City.

Washington Spirit

If anything, the 2021 NWSL champions are in position to be more dominant than they were this past season. They don’t have a pick in the college draft until No. 38, but their team is so young already that it hardly matters. The Spirit are a step ahead of most teams, since they’ve had their young players for a year already, won a championship and now get to build on that foundation with players like Trinity Rodman, who at 19 years old is still years younger than hopefuls in the college draft.

There’s also little stress heading into the expansion draft, where they’re fully protected from San Diego and their three U.S. allocated players (Emily Sonnett, Kelley O’Hara and Andi Sullivan) are protected from Angel City. Fullback Tegan McGrady has been Washington’s biggest loss after she was traded to the Wave earlier this month. Although Spirit interim coach Kris Ward preferred McGrady in the starting lineup, he often flipped between her and Julia Roddar, who is on the protected list and will enable Washington to keep a backline they’re familiar with.

OL Reign

With young and experienced players filling out positions at every level, OL Reign is one of the deepest and most well-rounded teams in the league. Even though they’ve left some big names unprotected in the expansion draft and they’re not selecting until No. 10 in the college draft, the Reign will be fine. Megan Rapinoe, for example, will be on the table for San Diego after the Reign protected Rose Lavelle with their U.S. allocation slot. Rapinoe and the rest of the Reign’s forwards are at least protected from Angel City, so they know they won’t lose more than one member of their league-leading offense that scored 35 goals in 2021. Other unprotected names to note are Tziarra King (protected from Angel City), Celia and starting defenders Lauren Barnes and Kristen McNabb.

Some big names have been left unprotected for next week's @NWSL expansion draft.

Who are you most surprised to see on the list? pic.twitter.com/s1zAwf22MZ

— Just Women’s Sports (@justwsports) December 10, 2021

‘Having an OK time’

North Carolina Courage

After trading Sam Mewis to Kansas City Current, North Carolina has a big hole to replace in the midfield. When the Courage were without Mewis for six weeks at the end of the season, while the U.S. women’s national team star was recovering from knee surgery, the center of the park fell apart. They also traded midfielders Cari Roccaro to Angel City and Angharad James to San Diego and picked up 2021 No. 3 pick Brianna Pinto from NJ/NY Gotham, so it looks like a midfield rebuild is in the works. Still, they would be smart to use their third overall pick on a midfielder on Saturday.

Chicago Red Stars

At first glance, the Red Stars’ decision to trade midfielder Julie Ertz and defender Sarah Gorden to Angel City FC is worrying. Gorden, known for speed and dribbling out of the back, has been a brick wall since cracking into Chicago’s starting XI as a rookie in 2016. Ertz sets the tone in the holding midfield by starting attacking plays. But the NWSL finalists played most of their season without Ertz, and while Gorden is a big loss, the Red Stars have depth on their back line.

Offense is an area Chicago is still building, so expect them to draft a midfielder or forward with the 11th overall pick in the college draft who can complement the skill sets of Kealia Watt and Mallory Pugh. Pugh is among four USWNT players who just re-signed with the Red Stars on multi-year contracts. That group includes Tierna Davidson, Casey Krueger and Alyssa Naeher, and they are all protected in the expansion draft.

Portland Thorns

The Thorns are so stacked with experience that any protected list was bound to leave off some high-level talent. On the Thorns’ unprotected list for Thursday’s expansion draft are defenders Becky Sauerbrunn and Meghan Klingenberg as well as world-leading goal scorer Christine Sinclair. Sauerbrunn and Sinclair should be safe considering retirement is on the horizon for both and Sinclair’s ties to Portland run deep.

Klingenberg, however, would be an intriguing option for San Diego (since the Thorns have received protection from Angel City through a trade). There’s also Angela Salem, another 33-year-old, if they value experience in the midfield more than defense. That said, the Thorns also reportedly have an agreement in place with San Diego that would protect their core players from selection.

NJ/NY Gotham FC

Defense wins championships, and an NWSL title is exactly what goalkeeper Ashlyn Harris and defender Ali Krieger said they’re after with their new team. Krieger’s aerial dominance and long-ball assists will add to a strong defense that already includes Imani Dorsey and NWSL Defender of the Year Caprice Dydasco. Gotham traded away some good players in Pinto and Sheridan, but Harris and Krieger more than make up for the losses.

Orlando's New No. 9 ⚽️💥#CHIvORL | https://t.co/0LtSAUK1Jw | #NWSL21 pic.twitter.com/uWJMyXMbwK

— National Women’s Soccer League (@NWSL) August 8, 2021

Room for improvement

Orlando Pride

The Pride have dealt Krieger, Harris and Jodie Taylor, and now Alex Morgan is on her way out in a trade that San Diego officially announced on Monday. Orlando also has no full or partial roster protection in the expansion draft. All of this is OK because Orlando is in desperate need of a rebuild. Since joining the league in 2016, the Pride have made the playoffs just once in 2017. So far, they’ve acquired a 2022 first-round pick and a 2023 third-round pick from Gotham, and a conditional natural second- or third-round pick from San Diego. The Pride’s 2022 season will be murky, but based on the moves they’ve made and the addition of head coach Amanda Cromwell, they will be a new team in 2023.

Houston Dash

The Dash have been one of the quieter teams in the last couple of weeks, and now are one of just four teams that don’t have any full-roster protection in the expansion draft. Their protection list makes sense, but it will be interesting to see what happens with unprotected players Megan Oyster, Sophie Schmidt and up-and-coming midfielder Brianna Visallli. The biggest name to note on the unprotected list is Kristie Mewis, who seems the obvious pick for either Angel City or San Diego, unless the rumors that she’s planning to sign Tottenham Hotspur come true.

Kansas City Current 

Kansas City’s midfield is in a good place with Sam Mewis as the linchpin. Other than that, the Current haven’t done much to show they’re capable of improving upon their last-place regular season finish in 2021. Their highest pick in the college draft is 12th overall, and they haven’t made any further trades.

Jessa Braun is an editorial intern for Just Women’s Sports. She is also the Head of North American Content for the Women’s Sports Alliance. You can find 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.