Metropolitan Riveters general manager Anya Packer announced Wednesday that she will not be returning to her role next year.

“It comes with mixed emotions that I have declined renewing my contract as GM of the Riveters,” she wrote in the announcement on Twitter. “While I’ll miss the camaraderie with the team, and innovating the traditional hockey landscape, I’ll always be a fan of this amazing group of players.”

It comes with mixed emotions that I have declined renewing my contract as GM of the Riveters.

I am VERY PROUD of what we accomplished in a short period of time, highlighted by:
- Improved quality of care for our athletes
- Lead DEI initiatives to #ChangeHockeyCulture

(1/3)

— Anya Packer (She/Her) (@battaglinoa) April 13, 2022

Packer spent one season with the organization. Her wife, Madison Packer, is the team’s captain.

“You’re not changing the game,” wrote Madison on Twitter. “You’re changing the world. Whatever your next mission is, I know you’ll crush it with your head held high & both feet firmly on the ground. You are an absolute legend & one hell of a pioneer.”

Prior to joining the Riveters, Anya Packer spent three seasons playing with the Connecticut Whale from 2015-18, and she served as the executive director for the league’s players’ association from 2018-21.

While executive director, she helped negotiate multiple partnerships and sponsorships, as well as a 50-50 revenue split between the league and its players. She played a major role in negotiating a three-year streaming deal with Twitch.

She was named to Forbes’ 30 Under 30 in Sports list in 2021. Sportsnet named her one of the 25 Most Powerful Women in Hockey in 2020.

The news of her departure from the Riveters comes after reports that the Riveters have tabbed Digit Murphy as team president for the upcoming season.

While Packer did not tie her departure to Murphy’s arrival, several other front office employees, including the stats team and public relations staffers, departed the organization in the wake of the news of Murphy coming to the team, The IX’s Anne Tokarski reported.

The Chicago Stars are moving out of Bridgeview, the NWSL club announced on Wednesday, signing a one-year deal to play at Northwestern University's Martin Stadium on the shore of Lake Michigan for the 2026 season.

Currently home to the Big Ten school's lacrosse and football teams, the open-air, turf-field stadium in Evanston accommodates 12,000 fans — a steep drop from the 20,000-seat capacity SeatGeek Stadium where the Stars have competed for the last 10 years, often struggling to fill the stands.

"What began as a temporary lakefront home for Northwestern football has quickly become a unique venue that has welcomed collegiate, professional, and international competition," said Northwestern director of athletics Mark Jackson in a club statement.

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The Stars have never had a full-time home inside Chicago's city limits, making their 2011 debut at Benedictine University in Lisle, Illinois, before moving to Bridgeview ahead of the 2016 season.

Stars fans will have a sneak peek of what it's like to attend an NWSL game at the team's 2026 digs this Sunday, when a surging Chicago side will host the reigning champion Orlando Pride in a pre-announced match at Martin Stadium.

"This is just one step in a series of changes, including the recent hiring of renowned head coach Martin Sjögren,... [to] set the club on a new trajectory," noted Chicago Stars president Karen Leetzow.

Retired USWNT superstar Alex Morgan hit up Alex Cooper's Call Her Daddy podcast this week, talking motherhood, soccer stardom, and the fight for equal pay.

"Fast forward to 2019, and we were owning our s—t," she said, referencing the USWNT's long fight to achieve financial equity. "We're going to win, we filed an equal pay lawsuit against US Soccer, we know that winning [the World Cup] is going to help our case, and we are the best."

"We likely won't reap the benefits of what we're fighting for, but our kids will," Morgan recalled thinking. "I hope my daughter knows nothing other than equal."

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Morgan also opened up about life as a high-profile soccer celebrity, discussing how she juggled becoming a new mother while also navigating her playing career for both club and country.

"It was very difficult because there was no rules — there was no standard for moms in the NWSL, or even on the national team," she said. "I was trying to be a great mom, and I was trying to be a great soccer player, but I was also now having to write new rules and advocate for all moms in the future in soccer."

How to watch Alex Morgan on Call Her Daddy

Wednesday's Call Her Daddy episode featuring Morgan is currently available to download on all podcast platforms and can be watched on YouTube.

USWNT rising star Alyssa Thompson is officially on her way to London, with the NWSL's Angel City and WSL side Chelsea FC finalizing the 20-year-old's reported £1 million transfer ahead of the UK league's 2025/26 season kick-off on Friday.

The two clubs reached a verbal agreement with Thompson readying to ink a five-year contract on Thursday, just hours before the WSL's 6 PM ET transfer window closure — with six-time reigning league-winners Chelsea set to open their next WSL campaign against Manchester City in a mere 24 hours.

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Chelsea has been aggressive in the transfer market this year, as the WSL titan fields mounting pressure from clubs eager to upend the top of the table.

Second-place 2024/25 finishers Arsenal enter the season as UWCL champions, coming off Canadian star Olivia Smith's splashy £1 million transfer while also signing Smith's former Liverpool teammate Taylor Hinds.

Man City will also be looking to better their fourth-place 2024/25 run, hoping for a healthy Bunny Shaw to combine with Dutch phenom Vivianne Miedema while adding ex-Arsenal defender Laura Wienroither and decorated German midfielder Sydney Lohmann to their ranks.

This weekend's WSL action will also feature the newly promoted London City Lionesses, kicking off their top-flight entry against Arsenal on Saturday.

Backed by US-based multi-team owner Michele Kang, London City has also been busy this offseason, bringing on a laundry list of talent including midfielder Daniëlle van de Donk (OL Lyonnes) and forward Nikita Parris (Brighton) plus their own Angel City finds in midfielder Katie Zelem and defender Alanna Kennedy.

How to watch the Barclays WSL season kick-off this weekend

The 2025/26 WSL action kicks off with Chelsea hosting Manchester City at 2:30 PM ET on Friday, before league debutants London City visit Arsenal at 8:30 AM ET on Saturday.

Currently, WSL matches will likely stream live on YouTube, though an official US media partner has not yet been announced.

World No. 24 Naomi Osaka is climbing the ranks, taking down No. 11 Karolína Muchová 6-4, 7-6 (7) at the 2025 US Open on Wednesday night to extend her WTA comeback run and cruise to a third career appearance in the New York Grand Slam's semifinals.

"There's been so much hard work that you guys haven't seen, but I'm just really grateful to my team, and I'm just happy to be healthy," she said afterwards.

"Last year was really, really tough for me," Osaka later told ESPN, addressing her previous stumbles. "I wished I had results, and it just kind of got into my head a lot. And this year I just, I kind of just stopped caring if I won or lost."

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While the four-time Grand Slam winner continues to work her way back from the 2023 birth of her daughter, Osaka also has a notable streak on the line.

The Japanese fan favorite has never lost a Grand Slam in which she's advanced past the Round of 16, securing two US Open titles and two Australian Open trophies after making the quarterfinals in those hardcourt tournaments.

"It's been a while since I've been in this position, but I think you play the best players in the world towards the end of a Slam, and we all are hoping to achieve the same thing," the 27-year-old added after Wednesday’s victory. "So it's kind of like boxing with a tennis ball."

Osaka next faces stiff competition in the 2025 US Open semifinals, taking on No. 9 Amanda Anisimova after the US ace avenged her recent Wimbledon loss by silencing No. 2 Iga Świątek in straight sets on Wednesday.

How to watch the 2025 US Open semifinals

The 2025 US Open semifinals take over the iconic Arthur Ashe Stadium in Queens on Thursday night, with defending champion No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka facing New York product No. 4 Jessica Pegula in a rematch of the 2024 US Open final at 7 PM ET.

Shortly after the first semifinal, Osaka will square off against Anisimova for the last ticket to the Grand Slam final.

Both semifinals will air live on ESPN.