All Scores

Declaring early for the NWSL Draft, Mia Fishel dreams big

UCLA forward Mia Fishel fell to fifth in Saturday’s college draft. (Andy Bao/Getty Images)

Mia Fishel’s soccer career reached a crossroads during the U-20 CONCACAF championship in March of last year.

Playing alongside 2021 NWSL Rookie of the Year Trinity Rodman and third overall pick Brianna Pinto, Fishel scored twice in the United States’ 4-1 championship victory over Mexico in the 2020 tournament. Winning the Golden Ball, she also set a new U.S. women’s national team all-ages record in a qualifying tournament with 13 goals.

When the 2020 U.S. Young Female Soccer Player of the Year finalist returned to UCLA in the fall of her sophomore year with the Bruins, she felt that momentum grind to a halt. The speed of play at the NCAA level wasn’t what she had become accustomed to in international soccer.

“I was kind of at the same spot, and I just don’t like that,” Fishel says. “As a player, I want to be challenged.”

The thought of playing professionally crept into her mind, sparking conversations with her club coaches, the national team program and her family. With the goal of making the U.S. senior team guiding her decision-making, Fishel’s best option became clear in between her sophomore and junior years: She would forgo her senior season and turn pro. On Saturday, UCLA’s leading scorer is projected to be a top-three pick in the 2022 NWSL College Draft.

Fishel announced her decision publicly on Instagram just before the start of her junior season. The forward led UCLA to an undefeated regular season and a second consecutive Pac-12 championship before the team lost 1-0 to UC Irvine in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.

“It was hard to leave UCLA with an amazing team, an amazing staff that supported me, that’s helped me grow development-wise in soccer,” Fishel says. “I think I just kind of hit a wall with my development here at UCLA and I think the college level, it was just something that didn’t push me. I think this next step will be important to maximize what I can do as a player.”

Fishel intentionally announced her plans before the start of the season so pro teams would have the opportunity to evaluate her skills. And she didn’t disappoint them, proving herself as a versatile nine who doesn’t just wait for balls to be lobbed over the top. With impressive speed and athleticism, she can check back into the midfield, create and finish dangerous plays, and complement the outside forwards.

Fishel finished her college career in UCLA’s all-time top 10 for career goals with 32, making it hard to believe she didn’t play forward until she put on a Bruins uniform. When Fishel came to UCLA in 2019, the team was so stacked that there wasn’t room for her in the attacking midfield, where she had played her whole life. So, the coaching staff made her a nine.

“It comes with a whole lot of development, a whole other set of lenses to the game in soccer, and I think that definitely pushed me to be more of a versatile player and a more cutthroat, dangerous player,” Fishel says.

The adjustment didn’t take long: She finished her freshman season ranked third in the nation with 14 goals.

“As a chill player, I think that they pushed me to be like, ‘Hey, you can do this. You can score goals, you can help this team out in multiple ways: assists, goals, creating, being unpredictable,’” she says. “And so they brought out more of a confidence in me that I can do things.”

That assurance led to 16 career game-winning goals and a spot on the All-Pac-12 First Team in 2021 for the second straight year.

Whichever NWSL team takes Fishel on Saturday can expect a player with an eye for goal. But former UCLA head coach Amanda Cromwell says the 20-year-old is also a natural leader on and off the field.

“Mia leads by example and put the team on her back on multiple occasions,” says Cromwell, who was named head coach of the Orlando Pride on Dec. 7. “She scored big-time goals for us, but it’s what she brought to the process that inspired those around her.”

“I fully expect her to play in the league and get more call-ups to the national team, and for Mia to have a long, successful career internationally.”

Fishel received her first call-up to the senior national team in October 2020, intent on absorbing as much information from the coaches and veterans as possible.

“To put things into perspective, I’m like, OK, this is where the level’s at and I’m somewhere in their line, so I was just trying to see where I’m at compared to them and even outside of camp now, what I can do to get to that level,” Fishel says. “I think there’s a huge advantage to know what that level was like and how they train and play, but now I can go outside of it and train as if I was with them.”

To prepare herself for such a competitive environment, Fishel says she’s focusing on executing every pass, tackle and play with 100 percent effort and consistency.

“Being in the zone constantly — I think that will help me get there at some point,” she says.

img
Fishel's ultimate goal is to make and start for the U.S. women's senior national team. (Brad Smith/ISI Photos/Getty Images)

The national team is the main reason Fishel plans to compete in the NWSL and not go overseas, at least for now.

“If national team players are in this league and I want to be on the national team, then I most likely should be here and training and trying to compete for a starting position,” she says. “Then hopefully becoming one of the top players in the league to potentially go to the U.S. women’s national team, so that’s kind of my thought process. But Europe is also an option as well, if anything goes south.”

The only south Fishel will likely go is back to her hometown in San Diego, where she likes to fish when she’s not playing soccer. She learned from her father, who used to take her out on the water every morning at 5 a.m. since she turned 3 years old. Fishel fell in love with the peace fishing brings, and it gave her an appreciation for respecting the ocean.

Fishel channeled those lessons into a new project this past summer, a brand she’s building called Big Fishel Energy. Through it, Fishel hopes to enable more minorities to get involved in sport fishing, as well as organize beach cleanups and soccer camps for young players.

More than anything, Fishel wants the brand to represent and champion empowerment.

“Growing up, I had role models, but the role models were just soccer players and I wanted to embody the person and player,” she says. “Strength, confidence, empowerment, anything you can do in life and to follow your dreams.

“I strive to be a person that anyone could look at and say, ‘Hey, she knows what she wants to do.’”

Between her NWSL rookie season and future with the USWNT, Fishel’s intentions are clear, and she doesn’t plan to waste any time in fulfilling them.

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.

US Swimming Icon Ledecky Wins 22nd Title at World Aquatics Championships

US star Katie Ledecky celebrates her 1500-meter freestyle gold-medal victory at the 2025 World Aquatics Championships.
Ledecky won her 22nd world title with her 1500-meter freestyle victory on Tuesday. (Lintao Zhang/Getty Images)

US swimming icon Katie Ledecky is back on top, earning her 22nd world title with a gold medal-winning 1,500-meter freestyle performance at the 2025 World Aquatics Championships on Tuesday.

Finishing with a time of 15:26.44, Ledecky now owns 25 of the top 26 times in the event's history and holds six World Aquatics Championships titles at that distance.

"Each one has meaning, and I love every race that I've had at Worlds over the years," the 28-year-old swimming star told broadcasters following her Tuesday victory.

That 22nd title brought Ledecky's combined Worlds total to an overall 28 medals, lifting the star to second on the all-time most decorated list where she trails only retired US men's star Michael Phelps's 33 podium finishes.

Earlier in the week, the Team USA standout took bronze in the 400-meter freestyle, coming in third behind China's silver-medalist Li Bingjie and Canadian sensation Summer McIntosh, who won the race with a time of 3:56.26.

Gold medals have been hard to come by for Team USA at this year's World Championships.

Other than Ledecky's win and the 100-meter butterfly title snagged by Gretchen Walsh on Monday, the US women have struggled to claim gold medals as they push to recover from the acute gastroenteritis that hit several team members at their pre-meet training camp in Thailand.

That stomach bug inhibited multiple US swimmers from traveling with the team to the Singapore meet, and saw contenders like 100-meter butterfly Olympic gold medalist Torri Huske pull out of initial heats.

"We're taking it a day at a time," said Team USA head coach Greg Meehan about the impact of the illness. "Obviously, this is not how we thought the first few days of this competition would go. But I'm really proud of our team."

How to watch Ledecky at the 2025 World Aquatics Championships

The 2025 World Aquatics Championships runs through Sunday, and US star Ledecky has two events left to swim at the meet.

On Thursday, she'll compete in the 4x200-meter freestyle relay, before facing another showdown with rival McIntosh in the 800-meter freestyle on Saturday.

Preliminary heats kick off the night before at 10 PM ET, with finals seeing staggered starts beginning at 7 AM ET.

Live coverage of the meet airs on Peacock.

FOX Sports Women’s Euro Gamble Pays Off with Record U.S. Viewership

Fans watch the 2025 Euro final in the back garden of a pub in England.
FOX saw record viewership numbers throughout the 2025 Euro. (Shaun Botterill/Getty Images)

UEFA Women's Euro 2025 made a splash across the pond, drawing an average of 458,000 US viewers per match across FOX platforms to mark a 97% viewership increase over the 2022 edition — making this year's tournament the most-watched English-language Women's Euro on record.

Building off the 2025 competition's previously reported record-breaking numbers, Sunday's grand finale between defending champs England and 2023 World Cup winners Spain averaged 1.35 million US viewers — a 53% increase in viewership over the last Women's Euro championship match.

Even more, the broadcast ultimately peaked at 1.92 million fans tuning in, making it the most-watched English-language Women's Euro Final on record.

The historic viewership is a major win for broadcaster FOX, who secured the women's tournament's first-ever US media deal back in May.

Initially committing to live coverage of 20 of the tournament's matches, record returns motivated the broadcast giant to quickly pivot and air all 31 matches live as part of its FOX Sports Summer of Soccer campaign.

"More and more people are tuning in to watch soccer in the US," FOX Sports commentator and UWSNT vet Carli Lloyd told The Athletic. "There's just been an incredible amount of soccer on display, which has been fantastic for the sport."

Washington Spirit Star Trinity Rodman Preps for Long-Awaited NWSL Return

Washington Spirit forward Trinity Rodman dribbles the ball during an April 2025 NWSL match.
Rodman hasn't featured for the Washington Spirit since April. (EM Dash/Imagn Images)

As the NWSL preps for this weekend's return from an extended summer break, No. 4 Washington Spirit star forward Trinity Rodman is also hoping to re-take the pitch for the first time since April.

Rodman is currently back training with the team, rejoining her club after undergoing extended treatment overseas for chronic back issues.

"I'd never really dealt with something like that," Rodman admitted after an open practice earlier this week. "So, for me, mentally, it was very difficult."

"[I was] trying to function through pain, and kind of gaslight myself to thinking it was fine every day, when it wasn't," she said. "I can now kind of openly say, I was in pain all the time."

Rodman also admits that stepping away was, though difficult, the right call to make for her healing.

"Obviously, it sucks being away from the team and being away from soccer in general," she added. "But I got to work on things that I wouldn't have gotten to work on if I was in the team environment all the time, so I think that was a positive."

Rodman's availability fluctuated after she earned an Olympic gold medal with the USWNT in Paris last summer, with the soccer superstar featuring in just four Spirit games this season — and none since stepping away in April.

Now functioning pain-free, Rodman's next on-pitch challenge is balancing her competitive intensity with her newly found health.

"It's really understanding my body and acknowledging [when] it's in pain," she explained. "And not pushing through things that I shouldn't."

Rodman eyes new contract amid NWSL return

On top of navigating her return to play, Rodman is also actively negotiating with the Washington Spirit for a contract renewal.

Her current deal expires at the end of 2025, and with interest in the US standout reportedly mounting from overseas clubs, the 23-year-old could eventually field multiple offers.

Considering her lack of minutes so far this season, the star called the assumed interest "a weird situation."

"I'm trying not to stress about it or put too much pressure on it," she said of the ongoing talks. "At the end of the day, I'm worried about health first.... Everything else can come next."

Top-Ranked Minnesota and New York Face Off in 1st WNBA Finals Rematch

Minnesota Lynx star Napheesa Collier and New York Liberty standout Breanna Stewart eye a rebound during the 2024 WNBA Finals.
The Minnesota Lynx and New York Liberty will play each other four times over the next three weeks. (David Dow/NBAE via Getty Images)

Wednesday's WNBA bill puts a heavyweight battle in the spotlight, as 2024 finalists and 2025 league leaders Minnesota will host reigning champion No. 2 New York in their first face-off of the season — with the Liberty hoping to rattle both the Lynx and the standings.

"I think common sense would say that those two teams probably should have played earlier in the season," Minnesota head coach Cheryl Reeve told media this week, referencing the apparent scheduling idiosyncrasies that delayed the championship rematch.

"It doesn't feel like a Finals rematch anymore, honestly," Lynx forward Napheesa Collier echoed. "It's a new year for us. And it's been so long, it's almost August, so it's just the two top teams going against each other."

Both squads enter the clash on uncharacteristic skids, as Minnesota and New York look to avenge recent losses while other WNBA teams jockey for positioning during the league's Wednesday night slate:

  • No. 3 Phoenix Mercury vs. No. 6 Indiana Fever, 7 PM ET (ESPN3): The Fever must continue to contend without injured star guard Caitlin Clark, as Indiana faces a newly healthy Mercury side striving to steal back the No. 2 spot with a win.
  • No. 5 Atlanta Dream vs. No. 11 Dallas Wings, 8 PM ET (ESPN3): After a disappointing Tuesday upset loss, the will Dream close out a back-to-back against a bolstered Dallas squad fresh off a big victory over New York.
  • No. 2 New York Liberty vs. No. 1 Minnesota Lynx, 8 PM ET (ESPN): With a four-game lead in the standings, the Lynx aren't in danger of giving up their perch at the top, but a strong performance from the Liberty could provide a much-needed boost to the ailing title-holders.

Start your morning off right with Just Women’s Sports’ free, 5x-a-week newsletter.