Mallory Pugh burst onto the women’s soccer scene as a teen sensation, receiving her first call up to the senior USWNT at 17 years old. Since then, her career has taken plenty of twists and turns as a veteran of the game at just 23.

A promising start in Colorado

Pugh was born into a family of athletes, raised alongside her older sister Brianna in Highlands Ranch, Colorado. The star forward credits her sister for introducing her to the game of soccer at a young age.

“When I was younger, I always looked up to her and I always wanted to be just like my sister,” Pugh told Kelley O’Hara on the Just Women’s Sports podcast. “So she was playing soccer and I was like ‘well I want to play soccer too.’”

The early introduction to the sport paid off, with Pugh quickly becoming a soccer wunderkind. Pugh remembers being called into a U-14 national team camp when she was still just in seventh grade. By high school, Pugh was a mainstay in the youth national team system, with a USWNT senior roster spot on the horizon.

In her final two years of high school, the young star captured the Golden Boot award at the U-20 World Cup qualifying tournament, as well as the Gatorade National Player of the Year and U.S. Soccer Young Female Player of the Year awards.

Pugh’s early success earned her a call up to the senior USWNT team at just 17 years old, an experience she recalls to O’Hara as being “so weird.” Her first camp with the team, however, ended in success, with Pugh remembering feeling as though she had nothing to lose and playing with freedom. While the hype was palpable, Pugh says she learned not to overthink things and block out external pressure at a young age.

Going pro

Much was made about Pugh’s decision to forgo collegiate soccer and pursue a professional soccer career. At first, the 17-year-old couldn’t see herself in a pro league and decided to join UCLA’s team. After three months, however, Pugh knew it was time to leave the Bruins and forward her career, without ever stepping on the pitch for UCLA. The decision was one she didn’t make lightly, agonizing over whether to join the NWSL for over a year before finally making a move.

“I’ve always told myself I want to be able to inspire younger generations,” Pugh told O’Hara. “I do feel like me stepping out and kind of having to be bold and courageous with that, it did maybe send that signal or send that message that females and people in women’s sports… can leave school early and go professional.”

Pugh joined the Washington Spirit in 2017, notching six goals in her debut season and ending the season as a finalist for Rookie of the Year.

Here's some nifty 1v1 footwork by Mal Pugh to shake her defender. pic.twitter.com/sy5B2tzVg0

— Washington Spirit (@WashSpirit) July 1, 2017

USWNT career

Pugh made her mark on the world stage when she clinched a spot on the 2016 Rio Olympics roster, becoming the youngest U.S. player to ever score during the Games at 18 years old. Though the United States were bounced in the tournament’s quarterfinals, Rio served as a turning point in Pugh’s career, solidifying her place in the USWNT conversation.

Receiving consistent call-ups in the lead-up to the 2019 World Cup, Pugh made the 23-player France roster. For any 21-year-old, simply making the USWNT World Cup team would’ve been a career-defining moment, but for Pugh, the major tournament presented a new challenge for the soccer prodigy. Playing fewer minutes than she expected, Pugh had to embrace her role as a support player rather than a starter.

“Obviously, I wanted to play more, but it wasn’t my time to,” Pugh told O’Hara. “I definitely had to change my mindset and look at it a different way.”

Alongside her teammates, Pugh earned a World Cup title, her first senior major tournament championship.

The year following her run in France, Pugh’s career entered unchartered territory, with the forward left off a USWNT roster for the first time since initially being called into the USWNT. Pugh did not make then new coach Vlatko Andonovski’s Olympic qualifying roster, telling O’Hara, “It was pretty rough, but I am a strong, strong believer in everything happens for a reason.”

After a bronze-medal run in Tokyo, Andonovski started bringing in a range of non-Olympic players into USWNT camps, including Pugh. The Chicago forward was invited to a series of National Team friendlies in Australia but opted out of the Matildas’ matchup. Andonovski did, however, say her decision not to participate would not impact her invitation to the team’s first camp of 2022 in January.

NWSL comeback

While Pugh dealt with falling out of the USWNT ranks, the young star also battled a series of nagging injuries and a handful of trades, playing with three different NWSL teams in the course of three years. In January 2020, Pugh was traded to Gotham FC (formally Sky Blue FC) before landing in Chicago for the 2021 season.

The moving around certainly impacted Pugh’s rhythm before she found her footing with the Red Stars. The 2021 NWSL season served as a renaissance for Pugh, who notched four goals and four assists, ending the year as MVP runner-up. Pugh also led the Red Stars to a surprise NWSL Championship game appearance, where they fell to the Washington Spirit in a closely contested battle.

Although Pugh missed the team’s semifinal match against Portland due to COVID-19 protocols and left the final early with an injury, Pugh’s season was a resounding success.

Still just 23 years old, Pugh has plenty of time to get back on track and continue her rise as one of the world’s best young talents.

💥 CUE MAL PUGH 💥

First playoff game, first playoff goal 🤌#CHIvNJNY | https://t.co/bONPZnnmCJ | #NWSL21 pic.twitter.com/uyuHikPPz2

— National Women’s Soccer League (@NWSL) November 7, 2021

What’s Next

Pugh ended 2021 announcing her engagement to partner Dansby Swanson, shortstop for the Atlanta Braves.

The soccer star’s future with the USWNT is still very much a topic of conversation, with the World Cup cycle about to get underway. Pugh will have to compete against a deep forward pool to stamp her mark on the roster after missing an exciting Australian series in late 2021.

Led by undefeated overall No. 1-seed Nebraska, the college volleyball elite will begin their quest for the 2025 national championship on Thursday, when the first round of the 64-team NCAA Division I tournament hits courts nationwide.

The Huskers are still chasing a perfect season, entering the 2025 title hunt on a 30-0 run having dropped just six sets all season — including losing just one set since September 16th.

"I was expecting us to be great, but certainly not undefeated," said Nebraska alumna and first-year Cornhusker head coach Dani Busboom Kelly on a recent episode of the Welcome to the Party podcast. "They continue to exceed our expectations."

Busboom Kelly's roster is loaded with the kind of experienced connection that only comes when the core of players have competed together for three straight seasons — an increasing rarity in the transfer portal and NIL era.

That said, this core has unfinished business on the national stage, with the superstar junior trio of middle blocker Andi Jackson, outside hitter Harper Murray, and setter Bergen Reilly — all AVCA Player of the Year semifinalists — looking to bring the first NCAA trophy in eight years back to Lincoln.

"It's such a special row, because we just know that all of us have been through thick and thin together and our bond is so strong," Jackson told USA Today Sports earlier this week. "[And Busboom Kelly] gives us so much confidence and we know that with her as our coach, we just can play fearless."

Stacked tournament field looks to spoil Nebraska's season

Even with their "fearless" play, a host of stellar opponents await Nebraska in the NCAA tournament gauntlet, hoping to play spoiler — including Busboom Kelly's previous program, the Louisville Cardinals, who await the Cornhuskers as the No. 2-seed in their own regional quadrant.

Fellow No. 1 seeds Texas, Kentucky, and Pitt will also chase their eventual chance at the Huskers via their own regionals, where the Longhorns could see arguably the stiffest competition from both No. 2-seed Stanford — the winningest program in NCAA volleyball history — and defending champion and No. 8-seed Penn State.

With tickets to the 2025 Final Four in Kansas City on the line, the NCAA volleyball bracket's 64 squads will start serving at 16 campus sites on Thursday.

How to watch the first round of the 2025 NCAA volleyball tournament

This year's NCAA volleyball finale begins when No. 5-seed Colorado takes on unseeded American University at 3 PM ET on Thursday, kicking off a two-day first round of 32 matches — with No. 1 Nebraska looking to handle Long Island University in their initial tournament tilt at 8 PM ET on Friday.

All games in the early rounds of the 2025 Division I tournament will air live on ESPN+.

US tennis star Coco Gauff continues to win off the court, with the 2025 French Open champion topping Sportico's list of the 15 Highest-Paid Female Athletes for the third consecutive year.

Fueled by $23 million in off-court endorsements, the $31 million earned by the 21-year-old world No. 3 WTA player edged out the $30 million total income that fellow tennis star and world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka garnered in 2025.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Just Women’s Sports (@justwomenssports)

Unsurprisingly, a full 10 athletes on the Sportico Top 15 list are tennis stars, a direct result of the fact that all four Grand Slams and the Masters 1000 tournaments boast equal prize money between the men's and women's competitions — a shift that began with the 1973 US Open.

That established expectation of gender equity in prize money has tennis far outpacing salaries in most other women's sports.

Also making the Top 15 are two LPGA golfers — world No. 1 Jeeno Thitikul (No. 15 on the Highest-Paid Female Athletes list) and US star No. 2 Nelly Korda (No. 7) — as well as popular Olympic skiier Eileen Gu (No. 4), WNBA superstar Caitlin Clark (No. 6), and USA gymnastics legend Simone Biles (No. 11).

Notably, Gu, Clark, and Biles as well as Venus Williams (No. 14) all proved the power of endorsements on this year's list, with nearly all of the quartet's earnings coming from sponsorship deals.

As WNBA CBA negotiations rage on, revenue sharing continues to be a wedge issue for both sides of the table, with the league office and the WNBPA eyeing the terms of the most recent proposal from differing viewpoints.

The Athletic reported on Wednesday that the WNBA believes it has offered the revenue-sharing salary model that the players have pushed for throughout the CBA talks, leaving athletes to claim 50% of the "sharable" portion of league revenue.

How the WNBA will determine the "sharable" cut is uncertain, though sources claim the compensation structure on offer will result in players taking home less than 15% of the league's total earnings.

That percentage is likely to take a further hit over the lifetime of a new CBA, according to the league's multi-year earning projections.

"I don't feel like there's any cultivation of a culture of trust [in the CBA talks]," WNBPA president and Seattle Storm star Nneka Ogwumike told The Athletic. "I feel like we've been heard, but not listened to, and I'm hoping that that changes in this 40-day extension, because what we want to do is get a good deal done."

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Just Women’s Sports (@justwomenssports)

Parental leave, draft combine, and more enters the WNBA CBA talks

Along with the issue of revenue sharing, the latest WNBA offer also reportedly outlined other proposals, such as the institution of a required offseason draft combine, the elimination of team housing, and the possible extension of the competition calendar by starting earlier and/or finishing the season later.

As for the WNBPA's Tuesday counteroffer, the players union is seeking to eliminate the core designation and shorten the current four-year rookie contract to three years.

The WNBPA is also asking to add non-birthing parental leave, retirement benefits, and reimbursements for mental healthcare.

The WNBA and WNBPA will meet again to negotiate sometime this week, with talks racing toward the second-extension deadline of January 9th, 2026.

After setting a new NCAA basketball record by scoring 100+ points in eight consecutive games, the No. 5 LSU Tigers will face their season's first true test when they visit the preseason-No. 7 Duke Blue Devils as part of the 2025 ACC/SEC Challenge on Thursday night.

"We don't play nobody in our nonconference schedule," senior guard Flau'jae Johnson told JWS in November. "From December on out, that's when it gets really [exciting]."

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Just Women’s Sports (@justwomenssports)

With their history-making string of lopsided wins under their belt, the Tigers will try to keep the streak alive against a now-unranked Duke side on a three-game losing skid.

The Blue Devils will rely on leading scorer and rebounder Toby Fournier for a spark, with the sophomore forward averaging 15.8 points per game despite Duke's 3-5 start.

As for LSU, the title-hunting Tigers will look to stat undefeated behind Johnson's team-leading 17.0 scoring average, as well as the 16.1 points per game put up by junior star transfer MiLaysia Fulwiley.

"Ballers just want to ball, like hoopers just want to hoop," Johnson said of LSU's quick cohesion this season. "You find different ways to bond and gel with teammates."

How to watch LSU vs. Duke on Thursday

Duke will host No. 5 LSU in the 2025 ACC/SEC Challenge at 9 PM ET, with live coverage airing on ESPN.