Kristie Mewis has recently enjoyed a career renaissance, winning the 2020 NWSL Challenge Cup and earning a spot on the United States Women’s National Team 2020 Olympic roster. The 30-year-old’s journey to the top of her game hasn’t been a straight path, however, as she has weathered injury, trades, and positional changes en route to her much-celebrated comeback.

Here’s everything you need to know about the USWNT midfielder.

Early Success in Massachusetts

Born in 1991 in Massachusetts, Mewis grew up in Hanson, a town outside of Boston, with younger sister turned-eventual-teammate Sam Mewis. Mewis’ talent was apparent from a young age, as she made a name for herself at Whitman-Hanson Regional High School, shattering records and winning nearly every award available to a high school athlete.

It didn’t take long for Mewis to make history alongside sister Sam, becoming the first siblings to play on a U.S. World Cup team together when they took the pitch at the New Zealand Women’s U-17 World Cup. The Mewis sisters continued the magic, playing together again in the U-20 World Cup in Germany.

Staying close to home, Mewis attended Boston College after graduating high school, starting her collegiate career in 2009. The midfielder showed her versatility early, filling in on defense when needed while notching five goals and six assists in her rookie year. Continuing to shine in Boston, Mewis’s apex came in her senior year when she finished the season with 16 goals and 12 assists, earning a spot as a Herman Trophy Semifinalist.

NWSL debut and early USWNT career

Mewis was selected third overall in the 2013 NWSL Draft, the league’s first college draft, by FC Kansas City. In her debut season, the club finished second in the standings but was bounced from the playoffs by Portland in the semifinals.

In the same year as her NWSL debut, Mewis received her first senior national team call-up, earning her inaugural cap with the USWNT in February 2013 against Scotland. A few months later, in June of 2013, Mewis notched her first goal with the team, scoring in front of a hometown crowd against South Korea.

After receiving a series of caps with the USWNT, the Massachusetts-native fell out of the national team conversation in 2014 during the Jill Ellis era.

Mewis’ carer in the NWSL also took a turn after she was traded from Kansas City to the Boston Breakers in 2014. During her stint with the club, Mewis signed a three-month loan with Iga FC Kunoichi, a team in Japan’s Nadeshiko League, and then a one-year FC Bayern Munich in 2015.

After her two-year campaign in Boston, Mewis was traded to the Washington Spirit in exchange for Megan Oyster. During her 2017 season with the Spirit, Mewis appeared in 14 games, scoring two goals and one assist. That same year, Mewis was sent to Chicago, scoring a goal in the only game she played for the club.

Once a top NWSL draft pick, Mewis had strung together a series of consistent seasons despite moving around the league, but was perhaps falling short of the wunderkind expectations heaped onto her early in her career.

Houston Dash and ACL injury

Mewis’s career once again zagged when Chicago traded her to the Houston Dash midway through the 2017 season. Despite the midseason switch, the midfielder began to find her footing with the club, excelling with the Dash into the 2018 season. Things took a twist, however, when Mewis tore her ACL during the team’s May 2018 match against the Washington Spirit. Up until that point, Mewis had started in 11 games on the season, scoring two goals for Houston. The injury sidelined her for the remainder of the year, leaving Mewis in a precarious position.

With the benefit of hindsight, Mewis now credits her ACL tear with turning around her career. She told Jeff Kassouf on a 2020 episode of  The Equalizer’s Kickin’ Back podcast that her injury helped her find herself and reassess her career.

“I was just kind of sick of just being mediocre,” said Mewis. “I felt like I had so much more to give, but for some reason I couldn’t get in the mental and physical space to get there, and I was just like, what am I doing?”

In her return to the Dash in 2019, Mewis stepped up her game, starting in 20 matches, scoring four goals, and notching an assist in an impressive comeback season. Her compelling NWSL performance also earned Mewis her first USWNT call-up since 2013, with new coach Vlatko Andonovski inviting her to a December identification camp.

Challenge Cup and USWNT return

The COVID-19 pandemic forced the NWSL to improvise, putting on the inaugural Challenge Cup in 2020 in lieu of a regular season, allowing teams to compete in a bubble-style tournament in Utah. The Houston Dash, led by Mewis, made a surprising run to capture the Challenge Cup title, the club’s first trophy. Starting in seven matches, recording a goal and an assist, Mewis played a critical role in the team’s victory, earning herself a now-infamous Budweiser-aided celebration after the tournament.

Her dominance in the Challenge Cup also earned Mewis a call up to a full senior USWNT camp in the fall of 2020, ahead of the team’s friendly against the Netherlands. On that trip, Mewis recorded her first national team cap in six years, entering the team’s match against the Dutch in the second half. Her re-emergence into the USWNT fold would’ve been sweet enough, but Mewis wrote her name in the history books, scoring in the 70^th minute, 2,722 days since her last goal with the team.

It was the longest any player had ever gone in between goals for the USWNT.

Welcome back! Kristie Mewis scores in her first game with @USWNT in 6 years 😱 pic.twitter.com/axtVgrV0Yc

— espnW (@espnW) November 27, 2020

The 30-year-old’s triumph marked a full-circle moment for Mewis, who had committed herself to get back on the pitch with the U.S. following her ACL injury.

“I just was so motivated and so determined, and I knew that I just had to get back on the national team because that was obviously my ultimate goal,” Mewis told her sister Sam and teammate Lynn Williams on the Snacks podcast.

Mewis’ success with the USWNT continued through 2021, as she clinched a spot on Andonovski’s Tokyo Olympic roster alongside sister Sam Mewis.

What Comes Next

Mewis, left unprotected in the 2022 NWSL Expansion Draft by Houston, was selected by the San Diego Wave before being traded to Gotham FC. The star midfielder will join a stacked NJ/NY roster, including MVP nominee Margaret Purce and Defender of the Year Caprice Dydasco. With the 2023 World Cup cycle on the horizon, Mewis will also look to make a case for her place in a competitive USWNT midfield pool.

UCLA-bound high school senior Sienna Betts led the West team to a decisive 104-82 victory over the East in the McDonald's All-American Girls Game held last night at New York's Barclays Center.

The 6'4" forward contributed 16 points, seven rebounds, and two assists, earning MVP honors for her performance. ​

Betts is currently the class of 2025's No. 2 overall recruit. Only Texas-based point guard Aaliyah Chavez, who recently committed to the Oklahoma Sooners, ranks above her.

Betts to join sister Lauren Betts at UCLA next year

Betts's performance is a good indicator of her potential impact at UCLA next year. There, she'll join forces with her sister Lauren Betts, the senior currently leading the Bruins to this season's NCAA Final Four after transferring in from Stanford.

The Betts sisters' arrival is highly anticipated, with Lauren opting to forgo the 2025 WNBA Draft in order to play out her final year of college eligibility alongside her little sister.

“For me, it [committing to UCLA] was a lot about how the coaches care about you off the court, and the coaches at UCLA, they really care about your mental health,” Betts told The Flagler College Gargoyle after committing last year. “Every team that I’ve ever been on, we’ve been a family… So, they really cared about that part of basketball for me, and they showed me that on my visits and when I called to talk to them.”

Betts in good company as McDonald's All-American Game MVP

In Brooklyn, Betts showcased her ability among the sport's best high school talent. Recent McDonald's All-American MVPs have all gone onto fuel prominent NCAA programs, including top-ranked recruits UConn's Sarah Strong, South Carolina's Joyce Edwards, USC's JuJu Watkins, Notre Dame's Hannah Hidalgo, and UCLA's own Kiki Rice and Gabriela Jaquez.

The McDonald's All-American Game has a storied history of highlighting promising players, with past MVPs subsequently laying the foundation for future superstars.

Less than a day after Notre Dame’s Olivia Miles shocked the women’s basketball world by opting to enter the transfer portal rather than declare for the 2025 WNBA Draft, the Irish’s transfer fall-out has continued.

Sophomore guard Emma Risch and freshman forward Kate Koval have also entered the portal, with Koval — who started in 10 games this season — leading the Irish in blocks.

Between transfer moves and graduating seniors, sophomore guard Hannah Hidalgo remains Notre Dame’s only returning starter — a sharp turn for an Irish squad ranked No. 1 in the country just six weeks ago.

Other top NCAA programs see transfer portal movement

Notre Dame isn’t the only top-tier program experiencing a roster shakeup after exiting the 2025 NCAA tournament.

LSU sophomore forward Sa'myah Smith entered the transfer portal after the Tigers’ season ended in Sunday’s Elite Eight. USC sophomore guard Aaliyah Gayles subsequently followed suit after the Trojans fell to UConn on Monday.

Schools like TCU have become national contenders via the transfer portal, with the Horned Frogs recruiting both Hailey Van Lith and Sedona Prince ahead of their first-ever Elite Eight run. Former Kentucky center Clara Silva is the latest transfer to commit to TCU, as the team comes off their best tournament finish in school history.

The modern era of NCAA roster-building is upon us, with top players taking the reigns as ambitious teams scramble to fill offseason gaps.

The NWSL is looking to sign a new Sunday night TV deal, according to a Sports Business Journal report published this week.

The league is targeting a two-year deal starting in 2026, with both new and existing TV partners interested in picking up additional NWSL games.

NWSL looks to build on multimillion dollar TV deal

The NWSL is currently two years into a four-year, $240 million TV partnership with ESPN, Prime, ION, and CBS Sports. However, the current contract doesn’t cover the entire schedule. And with league expansion planned for 2026, even more inventory is on the way.

SBJ notes that the market for this season’s lineup has been strong. In fact, all four media partners have already sold out all their 2025 advertising slots.

“You cannot find a place to spend right now,” IMG’s Hillary Mandel said at a recent Business of Soccer event hosted by SBJ. “We know what’s motivating interest is the fact that there’s no place to invest. That’s a phenomenal story in such a short period of time."

ESPN spotlighted for TV network-owned Sunday lineup

ESPN could be a prime candidate for a Sunday package, with the network set to move on from Sunday Night Baseball after the 2025 MLB season.

The NWSL has traditionally leaned into network-owned nights, with Prime airing Friday night matchups and ION running Saturday double-headers.

The NWSL’s most recent contract subsequently added serious value to the league. And the returns have networks coming back for more, setting up a potential bidding war and easing growing pains as new teams join the fold.

UCLA will hit the court for their first-ever NCAA Final Four on Friday, but as they extend the most successful season in program history, the Bruins have looked anything but green.

“We said talent was going to be our floor,” UCLA head coach Cori Close said after Sunday’s Elite Eight win over LSU. “Our character, our chemistry, our habits were going to be our ceiling.”

With just two losses on the season, UCLA’s status as a first-rate NCAA title contender has actually been years in the making.

Roster-building paves the way to the Final Four

In 2022, the Bruins signed the No. 1 recruiting class in the country, stacking their roster with top high school standouts Gabriela Jaquez, Kiki Rice, and Londynn Jones.

UCLA then upped their game even further last year, when 2022 No. 1 overall recruit Lauren Betts transferred in from Stanford — a move that fueled the Bruins all the way to the Sweet 16 with the promise of even greater success.

“Everyone came to UCLA for this reason: to do something we haven't done in a really long time,” Jaquez said on Sunday. “[I’m] just really proud of my teammates, the staff, the coaches, just continuing to get better every day and grow from each season prior.

With Lauren Betts at center, UCLA leans on depth

As one of the most dominant post players in college basketball, Betts is at the literal center of every UCLA performance. But that doesn’t mean the Bruins lack the depth it takes to handle a team like Final Four opponent UConn.

“When we have a deep team, I don’t have to be in the game at all times,” Betts said. “I have a team full of players who are just amazing and talented in their own right, and they put in the work.”

All in all, UCLA is coming into their own after developing much of its squad from the ground-up. Now it's time to make the case that patient roster-building can pay off on NCAA basketball’s biggest stage.