For years, the North Carolina Courage have embraced their self-appointed role as perennial underdogs — even as their star-studded roster has racked up NWSL trophies and titles, winning back-to-back championships in 2018 and ‘19. 

Head coach Paul Riley has hammered the narrative home to such a degree that it’s become a running joke amongst rival coaches.

In the past, it’s been hard to know whether he was trolling the media or just fueling his squad. And yet in 2021, the moniker might finally fit. 

After a trophy-less 2020, the Courage enter the latest NWSL season having lost a trio of world-class stars: Crystal Dunn was traded to Portland in the offseason, while both Sam Mewis and Abby Dahlkemper signed with Manchester City. 

To say the losses could impact the club is an understatement: Mewis was just named the best player in the world by ESPN. Dunn came in at No. 6, while Dahlkmper was No. 29.

Their collective departure already has fans wondering if the Courage dynasty is over, even before the upcoming season begins. 

Lynn Williams might have something to say about that. 

Courage fans don’t need to be told how important Williams is to the franchise. She was drafted by the club’s predecessor (the Western New York Flash) in 2015 and subsequently moved with the team to Cary. She has since led the Courage in scoring for the last three non-Covid seasons, and is now the second all-time leading scorer in NWSL history. 

Despite these accomplishments, it’s been easy to overlook Williams’ talent given just how loaded the Courage have been. That’s about to change in 2021. And while everyone may want to talk about what the Courage have lost, the real story might be the leader they’ve found.

Embracing the challenge

Williams, for starters, isn’t apologizing about that “underdog” narrative. 

“In the past, people really got annoyed with us, saying ‘you guys are clearly not the underdogs,’ but I always think that it’s not necessarily about your performance or your results. It’s an attitude… an underdog attitude is somebody who’s always going to fight no matter how much success they’re having.”

It’s precisely that attitude that has guided Williams in her own career. Looking at the player she is today, it’s mind boggling to think she received just one college offer (she scored 50 goals as a high school senior, so it’s not like she was hiding). 

Thankfully for soccer fans, Pepperdine University saw something special in Williams. Three NWSL Championships, three NWSL Shields, a Golden Boot, and an NWSL MVP award later, it’s clear they were right. 

Williams knows what it’s like to be doubted as a player. Now she’s the face of a franchise in transition. 

“For the longest time, everybody has always wanted us to lose. And now they see this opportunity as ‘finally the Courage are going to lose.’ I think that for me, that’s a challenge that I’m willing to accept.”

She already has a warning for teams thinking too far ahead: “We are still going to be just as hard to play and just as hard to beat.”

As someone who’s been with the Courage from the start, Williams knows she’s officially grown out of her ‘up-and-coming’ phase, admitting “sometimes I don’t see myself as this veteran player, but I definitely am, and I can’t deny that any longer.” 

Hopping on the phone with me after a training session in the North Carolina heat, the Fresno, California native speaks with a fluid calmness underscored by the confidence of a woman who knows who she is and what she’s capable of, despite having to defy an underdog label time and time again. 

When the ninth NWSL season begins, Williams won’t just step onto the pitch as a leader for her team, but also as a player who has found her voice and discovered her platform within the larger soccer world. At the same time that she’s competing to represent her country in Tokyo, Williams is also challenging it to transform 2020’s racial reckoning into tangible change. And while her actions on the field may determine the course of both the Courage’s season as well as the USWNT’s shot at gold, it’s her actions off the field that could change the game for Black women in soccer.

Committing to the Courage

Amidst the flurry of big-name exits last year, Williams became a more permanent pillar for her team, signing an extension with the Courage in August that will keep her with the team through 2023.  

Now acting as an independent entity from the U.S. Soccer Federation, the NWSL no longer has to adhere to all of the previous regulations regarding how national team players’ NWSL salaries are financed. This means national team players have the option to sign directly with their NWSL teams, an option Williams has exercised (as have Dunn and Lindsey Horan in Portland). 

The new contract gives her more stability and income security — something that still eludes so many in the league. 

“I wish women’s soccer was at a different spot and I wish that maybe I was a little bit younger. I’m not saying I’m old, but as I get older, I can’t just continue to make nothing. One day I want a family, and one day I want to set myself up for success in the future. And so knowing that I have that stability, knowing I can put down roots somewhere is really exciting to me.”

The Courage, for their part, were thrilled to retain Williams, who in 2019 was the recipient of the club’s Community Service Award. 

“Lynn’s leadership, locker room personality, and impact on and off the field is immeasurable,” Coach Riley said in announcing her extension. “We are delighted to have her back and for Courage fans to see her in her prime over the next few years.”

One of the unique aspects of NWSL culture has always been the access that fans have to players, which has only increased with the ubiquity of social media. Even then, what many don’t see behind the scenes is the conditions that female footballers have been forced to contend with in order to play professionally. And while things like housing, meals, medical and training facilities have improved in recent years, the league is still a ways away from feeling fully professional. 

“For the longest time, people were living with host families,” Williams explains, “and you had to fend for yourself when it came to food. And it was like, how are you expecting us to be these top elite athletes, when for dinner sometimes my first year, I would have beans and queso and chips? Because that’s what I could afford.”

For Williams, the operative word for bringing about change is ‘investment.’ 

“It’s investing in players’ futures, investing in players’ environment and their willingness to want to be there. Making sure you have a great medical staff, so people feel supported and also safe.”

Williams also highlights the role the media can play in bringing more sponsors and money into the league, saying the teams which focus on storytelling will see their efforts rewarded. 

“[It’s about] investing in women and also putting their faces out into the world for people to see.”

The Courage themselves welcomed a high-profile investor in early 2021: tennis superstar Naomi Osaka, who cruised through the Australian Open rocking all kinds of Courage swag.

Naomi Osaka representing her squad @TheNCCourage after winning the Australian Open ⚽️🎾🏆

📸 @AustralianOpen pic.twitter.com/TUrs2PRHMR

— Women's ICC (@iccwomen) February 20, 2021

Osaka’s decision to join the Courage as a partial owner signals another shift in momentum for the NWSL, following a number of celebrities investing in the Angel City expansion. This kind of big-name commitment is precisely what the league needs to not only raise its visibility, but to prove that women’s soccer will yield major future dividends. 

Another chance to wear the crest

If you’d only started watching the USWNT this past November, you’d be forgiven for assuming that Lynn Williams has long been a staple player on this team. 

Williams earned her first cap in October 2016, and while she played for the team during both the 2017 and 2018 SheBelieves tournaments, she was not selected for the 2019 World Cup roster. 

Though devastated by the last-minute cut, Williams knew she was at a critical threshold in her career. While the national team might have temporarily passed on her, she knew she could prove herself as a player with her club. 

“I felt like, ‘I can either give up now and never know how good I could have been, or I can keep fighting.’ And at the time, my Courage team still needed me, and I said, ‘You know what, Lynn, instead of maybe going and not even getting a lot of minutes, and maybe you losing fitness, losing your touch, how about you come here and be the best Lynn you can be for this team, because this team needs you.’”

That decision proved to be fortuitous for Williams, the Courage, and now potentially the USWNT. 

North Carolina won the 2019 NWSL Championship in October, the same month Vlatko Andonovski took over the USWNT. Two weeks later, Williams was brought back into the fold for Andonovski’s first game as a manager. 

Since then, Williams has notched five goals, earned nine starts, and clocked more than 800 minutes on the pitch over the course of a handful of friendlies, two SheBelieves tournaments, and the most recent CONCACAF Olympic Qualifying Tournament.

BOOM! Lynn Williams goes top shelf with the breakthrough goal to put the @USWNT up 1-0. 🚀 pic.twitter.com/pwGEwcxveE

— FOX Soccer (@FOXSoccer) February 10, 2020

Williams doesn’t attribute her increased playing time to anything specific about Andonovski’s style, and tries not to focus too much on why she’s now seeing the field more than she has in the past. She will concede, though, that she has skills her coach looks for in his current system.

“I think that Vlatko sees my defensive side as key to the success of this team right now and my willingness to work back as a forward.” 

And then, of course, there’s her speed.

“That’s one-of-a-kind right now, the speed that I have.”

😏 Tell ‘em @lynnraenie 💨💨💨 pic.twitter.com/82vky3OzeZ

— Just Women’s Sports (@justwsports) October 28, 2020

A collective rises

Despite her strides within the national team, there’s still no guarantee Williams will make this summer’s 18-player Olympics roster. The competition is just that fierce. But whether or not she goes to Tokyo, Williams is already making an impact on the game. 

A founding member of the Black Women’s Player Collective, Williams is now working alongside her peers to elevate Black women in soccer. Throughout the process, she’s discovered her own voice as a leader in the sport. 

“For the longest time, I was somebody who was like, ‘don’t rock the boat, just play soccer and do that.’ And of course, people are going to think you stand up for Black lives because you are Black. In recent times, I realized that’s not enough. I’m not really doing anything or helping anybody by staying quiet.” 

As for many, 2020 changed everything when it came to speaking out on racial injustice. 

“I think over the past year, it’s just me being able to voice my opinion more, stand my ground, and also show other Black girls that soccer is a space for them… that I’m going to fight for their future.”

While she won’t give away any secrets about what’s to come, Williams noted a few of the BWPC’s initiatives include supporting legislation like Kentucky’s Senate Bill 4 and House Bill 21 seeking to ban no-knock warrants. The BWPC is also working to put soccer pitches in low income areas where fields aren’t as accessible. 

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Behind the scenes, Williams is taking the time to engage teammates on the topics of race and social justice. The USWNT, in particular, has brought social justice to the forefront of its messaging. When asked if her conversations with teammates were as productive as the team’s public statements have indicated, Williams emphatically confirms, “Absolutely,” saying that change must begin with open dialogue.  

One of the players Williams has conversed with in earnest is her longtime roommate and friend (and former Courage teammate) Sam Mewis. 

In describing their conversations, Williams shares a glimpse of what talks at the national and club level have looked like, as players confront a feeling that many allies struggle with — how to push past the fear of saying the ‘wrong thing’ in order to show up and engage in difficult discourse. 

“Especially right now, when you’re navigating this time and the race subject, people, white people especially, are like, ‘well, I don’t want to say the wrong thing and I don’t want to come off racist.’ And I think I have given Sam a safe space to ask questions. I know Sam’s heart and I know she would never mean to say something mean to me… it’s just opening her eyes to new perspectives. And I think that that’s the same thing that’s going on with the national team.”

“It’s honestly been so rewarding, not only for Sam, but for myself, too.”

What comes next

Williams will miss the start of the NWSL’s second annual Challenge Cup tournament as she’s competing with the national team in a pair of friendlies in Europe against Sweden and France. Sweden famously knocked the USWNT out of the 2016 Olympics, while France came close to doing the same at the 2019 World Cup, making these games one of the last major tests the USWNT will face ahead of the Tokyo Olympics.

With the Olympic roster still hanging in the balance, Williams is committed to simply being the “best Lynn I can possibly be.” That means fighting for herself, her club, her country, Black women in soccer and the next generation of professional players.

For any other player, that might seem like too much. For Lynn Williams, it’s just another chapter in her underdog story. 

The NWSL Challenge Cup begins Friday, April 9 at 8:30 pm ET on CBSSN with reigning champions the Houston Dash taking on last year’s runner ups the Chicago Red Stars.

The USWNT takes on Sweden in Stockholm on Saturday, April 10 at 1:00 pm ET on FOX. The USWNT then plays France in Le Havre on Tuesday, April 13 at 3:00 pm ET on ESPN2.

No. 7 USC took down No. 4 UConn on Saturday, winning 72-70 in a battle between two bonafide NCAA basketball championship contenders still figuring out a consistent flow of play.

USC led by as many as 18 in the first half. However UConn came storming back, briefly pulling ahead in the fourth quarter before the Trojans outlasted the Huskies to secure the narrow victory.

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JuJu holds on to secure USC win

With UConn superstar Paige Bueckers tight on her heels, USC standout JuJu Watkins registered a game-leading 25 points, alongside six rebounds, five assists, and three blocks.

Bueckers and Huskies freshman Sarah Strong split scoring duties for UConn, notching 22 points each with Strong adding 11 rebounds.

After opening the season at No. 2, this highly touted UConn squad has dropped pivotal games against Notre Dame and now USC to go 0-2 in Top 10 matchups. It's a pattern legendary coach Auriemma will hope to correct before the Huskies face their next ranked opponent in early February.

"I thought the execution part in the first half was just as bad as I've seen in a few years here in Connecticut," Huskies boss Geno Auriemma said after the loss.

"This is a really significant win, and it's a really significant win because of the stature of UConn's program and what Geno Auriemma has done for our sport," commented USC head coach Lindsay Gottlieb.

Weekend upsets shake top-ranked NCAA basketball teams

Elsewhere, upsets dominated the NCAA basketball conversation this weekend, with Top 25 contenders falling short as this season's undefeated list continues to shrink.

No. 15 Michigan State saw their first loss on Friday, falling to unranked Alabama 82-67 in a low scoring matchup. Afterwards, No. 9 Duke suffered their own unranked loss on Saturday, ceding a tough defensive battle to USF 65-56.

Seventeenth-ranked Georgia Tech remains undefeated with Saturday's ranked win over No. 23 Nebraska, while No. 14 West Virginia lost to unranked Colorado later that day.

Parity is the name of the game this season, with conference realignment, the transfer portal, and other recent shifts impacting a number of programs across the NCAA. And with conference play looming, teams will rely on regional rivalries and schedule strength to prepare them for heightened competition in the new year.

Penn State won the 2024 NCAA Volleyball Championship on Sunday, rising above Louisville's hometown advantage and a monster second set by the Cardinals to claim the program's eighth all-time title and first in 10 years.

In the victory, Penn State head coach Katie Schumacher-Cawley became the first woman head coach in NCAA tournament history to win the championship — all while battling breast cancer.

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Penn State tops Louisville in a back-and-forth matchup

Sunday's championship game drew a sell-out crowd of 21,860 to the KFC Yum Center in downtown Louisville, setting a new NCAA volleyball championship record. It was Louisville's second-ever title match, after finishing second to Texas in 2022.

After suffering an ankle injury in​ Thursday's semifinal upset against Pitt, however, Louisville entered the match without senior outside hitter Anna DeBeer. The absence ultimately proved too great to overcome.

The Nittany Lions won the first set 25-23, before Louisville saved 10 set points to dramatically take the second set 34-32.

But the Nittany Lions roared back, overwhelming the Cardinals to win the third set 25-20 before closing out the deciding set 25-17.

A moving win for Penn State's women's volleyball coach

Penn State coach Schumacher-Cawley, who was diagnosed with cancer last fall, stayed with her team throughout the 2024 season.

"I'm very happy for Katie, and it's a big deal for this sport," Louisville head coach Dani Busboom Kelly said. "I'm thankful… that we can move on and that more women will be in this position in the future."

As for Schumacher-Cawley, she remained ever humble.

"I'm inspired by the young kids that are sick," she said after the win. "If I can be an inspiration, then I take that. But I feel good. I'm fortunate to be surrounded by so many great people."

The new-look New York Sirens continue to impress in the early stages of the 2024/25 PWHL season, most recently notching a big 4-2 win over Toronto in the the team home opener on Wednesday.

All four of New York's goals came in the second period — the most in a single period all season — and all were the first goals of the season by each scorer.

Finland international Noora Tulus opened the game's scoring with her first PWHL goal, with teammates Emmy Fecteau, Micah Zandee-Hart, and Jaime Bourbonnais following suit. Both Fecteau's goal and team captain Zandee-Hart's were the first of their PWHL careers.

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Sirens rookie Sarah Fillier and teammate Alex Carpenter both assisted on Tulus's game-opening goal, with each booking a point in their fourth straight contest. Fillier remains in the PWHL's lead with two goals and five assists for a total of seven points, while Carpenter is just behind with six points — though her three goals make her the league's scoring leader.

As for the Sceptres, forwards Hannah Miller and former Siren Emma Woods each made a dent in the scoresheet with goals of their own in the third period, but it wasn't quite enough as Toronto failed to complete the comeback.

Last-place Toronto has now allowed their opponents to breach the scoresheet first in each of their 2024/25 matchups, ultimately losing their last three games in regulation.

New York Sirens to face Minnesota Frost in top matchup

New York's shifting fortune highlights the second-season league's rapidly growing parity. With only one loss through their first four games, the Sirens sit in second place to stake an early season claim on "most improved" after finishing last in the PWHL's inaugural season.

Just above New York on the league's table are the Minnesota Frost. The reigning Walter Cup champions are holding strong as the team to beat, but New York has already proved that it's possible after handing Minnesota an overtime 4-3 season-opening loss on December 1st.

The Sirens' will officially take aim at the top of the PWHL table on Sunday, when New York will try to gift Minnesota a second season loss in the league's pre-Christmas closer. This time, the Sirens will have the crowd on their side as the Frost visit New York's home ice.

How to watch New York Sirens vs. Minnesota Frost in PWHL action

The puck is set to drop on New York vs. Minnesota at 12 PM ET on Sunday, with live streaming coverage on YouTube.

Despite being populated by all four No. 1 seeds, Thursday's 2024 NCAA volleyball semifinals served up the bracket's biggest upsets, as heavily favored Nebraska and overall top seed Pitt were sent packing by their conference foes.

In front of 21,726 fans — a new record for college volleyball's postseason — Louisville shocked Pitt with a 3-1 victory before Penn State ousted Nebraska in a five-set instant classic.

Louisville books second national championship ticket

After dropping their first set to Pitt on Thursday night, it seemed the deck was stacked against the Cards, who had already lost twice to the Panthers in the regular season.

However, buoyed by their raucous home crowd, Louisville surged back, sweeping the next three sets to book their first trip to the national championship match since 2022, when they became the first and only ACC team to ever compete in the collegiate final.

As for Pitt, Thursday's loss was just their second all season, and not even 2024 AVCA Player of the Year Olivia Babcock's astounding 33 kills could extend their title chase. Notably, their national semifinal curse continues, with the Panthers now falling in the NCAA tournament's penultimate round for four straight years.

On the other hand, Louisville's victory was a true team effort, with three senior outside hitters — Anna DeBeer, Charitie Luper, and Sofia Maldonado Diaz — leading the offensive charge with 14 kills each.

The Cardinals' roster was also required to step up in unexpected ways. Just two points into the fourth set, Louisville star DeBeer crumbled to the court with an ankle injury and did not return to the match. The visibly shocked Cards looked to freshman Payton Petersen, who made a massive statement by recording two kills and four clutch digs to help seal the win.

"I wanted to do this for her," Petersen said of DeBeer. "She's meant so much to me."

Penn State roars back to top Nebraska

In Thursday's battle between two Big Ten titans, the message was clear: Never count out the Nittany Lions.

After falling behind the Cornhuskers 2-0 in what increasingly looked like an inevitable Nebraska victory, Penn State emerged from the brink of defeat to pull off the first reverse sweep of the Huskers in the NCAA tournament since 1982.

Following a 5-0 run that helped the Nittany Lions stay alive with a third set win, they flipped a 22-16 deficit into a match-point battle that ended the fourth set 28-26 in Penn State's favor. With the match now equalized, Penn State took control in the fifth, holding off Nebraska 15-13 to clinch their first championship trip since winning their seventh title in 2014.

Star Jess Mruzik led the Nittany Lions' charge with a 26-kill, 12-dig double-double, putting together what Nebraska head coach John Cook called "one of the best performances [he's] ever seen by an outside hitter." 

Like Louisville's Petersen, freshmen also stepped up for Penn State, with Izzy Starck recording six key blocks and redshirt freshman Caroline Jurevicius hammering 20 kills against her former team, having transferred from Nebraska in December 2023.

As for the Huskers, their stacked roster showed out, with outside hitter Harper Murray leading the charge with a 20-kill, 15-dig double-double, plus three aces — the most by any player in either match on Thursday. Middle blocker Andi Jackson also had a standout night, putting together a near-errorless performance to finish with 19 kills.

Four-time All-American libero Lexi Rodriguez added program history to Thursday's mix, closing out her NCAA career as the Huskers' all-time digs leader with 1,896.

Sunday's court will make NCAA history

Louisville and Penn State's semifinal victories have guaranteed that Sunday's 44th NCAA volleyball championship match will go down in the history books.

With Dani Busboom Kelly leading the Cardinals and Katie Schumacher-Cawley coaching the Nittany Lions, a woman head coach will lift the national championship trophy for the first time.

Only two women have ever coached their teams into the college volleyball final, with Florida's Mary Wise doing so in 2003 and 2017 before Busboom Kelly followed in 2022.

For context, the last seven Division I basketball trophies came under women head coaches.

The fact that this glass ceiling still exists is partially due to volleyball having less women in head coaching positions than other NCAA sports. Less than half of Division I's 334 teams are led by a woman, while basketball boasts nearly 68% female leadership and softball claims almost 74%.

Busboom Kelly's ACC exceeds that 50% stat, but the Schumacher-Cawley remains one of only six women leading the Big Ten's 18 teams.

Both of Sunday's sideline leaders know what it takes to win the national championship, with Schumacher-Cawley taking the 1999 title while playing for Penn State and Busboom Kelly doing the same with Nebraska in 2006.

Even so, in some ways, this year's title will mean even more, as the coaches pave the way for future generations of volleyball leaders.

"[There’s] just honestly no better feeling than being led by a female because that could be me someday, that could be one of my teammates someday," Mruzik noted. 

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How to watch the 2024 NCAA volleyball championship match

Sunday's final won't just make women's coaching history, it could see Louisville earn the ACC's first-ever NCAA volleyball title. But to do so, the Cardinals, who fell to Penn State 3-0 in early September, will have to deny the Nittany Lions an eighth national championship.

NCAA volleyball will crown its Division I champion in Sunday's 3 PM ET match, with live coverage on ABC.