And just like that, after five chaotic months of regular-season action, it’s time for the NWSL playoffs.

The 2022 postseason kicks off Sunday, starting with the Houston Dash hosting the Kansas City Current at 5 p.m. ET at PNC Stadium in front of the largest crowd in Dash history – more than 14,000 fans. The Chicago Red Stars and San Diego Wave follow at 10 p.m. ET at San Diego’s Snapdragon Stadium.

The winner of the first game plays this season’s Shield winners, OL Reign, in the semifinal round on Oct. 23, while the winner of the second plays the No. 2 Portland Thorns on the same day.

With five of the six playoff teams finishing the regular season within four points of each other, anything can happen on the road to the championship. While we wait in the calm before the storm, here’s a quick look at each quarterfinal matchup.

No. 4 Houston Dash vs. No. 5 Kansas City Current

Dash (10-6-6, GD: +8)

• This is Houston’s first playoff appearance in franchise history.
• The Dash rank second in the league, behind just the Reign, in possessions won in the final third.
• Houston scored two goals or more in nine of their 10 wins during regular season.

Current (10-6-6, GD: 0)

• This is Kansas City’s first playoff appearance, and the first by a Kansas City club since FC Kansas City made the postseason in 2015.
• The Current went on a 13-game undefeated streak this season after not recording a win in their first five matches.
• The Current rank first in the NWSL in penalties awarded (seven).

Evenly matched with identical records in the regular season, the Dash and the Current are about to play an unpredictable game.

Each team had a win in their two previous meetings this season, with Houston taking a 2-0 result the first time around and Kansas City getting revenge with a 2-1 victory. The Current won both games the teams played against each other in the 2022 Challenge Cup.

The Current have built a strong attack led by Lo’eau Labonta, Cece Kizer and Hailie Mace, and they are backed by one of the most reliable goalkeepers in the league in AD Franch.

But will they stick to their 3-5-2 formation against Houston’s potent offense? The Dash are arguably more lethal than the Current, with Ebony Salmon, María Sánchez and Nichelle Prince leading the way.

Kansas City’s three-defender lineup could run into trouble against a scoring machine like Houston, who rank second among the playoff teams in goals (35). And the Current will be without defensive midfielder Desiree Scott, who received two yellow cards in Kansas City’s last game against Racing Louisville and therefore has to sit out the first-round match.

Prediction: Kansas City. The odds may not feel like they’re in the Current’s favor. But they didn’t feel like that at the beginning of the season either, when Kansas City went without a win in its first five games — then proceeded to record a 13-game unbeaten streak.

No. 3 San Diego Wave FC vs. No. 6 Chicago Red Stars

Wave (10-6-6, GD: +11)

• San Diego is the first NWSL expansion team to reach the playoffs in its first season.
• The Wave rank first in the league in clean sheets with nine.
• The Wave get to host the match at their home field, Snapdragon Stadium, where they broke the NWSL single-game attendance record in September with a sold-out crowd of 32,000 fans.

Red Stars (9-7-6, GD: +6)

• This marks Chicago’s seventh straight year in the playoffs.
• The Red Stars rank third in the league in possession with an average of 52 percent.
• Their longest unbeaten streak this season was nine games.

San Diego has more reason for confidence going into this match. The Wave came out on top in both of their games against the Red Stars during regular season, winning 2-1 and 1-0. In addition to a strong starting lineup, the Wave have game changers off the bench who can and have made a direct impact on the scoresheet.

Still, the Red Stars have developed a chemistry that could push through San Diego’s steady defense, especially with their deadly weapon Mallory Pugh. Her abilities, from goal scoring to dribbling to tackling, enable her to dictate games better than any player in the NWSL.

Prediction: San Diego. The Wave won both their previous games against the Red Stars and will win a third at home in front of an electric Snapdragon Stadium audience.

U.S. Soccer announced Tuesday that the USWNT will play their last home game on July 16th in the lead-up to the 2024 Summer Olympic Games in Paris.

The 2024 Send-Off Match against Costa Rica will take place at Washington, DC’s Audi Field — home to both the Washington Spirit and DC United — at 7:30 p.m. ET on Tuesday, July 16th. The friendly rounds out a four-game Olympic run-up campaign under incoming head coach Emma Hayes’ side, with the last two set to feature the finalized 2024 U.S. Olympic Women’s Soccer Team roster.

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Hayes will appear on the USWNT sideline for the first time this June, helming the team as they embark on a two-game series against Korea Republic hosted by Dick’s Sporting Goods Park in Commerce City, Colorado on June 1st followed by Allianz Stadium in St. Paul, Minnesota on June 4th. 

The team is then scheduled to meet a talented Mexico squad on July 13th at Gotham FC’s Red Bull Arena in Harrison, New Jersey, where the Olympic-bound lineup will attempt to rewrite February’s shocking 2-0 loss to El Tri Femenil in the group stages of this year’s Concacaf W Gold Cup. And while clear roster favorites have emerged from both of this year’s Gold Cup and SheBelives Cup rosters, a spate of recent and recurring injuries means making it to the Olympics is still largely anyone’s game.

Broadcast and streaming channels for the USWNT's final July 16th friendly at Audi Field include TNT, truTV, Universo, Max, and Peacock.

The USA Basketball Women's National Team is still considering Caitlin Clark for a spot on the Paris Olympics squad, says selection committee chair Jennifer Rizzotti. 

On Monday, Rizzotti told the AP that the committee will be evaluating the college phenom’s Olympic prospects by keeping a close eye on her first few weeks of WNBA play with Indiana.

The move is somewhat unconventional. While Clark was invited to participate in the 14-player national team training camp held earlier this month — the last camp before Team USA’s roster drops — she was unable to attend due to it coinciding with Iowa’s trip to the NCAA Women’s Final Four.

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Judging by the immense talent spread throughout the league in what might be their most hyped season to date, competition for a piece of the Olympic pie could be fiercer than ever before.

"You always want to introduce new players into the pool whether it's for now or the future," said Rizzotti. "We stick to our principles of talent, obviously, positional fit, loyalty and experience. It's got to be a combination of an entire body of work. It's still not going to be fair to some people."

Of course, Clark isn’t the first rookie the committee has made exceptions for. Coming off an exceptional college season that saw her averaging 19.4 points, 8.7 rebounds, and 4 assists per game for UConn, Breanna Stewart was tapped to represent the U.S. at the 2016 Olympics in Brazil less than two weeks after being drafted No. 1 overall by the Seattle Storm. Eight years prior, fellow No. 1 pick Candace Parker punched her ticket to the 2008 Games in Beijing just two weeks after making her first appearance for the L.A. Sparks.

In the lead-up to Paris’ Opening Ceremony on July 26th, USA Basketball Women’s National Team is scheduled to play a pair of exhibition games. They'll first go up against the WNBA's finest at the July 20th WNBA All-Star Game in Phoenix before facing Germany in London on July 23rd.

While an official roster announcement date hasn’t yet been issued, players won’t find out if they’ve made this year’s Olympic cut until at least June 1st.

For the first time in history, three different WNBA teams have completely sold out of season ticket plans well before the league's May 14th kick-off.

Call it the Caitlin Clark effect, attribute it to this year’s tenacious rookie class, or look to the skyrocketing visibility of veteran players across the board. But no matter the cause, facts are facts: Tickets to the 2024 WNBA season are selling like never before. 

On Monday, the Dallas Wings became the third team to sell out of season ticket memberships in the league’s 27-year history. The announcement from Arlington came shortly after the Atlanta Dream issued their own season ticket sell-out statement, also on Monday, and almost seven weeks after the back-to-back WNBA Champion Las Vegas Aces made headlines by becoming the first-ever WNBA team to sell out their season ticket allotment.   

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According to the Wings, season ticket memberships will fill nearly 40% of the 6,251 seats inside their home arena, College Park Center. The club also said that their overall ticket revenue has ballooned to the tune of 220% this year, spanning not just season tickets but also a 1,200% increase in single ticket sales. There’s currently a waitlist to become a Dallas season ticket holder, a status that comes with extra incentives like playoff presale access and discounts on additional single-game tickets. 

In Atlanta, season tickets aren't the only thing flying off the shelves. The Dream also announced that they broke their own record for single-game ticket sales during a recent limited presale campaign. Sunday was reportedly their most lucrative day, with five different games totally selling out Gateway Center Arena. Individual tickets for all upcoming matchups will hit the market this Thursday at 8 a.m., while a waitlist for season ticket memberships will open up next Tuesday at 10 a.m.

"Excitement around women's sports, particularly basketball, is at an all-time high and nowhere is that felt more than here in Atlanta," Dream president and COO Morgan Shaw Parker said in the team’s statement. "We’ve continued a record-setting growth trajectory over the past three years under new ownership — both on and off the court — and 2024 is shaping up to be our best season yet."

As of Tuesday, season ticket sales revenue for Caitlin Clark’s hotly anticipated Indiana Fever debut haven’t yet been announced by the club. But if these numbers are any indication — not to mention the explosive demand for Fever away games felt by teams around the country — it won’t be long before we see some scale-tipping figures coming out of Indianapolis.

25-year-old American pro golfer Nelly Korda secured her spot in LPGA history on Sunday, notching her fifth-straight title at this weekend's Chevron Championship in The Woodlands, Texas.

Ranked No. 1 in the world by Rolex Women’s World Golf Rankings, Korda joins Nancy Lopez (1978) and Annika Sörenstam (2005) as just the third LPGA player to rack up five consecutive tour wins. She is also the third No. 1-ranked player to capture The Chevron Championship victory since the rankings debuted in 2006, accompanied by Lorena Ochoa and Lydia Ko.

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The Florida native shot three-under 69 in Sunday's final, besting Sweden's Maja Stark despite Stark's valiant come-from-behind attempt in the 18th. Korda finished with a four-day total of 13-under 275, celebrating her two-stroke win by cannonballing into Poppie's Pond, much to the crowd's delight. She left The Club at Carlton Woods with $1.2 million from an overall purse of $7.9 million.

It wasn't long ago that the two-time major champion's current winning streak seemed unimaginable. After maintaining her No. 1 position for 29 weeks, Korda underwent surgery to remove a blood clot from her left arm in 2022. She returned to the course not long after, but failed to win a single tournament in 2023 before seeing a surge in form during the first four months of 2024. As of today, she hasn't lost a tournament since January.

Korda will attempt a record sixth-straight win at next week's JM Eagle LA Championship at Wilshire Country Club in Los Angeles, where she'll vie for a cut of the $3.75 million purse.