At the Orlando Pride these days, everyone is working for each other. That’s how midfielder Erika Tymrak describes the atmosphere during another rebuilding year that’s featured many unexpected hurdles along the way.

Over the last couple of months, the Pride have focused on creating a competitive environment and nurturing culture that’s inclusive of everybody. The approach has translated into results on the field, with Orlando taking a seven-game unbeaten streak into Friday’s match with OL Reign after starting the season 2-2-5.

“I’ve won two championships in this league and I’ve learned on both of those teams that everyone has to be committed and understanding of their role and everyone has to be working for each other,” said Tymrak, a 10-year NWSL veteran. “Whether you’re a 90-minute player or a sub, someone who’s not getting playing time, rookie, veteran, you have to be committed.”

She credits interim coach Seb Hines for fostering an an environment where everyone wants to play their best for each other. Hines is filling in for head coach Amanda Cromwell and assistant coach Sam Greene, who were placed on administrative leave in June due to an ongoing investigation by the NWSL and NWSL Players Association into allegations of workplace misconduct.

“He’s been really direct about how he wants us to play, what his expectations are, what his standards are, what our standards should be as players,” Tymrak said of Hines. “As an athlete, I think it’s sometimes tough to live in that gray area where you’re not really sure. The more black and white you can make it, the easier it is to understand, especially for younger players and rookies.

“Having that clarity and directness and confidence in us and how he wants us to play has been huge.”

The players are enjoying each other’s company in a way that general manager Ian Fleming has never seen during his year and a half with the club.

“I think the team is responding really well to just a much more pleasant place to be right now than it has been for some time,” he said. “It’s energizing. I think everyone’s feeling really good about the direction that we’re heading.”

Hines has worked the team so hard in training over the last seven weeks that games feel like the easy days and the players hardly have to think about what they’re doing on the field. Since the beginning of July, the Pride have tied or beaten three teams in the top four of the standings — the Houston Dash, Kansas City Current and San Diego Wave — and risen to eighth place with six regular-season games remaining.

One of the youngest teams in the league a year after being the oldest team, weighted by minutes played, the Pride (5-5-6) are sitting in the bottom half of the standings for a fifth straight season, but they’re also on track to finish in their best position in five years. The top six teams make the NWSL playoffs beginning in October.

Zedis Lapedis @juliedoyle__ 🚀#ORLvLA | #PrideOfOrlando pic.twitter.com/u8i07wfEA9

— Orlando Pride (@ORLPride) August 8, 2022

Coming into 2022, the Pride knew it would be a challenging year. In preseason, the club returned 15 players from the 2021 season after trading away longtime club staples Alex Morgan, Ali Krieger and Ashlyn Harris.

Since then, they’ve lost four key veterans — Marta, Sydney Leroux, Amy Turner and Angharad James — to a season-ending injury, a trade, a contract buyout and a contract termination.

Orlando bought out Turner’s contract 10 days after Cromwell and Greene were put on leave, and both Pride teammates and NWSL players were quick to show support for the defender. A month later, James joined Turner, her fiancée, in signing with Tottenham.

Amy .. what a woman & Human. Leaving your home & moving to a new place is never easy .. you did it with Ease.

I am so sorry this was the experience you got here, you deserved so so so much better.

Goodluck in the future, I’ll be rooting for ya. ❤️ https://t.co/QxV5YACaIY

— Jessica Fishlock MBE (@JessFishlock) June 17, 2022

Sydney Leroux, who was traded to Angel City FC shortly after Turner’s departure, told the media upon her arrival in Los Angeles, “It’s not a secret that things are going on in Orlando, that things need to be looked at and taken care of. I had five years there and Orlando will always hold a special place in my heart.”

The club has focused on rebuilding its trust with players through transparent discussions and providing support on and off the field, Fleming explained. The Pride are also committed to giving their players the physical and psychological medical care they need. When Tymrak was asked what has stood out most about her experience with the Pride this year, she cited the coaching and medical staff as well as the benefits of having ice baths, chiropractic care, physiotherapy, sports psychologist and other resources are all available under one roof.

“I know that doesn’t sound like a big deal, but I’ve been at clubs where it’s not like that,” she said. “It makes such a difference because at the end of the day, the athlete just wants to step on the field and perform. And if they’re given every opportunity to do that, they’re going to be more successful.”

Tymrak, who played for FC Kansas City from 2013-17 and returned to the NWSL with the Utah Royals from 2018-19, came out of retirement to join the Pride for the 2021 season after a random phone call from Leroux. The nine-year NWSL veteran encouraged Tymrak to come train with Orlando during the offseason.

The offseason turned into a year and a half of the longtime friends playing together before Leroux was traded to Angel City.

“It was tough,” Tymrak said of Leroux leaving. “But I’m really happy for her and I think it’ll be good for her being closer to home. Sometimes you’re at a club for a while and there’s nothing wrong, but you just outgrow it. Syd’s one of those types of people who wants to be challenged, and sometimes being in the same environment can get stagnant.”

Fleming felt it was best at this point in Leroux’s career to put her in a position where she felt like she was competing for championships now. A member of the Pride since 2018, Leroux never had a winning season or made a playoff appearance in Orlando.

Fleming said the circumstances surrounding Turner and James’ unexpected departures were similar.

“I was trying to do the best job we can to put our players in a place to succeed, and for those players, in particular, to help them get to a place that was better for them where they can continue their careers,” he said. “For me, it was allowing [Turner] to go back home in an environment, to find an environment in which she can thrive and continue to play at the highest level.”

The gaps in the roster have created opportunities for younger players to take on bigger roles. For example, 23-year-old midfielder Viviana Villacorta has been consistently playing full matches since the beginning of July, just as Orlando began its unbeaten streak, and 22-year-old defender Kerry Abello has become a regular starter.

“They’ve thrived in that environment,” Fleming said. “We’re seeing the payoff from that right now. We’re seeing the growth and development of young players … in a way that I think will help them in the early stages of their career, but also help our club moving forward.”

Following the departures of multiple veterans this season, Orlando recently acquired Ally Watt from OL Reign and Haley Hanson from the Houston Dash before the transfer window closed this week. When it comes to trades, the Pride have targeted experienced NWSL players in the prime of their careers who have been on winning teams and are willing to take on a leadership role on a rebuilding team.

The Pride have seen that vision materialize in the last seven weeks, as the players have bought into the mission, competed for each other and gotten a taste of success.

“I think Seb has done such a good job with this group. He’s created this environment that’s super competitive,” Tymrak said. “Every time we go to practice, everyone’s so excited to compete.

“I think that is a really special environment.”

Jessa Braun is a contributing writer at Just Women’s Sports covering the NWSL and USWNT. Follow her on Twitter @jessabraun.

As the world of women’s soccer approaches 2026, the last year may well be remembered for its dynasties.

Chelsea won a sixth straight WSL title, Euros champion England and Copa winner Brazil retained their continental crowns, and Gotham FC lifted a second NWSL trophy in three years.

The winds of change also began to blow in new directions, with Arsenal upsetting Barcelona to win the Champions League final, top NWSL talent departing the US for opportunities overseas, and Kansas City reminding everyone what happens when regular-season dominance meets playoff vulnerability.

Through it all the game continued to grow, with increasingly interesting results on both sides of the pond, as the ramp-up to the 2027 World Cup and a new slate of regional competitions coincide with an ever-shifting economic landscape

So instead of looking back, we’re keeping the spirit of progress alive by presenting five bold predictions for women’s soccer in 2026.

Sophia Wilson’s return: A top contender for 2026 NWSL MVP

News of USWNT Sophia Wilson’s impending return to the Portland Thorns gave NWSL fans a boost earlier this month, with the Triple Espresso forward signing a single-year extension with her original club team.

Expect Wilson to hit the ground running as she comes back from pregnancy. The 2022 NWSL MVP has been very consistent throughout her career, and she’ll be joined by other returning Thorns attackers to bolster her opportunities in front of goal.

Fellow extended Portland star Olivia Moultrie will be paramount to the 25-year-old’s MVP campaign, especially as Wilson looks to challenge two-time reigning MVP Temwa Chawinga.

Don’t bet against Wilson showing shades of Alex Morgan’s 2023 Golden Boot run. That's when the USWNT legend blew past expectations for what new mothers could achieve in their first season back on the pitch.

No repeat champs: Why the women's soccer guards are changing in 2026

Reigning WSL winner Chelsea’s repeat bid is already shaky, with Everton snapping their 34-game unbeaten streak earlier this month. And they’re preparing to enter the new year six points behind Manchester City in the league table.

Blues manager Sonia Bompastor has seemed to prefer a static roster rotation. Of course, she’s charged with managing players from two eras: ex-coach Emma Hayes’s success and the team’s modern iteration. If there was a time for a changing of the WSL guard, 2026 is the year.

Stateside, 2025 NWSL Shield winners Kansas City continue to navigate offseason changes. The Current will start 2026 under brand new leadership, after former head coach Vlatko Andonovski announced he’ll move to a Sporting Director role.

ESPN recently reported Kansas City’s plan to hire former MLS head coach Chris Armas in 2026. But without a formal announcement and the offseason clock ticking, the Current might run out of runway to set up a repeat bid.

2025 NWSL champion Gotham has both FIFA and Concacaf Champions Cup commitments this year, complicating their quest as they maneuver a jam-packed season. The club landed one major re-signing in Midge Purce, but forward Ella Stevens departed for expansion side Boston. Thus, the team is left relying on a title-winning core with an average age over 28.

Arsenal hasn’t looked too terribly far off their Champions League game yet. But the subsequent resurgence of Barcelona and OL Lyonnes could see the WSL on the outside looking in once the tournament reaches May's final.

Despite having a few worthy clubs — including strong newcomers Manchester United — the UK league’s chances of claiming another UWCL title appear overshadowed by mainland Europe’s renewed dominance.

Emma Hayes's USWNT: Expect major roster overhauls in 2026

USWNT coach Emma Hayes embraced change in 2025, giving 43 players their first national team cap this year — the most since 2001.

Though the approach came with some speed bumps. The US matching the single-year total loss record with three dropped matches.

Considering Hayes’s approach, it seems that the future of the USWNT has arrived much sooner than expected. And looking back, those losses actually made an emphatic argument for more lineup overhauls — not less.

The team’s November loss to Portugal showcased a veteran midfield trio in Rose Lavelle, Lindsey Heaps, and Sam Coffey. The lineup exposed the old guard’s weaknesses as the team looks to hold ground among the world’s elite.

Remember — Hayes made the call to leave Alex Morgan off the gold medal-winning 2024 Olympic roster. In doing so, she laid the groundwork for even bigger calls as the US gears up for a tough World Cup qualifying run in 2026.

The global talent war: NWSL salary cap faces European threats

The NWSL closes 2025 with flashy off-field headlines and waning on-field enthusiasm, as it attempts to grapple with a rash of overseas departures.

They’ve even gone so far as to institute a new “High Impact Player” rule allowing teams to exceed the salary cap for top talent. The move comes after rejecting the Washington Spirit’s blockbuster play for superstar striker Trinity Rodman.

Viewed as a half-measure to circumvent larger salary cap issues, the NWSL Players Association has come out against the newly approved mechanism.

The union is advocating for the league to raise the base salary cap across the board. This will help clubs keep up in an increasingly competitive global market without destroying parity.

Whether or not the two parties will reach a compromise remains to be seen. Meantime, it leaves NWSL fans to hope for a solution as wealthy European clubs continue to draw top free agents away from the US league.

Of course, money isn’t everything. Raising the salary cap won’t guarantee NWSL favorites remain Stateside, as another league’s pull features more than just a pay bump. Thoughugh should the NWSL figure things out in time, US clubs might bring in a few big names themselves.

Regardless, expect more players to test their abilities in new environments when the transfer window opens back up in January. And it's especially pressing considering the looming World Cup and its national team implications.

The 2026 Men’s World Cup will transform women’s soccer

International soccer’s largest event lands in the US next year, as the 2026 Men’s World Cup promises to reshape football fandom in this country and beyond.

The NWSL remains bullish on the tournament’s ability to convert soccer fans across gender lines. Though the competition itself is subsequently bound to have a serious and immediate impact on the women’s game.

The NWSL plans to pause for the duration of next summer’s World Cup. This is in part due to infrastructural strains, as the tournament takes over venues shared between men’s and women’s club teams. The USWNT’s World Cup qualifying campaign will also hit the breaks, rendering the team’s summer international windows largely meaningless.

And with Concacaf qualifiers kicking off immediately after the 2026 NWSL Championship, top players will have to balance commitments at the end of a long year.

No matter how the 2026 World Cup ends up influencing US soccer culture, it will inevitably present some challenges as the domestic women’s game pushes to be more than an afterthought alongside the sport’s biggest stage.

No. 3 South Carolina basketball suffered a blow this week, as top transfer Ta'Niya Latson exited the Gamecocks' 96-55 win over Providence with a lower leg injury on Sunday.

"She's smiling," South Carolina head coach Dawn Staley said of Latson immediately following the game, offering an optimistic injury update. "She got treatment all through the second half."

The star senior guard, who turned 22 years old last Friday, joined South Carolina after leading Division I in scoring with Florida State last season.

This year, Latson's 16.9 points per game trails only sophomore forward Joyce Edwards's 21.4-point average on the Gamecocks' scoresheet.

While the full extent to Latson's injury and her potential time off the court is still unknown, any absence exacerbates the team's injury woes, as South Carolina lost standout forward Chloe Kitts to a season-ending injury before the 2025/26 campaign tipped off — with the Gamecocks battling additional availability limits throughout their roster all month.

That said, with the recent returns of forward Madina Okot and guard Agot Makeer from concussion protocol, the Gamecock bench is significantly less sparse, with both returnees impacting Sunday's South Carolina victory with a double-double.

Even more, Staley's squad will see additional roster relief when 18-year-old French center Alicia Tournebize joins the team midseason.

How to watch South Carolina basketball this week

The No. 3 Gamecocks will open the new year by tipping off their SEC slate on Thursday, when South Carolina hosts unranked Alabama at 2 PM ET.

The clash with the Crimson Tide will air live on SEC+.

The world's tennis stars are preparing to open 2026 play in Australia this weekend, with top WTA and ATP leaders on Team USA gearing up to defend their United Cup title starting this Friday.

The two-time champion US enters as the No. 1 seed in the fourth edition of the hard-court tournament, bolstered by the return of world No. 3 Coco Gauff to lead Team USA's six-player United Cup contingent.

With each tournament bout consisting of one WTA singles match, one ATP singles clash, and one mixed-doubles competition, Gauff notably claimed a straight-sets victory over Polish phenom No. 2 Iga Świątek to secure the 2025 title for the US.

"I'm super excited," the 21-year-old star said prior to this year's United Cup. "I had such a good time in my first year playing with the team, and I'm looking forward to going back."

With the 2026 Australian Open beginning in less than two weeks, the United Cup pits 18 national teams against each other as players from both the women's and men's tours tune up for next year's Slams.

Fellow WTA Top-10 stars Świątek and Italy's No. 8 Jasmine Paolini will join Gauff on the 2026 United Cup court, while fan favorite No. 16 Naomi Osaka will feature for tournament debutant Japan.

Also battling for national pride will be two winners of last season's WTA awards, with 2025 Newcomer of the Year No. 18 Vicky Mboko joining Team Canada and 2025 Comeback Player of the Year No. 11 Belinda Bencic competing for Switzerland.

How to watch the 2026 United Cup

The 2026 United Cup runs January 2nd through 11th, with live coverage airing on the Tennis Channel.

The No. 3 Minnesota Frost are looking to skate up the PWHL table, as the reigning back-to-back champs hope to make up ground before the third-year league breaks for the 2026 Winter Olympics.

Eight games into the 2025/26 season, the Boston Fleet top the PWHL standings with 19 points, trailed by the No. 2 Toronto Sceptres with 14, while the No. 4 Montréal Victoire sit one point behind the Frost with 11.

"Our league is good. Every game is going to be close," Minnesota head coach Ken Klee said last week. "It's just about getting better and keep accumulating points."

With the league's original six teams largely off to a hot start, there's only a few weeks left before players hang up their PWHL jerseys for February's Winter Games.

Teams outside the current playoff chase are also making a statement, as New York Sirens forward Casey O'Brien scored her first pro goals to power the sixth-place squad past the No. 5 Seattle Torrent 4-3 on Sunday — becoming the first rookie to record a hat trick in PWHL history in the process.

"We've been putting in a lot of work in practice and video, focusing on the little things," O'Brien said postgame. "Tonight felt like the payoff."

How to watch this week's PWHL action

The puck drops on the final 2025 PWHL matches on Tuesday, when the No. 3 Minnesota Frost visit the No. 2 Toronto Sceptres at 7 PM ET, airing live on Prime.

Closing out the year on Wednesday, the No. 6 New York Sirens will host the No. 7 Vancouver Goldeneyes at 1 PM ET, with live coverage airing on MSG Network.