Alex Morgan has played in the NWSL since its inception in 2013 and won multiple Olympic medals and World Cups with the U.S. women’s national team since 2010. With that resume, it would be fair to think the star forward has seen it all.

But Morgan says the “most exciting thing” in her career didn’t happen until she saw the San Diego Wave’s brand new Snapdragon Stadium, a home she’ll be able to share with 32,000 others, located on the campus of San Diego State University at Mission Valley.

As of Tuesday morning, the Wave had sold over 27,000 tickets to their opening match at the new stadium on Sept. 17, breaking the NWSL single-game attendance record. One of the first players to sign with the Wave, Morgan knows how hard the expansion club has worked on and off the field to make this milestone possible.

“I’m so proud to be a part of that,” she said. “I just feel fortunate to be able to experience things like breaking records still in my career and being wowed and impressed, and this is one of those moments that I’ll look back and see as one of those ‘wow’ moments for me in my career. Just seeing the growth of women’s sports in general.”

The previous NWSL single-game attendance record was 25,218, set by the Portland Thorns at Providence Park in 2019. The league drew outsized attention that year following the USWNT’s run to the World Cup title in France.

With less than a month until their home opener against Angel City FC, @sandiegowavefc announced that they’ve eclipsed the 27K mark as they set their sights on selling out Snapdragon Stadium.

The current @NWSL single-game attendance record of 25,218 was set in 2019 by @ThornsFC. pic.twitter.com/6QRNcdaRgA

— Just Women’s Sports (@justwsports) August 23, 2022

San Diego will host fellow 2022 expansion team Angel City FC at the Snapdragon opener. Morgan scored her first goals with the Wave against Angel City in the group stage of the 2022 Challenge Cup, launching her on a torrid goal-scoring pace.

After notching four goals in the preseason tournament, Morgan now leads the NWSL Golden Boot Race with 12 regular season goals, helping the Wave stay near the top of league standings. On Saturday against the Houston Dash at the Wave’s temporary field, Torero Stadium, she became the fifth player to score 50 NWSL goals in her career.

Morgan’s impressive club campaign earned her a call-up to the national team in June for the Concacaf W Championship. Before then, she hadn’t appeared for the team since October. Referencing her eight-month hiatus from the USWNT as an opportunity to “reset,” Morgan went on to lead the team to the Concacaf title in July and win the Golden Ball as the tournament’s best player.

Morgan credits her success this year to the support she’s received from the Wave and the positive locker room culture her teammates have fostered. It helps that San Diego is where she calls home and where she looks forward to settling down when her playing days are over. To play for the city is something she couldn’t have imagined even just one year ago.

“Now, having this opportunity, it just feels like I’m very settled, happy,” she said. “I want to represent the city proudly, and I think that that’s just translating to my on-field success.”

An absolute beauty of a goal for @alexmorgan13’s 5️⃣0️⃣th 🤩

🎥» @NWSL pic.twitter.com/L97LnlgUAS

— U.S. Women's National Soccer Team (@USWNT) August 21, 2022

When Morgan initially heard there was going to be a team starting in San Diego, she remembers being intrigued but unsure of the club’s short- and long-term goals.

It was the same when the Wave staff told Morgan six weeks ago that they were hoping to sell out the Sept. 17 match against Angel City. She was “cautiously excited,” wondering how they would make it happen.

Every step of the way, the team has lived up to its promises of helping grow the women’s game. And Morgan, 33, has held up her end of the bargain on the field, leading the Wave’s unprecedented charge to second place in the standings at 8-5-4 and ambitions for more in the playoffs.

“I’m just extremely impressed with their execution of this and seeing how the city has rallied behind this team in only the six months of our existence that we’ve been here in San Diego, representing this city and this club,” she said. “It’s just been really fun for me and it’s almost created some youthful energy for me all over again. I think that’s helped with our success on the field.”

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

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.