LOS ANGELES — Fans had the inaugural NWSL regular-season match between Angel City FC and San Diego Wave circled on their calendars for months. The expansion clubs would not only be playing for bragging rights in their debut seasons, but Angel City — the league leader in average attendance — would have another opportunity to showcase its growing fan base.

With the new rivals playing in front of a sellout crowd of 22,000 at Banc of California Stadium on Saturday night, the game’s drama matched its anticipation. Angel City, despite going a player down late in the second half, defeated the first-place Wave 2-1 to tie the Portland Thorns with 17 total points in the league standings.

ACFC captain Ali Riley, the game’s first goal scorer, saw Saturday’s game as a celebration of the progress this country has made with women’s soccer and women’s sports, and she expects the rivalry with San Diego to propel the NWSL further.

“I thought all day about how incredible it is to not just have one team in Southern California, but to now have two,” Riley said after the inaugural Chanclásico (chanclas is the Spanish word for flip flops). “We haven’t had that before, and it’s not something I was able to see when I was growing up.”

ACFC president Julie Uhrman also spoke about the budding rivalry.

“This is a city of champions, and we want to be the best in the league, but we absolutely want to be the best in Southern California,” she said. “As much appreciation as I have for San Diego and as much as I want them to be successful this year, every single time we step on the pitch, we’re looking for the three points and the rivalry makes it a bigger game.”

In the 81st minute, as Angel City was playing with just 10 players after Tyler Lussi received her second yellow card of the match, a wide-open Claire Emslie scored from the right side of the box off a cross from Cari Roccaro. The right-footed shot to the bottom left corner gave the home team a 2-1 lead it would not squander. It was also ACFC’s first score in front of its supporters’ section all season.

Welcome to LA @emslie22! @weareangelcity wins with a player down 😤 pic.twitter.com/CSbdOjNtot

— Just Women’s Sports (@justwsports) July 10, 2022

Emslie, a 28-year-old forward from Scotland, made her team debut off the bench after landing in Los Angeles on Tuesday and officially signing on Thursday. For dinner the night before the match, Riley made Emslie vegan enchiladas to welcome her. The jetlagged Emslie, who was the organization’s second pick in the expansion draft, has been drinking coffee at night to stay awake. She said she has been so exhausted that she has begun feeling tired around 6 p.m. since landing in L.A.

In the ninth minute of the match, Riley drilled the opening goal with a left-footed strike through a tight window past San Diego goalkeeper Carly Telford. Jun Endo made the assist on a setup from Sydney Leroux. The goal marked the 34-year-old defender’s first in the 2,155th minute and 29th game of her NWSL career. Emslie’s goal was also the first of her NWSL career.

.@RileyThree's FIRST NWSL GOAL pic.twitter.com/UtrDG5Pzk3

— Just Women’s Sports (@justwsports) July 10, 2022

Leroux, who spent her college years across town at UCLA, was listed as questionable for the game with a right ankle injury. Making her first start for ACFC a week after debuting with the team following a trade from the Orlando Pride, Leroux didn’t take long to assuage concerns over her health.

In the second minute of the second half, Leroux nearly doubled her team’s lead with a nifty bicycle kick that went wide right. Five minutes later, when it appeared Leroux had scored on another attempt, the crowd erupted and pink smoke emanated from the supporters’ section. The noise died down when the forward was ruled offside and the goal was disallowed.

ACFC keeper DiDi Haračić was spectacular throughout the match, and especially busy in the closing moments. In the 86th minute, the goalie flashed the save of the match, jumping to deflect an on-target header out of play. Three minutes later, San Diego missed a go-ahead goal by inches on a Katie Johnson attempt from close range.

HOW DID DIDI DO THAT? 🤯@DIdeeds | @weareangelcity pic.twitter.com/IZIqqIhYC5

— National Women’s Soccer League (@NWSL) July 10, 2022

Kristen McNabb scored the Wave’s lone goal in the 60th minute, evening up the match with a left-footed drive into the bottom left corner. The Wave dominated possession in the first half (58.5 percent) and in the contest overall (56.2). They also outshot their northern neighbors 18 to nine, completed 27 crosses compared to ACFC’s eight and kicked five more corners than their opponent. And yet, the home club found a path to victory.

Important players on both sides missed the contest in favor of Women’s World Cup Qualifiers, including the league’s leading goal scorer, San Diego forward Alex Morgan (U.S.). For ACFC, starting defenders Vanessa Gilles (Canada) and Alyson Swaby (Jamaica) were also sidelined due to international duty. The club continues to be without star striker Christen Press and key defenders Jasmyne Spencer and Sarah Gorden due to injury. Press was met with enthusiastic pregame applause when she was shown on the jumbotron walking with crutches, flanked by ACFC investors Jennifer Garner and Glennon Doyle.

As ACFC players and staff reflected on their second sellout of the season Saturday night, they were equally proud and emphatic about the future. The Los Angeles club continues to easily pace the league in average attendance, with 19,006 fans per its seven home contests.

“Invest in us,” Riley said. “Look at all the people who care about women’s soccer, not just in Southern California.”

“We’re trying to show that women’s sports deserve the attention that these women got tonight,” Uhrman added. “The fans have supported this team in a way that feels completely unrivaled in women’s sports. You’re starting to see us women believing in our power and our strength and saying enough is enough, we deserve the attention.”

Joshua Fischman is a contributing writer at Just Women’s Sports covering Angel City FC and the Los Angeles Sparks. He has covered basketball for Vantage Sports and Hoops Rumors and served as co-host of “On the NBA Beat” podcast. Joshua received his master’s in Sports Media from Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism. Follow him on Twitter @JJTheJuggernaut.

Angel City officially cut the ribbon on their new training facility on Tuesday, showing off their expanded performance center as NWSL preseason gets underway.

The nine-acre Thousand Oaks site boasts 1.5 full-sized pitches and 50,000 square feet of indoor space, making it the league's largest NWSL-specific practice ground.

The center also houses a 5,400-square-foot gym, multiple locker rooms, medical offices, an outdoor lounge, an onsite content studio, a children's playroom, and rehab, hydrotherapy, and nutrition areas.

Having practiced at Cal Lutheran University since the expansion franchise's 2022 debut, ACFC later relocated across campus to the former home of the NFL's LA Rams. They then transformed the site into their record-setting performance center after completing a multi-million dollar remodel.

"Today we get to celebrate an extraordinary milestone for Angel City. Our new performance center reflects our commitment to the future of ACFC to its sustained excellence, and to providing our players with the best possible environment to train, to recover, and to thrive," said ACFC controlling owner Willow Bay in a statement. "My husband Bob Iger and I know how important it is, and how essential it is to ensure that our players have everything they need to be successful both on and off the pitch. This state-of-the-art performance center, let's be clear — it sets the bar, but it really should be the norm."

An unmatched tool for the new NWSL recruitment era

Offering a record-setting performance center to Angel City players could have the unexpected benefit of attracting and retaining future talent for LA.

With the abolishment of NWSL college and expansion drafts and the requirement to gain player permission for all trades taking effect under the league's new CBA, clubs now face a new era of athlete recruitment.

Rather than benefitting from the previous and arguably more passive system, NWSL franchises must now take a decidedly more active approach to roster-building by wooing potential players and impressing those currently on their squads. Adding top-tier facilities is a major way to sweeten the deal, giving Angel City a potential leg up over other clubs.

"This facility, when people have been here and seen this, I don't know how you're going to want to leave," incoming Angel City sporting director Mark Parsons told reporters at yesterday's unveiling event.

"My job has just got much, much more easy with this facility," Parsons continued. "This is unlike nowhere else. I’m excited to be a part of an organization that cares that much. But I’m also excited that my skill set just got a bit easier, because everyone’s going to want to be here."

USWNT star Naomi Girma will reportedly become the first women's soccer player to garner a transfer fee of over $1 million, as the decorated young center back narrows her overseas suitors down to WSL side Chelsea FC.

The 24-year-old defender is currently under contract with the San Diego Wave until 2026, and reported to the NWSL club's first day of preseason training as expected on Tuesday.

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While Girma's contract is still in negotiations, San Diego and the UK titans have agreed upon the deal's $1.1 million terms — by far the highest sum in the history of pro women's football. The previous record is held by Rachael Kundananji, for whom Bay FC shelled out $860,000 to Spain's Madrid CFF to roster the Zambian forward in February 2024.

Chelsea, who currently stands unbeaten in the WSL halfway through the league's 2024/25 season, is keen to bolster their back line after losing star Canadian center back Kadeisha Buchanan to an ACL injury last November.

France's Olympique Lyonnais also threw their hat in the the million-dollar ring for Girma, only to fall out of contention alongside Chelsea rival Arsenal.

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San Diego's Wave of roster turnovers

Assuming the transfer goes through, Girma will be one of several high-profile players exiting the 2023 NWSL Shield-winning San Diego club ahead of the 2025 season. Girma joins the NC Courage-bound attacker Jaedyn Shaw in making a SoCal departure.

In response, the Wave has been actively filling roster spots, signing 17-year-old defender Trinity Armstrong off of her 2024 College Cup-winning freshman season with UNC last week before adding seasoned goalkeeper and free agent Didi Haračić as well as Nigerian midfielder Favour Emmanuel on Monday. 

Inking Armstrong to a three-year deal seems particularly strategic in the wake of Girma's likely departure. It signals that the Wave are again looking to young defensive talent to replace the 2022 NWSL Draft No. 1 pick.

Ultimately, a transfer fee of this magnitude solidifies Girma's reputation as one of the world's top defenders. While still accounting for less than 1% of spending in the men's game, her historic fee is further proof that the global women's market is growing at breakneck speeds.

The NWSL released its full 2025 schedule on Wednesday morning, locking in 190 league contests across all competitions.

The 2025 Challenge Cup will set the stage on Friday, March 7th with a 2024 NWSL Championship rematch between the title-winning Orlando Pride and runners-up Washington Spirit.

One week later, the official 2025 NWSL Kickoff weekend will see all 14 teams in action as the 182-game regular season gets underway. Each club will play a total of 26 regular-season matches, split equally between home and away contests, before the league's eight top teams will battle through seven playoff games in November.

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A mid-summer break begins in late June with a CBA-mandated week-off. The pause extends one month through July to allow for international play. That's when certain national team players will compete for their countries in confederation tournaments while clubs will be free to schedule friendlies. No additional NWSL tournaments will occur during that window.

In one minor adjustment from the league's earlier calendar announcement, the 2025 regular season will be played over 26 weeks (rather than 25) to mitigate the need for midweek games.

The shift also accommodates for the return of Decision Day, which is making a comeback for the first time since 2023. In the popular format, all teams will compete simultaneously to close out the regular season on Sunday, November 2nd.

Moves up season excitement

With playoff positioning often coming down to the wire, capping the regular season with a Decision Day can dramatically up the stakes and increase excitement for the impending playoffs.

In another move to capitalize on fandom enthusiasm, the NWSL has added a dedicated rivalry weekend to its 2025 calendar. From August 8th through 10th, old feuds like the Portland Thorns and Seattle Reign's Cascadia Clash will share the spotlight with newer grudges like Angel City and San Diego's SoCal Classic.

How to watch the 2025 NWSL season

Entering the second year of the league's blockbuster broadcast deal, 160 total games will air across Prime Video, ION, ESPN, and CBS platforms this season, with the remaining 30 matches streaming on NWSL+. International distribution is still in negotiations.

Starting the NWSL's 2025 action is the Challenge Cup between Orlando and Washington, which begins at 8 PM ET on Friday, March 7th, streaming live on Prime Video.

Two concurrent matches will kick off the 2025 regular season at 8 PM ET on Friday, March 14th: Houston will face Washington on NWSL+, while Orlando takes on the newly branded Chicago Stars FC on Prime Video.

South Carolina boss Dawn Staley became the highest-paid coach in women's college basketball history on Friday, when the three-time national champion inked a contract extension worth over $25 million to remain with the Gamecocks.

At an annual salary of $4 million — plus a $500,000 signing bonus and a yearly $250,000 escalator — the deal locks in Staley through the 2029/30 season.

A significant bump from her previous $3.2 million annual payday, the new contract sees Staley leapfrog over UConn legend Geno Auriemma and LSU's Kim Mulkey to top the league in compensation.

Calling her "a once-in-a-generation coach," athletic director Jeremiah Donati noted that Staley "has elevated the sport of women's basketball on the national level and here on campus, and I am excited that she will be representing our University for many years to come."

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Locking in a South Carolina legend

Since taking the helm in 2008, Staley has led South Carolina to 630 wins, 16 SEC titles, and 12 straight NCAA tournament appearances including five Final Fours and three national championships.

After taking South Carolina to an 128-4 record since her previous contract extension in 2021, this new agreement all but squashes any rumors about the coach's departure.

Despite a clause releasing Staley from an early departure penalties should she exit for a WNBA or NBA job, the legendary college leader has no intentions to leave Columbia.

"I will never leave here to go take another college job," Staley told reporters after the No. 2 Gamecocks' Sunday win over then-No. 13 Oklahoma. "[And] I don't have a passion for the next level. I don't. I would've been gone."

As the Hall of Famer continues setting the on-court NCAA standard in her 17th season with South Carolina, Staley's record-breaking contract both reflects the sport's overall rising stock and pushes for even more investment in the game.

Pledging to prove the impact of supporting both her and the game itself, Staley committed "to continuing to be an example of how an investment in women’s basketball is one that will pay off for everyone."