The UConn women’s basketball team will look different without Azzi Fudd.

The star sophomore guard will miss the next three to six weeks with a knee injury, the latest in a seemingly never-ending string of hardships for the Huskies. The woes for the iconic program started ahead of the season, when Paige Bueckers tore her ACL in August, and reached their lowest point Sunday, when Fudd went down in a loss to Notre Dame.

Injuries have plagued not just UConn but Fudd herself, dating back to her high school career.

Her first major injury came following her sophomore season at St. John’s College High School (D.C.), in which she became the first sophomore to earn the Gatorade Player of the Year award for basketball. While participating in a USA Basketball under-18 3-on-3 tournament in Colorado Springs, she tore the ACL and MCL in her right knee, which kept her out for much of her junior year.

Big news in D.C. today as @SJCHSBBALL G Azzi Fudd was given the Gatorade National Girls' Player of the Year award.

Fudd had already won the state POY award for D.C. but this is an even bigger honor for the sophomore, who helped lead the No. 1 Cadets to two titles this season pic.twitter.com/6JSzAgkGsp

— Michael Errigo (@M_Errigo) March 12, 2019

The Arlington, Virginia, native came back from the injury to become a McDonald’s All-American during her senior season at St. John’s before heading to UConn as the No. 1 recruit in the class of 2021.

Fudd got off to a fast — and expected — start with the Huskies, recording 18 points on 6-9 shooting from beyond the arc in her third game. She then sat out for two months due to a foot injury, one that coach Geno Auriemma said had been bothering her since the summer before her freshman year.

Still, the guard played her best basketball of the season when she came back from the foot injury. She recorded a breakout game against Tennessee on Feb. 6, in which she scored 25 points and went 7-9 from beyond the arc. Fudd followed that up with 29 points against Villanova and then 24 against Marquette.

She finished an impressive freshman campaign averaging 12.1 points per game and shooting 43% from beyond the arc. Her play earned Fudd a spot on the 2022 Big East All-Freshman Team.

Heading into her sophomore season, expectations were high for Fudd, given her talent, accolades, and the absence of junior guard Bueckers.

Fudd delivered, opening the season with 26 points, 6 steals and 4 assists against Northeastern. Fudd scored 32 points in her next two games, highly-anticipated contests against top-25 teams Texas and NC State.

Career-high 32 points
22 second-half points
17 fourth-quarter points

AZZI. FUDD. pic.twitter.com/0Jm3lSLCfv

— UConn Women’s Basketball (@UConnWBB) November 15, 2022

With injuries ravaging the UConn roster – Ice Brady was ruled out for the year, Caroline Ducharme was limited due to neck stiffness, Dorka Juhasz broke her thumb, and of course, Bueckers remained out – Fudd was the guiding force that kept the Huskies on track, and undefeated, until they played Notre Dame on Dec. 4.

In the second quarter, Fudd was setting up a play behind Aaliyah Edwards. The forward fell back and made contact with Fudd’s knee. In visible pain, Fudd went to the bench and then to the locker room. UConn announced Tuesday that the sophomore guard would miss three to six weeks, putting her on pace for a mid-January return.

Fudd’s setback is the latest in a string of bad-luck injuries for UConn.

Without the sophomore, the Huskies have three healthy guards available to play in Nika Muhl, Lou Lopez Senechal and Ines Bettencourt. Muhl and Lopez Senechal have played significant minutes this season, but Bettencourt has not, averaging just 5.5 per game.

After those three, there is Ducharme, whose neck stiffness has been a constant issue, limiting her production.

While the team must contend with the lack of depth at guard, UConn should be getting one of their forwards back soon. Juhasz, who played just two games before breaking her thumb, is day-to-day and could play as soon as Thursday, when the Huskies take on Princeton. That will be a “game-time decision,” associate head coach Chris Dailey said.

Fudd is UConn’s leading scorer this season (20.6 points per game), but their next top three scores are still available – Lopez Senechal (17.4), Edwards (15.7) and Aubrey Griffin (11.7). Juhasz is fifth on the list, averaging 10 points and 10 rebounds in UConn’s opening two contests.

With a slew of injuries dominating all UConn-related headlines, it’s easy to think that the sky is falling for the program. But, with last season as evidence, that is not necessarily the case.

Winning games in the present does get more difficult, but the season is played for March. In 2021-22, Bueckers missed a significant chunk of the season, then Fudd was hurt, then Muhl. At one point, UConn had just seven players available.

The Huskies lost an unprecedented five games in the regular-season, including a 72-69 home loss to unranked Villanova. But in the end, all the questions about UConn didn’t matter. Bueckers and Fudd returned and the Huskies made a run to the national title game, where they fell to South Carolina.

The same could happen this year. Bueckers won’t return, but Fudd is expected back in mid-January at the latest, so the team will have more than a month to get her reacclimated before the postseason. With Fudd, the Huskies were No. 3 in the country, so when she returns, there is no reason they can’t reach the same heights.

In her absence, other players will get more opportunities to hone their skills for the postseason. And even if UConn has a losing skid without Fudd, they’ve already notched enough high-caliber wins that their résumé for March will remain strong.

If Fudd comes back when the timeline says she will, then all the concerns raised in her absence may not mean anything.

USWNT stalwart Alex Morgan will miss at least one week of NWSL action after suffering a left ankle knock in her last club appearance, Wave manager Casey Stoney said on Thursday.

Morgan was helped off the field after rolling her ankle in the later stages of the Wave’s 1-0 loss to the Orlando Pride last weekend, despite the San Diego side being out of available substitutes.

“She's got an ankle injury and she's out for this weekend, and then it'll be week by week from there,” Stoney said, confirming that Morgan’s been ruled out for Saturday’s showdown with NWSL newcomer Bay FC.

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Depending on its severity, Morgan’s ankle issue might have larger ramifications than missing a few weeks of NSWL play. Morgan was added to the team's Gold Cup roster after an ACL injury sidelined young striker Mia Fishel, and she's since made a number of USWNT starts in the team's Gold Cup and SheBelieves wins. A long-term injury could potentially derail the center forward’s Olympic plans.

With her return timeline uncertain, it's possible the injury could also impact Morgan's ability to participate in new head coach Emma Hayes' first U.S. friendlies in June and July.

Morgan's injury concerns aren't uncommon in the U.S. player pool, but add a sense of urgency as Hayes eyes the NWSL for top-performing players in the upcoming weeks. Gotham's Tierna Davidson and Rose Lavelle have also been dealing with injuries: Lavelle has yet to appear for Gotham, while Davidson exited last weekend's match early with a hamstring injury.

Gotham has yet to issue an update concerning Davidson's status.

This week, legendary Brazilian superstar Marta announced that she’ll retire from the national team at the end of 2024.

In an interview with CNN Esportes published Thursday, the iconic footballer confirmed that she would be hanging up her boots regardless of whether or not she ends up making Brazil's 18-player roster for the 2024 Paris Olympics. 

“If I go to the Olympics, I will enjoy every moment, because regardless of whether I go to the Olympics or not, this is my last year with the national team,” she said. “There is no longer Marta in the national team as an athlete from 2025 onwards.”

Marta will retire as a giant of the women's game, having appeared in five Olympics and multiple World Cups. When discussing her retirement, she stressed confidence in the rising generation of Brazilian players, noting that she was, “very calm about this, because I see with great optimism this development that we are having in relation to young athletes." 

The statement echoes back to a plea she made during the 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup after Brazil lost to France 2-1 in the Round of 16. “It's wanting more. It's training more. It's taking care of yourself more. It's being ready to play 90 plus 30 minutes. This is what I ask of the girls,” she said then, addressing the young players following in her footsteps. 

In 2023, she signaled a farewell to World Cup competition with the same sentiment, telling media, “We ask the new generation to continue where we left off.”

If selected for the 2024 Olympic team, Marta has a shot at extending her own consecutive-scoring record with the ability to score in an unbelievable sixth-straight Olympic Games. She currently stands as Brazil’s top goalscorer, racking up 116 career goals in 175 matches, as well as the leading goalscorer in any World Cup, women’s or men’s, with 17 to her name. 

Marta will continue to play for the NWSL’s Orlando Pride through at least the end of 2024. The longtime forward and club captain has already contributed to multiple goals this season.

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.