Racing Louisville FC is having an unprecedented debut season — one that would have been the envy of expansion clubs everywhere until the unceremonious (and still mysterious) firing of Christy Holly.

Despite the unexpected coaching change, it’s still been a season to remember for the club, the highlight of which was winning the Women’s Cup. A little over a year after announcing the club’s name and colors, Racing Louisville FC lifted its first trophy as a team in front of their home crowd at Lynn Family Stadium.

Hosting the Cup, which welcomed the Chicago Red Stars, FC Bayern Munich and PSG to Louisville in the club’s first year, would’ve been impressive enough, but Racing went on to win the four-team competition in dramatic fashion. The moment highlighted just how swift Racing Louisville’s rise through the league has been.

First piece of silverware as a club: Earned. 🏆

A look 🔙 at our unforgettable night. 🎬 pic.twitter.com/p2Ab7IVxqM

— Racing Louisville FC (@RacingLouFC) August 22, 2021

Racing Louisville entered the NWSL in 2021 after first announcing the development of an expansion club in October 2019. Team officials moved quickly to acquire top talent before the 2021 season, executing a trade with Chicago for Yuki Nagasato and Savannah McCaskill. The trade has clearly paid off, with both Nagasato and McCaskill establishing themselves as reliable franchise cornerstones.

Yuki scores.
Yuki soars. pic.twitter.com/wrZBP2ZkD7

— Racing Louisville FC (@RacingLouFC) August 22, 2021

Racing continued to build out their squad, selecting the likes of Michelle Betos and CeCe Kizer in the expansion draft. The club also acquired the rights to Tobin Heath and Christen Press, a gamble that ended in Racing trading Press to NWSL expansion club Angel City FC for Los Angeles’ first-round pick in 2022, $75,000 in allocation money, and full roster protection from the club in the expansion draft in December.

For the players that have taken the pitch for Louisville, perhaps none has shown up quite like Michelle Betos. It’s no secret that the league veteran knows how to perform at the highest level, winning NWSL Goalkeeper of the Year in 2015 during her stint with the Portland Thorns. However, Betos seems to have reached a new level in her first year with Louisville. The 33-year-old currently leads the league with 83 saves and four clean sheets, keeping Racing in close games all season long.

.@MichelleBetos coming up BIG 💪#LOUvCHI | https://t.co/0LtSAUK1Jw | #NWSL21 pic.twitter.com/qqg9GEOpmG

— National Women’s Soccer League (@NWSL) August 19, 2021

International additions Ebony Salmon and Nadia Nadim have added a jolt of energy to Louisville with their respective June and July debuts. At 20 years old, Salmon has quickly emerged as one of the most disruptive forwards in the league. The English striker has scored five goals in her ten appearances with Racing, adding her name to the scoresheet in three of Louisville’s four wins this season. She’s currently No. 2 on Just Women’s Sports’ rankings of the league’s top rookies.

Nadim has likewise had an impressive start with the club as well, notching two goals in her first four matches.

OH MY GOODNESS @ebony_salmon ‼️#LOUvHOU | https://t.co/0LtSAUK1Jw | #NWSL21 pic.twitter.com/VUSFHX2UUv

— National Women’s Soccer League (@NWSL) June 20, 2021

The team’s developing success on the pitch is matched by the investment in facilities and resources off the field. In July, Louisville unveiled the Lynn Family Sports Vision & Training Center on social media, showcasing the club’s $15 million state-of-the-art facility.

“I entered the women’s professional league in 2013. We had a classroom as a locker room. We brought our clothes in. We wore them for training, then brought them home to clean them. That was my professional experience,” said Betos during the Training Center’s debut.  “To be totally honest, it wasn’t until I came to Louisville that I felt like a true professional.”

Racing’s investment in top-notch facilities has legitimized its place in a league that has previously deprioritized adequate playing environments (see Sky Blue FC).  Louisville’s effort to build from the ground up has now set the standard for future clubs entering the NWSL.

You've seen glimpses. Now get a full look at the Lynn Family Sports Vision & Training Center.

Thanks to tour guides @MichelleBetos and @pdp03! pic.twitter.com/ifVsmiQAwO

— Racing Louisville FC (@RacingLouFC) July 16, 2021

The final piece of the puzzle for Racing is the committed Louisville fan base. The team played to a COVID-constricted sold-out crowd of 5,300 for its debut match in Lynn Family Stadium. According to Soccer Stadium Digest, attendance has only grown since then, with Racing Louisville averaging 6,417 at Lynn Family Stadium. Louisville is second only to powerhouse Portland in attendance, which welcomes an average of 15,321 guests to Providence Park per game. Those numbers are impressive for a club’s first year in the league and speaks to the soccer community Louisville is tapping into and helping to cultivate.

Fresh off the Women’s Cup win, Racing Louisville FC has put the NWSL on notice. While the near future may be consumed with discussion of what happened to force Holly out the door, it would be a mistake to not look at the bigger picture and realize that this season has been a smashing success for the expansion club. With an invested community and a promising roster, the future is looking bright for the team in lavender.

Hailey Van Lith is reportedly on her way to TCU, says Talia Goodman of The Next Hoops.

The former Louisville star joined LSU for the 2023-24 season, but a disappointing run in Baton Rouge saw her enter the transfer portal once again at the season’s end. Van Lith opted to use her fifth year of eligibility versus declaring for the WNBA draft.

Van Lith was admittedly less effective as a Tiger. Her field goal percentage decreased from .411 in 2022-23 with Louisville to .388 at LSU. She also went from averaging 19.7 points per game to just 11.6, due in part to a change of position from shooting guard to more of a point guard role.

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At an end-of-season banquet last week, LSU coach Kim Mulkey used her speech to wish Van Lith well, calling her "one of the hardest working players that I’ve ever coached."

"Her aspirations were to get drafted this year," Mulkey said, according to NOLA.com. "And she realized, 'I need another year, and I need to go back to a place where I can relax and get back to my normal position.'

"And what do you do? You hug her, and you wish her well."

The decision to commit to TCU may come as a surprise after Van Lith paid a visit to Mississippi State last weekend. The Horned Frogs finished out the 2023-24 season 21-12 overall, coming in 9th in the Big 12 and scoring an average of 69.5 points per game. The program also made headlines in January when they held mid-season open tryouts in response to an onslaught of sidelining injuries.

For the first time in the NWSL's 12-year history, fans can now buy their own goalkeeper jerseys. And while replica goalkeeper jerseys representing all 14 NWSL teams hit the market on Wednesday, some didn't stick around for long. 

Fans across women's soccer have long vocalized their discontent over the position's lack of availability on social media, often comparing the shortcoming to the widespread availability of men’s goalkeeper jerseys. And as the NWSL has grown, so has demand — and not just from those in the stands. 

"To have goalkeeper kits available for fans in the women’s game as they have been for so long in the men’s game is not only a long-awaited move in the right direction, it’s just good business," said Washington Spirit goalie Aubrey Kingsbury in an team press release. "I can’t wait to see fans representing me, Barnie [Barnhart], and Lyza in the stands at Audi!"

just went looking at #nwsl goalkeeper kit stock out of curiosity — Alyssa Naeher's $145 kit already sold out S-XL (league announced GK jerseys on sale 3 hours ago)https://t.co/8bYA7tlwcx

— Meg Linehan (@itsmeglinehan) April 17, 2024

Business does, in fact, appear to be booming. Alyssa Naeher’s Chicago Red Stars kit sold out less than three hours after the league's announcement. Jerseys for other keepers like DiDi Haračić, Abby Smith, Michelle Betos, Katelyn Rowland, and Bella Bixby aren’t currently available via the Official NWSL Shop, though blank goalkeeper jerseys can be customized through some individual team sites. Jerseys start at $110 each.

"This should be the benchmark," said Spirit Chief Operations Officer Theresa McDonnell. "The expectation is that all players’ jerseys are available to fans. Keepers are inspiring leaders and mentors with their own unique fan base who want to represent them... I can’t wait to see them all over the city."

Decorated gymnast Simone Biles took to the popular Call Her Daddy podcast this week to open up about her experience at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, revealing she thought she was going to be "banned from America" for her performance.

After Biles botched her vault routine due to a bout of the "twisties," she withdrew from the team final as well as the all-around final in order to focus on her mental health. She later reentered the competition to win bronze in the individual balance beam final.

In her interview with podcast host Alex Cooper, Biles admitted to feeling like she let the entire country down by failing her vault attempt.

"As soon as I landed I was like 'Oh, America hates me. The world is going to hate me. I can only see what they’re saying on Twitter right now,'" she recalled thinking. "I was like, ‘Holy s---, what are they gonna say about me?'"

"I thought I was going to be banned from America," she continued. "That’s what they tell you: Don’t come back if not gold. Gold or bust. Don’t come back."

Widely regarded as the greatest gymnast of all time, Biles has hinted at a desire to join her third Olympic team in Paris, though her participation won't be confirmed until after the gymnastics trials in late June. She holds over 30 medals from the Olympic Games and World Artistic Gymnastics Championships combined, and if qualified, would be a sure favorite heading into this summer’s games.

Caitlin Clark is reportedly close to cementing a hefty endorsement deal with Nike.

The Athletic was the first to break the news Wednesday evening, commenting that the deal would be worth "eight figures" and include her own signature shoe. On Thursday afternoon, the publication tweeted that the deal would top $20 million, according to lead NBA Insider Shams Charania. Both Under Armour and Adidas are said to have also made sizable offers to the college phenom and expected future WNBA star.

The new agreement comes after Clark's previous Nike partnership ended with the conclusion of the college basketball season. She was one of five NCAA athletes to sign an NIL deal with the brand back in October, 2022. 

Considering Clark's overwhelming popularity and Nike's deep pockets, the signing's purported value doesn't exactly come as a shock. New York Liberty guard Sabrina Ionescu’s deal with the brand is reportedly worth $24 million, while NBA rookie and No. 1 overall pick Victor Wembanyama’s deal is rumored to weigh in at $100 million. And in 2003, LeBron James famously earned $90 million off his own Nike deal. 

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Clark’s star power continues to skyrocket, with the NCAA championship averaging 18.9 million viewers and the 2024 WNBA Draft more than doubling its previous viewership record. Following the draft, Fanatics stated that Clark's Indiana Fever jersey — which sold out within an hour — was the top seller for any draft night pick in the company’s history, with droves of unlucky fans now being forced to wait until August to get their hands on some official No. 22 gear.

In Wednesday's Indiana Fever introductory press conference, the unfailingly cool, calm, and collected Clark said that turning pro hasn’t made a huge impact on how she’s conducting her deals.

"If I’m being completely honest, I feel like it doesn’t change a ton from how I lived my life over the course of the last year," she said. "Sponsorships stay the same. The people around me, agents and whatnot, have been able to help me and guide me through the course of the last year. I don’t know if I would be in this moment if it wasn’t for a lot of them."