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.

The road to the College Cup begins this weekend, as the 2025 NCAA Division I women's soccer tournament kicks off with a stacked first-round field on Friday.

The strength of the ACC again leads the charge with three of the 64-team bracket's four top seeds hailing from the conference.

Snagging the overall No. 1 seed is Stanford, with the Cardinal outlasting fellow NCAA top-seed Notre Dame in a penalty shootout to claim their first-ever ACC tournament title last weekend.

Joining the Cardinal and Fighting Irish in the remaining No. 1 spots are the ACC's Virginia Cavaliers and the SEC-leading Vanderbilt Commodores.

Meanwhile, the 2025 tournament's No. 2 seeds — Michigan State, TCU, Duke, and Georgetown — are gearing up to play spoiler, with other underdogs also lurking throughout the bracket.

Already eyeing future upsets are four-time national champions and No. 3-seed Florida State, No. 4-seed and Big Ten champion Washington, and undefeated mid-major dark horse Memphis, who enters the 2025 field as a No. 7 seed.

The ACC's on-pitch dominance also sees defending champion North Carolina in an unfamiliar position, entering the 2025 NCAA tournament unseeded after the 22-time title-winners finished seventh in the conference behind a 12-6 overall and 6-4 ACC season record.

How to watch the 2025 NCAA soccer tournament

The 2025 NCAA women's soccer tournament kicks off with 32 first-round matches across Friday and Saturday, all on ESPN+.

The action begins with unseeded Ohio State taking on No. 8-seed Georgia at 3 PM ET, live on ESPN+.

Two USWNT legends are seeing their legacies cemented, as the National Soccer Hall of Fame announced on Thursday that retired forwards Tobin Heath and Heather O'Reilly are first-ballot inductees as members of the Class of 2026.

Both Heath and O'Reilly retired as World Cup champions and Olympic medalists, winning their 2008 and 2012 Olympic golds as well as their 2015 World Cup title as teammates.

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The USWNT icons led all voting on the Hall of Fame's Player Ballot of 20 finalists, which only allots two to three athletes per annual class for induction.

O'Reilly snagged 47 of the 48-person selection committee's votes, with Heath earning 45 nods for inclusion.

Fellow former USWNT star Sam Mewis finished fifth on the ballot with 32 votes in her first year of eligibility, while longtime NWSL and USWNT player Amy Rodriguez came in seventh with 28 votes.

Longtime Seattle Reign defender Stephanie Cox — a 2008 Olympic gold medalist with the USWNT — also snagged votes, ranking 15th on the Class of 2026 Player Ballot.

Though they fell short of making the cut, a trio of former USWNT stars also earned votes on the 10-finalist Veteran Ballot, with longtime midfielder-turned-broadcaster Aly Wagner as well as legendary '99ers Tiffany Roberts and Lorrie Fair all snagging tallies.

The National Soccer Hall of Fame will induct Heath and O'Reilly as part of its six-person Class of 2026 in a ceremony at Toyota Stadium in Frisco, Texas, on May 1st.

Orlando Pride captain and Brazil legend Marta is back in the spotlight, topping the 2025 shortlist for the second-annual FIFA Marta Award — the women's goal-of-the-year prize established in her honor in 2024.

The 39-year-old attacking midfielder took home the inaugural trophy at the Best FIFA Football Awards ceremony last December, earning the title for a stellar long-range shot that helped lift Brazil over Jamaica 4-0 in a June 2024 friendly.

Marta's 2025 nomination, however, comes from an iconic goal in club play, with the FIFA Award spotlighting the Orlando game-winner against Kansas City in the 2024 NWSL semifinals — a goal that saw the Pride star force four Current players to the ground with her footwork.

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Marta has steep competition for this year's trophy, however, with 10 other goal nominees including a viral scorpion kick by former Tigres UANL star Lizbeth Ovalle, Seattle Reign defender Jordyn Bugg's long-range missile against the North Carolina Courage, forward Ally Sentnor's first-ever USWNT goal at the 2025 SheBelieves Cup, and more.

How to vote for the 2025 FIFA Marta Award

Holding 50% of the vote, fans can view and rank their top three goals of 2025 until voting closes on December 3rd.

Voting for the second-ever Marta Award winner is now open at FIFA.com.

South Carolina and USC are bringing fireworks to the 2025/26 NCAA basketball court this weekend, as the No. 2 Gamecocks take on the No. 8 Trojans in "The Real SC" showdown on Saturday.

Both standout programs enter the matchup undefeated in early-season play, with the Trojans touting a Top-10 win after narrowly edging out No. 10 NC State 69-68 last weekend.

"You don't know exactly what you have until you're put in these situations, which is why we schedule them," USC head coach Lindsay Gottlieb said about the upcoming clash. "And I think it's a chance for us to redefine our identity a little bit."

South Carolina's depth will likely test the new-look Trojans, as USC aims to solidify their identity with star JuJu Watkins sidelined with injury for the season.

That said, freshman Jazzy Davidson is giving the Trojans new life, with the No. 1 high school recruit co-leading the team in scoring with 17.5 points per game.

South Carolina, however, has seen early dividends from familiar faces, as sophomore Joyce Edwards leads the Gamecocks in scoring at 18.3 points per game, with high-profile transfer Ta'Niya Latson close behind with a 16.3 point average.

How to watch USC vs. South Carolina in the "The Real SC" NCAA game

No. 8 USC will welcome No. 2 South Carolina to LA's Crypto.com Arena for the inaugural "Real SC" game on Saturday.

The clash will tip off at 9 PM ET, with live coverage airing on FOX.