It wasn’t long after arriving in Texas at the end of June that Ebony Salmon learned her new team, the Houston Dash, had never made the NWSL playoffs.

Two and a half months later, with two weeks left in the regular season, Houston is on track to make club history. Currently fourth in the NWSL standings, they need just one win in their two remaining games against OL Reign on Saturday and the Washington Spirit on Oct. 1 to clinch a playoff berth.

Salmon has been a catalyst for the Dash’s success, putting together a standout season that seemed unlikely for her halfway through the season. With Racing Louisville for the first nine games, Salmon played a total of 70 minutes under head coach Kim Björkegren despite leading the team with six goals last season.

Since joining the Dash via a trade on June 27, the 21-year-old has scored nine goals — over a quarter of Houston’s total — in 909 minutes across through 11 matches. She’s also made back-to-back NWSL Teams of the Month in July and August, and as of July 16 she’s outscored two teams and every player in the league to skyrocket to fifth in the Golden Boot race.

One of the teams she’s outscored is Louisville.

“I’ve obviously had to prove people wrong, and having that weight on my shoulders makes me perform,” Salmon told Just Women’s Sports.

What a strike from Salmon 🤩@ebony_salmon | @HoustonDash pic.twitter.com/zRdvVSrOtX

— National Women’s Soccer League (@NWSL) September 18, 2022

What she’s learned about herself this year, as she’s balanced spending full games on Louisville’s bench to scoring at will with Houston, is that walking away isn’t an option. Her love of soccer will always motivate her to find a way back onto the field, even if at certain points this year she didn’t know when that time would come.

“If I wasn’t ready, I don’t think I would have had the start I did and scored the goals that I have, and the performances that I had,” Salmon said.

With the Dash, she’s also found confidence in playing with coaches and teammates who believe in her.

“Don’t let that one person make you think that you’re not good enough or you can’t do it because, as you’ve seen in my case, the next opportunity could be right around the corner,” she said. “One person might not think you’re the best player, and then the next person might think you’re the best in the world.”

.@ebony_salmon has outscored seven teams since July 16... we'll leave this one here 🚀#SDvHOU | #HoldItDown pic.twitter.com/M5ZGLsj2yT

— National Women’s Soccer League (@NWSL) August 21, 2022

Salmon’s success with the Dash has improved her case with the English women’s national team, for which she has one cap from February 2021. After being excluded from the 2022 Euro champions’ roster, she earned a call-up for friendlies against Austria and Luxembourg in early September.

At the end of a national team camp last September, England head coach Sarina Wiegman advised Salmon to work on her consistency. That became hard to do earlier this season when she wasn’t getting much playing time with Racing Louisville.

It didn’t take long into the 2022 season for Salmon to start considering a trade request. Before she could voice those thoughts, Louisville general manager James O’Connor, recognizing that Salmon wouldn’t be a part of their future plans, approached her with the same idea. On June 27, Louisville sent $150,000 in allocation money to Houston, with promises for more in 2023 as well as a performance-based incentive, in exchange for Salmon. That same day, Salmon signed a contract extension that will keep her in Houston through 2023.

With the Dash, Salmon not only exploded onto the scene, scoring a hat trick in just her third game, but she’s also maintained that level of play into the final stretch. In an open conversation at national team camp this month, Wiegman told Salmon she’s noticed improvements over the past year and gave her things to work on through the remainder of the season.

“The main thing was consistency,” Salmon said. “And I think I’m starting to find that now.”

Thinking about the Lionesses and the upcoming 2023 FIFA World Cup, however, will have to wait a few weeks.

“Within the next month and a half, I think my focus is completely on Houston and making playoffs, and then kind of going all the way in playoffs,” she said. “That’s what we want to do, that’s what everyone on the team wants to do, and I think we’ve seen that we’re capable of doing that.”

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

Women's tennis got a boost on Wednesday, as the WTA announced it would institute rankings pauses for players who step away from competition to undergo fertility protection treatments like egg or embryo freezing.

Players returning from a procedure can opt to receive a Special Entry Ranking, calculated using their 12-week average ranking starting from eight weeks before taking leave.

Players can use that unique ranking to enter up to three tournaments at the WTA 500, 250, or 125 levels before the governing body will again institute traditional calculations.

The protection extends to any player ranked among the world's top 750 who spends more than 10 weeks out of competition.

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These latest rankings protection further secures the careers of tennis pro parents, who first earned special rankings in the 2019 WTA season after Serena Willams and Victoria Azarenka saw their seedings plummet simply from stepping away from competition to give birth.

The move also comes three months after the WTA agreed to grant players paid maternity leave for the very first time.

"I'm incredibly proud of our sport in recognizing the importance of fertility treatments for female athletes," said 2017 US Open champ and longtime reproductive health support advocate Sloane Stephens. "For any woman, the conversation of family life versus a career is nuanced and complex."

"It's truly ground-breaking and will empower this generation, and future generations of players, to continue with the sport they love without having to compromise."

Last week's landmark $2.8 billion House v. NCAA settlement is back in the headlines, as eight women's college sports athletes filed an appeal on Wednesday claiming that the approved NIL back-payment plan violates Title IX, the federal law banning gender discrimination in schools.

On June 6th, a federal judge approved a settlement between the NCAA and former student-athletes, with the college sports governing body agreeing to have schools directly distribute billions of dollars in back pay to players barred from financially benefitting off their name, image, and likeness since 2016.

Wednesday's appeal to that back-pay plan calls out alleged payment inequities written into the settlement ruling, which could see up to 90% of the $2.8 billion distributed to former NCAA men's sports athletes.

"The calculation of past damages is based on an error that ignores Title IX and deprives female athletes of $1.1 billion," said Ashlyn Hare, one of the lawyers representing the appellants. "Paying out the money as proposed would be a massive error that would cause irreparable harm to women's sports."

"If Nike wants to [pay male athletes more], that is their choice. If the school, or a conference acting on the school's behalf tries to do that, they are violating the law," John Clune, another lawyer on the team, clarified.

"They can either pay the athletes proportionately, or they can return all of their federal funds," said Clune. "But they can't do both."

With the USWNT back in action for the next set of summer friendlies later this month, head coach Emma Hayes filled ESPN in on her roster strategy earlier this week.

Hayes will rest all Europe-based US players during the upcoming international window, instead relying on domestic talent following a jam-packed year for the team's European stars.

"We don't necessarily decide the international calendar, but this is one where we think it's in the best interest of the players," Hayes said, noting both past demands and the increasingly busy road to the 2027 World Cup.

With player welfare and recovery top-of-mind, the lone exception to Hayes's European omissions is Chelsea FC defender Naomi Girma, who made her 2025 USWNT debut on May 31st.

The US manager is seeking more minutes for the star center back after Girma spent much of the year recovering from a calf injury.

Hayes also revealed some key updates on other injured players, with fans eager to see midfielder Rose Lavelle and forward Trinity Rodman return to the USWNT fold.

After a lengthy recovery from ankle surgery, Lavelle — who made her first NWSL appearance of 2025 in Gotham FC's 2-1 loss to Kansas City last Saturday — could return to international play this month.

Rodman remains slightly further out from returning to the USWNT roster, with Hayes saying she expects the Spirit forward to begin seeing club minutes sometime next month.

The USWNT core is coming together, with Stateside players looking to seize the chance to prove their worth as club soccer approaches its summer hiatus.

The NWSL is locking in its summer calendar, as teams across the league announce special July friendlies ahead of the regular-season break for major global tournaments.

Without a planned league-wide tournament like 2024's NWSL x Liga MX Femenil Summer Cup, its up to individual clubs to fill their schedules until NWSL play resumes in August.

While there might not be a trophy at the end, the gap does provide an opportunity for some fresh friendly competition beyond the confines of the league.

The North Carolina Courage will welcome Liga MX titans and Concacaf W Champions Cup contenders Tigres UANL back to the States for a one-off exhibition match on July 9th.

Then on July 12th, Kansas City will kick off its Teal Rising Cup, a four-team friendly tournament pitting the NWSL's Current and Chicago Stars against Brazil's Série A1 clubs Corinthians and Palmeiras.

Late July will see both the Seattle Reign and Bay FC square off against Japan's WE League champions the Urawa Red Diamonds, with Bay tacking on an additional July 19th friendly against Angel City.

The USL Super League is also getting in on the summer interleague action, with the NWSL's Angel City facing the Carolina Ascent on July 26th after Racing Louisville hosts crosstown USL squad Lexington SC on July 13th — giving fans a glimpse at how the two US systems stack up against one another.

As teams juggle lineups in the wake of summer international departures, these July friendlies may feature decidedly different rosters than regular-season play — though hungry NWSL fans likely won't mind.