Only three matches took place during Matchweek 13 in the FA Women’s Super League, as the remaining matches were postponed due to weather. For the first time all season, something other than COVID put the league on pause, with several fields freezing over in the cold.

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What’s the verdict, @JBeattie91? ????❄️ pic.twitter.com/2IRcNliAnN

— Arsenal Women (@ArsenalWFC) January 24, 2021

The next few matches for the league will all be games that have been postponed from as far back as Matchweek 5. Should there be no more postponements, the FAWSL will get back on schedule on February 6th with Matchweek 14.

This matchweek and the upcoming rescheduled games are essential to the title race, as managers will be tasked with ensuring that players don’t get burned out given the abundance of minutes they’ll be playing in a short amount of time. And as games begin to stack up on the calendar, it’s now, more than ever, that teams with the deepest squads are proving to have the advantage.

 

ASTON VILLA’S SIGNINGS ALREADY MAKING AN IMPACT

First up this weekend was Aston Villa hosting Reading at Bescot Stadium. Villa, who are 11th in the league, went into this match as underdogs against their opponents, who are in sixth with 14 points.

Reading started strong, opening the scoring in the third minute when Angharad James was able to head the ball in from close range.

Perfect start for the Royals! @AngharadJames16 scores her first of the season for @ReadingFCWomen! ????#BarclaysFAWSL pic.twitter.com/i6S3LlpYhb

— Barclays FA Women's Super League (@BarclaysFAWSL) January 23, 2021

From then on, Reading controlled the first half, getting a couple more shots on target that were saved by Lisa Weiß. In the second half, however, Villa came out much more robust and were able to withstand the pressure. 12 minutes into the half, Villa won a freekick, and new signing Mana Iwabuchi was able to get on the end of it, scoring in her debut.

A goal on her full #BarclaysFAWSL debut! ????@buchi_mana ???????????? pic.twitter.com/RgRUH2kFT6

— Barclays FA Women's Super League (@BarclaysFAWSL) January 23, 2021

Reading scored a second through Rachel Rowe, but Villa remained in the game and scored a late equalizer through Diana Silver, with Iwabuchi providing the assist.

At the death! @dmasilva19 stabs home a late leveller in the snow to earn @AVWFCOfficial a point! ❄️@buchi_mana with the assist ???? pic.twitter.com/Cj1kGyuVG1

— Barclays FA Women's Super League (@BarclaysFAWSL) January 23, 2021

Iwabuchi’s fantastic debut showed that Villa was right in adding more depth up front. They also had a full bench, with eight players, allowing Gemma Davies to make three substitutions, including Silva who scored the equalizer.

Reading, on the other hand, haven’t made a signing this transfer window and did not have a full squad, with only six players on the bench. After the match, manager Kelly Chambers said that the draw felt “like a loss” and that “[t]he second half doesn’t even come into contention if you put the first half to bed. That cost us today.” Her team, unfortunately, could not keep up with the intensity, and it resulted in a loss of points.

 

MANCHESTER UNITED RECLAIM THE TOP SPOT

Birmingham City faced the same problem when they travelled to Leigh Sports Village to face Manchester United. Unlike Reading, Birmingham were not the favorites in this match, as United have spent the year at the top of the table. But when United came into a match with an almost full squad (eight players on the bench), while Birmingham could only afford four players on the bench, it made it seem like United had the game won before the first whistle blew.

United did indeed win the match 2-0, with goals from Leah Galton and Ella Toone. And while they struggled offensively, and lacked creatively for large spells, defensively United were solid, with Birmingham only managing two shots compared to the host’s 23.

A sixth goal of the #BarclaysFAWSL season for @leah_galton21! ????

Lovely assist from @laurenjamess22 ???? pic.twitter.com/V7q0QRnQlh

— Barclays FA Women's Super League (@BarclaysFAWSL) January 24, 2021

A day to remember for @stephhoughton2 ????pic.twitter.com/Js2LzgL2AO https://t.co/KdKMtk2rNt

— Barclays FA Women's Super League (@BarclaysFAWSL) January 24, 2021

Their squad has been so depleted that head coach Hope Powell decided to recall 21-year-old Bethan Roe, who Brighton had loaned to Championship side Charlton Athletic back in August of 2020. It’s a sign that the club is doing everything they can to find enough fit and available players.

Brighton faced Manchester City with five players on the bench and a starting XI that contained quite a few non-regular starters. The match was essentially only played for the sake of appearance, as Manchester City, who were fantastic, and wholeheartedly deserved the win, ran circles around their opponents.

158 - Manchester City's Alex Greenwood completed 158 passes (out of 166 attempted) against Brighton today, setting a new record for most passes completed in a single @BarclaysFAWSL match. Metronome. pic.twitter.com/ygWmHwzxb0

— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) January 24, 2021

Unfortunately, Brighton did not have the grounds to ask the Football Association to have their matches postponed since they technically have not gotten to a point where they hit all of the FA’s requirements regarding COVID-19 to cancel matches. (Even that is a point of controversy.)

Given the current circumstances, the opportunities for upsets are growing few and far between. Bigger clubs would be advantaged even in normal circumstances; with so many players being shuffled in and out, they’re almost impossible to overcome given their depth. It’s a trend to keep an eye on as the season continues, and one that could carry over into next season as well.

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.

For the first time in history, three different WNBA teams have completely sold out of season ticket plans well before the league's May 14th kick-off.

Call it the Caitlin Clark effect, attribute it to this year’s tenacious rookie class, or look to the skyrocketing visibility of veteran players across the board. But no matter the cause, facts are facts: Tickets to the 2024 WNBA season are selling like never before. 

On Monday, the Dallas Wings became the third team to sell out of season ticket memberships in the league’s 27-year history. The announcement from Arlington came shortly after the Atlanta Dream issued their own season ticket sell-out statement, also on Monday, and almost seven weeks after the back-to-back WNBA Champion Las Vegas Aces made headlines by becoming the first-ever WNBA team to sell out their season ticket allotment.   

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According to the Wings, season ticket memberships will fill nearly 40% of the 6,251 seats inside their home arena, College Park Center. The club also said that their overall ticket revenue has ballooned to the tune of 220% this year, spanning not just season tickets but also a 1,200% increase in single ticket sales. There’s currently a waitlist to become a Dallas season ticket holder, a status that comes with extra incentives like playoff presale access and discounts on additional single-game tickets. 

In Atlanta, season tickets aren't the only thing flying off the shelves. The Dream also announced that they broke their own record for single-game ticket sales during a recent limited presale campaign. Sunday was reportedly their most lucrative day, with five different games totally selling out Gateway Center Arena. Individual tickets for all upcoming matchups will hit the market this Thursday at 8 a.m., while a waitlist for season ticket memberships will open up next Tuesday at 10 a.m.

"Excitement around women's sports, particularly basketball, is at an all-time high and nowhere is that felt more than here in Atlanta," Dream president and COO Morgan Shaw Parker said in the team’s statement. "We’ve continued a record-setting growth trajectory over the past three years under new ownership — both on and off the court — and 2024 is shaping up to be our best season yet."

As of Tuesday, season ticket sales revenue for Caitlin Clark’s hotly anticipated Indiana Fever debut haven’t yet been announced by the club. But if these numbers are any indication — not to mention the explosive demand for Fever away games felt by teams around the country — it won’t be long before we see some scale-tipping figures coming out of Indianapolis.

25-year-old American pro golfer Nelly Korda secured her spot in LPGA history on Sunday, notching her fifth-straight title at this weekend's Chevron Championship in The Woodlands, Texas.

Ranked No. 1 in the world by Rolex Women’s World Golf Rankings, Korda joins Nancy Lopez (1978) and Annika Sörenstam (2005) as just the third LPGA player to rack up five consecutive tour wins. She is also the third No. 1-ranked player to capture The Chevron Championship victory since the rankings debuted in 2006, accompanied by Lorena Ochoa and Lydia Ko.

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The Florida native shot three-under 69 in Sunday's final, besting Sweden's Maja Stark despite Stark's valiant come-from-behind attempt in the 18th. Korda finished with a four-day total of 13-under 275, celebrating her two-stroke win by cannonballing into Poppie's Pond, much to the crowd's delight. She left The Club at Carlton Woods with $1.2 million from an overall purse of $7.9 million.

It wasn't long ago that the two-time major champion's current winning streak seemed unimaginable. After maintaining her No. 1 position for 29 weeks, Korda underwent surgery to remove a blood clot from her left arm in 2022. She returned to the course not long after, but failed to win a single tournament in 2023 before seeing a surge in form during the first four months of 2024. As of today, she hasn't lost a tournament since January.

Korda will attempt a record sixth-straight win at next week's JM Eagle LA Championship at Wilshire Country Club in Los Angeles, where she'll vie for a cut of the $3.75 million purse.