For Taylor Cummings, the upcoming Athletes Unlimited lacrosse season is both the culmination of a winding professional journey and a departure from everything she’s done before. 

Widely regarded as one of the best lacrosse players of all time, Cummings has excelled at every level of the sport. At Maryland, she was a three-time Tewaaraton Award winner as the nation’s best player (the only three-time winner ever, female or male). She won two national championships with the Terps, has already played in two professional leagues — the United Women’s Lacrosse League and the Women’s Professional Lacrosse League — and has long been a staple of Team USA.

But now she’s ready for a new challenge — a single-site, five-week season in which the teams change every week. With Athletes Unlimited, players earn individual points, and the top four each week are in charge of drafting their respective teams. At the end of the season, the top overall point scorer is crowned the season’s champion.

“So many of us are used to playing with a college team year-round, or a U.S. Team, or even a professional team,” Cummings said. “So that aspect will be different.”

For Cummings and others, Athlete Unlimited’s format isn’t just different — it could also be the future.

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Last August, the Women’s Professional Lacrosse League (WPLL) was forced to fold due to economic hardships caused by COVID-19. The league had previously announced a major sponsorship deal with Nike, but with the 2020 season cancelled, was unable to forge on.

Cummings, who had been drafted in the inaugural WPLL draft, was serving on the board at the time.

Almost immediately, rumors started swirling that Athletes Unlimited was in the process of launching its own professional lacrosse league after successfully debuting similar leagues for softball and volleyball.

As soon as the possibility was brought to her attention, Cummings knew it was something she needed to consider. She talked with U.S. teammates and longtime friends Kayla Treanor and Michelle Tumolo, who both serve on AU’s player executive committee, and figured out whether it would fit into her schedule before deciding to sign on for the season.

“It was another opportunity for a shift from the WPLL to something a little different,” she said. “But still very much a professional women’s lacrosse league.”

Cummings knew that AU’s television exposure would draw more eyes to women’s lacrosse. Despite being one of the fastest-growing sports in the country, professional women’s lacrosse has had a hard time finding its footing, in large part due to a lack of visibility and consistent coverage.

“Many of us play not only because we enjoy it, but because we want to help the next generation of players play and have things better than we do right now,” Cummings said. 

“Athletes Unlimited is a great opportunity to get a lot of eyes on our sport — to continue to grow the game at the professional level and inspire that next generation to be able to play and compete at a level as high as ours or even higher.”

Of course, this season’s location helps in that mission. The five-week season will all take place at Maureen Hendricks Field in the Metro DC area.

“We’re playing in a place where the lacrosse history is really rich,” Cummings said. “The lacrosse passion is really deep in Maryland, and to have eyes on that through this league is going to be a great opportunity.”

Opening Day is almost here! 🥍

Find our Week 1 Schedule right here ⬇️ #BeUnlimited pic.twitter.com/mnpDgueUe5

— Athletes Unlimited (@AUProSports) July 21, 2021

One of the things that Cummings is looking forward to most is being back on the field with some familiar faces. For many of the players who didn’t have a college season to break up the pandemic, this will serve as their first live action in months, aside from a couple of training weekends this summer for the U.S. team.

Whether it’s been shooting or dodging, running or lifting, Cummings has spent most of the last year and a half training alone. And now in the middle of a tryout year for the 2022 World Cup, Cummings is looking at the Athletes Unlimited season as a necessary opportunity to train and prepare.

“We haven’t really played against live bodies and actually played against other people in a long time,” she said. “Any opportunity to compete against the caliber of teams that we’re competing against on a regular basis now, when we’re in for these five weeks, is going to be awesome.”

During the season, teams will typically play three games per week and drafts will be held every Monday.

“For us to be able to play more lacrosse in five weeks than we have since many of us graduated college is awesome and something that we really are looking forward to,” Cummings said.

“The rules in AU definitely lend themselves to showcasing a really high-level game that we as professionals want to play.”

Athletes Unlimited’s format will consist of eight-minute quarters, 10-on-10 game play and a 60-second shot clock, all played on a field that’s 60 yards in width and 90 yards in length. To Cummings, the fast-paced format and up-and-down style will be lacrosse in its purest form. 

At the same time, the individual focus of Athletes Unlimited will be a major departure for athletes who are used to playing out full seasons on a single team. Cummings isn’t as worried.

“There is a sense of comfort in knowing that most of the people that are in the pool are all people that we’ve played with and against,” she said, adding that it removes an element of the unknown.

“You know how players play and what they’re like. It can help whoever is drafting build teams with a little bit more strategy.”

If Cummings gets the opportunity to be a captain and draft a team, she will be looking to the midfield as an area that needs strength.

“Being a middy, that’s something that I think is really important to the game, is having as many (midfielders) as possible,” she said.

And who would she pick first? “Somebody like Marie McCool or Dempsey Arsenault, who are both really strong, two-way midfielders,” Cummings said.

“I’d be lucky to have anyone in the pool if I’m a captain, but if I had to pick one, I’d say either of those two.”

Catch Cummings, McCool, Arsenault and others as Athletes Unlimited’s inaugural lacrosse season opens Friday. You can find the full schedule here, including how to watch.

Editor’s note: Athletes Unlimited is a sponsor of Just Women’s Sports.

The Tour de France Femmes confirmed its course for 2026 this week, setting up next year's event as the longest iteration of the race in the women's tour history.

The 2026 course will run in nine stages starting in Lausanne, Switzerland, on August 1st and continuing through the finish line in Nice, France, on August 9th.

Cyclists will cover a total of 1,175 kilometers, with 18,795 meters of climbing.

The course will feature three flat stages and three hilly stages as well as two mountain stages and one individual time trial, with riders tackling Mont Ventoux — an iconic climb from the men's event — for the first time.

Though 2026 will only by the fifth edition of the modern Tour de France Femmes, the race will make its debut in a standalone time slot one full week after the men’s race ends, with recent record viewership fueling the move to separate the races rather than continue the previous tactic of scheduling the two events back-to-back.

"We no longer need men for the Tour de France Femmes to exist,"  said race director Marion Rousse at Thursday's course unveiling. "There's no need to have the men's race as a platform to launch the women's race. Now people are waiting to see us."

"People have embraced us," Rousse continued. "The new dates, separate to the men, prove it."

This weekend's slate of international soccer features more than one blockbuster matchup, as some of the summer's top performers, including England and Brazil, begin the long process of preparing for the 2027 World Cup.

Reigning UEFA Women's Euro champions England will be hosting 2025 Copa América Femenina winners Brazil at the Etihad Stadium in Manchester on Saturday, when the Lionesses officially kick off their four-game Homecoming Series to close out 2025 play.

The match between world No. 4 England and No. 7 Brazil will serve as the first of the series of friendlies that will span the final two international breaks of the year, with the Lionesses closing out the opening pair of games against No. 15 Australia on Tuesday.

Elsewhere, while England fans will be enjoying the team's victory lap after their second-straight Euro title, other top UEFA competition are honing in on 2025 Nations League play.

Behind a long-range goal from winger Klara Bühl, No. 5 Germany snagged a narrow 1-0 victory over No. 6 France on Friday morning, taking the lead in the pair's two-leg semifinal.

The second Nations League semifinal round kicks off at 2 PM ET on Friday, when No. 1 Spain faces No. 3 Sweden live on Prime.

How to watch England vs. Brazil this weekend

England takes on Brazil at 12:30 PM ET on Saturday, with live coverage streaming on Prime.

The Wings have found their next sideline leader, as multiple reports on Thursday linked longtime University of South Florida (USF) head coach Jose Fernandez to the open position in Dallas.

Fernandez is still finalizing his contract with the WNBA team, with the 53-year-old exiting USF having led the Bulls for 25 years, making 10 NCAA tournament appearances along the way.

Calling his impact "profound," USF athletics CEO Rob Higgins acknowledged that Fernandez is leaving for a WNBA position in a Thursday statement.

"While this is a bittersweet moment for our program, it is a well-deserved opportunity for Jose," said Higgins. "We are incredibly proud of him."

Replacing Chris Koclanes after one year, Fernandez will become the fifth Dallas head coach in seven seasons, with the Wings trying to build a title-contending roster around 2025 WNBA Draft overall No. 1 pick and reigning Rookie of the Year Paige Bueckers.

Fernandez will also be the third WNBA hiring out of the college ranks in the last two years, joining Atlanta Dream boss Karl Smesko (FGCU) and LA Sparks manager Lynne Roberts (Utah).

Hoping to improve on a 13th-place 2025 finish — and make the WNBA Playoffs for the first time since 2023 — Dallas could claim a second straight No. 1 draftee next year, with the Wings entering 2026 with the highest odds to snag the top pick in the league's draft lottery.

The WNBA league office and the Players Association (WNBPA) exchanged escalating public statements this week, as both sides dispute terms surrounding a key issue in the ongoing CBA negotiations: revenue sharing.

"When the players opted out [of their CBA] a year ago, they made it clear they wanted a salary system that values their labor and allows them to grow with the business they are very clearly driving," WNBPA executive director Terri Jackson told ESPN in a statement this week, citing the vast disparity in revenue sharing percentages between the WNBA and the NBA.

Jackson continued by claiming that the WNBA intends to "run out the clock" and double down on a model that "intentionally undervalues the players."

Days ago, NBA commissioner Adam Silver said publicly that "[Revenue] share isn't the right way to look at it," pushing instead for salary increases in "absolute numbers."

WNBA leadership, however, denied that their current offer to players omits all revenue sharing, with the league calling the WNBPA's claim "incorrect and surprising," while indicating that an uncapped revenue sharing model "directly tied to the league's performance" is on the table.

"It is frustrating and counterproductive for the union to be making misrepresentations about our proposals while also accusing the league of engaging in delay," the WNBA's statement continued. "That is simply not true."

With both parties not seeing eye to eye, a resolution before the October 31st CBA deadline appears unlikely, though a formal request for an extension on negotiations is not currently in the cards.