Gina Lewandowski plays for Sky Blue FC. She spoke with Just Women’s Sports ahead of Sky Blue’s semifinal clash with Chicago tonight about what the club needs to do to continue its run through to the NWSL Challenge Cup finals. 

You guys upset Washington in the quarterfinals in penalties. What was your mindset heading into the shootout?

PKs can always be a nerve-wracking experience for any team, and they’re not necessarily the way you want to end the game. But I think we’ve been able to fortunately practice them throughout the weeks leading up to the tournament, as well as every day during the tournament. We’ve been getting some reps in to get that consistency in each person’s shot. We have a great goalkeeper too who has done very well in that aspect, so I think we were confident at that point in the game.

Prior to PKs, it seemed like it was a pretty high energy game. There were a lot of shots, a couple of misses. What were your thoughts about the level of play?

We were able to control parts of the game, play our tempo, play our style. I think Washington, they also had their moments in the game where they were dangerous in front of the goal. But each team was having difficulty finding the back of the net, and I guess the longer the game went on, the thought crosses your mind in the back of the mind that, “Okay, well, if the teams aren’t going to score, we’ll go into penalty kicks.” But we kept pushing until the end. Even in stoppage time, we were pushing and trying to get a couple of corner kicks, a couple shots.

Is fatigue a factor? 

For sure. With any tournament situation, and especially this type of tournament, with the schedule, plus the heat and the altitude, there will be a lot of fatigue. But you have to go with the cards you’ve been given. We’ve just tried our best to adjust as quickly as possible. And luckily, our organization, our staff, our coaches, and our trainers have all done a great job helping us adjust as quickly as possible. I think playing so many games back-to-back, no matter if you play one, two, three, four games, there’s fatigue there. It’s just a matter of how can you rest, recover and put in your best performance during the next game.

It’s hard for people to judge on TV, but how hot has it been in Utah? 

I feel like it’s getting hotter by the day. The 10:30am game is definitely a much different feeling than it is in the evening. The heat is scorching pretty much in the morning right at ten on the turf, and the heat has gotten a little worse over the last few days. So yeah, I guess we’re glad to be playing in the evening semifinal, just from a temperature standpoint. But both teams are in the same boat, so it’s all about how you’re performing that day. How do you take on the challenge that’s presented to you?

What is the team’s focus heading into the semis?

We have been resting, recovering, fueling our bodies to prepare for the game. I think doing everything we can off the field to put our bodies, our minds, in 100% shape. As we get closer to the start, we’ll talk more about what we’re doing on the field as a team. But a lot of it is just getting our bodies to recover as quickly as possible, and then fuel them up heading into the game.

Does the team have a game plan for Chicago and their playing style?

We do have our team meetings and we do look at the other team’s strengths, and we always try to prepare for that. I think each team respects the other team and the opponent that they’re going to face. But I think ideally it comes down to us and who we are and staying true to our own style of play, and just playing our game and having confidence in that.

What do you think it would mean for your team to make it into the finals, and then one step past that, win the whole Challenge Cup?

Right now we’re taking one game at a time, and we’re trying to appreciate every day we get to stay here and step on the field, and just showcase who Sky Blue is. I think Sky Blue hasn’t had the best reputation in the past, but we’re a new team and new players and a new organization, in a sense, and we really want to do the best we can to showcase who we are. It would mean a lot for us to get to the next level and make it further than we have in a long time.

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.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Just Women’s Sports (@justwomenssports)

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.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Just Women’s Sports (@justwomenssports)

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.   

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by espnW (@espnw)

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.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by LPGA Tour (@lpga_tour)

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.