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Jaelin Howell aims to ‘let loose’ with Racing Louisville

Jaelin Howell signed a contract extension with Racing Louisville. (EM Dash/USA TODAY Sports)

Every game day morning, Jaelin Howell walks into the Racing Louisville facilities with a cup of coffee. She oscillates between plain black coffee, espresso or a latte with almond milk, but she never uses any flavoring.

“I like to taste the beans,” she tells Just Women’s Sports.

Then, she takes time to journal, putting on her headphones to help her visualize the kind of game she wants to have. She follows her moment of zen with a prayer. And then she heads off to get hyped in the locker room with her teammates.

That series of events provides the perfect combination for Howell: She gets dialed in, then lets loose and has fun. In her first season in the NWSL, which included some growing pains, Howell discovered the importance of a game-day routine. She’s not superstitious. She just knows what works.

And now, after a rookie campaign in which Howell started all 22 of her team’s matches, she will have a chance to perfect her routine off the field and her play on it. The 23-year-old midfielder signed a contract extension Tuesday, adding another year to her original deal and keeping her with Racing Louisville through 2025.

“Racing has treated me super well, and they’ve always invested in me,” she said. “I see a lot of great things in the future of the club.

“I felt really comfortable my first year, and I felt like the staff and the players really embraced me, and I felt like it was a good environment for me to be in for the next couple of years.”

Howell was the second overall pick in the 2022 NWSL draft following a successful college career at Florida State, where she won back-to-back Hermann Trophies and led her squad to two NCAA titles.

In college, Howell became accustomed to success — her Florida State teams went a combined 72-14-12 — but Racing Louisville didn’t see the same kind of results during her rookie season. The club went 5-8-9 on the year and missed out on the playoffs.

Still, Howell believes the team has the right combination of youth and experience, as well as the resources and facilities, to take the next step in 2023.

“Our team got closer throughout the season, and I think we are going to make the right adjustments to come out and have a different season, and get the results we want,” she said.

Racing Louisville has a young roster, and adjusting to life in the NWSL takes time, Howell said. The college season is much shorter and less of a grind.

So Howell learned to prioritize recovery, listening to what her body needed throughout the grueling season. She also had to work on the mental aspects of the game.

“I didn’t realize the expectations I had put on myself, coming off of a national championship and a MAC Hermann,” she said. “I just really wanted to prove myself in the league, and I think, honestly, put a little too much pressure on myself.”

Howell started seeing a sports psychologist. By the middle of the season, she felt more confident on the field. Howell has always been a perfectionist, and seeing a psychologist helped her get out of her own head.

“I want to control everything, and I would get in my head about stuff,” she said. “So a lot of it for me was just letting go, letting loose and just playing. I found myself playing a lot better, a lot more free, and it helped me tremendously.”

With her rejuvenated mental state and the young talent around her, Howell believes good things are coming for both her and her team.

Individually, one of those things could be a more permanent spot on the U.S. women’s national team. Howell has made five appearances for the USWNT since 2020, including three in 2022, but she wasn’t named to the most recent roster for the squad’s two friendly matches in New Zealand.

“Hopefully, we continue to get more and more talent (at Racing), and we can commit and push each other in training environments,” she said. “I think our performance last year didn’t really show the capabilities that we have. I’m excited to see our potential, and I think that, combined with our fantastic facilities and training environment, is going to help me grow.”

Howell is growing and changing, and so is the league. Both for the better, Howell thinks.

The rookie joined the NWSL during a tumultuous time. The Sally Yates report and the NWSL and NWSLPA joint report, both published during Howell’s first year as a pro, uncovered patterns of abuse and misconduct in the league. Racing Louisville was cited in both reports, with former coach Christy Holly at the center of the allegations, though the club was far from the only one implicated.

Howell is glad the issues have come to light, and she is optimistic for a better Racing Louisville and a better NWSL going forward.

“I’m looking forward to the changes being implemented and the future in 2023,” she said. “I think the league and the club are heading in the right direction. I’m excited.”

Eden Laase is a Staff Writer at Just Women’s Sports. Follow her on Twitter @eden_laase.

WPSL to Launch First-Ever 2nd Division U.S. Pro Women’s Soccer League

The new WPSL Pro league logo on a red-to-blue ombre gradient background.
The new WPSL Pro league is set to launch in 2026. (WPSL Pro Soccer)

The Women’s Premier Soccer League (WPSL) announced a plan to launch a Division II pro arm in 2026, providing a domestic stepping stone for players aspiring to top-flight leagues like the NWSL and USL Super League.

The same Cleveland ownership group that recently fell short of securing an NWSL expansion team is backing the venture, making good on their promise to bring professional women's soccer to Northeast Ohio.

The league will launch with a shortened season following the 2026 men's World Cup, before beginning its first full-fledged campaign in April 2027.

With 15 teams already confirmed, WPSL Pro intends to field clubs in an initial 16 to 20 markets.

Along with Cleveland, the inaugural WPSL Pro season will include teams in Austin, Atlanta, Dallas, Denver, Fargo, Houston, Oklahoma City, Sioux Falls, Wichita, and the Bay Area, among others. Each franchise will pay a $1 million fee to enter the league.

The WPSL has a history of fostering high-level amateur competition, currently housing over 100 clubs and boasting a roster of former players that includes USWNT icons Brandi Chastain, Alex Morgan, and Rose Lavelle. WPSL Pro, however, will become the US soccer pyramid's first-ever second-tier league.

"WPSL Pro is the bridge that's been missing — not just for players, but for the communities, investors, and brands ready to be part of the next chapter in women's sports," league co-founder Sean Jones said in a statement.

Caitlin Clark Scores 2nd Best-Selling Jersey Across WNBA and NBA Sales

Fans clamor to buy Indiana Fever star Caitlin Clark jerseys before a 2024 WNBA game.
Caitlin Clark sold the second-most basketball jerseys in the US in 2024. (Dylan Buell/Getty Images)

The No. 22 kit of Indiana Fever superstar Caitlin Clark weighed in as last fall's second best-selling basketball jersey in the US according to sports outfitter Fanatics, with the 2024 WNBA Rookie of the Year trailing only NBA superstar Steph Curry on the top sales list.

Clark's merch dominance is nothing new, however. Her Indiana jersey sold out less than an hour after the Fever drafted her as the overall No. 1 pick in April 2024, making Clark the top seller of any draft night pick in the company's history.

Even more, Clark's merchandise led last season's record-shattering WNBA sales, with Fanatics reporting that 2024 sales of player-specific gear earned a jaw-dropping 1,000% year-over-year increase by last summer's All-Star break — in large part thanks to the 2024 WNBA rookie class.

Fellow 2024 WNBA debutants Chicago Sky standout Angel Reese and then-Las Vegas Aces guard Kate Martin — Clark's NCAA teammate at Iowa — trailed the Fever star with the league's second- and fourth-most merchandise sales, respectively.

This year, a new WNBA rookie could give Clark a run for her money, as the No. 5 Dallas Wings jersey for 2025's No. 1 draft pick, Paige Bueckers, is already doing numbers at retailers across the country.

Already a brand mogul in her own right, Bueckers topped the 2024 NIL list as college basketball’s biggest earner via endorsement deals and merchandise sales prior to going pro.

Kenyan Runner Sharon Lokedi Shatters Boston Marathon Record

Kenya's Sharon Lokedi raises her arms in triumph as she crosses the 2025 Boston Marathon finish line.
Kenya’s Sharon Lokedi beat the Boston Marathon course record by over two minutes. (Erica Denhoff/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)

Kenyan runner Sharon Lokedi shattered the women’s course record at the 2025 Boston Marathon on Monday, finishing the 129th edition of the race in 2:17:22 — more than two and a half minutes faster than the previous record set by Ethiopia's Buzunesh Deba in 2014.

The victory marked the 31-year-old runner's second major marathon championship following her 2022 New York City Marathon win.

After finishing second in the 2024 Boston Marathon behind fellow Kenyan Hellen Obiri, Lokedi avenged her runner-up status by overtaking the back-to-back defending champion in the final kilometer of Monday’s race.

"I'm always second to her and today I was like, 'There’s no way,'" Lokedi said of her rivalry with Obiri. "I just have to put it out there and fight 'til the end and see how it goes. I'm so glad I ran that fast and she was right behind me. We all fought and wanted this so bad."

All of this year’s top three finishers broke through the course record pace, with Obiri and Ethiopia's Yalemzerf Yehualaw joining Lokedi both at the finish line and in the Boston Marathon's record book.

Along with her $150,000 winner's check, Lokedi will pocket an additional $50,000 for claiming the fastest women's time in Boston Marathon history.

Naomi Girma Makes Champions League Debut for Chelsea in UWCL Semifinal Loss

Barcelona's Alexia Putellas shakes hands with Chelsea's Naomi Girma after their 2024/25 Champions League semifinal.
Naomi Girma subbed into Chelsea’s 4-1 Champions League semifinal loss to Barcelona on Sunday. (JOSEP LAGO/AFP via Getty Images)

USWNT star defender Naomi Girma made her UEFA Women’s Champions League debut this weekend, with Chelsea FC's million-dollar signing taking the pitch during the UK club's tough 4-1 semifinal loss to reigning champion Barcelona on Sunday.

Despite joining the WSL leaders on a world-record $1.1 million transfer fee from the NWSL’s San Diego Wave in January, injury hampered Girma's impact on the Blues, as the Stanford grad appeared in just one regular-season WSL match before exiting with a knock to the calf back in March.

Returning from that injury, Girma subbed in at the 81st minute on a mission to protect Chelsea's relatively tight 2-1 scoreline on Sunday.

Despite her efforts, a quick goal from center back Irene Paredes coupled with a 90th-minute strike from forward Clàudia Pina secured Barcelona the win — plus a significant lead going into this weekend's deciding second-leg semifinal match.

"Barcelona were sharper in tight spaces than we were, which is what they're known for," said Chelsea defender Lucy Bronze after the match.

"The whole rhythm of the game was very different from in England. This was much more of a Spanish tempo. We wanted to play a little more aggressively on the ball, but the staccato nature of the match worked against us."

How to watch the Chelsea at theChampions League semifinals

Girma will have another chance to earn her check this Sunday, when Chelsea hosts Barcelona in the second leg of their 2024/25 UEFA Champions League semifinal round.

The match kicks off at 9 AM ET, with live coverage on DAZN.

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