Julie Ertz played her final match with the U.S. women’s national team Thursday night, turning the page on a prolific career.

After the 3-0 win against South Africa, the 31-year-old midfielder shared an emotional moment with her teammates and fans, offering some words of wisdom for those who will follow in her footsteps.

“Obviously this is a monumental game for me. I’m beyond grateful to represent this crest for as long as I have,” Ertz said. “To any girl out there who dreams to be here, it’s worth it. Every part of it.

“I’ve enjoyed every part of this journey that I’ve have, and you guys are a big part of that. … I love this sport so much and I’m grateful to be part of the U.S. Soccer family.”

"Any young girl out there who dreams to be here…
It’s worth it. Every part of it."
🎤 @julieertz pic.twitter.com/9mVWRRhoSV

— U.S. Women's National Soccer Team (@USWNT) September 22, 2023

What does Ertz mean to the USWNT? Lynn Williams summed it up at halftime.

“She directs people every second, every moment on the field,” Williams told TNT. “She just shows by her work rate and her dedication to the game. We joke about it in the camp, but she’s always holding an iPad and always studying, always learning.

“Even this morning she was doing it and we were like, ‘Julie, you’re retiring. It doesn’t matter anymore.’ But just her preparation, her dedication, and her willingness to put everything on the line for us, it’s incredible.”

On top of her 123 international appearances, Ertz finishes with 20 goals and two World Cup titles. Of the 106 games that Ertz started in her career, the USWNT lost just 2.8% of them — a grand total of three matches. It’s the lowest losing percentage of any player with 100 or more starts in team history.

And on Thursday, the team sent her out the right way — with a resounding victory.

“Really excited that we scored kind of right before [I was subbed]. It just felt like a really good ending to say bye,” Ertz told TNT after the match. “I’ve always known I loved the sport, and in that moment, the 35 minutes left that I was blessed to have, I just could just feel it. I could feel how much I loved it. I’m so grateful.”

While her teammates did everything they could to get Ertz one last goal, it wasn’t in the cards for the midfielder. But that’s OK.

“At the end of the day, it’s about the wins,” Ertz said. “Of course, I would’ve loved to score. Who wouldn’t? But at the end of the day, it was just so fun to be out there, play so free and play one last time.”

The 2025 College Cup locked in its finalists last Friday, with the NCAA soccer tournament's overall No. 1-seed Stanford and No. 3-seed Florida State advancing past the competition in the semifinals to book an all-ACC championship match for the third straight year.

Stanford kept to their winning ways by ousting No. 2-seed Duke 1-0 on Friday, with senior midfielder Jasmine Aikey burying a 10th-minute free kick to take down the Blue Devils with her 21st goal of the season.

Florida State similarly landed a single strike to end the championship run of No. 2-seed TCU in their semifinal, benefitting from a second-half breakthrough from sophomore forward Wrianna Hudson in the game's 73rd minute.

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A full half of the last 14 NCAA titles have gone to either the Seminoles or the Cardinal, with Florida State edging Stanford 4-3 in national trophies thus far.

On Monday, the Cardinal will hunt their first national title since their epic penalty shootout victory in 2019, when Stanford narrowly defeated NCAA women's soccer dynasty North Carolina 5-4 from the spot after a 0-0 draw.

Florida State, on the other hand, won the 2023 title with a 5-1 thrashing of the Cardinal.

Stanford arguably holds the advantage over their ACC rivals entering Monday's match, having handed FSU a 2-1 defeat on their own Tallahassee pitch less than two months ago.

How to watch the 2025 College Cup final

No. 1 Stanford will face No. 3 Florida State for the 2025 NCAA women's soccer championship at 7 PM ET on Monday, airing live on ESPNU.

The NWSL may be forcing Washington Spirit superstar Trinity Rodman to "look elsewhere" for her next contract, after the league vetoed a multi-million dollar offer from her current squad last week, Rodman's agent told CBS Mornings last Friday.

"We worked really hard to put together an agreement that we felt complied with the CBA and would keep Trinity in the league for the foreseeable future," said Rodman's rep Mike Senkowski.

"With no certain way to get her fair market value within the NWSL, naturally, that forces you and encourages you to look elsewhere," he continued.

While the fight to keep Rodman Stateside is not over, with the NWSLPA filing a grievance last week arguing that the league office's mandate to reject the Spirit's back-loaded contract — worth more than $1 million per year — is a free agency violation, the NWSL appears unwilling to budge.

In a weekend clarification to The Athletic, an NWSL source noted that commissioner Jessica Berman contests that the Spirit's offer to raise Rodman's compensation in the contract's later years would pull Washington out of salary cap compliance in 2028, with the league disagreeing with the club regarding the potential cap growth under a new broadcast deal.

The league source also noted that the offer has a built-in buyout clause, which the NWSL believes signals an admission of possible salary cap circumvention.

As the Washington Spirit and NWSL fans hope for a win from the union's grievance, the door to recruit Rodman elsewhere seems to be wide open for overseas clubs — particularly those with deep pockets.

The San Diego Wave are closing out 2025 with a title, defeating Liga MX Femenil side Tigres UANL 3-0 to lift the World Sevens Football (W7F) trophy on Sunday.

Wave attacker Makenzy Robbe opened the scoring in the 7v7 venture's championship match, before forward Adriana Leon tacked on a second-half brace to put the game out of reach — and secure the $2 million winner's share of the $5 million prize pool for the NWSL side.

"I think in sevens it's a lot more emphasis on the individual, and so I think players who maybe don't play [as much in NWSL matches]...get to show their creative side," noted Robbe. "It was definitely an element to this, which was really fun."

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In a showcase of club talent across the Americas, the San Diego Wave finished the second-ever W7F tournament undefeated, scoring 14 goals while only conceding three en route to becoming the champion of the competition's first-ever North American iteration.

"It was so fun, and honestly, I would love to be back again," said San Diego goalkeeper and the tournament's golden Glove winner DiDi Haračić. "And we got the bag."

Wave midfielder Gia Corley took home the Breakout Player award, and while Tigres fell just short of the trophy, forward María Sánchez earned the competition's Golden Ball and Golden Boot with her six goals and two assists.

Club América of Liga MX Femenil earned a third-place finish, winning $700,000 in prize money as the bronze medal winners.

Two years after her breakout NCAA tournament performance as a freshman, No. 10 Iowa State center Audi Crooks has become an unstoppable force for the Cyclones as they look to better their first-round exit from last year's postseason.

The junior is leading the nation in scoring with a career-high 27.3 points per game, all while smashing her own Iowa State single-game scoring record with a 47-point performance against Indiana on November 30th.

"These scoring records are really team records, especially for me as a post," Crooks told the Des Moines Register after the Cyclones' 106-95 win over the Hoosiers. "I don't bring the ball up. Somebody else does that and I don't pass the ball in the paint. Somebody else does that."

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Crooks, who will turn 21 years old this Saturday, continued her scoring pace with a 30-point game against Northern Illinois on Sunday — registered in only 19 minutes of playing time during the 105-52 blowout win.

Her efficiency has been on full display in the young 2025/26 NCAA season, with Crooks currently sitting first in field goal percentage at 73.8% while averaging only 25.3 minutes of playing time per game.

"It's always fun to watch her cook. When you get the ball to her hands and it's going in, it's Audi-matic,"  said Iowa State guard Reagan Wilson following Sunday's victory.

How to watch Crooks and Iowa State in action this week

Crooks and the No. 10 Cyclones will take on their season's biggest test yet on Wednesday, when they'll host in-state rival No. 12 Iowa.

The two unbeaten programs will clash at 7 PM ET, airing live on ESPN.