Sometimes it feels like the celebration of a career might take just a little bit longer than 90 minutes.
Saying goodbye — Claire Watkins
Megan Rapinoe took her final bow on the international stage on Sunday, playing her last match for the USWNT in a 2-0 win over South Africa.
End of an era: Rapinoe leaves the U.S. as a two-time World Cup champion and an Olympic gold and bronze medalist.
“We have fought so hard off the field to continue to create more space for ourselves to be who we are, but hopefully I’m turning it into more space for you guys to be who you are,” she said on Sunday.
The No. 1 seed Aces are off to a strong start, taking down No. 4 Dallas 97-83 in Game 1 of their WNBA semifinal series on Sunday.
Controlling the game: “I like offense. I like to get on offense, so the only way I can do that is getting the basketball on defense,” Wilson said after the third quarter.
The Wings’ chances hinged on points in the paint, an area the Aces focused on limiting in the second half.
The WNBA’s other semifinal matchup resulted in an upset, as No. 3 Connecticut took Game 1 off the No. 2 Liberty in New York 78-63.
Battling through: Liberty head coach Sandy Brondello called it the “worst game of the season” for her team, which shot just 34% from the field.
The Sun have now guaranteed themselves two semifinal games at home in Games 3 and 4.
The USWNT both closed a chapter and had an exciting debut this weekend.
Long time coming: Fishel was a standout with Tigres in Liga MX Femenil, but was not called into pre-World Cup camps by then-USWNT coach Vlatko Andonovski.
The 22-year-old forward replaced Alex Morgan against South Africa on Sunday, slotting into a central attacking role.
Team Europe retained their Solheim Cup crown on Sunday, roaring back from a deficit to tie Team USA 14-14 and earn enough points to hold onto their title.
The event came to an awkward ending after Team Europe reached the 14-point threshold before the final pairing finished, prompting early celebrations.
U.S. Soccer Sporting Director Matt Crocker gave an update on the USWNT’s coaching search this weekend.
They plan to have the new coach in place by the team’s December friendlies.
The release of the 2023 WNBA All-Defensive Teams selection set off a chain reaction of comments from players and coaches this week.
“Stats are how people largely vote on/explain these awards, and that means steals, blocks, and rebounds. Two of those three immediately skew towards bigs,” wrote Mystics coach Eric Thibault.
The Kansas City Current are still in the hunt for a playoff spot, and Debinha is quietly making an NWSL Golden Boot case.
When NWSL games resume next week, time will tell if anyone can catch Sophia Smith’s tally of 11 goals.
8 — A’ja Wilson is the eighth player in history to win WNBA Defensive Player of the Year more than once, after earning the honor for the second straight year this week.
“That’s why I have such peace about moving on, is I look at players like Soph Smith, Naomi, Trin. The squad is in very, very good hands if those are the ones that are holding it moving forward.”
— Megan Rapinoe on the future of the USWNT
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