On Tuesday evening, at a Men in Blazers event in New York City, the axis of the NWSL world shifted slightly, forever changed. In announcing the first-ever free-agency signing in the league’s history, U.S. women’s national team defender Kelley O’Hara trailed off, saying “NWSL free agency opened today and…,” before donning a NJ/NY Gotham FC sweatshirt and as a special graphic appeared behind her.

O’Hara didn’t need to say much because the intent was clear: With her destiny in her own hands, she made a splash, signing a multi-year contract with the New Jersey club. In Gotham, she finds both an eager and a familiar partner — she spent some of the prime years of her career on Sky Blue FC’s backline, before moving on to the Utah Royals in 2018.

The rebranded Gotham FC club that O’Hara returns to couldn’t look more different than the Sky Blue team she left, but they similarly need to take steps toward being competitive. In 2021, despite losing head coach Freya Coombe to Angel City FC mid-season, Gotham made the playoffs for the first time since 2013. After a quarterfinal loss, Carli Lloyd retired, and the club made a number of moves last offseason to try to capitalize on the early signs of progress.

WELL FREE AGENCY JUST OPENED pic.twitter.com/6h50gdnzy8

— NJ/NY Gotham FC (@GothamFC) November 16, 2022

The 2022 season, however, didn’t go as planned. Despite picking up Ashlyn Harris and Ali Krieger, and retaining key parts of a dynamic frontline that features Ifeoma Onumonu and Margaret Purce, Gotham fell to the bottom of the NWSL standings. The club parted ways with head coach Scott Parkinson halfway through the season as the team sputtered to last place with a 4-17-1 record. They finished the season with a minus-30 goal differential, scoring only 16 goals while conceding 46. After Harris’ season ended early due to an injury, the goalkeeper announced her retirement at the USWNT Players’ Ball on Monday.

O’Hara can help solve some of Gotham’s issues right away. She’s a proven winner at both the club and international level, and she brings a level of intensity that NWSL teams rely on to grind out results. She also played some of the best soccer of her club career with the Washington Spirit in 2021, capped by scoring the game-winning goal in that year’s NWSL Championship. If Gotham is looking for a little grit and determination, and a lot of experience, O’Hara is the perfect free-agent signing.

The 34-year-old will also bring stability to the right-back position after 2021 Defender of the Year Caprice Dydasco was traded to the Houston Dash in August. O’Hara adds competition for 20-year-old Brazilian Bruninha, who also plays right back and was brought in as one of Gotham’s players of the future.

Within all of this lies Gotham’s great contradiction: The club’s results indicate a need to rebuild, and yet O’Hara’s signing, among others, suggest they’re a team in win-now mode. In constructing the roster they currently have, Gotham let go of young talent like Brianna Pinto (North Carolina Courage) and Evelyne Viens (Sweden). The club also had the opportunity to give minutes to rookie goalkeeper Hensley Hancuff in the wake of Harris’ injury but chose to play veteran Michelle Betos long after the playoffs fell out of reach.

And while on paper it seems like Gotham’s defense needs to be the main focus of free agency, the ebbs and flow of games in 2022 put the backline under undue amounts of pressure that resulted in goals conceded. The club chose not to retain midfielders Jennifer Cudjoe and Domi Richardson and is still negotiating with McCall Zerboni, after the midfield struggled immensely last season to control matches.

O’Hara’s resurgence in 2021 coincided with excellent seasons from Sam Staab and Emily Sonnett in the Spirit’s central defense. Gotham’s center-back pairing, meanwhile, remains unsettled, with Estelle Johnson’s return to the club up in the air. Allie Long should help shore up the defensive midfield in her return to the team alongside Victoria Pickett, whom Gotham acquired in a trade with the Kansas City Current in exchange for a hefty package (a 2023 first-round draft pick and $200,000 in allocation money). Those changes could have a positive effect on the attack, which spent too many games in 2022 on an island, without the ability to influence games.

Gotham has the No. 1 pick in the 2023 College Draft and new head coach Juan Carlos Amorós signed to a three-year contract. They have developed a recognizable brand that fans and players are drawn to, with the hope that the team will eventually find its identity on the pitch.

What happens in 2023 is too much to place on any one player, even Kelley O’Hara. But the fact that when presented with the most agency she’s ever had in her career, the World Cup and NWSL champion chose Gotham FC as home speaks volumes about her belief in the club’s future.

Notes on the Washington Spirit

• Mark Krikorian’s early tenure as general manager has the makings of a huge project, shaped in his own vision. He ousted Kris Ward (with player support), brought in assistants who worked with him at Florida State and let one of the team’s leaders walk in free agency. Now, he’s on the hunt for a new head coach.
• Even in the afterglow of their championship win, the Spirit looked like a group in need of a reset during a challenging 2022 season. Fans’ faith in ownership will continue to be tested, as what was hailed as a potential dynasty appears to be moving in another direction.

Claire Watkins is a Staff Writer at Just Women’s Sports. Follow her on Twitter @ScoutRipley.

The New York Liberty will open the 2025 WNBA season at the top of the league's power rankings, drumming up high expectations despite a short-staffed roster.

Trailing the reigning champions at No. 2 are 2024 runners-up Minnesota, followed by 2023 champs Las Vegas at No. 3.

Fueled by this year's overall No. 2 draft pick Dominique Malonga, the Seattle Storm claimed No. 4 in the WNBA rankings, with the revamped Indiana Fever eyeing a 2025 turnaround at No. 5.

The betting market similarly reflects the league's latest forecast, with sportsbook FanDuel setting the Liberty's title odds at +210, followed by the Aces at +360, and the Lynx at +370.

The lines also support Indiana's promise, giving the Fever the fourth-best championship odds at +390 — far higher than the fifth-best Phoenix Mercury at +1,300.

On the other hand, the Dallas Wings, LA Sparks, Washington Mystics, Connecticut Sun, and Golden State Valkyries occupy the rankings' bottom half, as 2025's potential lottery teams prepare to prove themselves against top-line squads this season.

The up-for-sale Sun and brand-new Valkyries have the longest title odds on FanDuel, clocking in at +50,000 each.

While preseason action has provided some quality sneak peeks, Friday's opening tip-off represents a fresh start for the league, one where anything can — and likely will — happen.

European WNBA stars drop out of 2025 EuroBasket

Several European WNBA standouts announced they will skip out on this summer's FIBA EuroBasket, opting to prioritize league play following a pivotal 2024 Olympics.

Reigning Olympic silver medalists Gabby Williams and Dominique Malonga both confirmed they will not represent France at the European tournament in June, opting to remain with the Seattle Storm.

The duo's France teammate Carla Leite is also forgoing the trip, instead remaining with the Golden State Valkyries for the entirety of the expansion side's debut season.

As a major international tournament, the 2025 FIBA EuroBasket is exempt from the WNBA's prioritization rule, meaning eligible players can miss regular-season league play to compete in the overseas contest without being in violation of WNBA protocols.

The 2025 regional FIBA competition between Europe's top national teams will tip off on June 18th.

US soccer legend Alex Morgan is back in the game, becoming a minority owner of her former NWSL club by investing in the San Diego Wave FC on Tuesday.

One of the 2022 expansion side's first signings, Morgan captained the Wave to their 2023 NWSL Shield win before retiring in September 2024 as the team's all-time leader in both goals (28) and assists (11).

"San Diego is where I've built my home, where I am raising my children, and found a purpose beyond my playing career," Morgan said in a club statement. "I believed in Wave FC before a single match was played, and I still believe this club has the power to change the future of women's sports."

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Morgan joins an ownership group led by the Leichtman-Levine family. The Leichtmans purchased the team from founding owner Ron Burkle at a reported $113 million valuation last year.

"Alex has always fought to positively impact this game beyond the pitch," said Wave FC controlling owner Lauren Leichtman. "Her decision to invest is not only a continuation of her leadership but also a reflection of her belief in what we are building."

The two-time World Cup champion appears to be making good on her desire to shape the women's sports landscape after hanging up her boots, also buying into Unrivaled 3×3 Basketball ahead of the league's early 2025 debut.

"I was on board [with Unrivaled] from day one," Morgan told Boardroom in January. "Fans want to see what a player's personality is and who they vibe with, what drives them, and I think that being able to mesh that with competition, it already [is] a home run here with Unrivaled. So it would be really exciting to do something with other women's sports as well."

The Minnesota Frost offense is ruling the ice, as record-setting scoring has the reigning PWHL champions on the brink of returning to the Walter Cup finals, entering Wednesday's Game 4 on a 2-1 series lead over the Toronto Sceptres in the best-of-five semifinals. 

Just two days after No. 4-seed Minnesota leveled the series with a 5-3 Friday win — recording the most combined goals ever scored in a PWHL Playoff game — the Frost found yet another gear, winning the highest scoring game in the second-year league's history in Sunday’s 7-5 Game 3 defeat of No. 2-seed Toronto.

In Sunday's barnburner, 21 players earned points across the two teams, but it was Minnesota who claimed victory, never relinquishing their early lead after netting a trio of goals in the game's first eight minutes.

"Minnesota's a great team," Sceptres head coach Troy Ryan said after the loss. "If you're putting yourself in a situation where you've got to chase them, it's an uphill battle."

"I think it’s a fan's dream and a coach's nightmare, a 7-5 playoff game," said Minnesota boss Ken Klee. "We found a way to win and that's the most important thing."

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Perhaps unsurprisingly, Minnesota skaters now own the league's 2025 Playoffs stat sheet, with four Frost players topping the points race.

More eyebrow-raising, however, is that the league's postseason offensive leader is a defender, as the Frost's Lee Stecklein has burned up the ice with three goals and three assists in the playoffs so far.

Calling her "outstanding" and "world-class," Klee sang Stecklein's praises while acknowledging that the postseason means Minnesota must "find different ways to score goals and different people have to contribute."

"[Stecklein] knows that, she exemplifies that, and that's why she's one of our leaders and one of our best players."

How to watch Minnesota vs. Toronto in the PWHL Semifinals

The defending champion Frost will hope to secure their spot in the 2025 PWHL Finals while the Sceptres aim to stave off elimination in the pair's next semifinals game on Wednesday.

The puck drops on Game 4 of the best-of-five series at 7 PM ET, with live coverage streaming on the PWHL YouTube channel.

Soccer legend Marta is officially returning to the canary yellow kit, earning a Brazil national team call-up just over nine months after her planned retirement from international duty.

Brazil head coach Arthur Elias named Marta to the world No. 8 Seleção's roster on Tuesday, with the 39-year-old icon returning for the team's upcoming home friendlies against No. 5 Japan on May 30th and June 2nd.

"I was with Marta recently and spoke with her," Elias told reporters on Tuesday. "She said she is available to help the team while she is playing at a high level, as she is now."

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Stellar club form fuels Marta's Brazil return

Marta, who hung up her international boots after snagging a third silver Olympic medal at the 2024 Paris Games, hasn't missed a beat since, captaining the Orlando Pride to the club's first-ever NWSL Shield and Championship last fall.

In the process, the scoring phenom claimed the league's Best XI First Team honors, as well as finalist nods for both the 2024 NWSL MVP and Midfielder of the Year awards.

Unsurprisingly, the Pride inked Marta to a two-year contract extension in January.

While Marta's consistently impressive form fueled Elias's request to lure her out of retirement, the manager is also hoping her unmatched leadership will bolster younger athletes as Brazil takes aim at a record-extending ninth Copa América title this summer — and, as the host nation, a deep 2027 World Cup run.

Joining the legend on Tuesday's roster are fellow Brazil veterans Lorena and Debinha, from the NWSL-leading Kansas City Current, and Marta's Orlando teammate Angelina.

"[Marta's] presence in some call-ups is very important for the younger players, for the renewal that is taking place in the national team," explained Elias. "We really want expectations to rise for the women's national team and for football in our country."