On Jan. 12, Lynn Williams was in camp with the U.S. women’s national team, an ocean away from the NWSL draft taking place in Philadelphia. Just two hours before she became the centerpiece of a trade from the Kansas City Current, she found out she might be on the move. She then learned she was on her way to Gotham FC in real time, hearing the announcement along with the public.

“It was a shock, it wasn’t on my radar,” she told the media in an introductory press conference with Gotham on Tuesday. “I’m in New Zealand at my first camp, and it just kind of threw me for a second.”

Williams saw her first game minutes in almost a year with the national team in January, following a long road back to playing after getting reconstructive surgery on her hamstring. She looked like her old self in limited minutes, notching a goal and an assist off the bench in two games against New Zealand.

Then she turned her attention to her new club situation at home.

“In this world and in soccer, you have to be able to compartmentalize and that’s exactly what I did at the time,” Williams said. “I was with the national team, so I focused on the national team. And now that that camp is over, I put all my energy into Gotham.”

TRADE 🚨

Gotham FC has traded their 2nd overall pick in the NWSL draft to Kansas City in exchange for forward Lynn Williams. pic.twitter.com/0ZjiApBCyR

— Just Women’s Sports (@justwsports) January 12, 2023

Gotham is in the middle of a strategic rebuild, with a roster full of talent that underachieved in 2022. Despite finishing last in the NWSL standings last season, the club believes in its potential. So much so that the front office made a number of aggressive trades this offseason, including for Williams, a two-time NWSL champion and the 2016 NWSL MVP.

Williams described Gotham’s communication after the trade as “top-notch.” She said the club helped her immensely with the logistics of moving to New Jersey without much time to plan.

“That’s what I think any player would want,” she said. “Soccer is a business, I completely understand that, but there’s definitely a human side to things and Gotham so far has gone above and beyond to not only get Lynn the soccer player, but Lynn the human here as well. And I think that we’re building something really special here.”

The warm welcome is warranted. Williams brings a winning standard — she notes that she’s never missed the NWSL playoffs in her career — and an understanding of the kind of environment necessary to bring out the best of a team on the field. Gotham wants to play a high-press style of soccer, with players winning the ball back quickly and putting opponents on their heels. It’s just the style at which Williams has long excelled.

“I think I will always have an edge to me,” she said when asked whether she has something to prove in 2023. “I think that that’s just how I play, how I have grown up. I think that for my whole career, I’ve always been overseen a bit, and I don’t know if that plays a part in it, but I think I will continue to have that.”

As she joins a team looking for a competitive edge, Williams thinks it’s a perfect fit.

“After the shock, the initial shock wore off, I was able to just take a step back and say, you know what, I actually think this is going to be a good thing,” she said.

With a club career that has taken her from Western New York to North Carolina to Kansas City and now to New Jersey, Williams prides herself on being able to stay even-keeled off the pitch.

“You just have to find something that’s yours that you can keep consistent in your life,” she said. “And for me, that’s stuff that’s outside of soccer. So as long as that’s going well, then you can get comfortable with being uncomfortable in the soccer world.”

In the soccer world, Gotham isn’t shying away from big expectations: The goal is still championship or bust. With the additions of Yazmeen Ryan, Kelley O’Hara and Abby Smith, among others, last year’s basement dwellers believe they’re ready to take the next step and see out the original vision that general manager Yael Averbuch West introduced last offseason.

For Williams, it all begins with taking care of the human element first.

“At the end of the day, you want to be somewhere where a team wants you,” she said. “And I want to be at Gotham because they want me.”

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

The Minnesota Frost are back-to-back PWHL champions, taking down the Ottawa Charge 2-1 in Game 4 of the league's best-of-five Finals to lift the Walter Cup for the second time on Monday.

All bouts in the 2025 PWHL Finals were overtime affairs that finished in 2-1 results, with No. 3-seed Ottawa claiming Game 1 before the No. 4-seed Frost swept the next three games to claim the 2024/25 league title.

Monday's deciding matchup saw forward Kelly Pannek give Minnesota their first lead of the entire series by striking first in the second period before Ottawa forward Tereza Vanišová equalized in the third to force overtime.

Following 12 extra minutes of play, Frost forward Liz Schepers netted the game-winner — doing so for the second year in a row — to secure the Walter Cup in front of a Minnesota home crowd of 11,024 fans. 

"I'll win anywhere. It's always fun — but to get to do it at home is extra special," said Frost defenseman Lee Stecklein following the Memorial Day victory.

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Frost's Stecklein, Charge's Philips top PWHL Playoffs stat sheet

Stecklein finished the postseason as the league's scoring leader, notching four goals and four assists to finish atop the Frost-laden skaters' table with eight points — narrowly surpassing the seven points posted by teammates Sophie Jaques (two goals, five assists) and Taylor Heise (one goal, six assists).

On the other hand, Ottawa goaltender Gwyneth Philips led all net-minders on the PWHL's postseason stat sheet while playing the most minutes between the pipes in league history.

The rookie's failure to drop a single game in regulation throughout the Charge's eight playoff matchups helped earn her the Ilana Kloss Playoff MVP Award, despite Monday's series loss.

Notably, Minnesota's second straight PWHL championship belies the Frost's underdog status.

After needing another team's downfall to even squeak into the playoffs, doing to on the last day of the regular season, Minnesota got hot at just the right time to retain their singular hold on the second-year league's title.

"It's the belief we have in the room," Frost captain Kendall Coyne Schofield said after the win. "It's hard to put into words. I think when you look at the way we won, it takes everybody."

Gotham raised a continental trophy on Saturday, with the NWSL side toppling Liga MX's Tigres UANL 1-0 to claim the first-ever Concacaf W Champions Cup crown.

Powered by a goal from star striker Esther González in the match's 82nd minute, the win punched Gotham's ticket to two additional global tournaments: the inaugural FIFA Champions Cup in 2026 and the 2028 debut edition of the FIFA Women's Club World Cup.

"The other day, we talked about the first-ever champions of competitions like the UEFA Champions League, the Euro, the World Cup, and the Olympics," said Gotham head coach Juan Carlos Amorós following Saturday's victory. "Now, forever, the first team to win the Concacaf W Champions Cup will be Gotham FC."

"These players, with this coaching staff — we are incredibly proud of what they've accomplished."

Gotham wasn't the only NWSL club to claim a Saturday victory at the inaugural confederation tournament. Following a 2-0 loss to the Tigres 2-0 in Wednesday's semifinals, the Portland Thorns bounced back with a 3-0 win over Liga MX side Club América in Saturday's third-place match.

Now with hardware in tow, the Bats will have some ground to make up after the current international break, with Gotham slipping to ninth place in the NWSL standings during their absence from the league last weekend.

SEC firepower will fuel the 2025 Women's College World Series (WCWS), as No. 2 Oklahoma, No. 3 Florida, No. 6 Texas, No. 7 Tennessee, and unseeded Ole Miss all advanced out of this weekend's Super Regionals to book trips to Oklahoma City.

The SEC's five teams ties the record for most WCWS-bound squads from a single conference, with the additions of former Big 12 powerhouses Oklahoma and Texas notably boosting the league's WCWS roster this year.

Big Ten newcomers No. 9 UCLA and No. 16 Oregon plus the Big 12's No. 12 Texas Tech round out the eight teams entering the double-elimination tournament later this week, all battling for one of two spots in next week's best-of-three championship series.

Despite coming into the postseason as the No. 2 seed, the Sooners are still the team to beat as they hunt their fifth straight NCAA softball title.

With their 18th program ticket to OKC, Oklahoma's consistency in advancing to the national championship's last stop is dwarfed only by UCLA: The Bruins have appeared in 34 editions of the WCWS, missing the final cut only nine times in NCAA history.

In contrast, both Ole Miss and Texas Tech will be making their WCWS debuts after upsetting top seeds last weekend.

The Rebels, who first eliminated No. 13 Arizona in Regionals, outlasted No. 4 Arkansas to book their first-ever WCWS trip on Sunday.

Meanwhile, the Red Raiders are flying high behind transfer pitcher and 2024 National Player of the Year NiJaree Canady, emerging victorious in their first-ever Super Regional with two straight wins over No. 5 Florida State.

How to watch the 2025 Women's College World Series

Oklahoma City veterans and debutants alike will begin their WCWS campaigns on Thursday, when all teams will contend in the tournament's initial four games.

Kicking off the 2025 WCWS is an all-SEC afternoon session, with No. 6 Texas facing No. 3 Florida at 12 PM ET before No. 7 Tennessee takes on No. 2 Oklahoma at 2:30 PM ET.

Evening play pits the newcomers against each other as Ole Miss clashes with No. 12 Texas Tech at 7 PM ET, with a Big Ten battle between No. 16 Oregon and No. 9 UCLA closing out the night at 9:30 PM ET.

Live coverage of the afternoon games will air on ESPN, with ESPN2 broadcasting the two evening matchups.

The Seattle Storm made a statement on Sunday, earning an unexpected 20-point blowout win over 2022 and 2023 WNBA champions Las Vegas.

"The effort wasn't there, the discipline wasn't there," Aces head coach Becky Hammon said of her team's struggles on defense during the 102-82 loss. "We're breaking our own rules."

Led by 23 points from forward Nneka Ogwumike and another 21 points off the bench from guard Erica Wheeler, five Storm players posted double-digit performances. Meanwhile, 2025 No. 2 overall pick Dominique Malonga put up an encouraging eight points and five rebounds in her 12 minutes of play.

The big Seattle win spoiled a homecoming of sorts for new Las Vegas guard Jewell Loyd, who requested a trade that saw her exit the Storm after a decade in the Emerald City this offseason. The three-team deal also sent former Aces guard Kelsey Plum to the LA Sparks.

"Honestly, I wanted to win for Jewell and everyone else that came out and supported us, but it's a part of the game," said 2024 MVP A'ja Wilson.

With the win, the Storm jump to fourth in the early WNBA season with a 3-1 record, while Las Vegas falls to eighth at 2-2 — the Aces' slowest start since 2021.

While the Storm is brewing, last year's finalists Minnesota and New York are still the gold standard, with the Lynx and the Liberty now the only two undefeated teams left standing in 2025 play.

New York held off an upstart Fever team 90-88 on Saturday, with new addition Natasha Cloud sealing the Liberty win with a block on Indiana star Caitlin Clark — who was later announced to be missing the next two weeks with a quad strain.

How to watch Tuesday's WNBA action

WNBA play resumes on Tuesday night, with 10 of the league's 13 teams in action.

Tipping the night off at 7 PM ET are New York, who'll host 2025 expansion side Golden State, as well as the Dallas Wings vs. the Connecticut Sun — two teams still hunting their first 2025 season win.

As for Seattle, they'll have to contend with Minnesota in a road clash with the Lynx at 8 PM ET.

All five Tuesday night games will stream live on WNBA League Pass.