Mallory Pugh is back and made sure her presence was felt with the United States women’s national team on Thursday night.

Carli Lloyd scored a whopping five goals and Andi Sullivan buried the first two goals of her international career, but quietly making an impact in the team’s 9-0 win over Paraguay was Pugh.

The 23-year-old recorded a career-high three assists in her first appearance with the USWNT since March 2020. She began the night in the starting lineup and finished second in fan voting for Woman of the Match, just behind Lloyd’s 75.3 percent. Pugh’s three assists were the most by a USWNT player since Alex Morgan had three against Thailand at the 2019 World Cup.

Pugh accomplished all of that in just 58 minutes of play, before substitute Sophia Smith relieved her. USWNT head coach Vlatko Andonovski was impressed with Pugh’s runs and positioning.

“Very happy with her performance,” he said. “This is just one of those games to get her back in, to refresh the principles, and hopefully it’s just the beginning of getting her back to her best.”

2nd goal of the night for @sunshine_sully ⚽️⚽️
3rd assist for @MalPugh 🅰️🅰️🅰️ pic.twitter.com/wzBPjuCoFK

— U.S. Soccer WNT (@USWNT) September 17, 2021

Pugh has been focusing on playing more freely this year. When she made her first appearance with the national team as a 17-year-old in 2016, Pugh benefited from a just-have-fun-with-it attitude. She says she’s rediscovered that mindset in the NWSL these past few months and is taking this USWNT camp as an opportunity to build on the momentum.

It also helps that she’s around her friends again.

“I literally haven’t seen Tobin [Heath] in like a year and a half,” she said. “Every camp I was in, she was out, and vice versa. So I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, you’re here in real life.’ It was awesome.”

Pugh was left off of the USWNT roster for the first time in her career when Andonovski named the team for the Olympic qualifiers in January 2020. Since then, she’s had an impressive first season with the Chicago Red Stars and has found her way back onto the coach’s radar.

“When Mallory is performing well, staying healthy and she’s performing well on a consistent basis, she’s going to be a very important piece of this puzzle,” Andonovski said. “She’s going to be a very important player for this team. I’m excited for her and we’re looking forward to having Mal in good form.”

Pugh has three goals and three assists in 17 starts (and 18 games) with the Red Stars. With five games left before the NWSL playoffs, the forward ranks fifth in the league with 37 shots.

Before joining Chicago this season, Pugh hadn’t scored a goal since 2019. The Highlands Ranch, Colo. native also hadn’t found much stability in the league until this year. After three seasons with the Washington Spirit, she was traded to Sky Blue FC (now Gotham FC) in January 2020 but barely saw the field because of a hip injury. In December, the Red Stars acquired Pugh from Sky Blue in a package deal.

Coming off of the injury, Pugh needed to find her form again. Besides having to get used to the cold, Chicago was the place to do that.

“I think over my club career, it’s been a little uneasy and I think I’ve finally found Chicago to be a place where I can express how I want to play,” Pugh said. “So far, I love the club. I wanted to be surrounded by players who could push me, and for me that was being at Chicago. My agent was able to get that to work out. It’s just been a really good fit for me.”

Next up for Pugh is another USWNT friendly against Paraguay on Tuesday in Cincinnati. She’ll resume club play with the Red Stars on Sept. 25 against top-ranked Portland Thorns.

The 2025 Wimbledon Championships wrapped its second round on Thursday, with the grass court Grand Slam seeing just 15 of the tournament's 32 seeded players advance to the Friday and Saturday's third round.

A full half of the WTA's Top 10 players did not survive the week, with 2024 Wimbledon finalist and world No. 5 Jasmine Paolini joining four first-round star exits by falling to unseeded Kamilla Rakhimova in a three-set, second-round battle on Wednesday.

At the same time, unseeded fan favorites like Japan's No. 53 Naomi Osaka and England's own No. 40 Emma Raducanu secured third-round spots at the London Slam, joining top surviving contenders like No. 4 Iga Świątek and defending Wimbledon champion No. 16 Barbora Krejčíková.

Notably, a full five US players managed to move ahead, tied for the largest national contingent still standing at the tournament.

Led by 2025 Australian Open champion No. 8 Madison Keys, the US group also includes No. 10 Emma Navarro and No. 12 Amanda Anisimova, as well as unseeded players No. 54 Danielle Collins and No. 55 Hailey Baptiste.

With matches against Świątek and No. 7 Mirra Andreeva, respectively, Collins and Baptiste have a tough third round ahead — though Navarro's battle against the 2024 champ Krejčíková arguably headlines Saturday's slate.

How to watch Wimbledon this weekend

While world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka is still holding strong in the dwindling field, this year's Wimbledon play is proving that the London Slam is anyone's to take, as the grass court humbles even the sport's top stars.

Expect the twists and turns to continue as tennis's best battle for spots in Sunday's Round of 16.

Round-of-32 Wimbledon play kicks off at 6 AM ET on Friday, with live continuous coverage of the tournament airing on ESPN.

The 2025 European Championship is officially underway, as Euro action kicked off with a group-stage upset on Wednesday.

Though the 2025 UEFA tournament's opener was a sweltering affair amid a European heat wave, world No. 26 Finland prevailed, earning a 1-0 upset win over No. 14 Iceland in Group A.

Finnish winger Katariina Kosola played hero, curling in the winning goal in the match's 70th minute — just 12 minutes after Iceland midfielder Hildur Antonsdóttir picked up the competition's first red card.

"The result is important for our confidence," Kosola said after Finland's first major tournament win since the 2009 Euro. "It was the kind of goal I have been practicing a lot."

"It's terrible to lose and we feel frustrated," said Iceland head coach Thorsteinn Halldórsson. "It is an even group and we knew Finland were good, but our first half wasn't good enough."

Elsewhere, No. 16 Norway closed out Wednesday's slate on top of Group A, taking three points by defeating host No. 23 Switzerland in day's second match.

Led by captain and 2018 Ballon d'Or winner Ada Hegerberg — who pulled the match even with a second-half strike — Norway battled to a 2-1 comeback win, despite the Swiss side outshooting and out-possessing the Norwegians.

How to watch this week's 2025 Euro action

Group B steals the 2025 Euro spotlight on Thursday.

While No. 13 Italy snagged a 1-0 opening win over No. 20 Belgium to kick off the day, 2023 World Cup champions and tournament favorite No. 2 Spain will face No. 22 Portugal at 3 PM ET.

Friday's Group C slate will pit No. 12 Denmark against No. 6 Sweden at 12 PM ET, before No. 3 Germany contends with No. 27 Poland at 3 PM ET.

Closing out the first group-stage matches will be arguably the toughest draw of the 2025 Euro pool.

Saturday's Group D slate features major tournament debutants No. 30 Wales against the No. 11 Netherlands at 12 PM ET, with No. 10 France taking on defending champions No. 5 England to cap the day at 3 PM ET.

Live coverage of 2025 Euro matches will air across Fox Sports platforms.

The world No. 1 USWNT ruled the pitch on Wednesday night, shutting out North American rivals No. 8 Canada 3-0 to finish the international window on a high note.

Catching the Canada backline sleeping, US midfielder Sam Coffey opened the scoring at the 17-minute mark before 19-year-old Claire Hutton claimed her first-ever USWNT goal by heading in a Rose Lavelle corner kick in the game's 36th minute.

Houston Dash forward Yazmeen Ryan then padded the US tally in the waning minutes of the match, finding the back of the net just eight minutes after subbing onto the field.

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Despite fielding a young roster, the US overpowered a veteran-heavy Canada side in almost every category, topping their Northern neighbors in shots, shots on target, possession, and — most notably — set pieces.

Canada ultimately couldn't match the game's mental pace or physical battle, as the USWNT scored all three goals off dead ball situations — a free kick, a corner kick, and a throw-in.

"It's not about the opponent," US head coach Emma Hayes said after the match. "It's about what we do, and I felt that was extremely dominant."

With Wednesday's contributions, the USWNT finishes the summer window with 11 goals scored across the three friendlies — and zero goals conceded.

The US now enters an extended break before reconvening for another as-yet-unannounced friendly series in October — but players will be expected to perform in the meantime.

"I said to the players in the end in the huddle, if you want to compete to win the biggest things, it's not what you do here that matters," said Hayes. "It's what you do when you go back to your club."

The 2025 WNBA regular season returns on Thursday night, with teams at the top of the league standings looking to prove their mettle against close competition across the long holiday weekend.

The No. 5 Seattle Storm have arguably the toughest weekend assignments, taking on the No. 4 Atlanta Dream on Friday before tackling the No. 3 New York Liberty on Sunday.

Four middle-of-the-pack teams will look to close in on a double-digit season win tally while the league's frontrunners strive to maintain their advantage in this weekend's slate:

• No. 7 Las Vegas Aces vs. No. 8 Indiana Fever, Thursday at 7 PM ET (Prime): Though still without star Caitlin Clark, the Fever hope to harness their 2025 WNBA Commissioner's Cup victory momentum against an Aces side tied with Indiana with an 8-8 season record.

• No. 5 Seattle Storm vs. No. 4 Atlanta Dream, Thursday at 7:30 PM ET (WNBA League Pass): Seattle will look to make strides against a strong Atlanta side while putting last Sunday's stinging 84-57 loss to up-and-comer Golden State in their rearview.

• No. 6 Golden State Valkyries vs. No. 1 Minnesota Lynx, Saturday at 8 PM ET (WNBA League Pass): The rising Valkyries must face a Lynx side hunting redemption, as the league-leaders look to bounce back from their stifling Tuesday Commissioner's Cup upset loss.

• No. 5 Seattle Storm vs. No. 3 New York Liberty, Sunday at 1 PM ET (CBS): With injured Liberty center Jonquel Jones still sidelined, the Seattle Storm will have a chance to steal a weekend game against the reigning champs, as New York struggles to re-find their footing.

With the 2025 WNBA All-Star break looming, early top performers must keep standards high if they want to hold the line when the season crosses the midway point.