OL Reign head coach Laura Harvey is embracing the NWSL preseason with veteran players Megan Rapinoe, Jess Fishlock and Lauren Barnes, because she can’t be sure how many she’ll have left with all three of them after this one.

Rapinoe, 36, said after the Olympics last year that she needed to “take some time to think” about retirement. Last month, she signed a one-year extension with the Reign, raising questions about whether this could be her last year (fiancé and Seattle Storm guard Sue Bird has announced this WNBA season as her farewell tour).

For Barnes, 32, and Fishlock, 35, the question appears further off as they and Rapinoe enter their 10th season with OL Reign. In January, Barnes signed a one-year contract extension and Fishlock a two-year, both of which have options for an extra year. 

The three original franchise players understand what it means to play for the Reign and, during a preseason with many new faces, Harvey can lean on them to set the tone.

“I think that’s their biggest legacy,” the coach said. “This club continues to stick with those standards on and off the field, within the player group, of what’s expected, and these have been setting it for 10 years. They created it, then they set it and then they impart that onto the new ones coming in.”

On This Day in Reign History: Reign Drafts Lauren Barnes

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— OL Reign (@OLReign) February 7, 2022

For Harvey, who also started at the club (then Seattle Reign FC) in 2013, “it’s hard to imagine the club without them,” she said. All three have been named to the NWSL Best XI during their careers, with 2021 NWSL MVP Fishlock earning the honor five times.

“We are 100 percent the product of our environment,” said Barnes, the NWSL’s 2016 Defender of the Year. “I am every single person who’s ever been part of this club — players, staff, playing one minute, to not playing at all, to playing every single minute.”

Barnes leads a steady backline alongside U.S. women’s national team defenders Alana Cook and Sofia Huerta. Kristen McNabb, who started 15 of 21 games for Reign last season, was selected by San Diego Wave FC in the 2022 expansion draft.

“We always hear about outsiders looking in and that they want to be part of the Reign, and I just want to continue that legacy as much as I possibly can and have these younger ones take it over after as the old ones move on eventually,” Barnes said.

That legacy is a conversation Harvey plans to have with Barnes, Rapinoe and Fishlock, but “not yet,” as she exclaimed during Tuesday’s media call.

The group still has an NWSL championship title to win after claiming the NWSL Shield twice, in 2014 and 2015, and finishing as runners-up those same years.

Since falling to the Washington Spirit — the eventual NWSL champions — in last year’s semifinals, the Reign have undergone one of the biggest roster turnovers in their history, signing nine new players in recent weeks.  The upcoming NWSL Challenge Cup will give them a chance to find their chemistry in competitive game settings before the regular season begins in May.

“There’s things around who Lu’s playing with … or whatever it might look like, where we have to find answers on some of the new players that we have,” Harvey said.

With Rapinoe up top, Fishlock in the midfield and Barnes on defense, Harvey has a strong core to build around. The Reign will enter the year with a healthy balance of veterans, younger players and those coming from other teams who are hungry for their shot. The mix creates a team that wants to win now, but also has depth and longevity.

🗣️ 2022 Challenge Cup schedule is here! Join us as we kick off the 10th season at Lumen Field.

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— OL Reign (@OLReign) February 7, 2022

The Reign get an early test, kicking off the Challenge Cup on March 18 against the Portland Thorns.

“It’s the game of our lifetime,” Barnes said of the Reign-Thorns rivalry. “It doesn’t even matter what place you’re in in the league. It’s like, that’s the championship game.

“Being able to pass that history down, that rivalry down to the new girls coming in and people overseas and stuff has been really fun to watch. I’ve had a couple girls come off those games and be like, ‘Best game I ever played.’ And we’re talking about girls who have been to World Cups.”

The game will also serve as OL Reign’s 2022 home debut at Lumen Field in Seattle, Wash., home to the NFL’s Seattle Seahawks and MLS’ Seattle Sounders. While hosting games at Cheney Stadium in Tacoma for three years, the Reign played their first match at Lumen last August against Portland, winning 2-1 in front of an NWSL-record 27,278 fans.

The move to Lumen marks the beginning of a new era for the Reign, and Barnes, Rapinoe and Fishlock are ready to lead the way.

“The club’s going in an exciting direction in regards to playing at Lumen, which is a huge step for us and I think the three of them,” Harvey said. “I was really excited for the three of them to have that opportunity because they deserve it.”

Jessa Braun is a contributing writer at Just Women’s Sports covering the NWSL and USWNT. Follow her on Twitter @jessabraun.

No. 3 New York will have one last shot at redemption against the No. 1 Minnesota Lynx on Tuesday, as the reigning champion Liberty look to upend the team they defeated in the 2024 WNBA Finals when the pair meet for the fourth and final time in 2025 regular-season play.

Even without injured leading scorer Napheesa Collier, Minnesota sits 3-0 against their rivals this season, following a truncated scheduling quirk that saw the Lynx and Liberty battle four times in less than three weeks.

"I'm super proud of us," Lynx head coach Cheryl Reeve said before Tuesday's matchup. "I'm super proud of those that have Phee's back. That makes Phee feel better."

Collier is currently listed as doubtful for Tuesday's powerhouse matchup, with Minnesota vying for top postseason seeding as New York looks to defeat the Lynx in Round 4 — and inch back toward their recently relinquished No. 2 spot on the WNBA table in the process.

New York will hope a few more whistles go their way as they hunt their season's first victory over Minnesota, unlike their Saturday clash in which the Lynx drew 33 free throws en route to an 86-80 win while officials only awarded the Liberty eight.

"It's tough to win a game in this league with eight free throws…. There are so many things out of our control," New York guard Sabrina Ionescu said afterwards, pointing to injured team leader Breanna Stewart. "Like the players we don't have and the free throws we didn't get."

How to watch the Minnesota Lynx vs. New York Liberty on Tuesday

The No. 3 Liberty will host No. 1 Minnesota at 7 PM ET on Tuesday, with live coverage of the game airing on NBA TV.

UConn basketball star and reigning NCAA champion Azzi Fudd added another stop to her whirlwind offseason this week, landing in Chongqing, China, to team up with NBA icon Steph Curry on his Curry Brand World Tour.

Fudd said just last week that she considered Curry her favorite NBA player, with the 22-year-old UConn grad student going on to beat the 16-year league veteran in a three-point contest while in China.

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Kicking off its ninth US edition in San Francisco earlier this month, this year's Curry World Tour brings Curry Camp — a high school basketball clinic where the Golden State Warriors star provides "one-on-one coaching, advice, and exposure to his habits, routines, and mindset" — overseas for the first time.

Fudd's history with Curry runs deeper than her assist at this week's Curry Camp, with the 2025 NCAA Final Four Most Outstanding Player attending one of the two-time NBA MVP's first elite girls basketball camps as a rising high school sophomore in 2018.

She then became the first-ever college player to sign an NIL deal with Under Armour's Curry Brand back in 2021 — just 17 days after Fudd made her collegiate basketball debut.

"Steph has been such an amazing resource," Fudd said back in March. "It kind of just goes to show the kind of person he is."

It's a busy week for some top NWSL teams, as the second edition of the Concacaf W Champions Cup kicks off its 2025/26 group-stage matches on Tuesday night.

Designed to mirror Europe's UEFA Champions League, the Concacaf Champions Cup pits the top clubs from North American leagues in a tournament to determine the continental champion.

This year, a trio of NWSL standouts made the 10-club cut, with last season's top three teams — the Orlando Pride, Washington Spirit, and Gotham FC — in the running for the 2025/26 Concacaf trophy.

Each team will play four group-stage matches over the next two months to determine the four semifinalists who will battle for the trophy in May 2026.

The Champions Cup winners will automatically qualify for the 2026/27 edition of the tournament as well as earn a spot in both the 2027 FIFA Women's Champions Cup and the inaugural FIFA Women's Club World Cup in 2028.

How to watch the NWSL in the Concacaf W Champions Cup

Kicking off this season's Concacaf competition are the 2025 NWSL Challenge Cup champs and 2024 league runners-up Washington Spirit, who will travel south to take on El Salvador's Alianza at 8 PM ET on Tuesday night.

Then on Wednesday, 2024/25 Champions Cup winners Gotham FC will open their title defense by hosting Liga MX Femenil side CF Monterrey at 7 PM ET.

As for reigning NWSL champion Orlando, the Pride will begin their Champions Cup campaign at home next month, facing Costa Rican side Alajuelense at 7 PM ET on September 2nd.

All 2025/26 Concacaf Champions Cup matches will air live on Paramount+.

The No. 13 Chicago Stars earned a dramatic NWSL draw on Monday night, battling back from a three-goal deficit against the No. 6 Seattle Reign — with superstar goalkeeper Alyssa Naeher scoring the stoppage-time equalizer to secure the 3-3 result.

After the entire Seattle frontline of Jess Fishlock, Jordyn Huitema, and Emeri Adames netted early goals, the Stars began chipping away at the Reign's lead, with Chicago forward Ludmila and defender Camryn Biegalski putting their squad within one strike entering second-half stoppage time.

USWNT retiree and Stars captain Naeher then sealed the Chicago comeback with her first-ever NWSL goal, tapping in the ball amid the melee of a last-gasp 99th-minute set piece.

"Chaos kind of sums up our season at this point, the way it finished like that," Naeher said after the match. "You just see the heart in that play."

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Multiple staffing changes and on-pitch inconsistencies have seen the Stars struggle this season, with Chicago tallying just one 2025 win so far.

That said, interim head coach Ella Masar has arguably turned the tide, leading the Stars to five draws in their last six games. Masar will soon resume her assistant coach role once new head coaching hire Martin Sjögren's longtime right hand Anders Jacobson arrives to assume interim manager duties.

"That's the belief in this group, that's the mentality," Naeher continued. "We stuck together all season long."