OL Reign’s Megan Rapinoe knew from the second she heard former Chicago Red Stars coach Rory Dames yelling from the sideline during a game that he was not a nice person.

Everything she had heard about then-Portland Thorns coach Paul Riley and then-Sky Blue FC coach Christy Holly of Sky Blue FC made her feel the same way. Dames, Riley and Holly were the coaches at the center of Sally Yates’ report on abusive behavior and sexual misconduct in the NWSL, which was released Monday. Rapinoe was playing in her first season in the league when she heard Dames yelling that day in 2013.

While the rest of the women’s soccer world processes the findings in the report, NWSL and U.S. women’s national team veterans like Rapinoe, Becky Sauerbrunn and Crystal Dunn have known for years about complaints their teammates have filed to team, league and federation authorities, only for those people to ignore them. Balancing soccer with emotional exhaustion is nothing new to them. They’re also used to speaking to reporters about off-field issues, which in the past has also included equal pay, LGBTQ+ rights and racial justice.

So, Rapinoe, Sauerbrunn and Dunn volunteered themselves to answer the tough questions from the media this week about how the national team is doing as they prepare for two friendlies in Europe against England and Spain. Helping protect the younger players while also showing them how they can carry the torch someday is the way the USWNT has always operated.

“As sick as this sounds, I feel like we’re used to having to take on so much more than a game plan and tactics,” Rapinoe said. “I feel like we have an incredible ability to shoulder so much … The older players can help shield and shoulder a lot, whether it’s media attention or just what we do, how do you act. It’s probably, as a younger player, like, ‘The f— is going on? Like, how do I even deal with this?’ They can always look to us, just as we can always look to our older players.”

They hope they can make enough a difference so that the young players on the current USWNT roster — including 17-year-old Alyssa Thompson and NWSL rookies Naomi Girma, Savannah DeMelo, Sam Coffey and Jaelin Howell — won’t have to address off-field issues as often as Rapinoe’s generation has.

Megan Rapinoe has called the findings of The Yates Investigation, which uncovered widespread emotional abuse and sexual misconduct in the top tier of women's football in the United States, as horrifying. pic.twitter.com/JTltbgtOUz

— Sky Sports News (@SkySportsNews) October 6, 2022

For the two-time World Cup champion, it’s not only about setting an example. Less experienced players need to be given the space to do their jobs and make their mark on the national team. Head coach Vlatko Andonovski has been evaluating new talent throughout the last year as he builds a 2023 World Cup roster.

On Friday, the reigning World Cup champions play a highly anticipated friendly against England, the defending Euro Cup champions, in front of a sold-out crowd at Wembley Stadium in London. Everyone has to be ready.

“We’re players, first and foremost. So I feel like that’s the first team that we play for, all of us,” Rapinoe said. “I think for us, it’s just always a matter of trying to keep the team in the best situation possible and sort of using every ounce of leadership or knowledge or whatever to just make sure that everybody can show up and do their job, and also just trying to make everyone as comfortable as possible in a time that’s really uncomfortable and we can’t really get away from that.”

Success on the field is what gives the USWNT the platform to have a voice in the first place. Growing the game both on and off the field is a responsibility that all USWNT players have borne through the years.

“It’s something that this team has always taken pride in and taken on and ensuring that we leave the game in a better place,” Rapinoe said. “I think the game is already in a better place after this report than it was the day before it came out.”

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

U.S. Soccer announced Tuesday that the USWNT will play their last home game on July 16th in the lead-up to the 2024 Summer Olympic Games in Paris.

The 2024 Send-Off Match against Costa Rica will take place at Washington, DC’s Audi Field — home to both the Washington Spirit and DC United — at 7:30 p.m. ET on Tuesday, July 16th. The friendly rounds out a four-game Olympic run-up campaign under incoming head coach Emma Hayes’ side, with the last two set to feature the finalized 2024 U.S. Olympic Women’s Soccer Team roster.

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Hayes will appear on the USWNT sideline for the first time this June, helming the team as they embark on a two-game series against Korea Republic hosted by Dick’s Sporting Goods Park in Commerce City, Colorado on June 1st followed by Allianz Stadium in St. Paul, Minnesota on June 4th. 

The team is then scheduled to meet a talented Mexico squad on July 13th at Gotham FC’s Red Bull Arena in Harrison, New Jersey, where the Olympic-bound lineup will attempt to rewrite February’s shocking 2-0 loss to El Tri Femenil in the group stages of this year’s Concacaf W Gold Cup. And while clear roster favorites have emerged from both of this year’s Gold Cup and SheBelives Cup rosters, a spate of recent and recurring injuries means making it to the Olympics is still largely anyone’s game.

Broadcast and streaming channels for the USWNT's final July 16th friendly at Audi Field include TNT, truTV, Universo, Max, and Peacock.

The USA Basketball Women's National Team is still considering Caitlin Clark for a spot on the Paris Olympics squad, says selection committee chair Jennifer Rizzotti. 

On Monday, Rizzotti told the AP that the committee will be evaluating the college phenom’s Olympic prospects by keeping a close eye on her first few weeks of WNBA play with Indiana.

The move is somewhat unconventional. While Clark was invited to participate in the 14-player national team training camp held earlier this month — the last camp before Team USA’s roster drops — she was unable to attend due to it coinciding with Iowa’s trip to the NCAA Women’s Final Four.

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Judging by the immense talent spread throughout the league in what might be their most hyped season to date, competition for a piece of the Olympic pie could be fiercer than ever before.

"You always want to introduce new players into the pool whether it's for now or the future," said Rizzotti. "We stick to our principles of talent, obviously, positional fit, loyalty and experience. It's got to be a combination of an entire body of work. It's still not going to be fair to some people."

Of course, Clark isn’t the first rookie the committee has made exceptions for. Coming off an exceptional college season that saw her averaging 19.4 points, 8.7 rebounds, and 4 assists per game for UConn, Breanna Stewart was tapped to represent the U.S. at the 2016 Olympics in Brazil less than two weeks after being drafted No. 1 overall by the Seattle Storm. Eight years prior, fellow No. 1 pick Candace Parker punched her ticket to the 2008 Games in Beijing just two weeks after making her first appearance for the L.A. Sparks.

In the lead-up to Paris’ Opening Ceremony on July 26th, USA Basketball Women’s National Team is scheduled to play a pair of exhibition games. They'll first go up against the WNBA's finest at the July 20th WNBA All-Star Game in Phoenix before facing Germany in London on July 23rd.

While an official roster announcement date hasn’t yet been issued, players won’t find out if they’ve made this year’s Olympic cut until at least June 1st.

For the first time in history, three different WNBA teams have completely sold out of season ticket plans well before the league's May 14th kick-off.

Call it the Caitlin Clark effect, attribute it to this year’s tenacious rookie class, or look to the skyrocketing visibility of veteran players across the board. But no matter the cause, facts are facts: Tickets to the 2024 WNBA season are selling like never before. 

On Monday, the Dallas Wings became the third team to sell out of season ticket memberships in the league’s 27-year history. The announcement from Arlington came shortly after the Atlanta Dream issued their own season ticket sell-out statement, also on Monday, and almost seven weeks after the back-to-back WNBA Champion Las Vegas Aces made headlines by becoming the first-ever WNBA team to sell out their season ticket allotment.   

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According to the Wings, season ticket memberships will fill nearly 40% of the 6,251 seats inside their home arena, College Park Center. The club also said that their overall ticket revenue has ballooned to the tune of 220% this year, spanning not just season tickets but also a 1,200% increase in single ticket sales. There’s currently a waitlist to become a Dallas season ticket holder, a status that comes with extra incentives like playoff presale access and discounts on additional single-game tickets. 

In Atlanta, season tickets aren't the only thing flying off the shelves. The Dream also announced that they broke their own record for single-game ticket sales during a recent limited presale campaign. Sunday was reportedly their most lucrative day, with five different games totally selling out Gateway Center Arena. Individual tickets for all upcoming matchups will hit the market this Thursday at 8 a.m., while a waitlist for season ticket memberships will open up next Tuesday at 10 a.m.

"Excitement around women's sports, particularly basketball, is at an all-time high and nowhere is that felt more than here in Atlanta," Dream president and COO Morgan Shaw Parker said in the team’s statement. "We’ve continued a record-setting growth trajectory over the past three years under new ownership — both on and off the court — and 2024 is shaping up to be our best season yet."

As of Tuesday, season ticket sales revenue for Caitlin Clark’s hotly anticipated Indiana Fever debut haven’t yet been announced by the club. But if these numbers are any indication — not to mention the explosive demand for Fever away games felt by teams around the country — it won’t be long before we see some scale-tipping figures coming out of Indianapolis.

25-year-old American pro golfer Nelly Korda secured her spot in LPGA history on Sunday, notching her fifth-straight title at this weekend's Chevron Championship in The Woodlands, Texas.

Ranked No. 1 in the world by Rolex Women’s World Golf Rankings, Korda joins Nancy Lopez (1978) and Annika Sörenstam (2005) as just the third LPGA player to rack up five consecutive tour wins. She is also the third No. 1-ranked player to capture The Chevron Championship victory since the rankings debuted in 2006, accompanied by Lorena Ochoa and Lydia Ko.

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The Florida native shot three-under 69 in Sunday's final, besting Sweden's Maja Stark despite Stark's valiant come-from-behind attempt in the 18th. Korda finished with a four-day total of 13-under 275, celebrating her two-stroke win by cannonballing into Poppie's Pond, much to the crowd's delight. She left The Club at Carlton Woods with $1.2 million from an overall purse of $7.9 million.

It wasn't long ago that the two-time major champion's current winning streak seemed unimaginable. After maintaining her No. 1 position for 29 weeks, Korda underwent surgery to remove a blood clot from her left arm in 2022. She returned to the course not long after, but failed to win a single tournament in 2023 before seeing a surge in form during the first four months of 2024. As of today, she hasn't lost a tournament since January.

Korda will attempt a record sixth-straight win at next week's JM Eagle LA Championship at Wilshire Country Club in Los Angeles, where she'll vie for a cut of the $3.75 million purse.