Mia Fishel’s soccer career reached a crossroads during the U-20 CONCACAF championship in March of last year.

Playing alongside 2021 NWSL Rookie of the Year Trinity Rodman and third overall pick Brianna Pinto, Fishel scored twice in the United States’ 4-1 championship victory over Mexico in the 2020 tournament. Winning the Golden Ball, she also set a new U.S. women’s national team all-ages record in a qualifying tournament with 13 goals.

When the 2020 U.S. Young Female Soccer Player of the Year finalist returned to UCLA in the fall of her sophomore year with the Bruins, she felt that momentum grind to a halt. The speed of play at the NCAA level wasn’t what she had become accustomed to in international soccer.

“I was kind of at the same spot, and I just don’t like that,” Fishel says. “As a player, I want to be challenged.”

The thought of playing professionally crept into her mind, sparking conversations with her club coaches, the national team program and her family. With the goal of making the U.S. senior team guiding her decision-making, Fishel’s best option became clear in between her sophomore and junior years: She would forgo her senior season and turn pro. On Saturday, UCLA’s leading scorer is projected to be a top-three pick in the 2022 NWSL College Draft.

Fishel announced her decision publicly on Instagram just before the start of her junior season. The forward led UCLA to an undefeated regular season and a second consecutive Pac-12 championship before the team lost 1-0 to UC Irvine in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.

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“It was hard to leave UCLA with an amazing team, an amazing staff that supported me, that’s helped me grow development-wise in soccer,” Fishel says. “I think I just kind of hit a wall with my development here at UCLA and I think the college level, it was just something that didn’t push me. I think this next step will be important to maximize what I can do as a player.”

Fishel intentionally announced her plans before the start of the season so pro teams would have the opportunity to evaluate her skills. And she didn’t disappoint them, proving herself as a versatile nine who doesn’t just wait for balls to be lobbed over the top. With impressive speed and athleticism, she can check back into the midfield, create and finish dangerous plays, and complement the outside forwards.

Fishel finished her college career in UCLA’s all-time top 10 for career goals with 32, making it hard to believe she didn’t play forward until she put on a Bruins uniform. When Fishel came to UCLA in 2019, the team was so stacked that there wasn’t room for her in the attacking midfield, where she had played her whole life. So, the coaching staff made her a nine.

“It comes with a whole lot of development, a whole other set of lenses to the game in soccer, and I think that definitely pushed me to be more of a versatile player and a more cutthroat, dangerous player,” Fishel says.

The adjustment didn’t take long: She finished her freshman season ranked third in the nation with 14 goals.

“As a chill player, I think that they pushed me to be like, ‘Hey, you can do this. You can score goals, you can help this team out in multiple ways: assists, goals, creating, being unpredictable,’” she says. “And so they brought out more of a confidence in me that I can do things.”

That assurance led to 16 career game-winning goals and a spot on the All-Pac-12 First Team in 2021 for the second straight year.

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Whichever NWSL team takes Fishel on Saturday can expect a player with an eye for goal. But former UCLA head coach Amanda Cromwell says the 20-year-old is also a natural leader on and off the field.

“Mia leads by example and put the team on her back on multiple occasions,” says Cromwell, who was named head coach of the Orlando Pride on Dec. 7. “She scored big-time goals for us, but it’s what she brought to the process that inspired those around her.”

“I fully expect her to play in the league and get more call-ups to the national team, and for Mia to have a long, successful career internationally.”

Fishel received her first call-up to the senior national team in October 2020, intent on absorbing as much information from the coaches and veterans as possible.

“To put things into perspective, I’m like, OK, this is where the level’s at and I’m somewhere in their line, so I was just trying to see where I’m at compared to them and even outside of camp now, what I can do to get to that level,” Fishel says. “I think there’s a huge advantage to know what that level was like and how they train and play, but now I can go outside of it and train as if I was with them.”

To prepare herself for such a competitive environment, Fishel says she’s focusing on executing every pass, tackle and play with 100 percent effort and consistency.

“Being in the zone constantly — I think that will help me get there at some point,” she says.

The national team is the main reason Fishel plans to compete in the NWSL and not go overseas, at least for now.

“If national team players are in this league and I want to be on the national team, then I most likely should be here and training and trying to compete for a starting position,” she says. “Then hopefully becoming one of the top players in the league to potentially go to the U.S. women’s national team, so that’s kind of my thought process. But Europe is also an option as well, if anything goes south.”

The only south Fishel will likely go is back to her hometown in San Diego, where she likes to fish when she’s not playing soccer. She learned from her father, who used to take her out on the water every morning at 5 a.m. since she turned 3 years old. Fishel fell in love with the peace fishing brings, and it gave her an appreciation for respecting the ocean.

Fishel channeled those lessons into a new project this past summer, a brand she’s building called Big Fishel Energy. Through it, Fishel hopes to enable more minorities to get involved in sport fishing, as well as organize beach cleanups and soccer camps for young players.

More than anything, Fishel wants the brand to represent and champion empowerment.

“Growing up, I had role models, but the role models were just soccer players and I wanted to embody the person and player,” she says. “Strength, confidence, empowerment, anything you can do in life and to follow your dreams.

“I strive to be a person that anyone could look at and say, ‘Hey, she knows what she wants to do.’”

Between her NWSL rookie season and future with the USWNT, Fishel’s intentions are clear, and she doesn’t plan to waste any time in fulfilling them.

Jessa Braun is an editorial intern for Just Women’s Sports. She is also the Head of North American Content for the Women’s Sports Alliance. You can find her on Twitter @jessabraun.

NWSL commissioner Jessica Berman is defending the league's salary cap, addressing growing concerns about player retention this week — just days before soon-to-be free agent Trinity Rodman takes the San Jose pitch for Saturday's 2025 Championship match.

"We want Trinity in the NWSL, and we will fight for her," said Berman about the Washington Spirit star, responding to a report in The Athletic claiming that competing US top-flight outfit Gainbridge Super League has offered Rodman a contract surpassing the NWSL's current salary cap limitations.

"She is representative, or a proxy, of our broader point, which is that we want top players to play here, and we believe that we are already doing that and can continue to attract those players," Berman added.

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The NWSL's hard salary cap approach has come under fire amid recent high-profile departures of US talents like now-Chelsea FC teammates Naomi Girma and Alyssa Thompson, but Berman insists that the mechanism remains crucial to the league's parity.

"There are teams in other leagues that could compete in our league, but there are no leagues that could compete with our league," she explained, emphasizing the unique position the NWSL holds in the global soccer landscape.

"Compensation is not the only thing that players consider when deciding where to play," she continued. "We look at a whole host of factors, on the basis of the conversations that we have with players from our league and from players around the world."

The NWSL also confirmed Berman's multi-year contract extension this week, with executive committee chair Carolyn Tisch Blodgett saying in a statement that "[Berman's] vision for sustainable growth, along with her ability to fuel enduring momentum, has positioned the league for long-term success."

The soccer season's biggest showdown has finally arrived, as the No. 2 Washington Spirit and No. 8 Gotham FC take the pitch for Saturday's 2025 NWSL Championship match in San Jose.

Both teams enter the final steeped in postseason experience, with the Spirit winning their first title in 2021 before falling just short of a second in 2024, while Gotham lifted their first trophy in 2023.

"It feels like another NWSL game — we have competitive people on both sides," Gotham forward Midge Purce told JWS this week. "And it's fun. Stakes are high."

Despite entering as the postseason's No. 8 seed, Gotham insists they're far from underdogs, while the Spirit also view Saturday's matchup as a heavyweight bout.

"Both teams, we have different players but a similar idea — we all want to be protagonists," said Washington manager Adrián González. "Both teams want to win the ball as quick as possible. We love pressing high. I think it's going to be a good game for the fans."

"It's two teams that are very good tactically, two teams that are going to study how to counterpart each other," agreed Gotham head coach Juan Carlos Amorós. "Then it's going to be those moments of brilliance — it could be set pieces — certain moments where players take responsibility."

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How to watch the 2025 NWSL Championship

The 2025 NWSL season comes down to Saturday's final between No. 8 Gotham FC and the No. 2 Washington Spirit.

This year's championship match kicks off from San Jose at 8 PM ET, with live coverage airing on CBS.

Gotham FC's Emily Sonnett would like everyone to know that her longtime teammate and close friend Rose Lavelle is a very good defender.

"Cannot forget that," she told Just Women's Sports at Thursday's NWSL Championship Media Day. "Gotta write about that."

A World Cup champion and Olympic gold medalist with the US women's national team, the respect that Lavelle almost instantly garners from the opposition creates significant space for her Gotham teammates. And since joining the team in 2024, she's taken well to the club's high-pressing, quick-transition style. 

"She takes up a lot of attention," said Sonnett. "The way that she leads silently on the field, like a ghost — you don't know when she's going to get [the ball] and do something brave, and then, bam, she's there."

Gotham teammates spotlight Lavelle’s two-way brilliance

Lavelle has been a constant during Gotham’s unlikely championship run, both a locker room leader and a Fellow Gotham and USWNT star Midge Purce would also like everyone to know about Lavelle's prowess on both sides of the ball.

"It's hard to describe when you play with someone who's that good, it's just special," she said. "She can do special things on and off the ball — something she doesn't get a ton of credit for."

She's such a force, in fact, that Purce wasn't aware of the one achievement that's eluded Lavelle throughout her illustrious career — winning an NWSL title.

"Rosie, I didn't realize!" Purce exclaimed upon learning she's never won a league championship — despite being on the Gotham squad that took down Lavelle's Seattle (née OL) Reign in the 2023 NWSL Final. "She deserves the world."

From Breakers to Gotham: Rose Lavelle's winding NWSL journey

Lavelle needs little introduction to a soccer audience. A perennial winner on the international stage and a midfield maestro with the ball at her feet, the 30-year-old is a fixture of the global women's game. But her NWSL career has been a bit more nuanced. 

A Wisconsin standout with serious USWNT interest right out of college, Lavelle signed her first professional contract with the now-defunct Boston Breakers in 2018, entering a league almost unrecognizable to today's thriving NWSL ecosystem.

Boston folded the following year, sending Lavelle to Washington during a dark competitive period for the Spirit. She was later somewhat unceremoniously traded to Seattle in 2021, while playing overseas with the WSL's Manchester City. That Reign team went on to fall to none other than Gotham FC in the 2023 NWSL Championship — with Lavelle scoring Seattle's only goal.

In 2024, Lavelle got to make her own choices. She jumped ship, signing with the NY/NJ club that so silenced Seattle the previous season as part of a flashy free agency class.

How Lavelle battled injury and reclaimed her NWSL influence

Regardless of tonight's outcome, Lavelle's greatest triumph this season might simply be taking the pitch for a full 90 minutes. The 30-year-old has struggled with injuries throughout her professional career, but bouncing back from offseason ankle surgery was especially taxing. Her prolonged recovery impacted her ability to make a difference on the field, as she watched Gotham's form waver early in 2025.

"It was a pretty big surgery," Lavelle said, acknowledging that she's had to adjust her role within the team to maintain a presence off the pitch.

So she found ways to stay involved. She shared opinions in team meetings, staying connected with teammates in order to forge a seamless transition once she could handle more significant playing time. 

"She supported me for the first half of the season, when she wasn't even on the field," said rookie midfielder Sarah Schupansky. "And she didn't only support me, she supported the whole team."

Lavelle admitted that even now she doesn't feel 100%. But she also has a veteran's perspective on the bigger picture. "I still have to give myself the grace of acknowledging that it's going to be an up and down journey," she said.

"Being able to play with Rose, obviously, with the national team, has been incredible," Sonnett remarked. "But seeing the way that she's been able to train in NWSL, seeing that grit — I know she's battled through injury. [But] being able to see her train, I learn a lot from her."

Chasing the one women's soccer trophy that’s eluded her

Having won all there is to win at the international level, Lavelle's legacy doesn't ride on a single title. But her teammates would love to help check off that particular box on behalf of their locker room leader.

"I adore playing with her, and I adore her off the field," said Purce. "I definitely want to see her lift that trophy — she's going to be just fantastic."

As for Lavelle herself, the game is the fun part. And raising a trophy at the end of 90 minutes is just a benefit of the greater goal.

"This is what you play for," said Lavelle.

"This season is so long and hard. But then you get to these moments and this is the fun part, win or go home. We're all just fighting for each other, amped up, playing every single day."

Star England defender Esme Morgan made an impression on her new Washington Spirit teammates even before she set foot on US soil — just by the sound of her voice.

"Looking at Es on social media before she came, I just thought her voice was so angelic," Spirit goalkeeper Aubrey Kingsbury told Just Women's Sports at NWSL Championship Media Day in San Jose. "Even the first weeks, I couldn't even focus on what she was saying — I'm like, 'I am in the presence of the Queen.'"

If the former Manchester City defender wasn't already the NWSL team's quintessential English international, she cemented her prowess after winning a European Championship with the Lionesses earlier this summer. Since joining the Spirit in 2024, the center back has become a player to watch on both sides of the Atlantic, after making a bet on herself by transferring to the notoriously fast-paced NWSL in search of greater responsibility on the pitch.

A die-hard NFL fan with a bubbly personality and loyal TikTok following, Morgan immediately took to life in the US. Her proper British accent belies a fierce competitor on the field. She's a force in the locker room, fusing social connections that greatly contributed to the Spirit reaching a second straight NWSL final. And she's also good for more than a little bit of banter.

"Es is just super entertaining, she's really good at getting under my skin," added Kingsbury with a laugh. "She brings… a lot of sunshine to the locker room, and obviously is just a fun person to play with." 

But it's not all puppies and rainbows. Ceding last year's championship to the Orlando Pride still stings for Morgan. And she's turned that pain into intensity — one that's fueled her and her teammates all the way back to the precipice of NWSL glory.

How Esme Morgan energized Washington Spirit’s team culture

Washington's camaraderie is palpable, something midfielder Hal Hershfelt credits in part to Morgan's readiness to spend time with her teammates off the pitch, no matter the occasion.

"Honestly, she came to the team and we did a lot more team events and stuff like that," she said. "She's so extroverted, willing to get people together, get people grooving."

Morgan recalls a time early in the 2025 preseason, after Spirit captain Andi Sullivan announced she was pregnant with her first child ("the whole team had gone crazy," she remembered). A group of players had ridden their bikes to get ice cream, including recent signing Narumi Miura, who had only been in market for a few days.

"We were all just chatting about [Sullivan], and Rumi goes, 'I love this team!'" Morgan said. "She'd been here four days. We were like, 'Oh my gosh, Rumi, we love you too!' I think that speaks to the environment that we have."

The team's comfort with one another is also evident on the pitch, whether it's Morgan and midfielder Croix Bethune hitting Cam Ward's football celly in front of Audi Field's sold-out home crowd, or the trust permeating the defense as they confront ongoing injuries. 

"We definitely hold each other to high standards," said Kingsbury. "We all really want to win, and we all really want to do well for each other."

Esme Morgan bets on the NWSL to elevate her England career

Morgan arrived in the US on a mission.

She was named to England's World Cup squad in 2023, but spent the tournament on the bench, watching on as an unused substitute as the Lionesses finished second to Spain.

So when she got the opportunity to transfer to the NWSL the following year, proving her national team worth was front of mind. 

"She wanted to take a step forward, knowing that this league would challenge her," said Washington manager Adrián González. "I think she's done an amazing job, especially adapting herself to the type of games we have here."

The defender favors the NWSL's summer schedule, as it allows her to stay in shape for major international tournaments. And as she told JWS earlier this year, the US league's speedy, possession-oriented style has made her a better overall player. Morgan had always been good with the ball at her feet, but her time in Washington has significantly improved her off-ball positioning and ability to go toe-to-toe with the world's best attackers.

Her desire to improve only grew stronger after the Spirit fell short of last year's NWSL title. "That was something that at the time provided a huge fire inside me," she said. "I worked super hard in the off-season, doing things on the pitch that I knew would complement the areas of the game that I wanted to improve."

From Euros glory to NWSL grind: Esme Morgan returns to form

The work is paying off. She played a key role as a reserve center back in the Lionesses's successful UEFA Women's Euro defense this summer, replacing Gotham defender — and 2025 NWSL Championship opponent — Jess Carter in England's hard-fought semifinal victory over Italy. She went on to lift the trophy with her national team teammates, after avenging their World Cup loss against Spain in the European Championship final. 

Winning a major international title accomplished a childhood dream, but Morgan had to quickly re-orient herself after rejoining the Spirit in DC.

"Immediately after the Euros was when I felt the most tired. It was just like a come-down after that high," she reflected. "But I've since rallied and [felt] fresh and ready coming into the last couple of games."

How team love fuels the Washington Spirit's NWSL Championship quest

Heading into tonight's NWSL Championship, Morgan's focus on winning hasn't changed. But the source of her desire has shifted some, a full year after last year's disappointing exit. Washington faced adversity due to injury this season, in many ways mirroring their 2024 arc. But they've also continued to prioritize joy — on and off the pitch.

"We've overcome lots of challenges as a group, but stuck together throughout," Morgan said. "Now my passion and desire to win this weekend comes not from me losing out last year. It comes from the love I have for this group and the desire to win with these girls."

Another thing driving her? A victory tonight would put Morgan in rare company, completing her 2025 trophy case with both an international and league.

"I had the best time in the summer, achieved a lifelong goal. And ever since I've come to the Spirit, I've wanted to win the championship," she said. "It would be the perfect year, really."