A wrap on July means it’s time for Just Women’s Sports’ monthly NWSL Best XI.

While many teams were missing players in July due to international competitions, others were given the opportunity to shine. Eight clubs are represented in this 4-3-3 lineup, with the Kansas City Current, Chicago Red Stars and Portland Thorns sending two players each. The Orlando Pride earn their first Best XI nod of the year, and Lauren Barnes makes the list for a second consecutive month.

Forwards

Ebony Salmon, Houston Dash

After not getting much playing time with Racing Louisville, Ebony Salmon was traded to the Houston Dash at the end of June. On July 16, she recorded the NWSL’s second hat trick of the year with her new team in a 4-1 win over the Red Stars. The 21-year-old received Player of the Week honors for her efforts before scoring her fourth goal of the season in a 4-2 win over NJ/NY Gotham FC on Sunday.

🎩 The Youngest NWSL Player to Score A Hat Trick 🎩

Cheers to @ebony_salmon for taking home @budweiserusa Player of the Week honors 🍻@HoustonDash | #HoldItDown pic.twitter.com/h4sO17hyAQ

— National Women’s Soccer League (@NWSL) July 20, 2022

Savannah DeMelo, Racing Louisville FC

Scoring two goals and recording nine shots in the month of July, Savannah DeMelo has been one of Louisville’s most dependable players. The rookie played 90 minutes in all four games this month, mastering the art of drawing fouls and creating scoring opportunities. She now leads the league with a total of 37 chances created.

Yuki Nagasato, Chicago Red Stars

Yuki Nagasato displayed her impressive technical skills and versatility throughout July, playing both in the midfield and on the attack for a total of 347 minutes. She unleashed a number of lethal shots, and on July 2 added an assist off a header in Chicago’s 3-0 shutout win over Gotham FC.

Midfielders

Hina Sugita, Portland Thorns FC

Hina Sugita played every minute in July and scored two of her four goals on the season, including the game winner in a 2-1 victory over Racing Louisville. With an 80.3 passing percentage, she helped the Thorns extend their unbeaten streak to nine games while seven players were away on international duty.

Hina Sugita reacts the quickest and the Portland Thorns are ahead! 🌹 pic.twitter.com/Q1H2Z0KVF9

— Attacking Third (@AttackingThird) July 30, 2022

Yazmeen Ryan, Portland Thorns FC’

Yazmeen Ryan rose to the top of the assists board with her fourth helper in a 5-0 shutout of Gotham on July 16. She also added a goal in a 1-1 draw with Angel City FC on July 1. Defensively, she has a tackle success rate of 73.7 percent this season.

Vanessa DiBernardo, Chicago Red Stars

Playing every minute since June 12, Vanessa DiBernardo has had a big impact on Chicago’s attack, most notably notching a goal against Gotham at the beginning of July to help the Red Stars to a 3-0 win. She went on to add an assist and record nine shots throughout the month.

Defenders

Kylie Strom, Orlando Pride

On a team that’s lost a lot of stars this season, including Sydney Leroux and Marta, Kylie Strom has risen to the occasion. Playing 349 minutes in July, she started the month off strong with a goal in a 2-2 draw with Racing Louisville. A week later, Strom forced an own goal game-winner in a 1-0 victory over Houston. Her efforts helped the Pride close out the month of July with an unbeaten record.

Kristen Edmonds, Kansas City Current

Kristen Edmonds has been an exceptional passer of late, recording an 89 percent success rate through three games in July. She’s also excelled at clearances (25) and recoveries (36), helping a backline that conceded just one goal while she was on the field.

Lauren Barnes, OL Reign

Lauren “Lu” Barnes does it all, from defending to sending crosses into the box to delivering dangerous shots from the top of the 18. In July, she had 27 recoveries and a 73 percent passing success rate. Her leadership has also been invaluable to her teammates, including Sam Hiatt, who recently expressed gratitude for Barnes’ vocal presence on the backline.

Kristen McNabb, San Diego Wave FC

Kristen McNabb scored her first goal of the season against Angel City on July 9. She also recorded the most shots she’s had in a month this season with seven. Playing every possible minute in July as both a midfielder and a defender, McNabb signed a two-year contract extension later in the month with an option for an extra year with San Diego.

Goalkeeper

AD Franch, Kansas City Current

There was no stopping AD Franch, who was named NWSL Player of the Week on July 13 and saved a penalty kick against the Spirit to preserve a 1-0 win, her second shutout of the season. The following week she recorded a second consecutive clean sheet and her third of the season in a 1-0 win over OL Reign. So far this season, she’s saving 74 percent of the shots she faces.

.@ADizzle23 STOPPAGE TIME PK SAVE 🚫 pic.twitter.com/W54zjPwk6c

— Just Women’s Sports (@justwsports) July 10, 2022

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

As the NWSL returns from the international break, powerhouse clubs below the playoff line are preparing for a midseason push that could make — or break — the 2025 regular season.

With just three matchdays left before the league's extended summer break, which begins June 23rd and ends on August 1st, clubs will look to shore up their spots on the NWSL table before pressing pause on regular-season play.

Hovering just outside the 2025 postseason line in a 12-point tie are a trio of NWSL clubs, all hunting midseason weekend wins to boost them back into contention:

• No. 9 Gotham FC vs. No. 1 Kansas City Current, Saturday at 1 PM ET (CBS): Having slipped under the playoff line while off hoisting the first-ever Concacaf W Champions Cup, the Bats have their work cut out for them against the league-leading Current on Saturday — though Gotham could see their midfield bolstered by the return of star Rose Lavelle from her 2024 ankle injury.

• No. 11 Bay FC vs. No. 5 Portland Thorns, Saturday at 7:30 PM ET (ION): Bay FC's bid to jump into the league's Top 8 runs through the second-hottest club in the NWSL right now, with the Thorns looking to add to their five-match regular-season unbeaten streak this weekend.

• No. 4 Washington Spirit vs. No. 10 North Carolina Courage, Sunday at 4 PM ET (Paramount+): The Courage have dropped just one of their last five matches after a winless season start, but they'll face a Washington side hungry for a win in DC. Despite holding a league-record 5-0-0 road tally this season, the Spirit have stumbled on the home front, earning just one 2025 victory in Washington.

The NWSL outlined new rules for expansion roster building and intra-league loans on Thursday, as two new franchises prepare to enter the league in 2026 without the benefit of an expansion draft.

"With the introduction of free agency and the elimination of the NWSL Draft and Expansion Draft, it was important for us to establish alternative player acquisition assets that support incoming teams while maintaining competitive balance across the league," said NWSL VP of player affairs Stephanie Lee in a league announcement.

Incoming clubs Boston Legacy FC and NWSL Denver will each have access to over $1 million in allocation funds to spend on players beginning on July 1st through the end of 2027.

Both teams can also sign players without being held to a salary cap until the secondary transfer window in 2025, providing players can be loaned out, put on Season Ending Injury designation, or acquired with allocation money used toward the salary cap.

Once the secondary transfer window opens this year, both Boston and Denver will have a $250,000 cap under which they can ink college athletes or international players not under contract.

In addition, the NWSL declared open season on intra-league loans on Thursday, allowing all teams to add athletes to their rosters from other league entities — provided both the player and the league approve the loan.

Each team can have no more than 12 players either in or out on loan at a time, and clubs can only bring in or send out a maximum of three athletes to/from any other single squad.

Overall, the NWSL intends these moves to bolster competition for both its current and future clubs.

"The introduction of intra-league loans — available to all teams — adds greater flexibility and opportunity for player development and strategic roster management league-wide," noted Lee.

World No. 2 Coco Gauff earned a ticket to her third career Grand Slam final on Thursday, advancing to the 2025 French Open championship match by ending French wild-card No. 361 Loïs Boisson's Cinderella story with a dominant 6-1, 6-2 semifinal victory.

"This is my first time playing a French player here. I was mentally prepared that [the crowd] was to be 99% for her, so I was trying to block it out," said the 21-year-old US star. "When [the crowd was] saying her name, I was saying my name to myself just to psyche myself up."

"[Loïs has] shown she's one of the best players in the world," Gauff added about her opponent's remarkable tournament run following their clash. "I hope we have many more battles in the future, especially here. Today it was just my day."

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The player standing between the 2023 US Open champ and her second Grand Slam trophy is none other than world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka, who looked at ease taking down four-time French Open winner No. 5 Iga Świątek 7-6 (1), 4-6, 6-0 in the tournament's other semifinal on Thursday.

Notably, the three-set defeat was Świątek's first Roland-Garros loss in an astounding 1,457 days — a 26-match winning streak that dated back to 2021.

The 2025 French Open will now be the third straight Slam in which Sabalenka has reached the final, with the top-ranked tennis star making six WTA title-match appearances in 2025 alone.

Head-to-head, Sabalenka and Gauff have an evenly split 5-5 record.

While Gauff earned her US Open title with a Sabalenka defeat, Sabalenka has the recent edge, snagging wins over Gauff in three of the pair's last four meetings — including May's clay battle in the 2025 Madrid Open final.

How to watch the 2025 French Open final

The world's top two tennis players will square off at the 2025 French Open championship match at 9 AM ET on Saturday, airing live on TNT.

The 2025 Women's College World Series (WCWS) are headed to a winner-take-all Game 3, as Texas Tech evened this week's best-of-three championship series with a 4-3 victory over Texas on Thursday.

Anchored by another gutsy performance from star pitcher NiJaree Canady, the Red Raiders capitalized on missteps by the Longhorns, plating their four runs thanks to a hit-by-pitch, a wild pitch, a sacrifice fly, and a fielding error.

Down but not out, Texas broke through with a sixth-inning home run from star senior Mia Scott before plating two more in the game's final frame.

With the tying run just 60 feet away, Canady locked in, ending the Longhorns' threat with a strike-out to claim Texas Tech's first season win over their state rivals at just the right time, keeping the Red Raiders' national title hopes alive.

"NiJa was huge," said Texas Tech head coach Gerry Glasco about his ace's Game 2 performance. "She went out there and pitched her tail off."

Canady likely to toss every Texas Tech pitch at WCWS

After Wednesday's botched intentional walk put Texas within one win of the NCAA trophy, Canady bounced back by again assuming control in the circle, tossing every Texas Tech pitch for the seventh postseason games in a row — a streak dating back to the Red Raiders' first Super Regional game.

"Obviously [Wednesday] night wasn't my best game. I feel like this game wasn't my best game, either," said Canady, despite stifling Texas's late surge. "I was just leaving it out on the field."

Glasco will undoubtedly tap Canady to throw Friday's decisive clash as well, with Texas Tech's championship hopes resting on their $1 million player.

Should she complete Game 3 and secure a program-first national championship in the process, Canady will become the first pitcher since 2012 Alabama ace Jackie Traina to toss every WCWS pitch for a title-winning team.

On the other hand, Texas's four-pitcher bullpen game means sophomore ace Teagan Kavan — who threw just two outs on Thursday night — should be fresh and ready to test the Red Raiders in the final game of the 2025 NCAA softball season.

How to watch the 2025 WCWS championship game

The decisive Game 3 of the 2025 WCWS championship series will take the field in Oklahoma City at 8 PM ET on Friday, with live coverage on ESPN.