After the final whistle blew in North Carolina’s 2-0 Challenge Cup final victory over Racing Louisville on Saturday, the collective energy held both jubilation and relief. The Challenge Cup is a recent staple of the NWSL calendar, an in-season competition that has uplifted and strained the boundaries of what a domestic competition can look like in the U.S.

With changes to the Challenge Cup possibly on the horizon in 2024, let’s take a look at what the 2023 competition meant not just for its winner, but also the NWSL as a whole.

North Carolina is going to be just fine

With record prize money on the line, sometimes the main takeaway from a Cup competition begins and ends with the winner. This year, the Courage took the crown, adding a second-straight Challenge Cup title to their long list of NWSL championship wins and earning a payout from the $1 million prize pool. The win can serve as a galvanizing force for a talented squad firmly in the mix for a playoff spot, currently in third place in the regular season standings.

The Courage’s past success rightfully looms large over everything the current team does. What head coach Sean Nahas has managed to accomplish in a relatively short amount of time is to mold a group that plays with the same core, on-field values as the titans of 2017-19, while letting his current roster be themselves.

Brazil superstar Kerolin was her typical excellent self on Saturday, but the young players around her are the foundation of what North Carolina hopes will turn into many trophies in the future. It’s no secret the Courage have lost an immense amount of talent through requested trades and free agency in recent years, but their acquisitions have quietly come together to form a balanced group ready to prove itself. Brianna Pinto’s game-winner in the team’s Challenge Cup semifinal gave the team a necessary boost, and 19-year-old midfielder Manaka Matsukubo enjoyed her star moment with a brilliant strike to seal the victory in the final and win MVP.

Gonna watch this more than a few times 🔁

Manaka Matsukubo's first NWSL goal is one to remember! 🔥 pic.twitter.com/qio1JL3Hy7

— National Women’s Soccer League (@NWSL) September 9, 2023

In 2022, the tolls of North Carolina’s Challenge Cup victory early in the regular season appeared to haunt them as they fell out of playoff contention. This year, it could be the force that propels them to new heights.

A change in format is probably necessary

There have been reports that 2023 was the final iteration of the Challenge Cup in its current format, and issues during the knockout rounds highlighted why the NWSL is likely rethinking the future of the competition. Originally created to replace a COVID-19 pandemic-disrupted regular season in 2020, and then to mitigate regular season risks in 2021, the Cup has been an awkward fit the last two years.

Managers across the league have bemoaned the strain on their limited squad depth when adding games to the schedule. Though a more balanced approach to mid-week games softened the blow in 2023, a number of clubs seemed to prioritize simple rotation over going far in the Challenge Cup. It’s hard to fault managers for favoring the prizes of the regular season, but those decisions did produce an element of viewership fatigue.

That fatigue extended to players themselves, as travel and TV issues pervaded what was supposed to be the crowning week for the Cup. A 12:30 ET broadcast slot on CBS strained the concept of the top seed hosting the final — OL Reign forward Bethany Balcer noted on social media that if the West Coast club had taken the top spot, they would have been forced to travel cross-country on short rest anyway. The Courage, who did end up hosting the final, then dealt with a short turnaround to drum up local support for an extra game put on the schedule at the last minute.

As fate would have it, the Challenge Cup never made it all the way through its network TV time slot, with a weather delay pushing the match to digital streaming services. The NWSL should realistically look for more programming than a one 22-game season, but as it negotiates new broadcasting deals, this competitive sacrifice at the hands of short-term TV goals would be better left in the past.

The Challenge Cup also has its uses

Despite lingering logistical problems, the Challenge Cup did showcase its value during a major tournament year. The NWSL took just two match weekends off during the World Cup, but the Cup allowed them to avoid regular season matches from July 10 to Aug. 17, meaning that international stars missed far fewer season games than in previous cycles.

The flexibility provided by the Challenge Cup has brought about one of the closest Shield and playoff races in history. Instead of teams being punished for losing their stars during the World Cup, they got to welcome those players back with the league table mostly intact. That approach preserves the integrity of the competition and keeps top players who don’t want to miss their national team camps or club games happy.

The Challenge Cup also provides an NWSL-sanctioned opportunity to win another trophy, which should be prioritized even if the format of the tournament changes in the future. Players often talk about domestic or regional competitions as a draw of playing in Europe, and the NWSL will need to continue to keep pace with their international counterparts. Opening a Cup up to lower-tier club teams in the U.S., or even expanding to other regions in the Western Hemisphere (particularly Liga MX Femenil), would help add prestige to trophy opportunities outside of the NWSL Shield and championship title.

The NWSL doesn’t have the ability to create a Champions League on its own: Concacaf would have to help make that a reality. But they can look to create competitive variety for fans to enjoy and cater to advantages elsewhere. Racing Louisville’s run to the Cup final is one that clubs should be trying to emulate, rather than shy away from.

Claire Watkins is a Staff Writer at Just Women’s Sports. Follow her on Twitter @ScoutRipley.

The biggest victors in the WNBA last weekend were the Seattle Storm, as the fifth-place contenders took down the last two league champions to record six wins in their last seven games.

The Storm first took down 2022 and 2023 champs Las Vegas 90-83 on Friday before toppling reigning title-winners New York 89-79 on Sunday.

Guard Skylar Diggins and forward Nneka Ogwumike powered Seattle's two games, putting up 44 and 51 points, respectively, over the weekend.

Forward Gabby Williams also helped fuel the Storm's weekend with two double-double performances.

Seattle is now just one game behind the similarly surging fourth-place Atlanta Dream, while trailing the red-hot No. 3 Phoenix Mercury by 1.5 games.

"Staying ready is what the group is," Storm head coach Noelle Quinn told reporters on Friday. "They're professionals, they're vets."

Teams at the top of the WNBA standings aren't the only squads that saw weekend success, as the No. 6 Golden State Valkyries snagged their second win in a row with Sunday's 87-63 thrashing of the last-place Connecticut Sun.

Despite registering Friday losses, both No. 7 Las Vegas and the No. 9 Washington Mystics finished the weekend on a high note, earning big Sunday wins over the No. 8 Indiana Fever and No. 12 Dallas Wings, respectively.

How to watch the Seattle Storm this week

The Storm will suit back up for another tricky WNBA test on Tuesday, when Seattle hosts the always-dangerous Indiana Fever at 10 PM ET.

The game will air live on NBA TV.

The reigning champion New York Liberty battled through injury and absences over the weekend, narrowly retaining their second-place spot in the WNBA standings despite seeing their losing streak extend to two games with Sunday's 89-79 stumble against the Seattle Storm.

Already missing starting guard Leonie Fiebich, who is overseas competing at the 2025 FIBA EuroBasket tournament, the Liberty also played without center Jonquel Jones and guard Sabrina Ionescu.

While Ionescu is day-to-day with a neck issue, Jones will miss four to six weeks of action due to an ankle injury, the team announced on Saturday.

Despite dropping three of their last four matchups, the champs appear to be taking their recent downturn in stride.

"This isn't going to be the hardest thing that we face all season," said forward Breanna Stewart after Sunday's loss. "We have to kind of embrace the adversity a little bit, whether it's we're down players or things happen in the middle of the game."

New York wasn't the only team in trouble this weekend, though, as the Indiana Fever followed up last Thursday's stumble against the Golden State Valkyries with an 89-81 Sunday loss to the Las Vegas Aces.

Fever guard Caitlin Clark is now one-for-17 from behind the arc in her last two games, as Indiana struggles to break out of their eighth-place standing.

How to watch the New York Liberty this week

New York will hope for added firepower in order to snap their losing streak on Wednesday, when they'll face a rising Golden State squad at 10 PM ET.

Coverage of the game will air live on WNBA League Pass.

The NWSL is officially taking a breather, with the league kicking off the 2025 extended summer break after a roller-coaster weekend slate.

With half the of the 26-match regular season in the books, the No. 1 Kansas City Current extended their lead on the NWSL table to a towering eight points after defeating No. 11 Angel City 1-0 on Friday.

Helping balloon Kansas City's lead was No. 7 Racing Louisville, who kept No. 2 Orlando from claiming any points by securing a 2-0 upset win over the Pride on Friday.

With wins in five of their last seven matches, Louisville's refreshed roster has Racing entering the 2025 summer break with a 6-5-2 NWSL record, as the 2021 expansion side zeros in on a franchise-first playoff run.

"It's all about us. We're not really focused on the other team like we did a little last year," said midfielder Taylor Flint. "What are we going to do — what's our identity? I think that's a huge part of how we've been winning all these games."

On the other end of the table, the bottom four NWSL teams — Angel City, the No. 12 Houston Dash, No. 13 Chicago Stars, and No. 14 Utah Royals — will be looking for a major midseason reboot, after none managed to register a single win in the last five matchdays.

"We go from here, we break now, recharge, and we will be a very difficult opponent for a lot of teams in the second part of the season. That is our target now," said Angel City head coach Alexander Straus after Friday's loss.

There's still a lot left in 2025 NWSL play, with skidding teams banking on fresh starts while surging squads prepare to hit the ground running as soon as the season picks back up in August.

Australian golfer Minjee Lee came out on top at the 2025 KPMG Women's PGA Championship, lifting the third major tournament trophy of her career on Sunday.

Entering the final round atop the leaderboard, Lee never relinquished the lead, finishing the tournament a solid three strokes ahead of the competition.

"I definitely was nervous starting the day," the 29-year-old acknowledged following her win. "I looked calm, but not as calm as everybody thinks."

The win earned Lee both an 18-spot rankings boost to world No. 6 and a $1.8 million cut of the event's $12 million prize pool.

Finishing the 2025 KPMG Women's PGA Championship just behind Lee in a second-place tie were 21-year-old Thai pro and new world No. 29 Chanettee Wannasaen and 24-year-old US standout and new No. 49 Auston Kim. Each took home $944,867 thanks to their four-day performances.

Kim, in particular, cobbled together a massive comeback run, chipping away at her nine-stroke deficit entering the competition's final round to claim the best finish of her young career.

"I'm very proud of what I did," the LPGA Tour sophomore said afterwards. "Obviously, the result was really good, but I'm really happy how I handled myself, my emotions, all the adversity. The course is playing really, really tough, but I feel like this week my team and I were very locked in."

Notably, the tournament's top three finishers were the only participants to finish below par, as the field struggled with a punishing week of both Texas heat and windier-than-usual conditions.