On Saturday, two-time defending champion North Carolina Courage and Portland Thorns FC will kick off the NWSL Challenge Cup, month-long tournament that will mark the return of professional team sports in America. All 23 games will be held in the Salt Lake City area.

Each team will play in four preliminary-round games that will conclude on July 13. From there, the eight clubs will be seeded according to their point total and advance to the knockout round. The single-elimination tournament will culminate in the July 26 final at Rio Tinto Stadium.

Every game is available to stream on CBS All Access, and both the final and this weekend’s opening tilt between the Courage and the Thorns will also be televised on CBS. Fans outside the US and Canada can watch the entire tournament on Twitch.

To get you ready for soccer’s long-awaited return, we’ve picked a player from each team to keep your eye on this tournament, listed in order of their team’s draw.

Saturday can't come soon enough.

You ready?@ThornsFC | @OLReign | @chiredstarsPR@SkyBlueFC | @WashSpirit | @TheNCCourage@UtahRoyalsFC | @HoustonDash | @NWSL pic.twitter.com/u46DeSZ3WA

— CBS Sports HQ (@CBSSportsHQ) June 23, 2020

North Carolina Courage – Lynn Williams

The two-time defending champs remain loaded from top to bottom. Even with a sizable portion of the roster away on national team duty last year, they rolled through the regular season and playoffs. A big reason for that was the play of Lynn Williams, who had 12 goals and six assists on the season. Crucially, Williams continued to perform even when the national team players returned.

No American woman scored more professional goals last year than Williams. No American woman has scored more pro goals the past two or three years combined than Williams, either. Williams herself was off to a hot start with the USWNT in 2019 under new coach Vlatko Andonovski before everything was shut down. Playing in seven games, and starting four, Williams three goals and added five assists. Now, she will have the opportunity to build on that momentum as the Courage seek to extend their remarkable run of success.

BOOM! Lynn Williams goes top shelf with the breakthrough goal to put the @USWNT up 1-0. ???? pic.twitter.com/pwGEwcxveE

— FOX Soccer (@FOXSoccer) February 10, 2020

Sky Blue FC – Kailen Sheridan

Sky Blue will be playing without team leader Carli Lloyd (knee injury) as well as fellow national teamer Mallory Pugh (hip injury), who GM Alyse LaHue traded four draft picks to acquire in the offseason. Lloyd is a big loss on the offensive side, after accounting for eight of the team’s 20 goals last season.

The loss of those two scoring threats, in addition to the offensive struggles all of last season, will put more onus on the defense, led by goalkeeper Kailen Sheridan. Last season, Sheridan shared the league lead in total saves (86) and save percentage (77%). On top of that, Sheridan proved she has a knack for phenomenal saves when called upon, as evidenced by her three Save of the Week honors last year. Expect the Canadian’s excellent tactical skill and positional awareness to be on full display in Utah.

Portland Thorns – Sophia Smith

After last season’s playoff run ended in the semifinals, the Portland Thorns took the opportunity to perform some serious offseason retooling. The decision to hit the reset button surprised many, but the Thorns knew they needed to think big to have any hope of dethroning the Courage.

The Thorns’ many offseason moves included trading away second-leading scorer Midge Purce for Raquel Rodriguez, acquiring Becky Sauerbrunn, and swapping Emily Sonnett for the first pick in the 2020 draft. That pick turned into Sophia Smith, the Stanford standout who declared for the draft after only her sophomore year. Smith was the only player with remaining college eligibility to train with the USWNT in its January training camp, is one of the all-time leading scorers for the under-20 national team, and scored a hat trick in the semifinals of the College Cup. Though Smith will reportedly be on a minutes restriction due to a minor injury, her debut is still among the most hotly anticipated in recent memory. And with Tobin Heath sitting out the tournament, the Thorns will need Smith to provide a spark upfront whenever she steps on field.

MOMENT OF THE DAY
What a goal from Sophia Smith! ????????
Quel but de Sophia Smith ! ????????

???? Highlights ???? https://t.co/T2VTbkqUM9
???? Agenda ???? https://t.co/o7i0bnMZUm #U20WWC pic.twitter.com/HuzN2Im2TI

— FIFA Women's World Cup (@FIFAWWC) August 10, 2018

OL Reign – Lauren Barnes

The new-look Reign will be led for the first time by coach Farid Benstiti, who will look to rely on veterans such as Lauren Barnes. Since the team’s inception in 2013, Barnes has been a stalwart at center back. Despite a rash of injuries and absences last season, Barnes was the key to a Reign backline that conceded the third-fewest goals in the league. She finished third in Defender of the Year voting, after having won the award in 2016.

Especially important in a tournament setting with minimal time for rest and recovery, Barnes played the full 90 in 24 appearances last season, missing just one match due to yellow card accumulation. She won 10 tackles last season and conceded only nine, won 72.2% of her tackles, and led the team by winning over 59% of her 113 attempted duels. While the Reign’s previous possession-based system may change with their new coach, last year Barnes led the team with 1,609 touches and 1,323 pass attempts, third-highest in the league. Anyone wanting to study positioning at the center back position ought to focus on Barnes, who seems to always be in the right spot.

Caitlin Clark made a surprise appearance on “Saturday Night Live” over the weekend, which quickly went viral.

The Iowa star showed up on the show’s Weekend Update segment to playfully call out Michael Che’s history of making jabs at women’s sports.

It started when Che joked that Iowa should replace Clark’s retired No. 22 “with an apron.” 

When Clark entered, Che said that he was a fan. But Clark wasn’t convinced – especially not when co-host Colin Jost brought the receipts of Che’s jabs.

“Really, Michael? Because I heard that little apron joke you did,” she said, before making him read some jokes of her own in retaliation. Clark finished her segment by shouting out the WNBA greats that came before her. She then got in one final dig – bringing Che a signed apron as a souvenir. 

She’s got jokes 😎@CaitlinClark22 on @nbcsnl #Hawkeyes

pic.twitter.com/54khqQw2MR

— Iowa Women's Basketball (@IowaWBB) April 14, 2024

When Che promised to give it to his girlfriend, Clark delivered her last playful dig of the night.

“You don’t have a girlfriend, Michael,” she said.

Afterward, SNL castmember Bowen Yang told People that the 22-year-old and teammates Gabbie Marshall, Kate Martin and Jada Gyamfi – who joined her at Studio 8H – “were so cool.”

“She's so charming and witty,” Yang said. “They were just the most stunning, noble people.

“Athletes just have this air about them. They know they're amazing. I mean, these are people who have numeric attachments and values to their performance. That's something that comedians never have.”

The Portland Thorns continue to struggle to start the NWSL season, falling 2-0 to the North Carolina Courage over the weekend to remain winless through their first four games. 

It’s uncharted territory for Portland, who has never started the NWSL regular season without a win in four games before.

Following the loss, defender Becky Sauerbrunn voiced her frustrations with the start. 

“It’s hard to find a lot of encouraging things, but what I find encouraging is that people are frustrated,” she said. “People are pissed off that we’re not doing well. We care, and I think that’s really important.” 

She also added that while the team will reflect individually, “there’s going to be no finger pointing.”

“We’re going to look at ourselves and figure out what we should have done, or I should have done better,” she said. “There is a list of things that I could have done better, and I’m going to make sure I know every single thing and watch this game back.”

The Thorns currently sit at the bottom of the league table with just one point, having allowed 10 goals – tied for the worst in the league. They’ve yet to lead in a match. And as questions grow, attention turns to head coach Mike Norris. 

Norris is in his second year as head coach of the club after leading the team to a second-place finish in the regular season last year. When asked about the possibility of pressure growing after the unprecedented start, Norris said that the pressure has been there “from day one.”

“I cannot be driven by my day-to-day and the longer vision of the pressure of the job,” he said. “We’ve got a belief in how we want to play, how we operate. We’ve got to stick with the process of that. While we do it, we have to review and see what is working, what’s not working.

“I’ll be showing up for the team and being there for what they need from me as we approach getting back together as a group next week.”

Maria Sanchez, who signed one of the biggest deals in NWSL history just four months ago, has reportedly requested a trade from the Houston Dash. 

ESPN was the first to report the news, which was confirmed by multiple sources.

In a statement to ESPN, the team said: “​​Maria Sanchez is under contract, a choice she made in free agency at the end of 2023." 

In December, Sanchez signed a new three-year contract with the Dash worth $1.5 million including bonuses and an option year. At the time, it was the largest contract in NWSL history – something that was eclipsed by multiple contracts in the following months. 

The winger was a restricted free agent in the offseason, meaning that Houston could match any offer from another team and retain her rights. Should the team trade Sanchez, her contract would remain as it has been signed with the league. That limits the number of teams that could take on her contract. 

In three starts with the Dash this season, Sanchez has zero goals and an assist. The Dash are 1-2-1 through four games and have allowed a league-worst 10 goals.

The team hired a new coach, Fran Alonso, in December. Earlier this year, former goalkeeper coach Matt Lampson was fired for violating the league’s Coach Code of Conduct and Anti-Fraternization policy. 

Both the NWSL trade window and transfer window close at midnight ET on Friday.

Canada got its revenge on Sunday, winning the 2024 IIHF Women’s World Championship and taking down the U.S. in a 6-5 overtime classic.

Marie-Philip Poulin, a longtime star for Canada, got her first two goals of the tournament, while Danielle Serdachny had the game-winner. 

GOLD FOR CANADA! DANIELLE SERDACHNY WINS IT IN OVERTIME! #WomensWorlds pic.twitter.com/fHmqUmHoGw

— TSN (@TSN_Sports) April 15, 2024

"I hate to say you're not trying to rely on it, expect it, but I know I've grown to expect it," Canada coach Troy Ryan said of Philip-Poulin. "Tonight was just a whole other level. I could see in her eyes every time we called her name that she was ready to go. It's just special."

The win came after Canada lost 1-0 to the U.S. in the group stage of the tournament. On Sunday, the two teams met for the 22nd time in 23 tournaments in the gold medal game – and the action between the two teams delivered. 

Among those scoring for the U.S. were Megan Keller, Alex Carpenter, Hilary Knight, Laila Edwards and Caroline Harvey. Julia Gosling, Emily Clark and Erin Ambrose had the other three goals for Canada, giving them their 13th World title after falling to the U.S. in last year’s title game in Toronto. 

This year’s game was held in New York, and it was the second-highest scoring final between the two teams. The U.S. won a world championship 7-5 in 2015. 

"Oh man, that feels good to win it on U.S. soil," Canada goalie Ann-Renee Desbiens said after the game. "We owed it to them and owed it to ourselves to win that one."

Canada also denied Knight a record 10th World Championship win, although she did become the most decorated player in women’s world championship history with 14 medals. After the game, Poulin gave Knight a hug on the ice. 

"We just said 'that was unbelievable,'" Poulin said.

U.S. coach John Wroblewski echoed the sentiment that it was an outstanding game after being asked about ending the game on a power-play after leaving too many players on the ice. 

"Instead of talking about the isolated events of tonight's game, I think that normally that's an interesting storyline,” he said. “But I think the entity of an amazing 6-5 game is an amazing hockey game that took place."