The 2022 NWSL College Draft had plenty of surprises, including the selection of Naomi Girma over Jaelin Howell at No. 1 overall. 

To see a list of every pick in the draft, click here. Meanwhile, here’s Just Women’s Sports five biggest surprises from an eventful college draft.

1. San Diego picks Girma, still needs midfielders

After selecting no midfielders in the expansion draft, many thought that San Diego would opt to go with Jaelin Howell to help bolster the midfield. Instead, they went with Naomi Girma, two-time Pac-12 Defender of the Year. While Girma will nonetheless add value to San Diego’s defense, which will also feature Abby Dahlkemper, the pick leaves the Wave still looking to fill out their midfield.

San Diego could use Girma as a defensive midfielder, where she has been used before. She even scored eight goals during her career at Stanford, including the rocket below.

With the No. 1 pick in the 2022 @NWSL Draft, @sandiegowavefc selects Naomi Girma from @StanfordWSoccer. pic.twitter.com/ePwcnGsz7V

— TopDrawerSoccer (@TopDrawerSoccer) December 18, 2021

In the second round, San Diego did select Sydney Pulver out of Washington State to fill one of the midfield spots, but the team could use a few more to round out the roster.

2. Mia Fishel falls to Orlando

The Orlando Pride may have gotten the steal of the draft with UCLA’s Mia Fishel falling all the way to fifth. Fishel will fill some holes for Orlando, who dealt Alex Morgan to San Diego FC following the expansion draft. In 59 games, she scored 32 goals and added 14 assists to etch her name into the Bruins’ top 10 all-time goal scorers in just three seasons.

With the ability to step in at striker, she could provide some needed help for Sydney Leroux, who has carried much of the Pride’s scoring burden over the past few seasons. She will also be reuniting with her college head coach Amanda Cromwell, who was recently named head coach of the Orlando Pride. Look for Fishel to continue to thrive under Cromwell and potentially become one of the Pride’s leading scorers in her rookie year.

3. Sydny Nasello falls to the second round

This one was a big surprise, as Just Women’s Sports had projected Nasello as going fifth to the Orlando Pride. A wide attacker who can play along the flank, Nasello could have provided any team with some depth across the forward line. While the selection of Fishel to Orlando made sense, that Nasello fell out of the first round came as a relative shocker — and could be a huge boon for the Thorns, who picked her at 13th. 

The forward should fit in well in Portland, with the ability to further develop her game alongside Christine Sinclair and Sophia Smith. 

4. Louisville goes young after trading for McDonald

With six of last year’s expansion draft players up for selection in this year’s expansion draft, Louisville appears to be looking to start over. That sentiment didn’t change with Saturday’s college draft, as they selected Savannah DeMelo and Jaelin Howell to help bolster an attack that will now be led by Jessica McDonald. The club first traded away Savannah McCaskill to Angel City FC in exchange for the No. 6 pick in the draft, which they used on DeMelo. 

The club finished the 2021 season at the bottom of the league, just one spot ahead of Kansas City, after going 5-7-12. While Kansas City has added some veteran depth in Sam Mewis, Louisville appears to be going young, hoping to build around breakout star Ebony Salmon. The 33-year-old McDonald may seem like a curious pick up given the youth movement, but the two-time NWSL champion and World Cup winner should provide a steady veteran presence. 

5. Small schools make a splash

Multiple NWSL teams elected to pick up small-school superstars later on in the first round. At eighth, OL Reign selected Zsanett Kajan from St. John’s University. At ninth, San Diego selected Marleen Schimmer out of Grand Canyon. Then, at 12th, Kaitlin Fregulia out of Long Beach State was selected by North Carolina. 

It’s always fun to see how sleeper picks do in the league. One to keep an eye on would be Kajan. While at St. John’s, Kajan was an offensive powerhouse, scoring 16 goals in 18 games during the 2021 season. She’ll get to learn under some of the league’s best in Megan Rapinoe, Bethany Balcer and Tziarra King. The same can be said for Fregulia, who will get to play alongside Abby Erceg and Carson Pickett, while Schimmer will get to develop alongside Alex Morgan in San Diego.

There's just one WNBA preseason game left on the 2025 calendar, as 12 of the league's 13 teams wrapped exhibition play over the weekend ahead of Friday's regular-season tip-off.

The Chicago Sky became the latest team to lock in their 12-player roster on Sunday, joining the likes of the Indiana Fever in making tough final cuts.

To reach league compliance, Chicago waived Australian guard Alex Wilson, 2024 second-round draft pick Jessika Carter (Mississippi State), and former Mercury forward Morgan Bertsch.

Earning their official spots in the Sky's lineup are 2025 rookies Hailey Van Lith (TCU) and Maddy Westbeld (Notre Dame), the overall No. 11 and No. 16 picks, respectively, in April's draft.

Overall, the class of 2025 is performing well so far, with all first-round picks avoiding early roster cuts — though many teams are still deciding who will suit up on opening day.

Some second-rounders are also showing significant promise, with the Atlanta Dream's 18th overall pick Te-Hina PaoPao (South Carolina) scoring a team-leading 14 points against Indiana on Saturday.

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How to watch the final 2025 WNBA preseason game

Capping the 2025 WNBA preseason are the reigning champion New York Liberty, who will take on Japan's Toyota Antelopes on Monday night.

The exhibition will see Liberty stars Sabrina Ionescu and Nyara Sabally — who notably saw her contract extended through 2026 by New York on Monday afternoon — return to their University of Oregon alma mater for the clash.

The Liberty will tip off against the Antelopes at 10 PM ET, with live coverage airing on WNBA League Pass.

The 2031 Women's World Cup will expand to 48 teams, with the 16-team increase announced among other landmark decisions by the FIFA Council on Friday.

The decision to expand the World Cup aims to "broaden representation, offering more nations and players access to elite competition and accelerating investment in women's football worldwide," according to the FIFA release.

"The FIFA Women's World Cup 2023, the first in which teams from all confederations won at least one game and teams from five confederations reached the knockout stage, among many other records, set a new standard for global competitiveness," said FIFA President Gianni Infantino.

"This decision ensures we are maintaining the momentum in terms of growing women’s football globally."

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The expanded 2031 World Cup, hosted by the US, will adopt a 12-group format, increasing the total number of matches from 64 to 104 while extending the competition for an additional week.

The World Cup expansion announcement comes on the heels of last month's increased Olympic tournament news, with the IOC boosting the women's soccer field to 16 teams at the 2028 LA Games.

The decision also puts the women's competition in line with the men's World Cup, which will feature FIFA's first 48-team tournament in 2026.

FIFA approves Afghan women's refugee team

In the same Friday announcement, the FIFA Council also approved the creation of an Afghanistan women's refugee team, which would provide evacuated Afghan women players the ability to compete on an officially recognized FIFA team.

While FIFA requires that national federations sponsor teams, the Afghan Football Federation ceased acknowledging its women's team once the Taliban-controlled government banned women's sports.

Originally formed by the country's Olympic Committee in 2007, the Afghanistan women's national team has not played a FIFA-recognized match since 2018, and most of its athletes fled the country amidst the Taliban's second takeover in 2021.

Since then, players have petitioned FIFA for the opportunity to compete. Their efforts earned a one-year trial phase from the governing body on Friday, though the success of the program could see it expanded to refugees from other nations in the future.

"We are happy that FIFA has created a pathway for Afghan players to finally return to the field," team founder and former captain Khalida Popal told CNN on Friday, adding that the squad "remain[s] hopeful FIFA can amend its statutes to provide official recognition for our players as the Afghanistan Women's National Team."

Popal — who helped hundreds of Afghans, including the team, escape the Taliban — previously said the team "could show the world that Afghan women and girls belong in sport, in school and everywhere in society — and we will not be defeated."

Chelsea FC is the first team in Women's Super League (WSL) history to claim an unbeaten 22-game season, adding the undefeated moniker to their sixth-straight league title with Saturday's 1-0 win over Liverpool.

The Blues' perfect season joins the previous unbeaten campaigns of 2012's Arsenal, 2016's Manchester City, and Chelsea's own 2018 squad — though those three teams did so in 14, 16, and 18 games, respectively.

Chelsea finishes the 2024/25 campaign with an astounding 19 wins and three draws, missing just six possible points on the table en route to their new WSL record of 60 points in a single season.

"As a manager, players, and staff, you only live these moments maybe once in your life," said Chelsea head coach Sonia Bompastor following Saturday's history-making win. "You need to enjoy it because it is a great achievement."

Trailing Chelsea's impressive winning tally by a full 12 points, Arsenal secured second place with a 4-3 victory over third-place Manchester United in their Saturday season finale.

WSL standouts secure individual 2024/25 awards

Though they missed the WSL's team trophy, the Gunners did claim some individual hardware this weekend, as voters selected midfielder Mariona Caldentey as the inaugural winner of the WSL Player of the Season award.

The 29-year-old Spain international led the league in shot creation, and put up nine goals and five assists on the WSL stat sheet this season.

Caldentey's teammate Alessia Russo also walked away with a trophy, sharing the Golden Boot with fourth-place Manchester City's Khadija "Bunny" Shaw after both forwards scored 12 goals each on the season.

Also sharing a stat-sheet title is Chelsea's Hannah Hampton and Manchester United's Phallon Tullis-Joyce, who claimed the 2024/25 WSL Golden Glove award behind 13 clean sheets apiece.

Meanwhile, the season's WSL Rising Star award went to ninth-place West Ham striker Shekiera Martinez. After spending the first half of the 2024/25 season on loan to Bundesliga side SC Freiburg, the 23-year-old German international notched an astounding 10 goals in her 12 total WSL matches.

Speaking of impressive scoring, Manchester City forward Vivianne Miedema's stellar chip against Aston Villa in January earned the Dutch star the 2024/25 WSL Goal of the Season title.

For the first time in program history, Texas A&M is the No. 1 seed in the NCAA softball tournament, with the Aggies staving off four-time reigning champion Oklahoma for the honor in Sunday's 2025 bracket drop.

After adverse weather canceled their conference title game on Saturday, the Aggies and No. 2-seed Sooners became 2025 SEC tournament co-champions, leaving the NCAA selection committee to lean heavily on each team's strength of schedule in making their top-seed decision.

"What set apart Texas A&M is they have 19 Top 25 wins, which is number one in the country," said NCAA softball committee chair Kurt McGuffin on Sunday's ESPN2 broadcast, noting the Aggies' tough nonconference schedule.

Taking on a lighter nonconference slate than usual due to massive roster turnover following the 2023/24 season, Oklahoma relied heavily on their record in a stacked SEC, finishing one half-game ahead of A&M in regular-season play.

While the Sooners look to extend their championship streak, the Aggies will be hunting their third national title and first since 1987.

Standing in their way in the 64-team bracket are a record number of familiar foes, as the SEC boasts 14 teams in the 2025 NCAA competition — the most from any single conference in tournament history.

Even more, nine of the bracket's 16 seeded teams hail from the SEC, and a full seven of the Top 8.

Conference champs, at-large teams score NCAA bracket spots

SEC squads aren't the only teams looking to topple Texas A&M and Oklahoma, however, as conference champions and other elite squads learned their tournament fates on Selection Sunday.

No. 5 Florida State is the highest seeded non-SEC team, despite falling 2-1 to No. 11-seed Clemson in Saturday's ACC title game. Along with No. 14-seed Duke, the ACC will see nine teams in the 2025 tournament.

Behind 2024 National Player of the Year NiJaree Canady — the nation's top pitcher — Texas Tech leads a five-team contingent from the Big 12 after securing both their conference tournament trophy and the national No. 12-seed this weekend.

In the weekend's most upset-filled conference tournament, unseeded Michigan outlasted both No. 9-seed UCLA and No. 16-seed Oregon to score a second straight Big Ten tournament title on Saturday, becoming one of eight teams repping the conference in Sunday's bracket.

Notably, the Bruins — the winningest program in NCAA softball history with 12 titles — have not entered the tournament lower than a No. 6 seed since 2016.

How to watch the 2025 NCAA softball tournament

The road to the 2025 Women's College World Series begins with Regionals, in which each of the 16 seeded teams will host a four-team double-elimination mini-tournament this weekend.

With a minimum of 96 games — and a possibility of 112 — Regional play begins at 12 PM ET on Friday, with the 64-team field narrowing to 16 by Sunday night.

All games will air live across ESPN's networks.