As the NWSL regular season gets back underway this weekend, Just Women’s Sports is taking a look at where the Golden Boot race stands and who could end up being the league’s top scorer.

Alex Morgan won last year’s Golden Boot award with 15 goals, and she currently has five goals for the San Diego Wave this season. Reigning league MVP and Portland Thorns forward Sophia Smith was close behind Morgan in 2022 and now holds the top spot in the league, while 2021 winner and Washington Spirit forward Ashley Hatch is tied for second.

Sophia Smith, Portland Thorns
10 goals

Smith entered the international break on a high, scoring a hat trick in her final game with Portland before leaving to represent the U.S. women’s national team at the World Cup. In addition to her 10 goals this season, she has five assists, which ranks second in the league behind teammate Sam Coffey.

Of Smith’s goals, four have come off her left foot and six off her right. Her goals from inside and outside of the box are split evenly.

Who else but @sophsssmith?! 🎯@ThornsFC is on top in Seattle! pic.twitter.com/HYcjCsUpiE

— National Women’s Soccer League (@NWSL) June 4, 2023

Ashley Hatch, Washington Spirit
8 goals

The former Golden Boot winner is in the hunt again this season with eight goals. After being left off the USWNT’s World Cup roster, Hatch scored two goals during the Challenge Cup while the regular season was paused. Now, she re-enters the regular season with momentum after others in the race were out with their international squads.

Kerolin, North Carolina Courage
8 goals

Brazilian star Kerolin had eight goals before leaving for the World Cup, seven of which came inside the box. She also scored all of them with her right foot. Kerolin held the Golden Boot lead before Smith’s pre-World Cup hat trick, and could jump back to the front if she picks up where she left off before the international break.

She can't be stopped!!

Kerolin gets a first-half brace, and her 6th goal of the season 🔥 pic.twitter.com/HuCKTfDgzO

— National Women’s Soccer League (@NWSL) June 11, 2023

Lynn Williams, Gotham FC
7 goals

Williams was in the midst of a breakout season with her new club following a return from injury. She’s been the centerpiece of Gotham’s offense this season, scoring seven goals — which is more than Gotham scored as the team all of last year. Six of her goals have come inside the box, and she’s had 30 shots on target out of 48 total shots.

Other top scorers

6 goals

Debinha, Kansas City Current

5 goals

Bethany Balcer, OL Reign
Savannah DeMelo, Racing Louisville
Crystal Dunn, Portland Thorns
Alex Morgan, San Diego Wave

4 goals

Messiah Bright, Orlando Pride
Jordyn Huitema, OL Reign
Cece Kizer, Kansas City Current
Veronica Latsko, OL Reign
Tyler Lussi, North Carolina Courage
Trinity Rodman, Washington Spirit
Ashley Sanchez, Washington Spirit
Jaedyn Shaw, San Diego Wave
Ella Stevens, Chicago Red Stars
Morgan Weaver, Portland Thorns

The Women's Super League (WSL) is growing, with the UK league's top two flights deciding in a Monday expansion vote to enlarge its top tier from 12 to 14 teams ahead of the 2026/27 season.

The number of matches played each season will also balloon from 22 to 26 games to accommodate the incoming clubs, as will established cup competitions.

Monday also saw the WSL vote down a prior proposal to temporarily suspend the relegation and promotion process to accommodate this expansion, deciding instead to adopt a "two up, one down" model for the second-tier WSL2 next season.

As such, the top two finishers of the 2025/26 WSL2 season will automatically join the higher-tier WSL, while the WSL's last-place team will battle the WSL2's third-place club in "a high-profile, high stakes match" for the final spot in the top flight.

After reaching 14 teams, both leagues will return to relegating the last-place WSL finisher while promoting the WSL2's top team for the following season.

Along with the increased investment in club infrastructure, a 14-team WSL keeps pace with the global women's game — most notably, the NWSL, which will become a 16-team league in 2026.

"Our priority was to find a route that would benefit the whole women's game pyramid, and we believe this next evolution of women's professional football will raise minimum standards, create distinction, and incentivize investment across the board," said WSL Football CEO Nikki Doucet.

With EuroBasket set to tip off on Wednesday and injuries mounting league-wide, WNBA teams are filling out dwindling rosters with more short-term contracts — and calling back some familiar faces along the way.

While some European standouts withdrew from EuroBasket consideration — including Phoenix's Satou Sabally and Seattle's Gabby Williams — others, like New York's Leonie Fiebich and Golden State's Temi Fagbenle, will join their national teams for the regional FIBA tournament through the end of June.

Due to these planned absences, WNBA teams temporarily suspend their EuroBasket players' contracts, allowing squads to add others to their rosters.

Players signed due to temporary absences are technically on rest-of-season deals, though the agreements can end whenever the missing athletes return.

In contrast, the league requires that teams release any hardship signings due to injury once squads tally enough healthy original players to satisfy the WNBA's 10-athlete roster minimum.

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Featuring a lineup stacked with international talent, Golden State made the most transactions this week, temporarily suspending four regular contracts as 2025 EuroBasket stars departed for the annual competition.

To bolster their depleted bench, the Valkyries brought back 2025 WNBA Draft Cinderella pick Kaitlyn Chen and recent training camp participant Laeticia Amihere on short-term contracts, in addition to guard Aerial Powers and forward Chloe Bibby.

Elsewhere, after losing forward Maddy Siegrist to injury and temporarily suspending the contracts of centers Teaira McCowan and Luisa Geiselsöder, Dallas acquired center Li Yueru from Seattle — with the Wings possibly needing additional hardship signings in the coming days.

The Storm snagged two future draft picks in the Saturday deal — a second-round selection in 2026 and a third-round pick in 2027.

Ultimately, teams are striving to find a balance between stocking up and maintaining consistency, all while operating under the WNBA's roster constraints — with further league expansion fast approaching.

The 2025 WNBA Commissioner's Cup will wrap up its conference play on Tuesday, as both Eastern and Western teams battle for a ticket to the in-season competition's championship game — and a cut of the $500,000 prize pool.

With 12 of the league's 13 teams facing off across Tuesday's WNBA courts, the results will set the stage by minting the two squads who will battle in the July 1st final showdown.

Reigning Commissioner's Cup champs Minnesota have the West's easiest path, as a win over the Las Vegas Aces will send the Lynx to a second straight final.

Should the Lynx fall to the Aces, however, Seattle can grab the Western Conference berth by beating the Los Angeles Sparks.

Meanwhile in the East, a surging Atlanta could land a trip to the final by topping New York, while the Liberty need both a win over the Dream plus a loss by the Indiana Fever to clinch their own return ticket to the Cup's grand finale.

If New York does take down Atlanta, the Fever could advance to the team's first-ever Commissioner's Cup final by beating the struggling Connecticut Sun.

How to watch Tuesday's 2025 WNBA Commissioner's Cup games

All of Tuesday's six WNBA games count toward the 2025 Commissioner's Cup tally.

The action begins with the Atlanta Dream tipping off against the New York Liberty while the Indiana Fever battles the Connecticut Sun at 7 PM ET, live on WNBA League Pass.

Chicago Sky star Angel Reese made headlines this week, with the second-year WNBA forward announcing that she has trademarked word "mebounds" — a slang term opposing fans use to describe Reese rebounding her own missed shots.

"Whoever came up with the 'mebounds' thing, y’all ate that up, because mebounds, rebounds, keybounds...anything that comes off that board, it's mine," Reese said in a TikTok video on Saturday.

"And a brand? That's six figures right there," she continued, referencing her trademark application. "The trolling — I love when y'all do it because the ideas be good!"

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Currently averaging 11.9 boards per matchup, Reese is leading the WNBA in rebounds for the second straight season.

Her rookie campaign saw Reese average 13.1 boards per game, a rate that set a single-season league record. She also blasted through the WNBA's consecutive double-double record last season, claiming it with 10 straight before extending it to an impressive 15 games.

Along with the average rebounds record, Reese also broke the single-season total rebounds record previously held by retired Minnesota Lynx legend Sylvia Fowles — a mark that was later surpassed by 2024 MVP A'ja Wilson following Reese's season-ending wrist injury.

"Statistically, all the rebounds that I get aren't always just mine," Reese added in her Saturday social media post. "They're the defense's, too, or somebody else on my team."