The international break is here, and with it comes a pause in NWSL action. As we near the halfway point of the season, three frontrunners for NWSL MVP have emerged: Portland Thorns forward Sophia Smith, Chicago Red Stars forward Mallory Pugh, and San Diego Wave FC forward Alex Morgan.

Smith, Pugh and Morgan were all recently named to the USWNT’s World Cup qualifying roster and are currently in camp with the national team.

Below, we break down each of their cases for NWSL MVP.

Sophia Smith, Portland Thorns

At just 21 years old, Sophia Smith has already cemented herself as one of the NWSL’s best players within just three seasons of playing. She finished second in the race for the Golden Boot last season with nine goals through 22 games and currently sits in second place once again, with eight goals through nine games. Alex Morgan sits in first with 11 goals.

“It’s always really exciting to have someone to chase after — and it’s Alex Morgan, of course,” Smith said. “It’s friendly competition. And obviously it’s great to score goals, but for my team to be doing well is even better. This league is just fun — it’s fun to have people scoring lots of goals.”

Two of Smith’s goals came this past weekend, when she notched her third career NWSL brace.

It's a bird! It's a plane!

No, it's a @beckysauerbrunn goal (‼️) and a @sophsssmith brace (‼️) pic.twitter.com/BME8xjZvcu

— Just Women’s Sports (@justwsports) June 19, 2022

It marked back-to-back braces for Smith, who also had two goals earlier this season in Portland’s 4-0 win over Houston.

Smith has made such an impact in the NWSL that USWNT head coach Vlatko Andonovski, who has repeatedly cited NWSL play as a deciding factor in USWNT spots, said that both Smith and Mallory Pugh’s spots are decided for the foreseeable future.

“I don’t think it will be a surprise if I say that it will be extremely difficult for a player to come in and take their starting spots right now,” Andonovski said. “Those are two players that will enjoy a lot of minutes on the field — actually, will enjoy maximum minutes on the field.”

Of course, Smith has made an impact for the USWNT as well, with four goals and three assists through 15 appearances. Three of those have come this year, through multiple friendly appearances and the SheBelieves Cup — the second-most on the USWNT behind Pugh and Catarina Macario.

While Trinity Rodman topped ESPN’s list of best women’s players aged 21 or younger, Smith sat fourth and she’s slowly been making her case for higher on the list.

As the season goes on, Smith should only tally up more goals, as she currently ranks first in both shots and shots on goal, with 30 and 20, respectively. While she only has eight goals to show for it, as Portland continues to roll, having won three of their last five matches, so should Smith.

Mallory Pugh, Chicago Red Stars

Once again, Mallory Pugh has been putting on a show in Chicago. After finishing second in NWSL MVP voting last season with five goals and four assists, Pugh has already equalled her goals total this season. With five goals through seven games, Pugh is pretty much guaranteed to better her stats from last season.

She’s also been effective defensively, being named the NWSL Player of the Week by Just Women’s Sports for her performance against Orlando the week of June 5. Pugh has proven exceptional at creating chances, with an average of 2.1 per match, which ranks in the league’s top 10.

Pugh is also more effective in getting shots on goal, even if she doesn’t have the total to show for it. In just 22 shots this season, Pugh has put 19 of them on goal.

This past weekend, Pugh had a goal and an assist in the Red Stars’ draw with Kansas City, continuing her scoring streak to three straight games.

53' Assist 🅰️
59' Goal ⚽

Mallory Pugh is on fire 🔥 pic.twitter.com/xAqrrBeRWI

— Attacking Third (@AttackingThird) June 19, 2022

Named to the NWSL’s Second XI last season, the forward has returned to form with a vengeance and is continuing to capitalize on the momentum. And her NWSL dominance is paying off at the international level — USWNT coach Vlatko Andonovski recently said Pugh is all but locked into a starting role with the national team.

Alex Morgan, San Diego Wave FC

Prior to the start of the season, many thought Alex Morgan was entering the tail end of her career. But at 32 years old, and over 10 years into her professional career, Morgan is having a renaissance season, putting together her best NWSL campaign to date in her first year with San Diego Wave FC.

On Sunday, she once again posted a multi-goal game, bringing her goal total to a league-leading 11 through 10 appearances.

A brace and an assist for @alexmorgan13 😈 pic.twitter.com/ouR9cfe9wS

— Just Women’s Sports (@justwsports) June 19, 2022

Not only does that beat last season’s Golden Boot winner, Ashley Hatch, who won the award with 10 goals on the season, but it is also a career best (her previous best was 9 in 2017).

Morgan is on pace to break the 20-goal threshold, something no NWSL player has ever done in a season (Sam Kerr was the closest with 18 in 2019). Even crazier, Morgan could finish the season with nearly as many goals as she did during her entire time with Orlando (2016-2021, 23 goals through 66 appearances). She’s also on track to beat her goal total from her time in Portland — three seasons from 2013 through 2015, during which she scored 15 goals through 36 appearances.

To add to her MVP resume, Morgan put together one of the best goal scoring performances in NWSL history earlier this season, putting up four goals in one game to tie the NWSL record.

It's FOUR for @alexmorgan13! 😱

The forward becomes just the fourth player to tally 4️⃣ in an NWSL match!@sandiegowavefc | #WaveFC pic.twitter.com/WmNzJA48nm

— National Women’s Soccer League (@NWSL) May 8, 2022

The fact that Morgan has led San Diego to the top of the table in the franchise’s first year of playing only adds to her MVP case. Morgan is no stranger to leading first-year teams to the NWSL title. She did so in 2013 with Portland, winning the inaugural NWSL title. As of right now, San Diego sits two points ahead of Portland in the table and often looks the part as the team to beat.

If Morgan can keep up the pace of her goal scoring — and if San Diego can continue to win — not only is she the leading candidate for league MVP, but she might just be adding another NWSL title to her resume.

That’s not all that’s at stake: throughout her career, Morgan has twice been named to the NWSL’s Second XI but never the Best XI. Regardless of what happens the rest of the season, or who ends up winning NWSL MVP, that seems almost certain to change this year.

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.