Danny Colaprico is a midfielder for the Chicago Red Stars. She spoke to Just Women’s Sports ahead of the Red Stars semifinal clash with Sky Blue FC tonight about what the team needs to do to make it to the Challenge Cup finals. 

You guys upset OL Reign in the quarterfinals on penalties. How confident were you heading into PKs?

We were super confident. We worked on them the day before the game, and everyone nailed their PK. I feel like the players that stepped up, those are the ones that felt pretty confident about taking a penalty in the moment. And right before we went out our coach Rory just looked at us and was like, “Well, you guys, you have the best keeper in the world. All you have to do is put your shots away and we’ll win this.” And that gave us all more confidence, knowing that we have Alyssa in the goal. We all looked at each other and we’re like, “Oh yeah, we got this.”

Before going into PKs, there were a couple early shots on both sides. What were your thoughts about the energy and level of play throughout the match?

Going into the game, we knew that OL Reign would be a tough team to play. And I feel like as the game wore, everyone was getting really tired. It didn’t really sink in that we would go into penalty kicks until the very end of the game. Not once earlier during the game was I like, “Oh, this is definitely going to penalty kicks.” I felt pretty confident about where our team was at and I thought we were moving the ball really well. We created opportunities. It was just a matter of putting one in the back of the net. But then as the game wore on and it got into the 80th minute, I was, “Okay, this could probably go to PKs.” But again, I was still confident we would end up on top.

What’s nuts is that almost every other game went into penalty kicks as well.

Yeah, I know. We thought about that after. We were like, “Wow! Three of the quarter finals went into penalty kicks.” That can be exciting, but at the same time, each game was really unique.

You hinted at this, but do you think that fatigue has been and is going to continue to be a factor throughout the rest of the tournament? 

Yeah. With how this tournament is set up, I feel like fatigue has been a factor throughout. I mean, we had a short preparation. Sometimes there’s three games in a week. And we had a quick turnaround between the quarterfinal and now the semifinal. Fatigue is going to be a factor.

But with that being said, I feel like both sides are going to be fatigued. So the game will be determined on what team can last the longest on the field. And I feel like that’s kind of where the grittiness and the heart and the drive behind your team really comes into play in the games.

How has the team been preparing for Sky Blue FC?

It’s been a quick turnaround, so we don’t have that much time to prepare, but I feel like our main focus is going over some different ways we can put the ball back in the back of the net. I feel like we’ve harped on that a lot since we’ve been here. With such a short pre-season, we didn’t really get a chance to emphasize or put work into our frontline and our front players. So it’s been hard for us to find the back of the net, but we’ve been watching a lot of film, going over the different movements of each player, and I feel like we feel pretty confident that as soon as we score one goal, the goals are going to just keep coming.

Outside of putting the ball in the back of the net, what would you say is the team’s biggest focus mentally heading into the game? 

I’d say the biggest thing that we want to focus on as a team is moving the ball and playing pretty soccer. But at the same time, in this league, a lot of games are won just by battling and grinding out the game. It’s grittiness and fight and all those other intangible things. So a big emphasis on this game for us is combining those two and bringing them together, finding the right times to play soccer, but also at the same time, realizing that to win a game, you don’t always have to play pretty. I hate to say that, but sometimes it really is just grinding up games and finding ways to score. We have to bring that energy against Sky Blue.

Longtime USWNT fixture Carli Lloyd took to Instagram Wednesday morning to announce that she’s pregnant with her first child. 

"Baby Hollins coming in October 2024!" she wrote. The caption framed a collaged image of baby clothes, an ultrasound photo, and syringes indicating what she described as a "rollercoaster" fertility journey.

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In a Women’s Health story published in tandem with Lloyd’s post, the Fox Sports analyst and correspondent opened up about her struggles with infertility and the lengthy IVF treatments she kept hidden from the public eye.

"Soccer taught me how to work hard, persevere, be resilient, and never give up. I would do whatever it took to prepare, and usually when I prepared, I got results," Lloyd told Women’s Health’s Amanda Lucci. "But I found out that I didn’t know much about this world. I was very naive to think that we wouldn’t have any issues getting pregnant. And so it began."

Lloyd went on to discuss her road to pregnancy in great detail, sharing the highs and lows of the process and expressing gratitude for the care and support her family and medical team provided along the way. She rounded out the piece with a nod toward others navigating the same challenges, encouraging people to share their own pregnancy journeys, painful as they may be.

"My story is currently a happy one, but I know there are other women who are facing challenges in their pregnancy journey. I see you and I understand your pain," she said. "My hope is that more and more women will speak up about this topic, because their stories helped me. I also wish for more resources, funding, and education around fertility treatments. There is much to be done, and I hope I can play a role in helping."

The 41-year-old New Jersey native retired from professional soccer in 2021, closing out her decorated career with 316 international appearances, the second-most in USWNT history, in addition to 134 international goals. A legend on the field, Lloyd walked away from the game with two World Cups, two Olympic gold medals, and two FIFA Player of the Year awards.

On Tuesday, FIFPRO announced the launch of Project ACL, a three-year research initiative designed to address a steep uptick in ACL injuries across women's professional football.

Project ACL is a joint venture between FIFPRO, England’s Professional Footballers’ Association (PFA), Nike, and Leeds Beckett University. While the central case study will focus on England’s top-flight Women's Super League, the findings will be distributed around the world.

ACL tears are between two- and six-times more likely to occur in women footballers than men, according to The Guardian. And with both domestic and international programming on the rise for the women’s game, we’ve seen some of the sport's biggest names moved to the season-ending injury list with ACL-related knocks.

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Soccer superstars like Vivianne Miedema, Beth Mead, Catarina Macario, Marta, and England captain Leah Williamson have all struggled with their ACLs in recent years, though all have since returned to the field. In January, Chelsea and Australia forward Sam Kerr was herself sidelined with the injury, kicking off a year of similar cases across women’s professional leagues. And just yesterday, the Spirit announced defender Anna Heilferty would miss the rest of the NWSL season with a torn ACL. The news comes less than two weeks after Bay FC captain Alex Loera went down with the same injury. 

Project ACL will closely study players in the WSL, monitoring travel, training, and recovery practices to look for trends that could be used to prevent the injury in the future. Availability of sports science and medical resources within individual clubs will be taken into account throughout the process.

ACL injuries in women's football have long outpaced the same injury in the men's game, but resources for specialized prevention and treatment still lag behind. Investment in achieving a deeper, more specialized understanding of the problem should hopefully alleviate the issue both on and off the field.

With recent transfers Talia von Oelhoffen and Kiki Iriafen joining first-team All-American JuJu Watkins and the nation’s No. 1 recruiting class at USC next season, the Trojans look to transition from an up-and-coming squad to a legitimate title contender. 

Former Oregon State graduate student von Oelhoffen is the latest collegiate talent to commit to the program, announcing her transfer Monday via ESPN. She follows ex-Stanford leading-scorer Iriafen in the jump to the pair’s one-time Pac-12 rival.

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The 5-foot-11 Washington native was a two-time All-Pac-12 guard during her time at Oregon State. But after the recent dissolution of the Pac-12, the Corvallis side found themselves without a permanent home conference going forward. Many big name players opted to take their skill elsewhere as a result, with von Oelhoffen’s fellow ex-Beaver Raegan Beers announcing her own departure to Oklahoma on Monday.

According to DraftKings, USC is now tied with UConn for the second-best betting odds to win the 2025 NCAA women’s tournament. Dawn Staley’s tested South Carolina side, poised for a repeat performance, holds down the number one spot.

Last year, LSU loaded up in the transfer portal after beating Iowa to win the 2023 national championship. The Tigers were clear favorites coming into the 2023-24 season, but were bounced in the Elite Eight by Caitlin Clark’s Hawkeyes. Shortly thereafter, star transfer Hailey Van Lith opted to transfer a second time, this time signing with TCU. 

Yet while history proves that an excess of star power doesn’t always translate to on-court chemistry, on paper, USC sure looks ready to hold their own — in 2025 and beyond.

The United States and Mexico have withdrawn their joint bid to host the 2027 Women’s World Cup, per a Monday afternoon release from U.S. Soccer and the Mexican Football Federation.

According to the statement, they will instead focus on developing a "more equitable" bid for the 2031 tournament, with the ultimate goal of "eliminating investment disparities" between the men’s and women’s tournaments.

The federations went on to cite the upcoming 2026 Men’s World Cup in the U.S., Canada, and Mexico as an opportunity to build support for local infrastructure, improve audience engagement, and scale up media and partnership deals in preparation to "host a record-breaking tournament in 2031."

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"Hosting a World Cup tournament is a huge undertaking — and having additional time to prepare allows us to maximize its impact across the globe," said U.S. Soccer President Cindy Parlow Cone. "Shifting our bid will enable us to host a record-breaking Women’s World Cup in 2031 that will help to grow and raise the level of the women’s game both here at home as well as across the globe."

The decision leaves just Brazil and a joint bid from Belgium, Germany, and the Netherlands in the running for the 2027 host spot. Brazil — the rumored frontrunner — has never hosted a Women’s World Cup, while Germany hosted the 2011 tournament as a solo venture. 

Furthermore, this postponement doesn’t mean the U.S. is a shoo-in for 2031, as it's been previously reported that 2022 UEFA Women's EURO host England is considering their own Women's World Cup bid. FIFA is scheduled to confirm the winning bid after the FIFA Congress votes on May 17th.