Sam Apuzzo’s goal for the Athletes Unlimited lacrosse season is to make sure that her team keeps winning.

After playing in AU’s inaugural season in 2021, Apuzzo has taken a different approach to the four-week campaign in Maryland this year, focusing more on results than on individual points.

“I think the biggest thing for what I learned from last year to this year is the importance of actually having a lot of wins,” the attacker told Just Women’s Sports. “So I’m just focused on winning this year with my team and every team that may be on, getting that team going because that’s what matters the most.”

Apuzzo finished last season third in the league standings, 258 points behind inaugural champion Taylor Cummings. It took three weeks for one of Apuzzo’s teams to win a game, as she and the other players acclimated to AU’s unique rules and points system.

So far this year, Apuzzo has yet to lose a game.

“She’s just a born winner,” Charlotte North, current league leader in goals, said after Team Apuzzo’s 8-5 win over Team Arsenault on Sunday.

Apuzzo’s focus on the team has led to payoffs individually as well: She currently sits second on the leaderboard with 965 points, 31 behind rookie goalie Taylor Moreno, and will serve as a captain for the third week in a row.

After missing out on the captain’s role last season, Apuzzo is learning that there’s no right or wrong answer when it comes to naming a roster and making tactical decisions. On Sunday, despite not scoring in a game for the first time in her Athletes Unlimited career, Apuzzo watched as the team she selected got the job done.

“What I’m learning, being a captain, is that everyone is so smart around you,” she said.

She’s also leaned on her teammates’ ideas and knowledge of their opponents as they’ve attempted to work “from the inside out.”

SAM APUZZO WITH THE BUZZER BEATER‼️@SamApuzzo makes it 12-5 going into the 4th quarter.#AULax | 📺: ESPNU pic.twitter.com/MuoiA5LfqV

— Athletes Unlimited (@AUProSports) July 23, 2022

The experience will help her as she heads back to Boston College in the fall, where she’ll begin her second season as a full-time assistant coach after a decorated playing career. Apuzzo graduated in 2019 as the Eagles’ all-time leading goal scorer with 283 goals.

“’I’m learning when playing with so many different people who went to different schools, people who have been coached by different people, or people who are coaches,” said Apuzzo. “You learn a lot just by being around and hearing different things.”

She’s also learning about the sport from a higher level as a member of the Player Executive Committee this season.

“I’ve learned a lot about leadership in general. The idea of bringing a lot of opinions in and making executive decisions off of that,” said Apuzzo, who wants to see the sport eventually make the Olympic roster in 2028.

As AU lacrosse continues to build momentum, Apuzzo would like to see the sport grow on the international stage, too. After winning the World Lacrosse Championship with Team USA in June, Apuzzo believes that women’s lacrosse is “really close” to becoming a part of the Summer Olympics, maybe as soon as 2028 in Los Angeles.

“Based on the crowd we had in every single game, I think it shows that lacrosse is going in the right direction,” Apuzzo said of the tournament. “We’re knocking on the door of the Olympics. I think we definitely made a case for ourselves, so hopefully we can keep moving forward.”

Apuzzo played a big role in the United States’ run to the first World Championship on home soil and their ninth title overall. She had three goals and two assists in the final against Canada, which she called “the most competitive kind of game” she’s ever played in.

“It was honestly for me a dream come true,” Apuzzo said. “Ever since I picked up a stick and really ran with myself playing lacrosse, the national team and playing for Team USA was the big goal that I had.

“It’s kind of surreal to say it. Like, who can really say that they’ve accomplished their dreams, which is something that I’ll hold forever and be able to look back on?”

With two more weeks to try to ascend to the top of the AU leaderboard behind team wins and individual points, Apuzzo has the second annual title in her reach. And by this time next year, odds are she’ll be dreaming even bigger.

Emma Hruby is an Associate Editor at Just Women’s Sports. Follow her on Twitter @EHruby.

U.S. Soccer announced Tuesday that the USWNT will play their last home game on July 16th in the lead-up to the 2024 Summer Olympic Games in Paris.

The 2024 Send-Off Match against Costa Rica will take place at Washington, DC’s Audi Field — home to both the Washington Spirit and DC United — at 7:30 p.m. ET on Tuesday, July 16th. The friendly rounds out a four-game Olympic run-up campaign under incoming head coach Emma Hayes’ side, with the last two set to feature the finalized 2024 U.S. Olympic Women’s Soccer Team roster.

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Hayes will appear on the USWNT sideline for the first time this June, helming the team as they embark on a two-game series against Korea Republic hosted by Dick’s Sporting Goods Park in Commerce City, Colorado on June 1st followed by Allianz Stadium in St. Paul, Minnesota on June 4th. 

The team is then scheduled to meet a talented Mexico squad on July 13th at Gotham FC’s Red Bull Arena in Harrison, New Jersey, where the Olympic-bound lineup will attempt to rewrite February’s shocking 2-0 loss to El Tri Femenil in the group stages of this year’s Concacaf W Gold Cup. And while clear roster favorites have emerged from both of this year’s Gold Cup and SheBelives Cup rosters, a spate of recent and recurring injuries means making it to the Olympics is still largely anyone’s game.

Broadcast and streaming channels for the USWNT's final July 16th friendly at Audi Field include TNT, truTV, Universo, Max, and Peacock.

The USA Basketball Women's National Team is still considering Caitlin Clark for a spot on the Paris Olympics squad, says selection committee chair Jennifer Rizzotti. 

On Monday, Rizzotti told the AP that the committee will be evaluating the college phenom’s Olympic prospects by keeping a close eye on her first few weeks of WNBA play with Indiana.

The move is somewhat unconventional. While Clark was invited to participate in the 14-player national team training camp held earlier this month — the last camp before Team USA’s roster drops — she was unable to attend due to it coinciding with Iowa’s trip to the NCAA Women’s Final Four.

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Judging by the immense talent spread throughout the league in what might be their most hyped season to date, competition for a piece of the Olympic pie could be fiercer than ever before.

"You always want to introduce new players into the pool whether it's for now or the future," said Rizzotti. "We stick to our principles of talent, obviously, positional fit, loyalty and experience. It's got to be a combination of an entire body of work. It's still not going to be fair to some people."

Of course, Clark isn’t the first rookie the committee has made exceptions for. Coming off an exceptional college season that saw her averaging 19.4 points, 8.7 rebounds, and 4 assists per game for UConn, Breanna Stewart was tapped to represent the U.S. at the 2016 Olympics in Brazil less than two weeks after being drafted No. 1 overall by the Seattle Storm. Eight years prior, fellow No. 1 pick Candace Parker punched her ticket to the 2008 Games in Beijing just two weeks after making her first appearance for the L.A. Sparks.

In the lead-up to Paris’ Opening Ceremony on July 26th, USA Basketball Women’s National Team is scheduled to play a pair of exhibition games. They'll first go up against the WNBA's finest at the July 20th WNBA All-Star Game in Phoenix before facing Germany in London on July 23rd.

While an official roster announcement date hasn’t yet been issued, players won’t find out if they’ve made this year’s Olympic cut until at least June 1st.

For the first time in history, three different WNBA teams have completely sold out of season ticket plans well before the league's May 14th kick-off.

Call it the Caitlin Clark effect, attribute it to this year’s tenacious rookie class, or look to the skyrocketing visibility of veteran players across the board. But no matter the cause, facts are facts: Tickets to the 2024 WNBA season are selling like never before. 

On Monday, the Dallas Wings became the third team to sell out of season ticket memberships in the league’s 27-year history. The announcement from Arlington came shortly after the Atlanta Dream issued their own season ticket sell-out statement, also on Monday, and almost seven weeks after the back-to-back WNBA Champion Las Vegas Aces made headlines by becoming the first-ever WNBA team to sell out their season ticket allotment.   

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According to the Wings, season ticket memberships will fill nearly 40% of the 6,251 seats inside their home arena, College Park Center. The club also said that their overall ticket revenue has ballooned to the tune of 220% this year, spanning not just season tickets but also a 1,200% increase in single ticket sales. There’s currently a waitlist to become a Dallas season ticket holder, a status that comes with extra incentives like playoff presale access and discounts on additional single-game tickets. 

In Atlanta, season tickets aren't the only thing flying off the shelves. The Dream also announced that they broke their own record for single-game ticket sales during a recent limited presale campaign. Sunday was reportedly their most lucrative day, with five different games totally selling out Gateway Center Arena. Individual tickets for all upcoming matchups will hit the market this Thursday at 8 a.m., while a waitlist for season ticket memberships will open up next Tuesday at 10 a.m.

"Excitement around women's sports, particularly basketball, is at an all-time high and nowhere is that felt more than here in Atlanta," Dream president and COO Morgan Shaw Parker said in the team’s statement. "We’ve continued a record-setting growth trajectory over the past three years under new ownership — both on and off the court — and 2024 is shaping up to be our best season yet."

As of Tuesday, season ticket sales revenue for Caitlin Clark’s hotly anticipated Indiana Fever debut haven’t yet been announced by the club. But if these numbers are any indication — not to mention the explosive demand for Fever away games felt by teams around the country — it won’t be long before we see some scale-tipping figures coming out of Indianapolis.

25-year-old American pro golfer Nelly Korda secured her spot in LPGA history on Sunday, notching her fifth-straight title at this weekend's Chevron Championship in The Woodlands, Texas.

Ranked No. 1 in the world by Rolex Women’s World Golf Rankings, Korda joins Nancy Lopez (1978) and Annika Sörenstam (2005) as just the third LPGA player to rack up five consecutive tour wins. She is also the third No. 1-ranked player to capture The Chevron Championship victory since the rankings debuted in 2006, accompanied by Lorena Ochoa and Lydia Ko.

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The Florida native shot three-under 69 in Sunday's final, besting Sweden's Maja Stark despite Stark's valiant come-from-behind attempt in the 18th. Korda finished with a four-day total of 13-under 275, celebrating her two-stroke win by cannonballing into Poppie's Pond, much to the crowd's delight. She left The Club at Carlton Woods with $1.2 million from an overall purse of $7.9 million.

It wasn't long ago that the two-time major champion's current winning streak seemed unimaginable. After maintaining her No. 1 position for 29 weeks, Korda underwent surgery to remove a blood clot from her left arm in 2022. She returned to the course not long after, but failed to win a single tournament in 2023 before seeing a surge in form during the first four months of 2024. As of today, she hasn't lost a tournament since January.

Korda will attempt a record sixth-straight win at next week's JM Eagle LA Championship at Wilshire Country Club in Los Angeles, where she'll vie for a cut of the $3.75 million purse.