Washington Spirit attacker Tinaya Alexander has no plans of changing what she stands for as she embarks on her first season in the NWSL.

Before she went 14th overall to the Spirit in December’s NWSL Draft, Alexander played her fifth and final year at Louisiana State. After each of the nine goals she scored during the season, she lifted her jersey to reveal a white shirt underneath. The shirt read “Stop police brutality” as a tribute to her father, who was killed by a police officer when Alexander was 11 years old.

After consulting with Spirit head coach Kris Ward, Alexander will continue the routine in the NWSL.

“I don’t think I should change who I am as a person for anyone else,” she said. “I think that if you’re going to support me, and I’m scoring goals, then you support me as a person.”

Soccer carries much more meaning for Alexander than scoring goals and winning games. Her father introduced her to the sport after she tried ballet and tap dance and hated them both.

“If it wasn’t for him, I wouldn’t even be here, I wouldn’t be playing,” she said. “[The shirt] just takes me back to those moments where I’d look over and he’d be on the sideline when I scored.”

Alexander’s mother did her best to maintain a sense of normalcy for her children after their loss, balancing a job while raising two kids with busy sports schedules in Reading, England.

The memories from those years were still fresh when Alexander had the shirt made in 2020. She didn’t wear it until the 2021 season so people wouldn’t confuse it for a political statement following George Floyd’s murder at the hands of police in May 2020.

Around the same time, over a Zoom call, the 22-year-old shared her father’s story with her LSU team for the first time.

“It was such a powerful moment for the team,” said head coach Sian Hudson, who had supported the group’s contributions to the Black Lives Matter movement in 2020.

A year later, Alexander started displaying the shirt during her goal celebrations. She faced some immediate backlash, including from people who threatened to stop coming to games in protest.

Hudson encouraged Alexander to use her voice, and the school defended her with posts and a video on social media. Feeling like she shouldn’t have to explain herself, Alexander was hesitant at first to talk in the video, but she knew it was important for people to understand the backstory.

“I’m not saying it for Black people, I’m not saying it for white people — I’m literally saying it for everyone,” she said, adding that it was a Black officer who killed her father.

“This past year I just saw a lot of maturity, in terms of the way she grew as a person,” Hudson said. “And I think as a result of that, she was able to really express herself as a player on the field.”

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The 2021 season was Alexander’s best yet. After earning All-SEC First Team honors and finishing her LSU career ranked second all-time with 22 assists, she decided to enter the NWSL Draft in December. Only one other LSU player, Alex Arlitt, had ever been drafted into the league, so Alexander wasn’t getting her hopes up.

To her surprise, the reigning NWSL champions selected her with the second pick of the second round.

During physicals on her first day with her new team, Alexander ran into Gaby Vincent, who was traded to Washington from Kansas City days after the draft. Alexander offered a handshake. The cameras were close, but not on them, so they laughed and said, “Let’s do it again!” Their reenactment turned into the photo the Spirit used for team materials.

“It’s just funny because we look back and we’re like, ‘That’s when we first met and we were already making jokes,’” said Vincent, who finds humor in Alexander’s mannerisms and the way her voice changes when she’s surprised.

Alexander went about preseason focused and calm, and her teammates usually saw her with her headphones on. So Vincent started poking her in the locker room.

“‘Hey, what are you listening to?’” she said she asked Alexander. “Which is probably super annoying, but I knew, like, hey, we’re going to be friends. We don’t need to do this awkward phase. We’re going to be cool. Let’s just get past that part.”

Now they sit in bean bag chairs for hours during their time off from training, watching “British Bake Off” and playing “Call of Duty.”

On the field, Alexander turns into an entertainer. Being a part of the league’s youngest team, measured by average age, has been one of the best sources of motivation. When Alexander sees one of her similarly aged teammates do something impressive, she wants to match it.

A dynamic player who’s very measured in how she sets up defenders, Alexander brings a different style to the field than the Spirit’s other strikers, notably Ashley Hatch, Trinity Rodman and Ashley Sanchez. She loves to drive at people on the dribble and deliver passes in behind the opposing defense.

“It was huge for her when she scored her first goal in training, and everyone was celebrating with her, for her, so we’re just trying to continue to push that forward and keep growing her confidence,” said Ward.

The seven U.S. women’s national team players on the Spirit’s roster demonstrate the value of quick reaction time and decision-making. When Alexander has the ball on the counter attack, she can hear them breathing after they’ve lost it.

It’s not easy to chase down an explosive player like Alexander, after all.

Vincent laughs thinking about the time her teammates admonished her in practice after Alexander danced right past her and two others.

“I told her after practice, ‘Girl, you got me in trouble! But good job,’” Vincent said.

The only 2022 draftee signed by the Spirit, Alexander has already seen lots of playing time in Washington’s first two matches of the Challenge Cup, including her first professional start on Friday against Gotham FC.

Ward plans to rotate her through the lineup as much as possible during the preseason tournament. From there, Alexander will look to make an impact as the Spirit contend for back-to-back NWSL championships — and, if all goes according to plan, to score a goal so she can honor her father and share his story with the world.

“I have no doubt she’ll pursue an unbelievable professional career,” Hudson said. “She wants to be the very best.”

Jessa Braun is a contributing writer at Just Women’s Sports covering the NWSL and USWNT. Follow her on Twitter @jessabraun.

Cameron Brink already has her rookie of the year pick for the upcoming WNBA season, and it’s Indiana-bound star Caitlin Clark. 

In the latest edition of Kelley on the Street, host Kelley O'Hara caught up with Brink in New York hours before the Stanford phenom went No. 2 overall to the Los Angeles Sparks at the 2024 WNBA Draft. When O’Hara asked who would win the WNBA's rookie of the year, she answered without pause.

"Caitlin Clark," she said, while a fan commented that she thought Brink would take home the award. Brink later added that the extra foul granted to WNBA players will be "good for me."

"I hope it’s me," Charisma Osborne, who was later drafted by the Phoenix Mercury, said when asked her ROY prediction. "But, I don’t know — we’ll see."

Watch more of Kelley on the Street:

Maria Sanchez issued a statement on Thursday, confirming recent reports that she has requested a trade from the Houston Dash. 

In it, she revealed that the club has been aware of the request "since late March."

"This has all taken a toll and isn’t an easy thing to talk about, but I want to confirm that I’ve requested an immediate trade," she wrote. "My expectations and reasons have been clear. I trust that my current club’s management will honor my decision in a timely manner and proceed with accepting a trade."

"I’m eager to refocus and dive back into what I love most: playing football," she concluded.

Thank you, everyone, for the outpouring of kindness and support. pic.twitter.com/gcnN7dhCJU

— Maria Sanchez (@Maria17_7) April 19, 2024

Reports of Sanchez's trade request first surfaced on ESPN last week, and were later confirmed by multiple sources. 

In December of last year, Sanchez signed a three-year contract with the Dash valued at $1.5 million including bonuses and an option year. It was the largest contract in NWSL history at the time — a figure that would be eclipsed by multiple contracts in the following months. 

Sanchez spent the offseason as a restricted free agent, meaning that Houston could match any other team's offer to retain her rights. Should the Dash trade Sanchez, her current contract terms would remain intact, limiting potential buyers to teams able to afford to take on an inking of that size.

The Dash has yet to address the trade, instead reiterating to ESPN that Sanchez is "under contract, a choice she made in free agency at the end of 2023." 

Both the NWSL trade window and transfer window close tonight, April 19th, at 12 a.m. ET. The window will stay closed through the next 11 regular season games, reopening on August 1st, 2024.

The four-time league champion Seattle Storm unveiled their new practice facility on Thursday, with Storm co-owner Lisa Brummel dubbing Interbay's Seattle Storm Center for Basketball Performance the team’s "new home."

"It's just such a special space," Brummel told Fox 13 Seattle. "I think when the players get here, it's gonna be overwhelming."

The sprawling 50,000-square-foot, $64 million property is just the second designated practice facility to be designed and built expressly for a WNBA team, with the Storm further noting that 85% of all design and engineering team members involved in the project's construction were women and people of color. The finished product holds two professional indoor courts, two 3x3 outdoor courts, a state-of-the-art locker room, and players' lounge, plus designated areas for strength and conditioning, kitchen, dining, and nutrition, and recovery. 

"This facility reflects our commitment to providing our athletes an exceptional environment that supports their growth, health, and performance," said Storm co-owner Ginny Gilder in an official team release. "It’s built for women, by women, embodying our dedication to leading the way in professional women’s sports."

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For their part, the team can't wait to make the faciilty their own.

"It's amazing," Storm guard Jewell Loyd told Fox 13. "Not having to drive everywhere around, knowing you have access anytime of the day to get into the gym, to workout." 

Head coach Noelle Quinn said she predicts the team is "never going to leave this building."

"Which is a good thing for me," she continued. "You talk about having an edge in performance. We want our athletes to not only perform on the court, but get whatever they need."

All of the Storm's staff and operations will now live under one roof, and the team also has plans to launch a youth basketball program operating out of the building.

The Caitlin Clark effect is quickly making its mark on the big leagues, as WNBA host teams around the country rush to upgrade their Fever games to larger arenas in order to accommodate surging ticket sales.

With Clark mere weeks away from her Indiana Fever debut, both the Las Vegas Aces and Washington Mystics have officially relocated their scheduled home games with head coach Christie Sides' squad. On Thursday, the Mystics became the latest to adjust their plans, moving their June 7th matchup from Entertainment & Sports Arena in Southwest DC to the more centrally located — and much larger — Capital One Arena "due to unprecedented demand."

The Mystics home court's capacity taps out at 4,200, while Capital One Arena — home to the Wizards, Capitals, and Georgetown Hoya's Men's Basketball — can fit nearly five times that crowd at some 20,000 spectators.

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"The move to Capital One Arena will allow for additional fans in the stands as well as premium hospitality options, including Suites and the all-new all-inclusive courtside Hennessy Lofts," the team announced via Thursday's press release.

The Aces were one of the first teams to switch venues, aiming to take on the Indiana Fever in front of as many as 20,000 fans inside T-Mobile Arena on July 2nd. That’s a sizable a boost from their home venue, which holds just 12,000.

For those still planning to face the Fever in their home arenas, ticket prices have skyrocketed. Previously scheduled construction has already forced the LA Sparks to relocate their first five games — including their May 24th clash with the Fever — to Long Beach State's Walter Pyramid. The temporary venue is quite the downsize, holding just 4,000 in comparison to Crypto.com Arena's near-19,000. As of Friday, the get-in price for that game started around $400.

Despite fans launching a Change.org petition urging relocation, the Chicago Sky say they're unable to move their June 23rd Fever meeting from Wintrust Arena's 10,000-seat facility to the 23,500-seat United Center due to a concert. Tickets for that game start around $325 as of Friday.