The race for the NWSL’s Rookie of the Year is starting to narrow, with a few clear favorites emerging as the 2021 regular season winds down.

This year’s Olympic break offered the league’s younger players a rare opportunity to shine while NWSL veterans left for Tokyo, making way for new faces in several team’s starting lineups. Now, with international talent back from the Games and the playoff push well underway, some names have floated to the top of the league’s list of newbies poised to contend for Rookie of the Year honors.

Here are the top three:

1. Trinity Rodman

Trinity Rodman has been making headlines since before she took the pitch for the Washington Spirit. Originally set to play at Washington State University, Rodman opted to go pro after her freshman season was canceled due to COVID-19. Picked second overall in the 2021 draft, she became the youngest player ever to be drafted by the NWSL at 18 years old. Having a famous father also brought the teen even more attention.

Entering the league surrounded by hype, Rodman answered the call, scoring in her debut with the Spirit and quickly establishing herself as the team’s offensive target.

The first one is always special! Relive @trinity_rodman's first regular season NWSL goal 🔥🔥

Presented by @progressive pic.twitter.com/nId133quIR

— Washington Spirit (@WashSpirit) June 21, 2021

In her 16 matches with Washington, Rodman has scored four goals and notched three assists. She is currently tied for fourth in the league for goals and assists, alongside Ashley Hatch and Jess Fishlock.

Rodman is known to antagonize opponents’ backlines, beating defenders one-v-one with the confidence of a seasoned veteran. Her and teammate Ashley Sanchez have become one of the most formidable attacking duos in the NWSL, and as the Spirit fight for a spot in the league playoffs, expect Rodman to continue her break-out season, one that could be marked by a post-season run and which will likely be crowned with a Rookie of the Year award.

2. Ebony Salmon

Ebony Salmon came to the NWSL by way of Bristol City, with the English striker signing a two-year contract with Racing Louisville FC in May.

Though she was late to the party, Salmon made quite the entrance, scoring in her first minute on the pitch with Louisville.

We'll take any excuse to share @ebony_salmon's debut goal again. 🤩 pic.twitter.com/8al6SISk9f

— Racing Louisville FC (@RacingLouFC) August 29, 2021

The 20-year-old now has five goals in her 12 appearances with Racing Louisville. She is currently tied for 6^th on the goal-scoring list, only two goals behind Ashley Hatch, Ifeoma Onumonu and Sydney Leroux, who stand atop the leaderboard.

Salmon is also fourth in goals per 90 at .59, highlighting the rookie’s lethal efficiency on the field.

The danger in Salmon’s game lies in her ability to capitalize in the final third, pouncing on defensive miscues and converting them into points.

Ebony Salmon gives @RacingLouFC the lead 💥

That nutmeg though 👀 pic.twitter.com/BohgzoNpsO

— CBS Sports Soccer (@CBSSportsSoccer) August 19, 2021

In her debut NWSL season, Salmon has made her presence known, establishing herself as Louisville’s premier attacker and leading goal scorer. Not bad for someone who’s still just 20 years old.

3. Emily Fox

Why should forwards get all the glory? Emily Fox is proof positive that defenders can make an impact, too.

Picked first overall in the 2021 draft by Louisville, Fox had three caps with the senior USWNT before ever playing in the NWSL. The North Carolina Tar Heel has now made 16 appearances with Racing, anchoring the club’s defensive line.

Fox has completed 557 successful passes so far this season, with an 85.3 percent accuracy rate in her own half. The 23-year-old also has 40 clearances, 37 interceptions and five blocks to her name. As a defender, Fox isn’t afraid to get high up the pitch, notching two shots this year, with one landing on target.

Emily Fox is having a game! The Louisville defender gets a shot away, but Aubrey Bledsoe is there! #LOUvWAS pic.twitter.com/WlfJGnxf7O

— The Equalizer (@EqualizerSoccer) May 22, 2021

Fox has already been named to the NWSL’s May Team of the Month, quietly making a case for herself on the domestic and international stage. While she might not walk away with the ROTY award, her debut season should give Racing Louisville fans confidence that they’ve found their defensive cornerstone for years to come.

The PWHL is continuing to break records, as Sunday's 2025/26 Takeover Tour stop in Washington, DC, saw 17,228 fans pack into Capital One Arena to see the No. 2 New York Sirens top the No. 4 Montréal Victoire 2-1 — setting a new US women's hockey attendance record in the process.

The benchmark surpasses the previous US record set this past November, when the Seattle Torrent welcomed 16,014 fans to their inaugural home opener.

Sunday's DC crowd also sees the US mark inch closer to the overall professional women's hockey attendance record, set in April 2024 when 21,105 PWHL fans sold out Montréal's Bell Centre to watch the Victoire take on the Toronto Sceptres.

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"Washington, DC, showed up in such a big way, and the energy our fans brought into the arena turned this game into something truly special," PWHL EVP of business operations Amy Scheer said of the first-ever PWHL game in the nation's capital. "Moments like this capture the joy of our sport and the momentum behind the league."

The third-year league is currently racing through its best-attended month on record, drawing more than 154,000 fans across the last 16 games while averaging crowds of 8,726 across all 49 games so far this season.

The Kansas City Current delivered some concerning news this week, with the NWSL club revealing that star striker Temwa Chawinga remains sidelined with an hip adductor injury while the league's 2026 preseason gets underway.

The team currently lists the reigning back-to-back NWSL MVP under a season-ending injury (SEI) designation, a category earned after Chawinga picked up the injury in mid-October, leaving the Kansas City attacker benched for the Current's quarterfinal loss to eventual 2025 NWSL champions Gotham FC.

"It's hard because of the nature of the injury," incoming Kansas City head coach Chris Armas told The Athletic last week. "With Temwa, we've got to be very careful, but she's looking great and doing lots of good work on the return to play."

Also on the Current's SEI list is standout winger Michelle Cooper, with the 23-year-old rising USWNT star suffering a foot injury in Kansas City's final regular-season match of 2025.

"It was a little bit of a tough ending here after, honestly, an amazing historic season," said Armas. "Hopefully they are back as soon as possible, but it's still unclear."

Both Chawinga and Cooper will have some time to recover before Kansas City kicks off their 2026 NWSL regular season against the Utah Royals on March 14th — with teams allowed to lift a player's SEI status any time once the season begins.

The world's top tennis stars are rolling in Melbourne, as the first round of the 2026 Australian Open wrapped early Tuesday morning with only a few ranked seeds suffering early defeats.

World No. 15 Emma Navarro was the highest-ranked US player to fall in the first round, with the 24-year-old exiting the season's first Grand Slam in a 6-3, 3-6, 3-6 loss to Poland's No. 50 Magda Linette on Sunday.

No. 11 Ekaterina Alexandrova also stumbled in the first round, with her Melbourne run ending in a three-set loss to Turkey's No. 112 Zeynep Sönmez on Saturday before No. 68 Peyton Stearns ousted fellow US star and 2020 Australian Open champion No. 30 Sofia Kenin in straight sets on Sunday.

Many contenders still remain in the hunt, however, as the entire WTA Top 10 cruised through their opening matchups to advance to the Slam's second round.

That said, fans will miss out on one highly anticipated showdown, as wild card entry Venus Williams's first-round loss ended the 45-year-old tennis icon's path to a second-round clash with US favorite No. 3 Coco Gauff.

How to watch the second round of the 2026 Australian Open

The 2026 Australian Open continues when the Slam's second round kicks off with a Tuesday night slate that features stars like No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka, No. 3 Coco Gauff, and No. 7 Jasmine Paolini.

Tuesday's action begins at 7 PM ET, with all Melbourne matches airing live across ESPN platforms.

The ongoing dominance of UConn basketball has started to break records, as the top-ranked Huskies humbled unranked Notre Dame 85-47 on Monday — keeping their perfect 2025/26 NCAA season intact.

Monday's 38-point margin of victory marked the largest in the teams' 20-year rivalry, with the win also snapping the Huskies' three-game head-to-head losing streak against the Fighting Irish.

"UConn showed why they're the best team in the country," Notre Dame head coach Niele Ivey said postgame.

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Even more, UConn sophomore forward Sarah Strong added her own individual history to Monday's tally, becoming the third-fastest Husky to reach 1,000 career points, with the 19-year-old trailing only program legends Maya Moore and Paige Bueckers — who each did so in 55 games to Strong's 59 — in the race to reach that stat.

"I would love to see if anybody has scored 1,000 points by taking less shots than she's taking," said UConn head coach Geno Auriemma. "She's so efficient."

"It means a lot to me I guess, but I wouldn't be able to do it without my teammates," Strong said after leading the Huskies with an 18-point, 11-rebound double-double on Monday night.

How to watch UConn basketball this week

UConn now returns to Big East play, with the No. 1 Huskies taking on unranked Georgetown at 7:30 PM ET on Thursday, airing live on TNT.