All Scores

USWNT 2022 player grades: Sophia Smith earns top winger marks

Sophia Smith scored a team-high 11 goals in 2022. (David Rogers/Getty Images)

It’s the end of the calendar year for the U.S. women’s national team, with 2022 performances all wrapped up in a bow. Naturally, that also means it’s time for end-of-year report cards to evaluate how each player did in the run-up to the 2023 World Cup.

Again, a quick set of criteria: Despite the team’s first three-game losing streak in decades, the U.S. lost only three games total in 2022. A failing grade would indicate a player is wildly unprepared for the game at this level, which is not something we saw from the group playing the lion’s share of minutes this year. Likewise, an A+ indicates a player with all-star, team-on-their-back, best-in-the-world status.

Throughout this series, which will grade players by position, I’m going to avoid those who didn’t get minutes in 2022 and those who have missed significant time due to injury.

So far, we’ve graded the goalkeepers, outside backs, center-backs, defensive midfielders and attacking midfielders. Now, let’s take a look at the winger position.

Sophia Smith – A+

Sophia Smith is my personal pick for USWNT Player of the Year in 2022. She scored 11 goals, played over 1,000 minutes and comfortably filled roles on the wing and occasionally at center forward. Her most consistent playing time came on the right side of the pitch, and the 22-year-old showed off new facets to her game when given more consistent opportunities. Smith is an obvious goal-scoring talent, but her versatility in space might still be underrated. She can drop back to help defensively, slide into the midfield to receive the ball and overlap with her teammates to exploit pockets of space as they open up.

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(Scott Winters/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)

Mallory Pugh – A-

Only compared to Smith does Pugh come in at a lower grade. If Smith was a force on the right in 2022, Pugh became her counterpart on the left. Pugh often leaves one or two obvious chances on the board, but they are noticeable because she creates them with such consistency. She paired well with Catarina Macario early in the year and was greatly missed during the USWNT’s two-game trip to Europe in October. In the final match of the year, she had perhaps her most comprehensive performance, driving the team forward with her constant energy and scoring the game-winning goal against Germany.

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(David Rogers/Getty Images)

Trinity Rodman – B+

The greatest knock against Rodman is that we didn’t get to see nearly as much of her as we would have hoped. The 20-year-old played in 10 matches in 2022, with her most notable performance coming in the USWNT’s 2-1 loss to England in October. Rodman is a more connective player than she gets credit for, with a good sense of when to drop into the midfield for service. She scored an equalizer at Wembley off a scintillating full-team sequence that was controversially ruled offside. The way coach Vlatko Andonovski used her primarily as a late-game substitute underplays her readiness for the international level.

Margaret Purce – B

Purce was left off the U.S. rosters late in the calendar year due to Gotham FC’s NWSL struggles, perhaps unfairly. The USWNT is packed at winger, making roster decisions particularly difficult, but Purce did bring a spark off the bench in 2022 that served a valuable purpose. She sealed a Concacaf W win against Haiti with a goal earned through sheer tenacity. Purce has the competitiveness and intelligence of a World Champion-level player, but so often in the 27-year-old’s international career, she’s ended up the odd player out of a crowded position.

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(Omar Vega/Getty Images)

Megan Rapinoe – B-

It’s difficult to properly rate Rapinoe at this point in her career, since her strengths and limitations are so well-known. She’s one of the team’s key leaders, bridging the gap between the older generation of USWNT rosters and the new. She’s a killer in dead-ball situations, including on crucial penalty kicks, and she still can whip in a cross better than most. But when she plays significant minutes consecutively, she can leave the outside back behind her isolated in defense and isn’t always on the same page as the rest of the frontline when the U.S. moves quickly in transition. She’s perfect for her current role as intended, but Pugh’s absence in October underlined the USWNT’s vulnerability on the left if they have to rely on depth.

Claire Watkins is a Staff Writer at Just Women’s Sports. Follow her on Twitter @ScoutRipley.

2025 WNBA Season Tips Off with Action-Packed Friday Lineup

The Golden State Valkyries and LA Sparks tip off a 2025 WNBA preseason game.
The Valkyries play their first-ever official league game in Friday's 2025 WNBA season tip-off. (Supriya Limaye/ISI Photos/Getty Images)

The 2025 WNBA season is finally here, with Friday's official tip-off leading an opening weekend full of tough competition and simmering storylines.

The reigning champion New York Liberty enter as odds-on favorites, but results are nearly impossible to predict after a very active offseason across the league.

This weekend's slate features new builds, regional rivalries, and plenty of fresh faces as top 2025 draft picks log their first pro minutes.

  • Minnesota Lynx vs. Dallas Wings, Friday at 7:30 PM ET (ION): This year's No. 1 draft pick Paige Bueckers makes her official WNBA debut as revamped Dallas tests itself against a Minnesota team still stinging over last year's title loss.
  • Los Angeles Sparks vs. Golden State Valkyries, Friday at 10 PM ET (ION): The Valkyries play their first-ever regular-season game, looking to form an identity against downstate rivals LA, led by new Sparks addition Kelsey Plum.
  • Las Vegas Aces vs. New York Liberty, Saturday at 1 PM ET (ABC): The 2023 champs meet the 2024 title-winners in a heavyweight clash that sees 2024 MVP A'ja Wilson take on a confident New York team led by guard Sabrina Ionescu.
  • Chicago Sky vs. Indiana Fever, Saturday at 3 PM ET (ABC): Last year's rookie headliners Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese meet again in Indiana, with the regional rivals relying on both incoming vets and young cores to write their next chapters.

Packed with great matchups, this weekend is the ideal tip-off for a 2025 season that promises to be a wild ride — no matter which WNBA team you follow.

No. 1 Kansas City Faces No. 2 Orlando in Top-Table NWSL Weekend Match

Orlando's Marta dribbles the ball past Kansas City's Nichelle Prince during the 2024 NWSL semifinals.
Orlando ousted Kansas City in the 2024 NWSL semifinals. (Dustin Markland/Getty Images)

The NWSL is back in action this weekend with a top-table match, a bicoastal battle, and some middle-of-the-pack clashes as the 2025 season enters its ninth matchday.

Parity is riding high these days, with just three points dividing the No. 1 Kansas City Current and No. 3 Washington Spirit in the NWSL standings — while only three more separate the No. 4 San Diego Wave from the No. 8 Seattle Reign.

With competition remaining tough as nails, don't expect much more daylight between teams following this weekend's tense lineup:

  • No. 7 Gotham FC vs. No. 4 San Diego Wave, Friday at 7:30 PM ET (NWSL+): Coming off a two-game winless streak, Gotham is still searching for consistency as they take on a confident San Diego side that hasn't lost in four games.
  • No. 9 Racing Louisville vs. No. 8 Seattle Reign, Friday at 7:30 PM ET (NWSL+): All tied up with 11 points each, Seattle will look to hold off Louisville as Racing continues to hunt the club's first-ever playoff berth.
  • No. 2 Orlando Pride vs. No. 1 Kansas City Current, Friday at 8 PM ET (Prime): There's little love lost between these NWSL titans, as the reigning champion Pride takes on hosting duties in an attempt to leapfrog current top-dog Kansas City in Friday's marquee match.

In a season dominated by topsy-turvy results, the pressure to secure points week-over-week weighs heaviest on the teams who know they have the talent to rise above the rest.

Esther Extends Gotham Contract Amid MVP-Quality NWSL Season

Gotham forward Esther celebrates a goal during a 2025 NWSL match.
Gotham FC's Esther currently leads the 2025 NWSL Golden Boot race. (Hannah Foslien/NWSL via Getty Images)

This season's NWSL Golden Boot leader Esther González is sticking with Gotham, with the Spanish international extending her contract with the NJ/NY club through 2027.

After helping Gotham to a first-ever NWSL championship in 2023, González earned the league's Best XI Second Team honors last year before launching a red-hot campaign this season.

The 2023 World Cup winner has tallied seven goals in nine games for Gotham in 2025, showcasing a blistering rush of form that has her sitting two goals ahead of the next Golden Boot race contender.

"Above all, it's about how I've felt during these two and a half years with Gotham FC," González said in Thursday's team announcement. "Continuing to be happy both on and off the field is really important. To keep enjoying myself and representing Gotham's colors, which I truly identify with, is something really incredible."

Gotham's continued investment underlines the 32-year-old's case for 2025 MVP candidacy, as award frontrunners start to emerge one-third of the way through the 2025 NWSL season.

González leads the NWSL in shots on target while sitting fourth in expected goals per 90 minutes, with her scoring outpacing many of her peers.

Other players crafting strong 2025 NWSL MVP resumes include Kansas City's 2024 MVP Temwa Chawinga and comeback star Debinha, Angel City wunderkind Alyssa Thompson, and Orlando sharpshooter Barbra Banda.

FA Cup Finalist Chelsea FC Heads to Wembley with Historic Treble in Sight

Chelsea defender Lucy Bronze heads the game-winning goal past Manchester United goalkeeper Phallon Tullis-Joyce in a 2025 WSL match.
Chelsea will aim for the domestic treble in Sunday's 2025 FA Cup final. (Molly Darlington - The FA/The FA via Getty Images)

Following a dominant 2024/25 campaign, Chelsea FC will look to cap their historic run by completing a domestic treble on Sunday, when they'll battle Manchester United for a third season trophy in the 2025 FA Cup final.

After securing the 2024/25 League Cup in March amidst an unbeaten run to a sixth-straight WSL title, the Blues will close out their season against the league's third-place finishers, the Red Devils, in London's iconic Wembley Stadium.

Should Chelsea secure the 2025 FA Cup, they will add a second domestic treble to their resume after clinching their first trio of trophies in the 2020/21 season. This time, however, they could do so in undefeated fashion.

"We are in a really good place, just the fact that we won the league being unbeaten," said first-year Blues manager Sonia Bompastor. "To end the season with an FA Cup final at Wembley against Man United is maybe the perfect way to end the season."

The 2023/24 Manchester United team and staff celebrate their first-ever FA Cup championship.
Manchester United seeks to defend their 2024 FA Cup title. (Visionhaus/Getty Images)

Manchester United hunts second straight FA Cup trophy

Standing between Chelsea and the treble are 2024 FA Cup champions Manchester United, who will take aim at their only trophy of the season partly behind the play of 2024/25 WSL Golden Glove winner and USWNT goalkeeper prospect Phallon Tullis-Joyce.

Man United enter as the game's undisputed underdogs, having dropped both their WSL regular-season matches against Chelsea in narrow 1-0 defeats.

Even more, the Red Devils must overcome a particular tough stretch of play, facing more than a month without a victory on their schedule.

Man United's last win was their 2-0 FA Cup semifinal victory over Manchester City on April 13th, with the Red Devils suffering a pair of losses and recording two draws to close out WSL play.

That said, United has experience downing the Blues on the FA Cup stage, ousting Chelsea from last year's semifinals en route to a club-first FA title.

Remarking that Manchester United "are a really strong team," Bompastor pointed out that the Red Devils "don't concede a lot of goals, and we need to remember that."

"You only get the trophy if you win, so we need to make sure going into the game we have the best preparation and we perform on the day."

How to watch Chelsea play Manchester United at the FA Cup final

The 2025 FA Cup final between Chelsea FC and Manchester United will kick off at 8:30 AM ET on Sunday.

Live coverage of the match will begin at 8:20 AM ET on ESPN+.

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