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USWNT midfielder Sam Mewis shares update on her knee injury

Sam Mewis last played for the USWNT in 2021. (Sylvain Lefevre/Getty Images)

Sam Mewis provided an update on her knee injury, which has kept her off the pitch for the U.S. women’s national team since 2021.

The USWNT and Kansas City Current midfielder underwent a second surgery on her right knee in January 2023, and she detailed her progress before and since the procedure on the latest episode of the “Snacks” podcast for Just Women’s Sports.

Her goal right now is to “get as healthy as possible,” she told co-host Lynn Williams. But Mewis, 31, described the months leading up to her decision to have the second surgery as “one of the lowest points of my life.”

The initial injury occurred during a November 2017 match for the USWNT, after which she was sidelined for about six months. While she knew she was dealing with “a really serious injury” to her knee cartilage, she returned and became an integral part of the 2019 World Cup-winning squad.

Mewis managed to play through the injury until 2021, when her knee stopped responding positively to rehabilitation, she said. She played in the Olympics, winning the bronze medal in August, but has not played for the national team since then. She played in two preseason Challenge Cup matches for the Current in March 2022, and those mark her latest appearances in a professional match.

As time went on, she kept getting presented with “worse and worse choices and options” for treatment, she said.

“I think that was the lowest point, I just felt so frozen and numb by the prospect of not getting to have the career I thought I was going to have and I thought I had worked for,” she said.

After considering all her options, she chose to undergo another knee surgery in January, which followed an arthroscopic surgery in August 2021.

Mewis described the procedure as “a big deal,” which is why she hasn’t talked about it much to this point. The surgery placed cartilage donor grafts in her knee, which she said was a “really difficult decision.”

“I felt like I had taken all of these steps to try to get back to playing and I just kind of kept hitting a wall,” she said. “I kept failing in my rehab and having to start over and try all these new things and get more injections.

“And we just had reached the end of the line, where I didn’t like any of the options that were offered to me, which were basically stop or try and get this big surgery. And so it took me like months to make this decision

“There were no guarantees when it came to the surgery either. It was a big surgery. I was on crutches for eight weeks and no impact for, like, eight months.”

Williams remained by her friend’s side as she made the decision.

“You didn’t know what the outcome of the surgery is going to be so you had to be in the right mental space to make sure you were OK with going through this really big, maybe life-changing thing,” Williams said, noting that it was hard to know how to support Mewis as she grappled with her injury.

But Mewis was glad to have Williams’ support, she said.

“I could not decide what to do. And I was so lucky to have you there with me as a friend. I just felt so conflicted,” she said, noting that she sought input from a number of surgeons. “I just wanted more opinions. I wanted somebody to tell me that there was another option and that they knew what I needed to do to fix it. I asked everybody’s opinion, I almost feel like I got too much information.

“And that made me even more conflicted. And I was really just sad. All I wanted was to play.”

Ultimately, Mewis opted for the surgery. She did her rehab at home, where she was surrounded by loved ones. And in hindsight, she believes that she made “the best decision I could with the options that I had.”

She also has gained a lot of perspective over the last couple of years, she said. Her goal now is to “get as healthy as possible.” She is still going to the gym and physical therapy, and she is working toward her goal of getting her knee back “as good as it can get.”

“It still isn’t ever like what I would have chosen,” Mewis said. “It’s so hard to talk about, because I’m in a better place now. So I’m almost laughing about it. But I really wasn’t well.”

Georgia Makes Track and Field History with First NCAA Championship Win

Georgia track runner Dejanea Oakley competes in the 400-meter semifinals at the 2025 NCAA Track & Field Championships.
The Georgia Bulldogs won their first-ever NCAA outdoor track and field championship this weekend. (C. Morgan Engel/NCAA Photos via Getty Images)

Georgia outdoor track and field won their first-ever NCAA championship in style this weekend, finishing the four-day meet with a dominant 73 points to claim the team title by a massive margin of 26 points on Saturday.

Snagging podium finishes with 47 and 43 points, respectively, were silver medalists USC and bronze winners Texas A&M.

The Bulldogs proved impossible to beat, boasting individual champions in the 400-meter dash (junior Aaliyah Butler), the high jump (senior Elena Kulichenko), the hammer throw (grad student Stephanie Ratcliffe) and the 4×400-meter relay — more individual titles than any other school at the meet.

The winning relay team of freshman Michelle Smith, sophomore Sydney Harris, and juniors Butler and Dejanea Oakley particularly impressed, with three of the four taking individual podium spots as well.

Butler — a 2024 US Olympic gold medalist in the 4×400-meter relay — led the aforementioned 400-meter dash, with teammate Oakley securing second-place just behind her.

Meanwhile, Smith bagged bronze in the 400-meter hurdles.

Georgia head coach Caryl Smith Gilbert, who previously led three-time champion USC to the Trojans' 2018 and 2021 NCAA titles, is now the only woman to coach two different schools to an outdoor track and field national championship.

"I love these kids. They teach me more about me than I teach them about anything," said an emotional Smith Gilbert during the trophy ceremony. "They worked so hard, and they believed in themselves, and we did it."

Michigan senior Savannah Sutherland leaps over a hurdle in the 400-meter hurdles final at the 2025 NCAA Division I Outdoor Track and Field Championships.
Savannah Sutherland broke USA star Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone's NCAA record. (C. Morgan Engel/NCAA Photos via Getty Images)

Trio of NCAA records crumble at championship meet

While first-time champion Georgia was making team program history, a trio of NCAA women were busy shattering national track and field records this weekend.

First, Washington sophomore Hana Moll became the national pole vault champion with a new NCAA record leap of 4.79 meters on Thursday.

Notably, this was the third time this season that the collegiate pole vault mark was cleared by a Huskie, with Moll's twin sister Amanda breaking the record twice last month.

Then on Saturday, two records fell, with Alabama sophomore Doris Lemngole earning her second straight 3,000-meter steeplechase title in 8:58.15 — the fastest time in NCAA history.

Michigan senior Savannah Sutherland, a 2024 Olympian for Team Canada, closed out the 2025 NCAA record-breaking by dethroning a legend, smashing the 400-meter hurdles mark previously held by now-two-time Olympic individual champion Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone.

Sutherland's 52.46-second race was 0.29 seconds below McLaughlin-Levrone's collegiate record — and a full 0.8 seconds below Sutherland's own personal best.

Five-Match Winning Streak Keeps Kansas City Atop NWSL Standings

Kansas City striker Temwa Chawinga and head coach Vlatko Andonovski high-five after a 2025 NWSL victory.
Kansas City striker Temwa Chawinga sealed the Saturday win for the Current with her eighth goal of the 2025 NWSL season. (Eric Thomas/NWSL via Getty Images)

The Kansas City Current continues to hold court atop the NWSL standings, earning their fifth straight win after a brief two-game skid by defeating No. 7 Racing Louisville 4-2 on Saturday.

The Current pounced early, going up 3-0 ahead of the match's 20-minute mark before sealing the win with a second-half stoppage-time goal from star striker Temwa Chawinga.

KC is currently winning the race to stay ahead of 2024 Shield-winner and champions Orlando, who won their third straight match after a second-half dagger by Barbra Banda lifted the No. 2 Pride over No. 9 Bay FC 1-0 on Friday.

Elsewhere, the San Diego Wave regained their grip on third place with Friday's 3-2 victory over the No. 12 Houston Dash, while the No. 5 Portland Thorns began to encroach on Washington's fourth-place standing with a 2-0 win over the Spirit on Sunday.

The top four teams weren't the only ones moving this weekend, as Gotham earned their first regular-season points since early May with Friday's 3-0 win over the last-place Utah Royals — despite two red card offenses limiting their late-game on-field roster to nine.

Along with boosting the Bats back above the playoff line into eighth place, the victory saw NY/NJ forward Esther pull ahead of Chawinga and Banda in the 2025 Golden Boot race, with her two-goal showing putting the Spanish national at nine goals on the season.

While no team is immune to the midseason blues, this weekend's widening eight-point gap between first and fourth place on the table is separating the contenders from the pretenders.

Caitlin Clark Return Fuels Fever Win Over Formerly Unbeaten Liberty

Indiana Fever guard Caitlin Clark celebrates a play during a 2025 WNBA game.
Indiana Fever guard Caitlin Clark scored 32 points to hand the New York Liberty their first loss of 2025. (A.J. Mast/NBAE via Getty Images)

Indiana Fever superstar Caitlin Clark returned with a bang on Saturday, coming off a quad strain to score 32 points and hand the reigning champion New York Liberty their first loss of the 2025 season.

Despite Liberty guard Sabrina Ionescu’s game-leading 34 points, the Fever guard finished the 102-88 victory having contributed to 54 of her team's overall points as either a passer or a shooter, notching nine assists and eight rebounds while sinking 50% from behind the arc.

"Don't we always expect that kind of game from Caitlin?" Fever head coach Stephanie White asked after beating the Liberty.

Despite filling some key roster gaps over the offseason, the dreams of an Indiana title run appear to hinge on Clark being healthy and available, with the Fever sputtering to a 2-3 record during her five-game absence.

"Emotionally, it's a relief, it's a lift," White said. "This group, they stay together. They draw strength from one another; I draw strength from them. Every single day we take one step forward together, we're building trust."

Angel Reese scores career-first triple-double

Clark's fellow 2024 draftee Angel Reese also hit a milestone this weekend, becoming the second-youngest player to ever record a triple-double, notching the first of her WNBA career in the Chicago Sky's 78-66 win over the Connecticut Sun on Sunday.

"I think some of the best players in the world, if their shot is not falling, they try to find other ways to get the team together and stay involved," Reese said afterwards. "I'm just super excited, and then to add it with a win just feels really good."

With 2025 WNBA All-Star voting officially underway, this stretch of the season gives individual standouts even more incentive to step into the spotlight and shine.

The Atlanta Dream Ascends the WNBA Standings Behind Record Performances

Washington's Sug Sutton tries to defend as the Atlanta Dream's Jordin Canada drives to the basket during a 2025 WNBA game.
The Atlanta Dream have won their last three games by an average of 23.6 points. (Kenny Giarla/NBAE via Getty Images)

The third-place Atlanta Dream are storming up the WNBA standings, winning their last three games by an average margin of 23.6 points after routing the Washington Mystics 89-56 on Sunday.

Atlanta guard Rhyne Howard opened the weekend by tying the WNBA record for three-pointers made in a single game, recording nine baskets from behind the arc as the Dream took down the Chicago Sky 88-70 on Friday.

Offseason pick-up Brittney Griner has also been busy, passing WNBA legend Lisa Leslie for No. 2 on the league's all-time career blocks list following this weekend's Atlanta victories.

While the Dream have made the playoffs in each of the last three seasons, a few key roster additions plus a new coaching hire have Atlanta entertaining a shot at a first-ever championship bid.

The momentum shift has largely been on offense, with the Dream hitting a franchise-record 18 three-pointers while guard Allisha Gray put up a career-high 32 points on Sunday.

Also quietly climbing the WNBA's ranks is the only other team currently on a three-game winning streak, the Golden State Valkyries.

Bolstered by a 76-70 Saturday win over the always-dangerous Seattle Storm, the 2025 expansion side secured a 5-5 season record to claim sixth place on the league table this weekend.

How to watch the Atlanta Dream on Tuesday

Nearly the entire league is in action on Tuesday, as 12 of the 13 teams will face off on WNBA courts.

The Dream will have their work cut out for them as they face the 2024 champion Liberty at 7 PM ET, taking on a New York side eager to bounce back from their first 2025 loss.

As for the Valkyries, Golden State will visit Paige Bueckers and the Dallas Wings at 8 PM ET.

Both games will air live on WNBA League Pass.

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