The U.S. women’s national team is abruptly moving into a new cycle, as it tries to shrug off a disappointing World Cup campaign and bounce back at the 2024 Olympic Games. The team has yet to name an official successor to head coach Vlatko Andonovski, and all assumptions about the USWNT player pool are off while the team resets.

A number of players on the World Cup roster this summer didn’t get the opportunities they perhaps deserved, but that doesn’t mean the future isn’t still bright for the four-time World Cup champions. So, what comes next for the USWNT’s bench players?

Let’s take a look at how they are currently contributing to their club teams, and why they’re still in the mix for permanent USWNT roster spots.

Ashley Sanchez, M, Washington Spirit

Sanchez explained to the media upon her World Cup return that she was a bit surprised by her role at the tournament. “Let’s just say the role [I was told I would fill] was not what I played,” she told the Washington Post after returning to the Spirit.

Sanchez is a player who can exploit space as both an attacker and a playmaker and isn’t afraid to take shots on goal. She made that clear with a ripper of a goal just 40 seconds into her first game back with Washington. Under Andonovski, Sanchez was frequently asked to sit on the backline of the USWNT’s opponent and as an additional attacker rather than a traditional midfielder. The finishing pressures placed on the player in that role have never suited Sanchez, who thrives when she has the freedom to collaborate with teammates like Trinity Rodman. As the U.S. works out its midfield shape, allowing Sanchez to create her own space will be paramount.

Alana Cook, D, OL Reign

Cook had one of the USWNT’s strangest World Cup experiences. After carrying the most minutes of any U.S. field player in 2022, she never saw the field at the World Cup, abruptly dropped in place of Julie Ertz at center-back. She’s since returned to a starting role at OL Reign, as she further develops her club partnership with Sam Hiatt.

Cook is a talented player who has struggled with the timing of the game at the international level. The Reign are currently battling for NWSL playoff position, sitting just above the playoff line and five points away from the top of the league table. The team is also on a two-game regular season losing streak heading into September, with an urgency to shore up their formation in defensive transition. Cook is now in the difficult position of needing to step up for her team at home without having gained the playing experience of a World Cup.

Alyssa Thompson, F, Angel City

Alyssa Thompson didn’t feature much for the U.S. during the World Cup, but she perhaps returned to a better situation at the club level than the one she left. Angel City is undefeated in nine games under interim manager Becki Tweed, rising in the NWSL standings and pushing for the club’s first-ever playoff berth.

Thompson has seen some of her scoring responsibilities lessened by the Angel City midfield and the team’s newfound tenacity on set pieces. She continues to stretch defenses with her speed and positioning, while benefiting from a team no longer dependent on getting her the ball on the dribble to have a shot at creating quality chances. The best-case scenario for Thompson is that she continues to grow in her rookie season without the weight of a playoff spot on her shoulders, and so far Angel City is succeeding.

Emily Sonnett, D/M, OL Reign

Emily Sonnett played the part of a World Cup hero in the USWNT’s Round of 16 matchup against Sweden. The 29-year-old has mostly excelled as a center-back at the professional level but also has experience at defensive midfield. After short stints at outside back for the U.S., Sonnett rediscovered her No. 6 roots when Andonovski turned to her unexpectedly to partner with Andi Sullivan and help shore up the team’s shaky formation in the knockout stage.

She has since returned to a Reign team that is firmly set on Cook and Hiatt as their center-backs, and she will likely continue to develop as a defensive midfielder as the Reign jockey for playoff position. Sonnett filled in for an injured Quinn in the early stages of OL Reign’s 2023 regular season, using her natural ability to command space from the midfield. She most recently paired with Quinn in a double-pivot shape, showing the respect she has earned as a midfielder in a very short period of time.

Sofia Huerta, D, OL Reign

Sofia Huerta didn’t see much of the field during the 2023 World Cup, as Andonovski took a conservative approach to his defense. The Reign defender is one of the most reliable contributors in the NWSL, bringing quality on the ball in attacking areas and the ability to drop crosses into the box on a dime. She likely doesn’t need further development as a player nor a confidence boost to be in the mix for the USWNT in 2024. She’ll always be a fair option for a USWNT call-up, depending on how the new coach wants the team to play.

Lynn Williams, F, Gotham FC

Lynn Williams’ vulnerability as part of the USWNT player pool has never made much sense. Her understanding of the team’s defensive pressing triggers are better than almost any other available player. She can fit into both wide and central spaces, and she can thrive in high-volume shooting schemes and in taking key chances without controlling possession.

Williams is a legitimate NWSL Golden Boot and MVP candidate in her first season with Gotham. The forward should be a valued part of the USWNT’s plans going forward, rather than held at arm’s length by the program, as she has been in the past.

Kristie Mewis, M, Gotham FC

Kristie Mewis has always shown flashes of sophistication at the international level that she’s never had significant time to develop. Mewis is known as a galvanizing locker room presence and a versatile midfielder who can slot into a number of roles as a substitute. She also brings quality on set-piece delivery, and yet hasn’t been given many of those opportunities nor been relied upon to hone one particular position.

Mewis was a starting midfielder for what was arguably the USWNT’s best win in 2023, a 1-0 victory over Japan at the SheBelieves Cup. She was able to combat Japan’s quick-trigger possession approach with her defensive positioning to keep them off the scoresheet. Mewis’ prowess in that moment only takes on greater weight after the World Cup, where Japan was one of the best teams before losing to Sweden in the quarterfinals, and should be considered in future USWNT evaluation.

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

Three Top 10 NCAA basketball teams suffered big upset losses on Thursday, shifting late-season momentum to the sport's underdogs ahead of next week’s conference tournaments.

No. 3 Notre Dame fell 86-81 to No. 24 Florida State, marking the Irish's second straight loss since reaching No. 1 in the AP Poll on February 17th.

"Just really frustrated with our performance defensively tonight," Notre Dame coach Niele Ivey after last night’s game. "I didn’t think that we were locked in for four quarters."

No. 7 LSU and No. 8 UNC also saw tough results, with the Tigers falling in a narrow 88-85 overtime battle to No. 20 Alabama while the Tar Heels stumbled 68-53 to in-state rival No. 16 Duke.

Even No. 1 Texas faced some adversity, eking out a 68-64 win after unranked Mississippi State pushed the Longhorns to the brink.

All in all, as the hyper-competitive 2024/25 women's college basketball season draws to a close, building exhaustion, waning focus, and minutes management are inducing game-changing upsets — putting the country’s top teams firmly on notice.

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Conference titles on the line in final NCAA games

While most of Thursday's upsets affect seedings further down conference tables, Notre Dame's loss puts the Irish in danger of losing the ACC tournament’s No. 1 seed right at the finish line.

Notre Dame now sits alongside No. 9 NC State atop the conference table, with the Wolfpack holding a potential tie-breaking head-to-head advantage over the Irish. The only way Notre Dame can now book the top ACC tournament spot is with a win over No. 25 Louisville plus an NC State loss against unranked SMU this Sunday.

Even more, Notre Dame could now lose their projected top-seeded entry into the 2025 NCAA tournament.

Along with the ACC trophy, regular-season titles in the SEC, Big 12, and Big Ten will now come down to weekend finales. The Big East's No. 5 UConn stands alone as the only major conference team to have already secured their title.

Similar to the ACC, the No. 1 SEC seed relies on a pair of Sunday games featuring the conference's two top contenders: No. 1 Texas and No. 6 South Carolina.

The Big 12 and Big Ten, however, finish the season with table leaders meeting in winner-take-all finals this weekend. The Big Ten title will be decided in Saturday's clash between No. 4 USC and No. 2 UCLA, before No. 10 TCU and No. 17 Baylor will battle for the Big 12 trophy on Sunday.

In the pair's first rounds earlier this season, USC and TCU emerged with wins over their respective conference foes.

How to watch top women's college basketball games this weekend

The country's best NCAA teams are all aiming to take care of conference business this weekend, pushing for top seeds and eyeing deep postseason runs.

Saturday's spotlight belongs to No. 4 USC and No. 2 UCLA, with the crosstown rivales' rematch determining the Big Ten title. USC tips off against UCLA at 9 PM ET, live on Fox Sports.

Then, Notre Dame kicks off ESPN's Sunday coverage with a decisive game against No. 25 Louisville at 12 PM ET.

Sunday's DI finale belongs to the Big 12, where No. 10 TCU takes on No. 17 Baylor at 6:30 PM ET, airing live on FS1.

Unrivaled basketball returns to action on Friday night, with the 3×3 league's weekend games bolstered by Thursday's huge off-court business breakthrough with the WNBA Players Association (WNBPA).

The offseason league officially secured a licensing deal with the WNBPA, allowing Unrivaled to sell merchandise showcasing player names, images, and likenesses both in-person and online.

Without a brokered licensing deal, Unrivaled faced limitations in its attempts to capitalize on its near-instant popularity, as the league could previously only use non-player-specific team branding.

The WNBPA’s willingness to help Unrivaled push the envelope — despite the lengthy negotiation — sets an important precedence for increased monetization opportunities across women’s sports.

"This is a sign of the Players Association’s responsibility to its players, to its members to monetize the rights fully," WNBPA executive director Terri Jackson told Front Office Sports on Thursday. "Their group rights don’t need to be limited to WNBA-only associated products."

While the player-specific merchandise isn't available just yet, fans can expect customized jerseys, T-shirts, and even game-used memorabilia to hit shelves soon — especially as the league’s March 10th regular-season finale nears.

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Postseason line looms as Unrivaled hits Friday's court

As the 3×3 basketball stars return to work this weekend, Unrivaled co-founder Breanna Stewart’s Mist and her NY Liberty teammate Sabrina Ionescu’s Phantom BC will both be hunting a bit of magic to boost them above the postseason cutoff line.

Trailing the pack with twin 3-7 records, the squads square off against each other on Friday, each aiming to step up into playoff contention with a win.

With all Unrivaled teams taking the weekend's court hoping to create separation from the bottom of the standings, Vinyl BC has arguably the most to lose. Currently sitting in fourth place on the league table, Arike Ogunbowale's squad faces an uphill climb against the third-place Laces on Friday and the league-leading Lunar Owls on Saturday to maintain their precarious postseason positioning.

How to watch Unrivaled 3×3 Basketball games this weekend

The Vinyl will kick off Unrivaled's weekend action against the Laces on Friday at 7:15 PM ET, with the Mist taking on the Phantom one hour later. Both games will air live on TNT.

Saturday's games will air on truTV beginning at 6 PM ET, when the Lunar Owls battle Vinyl BC before the Mist tip off against Angel Reese's Rose BC.

After the second day of competition, Korean golfer A Lim Kim holds a one-stroke lead at the LPGA Tour's HSBC Women’s World Championship in Singapore — with New Zealand’s Lydia Ko, Korea’s Hyo Joo Kim, and the UK’s Charley Hull hot on her heels.

World No. 9 Hull kept pace in second after the first day of competition, but No. 3 Ko pulled ahead to sit one stroke behind No. 34 A Lim Kim after two days of play.

Meanwhile, No. 29 Hyo Joo Kim sliced seven strokes off her first-round performance to pull level with Hull in third place after a strong second round.

The USA's top contenders thus far are No. 69 Sarah Schmelzel and recently minted first-time LPGA champion No. 30 Yealimi Noh, both of whom currently sit one stroke behind Hull in a five-way tie for fifth place.

Elite LPGA golfers lock in on high-stakes battle

The field in Singapore features nine of the world’s Top-10 players and 13 of the Top 15, with the only top-ranked absences coming from US stars No. 1 Nelly Korda and No. 15 Rose Zhang.

Korda is sitting out the Asia leg of the LPGA Tour for the second year in a row. She will also miss the upcoming tournaments in Thailand and China before making a scheduled return at Arizona's Ford Championship in late March.

Korda’s absence hasn’t lightened the Women's World Championship competition, however, as the tournament’s $1.8 million purse remains in close contention halfway through the event's four rounds.

"I don’t think I typically play really well on this golf course and I thought this year would be a good year to kind of turn that around," reigning Olympic gold medalist Ko told reporters following the second round.

"The scores haven’t really been that low these past couple days," she added. "I'm just trying to focus on me and hopefully just keep climbing up the leaderboard."

How to watch the LPGA Tour at the Women's World Championship

The third round of the LPGA Tour's 2025 HSBC Women’s World Championship tees off at 8:30 PM ET on Friday, with live coverage on the Golf Channel.
 

Retired WNBA star Layshia Clarendon is being inducted into the LGBTQ Sports Hall of Fame, with the former LA Spark earning recognition for contributions both on and off the court on Thursday.

After coming out in a 2015 Players Tribune article, Clarendon made history as the league's first openly trans and nonbinary player. They played 11 seasons in the WNBA, repping half of the league's 12 teams by the time they retired in 2024.

The 2017 All-Star's off-court endeavors included advocating for justice and inclusivity across all sectors. They became the first vice president of the WNBA Players Association in 2016, helped negotiate the league's game-changing 2020 CBA, and served on the league's Social Justice Council, among other accomplishments.

"Layshia made a huge impact on and off the court throughout their outstanding basketball career," said former LA coach Curt Miller. "Lay was a true professional, showing up each day with a desire to help our teams compete and improve."

"Off the court, Lay is a trailblazer and impacted so many with their bravery to be authentic and unapologetic while consistently fighting for the marginalized."

Current USC manager Lindsay Gottlieb, who coached Clarendon at Cal, echoed Miller's assessment.

"The way the W looks and feels right now is largely a testament to the people that have been doing the work," she said. "And there's no one more important in that realm than Layshia."

Clarendon joins first LGBTQ Sports Hall of Fame class in 10 years

First established in 2013, the LGBTQ Sports HOF honors coaches, athletes, advocates, and executives "who have made an enduring impact on the sports world through leadership, visibility, and commitment to inclusion."

The HOF grew to 49 inductees through 2015. It then lay dormant for a decade before the Sports Equality Foundation resurrected it.

The SEF plans to announce additional members of the 2025 class in the coming weeks.

This year's cohort will be officially inducted in Las Vegas on August 10th. Then, Clarendon will join past honorees like tennis icon Billie Jean King, USWNT star Megan Rapinoe, WNBA standout Brittney Griner, and golf legend Patty Sheehan in the LGBTQ HOF.