The movement around Jenni Hermoso has reached the NWSL.

In the wake of Hermoso being forcibly kissed by Luis Rubialies, president of the Spanish soccer federation (RFEF), during Spain’s World Cup gold medal ceremony, players on the San Diego Wave and the Orlando Pride wore wristbands of support for Hermoso during their game.

“Contigo Jenni,” read the wristbands.

San Diego forward Kyra Carusa said the gesture was an act of solidarity.

“We wanted to show our support and standing with the Spanish national team and what they have been having to go through,” Carusa told the media. “Having to face what they have to face right now and being brave and strong enough to say something. We want to stand with them.”

After the game, Wave players held up a white T-shirt that read: “We stand with Jenni.”

The gestures echoed a statement earlier in the day from NWSL commissioner Jessica Berman.

“As leaders of leagues, federations and governing bodies, we must protect our players. The actions by the Spanish federation are unconscionable and a reminder that there’s still work to do,” Herman wrote on X. “We stand with Jenni Hermoso and any players who face inappropriate behavior or abuse.”

The Wave also took the game in Florida as an opportunity toprotest the state’s so-called “Don’t Say Gay” policy. Players arrived in Orlando wearing shirts that read “Just say” on the front and “Gay” on the back. Wave coach Casey Stoney, one of the most outspoken voices in the league, was also wearing one of the shirts.

The Wave won the game 2-1, after Carusa’s 75th minute goal broke a tie.

San Diego Wave head coach Casey Stoney again called out Spanish soccer federation president Luis Rubiales for his forced kiss of star player Jenni Hermoso at the World Cup, which she described as “completely inappropriate.”

“If you are prepared to do that on the world stage in front of millions, what goes on behind closed doors?” she asked of the Spanish federation before asking the sport’s governing bodies to intervene.

Rubiales has come under fire for his actions following Spain’s 1-0 win over England in the World Cup final, which included the kiss and also grabbing his crotch in celebration. While Hermoso initially downplayed the kiss, the 33-year-old midfielder has since called for action against Rubiales in a statement released in conjunction with her agency and the Spanish players’ union.

FIFA has opened an investigation into Rubiales’ actions, it announced in a statement released Thursday.

Stoney, who already had condemned the Spanish soccer federation president’s kiss of Hermoso, weighed in again Wednesday, drawing a line between the gesture and the broader issue of player-staff relationships. Team staff members “should not be having relationships with players at all,” she said, calling such relationships something that she “absolutely despises” despite having seen them happen repeatedly in the sport.

“You shouldn’t be socializing with players anyway,” she said. “You shouldn’t even be putting yourself in that position. … Don’t come into work and prey on vulnerable women who you are responsible for their contracts or medical or whatever it is, whatever role you play. Don’t have a relationship with players.”

The controversy surrounding Rubiales comes on top of a longstanding dispute between Spanish players and the national federation. Last September, 15 players protested the national team environment and the management style of head coach Jorge Vilda, and just three of those players were selected for the World Cup roster. There is “a reason players were on strike,” Stoney said of the Spanish federation.

And while she made clear that the issue of power imbalance in relationships extends beyond sports, she wants to see the issue addressed within women’s soccer.

“I’m completely against anything that puts a player in a vulnerable position. … So I think the governing bodies, FIFA, UEFA, anybody who’s involved, step in because it’s not acceptable,” Stoney said. “These women get treated like this far too often, far too many times, and something needs to change.

Casey Stoney is not one to mince words. The San Diego Wave head coach has been fined multiple times this season for criticizing NWSL officials.

Now, Stoney has weighed on the controversy surrounding Luis Rubiales and Jenni Hermoso after the World Cup final. Rubiales, the president of the Spanish football federation (RFEF), gave the 33-year-old midfielder a surprise kiss on the lips during the team’s World Cup celebration. Spain defeated England, 1-0, to win the title.

“Would he kiss a male player like this?” Stoney wrote on X. “This is NOT ok.”

Her post echoed comments she made last year on the danger of power imbalances and “boundaries crossed” in women’s sports.

Stoney added to the cacophony surrounding the incident. Irene Montero, Spain’s national minister for equality, condemned Rubiales’ actions.

“It’s a form of sexual violence women suffer on a daily basis.” Montero wrote on social media. “We should not assume kissing without consent is something ‘that happens.’”

Hermoso, for what it’s worth, has said the gesture was “no big deal,” and Rubiales has apologized.

“I made a mistake, for sure,” Rubiales said in a video released to the media. “I have to accept it. In a moment of such emotion, without any bad intention or bad faith, what happened, happened, in a very spontaneous way. [There was] no bad faith from either side.”

San Diego Wave head coach Casey Stoney is not afraid to speak her mind. On Saturday the NWSL announced Stoney had been fined, for the third time this season, for comments “detrimental to the league,” the NWSL announced Friday.

The league cited the violation of Section 12.2.5 (e) “Prejudicial Statements and Public Criticism” of the League Operations Manual.

Stoney’s latest comments came after the Waves’ 1-0 loss to the OL Reign on July 28. Asked about the broken nose midfielder Taylor Kornieck sustained during the defeat, Stoney did not hold back. Kornieck was hit hard twice during the game, the second time triggering blood from her nose.

“How that girl goes through game after game after game with absolutely no protection. What’s it going to take, what is it going to take?” Stoney said. “How hurt does she have to get before somebody starts protecting her? Because I can’t keep watching this girl who goes out every week just because of her size.”

The 6-foot-1 Kornieck, who in 2022 became the tallest player in U.S. Women’s National Team history to earn a cap, has scored one goal this season. The Wave are 6-3-6 and are winless in their last eight games.

“She touches anybody and it’s a foul and she gets no protection,” Stoney said of Kornieck. “Every week she gets fouled, dangerously fouled. How many head injuries, how many knocks to the head is she going to take before somebody does something? Because at some point she’s going to stop playing the game because there’s only so much you can take. And somebody from the league has to keep looking and saying, ‘Well, what’s going on here?’ Because she needs some protection.

Stoney was last fined July 14 because of a tweet. Stoney had tweeted a clip of the Wave’s match against the Washington Spirit with the comment: “Investment in technology. You decide.”

It’s Dec. 8, 2019, on a dark soccer field in San Jose. Late in the second half of a scoreless battle between Stanford and North Carolina in the NCAA College Cup final, Stanford sophomore center-back Naomi Girma tweaks her hamstring.

“I could see her holding it, and I went over to her,” remembers former Stanford assistant coach Margueritte Aozasa, now the head coach of reigning NCAA champion UCLA. “And she was like, ‘Marg, don’t worry about me. I pulled my hamstring, but I’m not coming out. So, don’t even like — you don’t need to be over here.’”

The North Carolina striker pestering Girma in extra time was none other than Alessia Russo, now a marquee signing at Arsenal and a European champion with England. But in 2019, she was just another student-athlete playing to the ticking clock of an NCAA game, with a golden-goal format that inherently favored the attacker.

“It was one of the best matchups of the entire year, just watching the two of them go at each other,” Aozasa says.

Even on one hamstring, Girma shut Russo down, keeping the clean sheet to give Stanford the chance to win in a penalty shootout and claim their second national title in three years.

“We were in the attack, and they would counter-attack, and it would just be Naomi and Alessia in 60 yards of space,” Aozasa says. “And it was just like, ‘OK, who’s the better player in this moment?’ And time and time again, she stepped up to the challenge.”

That was the moment Aozasa remembers knowing Girma could become one of the best defenders in the country, and it didn’t take long for the then-sophomore to make good on her early promise. Known for her calm demeanor on and off the field, Girma combines the intellect of a perfectionist and a casual humility that belie her many accomplishments. Those qualities will be tested once again this summer when the 23-year-old steps up to her newest challenge.

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As a sophomore, Girma played a pivotal role in Stanford's 2019 NCAA Championship run. (Jim Shorin/ISI Photos)

Now a Cardinal legend and projected starter for the U.S. women’s national team as they pursue a record third-straight World Cup title in New Zealand, Girma recently found herself in San Jose at another inflection point in her career. This time, she was playing with the USWNT in their send-off game against Wales on July 9.

The city is not only a setting of college glory, but also her hometown. The daughter of Ethiopian immigrant parents, Girma got her start playing soccer at the local YMCA, quickly rising through the club ranks at CV Crossfire, De Anza Force and CA Thorns Academy to become a coveted recruit among the top universities.

For the local kid, picking Stanford seemed like an easy choice, and not only because of its rigorous academic standard and excellent soccer team — “It’s also 30 minutes from home,” Girma says. “And the campus … it’s beautiful. So there’s just so much to love about it, and yeah, I feel like if I thought about it more, it was the obvious right choice.”

Her reputation preceded her. Aozasa remembers the day she met the bubbly then-teenager on a college visit.

“Right away, she just has this maturity about her that I think is very recognizable. She’s always kind of been wise beyond her years,” says the coach.

“But then she also just has this joy about her, like she’s always smiling, always laughing, like she’s kind of the best in everybody. And even as a young kid at 15, I think that was very clear.”

At the time of her Stanford visit, Girma had only relatively recently converted to center-back, which she now recalls beginning at Olympic Development Camp and progressing from the U-14 level upward. She had previously been a defensive midfielder, and that experience informs her game to this day.

“For a lot of the time, I was still playing midfield for my club,” Girma says, “which I think kind of helped me feel comfortable on the ball or in tight spaces.”

“In the midfield, you’re used to pressure at 360 degrees,” Aozasa explains. “Typically as a defender, it’s only in front of you. So it feels kind of like this, maybe, a misrepresentation of how much time you have simply because you’re used to multiple defenders.

“I always point this out to younger players: You can notice in the way Naomi plays, even when she’s dribbling, she never is looking at the ball. She’s constantly scanning, which allows her to make these penetrating passes. And most importantly, I think it allows her to change her mind.”

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Girma developed into a pro-ready player under coach Margueritte Aozasa at Stanford. (John Todd/ISI Photos/Getty Images)

Girma brought all of those qualities to Stanford from the first moment she stepped onto the training field. Still, her ascension to a starting role for the team came a bit earlier than expected. In the middle of Girma’s first season in 2018, Tierna Davidson (now a World Champion with the 2019 USWNT) suffered a broken ankle. Without missing a step, the freshman Girma stepped into her place, contributing calmly to a squad that struggled with injuries throughout the season.

“It was really fascinating to see her just step in kind of at a moment’s notice, and just take over the game from a center-back position at a very young age,” says Aozasa.

“When she was coming into college, I asked our college coaches, I said, ‘OK, tell me about the freshman class,” says former Stanford and current U.S. teammate Alana Cook. “And the way they talked about Naomi, it was an inevitability that she would be here.”

The Stanford rosters that brought home national championships in 2017 and 2019 will likely be remembered for years to come.

In 2019 alone, Girma played with future USWNT teammates Sophia Smith and Catarina Macario, as well as future pros like Sam Hiatt, Sierra Enge, Kiki Pickett and Madison Haley. That squad also included penalty shootout hero Katie Meyer, who as a freshman goalkeeper secured the championship win for the Cardinal. Meyer, Girma’s close friend and co-captain, died by suicide in March 2022.

“Sometimes they would do some things in training, and me and the rest of the staff would just look at each other,” Aozasa says of her 2019 team. “I say I had the easiest job in college soccer at that point. We just, for the most part, gave them a little bit of structure, kind of tried to teach them to be on the same page, to make different reads. But we also tried to give them a lot of freedom, because we knew their skill level alone and their individual creativity and ability was off the charts.”

“I didn’t realize how good we were,” Girma says. “I wish I knew and it was a super strategic choice, [but] for me, I was really into getting my education and like challenging myself there, and then also challenging myself on a soccer field, that I felt like Stanford gave me the best opportunity for both.”

The defender dealt with adversity in various forms after Stanford’s national championship run. In 2020, the season was suspended due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and an ACL injury in 2021 disrupted her final season. But the time Girma spent away from the field also gave her an opportunity to lean into her studies, something she says has always been a priority.

A Symbolic Systems/Management Science & Engineering major, she joined the prestigious Mayfield Fellow Program as a senior, an opportunity given to only 12 Stanford students.

“Anytime there was a difficult moment, whether it was soccer, whether it was school, she still would go, ‘Oh, yeah, I’ve got three midterms this week,’ and then she’d start laughing,” says Aozasa. “Like, ‘Oh, it’s gonna be hard, but I can do it.’”

“I think it can be hard when soccer becomes your identity, and if that’s not going well, then everything’s not going well,” says Girma. “So, just making sure that I have a balance in my life with my friends and my family to keep me grounded too is really helpful for me.”

Her passion for learning is something she’s continued to this day. She is pursuing a Master’s Degree in addition to her full-time work as a professional soccer player, though she took an understandable leave of absence in early 2023 to focus on preparing for the World Cup. She’s characteristically unassuming when discussing her workload.

“I’m really interested in it, so it doesn’t feel like a drag,” she says of her post-graduate studies.

After juggling intense amounts of soccer and school in college, Girma proved herself ready for the NWSL immediately after being drafted No. 1 overall by the San Diego Wave in 2022. The move raised some eyebrows initially due to San Diego’s roster needs, but head coach Casey Stoney — a former defender herself — said she never wavered from her first choice.

The pick paid off as Girma earned instant accolades, winning both Rookie and Defender of the Year and even making the Most Valuable Player shortlist. The Wave also achieved unprecedented success for an expansion side in their inaugural season, going all the way to the NWSL semifinals.

“I think I felt good,” Girma casually concedes about her historic rookie season. “I felt like I had a good year as a rookie and as a defender, and it was cool to get an MVP spot on the list because defenders don’t usually get that.”

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Girma recently signed a contract extension with San Diego through the 2026 season. (Ray Acevedo/USA TODAY Sports)

“Nay could probably go into any environment and be the ultimate professional, be just a rock defensively, just so solid, get along with anybody,” says San Diego and USWNT teammate Alex Morgan.

“Just being teammates with her is great because she does not seem like she is a rookie at all — I mean, now she’s not technically a rookie. But last year, she was a huge staple and a rock for this team, and her role is only going to continue to expand.”

Girma isn’t considered a flashy player, which is not uncommon for the center-back role, but her consistency stands out. Similar to her personality off the field, her movements are small and unassuming. Girma positions herself between an attacker and the goal behind her with an ease of movement that evokes a young Becky Sauerbrunn.

She also has a quiet flair to the way she contains opponents. At 5-foot-7, instead of using her height to impose angles, she turns gravity into an ally. Picking an approaching angle, she will adjust her weight toward the ground with expert positioning to take downhill momentum away from an attacker, then deftly turn the ball around and distribute to a forward teammate.

“She covers ground so quickly. Her footwork in 1v1 defending and the way she can defend 1v1 is some of the best I’ve ever seen,” says Stoney. “Her ceiling is so high, we’ve not even scratched the surface with Naomi yet. I think she could be one of the best center-backs in the world.”

“She reads the game really well, which is kind of a very ambiguous, abstract term,” says Aozasa. “But she just understands preventative positioning so she is able to deny passing lanes. She’s able to read off the cues of the attacking player to just put herself in a really great position to either prevent a dangerous pass, or to make a play on a dangerous pass.”

Girma gives credit for her success to the people around her, both in training environments and off the field. She considers Sophia Smith one of her best friends and notes the impact Sauerbrunn has had on her as a young U.S. defender.

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Girma and Sophia Smith became close friends while playing together at Stanford. (Courtesy of Mollie Smith)

“Making sure that that training mentality, training environment is the best it could be, I think that kind of helps me when I go up to the next level,” she says. “And just really not having an ego, putting that aside, and just wanting to learn and wanting to get better.”

Simultaneously an expert and a student, Girma will have to rely on her ability to organize and communicate quickly as she once again raises her level to match up against the best at the World Cup. It’s a role Stoney sees her growing into.

“I don’t think Naomi, coming into the league, realized how good she was,” she says. “So her ability to solve pressure on the dribble and play her way out, she wouldn’t do it as much early on in the games.”

Now seasoned at the professional level, Girma approaches defensive pressure and organization like an equation she is able to solve. She’s frequently tasked with setting up play for the USWNT, bringing the ball forward against teams in a low-block defense and setting tempo in higher transitional games. Against Wales in the team’s send-off match, she tried different approaches in ball progression, sometimes dribbling up as far as the opponent’s penalty area with her eyes always scanning, or sending a searching diagonal ball out to the wingers.

“There’s very few players in my whole tenure that have stepped in and it’s just like, ‘Oh yeah, that’s a ‘first person on the team sheet’ type of player every single time,” Megan Rapinoe told reporters in February. “She’s just that good. I don’t think you can leave her off the field.”

Girma’s coaches have seen that potential in her for a while now.

“I think she’s really stepping up in leadership qualities now,” says Stoney. “And I think actually being picked for the national team and playing, all of a sudden you can see that confidence and that be more assured in our performance.”

“She doesn’t just organize the player right in front of her — she has an ability to organize five or six players around her, which at the highest level is super, super important,” says Aozasa. “Because it’s not just like she understands the movements that she’s making. It’s part of a synchronous movement of three or four people, and she’s able to kind of direct that in real time.”

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Girma is expected to start at center-back for the USWNT at the World Cup. (Sam Hodde/Getty Images)

Girma will also have increased responsibility at the World Cup, anchoring a new backline that will be without longtime captain Becky Sauerbrunn due to injury. The U.S. is bringing only three center-backs, none of whom have extensive international experience at the position. Girma’s calming presence will be tested at the highest level, but she feels prepared for what’s next.

“There’s just a huge emphasis on details and over-communicating,” Girma says of the USWNT environment under head coach Vlatko Andonovski, who has acknowledged she is a definite starter. “And like doing those in training so that when it’s a big moment in the game, it’s second nature and it’s [not] something out of the ordinary.”

The next time Naomi Girma matches up 1v1 against Alessia Russo, it could be in front of tens of thousands of fans in a winner-take-all moment for the World Cup trophy. But for now, the defender is taking her usual unassuming approach, enjoying with her family the fulfillment of a promise that began in San Jose, and has extended to San Diego and beyond.

“They love it, it’s so fun,” Girma says. “I feel like we’ve all kind of been on this journey together. Now we’re all like, ‘We’re living the dream.’”

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

San Diego Wave head coach Casey Stoney has been fined by the NWSL following comments made on social media deemed to be “detrimental to the league,” the league announced Friday.

The NWSL cited the violation of Section 12.2.5 (e) in the League Operations Manual, which addresses “Prejudicial Statements and Public Criticism.” This comes after Stoney tweeted, in the early morning on July 9, a video of the Wave’s match against the Washington Spirit with this comment: “Investment in technology. You decide.”

In the video, Wave player Rachel Hill went down with what appeared to be a tackle from Spirit defender Sam Staab. The action appeared to happen inside the box, close to the ball, but NWSL referees did not call a penalty.

This isn’t the first time that Stoney has been issued a fine. Earlier this season, she received a fine after making comments about the quality of the Racing Louisville pitch. Last June, Stoney was fined for approaching officials during a match. She also has been critical of refereeing before, most recently last October when she called out a lack of protection for star striker Alex Morgan.

Jaedyn Shaw has looked like a seasoned professional in her second year with the San Diego Wave, but nothing could quite prepare the 18-year-old for a new challenge earlier this season. Shaw scored the opening goal in an April 29 game against the Orlando Pride, her third of the season, and most memorably played against Brazil and NWSL legend Marta for the first time.

“I was like, oh my gosh, so starstruck, trying not to freak out in the middle of the game,” she told Just Women’s Sports in May, a big smile breaking out on her face. “I had her jersey and all that stuff.”

Shaw wants to be just like the legendary Brazilian No. 10 someday, but her ambitions as a professional soccer player go far beyond one singular idol. She also wants to be able to dribble the ball like Neymar, and drop a pass on a dime like Kevin de Bruyne.

“I feel like players that brought a lot of joy to me when I was younger,” she says.

In her first full season as a professional, Shaw is already well on her way to building her own name in NWSL and U.S. women’s national team circles. Wave manager Casey Stoney has described her as a player whose “vision and ability to pick a pass that breaks a backline is some of the best I’ve seen in the game, and I’ve been in the game a long time.”

She’s earned equally high praise from teammates already starring for the U.S. women’s national team, and she’d like to join them there someday.

“I think Jae’s gonna be so good. I mean, she’s already so good,” says USWNT and Wave defender Naomi Girma. “I think she’s gonna get so much better, so she’s an exciting one to watch.”

When she lists her idols, there is joyful irony in Shaw talking about herself as a young player in the past tense, as she was once one of the youngest signings in NWSL history. The league only opened up pathways to roster spots for players under the age of 18 in 2021, after then-15-year-old Olivia Moultrie took the NWSL to court in order to sign with the Portland Thorns.

Since Moultrie’s fateful ruling, the NWSL’s youth movement has been in full effect. Shaw entered the league in the middle of 2022 as a 17-year-old, scoring a goal in her first three professional appearances. Now, she’s not even the youngest player on the Wave anymore. That honor goes to 15-year-old Melanie Barcenas, who became the league’s new youngest signing in March.

A new generation of women’s soccer players making the decision to forgo college eligibility to sign with professional clubs has raised eyebrows in the U.S., where custom has dictated that you get your degree first, then go play pro soccer. In the early days of the NWSL, the monetary value of a college scholarship from a top program easily outweighed the salaries offered in the league, and pro careers were short.

Times — and salaries — have changed, with more players making the jump and showing a faith in the stability of the NWSL that did not always exist. For Shaw, it was always a matter of not if, but when.

“I feel like in the back of my head, I had always wanted to go pro,” she says. “Whether it was one year of college and then pro, whatever, do the full four years, which wouldn’t have been likely for me. I feel like I would have really wanted to push my ceilings early.”

Before Shaw joined San Diego, her desire to push her ceilings had already taken her all over the world. In her early years playing soccer, she primarily developed as an indoor player. As a child, she went to Brazil to train with girls and boys at Santos FC and flew to Barcelona to play football tournaments, before switching to outdoor soccer around the age of 12, as she remembers it.

“My biggest thing was always, I always played with boys, whatever level it was. And that was one of the main things that would change whatever club that I was playing for,” Shaw says. “I’d be at a club and they’d be like, ‘No, you can’t train with the boys because they’re academy’ or whatever. So I had to go to another club.”

Shaw’s experiences playing with boys also shaped the way she understood the professional pipeline. It’s not uncommon in men’s soccer for players to sign with pro clubs as teenagers and then develop through an academy system or with a club’s senior team.

“​​I guess I saw it so much with the boy’s side that I was just like, ‘Oh, I can just try it, or just maybe make my own path,’” she says.

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(Melissa Tamez/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)

That path hasn’t always been linear. Shaw originally committed to playing for the University of North Carolina, ultimately making the decision to go pro once that became a viable reality. She then lived in Washington, D.C. for a time, training with the Washington Spirit as the club worked on entry pathways for the teenager.

Rather than having to go all the way to court, Shaw was able to sign with an NWSL team through a unique discovery process (the NWSL has since formalized a separate rule for U18 players to sign directly with clubs).

The only trouble with Shaw’s discovery process was that the team first in line for her playing rights wasn’t the Spirit but the San Diego Wave, who sat atop the league’s discovery list. Rather than Washington signing Shaw directly, they had to pursue a trade for her rights for reportedly up to $250,000, and those talks fell through after the Wave signed her themselves.

The process has been taxing for a teenager, and at some point Shaw had no choice but to block out the noise and focus on what she could control every day in training.

“I lean on my mom a lot,” she says. “I was just like, ‘Mom, you be the bridge between all the stuff that’s going on out there and what’s going on on the field.’ And I think that helped me a lot to just fill that gap.”

Shaw found a very welcoming club environment when she arrived at the Wave, and her whole family has now relocated to San Diego, with her sister the most recent transplant to join Shaw, her brother and her parents on the West Coast. Group pastimes include family bowling outings, seeking out new restaurants to try and a lot of time hanging out at home. Shaw graduated from high school in 2022 and anticipates taking college classes in her own time as she continues to settle into her pro career.

For now, she’s enjoying finally having the clarity of just getting to be a full-time soccer player.

“I think a lot of it was just me not overhyping games and stuff. And just like knowing that I belong where I am, I deserve to be here,” she says.

That clarity has allowed the versatile attacker to continue to carve out her place on the field, showing off facets of her game that make her a valued starter for her club. Shaw was first introduced to NWSL fans as a winger, but this season she has taken on a more traditional playmaking role in the attacking midfield while San Diego deals with absences due to injury.

The switch has actually positioned Shaw closer to the 10, her preferred spot on the pitch. Stoney has recognized her innate ability to exploit certain pockets of space, which can sometimes dictate where she lines up.

“She has an exceptional turn when she can get turned in the pockets and play forward, and we’ve got forwards that love to play with her because she can get you in on goal,” Stoney says.

San Diego at times employs a very direct style of play, which means that the players tasked with holding and progressing the ball are trusted to make quick decisions on the risk level and tempo of their passes. It’s a freedom that can be both exhilarating and daunting, and a level Shaw pushes herself to every game.

“I didn’t know exactly what I wanted to bring to the game yet [in 2022],” she says. “I feel like now I can kind of have more freedom and just grow into the game and be able to direct and just create plays.”

She shares that freedom with Girma, who is usually tasked with springing play forward from the backline.

“I think me and her work well together, just like her movement into the pocket, and me being able to find her,” Girma says. “When you’re dribbling up the field or starting the attack, when you see the movement of your midfielders and forwards, I think it only makes it easier to break teams down.”

Stoney sees the similarities between Girma and Shaw, and believes that her young star’s national recognition will only grow with time. Shaw is already a decorated member of the USWNT U-20 squad, winning U.S. Soccer’s Young Player of the Year award in 2022 after shining at the U-20 World Cup.

“It’s great, unbelievable, [that] I’ve got a center-back that can solve pressure, and I’ve got a 10 or a wide player in Jaedyn that can solve pressure and play forward,” Stoney says.

“Obviously the national team recognition is going to keep coming if she keeps performing. And we need to make sure that we look after her on and off the field, because she’s still an 18-year-old and she’s still young, and we need to make sure that she’s ready for everything that comes her way.”

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Shaw was named 2022 U.S. Soccer Young Female Player of the Year after leading the USWNT at the U-20 World Cup. (Hector Vivas - FIFA/FIFA via Getty Images)

From playing futsal in Brazil to planning surfing goal celebrations with Alex Morgan, Shaw is ready for wherever her unique path takes her next. After playing her way into the larger USWNT roster conversation this year, Shaw was not named to the 2023 World Cup roster announced Wednesday but would like to be in the running for U.S. camps following the tournament.

“You can see her growing into her role, growing more confident as she’s been playing more minutes and has taken on a bigger role on the team,” Girma says. “And I think she’s handled that really well and has kind of taken it in stride.”

Whether she’s playing next to or against her idols next, Shaw says this year is “all soccer, all the time,” and she’s looking forward to the next challenge.

“Throughout my journey in general, I always loved the high-pressure situations. I always loved the super scrappy games and the sidelines going crazy,” she says, with the same ambition that landed her in San Diego leading the way.

“I want to break ceilings, and I want to be someone that can change the women’s game and help the younger players coming up after me.”

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

Jaedyn Shaw is just 18 years old, but she’s quickly becoming a breakout star in the NWSL.

So far this season, the San Diego Wave forward has three goals, equaling her total from last season. She also possesses a lethal passing ability that has enabled her teammates to score — including Sofia Jakobsson, who found the net in San Diego’s 1-1 draw Friday with the Portland Thorns.

“Jaedyn’s vision and ability to pick a pass that breaks a back line is some of the best I’ve seen in the game,” Wave head coach Casey Stoney said after that game. “And I’ve been in the game a long time.”

San Diego signed Shaw in the middle of the 2022 season via an exception to the NWSL’s discovery rules. She scored a goal in each of her first three games in the league, and she is in the midst of a sophomore surge.

With a talent like Shaw, the key is getting her the space to do what she does so naturally.

“It’s getting her in the right positions to be able to pick the ball up,” Stoney continued. “And then we need threats behind. It was a great pass.”

The Wave also want to keep pressure off the teenager and ensure the entire team is helping to create scoring chances. From there, Shaw can let loose and do what she does best.

“We knew that we’d also create chances in behind, which we did with Alex (Morgan) one ball behind. And we did it with their backlines susceptible to that,” Stoney said. “So we knew that overall would give us a chance to score goals.”

Melanie Barcenas, 15, made her NWSL debut on Saturday night, becoming the youngest player in league history to log game minutes. Barcenas played 19 minutes in San Diego’s 3-1 loss to the Orlando Pride, competing in front of 16,225 fans at Snapdragon Stadium.

“I thought tonight was the night where we needed a little bit more quality on the ball, maybe a bit of creativity. And I felt she brought that,” San Diego head coach Casey Stoney said of her decision to sub Barcenas into the game in the 71st minute.

“She showed tonight what she’s about. I need to go over with her that once you beat the player, deliver the ball. I thought she did that in the box, and then tried to beat her again. So that’s a learning at this level… But it’s fantastic that she’s made her appearance tonight, and I’m really proud of her.”

The NWSL changed its age policy in 2022 and teams are now able to sign U18 players, with restrictions. Barcenas, who signed a three-year contract with San Diego last month, cannot be traded or waived before her 18th birthday without her and her parents’ consent.

Youngest NWSL players — Age in debut NWSL game

  1. Melanie Barcenas (15 years, 181 days when she played her first NWSL game in April 2023)
  2. Olivia Moultrie (15 years, 289 days when she played her first NWSL game in 2021)
  3. Chloe Ricketts (15 years, 327 days when she played her first NWSL game in April 2023)

When Angel City and San Diego meet on Sunday night (8pm ET/5pm PT, Paramount+), it will be the latest chapter in the NWSL’s California rivalry.

It will also mark a multi-generational battle featuring veteran stars and some of the league’s most exciting up-and-comers.

On the veteran side, fans could see longtime USWNT teammates Alex Morgan and Julie Ertz go head-to-head for the first time in almost four years after Ertz signed with Angel City this week.

“(Julie) has played on some of the best teams and represented the U.S. in some of the biggest moments. That experience alone is going to be huge for our team,” Angel City midfielder Savannah McCaskill said of her new teammate.

But experience isn’t everything — especially after NWSL rules changed in 2022 to allow some U18 players to sign with teams. San Diego’s Jaedyn Shaw, 18, and Angel City’s Alyssa Thompson, 18, are two of the most exciting members of the next generation.

“I think it’s about time that America got to the same standard as everybody else around the world,” San Diego head coach Casey Stoney said of the NWSL age limit change. “I’m a big believer that, if they’re talented enough, they’re old enough. But also, you need to protect them, look after them, manage them, and make sure they’re still a young person in your environment. … It’s also about making sure that the clubs are equipped to look after young people, holistically.”

Thompson was called into USWNT camp earlier this month after Mallory Swanson went down with an injury and could contend for World Cup roster spot. Asked what it means for a rising talent like Thompson to go head-to-head against a veteran USWNT star like Alex Morgan during Sunday night’s NWSL rivalry game, Stoney chose her words carefully.

“I’m not here trying to put pressure on an 18-year-old,” Stoney said. “I think she’s hit the ground running exceptionally well, she’s shown in her performances for Angel City so far. But I think the worst thing we could do right now is heap a country’s expectations on an 18-year-old player so I’m not going to do that.”