Angel City forward Alyssa Thompson has been a goal-scoring machine this season, leading the charge for a young team fighting its way up the NWSL table. But in May 2nd's end-to-end battle with 2024 NWSL runners-up Washington, the 20-year-old winger's most important play was a pass.
The California club had gotten off to a fast start in DC, scoring early as they worked their way into the match. The team was coming off a late-game collapse against 2024 champions Orlando the week prior. They hope to ward off another loss by generating as much offense as possible.
In the 22nd minute, Thompson, the ball at her feet, saw her teammate — and sister — right-back Gisele Thompson move out of ACFC's defensive end and dart into the Spirit's penalty area. Alyssa quickly served her sister the ball on a platter. The 19-year-old defender netted her first-ever NWSL goal a split-second later.
"My heart was pounding so hard," Alyssa told Just Women's Sports a few days after the match. "I was so excited for her."
"I always thought it was going to be me that scored, and she assisted me," she continued, given their respective positions. But Gisele's special moment also underlines Thompson's growth as a player. She's matured into a legitimate MVP candidate, while fifth-place ACFC enters the title conversation for the first time in franchise history.
Thompson on coping with USWNT growing pains
Thompson didn't give up on her Olympic dream for weeks after USWNT head coach Emma Hayes released her roster for the 2024 Summer Games. After all, she'd already featured in the 2023 World Cup at the age of 18, going on to receive regular call-ups through the rest of that year.
But even as her name slipped off the USWNT roster in 2024, Thompson remained hopeful for a surprise selection. It wasn't until the team landed in Europe that the then-19-year-old began the process of accepting whatever came next.
"I think that helped me a lot, just letting go of that sadness I felt, knowing that I wasn't playing how I wanted to play," she said.
"During that time, I learned how to be a better professional, and took what we were doing more seriously," Thompson continued. She doubled up on training sessions, and spent extra time in the film room, laser-focused on her next opportunity to audition for US consideration.
All that work resulted in a newfound confidence, one that's fueled an attacking explosion continuing well into this season. Thompson scored five goals in the 2024 NWSL regular season after the Olympic break. It put her in prime position as the US set off down the long road to the 2027 World Cup.
Rising up the ranks — for both club and country
The USWNT eventually came calling once again. Hayes invited Thompson to rejoin the team for a series of friendlies in October 2024. And while she took full advantage of that chance — scoring her first senior national team goal against Iceland — it was her club career that really benefited from the long-awaited return.
These days, Thompson is considered one of the best wingers in the NWSL. Dribbling past defenders with ease, she connects with teammates as well as she shoots. She slots home strikes with a remarkable sense of calm. She's registered four goals and two assists over eight matches for Angel City this season. And she's shown a veteran savvyness far beyond her years.
"In the first three games, Alyssa's been the best player in the league," Angel City sporting director Mark Parsons told ESPN in early April.
USWNT manager Hayes echoed Parsons's sentiment. "The development in the last six months for her, I've been talking about it a lot this week," she said of Thompson's improvement last month. "You can really see how much she's closed that gap."
Thompson finds her footing in the NWSL
Selected No. 1 overall in the 2023 NWSL Draft at the age of 18, Thompson remembers having no idea what to expect in her rookie year. And, subsequently, having to build up the nerve to even ask for help.
"I thought it was like [high school] club," she said. "You come to training, you practice, and you leave, and then that's it. But being a professional is so much more than that. Taking care of your body, doing extras, looking at film, just putting in the extra work knowing that you want to get better."
A self-described introvert, Thompson didn't always know how to speak up. But that didn't stop her Angel City teammates from seeing her potential. She remembers NWSL mainstays like Ali Riley taking the time to talk to her, coaching her through becoming a professional athlete while simultaneously finishing her senior year of high school.
"It was really helpful having those people on the team knowing me and knowing that I did want the help," she says. "I just didn't know how to really ask — it was outside of my comfort zone to do that."
And it didn't stop there. When Thompson finally let go of playing in the 2024 Olympics, she turned to her teammate and locker buddy Christen Press, a two-time World Cup champion and USWNT legend in her own right.
Over the season, Press talked Thompson through striking the ball, positioning herself in front of goal, choosing where to shoot, and other mechanics. But she also helped Thompson regain her confidence after the professional setback. She reminded the young forward over and over again of her ability to become a world-class player, and promising that she'd get another shot.
"I've always looked up to her," Thompson said of Press. "As an older sister, I feel like I crave some advice. Because I feel like I've always done everything first for my sisters. It's just been really nice getting to know her as a person. And I feel like I've just learned so much from her."
"Knowing that she was [saying], 'You can score. I believe in you,' really gave me a lot of confidence," she continued. "Like, 'Yeah, I can. If you believe in me, what can I not do?"
The sisterly bond driving Angel City
Despite still being just 20 years old, Thompson has transitioned to imparting wisdom onto her even-younger teammates. Of course, that includes her little sister Gisele, who signed with Angel City ahead of the 2024 NWSL season.
"I love playing with Alyssa," Gisele told JWS in January. "She makes me so comfortable in any situation, no matter where we're at. Having her by myself on the field and off the field, it makes me a better player and a better person."
Far from stoking sibling rivalry, the Thompson sisters are more than happy to share the field. In fact, the Los Angeles natives shared everything growing up, including a room. And according to Alyssa, their close upbringing makes working together easier.
"We talk about things that annoy us. And then we talk about things that make us happy. And then we're bickering, and then it's fine, and then we go to eat," she said. "It's just how sisters are."
The pair currently live together in an apartment in LA. And they lean on each other for advice about soccer and more — even if things occasionally get heated.
"We're so competitive, we don't want to lose against each other," Gisele laughed. "It's really hard going against each other [in training]. But we love it."
The sisterly connection appears to be paying off. When Alyssa set Gisele up for that goal against the Spirit, the Thompsons became the first sister duo to combine for a goal in NWSL history.
Looking toward the future, together
Thompson's aims for the rest of the year are simple: score goals, win games, make the playoffs, and take Angel City on their deepest postseason run yet. And if she can accomplish all of that with her sister by her side, it'll be even sweeter.
"I definitely feel more a part of the team as the years go on," she said. "It feels really nice to see people that were in my shoes once, and treat them how the veterans treated me when I came in."
"My teammates really believe in me, and that belief drives me to want to be a better player."
The 2025 NWSL season saw parity take center-pitch over the weekend, flipping the script yet again as the league's top teams hunted redemption — but came away winless.
Despite still sitting at No. 1 in the NWSL standings, the Kansas City Current find themselves on a two-game losing streak after falling to No. 7 Seattle on Friday, suffering the 1-0 stumble thanks to star Lynn Biyendolo's first goal in a Reign shirt.
More upsets followed, with the now-No. 6 Washington Spirit falling 4-3 to No. 8 Angel City on Friday before No. 5 Portland handed No. 2 Orlando a 1-0 Saturday loss.
The lone Top 4 team entering the weekend to escape without a loss was No. 4 Gotham, who eked out a single point after playing the struggling last-place Chicago Stars to a 0-0 stalemate on Sunday.
As squads compete for a foothold in a league where any team can win any match, two California clubs are continuing to carve out their own 2025 success stories.
Under new head coach Jonas Eidevall, San Diego has rocketed up the NWSL table to No. 3 behind Sunday's 2-1 victory over No. 10 Bay FC — putting the Wave on a three-game winning streak.
Similarly, Angel City managed to snap a two-game losing streak with their Friday win over a skidding Washington — a match that saw USWNT vet Christen Press earn her first assist of the season while Gisele and Alyssa Thompson made NWSL history with the league's first-ever sister-to-sister goal.
Overall, the seventh matchday delivered on parity, with the 2025 NWSL season swapping the dominance of the few for week-to-week chaos — challenging every club to stay on their toes.
Some of the NWSL's brightest stars made headlines this week, as the league's free agency transfer window continues to turn heads both at home and abroad.
Brazil forward Kerolin is officially departing North Carolina after spending all three of her NWSL seasons with the Courage, the club confirmed on Wednesday. The 2023 NWSL MVP will reportedly head to the WSL's Manchester City in a deal extending through 2028.
Sources are also linking two-time NWSL Defender of the Year Naomi Girma to the first $1 million transfer offer in women's soccer history, courtesy of French side Lyon and UK titans Chelsea and Arsenal. The 24-year-old USWNT star's current contract with the San Diego Wave runs through 2026, making a transfer fee a necessary part of any earlier deal.
The current record for a women's soccer transfer fee is $860,000, which Bay FC shelled out to receive Zambian forward Rachael Kundananji from Spain's Madrid CFF in February 2024.
More NWSL teams make moves to lock down contracts
NWSL preseason has already started for select clubs, with teams putting the final touches on solidifying both their rosters and front offices.
Angel City hired former Portland Thorns FC and Washington Spirit head coach Mark Parsons as the club's new sporting director on Wednesday. The franchise is still searching for a permanent head coach after parting with boss Becki Tweed in December.
The 2022 expansion team also signed veteran forward Christen Press to a new one-year contract, per a Friday morning press release.
Meanwhile, with Girma's possible departure dominating the rumor mill, the Wave announced the addition of 17-year-old UNC defender and 2024 College Cup champion Trinity Armstrong to the club's ranks on Thursday.
Though Girma's fate is yet to be confirmed, San Diego's decision to pick up a talented young center back — on a three-year contract, no less — supports the theory that the USWNT standout is on the move.
All 14 NWSL teams issued final end-of-year roster decisions on Tuesday, as the 2025 free agency period shifts into full gear.
Athletes who are currently out-of-contract are now technically on the chopping block, faced with either negotiating new terms to return to their teams or taking the leap and brokering a fresh deal elsewhere.
Standouts listed as out-of-contact include 2024 NWSL champion and Orlando Pride captain Marta as well as NC Courage striker and the league's 2023 MVP Kerolin. Several current and former USWNT stars also face offseason negotiations, like Gotham FC forward Midge Purce, Portland Thorns center back Becky Sauerbrunn, and Angel City forward Christen Press.
Multiple teams have already acknowledged an intent to retain top players by announcing ongoing negotiations in their final 2024 roster announcements, with Press, Marta, and Kerolin in talks to stay with their clubs.
New CBA means more NWSL movement
Under the league's new CBA, when a team declines a player's contract option, that player automatically becomes an unrestricted free agent, guaranteeing roster shakeups despite this year's lack of expansion and college drafts.
Both athletes whose contracts have expired and those whose options have been declined are considered out-of-contract. While those players will be weighing their options on the open market, teams will be doing the same, deciding who to try to retain and who to officially waive.
Clubs will make many of those decisions imminently, as the waiver wire will open and close this week, before the trade window opens again on December 13th.
The league will take a transaction moratorium from December 20th to 27th, after which teams can resume signings.
Between the CBA-induced influx of free agents and the lack of drafts forcing front offices into what could be lengthy recruiting and negotiating processes to attract young talent, the business of building an NWSL roster has become more complicated.
That said, some clubs seem to be capitalizing on the shake-up. After finishing the season in last place, the Houston Dash have already seen significant roster action — including nabbing defender Christen Westphal from San Diego and signing ex-Gotham free agent Delanie Sheehan — setting an aggressive rebuilding example as the NWSL embraces a new era.
Two NWSL teams avoided some major setbacks on Thursday, as both Portland’s Morgan Weaver and Orlando’s Angelina were cleared of season-ending injuries after undergoing scope procedures earlier this week.
Angelina has been described by her club as "week-to-week," while Weaver has been placed on Portland’s 45-day injury list.
The Thorns won their May 4th game without Weaver 2-1, continuing their season turnaround, while the Pride remain one of two unbeaten teams in the NWSL.
In other injury list news, Christen Press posted a video on Thursday of her running with a trainer and doing drills, providing further updates on her road back from a June 2022 ACL tear.
🚨CHRISTEN PRESS IS SHOOTING AND RUNNING 🤩
— The Women's Game (@WomensGameMIB) May 9, 2024
(yes, we're freaking out)
🎥: @ChristenPress pic.twitter.com/BUjIyzj4xh
Angel City coach Becki Tweed has told reporters that Press is back with the team, but has not issued a timetable for her return to the field.
Christen Press is still on the road to recovery.
While her name is no longer on Angel City’s season-ending injury list, the USWNT forward took to social media Thursday to give an update on her status. In doing so, she indicated that she still has a little bit of work to do before she returns.
Press tore her ACL in June of 2022 and has not played since. In July of last year, she revealed that she was about to undergo a fourth surgery for the injury.
In the months following, ACFC coach Becki Tweed noted that the forward’s goal was to return this year. Currently, Press is on the team’s preseason roster but hasn’t returned to training.
Hi folks! As you’ll see, I’m still not yet in team training. Working hard everyday to get back and get ready for the season. Excited for what 2024 will bring! Thanks for the love… please keep it coming🙏🏾
— Christen Press (@ChristenPress) January 25, 2024
“Hi folks! As you’ll see, I’m still not yet in team training,” Press wrote in a social media post. “Working hard everyday to get back and get ready for the season. Excited for what 2024 will bring! Thanks for the love… please keep it coming.”
Teams announced their schedules on Thursday, with Angel City’s season opener coming on March 16th against Bay FC.
Tobin Heath is opening up about the 2020 NWSL expansion draft and the heartbreak that came with it.
At the time, Heath was playing with Manchester United in the Women’s Super League, with the Portland Thorns retaining her NWSL rights. Heath, who had been with the club since their inaugural season in 2013, was selected by Racing Louisville in the expansion draft after going unprotected by Portland.
In the latest episode of “The RE-CAP Show,” Heath called her selection by Louisville “the biggest heartbreak of my life.”
“For me, playing in Portland was one of the greatest honors of my life. It gave me a childhood dream,” she said. “It was a big surprise to me to learn I was picked up in the expansion process. And I will say, I envisioned myself playing in Portland for the rest of my career.
“I envisioned myself living in Portland for the rest of my life and putting all of my football and everything that community gave me back into the club.”
While she was playing with Manchester United during the COVID-19 pandemic, she was told “by all parties” in the NWSL that she didn’t have to worry about the expansion draft. But she knew as soon as she got the phone call that she had been picked up.
“Immediately, I was kind of in denial,” she said, noting that she told her agent to tell Racing Louisville that “there’s no way I will ever show up.” She held true to that, continuing to play overseas before her rights were eventually traded to OL Reign. She played five games for the Seattle-based club in 2022 before being sidelined by injury.
“In one way, it had nothing to do with that particular club, but it had everything to do with the club I was currently on,” she said. “I have never cried harder in my life. I couldn’t console myself.”
Both Heath and co-host Christen Press also talked more generally about the expansion draft and the effect that it can have on players.
“Sometimes players are really excited about it. Sometimes players want to move,” Heath said. “So then there’s the very opposite of that, where maybe there’s a player that has signed a long-term contract with a club, has invested time there, has put down roots there, and they are left unprotected and therefore could be picked up.
“And I think there’s a little bit of chicken and egg that happens, where clubs play some games seeing which players they can leave unprotected and still have the feeling that they won’t get picked.”
Press talked about the issue with the NWSL basing its structure, including the expansion draft, off American sports leagues such as the NBA and NHL, rather than mirroring the European soccer system.
“My issue with our league being based off those leagues is multifaceted, but one big problem, I think, when it comes to reallocating or the way that players are moved around and traded around, it doesn’t work for this league because the players aren’t getting paid enough,” she said. “All of the moving pieces, which in this case are human beings, really matter.”
Christen Press believes that the NWSL is one of the most entertaining leagues in the world.
On the latest episode of The RE-CAP Show, Press discusses the action in the NWSL Championship with co-host Tobin Heath. Gotham FC held off OL Reign 2-1 on Nov. 11 to win their first championship and send Ali Krieger off into retirement on a high note.
“I asked for this match to showcase the NWSL at its best,” said Press, a two-time World Cup champion with the U.S. women’s national team. “And say what you will about the NWSL, the style of play, transition, yada yada — I think it’s the most entertaining league in the world.
“It’s open, it’s energetic, and there’s tons of goals, and I think we got the NWSL at its best during this final match.”
This comes as debate has gone on about which is better: European leagues or the NWSL. Gotham FC forward and World Cup champion Esther González of Spain praised the NWSL for its level of play.
“One of the biggest differences with the Spanish League, which is a great league, is that here all the games, absolutely all of them, are like a Champions League game, at the highest level,” she said after the championship game. “In Spain, there are some games that you can win four or five to zero, that your physical wear and tear is normal, that you have everything under control.
“Here, every game is like playing against Barça, which is the best team in the Spanish League: Your level has to be the maximum, your physical demand is the maximum, and that happens weekend after weekend.”
But others, like USWNT star Lindsey Horan, have opted for Europe and the Champions League. USWNT teammates Mia Fishel and Catarina Macario are also overseas, playing for Chelsea, whose coach Emma Hayes was just announced as the next manager of the USWNT.
And Horan would like to see more USWNT players head overseas to get acquainted with different styles of play.
“I’ve heard of [American] players wanting to [move to Europe],” Horan told Pro Soccer Wire. “Obviously, it’s comfortable in the NWSL and I won’t take anything away from the league, but for me, [playing abroad] has always been a growing point in my career. When I went to PSG, it was massive for me and then coming back to Lyon was even a bigger jump. I get to play with some of the best international players in the world.”
“It’s not a knock on the NWSL, but you’re just not going and playing in the Champions League,” she continued. “That’s something that I missed out on when I was at Portland because it’s just insane.”
Megan Rapinoe underwent surgery to repair the torn Achilles tendon in her right leg, she and OL Reign announced Wednesday.
The longtime U.S. women’s national team and OL Reign forward sustained the injury early in the 2023 NWSL Championship, which also was the final match of her storied career.
“I wasn’t overly emotional about it,” Rapinoe said after OL Reign’s 2-1 loss to Gotham FC. “I mean, f—ing yeeted my Achilles in the sixth minute in my last game ever in the literal championship game.”
Her former USWNT teammate Christen Press, though, couldn’t hold back her own emotions while watching the game at Snapdragon Stadium in San Diego, as Tobin Heath shared on the latest episode of their podcast, “The RE-CAP Show.”
“I was looking around trying to see if the stadium was processing what was happening,” Heath said. “And I looked over you and you were crying. And it was such a complicated moment of feelings.”
“We just were not ready for the end to come right at the beginning,” Press said. “And when I texted Pinoe after the game, I told her: Three tears hit the floor. That’s what happened, three giant, real tears hit the floor underneath my shoes.
“And you know what I thought? I thought, those aren’t tears of pity. She’s too important. She’s had too big of a career. She’s had too much success and joy playing this sport for us to have pity. That would be a disservice to the legacy that she’s leaving.
“And the tears fell from my face with love and pride to be able to have shared the field and the locker room with someone who has had such a long-lasting impact and will continue to have that long-lasting impact.”
Rapinoe handled the injury with grace during the championship match, even as her teammates and opponents spoke of their devastation on her behalf. And that continued as she began her recovery.
“Surgery a success. Home, resting, being taken care of,” she wrote on Instagram, tagging her fiancée Sue Bird. “Thank you for all the love, well wishes and good vibes sent my way.”
Forward Megan Rapinoe underwent successful surgery to repair her torn Achilles tendon, led by Dr. O’Malley, this morning in New York and will immediately begin her recovery process during retirement.
— OL Reign PR (@OLReignPR) November 15, 2023
Christen Press was as excited as the rest of the soccer community to watch Ali Krieger take home the 2023 NWSL Championship with Gotham FC.
On the latest episode of “The RE-CAP Show,” Press described herself as “on the edge of our seats” for the entirety of Saturday’s final. And one of the best parts of the match was getting to see how loved Krieger is. Press and Krieger played together on the 2015 and 2019 World Cup squads for the U.S. women’s national team.
“I think that it is warm and fuzzies to the max. This player, our friend, is so loved,” Press told co-host Tobin Heath. “She is adored by her teammates, by the teams that she plays on, by the entire community. … The Ali Krieger supporter group was massive and it was loud. We had Ali Krieger chants reverberating through the stadium the entire time, and that must be so cool to feel that in your final match.”
Part of what made it so satisfying to watch Krieger win the championship, Press said, is how Krieger has valued the NWSL from the very start of the league. While some treated it as a “stepping stone” for the national team, Krieger always has valued the NWSL on its own merit.
“I have never experienced someone who is able to put so much effort and energy and love into every single day of what she does,” Press continued. “She plays every single game like it’s the World Cup. She plays five-on-five in training like it’s a World Cup final.
“I’m like, aren’t you exhausted carrying this much for this long? I do not know how you do it. I do not understand how you could care that much all the freaking time.”
She also attributed part of Gotham’s energy and culture to what Krieger has established since joining the club last year.
“You’ve got a player that has done what she needs to do in her career,” she said. “And instead of being like, this is my victory tour, she says at the beginning of the season, ‘I want to win this trophy, I have not won this trophy.’ She frickin’ manifested that.”