Sophia Wilson added another line to the NWSL scoring record books on Sunday, notching her 50th career goal to cap Portland's 4-0 win over Racing Louisville FC.
Sophia Wilson's Goal Puts Her in Elite NWSL Scoring Company
The Thorns forward is only the ninth player in league history to reach the milestone. She got there in just 89 regular-season appearances, making her the third-fastest to do it behind Sam Kerr and Lynn Biyendolo.
That pace stands out even more given Wilson's interrupted path.
The 2020 No. 1 overall pick lost her entire rookie season to the pandemic, then sat out all of 2025 on maternity leave. Still, the 2022 NWSL MVP and 2023 Golden Boot winner hasn't slowed down since returning to the pitch.
Sunday's game against Racing Louisville was Wilson's sixth NWSL goal of the current campaign. The in-form striker has also managed to net goals for the USWNT after returning for a pair of tough games in Brazil.
The Portland Thorns Climb the NWSL Standings
Portland's win moved the Thorns into second place in the NWSL standings, one point behind league-leaders, the San Diego Wave. With Wilson producing at this clip, Portland looks well-positioned heading into the second half of the NWSL season.
Wilson's side will next face the Seattle Reign on Sunday, July 12 at 4 PM ET on ESPN.
The Utah Royals made NWSL history Sunday, extending their unbeaten streak to a franchise-record seven matches.
A 0-0 draw against Bay FC at PayPal Park secured a vital on-the-road point for the team. That result also keeps Utah in the 2026 NWSL playoff hunt, while cementing its status as one of the league’s most dominant defense.
Utah Royals Sets 468-Minute Franchise Shutout Record
Utah’s historic run is fueled by a backline that hasn't conceded a goal since late March. During the stalemate in San Jose, the Royals surpassed the previous club record, reaching 468 consecutive minutes of shutout soccer.
Goalkeeper Mandy McGlynn anchored the defensive surge, securing five clean sheets during the team's current seven-game unbeaten stretch.
"We’re not expecting an outcome of a win, expecting a shutout," McGlynn told The Athletic. "We’re just going there and we know how to execute the game plan and do that to our full ability."
The team's "process-oriented" mentality was on full display in the 40th match minute, when midfielder Narumi Miura made a lung-busting sprint to block a goal-bound shot from Bay FC's Racheal Kundananji, preserving the deadlock.
Offensively, Japanese international Mina Tanaka continues to drive the Royals' creative engine.
Granted a free role by head coach Jimmy Coenraets, Tanaka nearly broke the tie in the 79th minute, launching a powerful strike that forced an elite save from the Bay FC keeper.
Utah Royals vs. Racing Louisville: Shut-out Streak Watch Continues
With 17 points through nine matches, Utah currently sits in 3rd place in the NWSL standings. The club has already earned 11 road points this season — matching their combined road totals from 2024 and 2025.
The Royals return home to America First Field on May 17th to host Racing Louisville, looking to push their shutout record past the 500-minute mark.
The Summit reached new heights on Saturday, when the 2026 expansion team shattered the NWSL single-game attendance record with 63,004 fans turning out to watch Denver take on the Washington Spirit in their first-ever home match.
The Mile High Stadium crowd topped the league's previous 40,091-fan high-mark set by Bay FC last season, while also smashing Seattle's doubleheader attendance record of 42,054 fans from 2023.
"I will never forget walking out of that tunnel today and hearing the crowd screaming for us," said Denver captain Janine Solis, with the Summit already keeping pace above the playoff line.
The big day yielded few fireworks, however, as Saturday's 0-0 finish gave each team a point but extended the Spirit's 2026 winless streak.
After dropping their season opener to the Portland Thorns, the 2025 NWSL runners-up have logged three consecutive draws, with Washington now sitting in 12th place on the league table.
"We've been moving in the right direction," Spirit midfielder Hal Hershfelt said. "It's just going to take time to build that chemistry."
"We're not going to get obsessed with one result," said Washington manager Adrián González. "We know we want to get better every week, and this is what we are doing."
How to watch the Denver Summit, Washington Spirit this weekend
Both Denver and Washington will hit the road for the West Coast this weekend, starting with the Summit visiting the Seattle Reign at 8:45 PM ET on Saturday, airing live on ION.
Then at 5 PM ET on Sunday, the Spirit will take on Bay FC to close out NWSL play prior to the April international window, with live coverage airing on ESPN2.
The NWSL ushered in its 2026 season with a bang, as the newly expanded 16-team league's opening weekend shattered attendance records across the country.
All eight games combined for crowds of 129,202 total fans. With an average of 16,150 fans per match, last weekend clocked in as the best-attended opening campaign in NWSL history.
Seven of the eight matches drew more than 10,000 fans, logging a new league record for most opening weekend matches surpassing that mark — far exceeding the four-match record set in 2023 and 2025.
Leading the charge by a wide margin was 2026 expansion side Boston Legacy FC, with the NWSL newcomers welcoming 30,207 fans to Foxborough's Gillette Stadium for the club's inaugural home opener against reigning champs Gotham FC on Saturday.
Elsewhere, the season's first match between Portland and Washington ranked second in attendance after a sellout crowd of 19,215 packed into the Spirit's Audi Field for the Thorns' win.
More than 14,000 fans also showed up for the home openers of Angel City (16,813), the Orlando Pride (16,120), and the San Diego Wave (14,078).
Meanwhile, 2024 expansion side Bay FC extended their perfect 10,000+ season-opening crowd streak with 13,110 fans on Saturday.
Defending Shield-winners Kansas City also continued their perfect attendance, as Saturday's 11,500 crowd became the Current's 27th straight regular-season home sellout since CPKC Stadium opened in March 2024.
Though the 2026 opening weekend's attendance total is in part bolstered by the inventory added by two new clubs, the per-match average could be an early indicator that the NWSL is putting 2025's attendance concerns in the rearview.
As the NWSL preseason rapidly approaches, the league's two incoming expansion teams announced key additions to their rosters over the last week as they pad out their inaugural squads.
On Tuesday, Denver Summit FC officially announced the signing of USYNT and CF Pachuca Femenil defender Ayo Oke for a reported $450,000 transfer fee — the most ever paid for an incoming US national.
The 22 year-old Cal and UCLA alum has been a mainstay in the USWNT youth pipeline since 2018, and became a Liga MX champion in her first-ever professional season last year.
"I'm excited to join Denver Summit FC and be part of building something new," said Oke in the club's announcement. "I'm ready to compete, grow, and help set the standard from day one."
Meanwhile on the East Coast, Boston Legacy FC has been more than keeping pace, bringing on Brazil national team defender Andressa "Kaká" Ferreira from top Brazilian side São Paulo, Colombian center back Jorelyn Carabalí from the WSL's Brighton & Hove Albion, Mexico international and former Club América left back Nicki Hernández, and Canada winger and NWSL free agent Bianca St-Georges — signing the quartet over the last six days.
With the NWSL expansion draft a thing of the past, Denver and Boston have been proactive in their acquisitions from the jump.
Denver has stocked up on NWSL veterans like Carson Pickett, Kaleigh Kurtz, Jordan Baggett, and first-ever signing Ally Watt — all of whom have earned at least one league championship — while Boston added reigning NWSL champ Ella Stevens while also targeting rising international stars like Brazil's Amanda Gutierres and Laís Araújo.
With the 2026 NWSL campaign looming, clubs only have a few weeks left to finalize their preseason rosters — with more than a few big-name free agents still in the mix.
USWNT star Sophia Wilson is returning to Portland, with Sportico reporting on Tuesday that the 25-year-old is exercising her one-year player option with the Thorns — keeping her in the NWSL through the 2026 season.
Written into the striker's 2024 contract with Portland, the option is worth $1 million, officially making Wilson the US domestic league's highest-paid player.
The 2022 NWSL MVP missed the 2025 NWSL campaign due to pregnancy, but plans to return next season after giving birth to her daughter in September.
Notably, Wilson's re-signing comes as the NWSL reckons with salary cap limitations, and follows the league recently rejecting the Washington Spirit's multi-million dollar offer to retain fellow USWNT "Triple Espresso" star Trinity Rodman.
While ESPN reported last week that the NWSL Board of Governors is considering adopting a "High Impact Player" rule to allow teams to exceed the salary cap, the league has yet to officially announce any such new mechanism — and it isn't clear if Wilson's one-year deal qualifies for the potential change.
Considering the current NWSL base salary cap is $3.5 million, but will jump to $4.4 million in 2027 — the same year Wilson will become a free agent — the Thorns star could see her next contract surpass this week's record-setting deal.
The 2025 NWSL Championship claimed a major viewership milestone on Saturday, as Gotham FC's 1-0 title win over the Washington Spirit became the first-ever league match to record an average of more than one million viewers.
The CBS evening broadcast averaged an impressive 1.184 million fans and peaked at 1.55 million viewers, making it the most-watched NWSL match of all time.
The 2025 final marked a 22% viewership increase over the 967,900 fans who watched 2024's Orlando Pride victory — the previous NWSL viewership record-holder — and a 45% ratings gain over Gotham's 2023 championship win, which averaged 816,800 viewers.
Saturday's gains both matched the 22% viewership increase the NWSL regular season saw this year and also far exceeded the 2025 postseason's pre-final year-over-year increase of 5%.
Calling the one-million viewer mark "an extraordinary achievement" in Tuesday's league statement, NWSL commissioner Jessica Berman also noted that the "record-setting audience demonstrates the deepening connection fans have with our players, our clubs, and the world-class competition on the field, and it underscores the growing demand for women's soccer on the biggest stages."
"We're incredibly proud of what this moment represents for the NWSL and for everyone who continues to invest in and believe in the future of our game," Berman added.
Atlanta is reportedly next in line to join the NWSL, with sources telling The Athletic on Sunday that the Georgia capital has won the bid to field the league's 17th franchise, with the newest expansion club aiming to take the pitch in 2028.
AMB Sports & Entertainment — the parent company to MLS side Atlanta United and the NFL's Falcons — shelled out a record $165 million expansion fee to enter the league, a significant jump from the $110 million Denver Summit FC owners paid to snag the 16th NWSL club in January 2025.
With the Atlanta United routinely drawing some of the largest crowds across MLS, the move to Georgia allows the NWSL to tap into both the area's existing soccer fanbase as well as the United's pitch at Mercedes-Benz Stadium, the anticipated downtown home of the incoming women's club.
Also setting up shop in Atlanta in the near future is US Soccer, after AMB founder Arthur Blank donated $50 million to help fund the federation's 2026 relocation.
If confirmed, the Atlanta expansion will continue a wave of growth for the NWSL, with new teams kicking off their inaugural campaigns in Denver and Boston next year — despite rising concerns about dwindling attendance across several key markets.
NWSL teams are extending key player contracts, with the Current announcing the re-signing of captain Lo'eau LaBonta on a contract extension through the 2028 NWSL season this week.
"From baseball field to NWSL Shield, I've seen how far we've come and I'm hyped to see how far we can go," the 32-year-old said in the club's contract extension announcement on Thursday. "I've grown with this club and this city, and I've seen how belief turns into history. This new contract is about more than just soccer — it's about building a legacy, one celly at a time."
The top-seeded Current weren't the only team locking down their locker room ahead of this week's 2025 NWSL Playoffs kick off, with Kansas City's quarterfinals foe No. 8-seed Gotham FC also getting in on the deal-making action.
The Bats inked rising star midfielder Jaedyn Shaw to a new multi-year contract extension on Thursday, signing the 20-year-old phenom through the 2029 season less than two months after securing her from the North Carolina Courage in a record-breaking $1.25 million midseason transfer deal.
"Whether we're winning games or losing games, just being around the girls and stuff, I feel like everyone has been so welcoming to me and has made this place feel like home," Shaw told JWS after Thursday's news.
How to watch LaBonta, Shaw in the 2025 NWSL Playoffs
While Thursday saw their respective clubs go all in on their NWSL futures on Thursday, both LaBonta and Shaw will be battling against each other for their team's 2025 success this weekend, as the No. 1 Kansas City Current hosts No. 8 Gotham FC in a win-or-go-home clash on Sunday.
The pair's quarterfinal kicks off at 12:30 PM ET, with live coverage airing on ABC.
Incoming NWSL side Denver Summit FC will kick off in style, with the 2026 expansion team announcing Monday that the club will make its big debut on March 28th at Empower Field at Mile High — the home stadium of the city's local NFL team, the Denver Broncos.
The venue shift comes shortly after the club surpassed 15,000 season ticket deposits, setting a new NWSL record for an expansion franchise.
"This will be an unforgettable moment for our club, our players, our city, and our fans," said team president Jen Millet about the inaugural match. "We're honored to play our first home match and host 'The Kickoff' in such an iconic stadium."
With the ability to hold a crowd of 76,125, Empower Field could also provide an opportunity for Denver to immediately contend for the NWSL's single-game attendance record, which currently stands at 40,091 fans after Bay FC shattered the previous record at San Francisco's Oracle Park in August.
"This venue has hosted many memorable moments in Colorado sports history, and we look forward to working together to bring a best-in-class experience for Summit FC fans," said Broncos president Damani Leech in Monday's club statement.
How to attend the Denver Summit FC "Kickoff" match
Though the expansion side's debut opponent is still unknown, fans can be a part of NWSL history by snagging tickets to fill the Mile High City's NFL stadium at the March 28th inaugural Denver Summit match.
"The Kickoff" tickets will go on sale at DenverSummitFC.com on Wednesday, November 12th.