Savannah DeMelo is staying in Louisville.

The 25-year-old midfielder, who made her first start for the U.S. women’s national team at the 2023 World Cup, has signed a contract extension with Racing Louisville through the 2026 season.

In addition to her rapid rise on the national team, DeMelo is putting together a stellar NWSL season, which could have her in the running for league MVP.

“I am so excited to be extending my contract here in Louisville,” DeMelo said in a news release. “This was an easy decision on my end because of how much I love this team and city! I have built so many great connections both on and off the field, and I feel so honored to have the opportunity to continue to grow with this club and fight for trophies.”

In June, DeMelo became the first U.S. player since Shannon Boxx in 2003 to be named to a World Cup roster without a single cap for the national team. She made her first USWNT appearance in a send-off game against Wales, then made her first start in the World Cup opener against Vietnam.

In the NWSL, DeMelo has scored eight goals across all competitions. She has assisted on three more, and she also converted on a penalty later deemed an own goal. In May, she was named NWSL Player of the Month.

On top of her goal-creating abilities, the midfielder also ranks first in the NWSL in fouls won (45), ninth in duels won and 10th in scoring chances created. With DeMelo playing alongside Jaelin Howell and Ary Borges, Racing can claim one of the top midfield trios in the league.

“I’ve said this before: Savannah’s development has been amazing since she came to the club in 2022,” head coach Kim Björkegren said. “I’m so happy with her signing a new contract because it gives us stability and even more time for her to grow in her role. She is already one of the best 10s in the league, and she has the potential to be one of the best 10s in the world.”

DeMelo was selected by Louisville with the No. 4 overall pick in the 2022 NWSL draft. She scored four goals in her rookie campaign, and she also led the league in chances created, fouls won and direct free kick goals.

“We’re beyond excited to keep building our club’s foundation with Savannah as one of our cornerstone players,” Racing general manager Ryan Dell said. “Savannah’s development since coming to Louisville has truly been outstanding. We know she’ll play a key role in driving our club to great new heights.”

Ary Borges had her coming-out party for Brazil in the team’s 4-0 group-stage win against Panama.

In her World Cup debut, the 23-year-old showed no sign of hesitation, completing the first hat trick of the tournament and jumping into the lead of the Golden Boot race. But who is Borges? Just Women’s Sports has you covered.

Age: 23
Position: Forward/Attacking midfielder
Brazil debut: September 17, 2021 vs. Argentina
Total caps: 30

Who is Borges?

Borges is a 23-year-old forward and attacking midfielder with Brazil and Racing Louisville FC. Born in São Luís, Maranhão, she moved to São Paulo at age 10 with her family, where she played as one of three girls on the Santos FC youth team before switching to Centro Olímpico. With that club, she played on the girls’ U-15 team at just 11 years old, as there was not a U-13 option.

A decade later, she stars for club and country, and her life revolves around the game. In her downtime, she watches soccer and plays FIFA.

“There’s always soccer,” she told The Athletic in June. “I play soccer at work and then I go to soccer (after work). Soccer is life.”

Where does she play professionally?

She joined NWSL club Racing Louisville at the end of January and has one goal through 13 appearances. And that goal was a beauty, coming in just her second appearance for the club.

Before joining Racing Louisville, Borges played professionally in Brazil, most recently for Palmeiras from 2020-22. Through 87 appearances with the club, she scored 37 goals as a striker, while at Louisville she has taken on a role in the midfield. That adaptability helped her earn a call-up for the World Cup, where she is also playing in the midfield.

What does she bring to Brazil?

Since earning her first national team call-up in 2021, Borges has scored eight goals – including the three in Brazil’s 4-0 win against Panama.

The move to Racing Louisville has helped her on the international stage. Entering 2023, she had just four goals in two years. Since April, she has matched that total for Brazil, including the team’s lone goal against Germany in their friendly on April 11.

Borges brings versatility to the national team, with the ability to move and flow with the pace of the game. She excels in the midfield but can also contribute on the attack. And while this may be her first World Cup, she’s become comfortable with her role.

“If I say that I don’t think about it, I’d be lying,” she said upon making the World Cup roster. “It’s about a dream. It’s my dream to play and represent my country with the Seleção.”

And she knows her club play with Racing Louisville had a huge impact on Brazil coach Pia Sundhage’s decision to bring her to the World Cup.

“I’m very comfortable with what I’m doing,” Borges added. “I’ve been very comfortable with what I’ve been producing. But I can’t get there if I don’t work well here.”

What have players and coaches said about Borges?

Jaelin Howell, Racing Louisville midfielder: “Ary, I don’t think she gets enough credit for what she does in the middle. I can step out and press because I know that she’s behind me holding it down.”

Kim Björkegren, Racing Louisville head coach: “She is very talented, and already at 22 she has proven that she is an important player not only for Palmeiras but also in the Brazilian national team. She is a box-to-box midfielder. She can win the ball for your team but also finish and score goals.”

Marta, Brazil forward: “I’m very happy for her. Scoring three goals in a debut is not easy, she was blessed. She even gave an assist, so it’s almost four goals. I was honored to step into her shoes, I was even more relaxed.”

Savannah DeMelo has not played in a single match for the U.S. women’s national team. So forgive her if she could not quite wrap her head around her World Cup selection.

The USWNT video series “The Call” brings viewers behind the scenes as head coach Vlatko Andonovski FaceTimes players to let them know that they’ve been called up for the tournament. And for DeMelo, who has yet to feature internationally, the moment is one to remember.

DeMelo is speechless at first, then asks the question: “Are you serious?”

“I mean, I wouldn’t joke with something like that,” Andonovski replies.

“Oh my gosh, thank you so much,” she said. “My heart’s beating so fast.”

At one point, her family can be heard celebrating in the background of the call. Andonovski then congratulates DeMelo on a recent goal for Racing Louisville, a trend that has led to her call-up. She has eight goals across all NWSL competitions this year.

While she is uncapped heading into the World Cup, she did join the USWNT for camps in September and October of last year. She becomes the first uncapped player to receive a World Cup call-up for the USWNT since Shannon Boxx in 2003.

“One thing that we wanted to see from her is consistency in the upcoming season,” Andonovski said Wednesday. “Sav did very well and was very consistent. Her performance in the league was one of the biggest reasons why she’s on the team.

“And based on the needs that we have in terms of opponents and different situations that we may face, we see Sav being very important for us going forward.”

Savannah DeMelo will feature on the U.S. women’s national team roster for the 2023 World Cup, The Athletic reported Friday.

Who is the 25-year-old midfielder? And what can USWNT fans expect from the national team newbie? Just Women’s Sports introduces the world to the rising star.

Who does Savannah DeMelo play for?

Racing Louisville selected DeMelo with the No. 4 overall pick in the 2022 NWSL Draft. The midfielder is in the midst of her second season with the club.

Has she played for the USWNT before?

DeMelo received call-ups from the national team in September and October of last year. She joined the USWNT ahead of the September friendlies against Nigeria as a replacement for forward Trinity Rodman, who missed the camp due to a family commitment, and then she made the trip to the October friendlies in England and Spain.

While she has two training camps under her belt, though, she has yet to feature in a game for the USWNT.

What is DeMelo’s style of play?

DeMelo provides depth at the midfielder position as a player who can work both sides of the ball. In her second professional season, she also has shown her scoring touch. Since the beginning of May, she has been involved in eight goals (6 goals, 2 assists) across all NWSL competitions, which is two better than any other player in the league in that span, per OptaJack.

While she started the year outside of the national team pool, she kept herself on USWNT head coach Vlatko Andonovski’s radar with a ferocious start to the NWSL season. As Andonovski has stated, NWSL play is a big factor in his roster decisions. And there are few playing better in the league right now than DeMelo.

She has scored in three of her last four matches, including in Sunday’s 2-0 win against Gotham FC, and she has eight goals across all competitions this season. She finished the 2022 season with four goals total.

On top of her goal-scoring abilities, DeMelo also brings a solid defensive presence. A good shot blocker, she also helps her team to win the ball back, averaging 4.38 interceptions per game in 2022. And as good as DeMelo looked in 2022, she’s even better in 2023, which has earned her a spot on her first World Cup roster.

The U.S. women’s national team is in a unique position going into this year’s World Cup roster release. With the NWSL still in the swing of the regular season, USWNT head coach Vlatko Andonovski has the benefit of watching league games every week — but few chances for head-to-head comparisons before the team convenes for camp in June.

A number of U.S. mainstays, including Rose Lavelle, are still dealing with lingering injuries, while others, such as Catarina Macario, have removed themselves from World Cup consideration entirely. Still others are struggling to find World Cup-level form.

Meanwhile, several players without any international experience are stepping up in league play and making their cases for the USWNT roster. Andonovski doesn’t get to guide his team through any more international friendlies before committing to the group that will chase the USWNT’s fifth World Cup star, and these stars with little U.S. experience are making his decisions that much more difficult.

Aubrey Kingsbury, GK, Washington Spirit

Aubrey Kingsbury is the only player on this list with a cap for the U.S., earned against Uzbekistan in April 2022. And with Alyssa Naeher, Adrianna Franch and Casey Murphy all having up-and-down seasons, a clear argument could be made that the American goalkeeper with recent USWNT experience having the steadiest 2023 so far is actually the Washington Spirit No. 1. Washington is tied with Gotham FC for fewest goals conceded this season with eight, with Kingsbury a steady presence behind a new Spirit defensive line.

When Franch had a surge in form for Kansas City late in 2022, Kingsbury became the first goalkeeper out of the player pool after having been brought in consistently for USWNT camps in recent years. One has to wonder if the combination of familiarity with the U.S. system and commanding league form could be enough to give her the edge on the third goalkeeper spot on the plane to New Zealand.

Jaedyn Shaw, F, San Diego Wave

If there’s been one major theme of the NWSL season thus far, it’s been the youth movement. And more than one teenager likely is ready for the international stage. Jaedyn Shaw’s role within the San Diego attack has only grown as she develops into her first full season as a professional. The 18-year-old’s versatility has been on display, with crafty movement front of goal and an ability on the ball that can find seams behind an opponent’s backline.

“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 last Friday’s match, in which Shaw place a perfectly weighted ball in for an assist. Shaw can play both as a forward or as a deeper-sitting playmaker, and her current form indicates she should be a legitimate consideration for the spot left open by Catarina Macario’s injury.

Savannah DeMelo, M, Racing Louisville

If there was a “pure form” index for players across all NWSL competitions, Savannah DeMelo would surely be at the very top of the list. The 25-year-old has eight goal contributions in all comps since mid-April with five goals and three assists, the most in the NWSL in that time span. An audacious playmaker, DeMelo is willing to open defenses up by shots from distance as well as by finding the runs of her teammates in behind opponents’ backlines.

She also has experience with both a single and a double pivot defensive midfield structure behind her, something the U.S. has experimented with throughout 2022 and the early months of 2023. She’s not afraid of risky passes forward, and she provides a dynamism that the U.S. might need with Rose Lavelle still returning from injury. The only mark against the midfielder’s rise in league domination is that her current run of form comes in a section of Louisville’s schedule that includes two games apiece against the struggling Kansas City Current and Chicago Red Stars.

Sam Staab, D, Washington Spirit

While it hasn’t been an incredible season of defense to this point in the NWSL, Sam Staab has stood apart from the field. Staab has shown an impressive amount of durability and mental focus in 2023, having not missed a single start since the beginning of her NWSL career. She also had to be the foundation of a new-look center-back pairing after the departure of Emily Sonnett, but even with the added pressure, she is holding down one of the NWSL’s most efficient defenses.

What also makes Staab an exciting USWNT prospect is what she provides to a team in distribution. The 26-year-old has impressive long ball vision, hitting the kind of diagonal passes that the U.S. prefers when trying to progress the ball forward. She also has the ability to take long throw-ins when the Spirit are in the attacking third, giving an extra edge in set-piece configuration for her team. With a number of center-backs in the USWNT rotation struggling to find their form and Becky Sauerbrunn still returning to the pitch, Staab deserves a long look.

Olivia Moultrie, M, Portland Thorns

Olivia Moultrie is the second teenager on this list, but she plays in Portland’s midfield like the seasoned pro she actually is. The 17-year-old has two goals and two assists in the 2023 NWSL season thus far, and she has looked increasingly like the kind of player the USWNT could use on the ball in the midfield. She — like DeMelo — plays in the attacking midfield, and she doesn’t give the ball away easily, connecting over 81% of her passes this season despite a willingness to try to thread balls forward to connect with the Thorns’ attack.

There’s also an argument to be made for continuing to build for the future, with Moultrie a likely successor to the USWNT’s current crop of creative midfielders. She’s got a good attacking rapport with striker Sophia Smith, and her numbers year over year have improved with the more time she’s gotten in a professional midfield system. She can move the ball calmly under pressure, something that the U.S. could use not only in future years but also right now, with the World Cup on the horizon.

We’re nearing the halfway point of the 2023 NWSL season after a topsy-turvy month of May. The league saw a number of imbalanced scorelines, but no single player took a definitive lead in the Golden Boot race — or in the Player of the Month race, which had a number of worthy contenders.

With defenses across the NWSL still working on their cohesion, most of the top performers in May were those generating attacking chances, with quite a few coming from teams still on the upswing in the league table.

However, our regular season Player of the Month for May is likely a name well known to many.

Crystal Dunn, M, Portland Thorns

The 30-year-old had one of the best scoring months of her career in the Portland midfield in May, scoring three goals and registering an assist. She finished the month in a tie for first place in the 2023 Golden Boot race with five on the season.

A high-efficiency scorer, Dunn converted on 100% of her shots on goal this month in performances against the North Carolina Courage and the Chicago Red Stars. Her brace against the Courage kept the Thorns in a match that ultimately ended 3-3, picking up a crucial point to land Portland tied for second place in the NWSL standings at the end of the month with 16 points.

Dunn also has been active in ways more nuanced than her scoring and assisting output. She sits in second for field players in American Soccer Analysis’ goals added (g+) estimation for the month of May on the strength of her receiving and shooting abilities. She also sits in the top 10 for individual xG created this month despite only registering eight total shots. And while the Portland defense has had its struggles this month, the attack has kept cooking, sitting on a goal differential of +12.

Honorable mentions

Savannah DeMelo, M, Racing Louisville

DeMelo was in a dead heat with Dunn for May’s top honor, proving essential for Louisville in all competitions despite only scoring one goal and notching one assist in regular season play. The 25-year-old has been one of the best attacking generators in the league this month, leading the NWSL in xG + xA (goal and assist chance creation).

Kailen Sheridan, GK, San Diego Wave

Sheridan is known as one of the NWSL’s most elite shot-stoppers, but in May she was one of the league’s greatest passing threats as well. She also led the league’s goalkeepers in g+, conceding only four goals on 24 shots faced, which leaves San Diego tied for second place in the league standings.

Adriana, F, Orlando Pride

The Pride saw their best stretch of play in May, going undefeated in three regular season games before a very unlikely loss to the Chicago Red Stars to end the month. Orlando has passed around scoring honors and become stingy in defense, but Adriana’s contributions on and off the ball have stuck out as both a dribbler and a defensive disruptor from the attack.

Only a few weeks into the regular season, the NWSL is already switching gears. The 2023 Challenge Cup kicks off with five games on Wednesday as the league gets set to debut a new Cup format in its fourth year of existence.

Instead of a preseason tournament, the Challenge Cup will run as an in-season campaign with games interspersed throughout the league’s regular season. To accommodate players competing in the World Cup this summer, the league will play only Challenge Cup games from July 10 to Aug. 17. The top four teams at the end of the Cup round-robin stage will advance to single-elimination semifinals on Sept. 6, and the final will be played on Sept. 9.

With more prize money available than ever before, players will be greatly incentivized to compete for the trophy. What can fans expect from this year’s version of the Challenge Cup? Let’s dig in.

Why the schedule change matters

The NWSL’s decision to turn the Challenge Cup into an in-season competition is rooted in recent history. In 2020, the Challenge Cup functioned as a mini-tournament replacing the regular season, as professional sports reacted to the COVID-19 pandemic.

In 2021 and 2022, the Challenge Cup became a preseason tournament, where teams played out the group stages before the regular season began. The scheduling was both a blessing and a curse as teams rotated depth and showed a varied commitment to immediate results versus long-term process.

For example, the NWSL’s two new California expansion sides in 2022, the San Diego Wave and Angel City FC, used Challenge Cup to test brand-new rosters ahead of the regular season. The Washington Spirit and North Carolina Courage, meanwhile, played competitively all the way to the Challenge Cup final and then suffered in the regular season after a taxing Cup championship game.

Turning the Cup into a regular season competition should help teams stay sharp, and UKG’s commitment of $1 million in prize money — equitable to the winnings of the 2020 MLS is Back Tournament — will keep players engaged. While coaches will be tasked with keeping their squads fresh for the regular season matches on either side of their midweek Cup games, players will give their all with the opportunity to win bonuses that rival some of the highest in women’s soccer.

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With rookie Michelle Cooper and other veterans, Kansas City has the depth to sustain World Cup absences. (William Purnell/USA TODAY Sports)

Which teams are set up best to compete?

The Challenge Cup is a depth game, so the teams that have the ability to rotate without sacrificing quality will have the best chance at winning it all by the end of the year. Fitness and player absences for the 2023 Women’s World Cup in July and August will force some teams into greater challenges than others.

Historically, the Challenge Cup has rewarded scrappy sides who ride momentum and punch above their weight. In 2023, however, the stretched-out schedule could tip the scales back in favor of the NWSL Shield contenders. OL Reign, the Portland Thorns and the Kansas City Current boast the highest levels of depth in the NWSL.

While the Current’s injury bug could hold them back in the early stages of the competition, they have the reinforcements to power through the World Cup period of the Cup, including a number of top midfielders and attackers who will not be leaving for any period of time. Another team to watch out for is 2020 Challenge Cup champion Houston Dash, who have a frontline of red-hot talent that will not be leaving for Australia and New Zealand in July.

Other teams with the potential to hit their stride as the Cup progresses are Racing Louisville, the Chicago Red Stars and Angel City. All three of those clubs have shallow areas on their rosters, but due to their roster construction, could have more players available during the World Cup than a number of the league’s heavy-hitters.

Top players to watch: Check the midfield

In past Challenge Cups, strong midfields that can generate goal-scoring opportunities have held an advantage in later rounds, and this year might be no different.

Houston’s attacking trio of Diana Ordoñez, María Sánchez and Ebony Salmon have already been putting opponents under pressure in the early going of the regular season, and it’s possible all three will be available throughout the Cup (Salmon theoretically could still be called up to England).

The Current could find themselves heavily reliant on their non-World Cup talent, including rookie attacker Michelle Cooper and veteran midfielder Vanessa DiBernardo, while hoping Morgan Gautrat and Kristen Hamilton return from injury. Racing Louisville will also rely on a growing midfield, as Jaelin Howell and Savannah McCaskill try to stake their claim as the next generation of the USWNT midfield player pool.

OL Reign and Portland will similarly turn to their stacked midfields. The Thorns boast rising U.S. talent Olivia Moultrie as an attacking midfield option, while the Reign have already gotten quality minutes from midfielder Olivia van der Jagt, who will likely combine with longtime veteran Jess Fishlock while World Cup players are away.

Outside of the hidden gems, expect the league’s top stars to show out before they leave for the international stage. Sophia Smith currently leads the regular season Golden Boot race with four goals and two assists, followed by Washington Spirit forward Ashley Hatch with three goals. Gotham winger Midge Purce has two goals and two assists as she battles for a spot on the USWNT’s World Cup squad.

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Diana Ordoñez leads a dangerous Houston Dash frontline through the Challenge Cup. (Soobum Im/USA TODAY Sports)

Predictions

Challenge Cup champion

Portland Thorns over Houston Dash

The Dash have the defensive tenacity and attacking firepower to advance all the way to the Cup final. But given the length of this year’s Challenge Cup, the deepest and steadiest team should have just enough to emerge victorious.

Challenge Cup MVP

Sam Coffey, M, Portland Thorns

Midfield options will be critical throughout the Challenge Cup, and Portland’s could be the difference in the quest for the trophy and $1 million prize pool. Coffey has been growing into her role as a midfield maestro for Portland, and the team doesn’t have an obvious rotation replacement that would pull minutes from the 24-year-old.

Challenge Cup Golden Boot

Diana Ordoñez, F, Houston Dash

Ordoñez is the focal point of Houston’s front three, with the ability to score both with her feet and her head. The Dash have the potential to make one of the strongest runs during the World Cup period as the chemistry between Mexico teammates María Sánchez and Ordoñez builds with every game.

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

Emily Fox is on her way to North Carolina in exchange for the Courage’s Abby Erceg and Carson Pickett, the teams announced Monday.

The No. 1 pick in the 2021 NWSL draft, Fox has been a member of Racing Louisville since their first match. She also has played in 24 games for the U.S. women’s national team, including the team’s two wins against New Zealand to start the year.

The 24-year-old defender posted an 82% pass success rate in her second season after finishing as a Rookie of the Year finalist in 2021.

“I’m really excited to have the opportunity to head back to North Carolina,” Fox said in a news release. “Coming from UNC, the Courage were always a team I rooted for and admired. I can’t wait to get to work and represent this club.”

With the addition of Fox, the Courage continue the reshaping their roster this offseason. The departure of defensive cornerstones in Pickett and team captain Erceg comes after 2022 NWSL MVP finalist Debinha departed for the Kansas City Current in free agency.

North Carolina also has parted ways with defender Merritt Mathias and forward Diana Ordóñez. The former was traded to Angel City FC in exchange for forward Tyler Lussi, while the latter was sent to the Houston Dash in exchange for draft picks.

While Ordóñez had requested a trade, Erceg criticized the deal on Twitter, writing, “Yup, it’s official. We still suck a trades in 2023.” Still, after her own trade to Louisville, the outgoing Courage captain described herself as “shocked and disappointed.”

“The intention to see out my career with a club in which I have so many fantastic memories comes to an end, as that intention is unfortunately not a shared one,” she wrote in a statement shared via her Twitter account.

In Louisville, both Erceg and Pickett will reunite with former Courage teammate Jessica McDonald. North Carolina traded McDonald to Louisville last offseason.

Racing loses Fox but receives a defender of a similar style in the 29-year-old Pickett, as well as an seasoned leader in 33-year-old Erceg.

“Obviously Emily is a player of high quality,” Racing coach Kim Björkegren said. “This trade, however, returns a great player at the left-back position in Carson and gives us a veteran central defender in Abby. Both players have great experience and talent and can help lead this team.”

Every game day morning, Jaelin Howell walks into the Racing Louisville facilities with a cup of coffee. She oscillates between plain black coffee, espresso or a latte with almond milk, but she never uses any flavoring.

“I like to taste the beans,” she tells Just Women’s Sports.

Then, she takes time to journal, putting on her headphones to help her visualize the kind of game she wants to have. She follows her moment of zen with a prayer. And then she heads off to get hyped in the locker room with her teammates.

That series of events provides the perfect combination for Howell: She gets dialed in, then lets loose and has fun. In her first season in the NWSL, which included some growing pains, Howell discovered the importance of a game-day routine. She’s not superstitious. She just knows what works.

And now, after a rookie campaign in which Howell started all 22 of her team’s matches, she will have a chance to perfect her routine off the field and her play on it. The 23-year-old midfielder signed a contract extension Tuesday, adding another year to her original deal and keeping her with Racing Louisville through 2025.

“Racing has treated me super well, and they’ve always invested in me,” she said. “I see a lot of great things in the future of the club.

“I felt really comfortable my first year, and I felt like the staff and the players really embraced me, and I felt like it was a good environment for me to be in for the next couple of years.”

Howell was the second overall pick in the 2022 NWSL draft following a successful college career at Florida State, where she won back-to-back Hermann Trophies and led her squad to two NCAA titles.

In college, Howell became accustomed to success — her Florida State teams went a combined 72-14-12 — but Racing Louisville didn’t see the same kind of results during her rookie season. The club went 5-8-9 on the year and missed out on the playoffs.

Still, Howell believes the team has the right combination of youth and experience, as well as the resources and facilities, to take the next step in 2023.

“Our team got closer throughout the season, and I think we are going to make the right adjustments to come out and have a different season, and get the results we want,” she said.

Racing Louisville has a young roster, and adjusting to life in the NWSL takes time, Howell said. The college season is much shorter and less of a grind.

So Howell learned to prioritize recovery, listening to what her body needed throughout the grueling season. She also had to work on the mental aspects of the game.

“I didn’t realize the expectations I had put on myself, coming off of a national championship and a MAC Hermann,” she said. “I just really wanted to prove myself in the league, and I think, honestly, put a little too much pressure on myself.”

Howell started seeing a sports psychologist. By the middle of the season, she felt more confident on the field. Howell has always been a perfectionist, and seeing a psychologist helped her get out of her own head.

“I want to control everything, and I would get in my head about stuff,” she said. “So a lot of it for me was just letting go, letting loose and just playing. I found myself playing a lot better, a lot more free, and it helped me tremendously.”

With her rejuvenated mental state and the young talent around her, Howell believes good things are coming for both her and her team.

Individually, one of those things could be a more permanent spot on the U.S. women’s national team. Howell has made five appearances for the USWNT since 2020, including three in 2022, but she wasn’t named to the most recent roster for the squad’s two friendly matches in New Zealand.

“Hopefully, we continue to get more and more talent (at Racing), and we can commit and push each other in training environments,” she said. “I think our performance last year didn’t really show the capabilities that we have. I’m excited to see our potential, and I think that, combined with our fantastic facilities and training environment, is going to help me grow.”

Howell is growing and changing, and so is the league. Both for the better, Howell thinks.

The rookie joined the NWSL during a tumultuous time. The Sally Yates report and the NWSL and NWSLPA joint report, both published during Howell’s first year as a pro, uncovered patterns of abuse and misconduct in the league. Racing Louisville was cited in both reports, with former coach Christy Holly at the center of the allegations, though the club was far from the only one implicated.

Howell is glad the issues have come to light, and she is optimistic for a better Racing Louisville and a better NWSL going forward.

“I’m looking forward to the changes being implemented and the future in 2023,” she said. “I think the league and the club are heading in the right direction. I’m excited.”

Eden Laase is a Staff Writer at Just Women’s Sports. Follow her on Twitter @eden_laase.

Racing Louisville player Emina Ekic, six former Racing players and one former staff member accused president James O’Connor, former president Brad Estes and the front office of enabling a culture of abuse to flourish at the club, WHAS11’s Tyler Greever reported Wednesday.

Former Racing coach Christy Holly featured prominently in the Sally Yates report on systemic abuse in the NWSL, as the U.S. Soccer-commissioned investigation uncovered claims of sexual abuse leveled against Holly by former Racing player Erin Simon.

Holly groped Simon during a film session, masturbated in front of her and sent her sexually explicit photos, according to the report. Holly was fired for cause in August 2021 after team leadership learned of the alleged abuse, but the Racing Louisville front office did not elaborate publicly on the factors that led to Holly’s dismissal.

Earlier in 2021, three players – Emily Fox, who is still on the Racing roster, and former players Julia Ashley and Noelle Higginson – met with O’Connor and human resources director Erin Wilkins to discuss their concerns with the club environment.

While they noticed some improvements after the meeting, Wilkins revealed the three players’ identities to Holly and others by email in scheduling a follow-up meeting.

“Obviously at that point, trust was broken,” Ashley said. “And I asked HR, ‘What happened there? We had talked about this.’ She (Wilkins) claimed that she didn’t know how to blind copy.”

Former Racing forward Vanessa Kara, who also spoke to WHAS11, pointed to that moment as an early example of the distrust that festered in the first season of the expansion franchise.

“That is a horrible violation of confidentiality and kind of started this culture of we have nowhere safe to go because nobody believes our word,” Kara said.

That atmosphere allowed various abuses to go unchecked for too long, players said, from Holly’s abuse of Simon to the emotional, physical and verbal abuse of players by Holly and other members of the coaching staff.

Some of the players pointed to current Louisville City FC analyst and former Racing assistant coach Gary Curneen and former volunteer coach Clifton Bush as perpetrators of alleged emotional and verbal abuse.

Holly and former Racing director of high performance Brianne Brown also treated injuries with attitudes ranging from cavalier to abusive, WHAS11 reported.

For example, Kara has a benign brain tumor and takes medication to manage it. After a preseason road trip, she was experiencing side effects from the medication, and she recalled Holly belittling her symptoms and taking digs at her throughout the week.

“I was warned not to go [to Louisville] because he creates a very bad culture,” Kara said. “So, in hindsight if I knew the degree to those words, I wouldn’t have gone. But it was the only place I was offered a trial period. So, it’s your dream or is he really that bad? And the answer is yes, he really was.”

All six former members of Racing Louisville who spoke to WHAS11 said O’Connor, who took over as President in early 2022 after Estes stepped down, should no longer be part of the club, and they want to see anyone else who did not listen to players’ concerns removed as well.

Other players have also spoken out about their time in Louisville, with Brooke Hendrix detailing the powerlessness she felt in being unable to help Simon. Simon, meanwhile, issued a statement Wednesday saying that she hopes soccer can become “a safe place.”

Racing Louisville has refrained from commenting on the Yates report as the NWSL and NWSL Players Association continue their own investigation into abuse in the league, but the club did provide a statement to WHAS11 detailing the steps the team has taken in the wake of the Yates report.

“It is our hope that these efforts lead to the positive change we all want to see,” the club said in the statement.” We will listen, learn and act to ensure we maintain the best possible environment for players.”