A full 19 months removed from their back-to-back Final Four runs, No. 11 Iowa basketball refuses to go away, with the Hawkeyes already notching one Top-25 win in the young 2025/26 NCAA campaign so far.
The still-unbeaten Hawkeyes took down No. 15 Baylor 57-52 last Thursday, with Iowa starting post players Hannah Stuelke and Ava Heiden combining for 28 points while guard Taylor Stremlow added another 12 off the bench in the marquee win.
"We have nice pieces," said Iowa head coach Jan Jensen this week. "But it's knowing when to play which pieces and with whom, and we're six games in."
The Hawkeyes have been finding their new identity under Jensen after a transformative period saw Iowa's longtime head coach Lisa Bluder retire while superstar guard Caitlin Clark joined the WNBA.
"Jan's been amazing," Stuelke told JWS at the Big Ten Media Day in October. "She stepped up like she needed to, and she's been growing every day since she's been the head coach, which it's really cool to see she cares. And it's a great environment for all of us."
"I have a year under my belt," Jensen echoed. "I know what this chair feels like now, and I have a little better of understanding of what that first road trip feels like, what that first big win feels like, or the tough loss feels like."
Iowa's season heats up with a ranked rivalry matchup against No. 10 Iowa State on Wednesday, December 10th.
The state rivals will tip off at 7 PM ET, with live coverage airing on ESPN.
With two games left on their 2025 docket, the USWNT is already setting sights on 2026, announcing two friendlies as part of the team's January training camp.
The world No. 2 US will first kick off against No. 41 Paraguay on Saturday, January 24th, before taking on a still-unknown opponent on Tuesday, January 27th.
"I was pleased with the progress we made as a team in 2025, but we still have a ways to go to get to where we want to be heading into the Concacaf W Championship in the fall," said USWNT manager Emma Hayes.
The US will honor two-time World Cup winner Christen Press in a pre-game ceremony before the January 24th showdown, celebrating the longtime USWNT star's recent pro soccer retirement.
Press's hometown of Los Angeles will play host, as the team takes over MLS side LA Galaxy's Dignity Health Sports Park, with the first 2,000 fans taking home a commemorative CP23 bobblehead.
"January camp is a vitally important part of our yearly schedule, especially with 2026 being a year that will host World Cup qualifying," Hayes continued. "We don't get many training days together during any given year, so there is a high value in getting a whole week of training as well as two matches."
How to buy tickets to the January 2026 USWNT friendlies
Though a myriad of presale opportunities are currently available, tickets to both January 2026 friendlies will go on sale to the general public on Tuesday.
Tickets will drop at 1 PM ET online.
Sweden veteran defender Magda Eriksson is hanging up her international boots to focus on her health, with the 32-year-old officially announcing her retirement from her national team on Sunday.
Eriksson will continue competing at the domestic level for her German club, Bayern Munich.
The longtime captain sat out the most recent international window due to a head injury, watching as world No. 3 Sweden fell to No. 1 Spain in the two-leg 2025 Nations League semifinals.
"It's by far the toughest decision I've ever made," Eriksson said in her social media announcement. "But I'm listening to my body and mind instead of my heart."
"I've landed in the fact that unfortunately it's a decision that has to be made."
After an 11-year career with the Swedish senior national team, Eriksson retires as a two-time Olympic silver medalist, earning those podium finishes in Rio in 2016 and at the delayed 2020 Tokyo Games.
Often leading Sweden through major tournaments where early domination dissolved into a third-place finish, Eriksson also helped her team eke onto the World Cup podium in both 2019 and 2023.
"It is heavy news," said Sweden head coach Tony Gustavsson after Eriksson announced her international retirement, calling her "one of our most important players for a long time."
"[Magda's] professionalism, courage, and heart have left a strong mark on the national team," he added.
Angel City bid farewell to two NWSL legends on Sunday, sending club mainstays Christen Press and Ali Riley off into retirement in style following the LA team's final home game of 2025.
"This sport has grown and blossomed in my 14 years as a professional," Press told the 19,000-strong crowd during the post-match retirement celebration. "This community and club marks all of the work my teammates and I did over a decade to fight for equity, progress, and opportunity for the next generation."
"It's always been about the people to me, and you made it worth it to come back to say goodbye," outgoing ACFC captain Riley told her teammates. "As I look around, this is truly a city of angels."
Both Southern California products and international football icons signed with their hometown expansion side prior to Angel City's 2022 debut, going on to face similar injury struggles in recent years.
"With my injury, I had accepted that it was probably the end of my career, that I would finish my days as a soccer player in the gym alone," Riley said after taking the pitch for the last time, referencing the nerve condition that sidelined her for much of 2024 and 2025. "I'm going to sleep in my boots. I can't believe I got on the field."
"It was a really long journey," Press said. "Thank you for making me feel like the most loved player in the whole world."
Now eliminated from playoff contention, Riley and Press will suit up one more time in their pro soccer careers, taking the pitch for Angel City's November 2nd regular-season finale against the hosting Chicago Stars.
As the penultimate international window of 2025 kicks off next week, several global soccer stars are announcing their impending retirements, hanging up their national team boots as global attention turns toward next year's 2027 World Cup qualifiers.
Headlining the list of exiting stars is Wales' all-time top scorer and longtime Seattle Reign midfielder Jess Fishlock, who will suit up for the world No. 32 Dragons one last time against No. 15 Australia next week, ending a 19-year international career.
The 38-year-old notched 48 goals in her 165 caps for her national team, including scoring Wales' first-ever goal in a major tournament during last summer's 2025 Euro tournament.
"The Euros was the pinnacle of my football career, seeing the dragon on the world stage for the first time will be a memory that will stay with me for a lifetime," Fishlock posted in her Wednesday announcement. "Every minute was a pleasure, a privilege, and an honour."
Also stepping away from international duty is 2022 Euro champion and Chelsea FC defender Millie Bright, retiring from No. 4 England's backline on Monday after previously removing herself from consideration for the Lionesses' successful Euro title defense earlier this year.
Other notable international soccer retirements this week include No. 27 Ireland defender Megan Campbell, No. 6 France midfielder Sandie Toletti and winger Amel Majri, and No. 11 Netherlands midfielder Sherida Spitse and striker Renate Jansen.
Soccer's biggest names are giving Christen Press her flowers, praising the former USWNT forward's decorated career following the announcement of her impending retirement on Wednesday.
"Thank you CP23 for leading the way!! ACFC was our dream, and your commitment to the game and the club has transformed our community," USWNT '99er and Angel City investor Mia Hamm tweeted.
"On the field, a champion. Off the field, a leader and inspiration to so many. 155 caps, 64 goals, 2 World Cups, and a lasting impact in our sport that goes well beyond the numbers," echoed US Soccer CEO JT Batson.
"When you realize how perfect everything is, you will tilt your head back and laugh at the sky. Congrats on your perfect career. ily," posted Press's wife, fellow retired USWNT star Tobin Heath.
While injury struggles kept Press off the international field under current head coach Emma Hayes, the USWNT boss still complimented the 36-year-old's work on and off the pitch during her Wednesday press conference.
"I remember watching Christen Press play for the first time — I went to a Stanford game — and I remember thinking, 'Who the hell is this kid?,'" Hayes said, citing Press's attacking versatility. "She could smash the ball into the top corner like nobody I know."
"What people don't really see with that generation of players is what they've had to endure to get to where they are," she continued, spotlighting the last roster's fight for equal pay. "They've had to sacrifice themselves, or put themselves in a place that positioned everybody else in a better place."
"I think it is time for my family to move on to our next chapter," said Press herself. "We're going to be a part of this game forever, but it's time for it to look different for us."
Two-time World Cup champion Christen Press is hanging up her boots, as the Angel City and USWNT star announced her retirement on Wednesday, marking the end of the 2025 NWSL season as the finish line of an almost two-decade-long pro and amateur career.
The 36-year-old forward ranks ninth on the USWNT's all-time scoring list with 64 goals across her 155 international appearances, earning World Cup titles in 2015 and 2019 plus Olympic bronze at the 2020 Summer Games in Tokyo.
However, a 2022 ACL tear saw Press sidelined, with the Stanford alum undergoing four surgeries over two years as she battled back onto the pitch, making her return to ACFC in 2024.
Press was the LA expansion side's first official signing in 2021, going on to make 37 appearances for her hometown NWSL team after stints with the Chicago Red Stars, Utah Royals, and the WSL's Manchester United, among other teams.
Her impact also extended beyond the pitch, as Press found success alongside her wife, recently retired fellow USWNT star Tobin Heath, in the lifestyle brand RE—INC and its "The RE—CAP Show" podcast.
"I'm retiring from professional soccer and I've decided that this is my last season and my last few games," Press told Good Morning America on Wednesday morning. "I thought I would wait until I didn't want to play anymore, but I realized…that time is never going to come."
"I feel a mix of everything," Press acknowledged about her impending retirement. "Yes, there's relief, there's joy, there's excitement, there's fear, there's so much grief. I have so much grief, a part of me, a piece of me, I'm losing her."
Seattle Reign captain Lauren Barnes is calling it a career, as one of the last remaining original members of the NWSL announced plans to retire from professional soccer at the end of the 2025 season.
"From day one, Seattle has been home," the 13-year Reign alum said in Monday's club statement. "I've grown up here — as a player, a leader, and a person. I'm incredibly proud of what we've built and the culture we've created.... This chapter of my life has been a dream."
"Lu has been the heartbeat of this club since the very beginning," added Reign head coach Laura Harvey. "She has been the glue that has held us together through the ups and the downs. Everything about who we are, whether it's our standards, our values or our resilience, Lu has her fingerprints on it all."
Barnes exits the pitch with more caps and minutes played than any other athlete in league history, with the standout defender also helping to anchor the Reign's backline to the tune of three NWSL Shields (2014, 2015, and 2022).
Those accolades, however, are the least of what makes Barnes exceptional, according to Seattle GM Lesle Gallimore.
"What makes Lu so rare isn't just her longevity or her records, it's her humanity," said Gallimore. "She's been a leader, a role model, and a constant source of strength for this club and the community. You simply don't see players spend their entire career in one city anymore, and that loyalty speaks volumes about who she is and what Seattle means to her."
The 36-year-old isn't the only league veteran hanging up her NWSL boots this year, with Kansas City Current forward Kristen Hamilton, Angel City defender Ali Riley, Orlando Pride midfielder Morgan Gautrat, and Barnes' Seattle teammate Veronica Latsko also set to retire.
Angel City captain Ali Riley is calling it a career, with the 37-year-old defender announcing plans to retire from professional soccer at the end of the 2025 NWSL season on Tuesday.
"As I reflect on what this game has given me these past three decades, since I started in the Palisades here in LA, I know that I have truly given my all, both physically and emotionally," Riley said in a club statement. "As a player, I strived to be the best teammate, a positive influence in the locker room, and compete on the field every day. For my entire career, I never took a day when I got to play soccer for granted."
"Ali Riley is Angel City. Her heart, grit, and unwavering commitment to lifting everyone around her have shaped the culture of this club," said ACFC CEO and co-founder Julie Uhrman. "Ali has shown us that leadership goes far beyond the pitch; it's in how you care for others, how you show up."
Exiting the global stage after five World Cups and four Olympics with the New Zealand Football Ferns, the Stanford alum also helped pioneer the European women's game, competing in Sweden, England, and Germany from 2012 to 2020 before returning to the NWSL to join the Orlando Pride.
Angel City snagged Riley from the Pride before the expansion team's 2022 debut season, with the captain making her first 2025 club appearance in August after returning from a chronic nerve injury that sidelined her for more than a year.
"I am so proud to be able to say goodbye on my own terms, in my hometown, and know for certain that I am giving everything I have left to the people around me and the sport that shaped me," Riley wrote in her Instagram announcement.
Retired WNBA legend Diana Taurasi is getting the Hollywood treatment, with Prime debuting a three-part docuseries on the three-time league champion's illustrious career on Thursday.
Calling the story "one of community, legacy, and what it means to show up for each other," Taurasi explained in a Tuesday social media post that "it was never just about basketball. It was about the people — those who I had the privilege to compete with."
"This week, my story — our story — comes to life in a new way. The documentary drops, and I can't wait for you to see the moments behind the moments," the 43-year-old also said.
To produce the docuseries, Australian director Katie Bender Wynn followed Taurasi through the final months of her professional basketball career, capturing her last season with the WNBA's Phoenix Mercury as well as her gold-medal run with Team USA at the 2024 Paris Olympics.
Each episode highlights a specific time in Taurasi's journey, moving in chronological order from racking up three NCAA championships with UConn to playing overseas in Russia and Turkey as well as moments from her personal life back home.
How to watch the docuseries "Taurasi"
All three episodes of Taurasi are currently available to stream on Prime.