UCLA won their second national championship on Monday night, but the takeaways from the match rightfully focused on the firsts.

Margueritte Aozasa became the first coach in women’s college soccer history to win an NCAA title in their first year on the job, as UCLA became the first team to overcome a 2-0 deficit in a championship victory, 3-2 over North Carolina in extra time.

The game itself was tightly contested, until Avery Patterson — UNC’s leading scorer — opened the floodgates with a brace after halftime to put the Tar Heels on the verge of their 23rd title. The result appeared all but settled with 10 minutes left in regulation, when UCLA’s Lexi Wright scored off a rebound to put her team back in it. With momentum behind them, the Bruins equalized off a controversial set piece that sent multiple players and the ball into the goal with only 17 seconds left in regulation.

UCLA TIES IT UP LATE IN THE WOMEN'S COLLEGE CUP 😱 pic.twitter.com/NLAMeszYhP

— ESPN (@espn) December 6, 2022

By the second period of overtime, UCLA had made the comeback not only in scoring but also in belief, as a game that seemed destined for penalty kicks was saved from a tiebreaker by Maricarmen Reyes’ championship-winning goal.

THE BRUINS TAKE THE LEAD IN OT pic.twitter.com/2VMxsuTimW

— Just Women’s Sports (@justwsports) December 6, 2022

The contest served up all the championship-level drama fans could want, and for UCLA, it also served as a breath of fresh air. The Bruins are known as a breeding ground for professional-ready talent, but before Monday night, they had only put all the pieces together for an NCAA championship once in 2013.

Jill Ellis recruited star players like Sydney Leroux and Lauren Holiday to UCLA during her tenure as head coach from 1999-2010 but never won a championship. She ultimately passed the program on to Amanda Cromwell to join the U.S. youth national teams, before eventually taking the reins of the U.S. women’s national team in 2014 and leading them to two World Cup titles.

The 2013 squad that went all the way to a title featured a host of World Cup champions and NWSL standouts alike. USWNT defender Abby Dahlkemper and midfielder Sam Mewis headlined the group, but the roster also contained Gotham’s Taylor Smith, Houston’s Caprice Dydasco, Chicago’s Sarah Woldmoe, Orlando’s Megan Montefusco and Darian Jenkins, North Carolina’s Katelyn Rowland, and New Zealand international Rosie White.

That the Bruins could only turn what would now be considered a very competitive professional team into one national championship always proved puzzling, as did the team’s continued drought despite more years of quality talent. Former Bruins like Mallory Pugh (albeit for only one year), Ashley Sanchez, Hailie Mace, Jessie Fleming and Teagan Micah have all gone on to represent their national teams. Mia Fishel, who successfully made the early leap to the pro’s with UANL Tigres, might not be far behind.

Those teams from 2015-19 came up against a Stanford juggernaut with professional-level talent of its own and Aozasa on the sideline as a Cardinal assistant coach. She took over for Cromwell at UCLA in 2022 after Cromwell left the university for the head coaching position of the NWSL’s Orlando Pride and brought assistant coach Sam Greene with her. Cromwell’s tenure ended prematurely after an NWSL and NWSLPA joint investigation substantiated allegations of retaliation by her coaching staff (which Cromwell denies.)

Under Aozasa, UCLA immediately flourished. Senior Sunshine Fontes, a highly touted recruit who played limited minutes in 2021, emerged this season as the Bruins’ leading scorer and notched a key assist Monday night to get UCLA back in the game. And this time, when a UCLA team full of rising talent faced adversity in the biggest moment, the stars of tomorrow stepped up.

Junior Reilyn Turner, who trains with Angel City FC in the offseason and became Nike’s first-ever NIL signing last December, scored the equalizer to send UCLA into extra time. Reyes, a graduate student and Mexican national, bridges the gap between the Bruins’ underclassmen and those highly talented UCLA classes who couldn’t quite get the ball over the line. In a fitting ending, she scored the game-winner to officially close the chapter on that Bruins era and push the new one wide open.

“With this new staff, we’re just able to play freely,” Fontes told the Daily Bruin in October. “It’s taken a lot of work behind the scenes, but this new staff has kind of just come in and changed the whole dynamic of this team.”

In college soccer, star talent goes a long way, but sometimes collective belief goes just a little bit further. Down two goals with less than 15 minutes left in a championship game, UCLA didn’t always play the prettiest soccer, but by all means necessary, they finally lifted the program’s second championship trophy. For Aozasa, it wouldn’t be surprising if it’s the first of many.

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

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.

Chelsea FC's £1 million gamble is paying dividends, as USWNT rising star Alyssa Thompson continued her goal-scoring momentum for the six-time defending WSL champs on Sunday.

The young forward found the back of the net in the ninth minute of the Blues' 1-1 Sunday draw with Liverpool, solidifying her status as a decisive attacking threat for her new club.

"You can see how much talent she has and the quality she brings to the team," Chelsea manager Sonia Bompastor said of Thompson earlier this month. "She's improving game after game, becoming more connected to her teammates, and understanding the way we want to play better."

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Thompson left NWSL side Angel City for Chelsea on a then-record £1 million transfer fee in early September, with the 21-year-old going on to notch three goals and one assist in four matches across both WSL and Champions League play.

"Being able to play with players that are the best in the world is an amazing opportunity," said the striker. "I want to learn, grow, and develop a lot. I feel like Chelsea is such an amazing environment to do that in."

Beyond individual accomplishment, Thompson's success underscores Chelsea's depth as they continue to hunt domestic and continental honors on a now-34 match WSL unbeaten streak — while also looking to potentially draw more USWNT stars away from the NWSL.

Women's professional baseball has landed a home base, with Front Office Sports reporting on Monday that the newly formed WPBL will play the entirety of its 2026 debut season at Robin Roberts Stadium in Springfield, Illinois.

The incoming league prioritized a neutral venue without an existing baseball team to house its four inaugural clubs — New York, Boston, LA, and San Francisco — for its first campaign, with barnstorming games also planned for each team market.

"Our sport is for everybody," WPBL co-founder Keith Stein told FOS. "It's for middle America, everybody. We thought, 'Our teams are on these two coasts, it would be good to be in the middle of the country.'"

Founded in 2024 as the first professional women's baseball outfit in the US since 1954, the WPBL will hold its first-ever draft on Thursday, with the league's four teams drawing from a pool of 120 eligible players.

The WPBL recently fielded an oversubscribed Series A investment round, telling FOS that they're closing a $3 million raise with another round planned ahead of its August 2026 season-opener.

Each 30-player team will operate under a $95,000 salary cap for the first year, with the league also covering living costs throughout the seven-week season as well as giving players a percentage of sponsorship funds.

How to watch the first-ever WPBL Draft

The 2025 WPBL Draft kicks off at 8 PM ET on Thursday, with live coverage streaming across the league's Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube channels.

Las Vegas Aces boss Becky Hammon spoke her mind last week, telling CNBC Sport that the WNBA might need "a change in leadership" for the league's CBA talks to successfully progress.

"I just think [player relations] might be too fractured at this point, but we'll see," Hammon said, while also noting that she's had only limited interactions with WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert.

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Citing Engelbert's "private conversations...with individual players — or lack of the conversations," Hammon described the commissioner's current relationship with players as "rocky" while describing her widely criticized leadership style.

"I don't know if she can ever regret, retract, and get that traction back from those conversations," the Aces boss posited.

"When the players speak, people need to sit up and listen," she continued. "I think [Engelbert is] sitting up and listening now."

Hammon also voiced support for Minnesota Lynx star Napheesa Collier after the five-time All-Star described the WNBA as having the "worst leadership in the world" in her now-viral 2025 exit interview.

"I completely agree with Napheesa that the players should be making more than coaches," the Las Vegas sideline leader — who publicly earns seven figures per year — continued. "They're due for a huge increase in salary, and it's got to be something that is sustainable. That's the biggest thing you got to remember, that this league is still a young league."

Ultimately, while the 2025 WNBA season is over, CBA concerns loom large over the league's current offseason and 2026 campaign, leaving Hammon and others looking to avoid a lockout as the November 30th extension deadline nears.