plus an AWESOME training facility announcement out of Portland
Hello Courage Country!
The cold, drizzly weather here in the Triangle is matching my mood in any number of ways. The sunshine of a new soccer season can’t get here fast enough, am I right?
It’s been relatively quiet on the news front this week, but the stories we did get are of national importance and worth a look. Let’s go!
2025 SheBelieves Cup
We got our first look at a properly rostered squad from new USWNT coach Emma Hayes. Their exhibition matches last fall required a tour of outgoing players who’d participated in the Olympics, and she brought a larger-than-usual group to training camp last month, including a Futures Camp of younger players. All that left us wondering what a newly formulated squad might look like, and the SheBelieves Cup is the first test.
Regretfully, a lot of Courage players were left out of the mix.
Starting with the good news, recently acquired midfielder Jaedyn Shaw made the cut. Shaw seems to be a favorite choice of Hayes, judging from the consistency of her call ups.
And … that’s it. That’s the list.
Keeper Casey Murphy had effectively rotated in with Alyssa Naeher in the Vlatko Andonovski era. She continued to be called up under Hayes until now, when she was left off of the roster entirely in favor of the Houston Dash’s Jane Campbell and the Utah Royals’ Mandy McGlynn. Generally, the team rosters three keepers, which somehow makes this feel like an extra slight. Given that she has 20 caps with the National Team, she seemed at times poised to take the starting role, despite not being the top performer at the club level last season.
Midfielder Ashley Sanchez had been overlooked for the Olympics, but was given a few call-ups since then. Sadly, she was overlooked again for this round.
Defender Ryan Williams was called up for the first time ever to the January camp. I think Williams’ inclusion was the longest shot, even though she’s a tremendous player who was fantastic throughout the 2025 season and is often overlooked in national discussions. All of that said, it was great that she was brought in to train with the national team and with luck, it won’t be the last time.
Around the league and beyond
- The NWSL Player’s Association and the league reached a settlement deal in a lawsuit over previous abuse and misconduct across the league. The settlement effectively does two things:
- The league will create a $5m settlement fund to support impacted players and
- Adds additional accountability for the league to better enforce policies that previously had been in place, but were not adequately enforced. This includes providing updates to the attorneys general (AGs) of DC, New York and Illinois (who were involved in the suit) for the next three years, as well as the results of player surveys each year.
As you know, sports is no different from business or politics, in which there is often a major gap between policy, and enforcement of that policy.
Forcing these reports is a major win for the players, as the league will need to discuss the ramifications with each team and offer at least some level of transparency to the AGs. The AGs have the power to file additional suits and force further compliance as needed.
- In some truly fun and positive news, the Portland Thorns and the incoming WNBA team, slated to join the league in 2026, announced the building of a joint $150m training facility.
- In some more fun news, Ted Lasso Season 4 will focus on women’s soccer. This shift in focus was made pretty explicit in the season 3 finale, but great to get some confirmation this is the direction of the show.
That’s it for this week! As always, you can get in touch with tips, suggestions, corrections and more: contact@lionspitch.com.
Next match: Saturday, March 15, 5:00 pm ET
North Carolina Courage v. Racing Louisville
AWAY
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