Women's Soccer Express

NWSL: 2025 USA TV/Streaming Schedule — Week 9, with Referee Assignments

Week Nine of the National Women’s Super League’s 2025 season was to have four matches on Friday night and three on Saturday, but due to severe weather concerns in the Louisville, Kentucky, area, the match between #9 Racing Louisville and the #8 Seattle Reign has been rescheduled for sometime on Saturday.

Still scheduled to kick-off shortly after high noon, Auckland time, is one of the most anticipated matches of the opening half of the 2025 season: At 8:00 p.m. EDT, the defending NWSL champions, Orlando Pride, hosts the current #1 team, the Kansas City Current.

Also kicking off on Friday are two matches featuring the NWSL’s representatives in next week’s Concacaf W Champions Cup semifinals. At 7:30 p.m. EDT, #7 Gotham FC takes on the #4 San Diego Wave. Then, at 8:00 p.m. EDT, the #6 Portland Thorns are the guests of the #10 Houston Dash. Both of those matches can be streamed for free on NWSL+. (The semifinals of the Concacaf W Champions Cup will be played on Wednesday, May 21, at 7:30 p.m. EDT and 10:00 p.m. EDT. Both matches can be streamed live via Paramount+.)

On Saturday, the #11 North Carolina Courage welcome the last-place Chicago Stars at 5:00 p.m. EDT (NWSL+).

Saturday night’s ION doubleheader begins with the #3 Washington Spirit hosting the #13 Utah Royals (7:30 p.m. EDT) and closes with #12 Bay FC facing #5 Angel City.

There are no matches (currently) scheduled for Sunday.

FIFA WWC: The 2031 FIFA Women’s World Cup will have 48 teams

On Friday, May 9, FIFA announced that the 2031 Women’s World Cup — which will most likely be hosted by the United States of America, plus other Concacaf nations — will have a field of 48 teams. That is an increase of 50% compared to its present size of 32. The decision was made by the FIFA Council (fifa.com).

The idea of expanding the Women’s World Cup to 32 teams had been discussed seriously by those within the FIFA Council since at least September 2024.

As to what a 48-team Women’s World Cup would look like, see this article from September 2024. That article includes a section on the potential field of teams as well as the potential pots for the draw that would determine the groups.

FIFA press release: “FIFA Council takes landmark decisions on the future of the FIFA Women’s World Cup™ and on the fight against racism” (9-May-2025)

U.S. Soccer press release: “U.S. Soccer and Concacaf Partners to co-host 2031 FIFA Women’s World Cup” (3-Apr-2025)

NWSL: 2025 USA TV/Streaming Schedule — Week 8, with Referee Assignments

Week Eight of the National Women’s Super League’s 2025 season begins Friday night on Prime Video with #11 Racing Louisville hosting #4 Gotham FC. Then, at 10:00 p.m. EDT, #8 Angel City will take on the #13 Utah Royals (NWSL+ and others).

On Saturday, the first match of the day will see #5 Washington Spirit playing the last-place Chicago Stars in a nationally televised match on ABC at 12:50 p.m. EDT.

Saturday night’s ION doubleheader should be must-see-TV. The earlier match features the North Carolina Courage, who are on a two-match win streak, taking on the Orlando Pride, who have lost two straight matches. The doubleheader closes with the marquee match of the week: The #3 San Diego Wave hosts the #5 Portland Thorns. A victory for the Wave could see them at the top of the table, if the Pride lose their match.

Sunday also begins with a nationally televised match: The Kansas City Current, who are still at the top of the table despite losing their last two matches, will attempt to right their proverbial ship against Bay FC on ESPN at high noon, local time (1:00 p.m. EDT).

The final match of the weekend will see the #7 Seattle Reign host the #12 Houston Dash.

NWSL: 2025 USA TV/Streaming Schedule — Week 7, with Referee Assignments

(Updated, 3-May-25) The website for the Professional Referee Organization (PRO) is now back online (direct link to Week 7 assignments). Previously, PRO’s website had been offline since at least Wednesday (April 30).

screenshot of PROreferees.com as it was on 30-Apr-2025 and 1-May-2025

Week Seven of the National Women’s Soccer League’s 2025 regular season is front-loaded with three matches on Friday night, with two of those matches starting at 8:00 p.m. EDT. This week’s Prime Video features the #3 Washington Spirit hosting #9 Angel City (8:00 p.m. EDT). Simultaneous with that match is a battle between the #10 Houston Dash and the #12 Racing Louisville (NWSL+). At 10:30 p.m. EDT, the Kansas City Current, fresh off their shock loss to the North Carolina Courage, face the Seattle Reign (NWSL+).

On Saturday, the only action of the day is the ION doubleheader. At 7:30 p.m. EDT is the weekend’s marquee match-up between the (essentially) tied-for-first Orlando Pride and the #6 Portland Thorns. Then, at 10:00 p.m., the #13 Utah Royals welcome the #11 North Carolina Courage

Sunday opens with #4 Gotham FC hosting the last-place Chicago Stars (1:00 p.m. EDT on CBS), who are now without a permanent head coach after the questionable firing of Lorne Donaldson on Wednesday (Stars press release).

The weekend wraps up on Sunday night with a resurgent San Diego Wave hosting Bay FC (8:00 p.m. EDT, NWSL+).

NWSL: 2025 USA TV/Streaming Schedule — Week 6, with Referee Assignments

Week Six of the National Women’s Soccer League’s 2025 regular season got underway early this week, with a match on Tuesday between the league’s two representatives in the the upcoming Concacaf W Champions Cup semifinals, the Portland Thorns and Gotham FC.

This weekend, there will be a full slate of seven matches.

Friday’s Prime Video match features the #2 Orlando Pride hosting #6 Angel City (8:00 p.m. EDT). Kicking off simultaneously on NWSL+ is a battle of the #10s: Houston Dash vs. Utah Royals.

Saturday’s lineup begins with the #3 Washington Spirit welcoming #4 Gotham FC to Audi Field at 1:00 p.m. EDT on CBS. (Compared to the Thorns, Gotham has the disadvantages of a travel day and one day between matches.)

Then, at 7:00 p.m. EDT, on NWSL+, the last-place North Carolina Courage host the first-place Kansas City Current, who are now the only team with a perfect record this season.

The ION doubleheader on Saturday night opens with the #7 San Diego Wave traveling to Illinois to face the #13 Chicago Stars (7:30 p.m. EDT). Then, in the second match, it’s a West Coast battle between the #8s: Bay FC and the Seattle Reign (10:30 p.m. EDT).

Sunday’s lone match is on NWSL+ and features the #5 Portland Thorns hosting #12 Racing Louisville at 4:00 p.m. EDT.

U-15 USWYNT: Third camp of 2025 announced, just nine players previously attended a camp this cycle

The third training camp of the 2024-25 cycle for the United States Under-15 Women’s Youth National Team camp will have just five players who attended both of the prior camps this cycle, which were in September 2024 and November 2024. Four additional players were called into the first camp.

Of the remaining fifteen players called in for this current camp, which runs from Tuesday, April 22, to Tuesday, April 29, most previously attended two Under-14 national identification camps in the first half of 2024 (March and June).

Four players are apparently attending their first national U.S. Soccer camp.

Leading this camp is the just-announced new head coach of the U-15 USWYNT, Vanessa Mann, who was briefly an assistant coach with the Utah Royals of the National Women’s Soccer League in 2024. The former coach, Ciara Crinion, is now the full-time head coach of the U-16 USWYNT, and will transition with the current U-16 players to the U-17 USWYNT later this year.

USWYNTs: Vanessa Mann hired as U-15 head coach; U-18, U-20, and U-23 positions expected to be “filled in the coming weeks”

On Monday, U.S. Soccer announced that former Utah Royals assistant coach Vanessa Mann is the new full-time head coach of the Under-15 Women’s Youth National Team.

In the same press release, U.S. Soccer also provided details about other women’s youth national team head coaching positions.

Most notably, the federation will switch to alternating head-coaching cycles for the Under-17 WYNT. After this year’s FIFA Under-17 Women’s World Cup, Katie Schoepfer, who is the current head coach of the U-17s, will switch to the Under-16 WYNT and stay with that age group (2010 birth year) through the 2027 FIFA U-17 WWC. Meanwhile, Ciara Crinion, who is now the head coach for the U-16s, will move up with the 2009 birth years in the second half of this year to the Under-17 WYNT.

U.S. Soccer also announced that “full-time head coaching positions for the U.S. U-18 WNT, U.S. U-20 WNT and U.S. U-23 WNT [will] likely being filled in the coming weeks”. The other current youth head coach is Carrie Kveton, who is in charge of the Under-19 WYNT. The U-19s are preparing to qualify for the 2026 FIFA Under-20 Women’s World Cup.

NWSL: 2025 USA TV/Streaming Schedule — Week 5, with Referee Assignments

This weekend, the National Women’s Soccer League will have a compressed schedule, with three matches on Friday night and four on Saturday. No matches will be played on Easter Sunday.

On Saturday, the Orlando Pride will host the Washington Spirit in the marquee match of the week (5:05 p.m. EDT, ION). Last year, the Spirit lost to the Pride in the NWSL Championship. However, in this year’s preseason Challenge Cup match, the Spirit bested the Pride via penalties.

Friday night has a pair of juicy matches:

The Prime Video match features the Portland Thorns taking on the Seattle Reign in a renewal of the Cascadia rivalry (10:00 p.m. EDT).
A half-hour later, it is a battle of West Coast versus East Coast when #4 Angel City (10:30 p.m. EDT, NWSL+) faces #5 Gotham FC.

U-14 Talent ID: Third and final regional mini-camp for 2025 to be held over Easter weekend

After conducting regional mini-camps in February and March, U.S. Soccer’s Under-14 Girls’ Talent Identification Program will hold a mini-camp for the Central Region, starting Thursday, April 17, in the Austin, Texas, area.

As with the previous camps, U.S. Soccer Director of Talent ID Nicole Lukic will lead the camp. Her primary assistants for this camp will be Central Talent ID Manager Lindsay Basalyga and South Talent ID Manager Illeana Moschos. Basalyga is a former head coach of the women’s soccer programs at Bowling Green State University and Eastern Kentucky University (LinkedIn profile). Moschos has significant experience as an assistant NCAA coach and competed in the 2004 Summer Olympics as a member of the Greece Women’s National Team (FSU profile).

One of the players called up, midfielder Alaia Harrington, is the daughter of a retired NBA player: Al Harrington (Wikipedia bio), who was drafted out of high school by the Indiana Pacers and played in over a 1,000 games from 1998 to 2014. He was named the national player of the year in his last high school season by both Gatorade and USA Today. (Instagram)

Defender Cambria Williams is the younger sister of Anaiah Williams (x.com), who is with the U.S. U-16 WYNT this week in Spain.

U-16 USWYNT: 24 Players called up for a pair of friendlies against Spain

For its third camp of the current cycle, the Under-16 United States Women’s Youth National Team will play two friendlies in Spain against its Spanish counterpart.

From the last U-16 camp, which was held in late January and early February, 15 players return. Among the returning players is Utah Royals forward KK Ream, who is the only professional named to the roster.

Two players who attended the first camp of the cycle return after not being named to the last camp: Forward Deus Stanislaus and defender Anaiah Williams. In late January, Stanislaus verbally committed to play collegiate soccer for the University of North Carolina (Instagram). A few months earlier, she changed her expected high school graduation year to 2026 (Instagram).

Five of the 24 players are apparently attending their first proper youth national team camp. Among those five is defender Marin Kotschau, whose younger sister, Reagan Kotschau, was called into the recent “overage” U-20 USWYNT camp”. Their father, Ritchie Kotschau (Wikipedia bio), is a retired Major League Soccer player who had one cap for the senior United States Men’s National Team (2024 USMNT Media Guide, page 122).

Carolina Reyna, who is also the daughter of both a former USMNT player, Claudio Reyna, as well as a former United States Women’s National Team player, Danielle Reyna (née Egan), has attended both of the previous camps this cycle. For this camp, Reyna is listed as a midfielder, which is a change from all previous youth national team rosters, where she was solely listed as a forward.