Women's Soccer Express

NWSL News of Note: Becki Tweed out as Angel City head coach, Dash hire Angela Hucles Mangano, Red Stars sign Halle Mackiewicz, Bay FC re-signs three rookies

Leading the notables from Monday, December 9th are the news that Becki Tweed is no longer Angel City’s head coach and former Angel City general manager Angela Hucles Mangano is now the President of Women’s Soccer for the Houston Dash.

In player news, the Chicago Red Stars have signed former Clemson goalkeeper Halle Mackiewicz. She returns to the States after playing her rookie pro season in Sweden’s Damallsvenskan.

Also, Bay FC re-signed three first-year professionals: Goalkeeper Emmie Allen plus midfielders Caroline Conti and Jamie Shepherd.

USWNT: The USA will play Brazil in a pair of April 2025 Friendlies

Update (2-Mar-2025): The Max streaming service will no longer show live sports on its least expensive plan, “Basic With Ads”, as of March 30, 2025. To watch USWNT friendlies on Max, viewers will need to upgrade to the “Standard” plan, which is $16.99 per month. Alternatively, one could subscribe to Peacock, which is $7.99 per month for their lower cost plan. For more details and a guide to alternatives see USWNT and USMNT matches will no longer be available on the Max “Basic With Ads” plan as of March 30, 2025.

On Monday, U.S. Soccer announced that the United States Women’s National Team will host Brazil in two friendlies during the April 2025 international window. Both matches will be played in California, first at SoFi Stadium in the Los Angeles suburb of Inglewood on Saturday, April 5th, and then at PayPal Park in San Jose on Tuesday, April 8th. In the United States, both matches will be televised with English-language commentary on either TBS or TNT and streamed via Max.

The USWNT and Brazil last played each other in the 2024 Summer Olympics final, which the USA won 1-nil on a goal from Mallory Swanson.

Match Schedule and TV/Streaming Details

(as of 9-Dec-2024, subject to change)

Saturday, April 5, 2025 — 5:00 p.m. EDT

English-language

Television: TNT and truTV
Streaming: Max (“Standard” or “Premium” plans only)

Spanish-language

Television: Universo
Streaming: Peacock

Tuesday, April 8, 2025 — 10:30 p.m. EDT

English-language

Television: TBS
Streaming: Max (“Standard” or “Premium” plans only)

Spanish-language

Television: Universo
Streaming: Peacock

NWSL News of Note: Nichelle Prince extends with KC, Dash re-sign Avery Patterson and Kiki Van Zanten, Elin Rubensson departs Dash

In this end-of-the-week edition of NWSL News of Note…

The Kansas City Current have signed forward Nichelle Prince to a new two-year contract that should keep the Canadian international in teal through at least the 2026 NWSL season.
The Houston Dash, which is currently without both a head coach and a non-interim general manager, have retained two rookie players via new contracts: Defender/midfielder Avery Patterson and midfielder Kiki Van Zanten.
However, the Dash will not have the services of Swedish international midfielder Elin Rubensson, who departs Houston after one season.

NWSL News of Note: Free Agency Moves — Delanie Sheehan to Dash, Madison Curry to Reign, Maitane López to Red Stars, Sam Hiatt to Portland, Madison Ayson signs with Canberra

Leading the free agency moves for the first week of December is midfielder Delanie Sheehan signing with the Houston Dash after being a regular starter for Gotham FC since May 2023. Gotham also lost a second midfielder this week, Maitane López, who switched over to the Chicago Red Stars, as well as a defender, Sam Hiatt, who is now a Portland Thorns player.

Defender Madison Curry, a regular starter for Angel City this year as a rookie, has signed a three-year contract with the Seattle Reign.

Additionally, rookie defender Madison Ayson, who was on the Houston Dash roster this season, but only saw limited minutes, signed with Canberra United at the end of November.

NWSL News of Note, Players Edition: Claire Emslie, Penelope Hocking, Maddie Moreau, Hanna Glas, and Hannah Stambaugh all extend; Carrie Lawrence retires; Ouleye Sarr on SEI List

In November, Scottish forward Claire Emslie extended with Angel City for two more season, while Bay FC re-signed forward Penelope Hocking and rookie defender Maddie Moreau. Meanwhile, the Seattle Reign have secured Swedish defender Hanna Glas for at least another year.

Also, earlier this week, Angel City signed goalkeeper Hannah Stambaugh to a new one-year contract.

Just before Thanksgiving, the Washington Spirit placed French forward Ouleye Sarr on the season-ending injury list for a back injury suffered in September.

Additionally, based on an Instagram message by Annaïg Butel, it appears that the French defender will not return to the Washington Spirit for the 2025 season.

Note: Free agency moves will be covered in a separate post that should be published sometime this weekend.

NWSL News of Note, Coaches and Front Offices Edition: Ellis departs Wave for FIFA, Interim coaching vacancies at Wave and Dash, Angel City and Racing GMs depart, Boston hires GM

Leading this special edition of NWSL News of Note is the surprise departure of San Diego Wave President Jill Ellis for a new position with FIFA.

The NWSL’s other Southern California club, Angel City, also has a front office vacancy due to general manager Angel Hucles Mangano “part[ing] ways” with the club.

Racing Louisville is looking for a new general manager after Ryan Dell left to pursue another opportunity.

Additionally, both the Wave and the Houston Dash have empty head coach offices. For the Wave, Landon Donovan “has conclude[d] his tenure”, while Ricky Clarke and the Dash “agreed to part ways”.

Meanwhile, on Thursday, the new Boston franchise announced that it has hired FC Barcelona’s Domènec “Domè” Guasch as its first general manager.

NWSL News of Note, Teams Edition: Courage deal falls through, Orlando training facility, Expansion update, Boston name do-over?

On Black Friday, Sportico reported that billionaire investor Marc Lasry’s planned acquisition of a 60% controlling stake in the North Carolina Courage will not be going forward.

The owners of the Orlando Pride and its Major League Soccer counterpart, Orlando City SC, are pursuing an expansion of Orlando City’s training facility and headquarters, which would apparently convert it into a fully combined facility for both clubs.

A few days before Thanksgiving, the 2026 Boston franchise launched a listening campaign that includes an online form which asks for “feedback on the team name”, “BOS Nation FC”.

Regarding the other 2026 expansion team, that is apparently down to bid from Cincinnati, Cleveland, and Denver, per a statement from NWSL Commissioner Jessica Berman.

NCAA: 2024 Division I College Cup — TV and Streaming Schedule

On Friday, December 6th, the 2024 NCAA Division I Women’s Soccer College Cup gets underway in Cary, North Carolina. In the United States, all three matches of the College Cup will be televised live on ESPNU and streamed live via the ESPN+ streaming service.

In the first semifinal, Stanford, which has three national titles (2011, 2017, 2019), will face off against Wake Forest, which returns to its second College Cup after debuting in 2011.

The second semifinal features overall #1 seed Duke Blue Devils taking on the storied North Carolina Tarheels. For Duke, this is head coach Robbie Church’s final College Cup, as he is retiring after the tournament (The Chronicle). While North Carolina has 21 NCAA national titles, in four previous tries, Duke has yet to a win a College Cup, though they have finished as national runner-up three times (1992, 2011, 2015) and twice under Church (2011 and 2015). North Carolina, for the first time in its history, will play a College Cup without Anson Dorrance on the sideline, after his somewhat surprise retirement back in August.

USWNT: Netherlands Roster for their December 2024 friendly against the USA

For the final international window of 2024, Netherlands Women’s National Team head coach Andries Jonker originally called up 26 players for friendlies against China and the United States Women’s National Team. On December 1st, forward Fenna Kalma replaced the withdrawn Damaris Egurrola.

The team continues to be without their all-time leading goal-scorer, Vivianne Miedema (120 caps, 96 goals; OnsOranje.nl profile), who underwent knee surgery for the second time this year, back at the end of October (Man City news item). She previously had “minor” knee surgery around March 1st (BBC). Miedema missed the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup due an ACL injury (The Guardian) and has only played five matches for the Netherlands WNT since September 2022 (OnsOranje.nl match log).

Five other players were also not available due to injuries or health reasons:

Midfielder Victoria Pelova (55 caps, 4 goals; OnsOranje.nl profile), who suffered an ACL tear during a Women’s Euro qualifier in June 2024 (Arsenal.com).
Defender Aniek Nouwen (43 caps, 2 goals; OnsOranje.nl profile) sustained an ACL tear in December 2023 (Chelsea news item) and is expected to be back to match fit in January 2025 (x.com post).
Forward Katja Snoeijs (34 caps, 12 goals; OnsOranje.nl) has been dealing with a leg injury (BBC) and was rested for this camp (OnsOranje.nl recap of China friendly).
Defender Caitlin Dijkstra (23 caps, 1 goal; OnOranje.nl profile), who suffered an ankle injury in May 2024 and underwent ankle surgery in late July 2024. (Wolfsburg news item). She was expected to be out for “several months”.
Defender Merit Auée (uncapped; OnsOranje.nl profile) due to an unspecified injury (OnsOranje.nl recap of China friendly).

One other player, defender Merel van Dongen (63 caps, 2 goals; OnsOranje.nl profile) was not called into due to her playing for Monterrey in the second leg of the Liga MX Feminil Apertura Final on Monday, November 25th (OnsOranje.nl recap of China friendly).

Washington Spirit owner Michele Kang pledges to give $30 million over five years to U.S. Soccer in support of women’s soccer development

On November 19th, in a joint press conference with U.S. Soccer, Michele Kang, majority owner of the NWSL’s Washington Spirit, announced that she has pledged to give a total of $30 million over the next five years to U.S. Soccer. Kang’s pledged gift has three stated purposes:

First, to double the number of youth women’s national team camps.
Second, to ramp up women’s youth talent identification by expanding U.S. Soccer’s digital talent identification platform.
Third, to double the number of licensed female coaches and female referees.

Beyond the stated purposes of the pledged gift, there were not much details about how the $30 million will be spent.

The first stated purpose of “doubl[ing] the number of” women’s youth “national team camps” from their current level is noteworthy because the number of WYNT camps held in 2024 is about half the number of camps compared to several years ago.