women’s soccer – Page 11 – Women's Soccer Express

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.

Woso TV/Streaming: November 29 to December 4, 2024 — The USWNT takes on England and the Netherlands, NCAA Quarterfinals

Update (02-Dec-2024): Added matches from the CBS Sports Golazo Network schedule for the week of December 2nd.

In addition to the United States Women’s National Teams matches on Saturday and Tuesday, viewers in the USA will be able to watch several other women’s national teams during this international window, including Mexico, Germany, Australia, Brazil, and France.

At the collegiate level, the national quarterfinals of the NCAA Division I Championship will be played on Friday and Saturday, with some juicy match-ups, including the historically dominant North Carolina taking on Penn State, who won the College Cup in 2015, and a pair of three-time College Cup winners facing off with Stanford versus Notre Dame.

The USWNT’s matches will be televised on TNT and Universo and can be streamed via Max and Peacock. No other matches are scheduled to be televised.

Although most other matches are only available via a paid streaming service, some can be watched for free: Both of Mexico’s matches will be shown on ViX’s gratis tier, while Australia’s matches can be streamed and replayed through their federation’s YouTube channel. The free streaming CBS Sports Golazo Network channel has at least two scheduled matches, including a tape-delayed airing of France vs. Nigeria, on Saturday, December 1st.

In UEFA, 14 teams are competing in home-and-away playoffs for the final seven Women’s Euro 2025 slots, with most matches being played on Friday and Tuesday. Only one of those matches is known to be watchable in the USA: Belgium vs. Ukraine, on Tuesday, December 3rd, via Paramount+. Live scores for these matches can be tracked via UEFA’s website.

NCAA: 2024 Division I Championship — Third Round Schedule with Streaming Details

On Sunday, November 24th, the Third Round of the 2024 NCAA Division I Women’s Soccer Championship will be played, with all eight matches streaming live on ESPN+. The first matches get underway at 2:00 p.m. ET, while the last match of the day has a scheduled start time of 9:00 p.m. ET.

The Second Round saw a number of upsets, including #1 seed Florida State falling on penalties to #8 seed Vanderbilt and #2 seed UCLA losing to #7 seed Virginia Tech in regulation. Another #1 seed, Southern California, need extra time to separate itself from #8 seed Saint Louis University via a 4:3 golden goal victory.

The Fourth Round, which will determine which four teams advance to the College Cup in Cary, North Carolina, is scheduled to be played on the Friday, November 29th and/or Saturday, November 30th.

2024 NWSL Championship — Broadcast Details and Referee Assignments

On Saturday, November 23rd, the 2024 postseason of the National Women’s Soccer League concludes with the NWSL Championship match between the Orlando Pride, who won the 2024 NWSL Shield as the team with the best overall record in the league, and the Washington Spirit, who finished second in the table.

In the United States, the 2024 NWSL Championship will be nationally televised by CBS, with pre-match broadcast coverage beginning at 7:30 p.m. ET. Kick-off is slated for 8:14 p.m. ET. Additional pre-match and post-match coverage will be on the free CBS Sports Golazo Network streaming channel.

Alyssa Nichols will have the whistle for the Championship. She has refereed NWSL matches since 2020 and earned her FIFA badge in 2023.

The match will be played in Kansas City, Missouri, at CPKC Stadium, which is the home of the NWSL’s Kansas City Current.