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The Grind: NWSL Challenge Cup

Sky Warrick is a sports videographer who covered and captured content during the entire NWSL Challenge Cup. Below, she shared her thoughts and photos from the NWSL’s historic tournament in Utah.


Everything about this tournament was a grind. Covering the NWSL usually is, but when you take the work of an eight month season and compress it into a month, everything feels like it’s the highest priority.

This type of work is nothing new to me, except I’m used to being tied to a specific team. This Challenge Cup presented both opportunities and challenges I’d never had before: juggling 8 teams’ schedules, with back-to-back double-header days (such a long 48 hours), all while balancing equal coverage for everyone. I was excited to cover teams and players I’ve never worked with and tell stories I may have never had a chance to otherwise.

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As games progressed to the knockout rounds, the intensity increased to the highest levels. The play was passionate, and the skill was entertaining. Amidst the organized chaos of tackles, battles, and diving saves, I couldn’t help but be mesmerized by the competition playing out 5 feet from my seat on the sidelines.

You have to admire the tenacity the players brought to the pitch. To have seven of eight teams in the quarterfinals with clean sheets forcing PK shootouts with everything on the line was just insane. And each time a game went to penalties, I would sit back and think, “Yeah, I love sports.” I couldn’t help but feel giddy being in the position to cover those moments which contain both the best and worst of sports: the joys of winning and the despair of loss.

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Under the bright stadium lights of Rio Tinto Stadium, the grind continued through the semi-finals and the final, with strength and endurance on full display in every match. As much as it was a grind, it was also an absolute joy. I loved being around the sport I had missed so much. It felt incredible to work with players I thought I’d never see again, and I met so many new professionals who share similar passions. Ultimately, the Challenge Cup afforded me the privilege to continue a career I thought could be a thing of the past given the times.

It was an absolute blast to be in the post-game celebrations. Covering a championship celebration was an experience I had never had the opportunity to shoot. I wanted to soak it all in. How often do you get a chance to cover such pure happiness and excitement like that? The long days, the hours spent going through footage and photos, the early mornings, all came down to that beer-slinging celebration. I made sure not to take it for granted.

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As someone who has been around the NWSL for several years, there was so much to celebrate coming out of this tournament. The grind it took to pull it all off. The health and safety of the athletes, staff and workers, not one of whom tested positive throughout the Cup.

The teams and players should celebrate the thrilling product they put on the field that attracted the attention of hundreds of thousands of viewers. Everyone behind the scenes that made every moment of this tournament possible should celebrate being the first pro-sports league to successfully return. I think we could all relate to the fact we were happy getting back to doing what we love. If I’ve learned anything from working within women’s soccer, it’s that there will always be a push to be better, to be successful, to bring about change. I’m so grateful I had the opportunity to be a part of this latest push and to have once again been able to take up the grind.

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Mallory Swanson returns to Chicago’s starting lineup in season opener

(Isaac Hale-USA TODAY Sports)

Mallory Swanson made her NWSL return on Saturday, after having missed the majority of last season with a knee injury. 

It was her first game with the Red Stars in 349 days, after she tore her patella tendon playing with the USWNT last April. She made her return to the USWNT earlier this year, coming in as a training camp player ahead of the Concacaf W Gold Cup. Interim head coach Twila Kilgore said that Swanson looked “phenomenal” in training. 

On Saturday, Swanson got to showcase just how far she’s come in her recovery, being named to the Red Stars’ starting lineup. 

Chicago got the 2-0 road win over Utah, and perhaps more importantly, Swanson looked like she hadn’t missed a beat. She wound up playing 80 minutes, which included two shots (one on target), passing accuracy of 81%, four crosses, four possession wins and two clearances. 

All in a day's work for the USWNT and Chicago striker.

Lorne Donaldson, who coached Swanson during her time with youth club team Real Colorado, took over as the Red Stars coach in the offseason. 

‘‘I haven’t seen the toughness in any player that I have seen in Mal,’’ Donaldson told the Chicago Sun-Times  ahead of the match. 

The fact that Swanson played 80 minutes means that she could be back to a full 90 sooner rather than later, which itself could lead to a full USWNT call-up and cap.

OL Groupe completes sale of Seattle Reign

(Steven Bisig-USA TODAY Sports)

The Seattle Reign have officially been sold, with OL Groupe announcing on Monday the team has signed an agreement with a group that includes the Seattle Sounders ownership group.

The transaction still needs to be approved by the NWSL and MLS Board of Governors. Global investment firm Carlyle joins the Sounders ownership group in the purchasing of the club.

OL Groupe’s entire stake in the club will be sold, which amounts to 97% of the club’s share capital. They originally purchased the club in 2019 for approximately $3.5 million. 

“The sale price is $58 million for 100% of the shares,” they said in a statement. Last October, Sportico had valued the club at $49 million.

According to OL Groupe, the sale is part of their strategy to refocus on men’s soccer. Recently, the group sold the women's side of Olympique Lyonnais to Washington Spirit owner Michele Kang.

"OL Groupe is delighted with this transaction as it ensures a locally-led group will continue OL Groupe's successful development of the Seattle franchise," the holding company said.

The Reign aren’t the first club to be sold this year, with the sale of the San Diego Wave for $113 million being announced last week. In August of last year, the Red Stars were sold to a group led by Laura Ricketts for $35.5 million and in January the Portland Thorns sold for $63 million, which was at the time the highest price ever paid for an NWSL team. 

Angel City, the league’s most valuable team, is also reportedly exploring a sale of a controlling number of shares.

Kansas City makes history with ‘standard setting’ stadium opener

CPKC Stadium. (Photo by Jamie Squire/Getty Images)

The Kansas City Current opened their new stadium on Saturday, which is believed to be the world’s first stadium purpose-built for a women’s professional team. 

It was a full circle moment with the game being played against the Portland Thorns, 11 years after the two teams played the first-ever NWSL game at a high school football field in Overland Park, Kansas.

The game was a sellout, with the Current putting on a show in front of 11,500 fans, taking down Portland 5-4 in a chaotic, back-and-forth match. For both the league and Kansas City, it was a monumental moment. 

"I've only heard people talk about our game [Saturday] and not about Sporting [Kansas City, playing a MLS home game later that night],” Lo’eau LaBonta told ESPN. “Don't get me wrong, I love Sporting as well and I've been related to them [through marriage to Sporting player Roger Espinoza] for a while now, but that's what I'm hearing, and that's already different.

"Our faces are in the airport, on the streetcars. That would have never happened [before]. I bet you back in the day, not one person could name the team or when our game was gonna be on the weekend."

Members of the 1985 USWNT were in attendance, as the club celebrated the first-ever U.S. women’s national team. They also have a special spot in the stadium, recognizing their accomplishments. 

It was a day of many firsts, as Vanessa DiBernardo had the first goal in the stadium’s history. Alex Pfeiffer also got on the scoresheet with what would turn out to be the game winner, becoming the youngest player to score in NWSL regular season history at just 16 years old. 

“I think what this club is doing and setting the standard, and building this stadium, and people showing up and supporting it, and just women’s soccer growing in general, I think it’s just super special,” DiBernardo said. “Where we started with this league and where we are now, it just shows the growth and how much players have put into it and really pushed the standard, and how much we’ve kind of really had to fight for ourselves. And it’s just the start.”

Others celebrities were in attendance as well, including Brittany and Patrick Mahomes, who are also co-owners of the team. The duo kicked off the game with the stadium’s first “KC, baby!” chant.

"We've been saying if you build it they will come internally," NWSL commissioner Jessica Berman told ESPN at halftime. "And then coming here and actually seeing what it means to actually invest in brick and mortar physical infrastructure, it's a game-changer."

Possible LSU, Iowa rematch headlines women’s March Madness bracket

LSU's Angel Reese points at her ring finger behind Iowa's Caitlin Clark in celebration of the Tigers' NCAA championship win. (Ben Solomon/NCAA Photos via Getty Images)

The 68-team bracket for March Madness was revealed on Sunday, with Iowa facing a difficult road to the Final Four. 

As expected, Iowa was named a 1-seed – the team’s first since 1992 – and will host the first two rounds of the tournament at home. But they’re joined by No. 2 seed UCLA and No. 3 seed LSU in their quadrant, setting up a number of possible blockbuster showdowns before they even reach the Final Four. That includes a possible national championship rematch with the Tigers in the Elite Eight. 

They could also find themselves up against No. 4 seed Kansas State, a team that they played twice this season – and that beat them once. 

"They’ve got the hardest road in my opinion. This is the hardest road," ESPN analyst Andraya Carter said during the selection show with Rebecca Lobo in agreement.

Other storylines in the region include a possible matchup between LSU guard Hailey Van Lith and her former team Louisville in the second round after the Cardinals were drawn in the Baton Rouge regional. 

"Initially, I just thought, 'Oooh, this is a tough, tough region,'" LSU coach Kim Mulkey said of her first reaction to the bracket.

"You really have to go game to game. After you get out of the first round, every team is basically a top-25 team," Clark said. "You need a little luck, a good draw, need to be playing your best basketball, but I think the biggest thing for me is just enjoying every single second because this is the most fun basketball.”

Other No. 1 seeds include South Carolina, who earned the No. 1 overall seed, USC and Texas. Stanford dropped to a 2-seed following their Pac-12 tournament final loss, and are joined by UCLA, Ohio State and Notre Dame. UConn, NC State and Oregon State join LSU as 3-seeds. 

Columbia will be going dancing for the first time in school history, earning an at-large play-in bid against Vanderbilt. This is just the second time the Ivy League will have two teams in the NCAA tournament. 

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