Chicago sacks Donaldson | UConn scores top transfer | Chelsea wins the league

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Struggling Chicago ousts manager

The Chicago Stars parted ways with second-year manager Lorne Donaldson on Wednesday, as the club attempts to bounce back from a 1-5-0 start to the 2025 NWSL season.

• "We are grateful to Lorne Donaldson for the culture, respect and sense of self-belief he helped build within our squad. We appreciate his work and wish him the best for the future," said Stars general manager Richard Feuz in a club statement.

Missing persons: After an eighth-place finish and short-lived playoff push in 2024, a relatively dormant offseason transfer window, and a somewhat controversial rebrand, Chicago has struggled to find results this season due in part to a dwindling lineup.

• The team’s opening day roster featured only six defenders — including an injured Natalia Kuikka, who has yet to make her 2025 debut.

• Superstar forward Mallory Swanson remains out indefinitely, having missed the first six games of the season due to personal reasons.

Bottom line: When points aren’t coming, front offices often try to shake things up by making changes on the sideline — though Chicago’s troubles appear to extend far beyond the former coach.

UConn lands top transfer

Reigning NCAA champions UConn powered up this week, signing former Wisconsin standout Serah Williams out of the transfer portal — and beating LSU and North Carolina to the punch.

• The 6’4” All-Big Ten first team forward was courted by several top programs, opting to play out her final year of eligibility with the Huskies.

• Averaging 19.2 points and 9.8 rebounds per game last season, Williams joins a talented UConn frontcourt that includes starters Sarah Strong and Jana El Alfy.

Settling in: With most big-name transfers already committed, next season’s college basketball landscape is beginning to come into view.

• While they may have missed out on Williams, LSU is widely considered to be one of this year’s transfer portal winners, having signed Notre Dame forward Kate Koval and highly touted South Carolina guard MiLaysia Fulwiley.

• After losing junior Cotie McMahon to Ole Miss, Ohio State announced the signing of Florida forward Kylee Kitts on Wednesday — sister of South Carolina standout Chloe Kitts.

Takeaway: The transfer portal might have closed last week, but with no deadline for signing with a new school, there’s still time for players in limbo to find their ideal fit.

Chelsea clinches 6th straight WSL title

Chelsea won their sixth straight WSL title on Wednesday with two games to spare, defeating Manchester United 1-0 to extend their league dominance yet another season.

• Shortly after second-place Arsenal fell to Aston Villa, strong defense from USWNT star Naomi Girma and a game-winning goal from England’s Lucy Bronze secured Chelsea’s victory, putting the first-place Blues out of reach in points.

• “We work really hard and we had the right mindset from the beginning of the season until now. It’s a lot of hard work every day,” said Chelsea manager Sonia Bompastor, who managed to keep the winning streak alive in her first year at the helm.

Big picture: Despite a disappointing finish in last weekend’s Champions League semifinals, Chelsea’s quest for a second domestic treble — winning the league, FA Cup, and League Cup — is still alive.

• “After we lost to Barcelona I told them, this competition is over,” said Bompastor. “It hurts, for sure, because it was one of our goals, but we’re professionals and we had to focus on the next game and tonight was really important for us.”

• Having already picked up the League Cup and WSL title, Chelsea will play Manchester United once again for the FA Cup trophy on May 18th.

Amoore suffers ACL injury

Newly drafted Washington Mystics rookie Georgia Amoore has suffered a possible season-ending ACL injury, the team announced on Wednesday.

• The incident occurred in a Tuesday training session ahead of this weekend’s preseason tip-off, with Washington unable to give an official timeline for her return, saying instead they will “examine treatment and rehabilitation options.”

• Washington selected Amoore with the No. 6 pick at this year’s WNBA draft, following an impressive college career at Virginia Tech and Kentucky.

‘99ers get the Netflix treatment

The 1999 World Cup-winning USWNT is hitting the big screen, with Netflix announcing yesterday it’s in development on The 99’ers, a feature film based on Jeré Longman’s book The Girls of Summer: The US Women’s Soccer Team and How It Changed the World.

• Behind a production team that includes Ryan Reynolds, the streaming giant has assigned director Nicole Kassell — known for Watchmen and The Leftovers — to the project, alongside screenwriters Katie Lovejoy and Dana Stevens.

Next steps: Netflix acquired the rights to Longman’s book in 2020, but is moving forward with the film now in an effort to bolster its women’s soccer content in the lead-up to broadcasting the 2027 and 2032 Women’s World Cups.

Staley gets a statue

The city of Columbia, South Carolina honored South Carolina head coach Dawn Staley with her very own statue this week, reflecting her legacy as a change-maker in women’s college basketball.

• “I agreed to the statue not for me, but for the girl who will walk by one day and wonder who I was,” Staley said at Wednesday’s unveiling. “Maybe she’ll look me up. She’ll see that I did some things in basketball of course, but I hope she sees much more.”

• The three-time NCAA champion coach joins former player A’ja Wilson, who saw her statue installed outside Colonial Life Arena in 2021.

Quote of the day

Angel City interim manager Sam Laity
on not subbing in forward Christen Press during last weekend’s 3-2 loss to Orlando.