Shayla Smith mingled on the Hagan Arena court Sunday afternoon, posing for a photo with St. Joseph’s guard Kaylinn Bethea.
The brief reunion with a former Philly Rise EYBL teammate was one reason Smith said it felt like “a breath of fresh air” to be back in her hometown. It was her first trip as a Penn State player, after becoming the city’s all-time scoring leader for high school boys’ and girls’ basketball last spring.
“It definitely feels good to be back here,” Smith told The Inquirer. “ … Just coming back home, seeing everybody, all my people.”
An undisclosed injury kept Smith from playing in the Nittany Lions’ 89-77 victory over St Joe’s. Yet the former Audenried superstar is embracing the beginning of her college career, and coach Carolyn Kieger expects Smith to “drastically” help a 4-0 Penn State this season.
“I wish she was 100% to play in her hometown today,” Kieger said postgame. “ … I’ve been really impressed with her work ethic and how she’s kind of been just soaking up learning and growing.
“It’s an unfortunate injury there, but she’ll be back healthy and ready to rock here in no time.”
Smith has played 19 total minutes during two of Penn State’s first four games, going 3-of-7 from the floor for six points along with four rebounds, two assists, two steals, and one block.
But the 5-foot-9 freshman guard believes she has already improved since arriving on campus for summer workouts. Physically, Smith feels stronger and faster. Mentally, she feels more decisive, a necessity in Kieger’s “0.5” offensive system that requires players to begin to shoot, pass, or dribble in less than a second.
Penn State freshman Shayla Smith (center) has played 19 total minutes this season.
Smith also has concentrated on being a more vocal teammate, a noticeable emphasis while she watched Sunday’s game from the bench. She emphatically clapped when the Nittany Lions surrendered a layup on their opening possession, clearly aiming to motivate those on the floor. She stood up, lifted three fingers, and hollered “Yeah!” when Vitória Santana buried a three-pointer that gave Penn State an 86-74 lead with 1 minute, 37 seconds remaining. Smith applauded as her team dribbled out the final seconds of a game often played at a frenetic pace.
Kieger said she envisions utilizing Smith’s frame and skills on both ends of the floor. She is an obvious three-level scorer who can shoot from beyond the arc and muscle her way inside. Those attributes fueled a decorated high school career in which she amassed a record-breaking 2,691 career points and averaged 27.5 points as a senior. Smith also has the capability to guard multiple positions, Kieger said.
“I’m going to bring my physicality as a guard,” Smith said. “Just my attack mindset. Just embracing my role. Trying to be the best at what they need me to do. … When I get my chances, just do what I can do. Play my game when I get the chance.”
Heading to Happy Valley also has meant adapting to college life. Though Smith quipped that she enjoys “just being able to do whatever I want and nobody saying anything,” these early months have been a test in time management. A diligent gym rat, Smith has been learning when to squeeze her individual workout time in between classes, practices, and other team obligations such as alumni events.
“There’s always something to do,” Smith said. “ … I’ve just got to find the time to work on my craft and still be on top of everything else.”
While recovering from this injury, Smith said she has been trying to make the best of observing how the game unfolds from a pulled-back perspective. That was a rarity when the offense flowed through her as a record-breaking high school player, who was a three-time All-State honoree and anchored Audenried’s three-peat as Public League champions.
Shayla Smith, the former Audenried standout, did not play in Penn State’s win over St. Joseph’s on Sunday because of an injury.
And spending Sunday’s return to Philly on the bench has made her “eager” to truly get her college career underway.
“I just want to be a great teammate [and] master my role,” Smith said. “Bring my physicality. Bring everything that I can. I want to contribute, and help the team make it to the NCAA Tournament and Big Ten championship.”
NEW YORK — As a group of Columbia women’s basketball players struggled to break a press defense and advance the ball up the court, Megan Griffith’s voice rang through the gym.
“I need more active participation with your voice!” the coach said. “Can you please get back to playing like us?”
That is one of the go-to phrases that Griffith, a King of Prussia native, reinforces during this October preseason practice. They are all designed to “make things sticky” and keep the team process-focused, Griffith said.
“How you do anything, is how you do everything,” Griffith and standout guard Perri Page will both rattle off within the same hour.
Those callbacks have fueled a remarkable turnaround as Griffith enters her 10th season as the head coach at her alma mater.
Columbia was one of women’s college basketball’s worst programs for decades before clinching at least a share of three consecutive Ivy League regular-season championships and winning its first NCAA Tournament game in school history last season.
And it received an at-large bid to the Big Dance in each of the past two seasons, typically unheard of for Ivy League programs. The Lions are 2-0 to begin the 2025-26 season, heading into a marquee home opener against reigning Atlantic 10 regular-season champion Richmond Saturday night.
Griffith, a finalist last season for the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association’s Coach of the Year award, has displayed her Philly roots while making breakthrough after breakthrough during this rebuild.
There’s the influence of her high school coach, Villa Maria Academy’s Kathy McCartney, whose motivational style Griffith describes in a way that her current players now talk about her. And her childhood being raised by a father from Delaware County and a mother who immigrated from Hong Kong, before they met at Villanova. The emphasis on running a high-powered offensive system spearheaded by dynamic guard play? A no-brainer for a 40-year-old who grew up watching the Allen Iverson Sixers era.
That culture has already elevated Columbia to historic heights, and a stability Griffith and players now strive to protect. Now, the coach has the Lions believing they can — again — become the best team in program history.
“She’s a force,” Page said. “Honestly, do not mess with her. She is going to go out and get whatever she wants. … I can’t see myself playing for any other coach in the country.”
‘A determined little bugger’
Diane and Bob Griffith still are in awe when they watch their daughter coach, or when she speaks during news conferences. She actually was a shy kid in everyday life, taking hold of Dad’s pant leg whenever the family was out in public.
But as soon as there were competitive stakes, Megan turned into “a determined little bugger,” Bob said. Diane remembers a T-ball game when a young Megan rounded third base, and the umpire told Bob, who coached Megan’s youth sports teams, that “this kid can slide better than most adult men can.”
“Once that light turned on or that game clock started, she was tenacious, even as a small kid,” Bob said. “ … When you look back on it, she was probably one of the most aggressive kids out there on the court.”
Megan concedes today that she probably should have pursued soccer (“Look at me. I’m 5-5,” she quips). But she gravitated toward the intimacy of smaller basketball rosters and how the game never stops moving.
Neither did she, because she was fast. When Griffith first arrived at Villa Maria, McCartney remembers the teenage point guard could not always control her dribble in transition … because she literally outran the ball.
King of Prussia native Megan Griffith played her high school ball at Villa Maria Academy.
So McCartney told a steely eyed Griffith that she was not ready to play on the varsity team as a freshman. She needed to learn how to mold those natural athletic gifts into a ballhandler who could anticipate the defense’s next move. Griffith clocked that, while being coached by a woman for the first time, she was receiving a similar combination of intensity and care that her father provided in those settings.
“When I started getting [that tough love] from somebody else, it was like, ‘Oh, this is also how other people do this,’” Griffith said. “And it just really resonated with me. … That allowed me to really gain the confidence as a young woman, to then take that next step in my career and play college.”
By her senior high school season, Griffith was the point guard and defensive menace for a team that won its first 21 games. She had chosen to play for Columbia, which does not offer athletic scholarships, over an offer from LIU-Brooklyn.
And the hug McCartney and Griffith shared as she walked off the court for the final time as a high schooler has “stuck with me for years,” the coach said.
“It kind of solidified in my head the difference a coach can make,” McCartney said. “And I think — I hope — it has helped her in some way. I remember whispering in her ear, ‘You’ve got big things ahead of you, girl.’”
A clipping from the Philadelphia Inquirer sports section of February 2, 2003, showing Megan Griffith driving to the basket for Villa Maria Academy high school. Griffith is now the head women’s basketball coach at Columbia University.
‘I can go prove everybody wrong’
Columbia’s program was in a tumultuous state during Griffith’s playing career, from 2003 to 2007. She had four coaches in four seasons. The Lions’ record during that span was 38-70.
But that is where Griffith learned how to “stack days,” not just with her on-court training but in daily habits such as nutrition and sleep. Bob watched his daughter morph from a “very predictable” freshman who was “trying to please her coach too much,” to a 1,000-point scorer and two-time all-Ivy League selection.
“I was like, ‘Wow, I’ve had it the complete wrong way,’” Megan said. “I was so focused on the results all the time. Starting. Trying to come in as a freshman and change the program. I was like, ‘Wow, if I can just focus on what I can control …’”
Megan Griffith was an 1,000-point scorer at Columbia. The King of Prussia native now coaches her alma mater.
She also had an Ivy League education and a job lined up at Lincoln Financial in Philly upon graduating with an economics degree. She turned that offer down to continue playing overseas in Finland and then the Netherlands.
Griffith called that experience “transformational.” She leaned into exploring her new surroundings and connecting with her local teammates. An assistant coach began involving her in game-planning and strategizing, which she said “channeled my competitive energy very differently.” She learned enough Dutch to help coach kids. When she came home during off-seasons, she held youth skills clinics.
“I could see just how these kids just looked up to her,” Diane said. “ … I think that was probably the first glimpse of her maybe, possibly becoming a coach.”
When Megan no longer found as much satisfaction in that daily grind, she knew it was time to pivot from playing. She was hired as the director of basketball operations at Princeton, and was intrigued by then-coach Courtney Banghart, who led the program to its first Ivy League title.
Banghart, now the coach at 11th-ranked North Carolina, quickly made Griffith the Tigers’ recruiting coordinator. Griffith was hesitant at first, instead wanting more tactical responsibilities. But she was organized and a people person.
“What I learned there is that, actually, the most important thing is relationships,” Griffith said. “You have to know things and be smart. But at the end of the day, everybody can learn an offense. But what do you do with talent? How do you get talent? How do you get people that are bought into a common language, and an ethos, and a culture?”
In 2016, Columbia’s head-coaching job came open. Griffith, then 30, went to athletic director Peter Pilling with a detailed plan on how she would run her alma mater. And she thought back to conversation in the car with her father, while she was still playing overseas.
“[I said], ‘Dad, I feel I’m meant for something, like, big and different,’” she said. “I didn’t know what that meant at that time. So when this opportunity came up it was like, ‘Wow, I can go prove everybody wrong.’
“And I love that. I love the underdog. That’s who I am at my core.”
Megan Griffith played professional basketball in Finland.
‘It’s why you do it’
Tyler Cordell was “a little intimidated” the first time she spoke to Griffith. While interviewing for a job as Princeton’s director of basketball operations when Griffith was promoted to assistant coach, Cordell left the phone conversation thinking, “I don’t know if I’m smart enough to follow up in her footsteps.”
Now, Griffith and Cordell have worked together for 14 years. Cordell said it was a “no-brainer” to join Griffith’s staff at Columbia. Griffith calls Cordell an example of the “builders” the program needed.
“You start with the people,” Griffith said.
That meant thorough — and unconventional — recruiting.
The coaching staff went into southern states, such as Florida and Georgia. And internationally, to Spain and Australia. Today, nine players on Columbia’s 2025-26 roster are from outside the United States.
And there was perhaps nobody better to pitch Columbia than Griffith, who experienced the top-tier academics, limited athletic resources, and basketball struggles firsthand.
“It’s not like we’re in the same sandbox as a lot of schools,” Griffith said. ” … But we’ve never been.”
Griffith needed to power through the early on-court woes as a coach, including back-to-back eight-win seasons from 2017 to 2019 that left Diane worried about Megan’s health. Still, accolades began to surface. Their first victories over programs from the Atlantic Coast Conference (Boston College) and Big East (Providence). Their first Ivy League Rookie of the Year in Sienna Durr. The commitments of Abbey Hsu and Kaitlyn Davis, who became “young, hungry freshmen” and, eventually, conference champions and WNBA draft picks.
Those players could emulate an on-court style — with athletic, guard-heavy rosters that could pressure defensively and get out in transition — that led to sustained success for other mid-majors. It evolved into a system that, from 2022 to 2025, averaged more than 70 points per game.
King of Prussia native Megan Griffith has built Columbia women’s basketball into an Ivy League power.
Griffith, meanwhile, strives to make people feel important, even when demands are high. She will get on a player’s case during practice, but then help them make their first resumé or ask about their dog. During the COVID-19 pandemic, when Columbia’s 2020-21 season was canceled, the staff created a space for players to talk. Page actually took her recruiting “visit” on Zoom and was blown away by the staff’s energy and attention to detail in less-than-ideal circumstances.
“That’s what made me say, ‘Wow, they put a lot of thought and effort into everything that they do,’” she said. “ … I was like, ‘If you can make this look good, imagine what it looks like on the court, too.’”
Once the Lions returned to to play, the avalanche of checkpoints continued.
A 2021 signature comeback win at Clemson? Check.
Qualifying for the four-team Ivy League tournament for the first time? Check.
Four consecutive 20-win seasons? Check.
Advancing to the WNIT quarterfinals in 2021, then the championship game the following season? Check.
First Ivy League regular-season titles, as co-champions in 2023 and 2024 and then as the outright winner last season? Check.
First NCAA tournament appearance in 2024, when they lost a tight First Four matchup against Vanderbilt? Check.
“That’s what’s been so cool about our journey,” Cordell said. “Because we haven’t skipped one step.”
The most recent: Last season’s NCAA First Four. The Lions at halftime flipped how they were guarding Washington’s post players, and rallied from 13 points down to win and advance to the round of 64.
“It was just the next thing we had to do in our journey,” Griffith said. “I feel like we manifested it, but at the same time, it was supposed to happen. …
“When the buzzer sounded, it’s why you do it. It’s why I’ve coached the last nine years — to be in that moment and be able to share that with my staff and this team.”
Columbia head coach Megan Griffith (right) celebrates with assistant coach Cy Lippold after beating Washington in a First Four game in last season’s NCAA Tournament.
‘Coach-led, player-fed’
Those back home also have relished in Griffith’s rise.
McCartney still texts Megan and her parents, and loves telling friends “that’s one of my kids” while watching Columbia play. Megan’s godmother, who lives in Australia, wakes up at 4 a.m. to tune in to games. Supporters are in the stands whenever Columbia plays Penn in Philly, where Griffith takes pride in those who knew her as a player recognizing similar qualities in her teams.
And Diane and Bob are regular visitors to campus. While watching a recent scrimmage, they noticed Megan being “really tough” on the freshmen. Up in the coach’s offices, a veteran told one of those first-year players, “She’s tough, but you have to listen to Coach. She knows what she’s talking about.”
“Yes, she yells at you a lot,” Diane said. “She screams in your face. You think she hates you. But she really does care about you, and she wants to make you a better player and person.”
Columbia women’s basketball coach and King of Prussia native Megan Griffith (left) high-fives her niece, Carmen, who calls her Titi.
Like during that October practice, when new assistant coach Kizmahr Grell needed to tell Griffith to take a deep breath. The Lions have a taller roster and fewer ballhandlers this season, forcing some tweaks to their on-court identity. That was particularly apparent with Page sitting out this practice, prompting a direct challenge from Griffith to be a better leader from the sideline.
“It just gets me so fired up, too,” Page said of those interactions. “ … I take it, like, this is my program. This is my baby. When she gives a task, I am ready to attack it, always. Because I want to do right for her, but I want to do right for this program, as well.”
Columbia coach Megan Griffith talks to her team at practice last season.
That’s an example of another Griffith callback: “Coach-led, player-fed.” It’s why a practice that began with harsh words ended with everybody gathering at midcourt for a calm circle, where players individually spoke up to encourage and hold each other accountable. They snapped in agreement of each player’s input. When Griffith asked who got better today, every player raised their hand.
Those mantras have become sticky, establishing Columbia’s foundational culture. They have fueled the Lions’ historic rise.
So what is the next breakthrough, with Griffith’s 10th season underway?
“That’s my big challenge right now, is just continue to teach when the expectations are higher — and self-imposed,” Griffith said. “Nobody here is like, ‘Hey, you need to win more.’ Everybody is like, ‘Look at everything you’ve done,’ but that’s just not who I am.
“I don’t just think we can continue to win Ivy League championships. I think we can make deep runs into March. As long as we keep getting the right people here, why couldn’t we go to the Elite Eight?”
EAST HARTFORD, Conn. — Olivia Moultrie scored two goals and the U.S. women’s national team bounced back against Portugal with a 3-1 victory on Sunday after honoring former goalkeeper Alyssa Naeher.
The United States was coming off a 2-1 loss to Portugal in the first game of the international window on Thursday in Chester. It was Portugal’s first victory over the U.S. and just the third loss for the national team under coach Emma Hayes.
Moultrie scored just 45 seconds into the game to give the USWNT the early lead. Portugal leveled in the fifth minute on Jessica Silva’s header off a cross from Beatriz Fonseca.
Moultrie added her second in the 10th to put the Americans back in front. The 20-year-old has a pair of two-goal games in 10 international appearances.
Sam Coffey, who came into the game as a substitute in the 77th minute, put the game away with a goal in the 82nd. Coffey and Moultrie are teammates on the Portland Thorns in the National Women’s Soccer League.
Hayes made eight changes to the starting lineup from the group she started on Thursday.
Before the match at Pratt & Whitney Stadium, the United States honored Naeher, a Connecticut native, who retired from the national team late last year after winning a gold medal at the Paris Olympics.
Naeher was the starting goalkeeper for the U.S. team that won the Women’s World Cup in 2019 and the 2024 Olympics. She’s the only U.S. goalkeeper to earn a shutout in both a World Cup and an Olympic final.
Alyssa Naeher waves to the crowd in her home state during her retirement ceremony.
The team was without some of its star players. Trinity Rodman was nursing an MCL sprain in her right knee that she sustained Oct. 15 during a CONCACAF W Champions Cup match with her club team, the Washington Spirit.
Defender Naomi Girma remained sidelined with a calf injury that occurred before the start of Chelsea’s season in September.
Forward Lynn Biyendolo, who was left off the U.S. roster because of a knee injury, announced on Saturday that she and her husband are expecting their first child. Other prominent national team players who have taken maternity time off this year include Sophia Wilson and Mallory Swanson.
Hayes said that U.S. Soccer was developing more comprehensive “pre- and postpregnancy” protocols to be announced in the future.
The United States has one more match during the current international window, against New Zealand on Wednesday at CPKC Stadium in Kansas City, Mo.
When the Olympics come knocking, you drop everything to answer the door.
And by the time squash standouts Marina Stefanoni and Aly Abou Eleinen learned that their sport would be included in the Olympics for the first time in 2028, they already were a step ahead.
Stefanoni, the 25th-ranked women’s player in the world, moved to Philadelphia after graduating from Harvard last year to be closer to West Philadelphia’s Arlen Specter U.S. Squash Center — the home of the U.S. national squash team.
Before joining the pro ranks, ninth-ranked squash player Aly Abou Eleinen competed for Penn.
Eleinen is the 11th-ranked men’s player in the world. A 2022 Penn graduate, Eleinen moved to his native Egypt a year after graduating to train at the national squash center in Cairo.
This week, both competed at the U.S. Open Squash Championships in University City and are continuing to put in the hard work on the professional circuit in the lead-up to the Los Angeles Games in 2028.
“I am looking at it as ‘If I happen to make the Olympics, then I’ve probably achieved what I want to on the timeline that I want on the pro tour,’” Stefanoni said.
Added Eleinen: “[The Olympics] line up well with my [Professional Squash Association] World Tour goals. If I keep focusing on myself, keep focusing on my body, keep trying to rise up the rankings on the TSA World Tour, that’ll put me in a good position for the Olympics.”
Daunting tasks
Stefanoni is part of the Big Four of American women’s squash, along with No. 5 Olivia Weaver, No. 9 Amanda Sobhy, and Sobhy’s sister, Sabrina, who’s ranked 89th. The youngest of all four, Stefanoni feels a bond with her USA team members despite having less experience in the PSA.
What the other three have in experience, Stefanoni makes up for in youth — and fully expects to get her shot at Los Angeles come 2028.
“We are at very different stages of our career, which makes it extra interesting,” Stefanoni said. “… As you get deeper into your 30s every year, it’s massively more difficult to maintain that high level of squash.”
Aly Abou Eleinen returns the ball during the U.S. Open Squash Championships this week at the Arlen Specter US Squash Center.
Eleinen, having to earn his spot against an Egyptian field that holds seven of the top 20 men’s players in the world, knows that any chance of playing in the Olympics must come through dethroning the nation’s top talents, a plan made more difficult following recent ACL and MCL injuries that ended his 2024-25 season early.
With a burning need to get back on track, Eleinen knows there’s no better time than the present to begin improving.
“In Egypt, it is a bit more challenging than other countries,” he said. “But it is what it is. That’s the reality of the situation. And for me, yes, I’m competing with the guys that I’m training with, but that’s also helpful, because you get to raise the level, which also helps on the PSA World Tour.”
Love-hate relationship
Stefanoni calls Philly home, but it’s taken a while for her to come around.
“I hated Philly before coming here,” Stefanoni said. “I was like, ‘This city is the worst.’ Cities are just so hectic … but I’ve slowly been becoming a fan.”
As the youngest-ever winner of the under-19 U.S. Junior Squash Championship at 13 years old, Stefanoni has been a star in the making since before she could remember. But as she continues her rise, she hopes to enjoy the ride more often on her way to the top.
“Sometimes I need to take a step back and realize that this is actually a big deal, and what I’m doing is pretty cool,” Stefanoni said.
On the other hand, Eleinen fell in love with the city during his time at Penn, and he said he frequently misses the area.
“I still have family in Philly, and every year since graduating, I’ve been coming [back] to Philly over and over,” Eleinen said. “… Philly’s always had a special place in my heart.”
Despite his fondness for the city, his career and family come first.
With his parents, coaches, and fiancée in Cairo, the Egyptian star says that’s the best place for him to prepare for 2028.
“Cairo has been amazing for me,” Eleinen said. “I see myself staying in Cairo for a while. I’m getting married next summer, in July, which is just so exciting. We’re going to have our wedding in Cairo; we’re going to settle in Cairo. So for me, Cairo is the place to be right now.”
Temple head coach Diane Richardson has led her program to back-to-back 20 win seasons for the first time since Tonya Cardoza did it from 2014 to 2017. However, Richardson knows in order to maintain success in today’s era of college basketball, money is a major factor.
So Richardson decided to start a unique fundraising campaign to get donors excited to help the program. She reached out to Philadelphia legend and former Temple head coach Dawn Staley.
Richardson and Staley made a fundraising campaign called “Match the Momentum,” where Staley would match each donation the Temple women’s basketball team receives from Oct. 20 to 25. Both coaches want Temple to be competitive, even with Staley sitting as the head coach at South Carolina.
“Just talking with her about the way the landscape is and that, in order for us to be competitive, we need dollars,” Richardson said. “It was my pitch to her that we want to maintain or even get higher than where we are right now, and it’s going to take money.”
Staley’s area ties run deep. She was born and raised in the city and attended Dobbins Technical High School. She returned to Philly in 2000 to become the head coach for Temple, where she became a coaching legend in her nine years with the program. She guided the Owls to 172 wins and six NCAA tournament appearances before leaving for South Carolina in May 2008.
Richardson and Staley have a friendship that goes back to when Richardson was the head coach at Riverdale Baptist School in Upper Malboro, Md., and Staley recruited her players.
Once Richardson had Staley on board to set up the campaign, the fourth-year head coach took the idea to Temple’s marketing department. Staley helped the campaign gain some attention by recording a video talking about what North Philly and Temple means to her.
“Her roots are here,” Richardson said. “She understands that if we can put out a product that people can look at and aspire to, all the young girls in the Philly area can say, ‘You know what? I can see myself doing that.’ Her commitment to us at Temple, obviously, she did a lot for Temple when she was here. … She wants young girls to be able to look up to us, just like she did when she was growing up.”
Temple continued to promote the campaign throughout the week, with videos from guard Tristen Taylor, forward Jaleesa Molina, and Richardson. Taylor and Molina spoke about what it means to be an Owl, their experiences with the program, and how the donations could help the team with traveling, recruiting and nutrition.
The Owls will open their season on Nov. 3 against George Mason and were picked to finish fourth in the American in the preseason poll.
In case you missed it 📰
Temple Women’s Basketball is proud to announce the launch of the Match the Momentum campaign a weeklong giving challenge inspired by former head coach Dawn Staley’s generous contribution to the program.
“Our players have been doing a great job,” Richardson said. We’ve had back-to-back 20 win seasons, without the notoriety. So now that hopefully we have some fans and we have some donors and we have some more money, we can continue that climb.”
Richardson is also hoping the campaign will put more eyes on her program. Staley is one of the most popular figures in women’s college basketball, and both coaches want to see Temple back at the top.
“I think it puts an eye on us,” Richardson said. “Obviously football and men’s basketball is really important, but women’s basketball has really exploded. Now, with Dawn behind it, she’s got name recognition, and people would look at that and say, ‘Well, Dawn’s doing it, then let me take a look at Temple women’s basketball.’ I’m sure we will get some eyes that have never seen Temple women’s basketball, because she put her name out there, her commitment, and her belief in us. Now other people will follow.”
When a team gives up a goal on a corner kick, it’s rarely just down to one person. But when a team gives up two goals on corner kicks in one game, there likely will be alarm bells.
That’s what happened Thursday night at Subaru Park, where the U.S. women were upset by Portugal, 2-1.
Manager Emma Hayes was frustrated afterward, as were many of her players. There are few things — sometimes nothing — a soccer coach dislikes more than giving up goals on set pieces.
Nor did it help that this U.S. squad looked unusually disjointed, even for a group that hadn’t been together in four months and had just two days of practice before kickoff.
“I didn’t recognize us,” Hayes said. “ I felt that we just rushed everything. We went direct. We didn’t look like the team that we’ve been working on, but that’s what happens when you got 113 days apart.”
She admitted she had “felt it the last two days in training,” seeing “so many misconnections, just taking a bit of time for us to get on the same page.”
And she offered a few of the rhetorical flourishes that have long made her popular among fans and players.
“Sometimes you need a kick up the back side like that,” she said at one point.
“I was frustrated this evening because it felt like a game of Whac-a-Mole,” she said at another. ”I felt like I put something out, and then I was whacking that — that’s how the game felt for me as a coach. And I’ve been doing this for so long, I hate them games.”
Hayes wasn’t going to pick at individual players or positions, to no surprise. She knew, though, that the U.S. team’s decades of success have also earned it the right to be criticized, and she usually doesn’t mind that when it’s warranted.
There will be questions about the centerbacks and forwards. The latter certainly falls under Hayes’ remark that “there’s so many decisions we made” that felt like the wrong one.
“I’m like, ‘Is it the right moment to take a shot? Slip a player in?’” she said. “No, we didn’t make those decisions.”
And from up in the press box, there were questions about a position that has faced several lately.
Portugal’s Fatima Pinto (center) celebrates after scoring the game-winning goal.
Minding the net
For much of the night, goalkeeper Phallon Tullis-Joyce didn’t play badly. She was credited with two saves, the best of which was a close-range stop on Tatiana Pinto after a misplay by U.S. centerback Tara McKeown.
But Tullis-Joyce didn’t look good on either of those corners.
Again, neither solely were her fault. On the first, Diana Gomes jumped amid three U.S. players to win the header and knocked it low, beating Tullis-Joyce on the bounce.
The second was off an outswinging corner that Tullis-Joyce wouldn’t have gotten to in any circumstance, and Fatima Pinto’s shot bounced off two U.S. players. So it’s nitpicking to say Tullis-Joyce’s reaction time wasn’t ideal. But the standard is high, and it felt like just enough to plant a seed of doubt.
“Those were tough to take on the chin,” Tullis-Joyce said.
Asked about her play on those corner kicks, she said: “They had some driven corners into that back post area. I’m sure I’ll take a look at the clips afterward to see whether or not maybe I could play a bigger role in that, but that’s just for me to look and review afterward.”
Hayes likely will stick with Tullis-Joyce as her new No. 1 goalkeeper for a while. The 29-year-old New Yorker has generally played well for the U.S., and is playing quite well at club level for England’s Manchester United.
Still, we’ll see if anyone else gets minutes over the next two games during Sunday’s rematch vs. Portugal (4 p.m., TNT, Universo) — coincidentally Alyssa Naeher’s retirement tribute — and Wednesday’s game vs. New Zealand in Kansas City (8 p.m., TNT, Universo).
Current No. 2 Claudia Dickey presumably would be first in line for that shot. And if after that, Aubrey Kingsbury leads the Washington Spirit on a second straight run to the NWSL title game, there might be some clamor for her to get a call-up for the first time since June of last year.
“It felt really individual out there,” said midfielder Rose Lavelle, who scored the U.S.’s goal just 33 seconds after kickoff. “I think everyone was trying to maybe fix it on their own. That’s something that, when the going gets tough, we’ve got to make sure we’re sticking together, playing together.”
Sam Coffey was particularly miffed about conceding on those corner kicks. Asked how she’d assess the plays, she responded promptly: “Obviously, we got scored on them, so I wouldn’t assess them very high.”
Sam Coffey (center) on the ball in the middle of the action.
She credited Portugal, and rightly so. Though the Navegadoras are No. 23 in FIFA’s global rankings, they’ve got more talent than a few teams ahead of them — as they showed in tying reigning European champion England in February, then Italy at this summer’s Euros.
Those results are more telling than the one that naturally stuck in many American fans’ minds Thursday night, the scoreless tie Portugal pulled against the U.S. at the 2023 World Cup.
But Coffey saved most of her words for her own side, which also was the right move.
“I think whether we’re not locked in enough in those moments or we’re not doing good enough in our man-marking or being alive for a second phase [when a ball is recycled after being cleared], I think that’s an area we’ve always prided ourselves on, and that was not up to our standard tonight,” she said. “Set pieces win championships, win games. And for them to capitalize on those and win the game that way, I think is really disappointing for us, and we have to be better.”
Diana Gomes (center) celebrates scoring Portugal’s first goal.
It is obviously better to lose in an off-year friendly than in an actual tournament. And on top of any loss lighting a spark under this group, they know they’ll see the same team again a couple days.
“The lucky thing for us is we have a second shot at this,” Lavelle said. “There’s no months of time between the next time we can maybe get better from this loss. So we have three days to turn around and show up better.”
Tullis-Joyce was even more blunt: “Revenge, for sure.”
It will no doubt get attention, as this team always does.
For the first 33 seconds this time, it looked like things had changed. But by the end of the night, Portugal had the Americans’ number again — this time a 2-1 win as the visitors at Subaru Park.
It was the U.S.’s first loss in a visit to the Philadelphia area since 2004 and the current team’s first loss in seven games dating back to February.
Those 33 seconds were how long it took for the U.S. to open the scoring through Rose Lavelle. Catarina Macario set the play up with a dazzling move, running and dancing amid Portugal’s defense before feeding the assist.
It was the seventh-fastest goal in U.S. women’s team history, and it will not be recorded that Lavelle clearly was offside. But with no video review in this friendly, the goal stood, and the crowd of 17,297 — including U.S. legend Alex Morgan and many ex-teammates honoring her retirement ceremony — cheered.
Lavelle nearly scored again on a breakaway in the ninth, sprung beautifully by Alyssa Thompson. But Portugal goalkeeper Inês Pereira denied her with a charge off her line and a tip of the ball to just the right side of the post.
From there, Portugal turned the tide. In the 37th minute, Kika Nazareth spun around Lavelle, passed wide to Andreia Jacinto, and she tried a chip attempt that landed on top of the crossbar. Two minutes later, a misplay by Tara McKeown let Tatiana Pinto get free on goal, and U.S. goalkeeper Phallon Tullis-Joyce had to come off her line for a sprawling stop.
Portugal scored on the ensuing corner kick, as Diana Gomes beat Emily Sonnett on the jump.
The U.S. looked livelier early in the second half, but Thompson flubbed a chance, and Macario got caught up to on a breakaway just in time to have the ball poked from behind.
Nor could the Americans capitalize on a close-in free kick from the right wing, served well by Sam Coffey but not finished by anyone in the crowded 18-yard box.
U.S. manager Emma Hayes took her time to make substitutions, but when she did, it was a quadruple move in the 69th minute. In came midfielders Claire Hutton and Lily Yohannes and forwards Yazmeen Ryan and Emma Sears; out went Coffey, Lindsey Heaps, Michelle Cooper, and Macario.
Three minutes later, Portugal took the lead off another corner kick when Fátima Pinto trapping the service wonderfully and shooting low past Tullis-Joyce. There was a bit of a deflection, but Tullis-Joyce looked a little too frozen, and Hayes did not hide her frustration.
Jaedyn Shaw was next to enter for the U.S. in the 78th, replacing Lavelle.
The U.S. did not lack for scoring chances, but it couldn’t finish them. Outside back Avery Patterson forced a sharp save from Pereira in the 81st, and Yohannes headed right at Pereira a few seconds later.
As the U.S. searched for an equalizer, Sears sent a well-placed pass through the 18-yard box in the 93rd that no teammate caught up to. And in the last seconds, Thompson shot when she could have passed — one of a few less-than-ideal decisions she made on the ball — and Yohannes lofted a cross that Pereira caught.
That felt like the night in a nutshell, right as the final whistle blew to end it.
There are a few ways to measure who the players of the moment are for the U.S. women’s soccer team.
One is in the box score, as usual: goals, assists, saves, and so on. Another is measured before kickoff, and with a decibel meter.
Most of the time, the winner of that contest is a veteran, and that might happen again when the Americans play Portugal on Thursday at Subaru Park (7 p.m., TNT, Peacock). Sam Coffey is an obvious favorite, as is electric playmaker Rose Lavelle.
But keep an eye — or an ear, in this case — out for two of the U.S. squad’s younger players who are quickly becoming fan favorites. Midfielder Lily Yohannes and winger Alyssa Thompson have all the skills and charisma to be national team mainstays, and their bandwagons are filling up fast.
Lily Yohannes (center) working out during the U.S. women’s soccer team’s practice Tuesday morning at the Union’s facilities.
Yohannes plays club soccer for Europe’s most decorated team, France’s OL Lyonnes (formerly known as Lyon). The 19-year-old from D.C.’s Virginia suburbs joined in July, as OL retooled its squad to seek a record-furthering ninth Champions League title.
She hasn’t needed long to settle in. Last Wednesday, she scored a stunning goal from nearly 45 yards out in her team’s European season opener, a 3-0 win over Austria’s St. Pölten. The play went viral instantly, heightening the anticipation of her first U.S. appearance since June.
“So many world class players and such a high standard, high level every day in training,” Yohannes said. “Every day is super-intentional, and you just have to, like, stay switched on every day. And I think that’s something that’s super good for me and for my development to have.”
LILY YOHANNES WITH A MOMENT OF MAGIC 🪄
The @USWNT and OL Lyonnes young star with an absolute worldie for her first #UWCL goal ✨
She has two American teammates at the club, midfielders Lindsey Heaps — the national team’s longtime captain — and Korbin Shrader. Heaps had already taken Yohannes under her wing in U.S. camps, and has done so more now.
“I think she’s just such a quality player and such a footballer,” Heaps said. “And to have her in Lyon, to now be there and learn from all the players that are there, is such a an incredible experience for her. But I think she just fits in our team so well, as she started out.”
Heaps blazed the trail 11 years ago for American teens who skip college to turn pro in Europe, and Yohannes is one of many who’ve followed her. But even the veteran had to rave about that long-range goal, calling it “absurd when you think about an 18-year-old taking a chance like that.”
Thompson joined Chelsea, England’s biggest team, this summer from the NWSL’s Angel City. The Blues have never won the women’s Champions League, and have never been shy about craving it.
So it turned heads when they not only brought Thompson to London, but did so for a $1.3 million transfer fee — not small by women’s soccer standards, but well below expectations for a 20-year-old.
She has also started quickly. At the same hour as Yohannes’ goal, Thompson notched a goal and an assist in Chelsea’s 4-0 rout of France’s Paris FC.
“I really wasn’t thinking about leaving Angel City, and then when I got the offer, like, a week before the transfer window, I felt like immediately that I wanted to go,” Thompson said. “I’ve always wanted to play in Europe, and I felt like this opportunity, I don’t know when it would come again, and Chelsea is such an amazing club, known all over the world.”
“I was like, I really want to go and experience a different place — I’ve lived in L.A. my whole life,” she said. “I feel like this should be just so good for me, like, as a player, obviously, but as a person too, just developing things that I’ve never had to think about before.”
There have also been moments of levity. A reporter from The Athletic got the best answer out of Thompson on the day, asking about off-the-field adjustment.
“They have less AC … I really like it cold when I’m sleeping, so that’s annoying sometimes,” Thompson said, joining a long tradition of Americans lamenting England’s lack of air-conditioning. “And I haven’t tried any of the English food. I don’t like beans in general, so I just wouldn’t try it.”
Alyssa Thompson (right) working out in a drill during Tuesday’s practice.
Neither player is new to the national team at this point, or to its devoted fan base. Yohannes debuted in June of last year (and scored that night too) and has played seven games; Thompson has 22 caps, three goals, and three assists, and was on the 2023 World Cup team.
Thompson narrowly missed making last year’s Olympic squad, but that was always likely to be just a short setback. Now she’s in form, and will likely see a lot of playing time in this month’s games.
“Alyssa, she fits in seamlessly to to Chelsea’s game,” Heaps said. “She just got her first goal, and I think that’s something that she’s wanted since she’s set foot there in Chelsea. So, very happy for her.”
A historic day in Chester
Tuesday marked the return of the U.S. women to the area for the first time in 3½ years, and also something never seen around here.
For a few minutes in the late morning, the national team and the Union were practicing in the club’s training complex at the same time, with one squad at each end of the three grass fields along Seaport Drive.
It was the first time the Union shared the space simultaneously with another professional squad, and it likely won’t be the last.
A view from above the fields on Tuesday morning, with the Union in the foreground and the U.S. women in the background.
“The appetite for soccer here is incredible,” said longtime Union captain Alejandro Bedoya, who will attend Thursday night’s game with his daughter. “There’s so much talent when you look at the men’s national team, for the women’s national team, for the Union academy, the players that have come through here. … It’s amazing. And what this sportsplex means, it was a great initiative to get this built.”
The closest previous occasion was earlier this summer, when Chelsea borrowed some of the Union’s fields but did most of their work inside Subaru Park. The nearest thing to an overlap was when the English club invited a few Union reserve squad players to come over from their practice to fill out a scrimmage.
Next year, the complex will be a base camp for one of the teams in the World Cup. But it will be mostly reserved for that, with MLS planning to shut down its schedule during the tournament.
In the mind’s eye, October 2010 might still feel recent. But there are a few ways to measure how long it has really been since Alex Morgan scored her first U.S. women’s soccer team goal.
One is that back then, the future superstar was in college at the University of California. She was a senior set to graduate a semester early, but she still wasn’t a pro yet when she took the field at what then was called PPL Park.
The other is that her historic night in Chester had just 2,505 witnesses in the stands.
That was partially because the Phillies had a home playoff game that evening, one that turned out to be Roy Halladay’s no-hitter. But it was also nine months before the moment that sparked a new boom of interest in women’s soccer that has carried into the present: Megan Rapinoe’s legendary cross for Abby Wambach’s goal in the 2011 World Cup quarterfinals.
LAST MINUTE EQUALIZER 🤯
At No. 2 in our memorable moments in FIFA Women’s World cup history is Abby Wambach’s late equalizer for the @uswnt in the 2011 quarterfinals 🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/8M0eKEp2sE
Before all that — before two World Cup titles, an Olympic gold, two U.S. league titles, a Champions League title in Europe, and so much more — there was this moment.
And before Morgan grew her girl-next-door personality into a hammer that pounded soccer’s old guard, a 21-year-old entered a game as a substitute with her team down, 1-0.
“It was a really tense night before that goal,” Morgan told The Inquirer ahead of her national team retirement ceremony Thursday at the U.S.-Portugal game at Subaru Park (7 p.m., TNT, Peacock). “We had a really long unbeaten streak on home soil, and so coming in in that moment and being called upon, it was like, ‘OK, are you sure you’re calling upon me?’”
Just over 10 minutes after Morgan took the field, Heather Mitts hit a long ball forward from the midfield line. Wambach was first to it, knocked it down, and, two bounces later, Morgan thumped it in the net.
“It was a big sigh of relief,” Morgan said, “and it was a great moment that I’ll always remember.”
She also remembered the small crowd. That was a fairly common sight back then, with the glow of the 1999 era long faded. The U.S.’s 2008 Olympic gold, led by Carli Lloyd, briefly rekindled the flame, but there was no top-level domestic league in this country from 2004 to 2008.
In June 2011, Morgan, Lloyd, and company played their World Cup send-off game at the former Red Bull Arena (now Sports Illustrated Stadium) in North Jersey before a crowd of 5,852. Six weeks later, their world changed forever.
“We come back [after] we lose in the final, and all of a sudden, everyone’s paying attention more,” Morgan said. “We gain momentum, we win an Olympics in 2012, and in that final in 2012, we have 80,000 people watching at Wembley [Stadium] in London. … Everything kind of turned, all in that moment.”
For over a decade, Morgan was the star of stars. But time comes for every athlete, and after the Olympics in 2021, it started to for her. Then-U.S. manager Vlatko Andonovski started to bring in the next generation, and Morgan did not play for the national team from that October until June 2022.
She was recalled for Concacaf’s World Cup and Olympic qualifying tournament, as the national team faced many injuries and she was on a tear in the NWSL. But she insisted on taking nothing for granted.
As she spoke now, she again summoned the weight of the crest she wore 224 times.
“I never took playing for the national team for granted,” she said. “I knew that one day you could be there, and the next day you won’t, if you don’t continue to make a case for yourself. I think that was really the mentality that the previous generation — Abby, Shannon Boxx, Christie Rampone — set in stone for this team, and maybe it was the previous generation that also instilled that in them.”
Morgan knew she was perceived — and still is — as the golden girl, attractive to marketers for more reasons than just her skills. But people in the soccer world who know her well knew she put in the work.
“For me it was like, you don’t walk into this team and wear this jersey with the assumption that you deserve to be there day in and day out without working for it, sunup to sundown,” she said. “A lot of people think with me it was an easy ride, and I was a real shoo-in on the team for 13, 14, 15 years, and that’s just not the case. I fought to be there every single day.”
The most famous of Alex Morgan’s many goal celebrations: drinking tea after flattening England in the 2019 World Cup semifinals, on her birthday no less.
And though she has given countless interviews in her career, she had not forgotten that one from 2022 and the circumstances that surrounded it.
“I had injuries, and I was out on maternity leave, and I needed a break after grinding and having my daughter, and this is exactly when we talked,” she said. “[I] was being omitted from the team for a certain amount of months because I needed a little bit of an extra break because I hadn’t stopped since having my daughter.”
When Andonovski expressed his displeasure, Morgan was ready.
“I said, ‘This is how you’re going to get the best out of me, is if I take this break,’” she said. “I’m glad I’d made that decision at the time, but I had to grind to get back into it.”
Vlatko Andonovski (left) dropped Alex Morgan from the U.S. squad after the 2021 Olympics but brought her back in 2022 and kept her involved through the 2023 World Cup.
She was ready for that, too.
“That mentality is not one that I created on my own,” Morgan said. “It’s one that this team had from the very start, from the very first time that I entered into the team: one of not making assumptions, and one of working for everything that we earned, and knowing that we can never take anything for granted. I hope that players now continue to live by that — certainly, certainly I did.”
And so, on cue, to the present generation of players whom Morgan will watch from the stands on Thursday. Some of Morgan’s teammates are still going, surrounded by a fleet of young risers aiming for the 2027 World Cup.
“To be there and to be able to see the players and kind of be in that environment for a little bit is really fun and nostalgic,” Morgan said. “But I think that this team is in a really good place. You want to be in this place where you’re giving players chances a couple of years before you kind of narrow in on that core group when it comes to the World Cup year.”
They likely will be on display at Subaru Park: 18-year-old Lily Yohannes, 19-year-old Claire Hutton, 20-year-olds Olivia Moultrie, Jaedyn Shaw, and Alyssa Thompson — the last two of whom already have major tournament experience.
“There’s a lot of young players that already have incredibly valuable experience, with either the previous World Cup or Olympics,” Morgan said. “There’s also a lot of opportunity to become leaders on this team. … I feel like all these younger players are making names for themselves, and, yeah, I’m really excited to see [them].”
Just as they will be excited to see her, the one who set the bar they all want to reach.
*that* goal (you know the one)
Exactly a decade ago at London 2012, @alexmorgan13's game-winning header vs. Canada sent the @USWNT to the gold medal match.
NEW YORK — After months of speculation and waiting, the United States’ big bid to organize the 2031 women’s World Cup across the continent became official on Monday.
The U.S. launched its effort with Mexico, Costa Rica, and Jamaica, with one eye on the tournament’s expansion to 48 teams and another on giving women’s soccer in the Concacaf region a big boost.
“We’re proud to lead this bid, and we chose to do it together with our Concacaf partners because this moment is bigger than any one country,” U.S. Soccer Federation president Cindy Cone said at a news conference with officials from the three other countries and a number of former star players.
More than 30 U.S. cities have expressed interest in getting involved, including Philadelphia. The city was a host the last time the women’s World Cup was in the U.S., in 2003, and will host the men’s tournament for the first time next year.
Mia Hamm (left) led the United States’ win over Nigeria at Lincoln Financial Field in the 2003 women’s World Cup.
“We are excited for the possibility to host the women’s World Cup and learning the bid process, and we’re definitely interested to learn more,” PHL Sports deputy executive director Brea Stanko told The Inquirer. “We hosted the women’s World Cup in 2003 — it’s grown exponentially. It was a great event for us, and we’re excited to see what we could bring here.”
The World Cup would come a year after Philadelphia’s WNBA team launches, continuing the growth of women’s sports in the city.
“You can see the growth of the sport, as we heard tonight,” said Maria Grasso, chiefs sales officer for the Convention and Visitors Bureau. “I think that’s truly exciting for us. We have a tremendous relationship with FIFA, as well as U.S. Soccer, which just gives us all the reasons we [are] really excited about this, like the rest of this room.”
The official bid book is due in November, and this bid is expected to be the only one worldwide. While it’s not official yet, it’s likely just a formality. And though the due date is a month from now, the host cities don’t have to be officially set when the bid book goes in.
U.S. Soccer Federation CEO JT Batson in January.
Cone and U.S. Soccer CEO JT Batson said the selection process won’t happen until after next year’s men’s tournament is done, given how much work is going into that. (For comparison, North America’s 2026 men’s bid won a vote in 2018, and cities were picked in 2022.)
“As the only bidders for the FIFA 2031 women’s World Cup, I admit I like our chances,” Cone said with a laugh. “When we are officially selected, we’ll work with FIFA to deliver the biggest, most impactful women’s sporting event in history.”
FIFA’s vote is expected next April at the global governing body’s congress in Vancouver, the host city of the 2015 women’s World Cup final and one of the many hosts of next year’s men’s tournament.
“Our confederation’s commitment to women’s football has never been stronger, and hosting the FIFA women’s World Cup [in] 2031 will build on this momentum,” Concacaf president and FIFA vice president Victor Montagliani said in a statement. He was unable to attend in person.
U.S. Soccer president Cindy Cone
Cone said when she pitched the multi-country idea to Montagliani, “he didn’t hesitate for a second. He jumped in immediately, offered his full support, and has been one of the strongest advocates for our vision from day one.”
It will be the third time the U.S. hosts the tournament, after the groundbreaking 1999 edition and the on-short-notice 2003 edition. Mexico hosted a world championship for women’s national teams in 1971 before FIFA officially launched a women’s World Cup 20 years later, and the country will become a three-time men’s World Cup host next year — 1970, 1986, and 2026.
Costa Rica and Jamaica, meanwhile, will host a senior-level FIFA tournament for the first time.
“One of our goals of an inclusive 2031 women’s World Cup was [to be] an instigator for investment, obviously in our countries, but also across the region and ultimately the world,” Batson said. “And for Jamaica and Costa Rica to show the world that they can host a Women’s World Cup and obviously field great teams, that is a great motivator to programs and countries all across the world.”
Mexico hosted an unofficial women’s soccer world championship in 1971. In modern times, FIFA has officially recognized the event’s significance in growing the sport.
The proposed venues in the other countries aren’t official yet, nor is how many games each country will get. Mexico will have choices to make, with Monterrey, Guadalajara, and Mexico City set to be host cities next year. Monterrey in particular has become a hotbed for the women’s game in recent years.
Costa Rica and Jamaica will presumably use their national stadiums: the former’s 42,000-seat modern venue in San José, and the latter’s historic 35,000-seat venue in Kingston.
“To realize that there’s a chance that globally, people can experience this on this great of a scale, and for the U.S. to recognize the beauty of that, and to be in partnership with us, it means so much,” said former Jamaican national team player Cheyna Matthews, who played in the 2019 and 2023 World Cups and for seven years in the NWSL.
“I just think about the impact that this is going to have for young girls in Jamaica,” Matthews continued. “I think even young boys who aspire to be part of the Reggae Boyz [Jamaica’s men’s team], I think that this just provides an opportunity for them to see it. Because some can’t travel, some have never left Kingston. … I think that it will obviously inspire, but it’ll continue to have that dividend later on.”
