The 2022 NWSL Challenge Cup isn’t over yet, but the 2022 NWSL regular season is upon us. While four teams still compete for the first trophy of the season, expansion club Angel City FC hosts the N.C. Courage at 10:30 p.m. ET on Friday night (live on CBSSN) to open what is sure to be an enthralling campaign. That means it’s time for some NWSL predictions. 

To say 2021 was a bad year for women’s soccer in the U.S. would be an understatement of epic proportions. In October, The Athletic detailed horrifying allegations of verbal abuse and sexual coercion by N.C. Courage coach Paul Riley, sending shockwaves through the NWSL.

One of U.S. soccer’s greatest strikers is hanging up her boots to join the coaching ranks. Amy Rodriguez, who won at every level, retired from the NWSL on Friday to join her alma mater, USC, as an assistant coach.

A-Rod, as the 34-year-old is affectionately known, won an NCAA title with USC, two Olympic gold medals and the 2015 Women’s World Cup. She led FC Kansas City to back-to-back NWSL titles, scoring 64 goals in 160 matches in her professional career. 

The North Carolina Courage are in full-on rebuild mode in the post-Paul Riley era. Lynn Williams is the latest star leaving the storied NWSL club after seven seasons with the Courage/Western New York Flash; the team announced a blockbuster trade to send the USWNT forward to Kansas City on Monday morning.

For reasons good and (mostly) bad, the National Women’s Soccer League has had a lot of turnover in management positions over the last 15 months, from ownership to coaches. But there’s reason to be excited about the newest addition to the NWSL, made Thursday by the KC Current heading into their second season as a club. 

The 10th annual NWSL Draft was held on Saturday evening, and with the No. 1 overall pick, expansion side San Diego Wave FC selected Stanford defender Naomi Girma, who was U.S. Soccer's 2020 Young Female Player of the Year.

Girma joins a San Diego backline anchored by USWNT veteran Abby Dahlkemper and former Stanford teammate Tegan McGrady. The 21-year-old can also play in midfield, where she may be needed after the club selected a forward, German international Marleen Schimmer out of Grand Canyon University, with its ninth pick in the first round.  

Angel City FC and San Diego Wave FC will start to really fill out their rosters during the NWSL expansion draft on Dec. 16, during which time each team is allowed to draft up to nine players from other preexisting NWSL squads. But neither club is waiting around for the expansion draft or the 2022 NWSL Draft two days later to make moves, with one USWNT player heading west and a potential blockbuster trade in the works ahead of Friday’s trade deadline.