NEW YORK - Nine months ago, Alyssa Thompson was playing youth soccer. In July, the 18-year-old forward will test herself against the best after being named in the four-time champions United States' squad for the Women's World Cup.
It has been a dizzying rise for Thompson, the second-youngest ever named in a U.S. World Cup squad.
When it comes to rookies in the National Women's Soccer League, most of the discussion has centered around No. 1 overall pick Alyssa Thompson. The headlines write themselves when you're talking about an 18-year-old who's already scored some spectacular goals for Angel City and is challenging for the USWNT World Cup squad.
But what about No. 2 overall pick Michelle Cooper, the forward who won the 2022 Hermann Trophy as the nation's best college player with 19 goals and 11 assists in 22 games during her sophomore season at Duke?
We're witnessing greatness.
Days after being named the March/April NWSL Rookie of the Month, 18-year-old Alyssa Thompson scored another outrageous goal during Angel City's 3-2 win over the Kansas City Current on Sunday night.
The No. 1 overall pick now has three goals in seven appearances, and each has been a showcase of her otherworldly talent.
Trinity Rodman recorded one goal and one assist to spark the Washington Spirit to a convincing 3-1 victory over the visiting San Diego Wave on Saturday afternoon.
Ashley Sanchez and Paige Metayer also scored goals for the Spirit (3-0-3, 12 points), who notched all their tallies in the second half.
Alex Morgan scored a late goal for San Diego (3-3-0, 9 points), which lost its second straight match.
FC Groningen's relegation from the Eredivisie was confirmed Sunday following a 1-1 away draw at Go Ahead Eagles, although USMNT striker Ricardo Pepi provided a brief glimmer of hope (as he has all season) when he opened the scoring for the visitors in the sixth-minute.
This was Pepi's 12th goal of the campaign to go along with three assists, giving him 15 goal involvements in 26 games. The last 20-year-old to reach that benchmark for Groningen was one Luis Suárez, who scored 10 goals and created six more during the 2006-07 campaign.
The spicy rivalry between the USMNT and México is having a remarkable round in the 2022-23 Eredivisie as strikers Ricardo Pepi and Santiago Giménez battle neck and neck among the division's top scorers. After 29 games, both have netted 11 goals and are just three behind Xavi Simmons (PSV) and Anastasios Douvikas (FC Utrecht), who currently lead the race with 14 each.
Although the realities of their teams are extremely different, Pepi and Giménez are not giving space to each other with both finding the net again this weekend.
With just seven matches remaining in the Eredivisie season, Groningen slipped closer to relegation following a 3-1 away defeat to Fortuna Sittard on Sunday. They're seven points from safety and looking destined for the Eerste Divisie.
The lone bright spot for Groningen has been 20-year-old American striker Ricardo Pepi, who's on a year-long loan from FC Augsburg. Pepi scored Groningen's lone goal of the match and now has 10 this season to go with three assists.
The club has only managed 26 goals in 27 games, but Pepi has now been involved in 50% of them.
The USMNT got the job done Monday night by beating El Salvador 1-0 at Exploria Stadium to advance to this summer's CONCACAF Nations League Finals in Las Vegas.
The Americans needed only a draw to make it happen, and everyone at home probably would've agreed to that after a scoreless opening 45 that was painful to watch. USMNT wordsmith Anthony Hudson called it "a little bit too transitiony." The highlight was La Selecta fans starting an "olé!" chant after stringing together a couple passes, only for a guy to pass it straight to Daryl Dike.
Pepis rule.
Last Friday, Ricardo Pepi (age 20) made his triumphant return to the USMNT by scoring a brace against Grenada — his first international goals dating back to October 2021, a drought that ultimately cost him a place on the World Cup roster.
We already knew that Alyssa Thompson was special. The 18-year-old made history when Angel City, with the No. 1 overall pick in the 2023 NWSL Draft, made her the first-ever selection straight out of high school.
Then, back on March 9, she scored her first goal for the club in a friendly win over América — a remarkable dribble from the center circle that left four defenders and the goalkeeper in her wake.