FootyPop: Morgan Weaver Scores First Goal Since Returning For Portland Thorns

In this week’s women’s soccer news, Morgan Weaver found the back of the net for the first time since her return; The USYNT’s journey at the U-20 Women’s World Cup has come to an end; the Chicago Stars have hired Vlatko Andonovski for their front office; and more!

The Portland Thorns got a big 4-1 win over the Orlando Pride, but the highlight of the match was seeing Morgan Weaver find the back of the net again. The forward has struggled with a knee injury and faced many setbacks during her recovery. Her injury journey started in 2024 when she underwent arthroscopic surgery to try and fix her meniscus; after that procedure, she returned to the field towards the end of the 2024 season. Ahead of the 2025 season, she reinjured the same knee, and there was some concern that she would never get to play soccer again. Weaver said she ended up having three surgeries that included a meniscus transplant and a cartilage transplant to try and get back on the field. On July 24th, Weaver stepped foot back onto the field for the Thorns after 621 days away from the game.

It was a special moment to see her make it back to the field at all, but on Saturday against the Pride, the moment got sweeter for Weaver when she scored her first goal since her return. It was a rocket of a shot from a long distance. The goal was also Weaver’s 20th regular-season goal for the Thorns.

The USWNT’s journey at the U-20 Women’s World Cup came to an end in the Round of 16 after a shootout loss to Brazil. The loss brings the spotlight on the questions of scheduling, with players asking for a change. We’ve seen a lot of discussion around the youth tournament when it comes to USWNT player availability, with some clubs not releasing players to compete because it’s not an official FIFA window.

Brazil got the breakthrough first in the 59th minute thanks to a goal from Sofia off a set piece. It didn’t take long for the United States to find the equalizer, though, with Ainsley McCammon scoring. From there, the USWNT put pressure on Brazil and were able to control the match, but they were unable to gain the lead. At the end of regulation, the game was still tied, forcing overtime, but through another 30 minutes, neither team found a breakthrough, leading to a penalty kick shootout. The United States got off to a rocky start in the shootout with Emeri Adames having her shot saved, which ended up being the deciding factor in the game. The  United States didn’t miss another penalty, but Brazil was perfect on their end, scoring all five of theirs and sending themselves to the next round of the tournament.

The USWNT haven’t won the tournament since 2012, and the Round of 16 exit is the third worst for the team since the U-20 Women’s World Cup started. In 2018 and 2022, they had group stage exits.

The Chicago Stars announced this week that they have hired Vlatko Andonovski as the chief soccer officer. The announcement comes less than two weeks after it was announced that the Kansas City Current parted ways with Andonovski. With the Current, he was the sporting director after years of coaching. It’s a huge pickup for Chicago, who are really struggling, and adding someone of Andonovski’s caliber to their front office staff will hopefully help them to turn this organization around.

Andonovski has been around the women’s game and the NWSL since the league started in 2013. From 2013-2017, he was the head coach of FC Kansas City, where he helped the team win two straight NWSL Championships in 2014 and 2015. After he left Kansas City, he had a brief stint with the Seattle Reign before becoming the head coach of the USWNT in 2019, a position he would stay in until 2023. During his tenure with the national team, they won a bronze medal at the 2020 Olympics and four SheBelieves Cups. In 2023, he returned to Kansas City as the head coach of the Kansas City Current before becoming the sporting director at the end of the 2025 season.

In probably the best college game of the season so far, the North Carolina Tar Heels took down rivals Duke Blue Devils 4-2. They got the win in front of a home crowd of over 6,500.

UNC got the scoring started in the 31st minute from Lilliah Blum, but just before the halftime break Duke found the equalizer through Rylee McLanahan. At the start of the second half, the Blue Devils took their lead after earning a penalty kick, and Mia Minestrella converted it. The Tar Heels didn’t back down, though, and they opened the floodgates in the 71st minute with Blum scoring her second of the match. North Carolina would add two more goals before the end of the match from Izzi Stratton and Shaela Bradley. It was a huge ranked rivalry win for North Carolina. Duke was coming off a huge win over Stanford, so for the Tar Heels to score four goals and hand them their first loss was a big win for North Carolina.

Cosette Morché made three consecutive saves in the Orlando Pride’s match against the Portland Thorns. The first save was a point-blank save off a Sophia Wilson shot, but the deflection fell to the feet of Wilson again, who got the ball on goal, but Morché was able to knock it away. The ball again fell to Portland’s feet, but the goalkeeper was able to jump on it and end the danger for the Pride.

Jordynn Dudley had a big game for Gotham FC, scoring both their goals in the 2-1 win against the North Carolina Courage. The rookie got the scoring started early in just the eighth minute. Then she waited until the very end to score the game-winner in stoppage time of the second half. The goals were Dudley’s first since May and brought her scoring total to four on 24 appearances this season. Dudley’s performance helped lead Gotham to their second straight win and extended the gap between them at first place in the standings and second.

The San Diego Wave earned a free kick just outside the left side of the box at a bit of a difficult angle, but it was no problem for Kenza Dali. The midfielder whipped the ball in perfectly, so that all Kennedy Wesley had to do was just get her head on it and send it into the net. There’s a chance that the free kick would’ve gone in on its own, but Wesley was able to rise up and make sure it was going to be a Wave goal.