We also review the final four for the three North American summer amateur/semi-professional leagues in 2025: the WPSL, W-League and UWS. We finally look at Florianne Jourde (20), a two-time U-20 WWC Finalists with Canada, who has left USC after two seasons to join Paris St. Germain for three seasons.
Mexican international winger Jacqueline Ovalle explains her move to the Orlando Pride
Jacqueline Ovalle (25), a star of the Mexican WNT and one of the brightest lights as a Mexican-grown player to be developed within Liga MX Femenile, has joined the Orlando Pride of the NWSL this month for a record transfer fee. Her transfer fee netted UANL Tigres US$1.5 million—a record for the women’s game, albeit briefly—until exceeded by London City Lionesses purchase of Paris St. Germain French international midfielder Grace Geyoro for $1.9 million as the recent FIFA summer transfer window closed.
Ovalle’s signing exceeded the previous record transfer fee for Canadian international Olivia Smith’s of $1.3 million that Arsenal paid Liverpool earlier this summer (see our column last month: The Week in Women's Football: Jackie Sawicki exclusive; Smith's Arsenal move; NSL review - TribalFootball.com).
The native of Aquascalientes (a central Mexico community and home of Necaxa, which is receiving global attention as actor Eva Longoria and fellow Hollywood personalities and Wrexham AFC co-owners Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney have come on board as investors and an FX series entitled Necaxa just finished its first season) was nearing the end of her contract with Tigres after the 2025-26 Apertura this winter; she wanted a move either to the States or Europe and UANL wanted to make a deal before her contract ended, after which she could join any side without a transfer fee.
She had been sought out by teams in Europe, reportedly led by Real Madrid in Spain and West Ham United in London of the WSL. She told UANL Tigres that she wanted this move for the football and personal side: “The values of the club that I was) present(ed) with and me personally and what they did last year—the league is so competitive—everything connected.” Her conclusion was that the move to Orlando was: “A move I really wanted to make…At the end of the day, I’m very happy to be here.” She signed with Orlando through 2027, with a mutual option for the 2028 NWSL season.
During the two stages of the 2024-25 season, Ovalle scored 28 goals in the Mexican league and helped Tigres to a runner-up finish in the inaugural CONCACAF W Champions Cup, behind NJ/NY Gotham FC. She was just named as one of six finalists for CONCACAF’s Women’s Player of the year. Note: Other finalists are Khadija Shaw of Jamaica’s WNT and Manchester City of the WSL, U.S. internationals Lindsey Heaps of OL Lyonnes in France and Emily Fox of Arsenal in England, Haitian international Melchie Dumornay of OL Lyonnes in France and Mexican international Charlyn Corral of C.F. Pachuca.
Jacquie Ovalle’s signing is a massive acquisition by the Orlando Pride and the league, to counteract some recent losses of top talent abroad, including Alyssa Thompson (from Angel City to Chelsea) and Asisat Oshoala (from Bay FC to Al Hilal of Saudi Arabia), that have spiked concerns that league-mandated team salary caps are dampening the attractiveness of the league to players in other countries. Salary caps are utilized in the States by a number of various sports leagues to encourage parity of play; plus, in the early years of the NWSL, the salary limits per team were vital for the league’s survival, after two previously professional women’s football leagues had gone defunct after three seasons.
The move by Ovalle from Tigres—who played in Liga MX Femenile when it first started in the fall of 2027 and is Tigres’ all-time leading goal scorer with 136 goals, along with 103 assists, in 294 matches. She is fifth all-time in Liga MX Femenil regular season and playoff match scoring with 131 goals, behind first place Alicia Cervantes (31) of C.D. Guadalajara with 162 goals and Katty Martinez (27) of Monterrey in second with 153. Ovalle is third all-time in regular season and playoff appearances with 277, behind Liliana Mercado (36) of Juarez with 290 and Nancy Antonio (29) of Club America in Mexico City (and a long-time ex-Tigres player) with 284. Ovalle has been instrumental in Tigres being the top side all-time in the league, winning six league titles and finishing runners-up four times out of 15 campaigns (two are held every year). In addition, she has 20 goals in 81 national team matches, was selected as Best XI selection in the 2024 CONCACAF W Gold Cup and won a Gold Medal at the Pan American Games in 2023 in Chile.
She scored an incredible goal in March of this year against Guadalajara Chivas with her lower leg when facing away from goal (a scorpion kick), about six yards out on the right hand side of goal, which settled into the top left side of the net (see: GOLAZO DE OVALLE! | Nació el "Camaroncín" de la Maga on YouTube). She has been known for years at Tigres in Monterrey as La Maga (the Magician) for a reason and her dribbling skills are exceptional.
Interestingly, fellow Mexican international Maria Sanchez (29), moved the other way, joining Tigres in her second stint with the club from the San Diego Wave for a transfer fee in late June. Sanchez has scored five goals in nine games thus far this fall with Tigres (see our column for more on Sanchez from July of this year: The Week in Women's Football: Looking at top 7 teams of NWSL - TribalFootball.com).
TribalFootball.com participated in Ovalle’s first Orlando Pride media conference call on September 10—she had appeared earlier in the week as a substitute at the start of the second half against Chicago in a stunning 5-2 loss to the struggling Illinois side and then played all 90 minutes of the Pride’s 1-1 home tie against Bay FC, providing the assist on Ally Watt’s 70th minute header to offset Zambian international forward Rachael Kundananji’s first half stoppage time goal for Bay FC.
Ovalle is a winger but adds front line potency to a team that lost Zambian international Barbra Banda to a season-ending hip injury she suffered in an August 16 game in Kansas City, which was delayed for 3.5 hours due to extreme heat (it ended in a scoreless draw—I pity the fans who stayed for that snore-fest). Since joining the Pride in the 2024 season, Banda has been tremendous, scoring 25 goals and with seven assists in 41 matches across all competitions. She was the 2024 NWSL Championship MVP and recently earned her second Ballon d’Or nomination and was a finalist for the league MVP title in 2024.
Orlando Pride General Manager Haley Carter addressed the team’s seven game winless streak in the league following the loss to Chicago (extended to eight after the Bay FC match—four ties and four losses): “At an executive level, the program, especially in the National Women’s Soccer League, is very up and down; it’s very difficult to win over a sustainable period of time.” She then emphasized that: “Bringing Jacquie has got nothing to do with that. Bringing Jacquie here was a part of our plans for much longer than whatever the seven game winless period (was) here.
"What Jacquie brings is obvious and is clear to anyone that watches the women’s game. She’s a goal scorer, she’s a finisher, she is dedicated and committed to her craft… She is good on the dribble in wide spaces and inside. We value versatile football players in this environment.”
Note: Orlando has won both of their CONCACAF Women’s (W) Champions Cup matches during that league winless span, defeating Alajuelense of Costa Rica 3-0 at home on September 2 and Chorrillo of Panama 5-0 on September 16, with former U.S. youth international Summer Yates (25) scoring a hat-trick, only the second in Pride history.
Head coach Seb Hines said about his new Mexican international star: “It’s certainly a luxury to have a high caliber player come to the club… To get high caliber players to come to the club and represent the club is a great representation of what direction this club is working towards. The investment that the ownership have given us and the trust that they have given us to go out and get the likes of Barbra (Banda) and Jacquie at the club is really resourceful for us… From my side and the technical staff side, bringing in a player like Jacquie (Ovalle) with her quality is a great addition to the current roster that we have.
"We have so many quality players right now and adding another quality player is really important for the trajectory of this club. It’s not a short-term goal, it’s a long-term vision for us to continue to have great quality players at the club who have the versatility like Jacquie does; who can play on the left, can play on the right, who is a goal scorer, who is a creator. It’s great to have those sorts of options at our disposal when we’re making selections.”
Coach Hines was asked about how difficult it is to integrate a new acquisition into his squad during the season rather than in pre-season, but he was not worried in Ovalle’s case: “Jackie is a quality player. She’s fully fit and has been training and playing. Getting her to get to know her teammates and how we operate (is the next step).”
Note: Jacquie Ovalle was not on the thin-downed roster for the trip to Panama.
Ovalle discussed her own transition to the NWSL: “Everyday in training. I’m going to do the best that I can to adapt as much as possible—everyday is a little different than where I was before, the level is higher, the level is faster and you can see everyday that there is more to think about and you can see in training the success that NWSL is having. I am trying to adapt as quickly as possible, train as hard as I can, to fit into this team, to help this team as much as I can and as quickly as possible.” She also noted that the level of play in the NWSL was higher than in Liga MX Femenil: “The level here is a bit higher (with) great players and skilled players who have a ton of quality. (This) league is faster, physical with transition moments.”
This reporter asked Jacquie Ovalle if she could describe how she thought her style of play may differ, if at all, in the NWSL and how Liga MX Femenil compares, particularly with the transitional style of play that many teams in this league utilize. Ovalee answered: “I’m very technical with the ball. The league here is so fast, (with) so many players that have great speed. I have to be able to adjust, think quickly and be very thoughtful about what I am doing in those quick moments, whether it is a long ball, whether it is being able to play a cross into the center or play it back to the midfielders, as long as I am able to think quickly and be able to connect with my teammates and triangulate the different connections on whichever side (of the field) I find myself…to be able to support my team in whatever way they need me to and that is going to be the adjustment right now.”
With an assist on a long centering cross from the wing in only her second NWSL game for a 1-1 tie against Bay FC, I think Jacqueline Ovalle will be one of the top stars in the NWSL throughout the length of her first contract. Along with Barbra Banda, Delphine Cascarino (San Diego) and Temwa Chawinga (Kansas City) among others, she is among the top players in the world and sends the message that the NWSL is still the most competitive league (top to bottom) in the world. That was one of the things that appealed to Ovalle—explaining to ION TV before her first game that the eleventh place team can defeat the first and the twelfth place side can tie the top side in any week. TribalFootball.com welcomes Jacquie to the NWSL and we can’t wait to see more incredible plays from La Maga.
North American Amateur Summer Leagues review—WPSL, W-League and UWS
WPSL
The defending WPSL champions California Storm, Sporting CT of Connecticut, St. Croix Legacy of Minnesota and Chattanooga FC of Tennessee made the final four of the 2025 WPSL championship finals in Stillwater, Oklahoma. Expansion side Sporting CT won the championship, scoring all of their four goals within the first 35 minutes in a 4-0 win over the Storm.
Sporting CT (Connecticut) is the first WPSL expansion team to be crowned champion since 2011 (the Orange County Waves) and only the third debutant in the 27-year history of the league. Photo courtesy of the WPSL.
In the semifinals, Sporting CT advanced to the final with a 4-1 win over St. Croix Legacy. Among the scorers for Sporting CT was longtime pro Tiffany Weimer (41), a former U.S. U-21 international, who played at Penn State, and then for clubs in Sweden, Denmark and Brazil; she won titles in Women’s Professional Soccer with FC Gold Pride in Northern California in 2010 and with the Portland Thorns in the first year of the NWSL in 2013, in addition to her WPSL title success this season.
She was a founder of Our Game Magazine, a women’s soccer quarterly magazine and is now an assistant coach with Yale University’s women’s team. Weimer was inducted into the Connecticut Soccer Hall of Fame earlier this year. Another veteran with Sporting who scored in the semifinal was Tori Sousa from Nashua, New Hampshire, who played in UWS with the Connecticut Fusion and abroad with Forfar in Scotland. She played college at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst (2011 - 2013) and Central Connecticut State University (2013 – 2015). Imani Jenkins, who just graduated from the University of Hartford last season, also scored. The Storm beat Chattanooga FC 1-0 in the other semifinal.
This was the 27th season of the WPSL, with 151 teams across 16 conferences and based in 32 states.
W League
The expansion side Utah United defeated defending champion North Carolina Courage U-23 4-0 in the final held at Utah Valley University in Orem on July 19. The USL W League, which fielded 93 teams, completed its fourth season in 2025.
One of Utah United’s goal scorers— McKenzie Evans-Tostado (31)—is a Utah-raised mother of three children under the age of four, who hadn’t played college soccer for a decade after finishing at BYU-Hawaii in 2016, but joined the expansion team through their tryout camps ahead of the season. She scored four goals this season for Utah in nine matches (seven starts). She explained her return to the sport: “I couldn’t live with myself if, in 10 years, if I gave up something because I thought I wasn’t capable. I wanted to take it seriously, and try to compete with high-level soccer players and maybe get a springboard to do something bigger and better.”
After college, she returned to Utah and worked in health and fitness, spending more than eight years with an Orthopedic Hospital before leaving to launch her own personal training company in 2021. She had played with Real Salt Lake Women of United Women Soccer and local WPSL clubs at various times, while the W-League is viewed by many as better organized and a higher quality league on a consistent basis than the other two. She assisted on Ellie Walbruch’s winning goal in the 47th minute of the semifinal when Utah defeated the Minnesota Aurora on the road in front of 5,607 fans at TCO Stadium in Eagan, the Aurora’s first playoff game since 2022.
The Aurora also drew more than more than 4,000 home fans last month for its regular-season finale. The Minnesota W League team has been a trailblazing franchise for women’s pre-professional football since the first year of the league, with a huge online investment base and plans to join a professional league in the future (see our column in May: The Week in Women's Football: A second division in US; bizarre Wolves; Minnesota to go pro - TribalFootball.com and in 2024: The Week in Women's Football: NWSL review; Sanchez expectations at San Diego; watching Minnesota Aurora pitch - Tribal Football).
Evans-Tostado is appreciative of her United teammates this summer: “I’ve learned so much from all of them. Everyone plays so differently that I’m able to learn so much from them, even this late in the game for me. I’ve tried to show them about fitness and athleticism, which has really helped me shine and stay in the game. But if anyone’s benefitted from this experience, it’s been me.”
Other key players on the side which finished with a 13-0-1 (W-D-L) record included: Utah native Seven Castain, who plays at Texas Christian University (TCU—scoring 16 goals and six assists last season in college) and won the W-League Golden Boot title with 20 goals, BYU’s duo of Ellie Walbruch and Lucy Kesler, as well as North Carolina signee and U.S. international Bella Devey. Goalkeeper Taylor Rath played at Pepperdine University and moved to Utah State to play her graduate season. Utah United scored 61 goals to lead the league in scoring.
Walburch scored five goals in five games, missing some games with injuries. She said about the new team’s unique season: “Being able to host (the title game) in our first season in this league is huge. We had a lot of goals set at the beginning of the season, to bring a competitive environment, to have girls committed, and to go to a national championship in our first year speaks volumes to the talent we have in Utah, the talent we have on this team, and the professionalism.”
The North Carolina Courage U-23 made its third consecutive W-League final. First Team 2024 All League First Team Kayleigh Herr plays at Penn State University and Liberty University in Virginia’s Ivy Garner had five goals and two assists while Duke University’s Mia Minestrella also had five goals. The reigning champs made their third straight W League Final and won the title last season with a 3-2 win over the Colorado Storm at home. In 2023 they lost to Indy Eleven in the final.
On the defensive side for the Courage U-23 side, UNC Charlotte’s Amelia Brown and Duke outside back Phoebe Goldthwaite returned. Grace Ivey spent last season with Sporting JAX, formerly Florida Elite, where the midfielder netted ten goals for the side and guided the Florida side to a Southeast Division title. Sporting JAX lost in the first round of the 2024 playoffs and she moved to the Courage U-23 team for 2025; she scored a late game-winner in the victory over Asheville City SC (2-1) in the semifinals
Asheville City made the semifinals after Emma Sheehan (East Carolina) scored in stoppage time and Spain native Naroa Demenech (University of Charlotte and ex-Jacksonville State and Oklahoma Wesleyan) won the game in the 118th minute, both on assists by Ukrainian native Yuliia Khrystiuk (Old Dominion University) in their 2-1 win over Lone Star SC of Austin, Texas in the Southern Conference final.
UWS
Edgewater Castle FC of Chicago won the United Women’s Soccer title with a 2-0 win over New England Mutiny FC on goals by Lauren Hall (who finished at Ball State University in Indiana in 2015 after her freshman year at the University of Arkansas and is a full-time musician) and Jocelyn Leigh (a sophomore at Marquette University in Milwaukee), both assisted by Kily Egan (who played at Division III school North Central College in Naperville, Illinois).
In the semifinals, the Mutiny defeated SoCal FC 2-1 while Edgewater defeated Michigan Jaguars 4-2. The league this season had 29 teams in four regional conferences in their ninth season. Their UWS2 league had 10 teams—mostly in the Chicagoland area—and Rockford Raptors finished top of the table with a 7-0-1 (W-D-L) record and 21 points.
Canadian U-20 international attacking midfielder Florianne Jourde leaves the University of Southern California to sign a three year deal with Paris Saint-Germain.
On July 18, Paris Saint-Germain announced that they had signed Canadian international attacking midfielder Florianne Jourde (20) through the 2027-28 season. A native of Montreal, she joined AS Monteuil de Laval at age 11, before joining the Centre de haute performance du Québec, now known as the Programme Excel Féminin. She played two seasons at the University of Southern California, playing 10 games in 2024 as she missed seven matches while away at the U-20 World Cup in Colombia. She also played for Canada in the 2022 U-20 WWC in Costa Rica.
She still had two years of eligibility at USC but chose to move to a top club in Europe, as previous women’s record transfer signing Olivia Smith at Arsenal did a few years ago when leaving Penn State after one season for Sporting in Portugal (see link above). More Canadians are choosing to skip college soccer or play for a few years before going professional—as we are seeing in the U.S. as well—and this trend should increase with the launch of the Northern Soccer League this year in six Canadian cities.
At PSG, she is following in the footsteps of fellow Canadians Ashley Lawrence (who joined after graduating at the University of West Virginia and is now at OL Lyonnes after two seasons at Chelsea) and Jordyn Huitema (who joined PSG out of high school, signing as an amateur as she was considering playing at Stanford or UCLA ,before turning professional six months later and has been with the Seattle Reign since midway through the 2022 season.
Jourde can play in midfield or attack and has scored nine goals and two assists in 21 appearances for Canada’s U-20s, along with three goals and two assists in 22 games for USC. Jourde said: “Joining Paris Saint-Germain is a dream come true. It’s an incredible opportunity to progress alongside talented players and to contribute to the Club’s ambitions. I can’t wait to start this new adventure and give my all for the Parisian fans.” Florianne Jourde is another young Canadian talent who should be capped at the full international level over the next year or two and her progress on the club side will be interesting to follow.
Tim Grainey is a contributor to Tribal Football. His latest book Beyond Bend it Like Beckham on the global game of women’s football. Get your copy today. Follow Tim on X: @TimGrainey