CITY SECTION PLAYOFFS

MONDAY’S RESULTS

Semifinals

DIVISION I

#5 GALA 21.5, #1 LA Marshall 8

#3 North Hollywood 15.5, #2 Chatsworth 14

DIVISION II

#1 Granada Hills Kennedy 17.5, #4 Bell 10

#2 Carson 20.5, Gardena 9

Note: Division II Finals Nov. 5 at 11 a.m. at Balboa Sports Center; Division I Finals Nov. 6 at 11 a.m. at Balboa Sports Center.

A National Women’s Soccer League club has grown divided after one of its players called on the league to “adopt gender standards” to protect the integrity of the organization and grow the sport.

Elizabeth Eddy’s column appeared in the New York Post last week and she asked, “How do we preserve women’s rights and competitive fairness while fostering meaningful inclusion?”

Eddy wrote that controversies in swimming and track and field have shed light that women’s professional soccer lacks standards when it comes to intersex and transgender athletes. She wrote that the NWSL “must adopt a clear standard,” adding that only players born with ovaries should be allowed to play, following the standard in the Women’s Super League in the United Kingdom, or the league should adopt an SRY gene test, like World Athletics and World Boxing.

“Fairness and inclusion are core American values. Reasonable people can disagree about where to draw lines, but avoiding the conversation altogether by shutting out diverse views does not serve us. In fact, we owe it to current and future female athletes to solve this,” the 11-year veteran wrote.

But Eddy’s column didn’t sit well with her own teammates.

Sarah Gorden and Angelina Anderson both offered a scathing rebuke of Eddy.

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Angel City FC defender Sarah Gorden (11) kicks the ball against Chicago Stars during the first half of a match at SeatGeek Stadium on Nov. 2, 2025. (Melissa Tamez/Imagn Images)

“That article does not speak for this team in this locker room. I’ve had a lot of (conversations) with my teammates in the past few days and they are hurt and they are harmed by the article, and also, they are disgusted by some of the things that were said in the article and it’s really important for me to say that,” Gorden said on Friday.

“We don’t agree with the things written for a plethora of reasons, but mostly the undertones come across as transphobic and racist as well. The article calls for genetic testing on certain players and it has a photo of an African player as a headline. That’s very harmful, and to me, it’s inherently racist because to single out this community based on them looking or being different is absolutely a problem. As a mixed woman, with a Black family, I’m devastated by the undertones of this article.

Anderson talked about what she believed the club stood for.

“For me personally when I think of LA, and I think of Angel City, I think of a place that was founded upon inclusivity and love for all people – that’s what our locker room is, that what our staff is, that’s what our fan base is. Angel City is a place for everyone. It always will be. That’s how it was from the beginning, that’s how it will always be. Period,” she said.

Angel City FC goalkeeper Angelina Anderson (19) watches the play during the first half against Racing Louisville FC at Lynn Family Stadium on Sept. 27, 2025. (EM Dash/Imagn Images)

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“I think this situation, there’s an element of timing to it where this feels like another really big challenge that we have to go through as a team on top of an already really challenging year. And it’s definitely not the note that we as a group want to end on, and so I just want everyone to know that we’re doing our best in the locker room to preserve respect and belonging on this team and we look forward to ending the season on as positive of a note as possible.”

The NWSL reacted to Eddy’s column, too. The league told The Athletic it was “committed to working directly with the NWSL Players Association on any changes to our league policies.”

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There was so much more to this comeback than the monotony of it all.

Sure, Charlisse Leger-Walker had to teach her quadriceps muscle to fire again, the UCLA point guard sitting in her room connecting her mind to her body so that her thigh would tense up, strengthening it just a bit more.

She had to learn how to walk again, run again, jump again, often rising two hours before her teammates so that she could get the work in on the anti-gravity machine and other weight training devices that would put her one step closer to playing again after a devastating knee injury.

Focusing on all those muscle groups eventually left the graduate transfer feeling stronger than ever. She spent so much time on her shooting, hoisting one three-pointer after another, that she developed the most consistency on her touch she’s felt during a decorated career in which she was an All-Pac-12 player at Washington State before going down on that terrible late January day inside Pauley Pavilion.

Maybe the biggest benefit of being sidelined for almost 1½ seasons came in her new grasp of the game. Watching from the bench allowed her to develop a more nuanced understanding of coach Cori Close’s system and which spots on the court gave each teammate a higher chance of scoring.

“I knew coming back this season,” Leger-Walker said, “that’s going to be a big part of my role on the team is making sure people are in the best positions to succeed and really understanding how I can make the individual pieces of our team come together better collectively.”

The long-awaited payoff starts Monday night at the Honda Center.

A team already filled with talent could overflow upon the return of a player who intends to help put it all together during what the third-ranked Bruins hope is a championship run beginning with their season opener against San Diego State.

It’s conceivable that Close could have four All-Big Ten players by season’s end in Leger-Walker, center Lauren Betts and guards Kiki Rice and Gianna Kneepkens. Leger-Walker gives UCLA another elite point guard and veteran presence alongside Rice, their games complementing one another instead of providing redundancy.

“One’s more of a downhill driver, going to put pressure on the defense with her aggression and off the bounce,” Close said of Rice, “the other is more of a surveyor, pass-first kind of point guard, and isn’t that great that they’re both on our team?”

Leger-Walker tormented her coach before she joined her cause, helping seventh-seeded Washington State make an improbable run in the 2023 Pac-12 tournament. Dominating across the board with 23 points, seven rebounds and three assists, Leger-Walker helped the Cougars hold off the Bruins in the championship.

“She sort of took over the game,” Close said. “It was Charlisse Leger-Walker’s world, and we were just living in it.”

Nearly a year later, having scored 17 points in 19 minutes with her team on the way to another victory over the Bruins, the 5-foot-10 guard crumpled to the Pauley Pavilion court in the third quarter. She briefly rose to test her injured knee before giving up, the pain unbearable.

It was a torn anterior cruciate ligament. Her season was over.

The timing was especially cruel given that she had been scheduled to play for the New Zealand national team the next week, helping the Tall Ferns try to qualify for the 2024 Olympics in something of a family tradition. Her mother, Leanne Walker, had played point guard for their home nation in the 2000 and 2004 Summer Games, but with Charlisse sidelined the Tall Ferns failed to qualify in 2024.

“There were a lot of disappointing things in that moment,” Charlisse said, “involving more than just the injury itself.”

With one season of eligibility remaining, Leger-Walker sought an upgrade — with encouragement from Washington State coach Kamie Ethridge, who realized that her star player had maximized her potential with a team that didn’t have realistic national title aspirations.

What happened next remains a playful dispute between Leger-Walker and her new coach.

Pouncing on the opportunity to pursue Leger-Walker once she entered the transfer portal, Close said she had trouble getting the point guard to return her messages. Informed of her coach’s claim with Close standing nearby at Big Ten media day, Leger-Walker expressed mock exasperation.

“Oh my gosh, that’s her biggest thing,” Leger-Walker said. “I did — you can check the text message receipts.”

As Close broke into laughter, Leger-Walker added, “I did. Maybe it was a couple of hours later, but I definitely returned her messages. She exaggerates that.”

Once she agreed to become a Bruin, the sidelined star became a de facto coach, not only learning about her teammates’ tendencies but also encouraging them during practices and games.

By last February, having completed her lengthy rehabilitation, Leger-Walker faced a difficult decision: Should she return to help the Bruins contend for a national title or wait to come back for a full season?

She chose the latter path, making everyone grateful for the extended opportunity to play together long before she dazzled with 11 assists and only two turnovers in a recent scrimmage.

Said Rice: “To now be able to be in the backcourt with her, to learn from her, she’s brought a lot of new things.”

Said Betts: “I mean, everybody knows she’s like one of the best guards in the entire country.”

Of course, being surrounded by so many skilled teammates could make things incredibly easy for the Bruins’ new ballhandler. Leger-Walker knows there will be moments when she can almost reflexively help her team.

Just get the ball to Kneepkens beyond the three-point line, where her shots are a coin flip.

“That’s probably an assist,” Leger-Walker said.

Just throw a lob to Betts in the post, where she makes almost everything.

“That’s probably an assist,” Leger-Walker said.

Labeled one of the best passing guards that her coach has ever seen, Leger-Walker has been primed for this moment. The monotony over, those muscles firing again, it’s time to start winning.