The World Cup champion, coming off a second ACL tear in three years, is eager to step back into leadership roles with club and country as the NWSL season begins
One of the most important players on the team that won the 2025 NWSL championship played in just three matches all season. Tierna Davidson, the captain of NJ/NY Gotham FC, went down with a torn ACL on 28 March, and was quickly ruled out for the rest of the year. It was a brutal moment for the center-back, who had torn her other ACL three years prior.
The injuries were low patches in the 27-year-old’s already prolific career. In 2019, she left Stanford to turn pro; she was drafted by the Chicago Red Stars as the No 1 pick in the NWSL college draft. That year, at just 20, she was also named to the USWNT World Cup squad that would win the tournament.