KANSAS CITY, Mo. – The National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL) has been well-represented in the October FIFA window, and the top scorer on a team battling for the 2025 playoffs also showed up on the score sheet in the latest win for the U.S. Women’s National Team.
Racing Louisville forward Emma Sears, the top American scorer in the NWSL, came into the match with one career goal. She tripled that in one night.
Four of the USWNT’s six goals in the 6-0 win over New Zealand on Wednesday, Oct. 29 came from active NWSL players, but Sears was the headliner, scoring a hat trick, the first of her international career. Gotham FC midfielder Rose Lavelle, who captained the USWNT in the match, added a curling golazo just before the halftime break for her 27th international goal.
The standout performance for Sears exemplifies her excellent run of form this year. The 24-year-old leads her club with 10 goals in just her second professional season.
“She has an instinct inside the box and a desire to score goals that we can't teach,” U.S. head coach Emma Hayes said of Sears. “To score a hat trick at the international level is no easy achievement. She is someone who always continues to impress.”
Against New Zealand, Sears made her fifth career international start as part of a relatively inexperienced lineup for Hayes. This was the least experienced group in terms of caps to start for the U.S. in 25 years. Entering the matchup, the starting XI averaged just 17.3 caps. Lavelle at 114 caps had 37 more than the rest of the starting lineup combined.
Sears herself earned her 11th career cap, and the left forward was active from the get-go, establishing herself with her hard, carefully timed runs and fearlessness to take defenders on. She worked well with her counterpart on the opposite flank, Michelle Cooper, who received a warm welcome and chants of “Coop!” from the Kansas City crowd at her club’s home venue, CPKC Stadium.
The two starting wingers connected twice for Sears goals. The first came in the eighth minute for the third U.S. goal this window scored within the opening 10 minutes of action. On the play, Sears stayed onside with her run inside the box, then pounced on Cooper’s firm cross with a clinical right-footed finish.
After nearly creating a carbon copy of that play later in the first half, the two linked up again for a goal in the 55th minute. Cooper made the effort to save a ball from rolling out-of-bounds with a slide. Her cross from the endline set up a close-range shot for Sears that she expertly handled, even with three New Zealand defenders in the area.
“Emma did a lot of work,” Cooper said. “Those aren't easy finishes, and she has to do all the running to get there as well. Kudos to her. I'm so proud of her. Three goals is absolutely amazing.”
The win over New Zealand was the second straight match that featured a multi-goal performance from a bright, young player with 11 caps or fewer. In the match against Portugal on Sunday, Oct. 26 in East Hartford, Connecticut, 20-year-old Olivia Moultrie of Portland Thorns FC scored a brace, the second of her international career, in the first 10 minutes of play to lead the USWNT to a big win.
“Bouncing back like we did the second game against Portugal was huge for us,” Sears said. “Then, carrying that momentum into this last game today. To get a 6-0 win to end out camp was really awesome for the group.”
The NWSL has been top of mind for the U.S. this camp. Nineteen players on the camp roster hail from the domestic league. Kansas City Current and Gotham FC are the two clubs tied for the most players called up, each with four.
The final match of the window also took place at a one-of-a-kind venue that is part of the NWSL brand. CPKC Stadium is the first stadium in the world built for a women’s team and is home to the Current, 2025 NWSL Shield winners.
Kansas City was the first team to clinch a spot in the 2025 NWSL Playoffs, and the foursome on the U.S. roster from that club – Cooper, Claire Hutton, Ally Sentnor and Lo’eau LaBonta – head into the postseason on a historic run at their club. Six more NWSL teams have clinched a playoff berth, including Sam Coffey’s Portland Thorns FC. Just one spot remains up for grabs – Sears and Racing Louisville are in the mix for that last qualification spot, advertising a “push for the playoffs” as the team heads into Decision Day on Sunday, Nov. 2.
As Sears and these U.S. players depart camp on a high note, they’ll look to sustain that winning spirit as they return to their clubs, then in the upcoming next international window, which brings two matches for the U.S. against Italy on Friday, Nov. 28 and Monday, Dec. 1.
“Being part of this team is really exciting,” Cooper said. “I think everyone's starting to see the work that we've been putting in. I'm excited to see what we can continue to do going forward.”