USWNT Stock Up, Stock Down: Michelle Cooper Is Quietly Cementing Her Place

Welcome back to your weekly feature from Sports Illustrated that analyzes the women’s soccer weekend from a U.S. women’s national team perspective.

We are now just two weeks away from the next USA roster for the upcoming friendlies against Spain in October. Unfortunately, injuries are piling up after a long season, and individual fitness is as much a factor as form in the next international window.

For the players who are fit and firing, opportunity knocks. Michelle Cooper is one of those who, after coming into 2025 off the back of a fitness battle, has now shown time and time again that she is a reliable dribble-and-pass option.

Let’s take a look at who saw their stocks rise and fall this past weekend.

Stock Up

Michelle Cooper

10th goal of the season for Temwa Chawinga 🙌

🎥 @NWSL pic.twitter.com/a12RWKB4pU
— W Golazo (@WGolazo) September 12, 2026

Sometimes a cool head is all you need. Blazing down the wing is no good if you can’t settle your head and place the ball into the path of a teammate. And that’s exactly what Michelle Cooper did so well in the KC Current’s 2-2 draw against the Orlando Pride.

Cooper picked up an assist for a counterattacking dribble and split pass to Temwa Chawinga in the second half. All after she had made a slick cutback to Debinha in the first half, where the Brazilian hit the crossbar despite being unmarked. She finished the game with four chances created, one of those a big chance.

With three goals and an assist over the last six games, Cooper is rounding out her form at the business end of the season. Although it is tremendously competitive on the wing for the USWNT, with Yazmeen Ryan, Emma Sears and Mal Swanson all jostling, Cooper feels like she is doing everything right to cement her place as a creative winger who can dribble up the pitch, press and feed strikers.

Lindsey Heaps

Lindsey Heaps’ first goal for her hometown club 🥹 pic.twitter.com/khf7cM4JDC
— National Women’s Soccer League (@NWSL) September 12, 2026

The long wait for a first Lindsey Heaps goal in Denver colors is over. The USWNT captain scored her first goal for the Summit in a breathless 3-3 tie with Angel City this past weekend. Heaps reacted well and followed up a powerful shot from Yazmeen Ryan that had crashed the crossbar and rebounded into a crowded box. It required a deft laces shot to hit the back of the net first-time.

Heaps has struggled for impact and fluidity over the last year on the USWNT. In a midfield brimming with young talent, the ball often gets stodgy when Heaps is trying to play through the thirds. As a target in the box, Heaps has more obvious upside. The reaction finish from close range was a good reminder of that.

Jordyn Bugg

The Seattle Reign have now posted three consecutive shutouts, with defender Jordyn Bugg going 90 minutes in all three. The latest was a typically gridlocked 2-0 win for Seattle at home against Bay FC. Bugg and company gave up just four shots and 13 touches inside the Seattle box.

Bugg went 4/7 in duels, had a block, three clearances, six recoveries and two interceptions. The part of her game that Emma Hayes might well be watching most closely is her calmness and confidence in possession. With her completing 47/53 passes, including 6/8 long balls, this was performance was a feather in her cap.

• Can USWNT Star Rose Lavelle Actually Win the Ballon d'Or?

Stock Down

Mandy McGlynn

Utah Royals goalkeeper Mandy McGlynn was benched this past weekend, as the Royals won 1-0 on the road at the Houston Dash. Mia Justus was preferred in her place, and the young shot-stopper didn’t have a single save to make as she earned a clean sheet as the Texas hosts drew a blank.

McGlynn has struggled in 2026, ranks 13th for goals prevented with -1.2, and could see what’s happening at the Royals mirror the USWNT as her spot as the third-choice goalkeeper feels very much up for grabs now.

Tara Rudd

Amanda Gutierres took it herself for this goal 🤯 pic.twitter.com/lpXixUO0UK
— National Women’s Soccer League (@NWSL) September 13, 2026

The Washington Spirit centerback had a game to forget in her team’s 3-0 home loss to the Boston Legacy. Tara Rudd was caught in possession on the halfway line when Amanda Gutierres robbed her of the ball and then decided to fire an audacious shot from 45 yards out into the net. Then, Rudd failed to stop Gutierres from receiving a slipped pass across the box for Boston’s third.

Having a direct error lead to conceding a goal is always going to sting. Rudd remains a strong candidate in the battle to get into the USWNT defensive unit. However, this was an afternoon where her positioning and control were left wanting.

Cat Macario

The San Diego Wave attacker’s 2026 is officially over. On Monday, the team announced that Cat Macario had been placed on the season-ending injury list after undergoing a minor knee operation. This news came after Macario had sat out the last six months since signing from Chelsea due to an ongoing heel issue.

Now we know that Macario will not make her NWSL debut until 2027; the next question is when she will return for the USWNT. The likely earliest return date will be next year, in the January friendlies, the SheBelieves Cup in February, or perhaps not until the April window. However long it takes, the hope is that Macario can get herself right to be ready for the 2027 Women’s World Cup in Brazil.

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