Ahead of Brown’s official preseason fitness test, the team gathered for a diagnostic version sans coaches. They hadn’t even started, but Layla Shell was sweating. The steely defensive center midfielder had just transferred from Tennessee and knew the stakes of the grueling tasks ahead would be even higher for a newcomer. Brown was getting ready to chase its fourth consecutive Ivy League title; the foundation of a player’s campaign for a starting position or leadership role can be built or broken in the length of a beep test.

But as Shell looked around at her new teammates, she sensed a different pre-test frenzy than the one she felt internally. Returning players embraced each other affectionately, appearing to pick up where they’d left off earlier that summer when they’d played soccer and folded pasta on a group trip to Italy, expressing what Shell felt was confounding excitement about the impending workout.

“I’m in my mind like, ‘We’re about to run a fitness test. Like, this is not gonna be fun. Why are people so excited?’” she told The Athletic. “I was so nervous, but that showed me how tight knit of a group it was and how much of a family it was.”

The roots of collegiate women’s soccer run deeper than any of its professional counterparts,…

Collegiate soccer has long played a significant role in the women’s game, developing generations of players who have gone on to become top professionals, international stars, and influential coaches and executives. But as pro leagues evolve and the economics of the college game change, so too does its role in the wider ecosystem of the sport.

On Friday, the showpiece event of the college soccer season commences when Florida State faces Clemson (6 p.m. ET), and Brigham Young faces Stanford (8:30 p.m. ET) in the 2023 Women’s College Cup in Cary, North Carolina. The final will be played on Monday (6 p.m. ET; all matches on ESPNU and ESPN+). But the NCAA tournament began with 64 teams ranging from long-established powerhouses of the game with well-stocked trophy cabinets to upstart programs at varying stages of contention. Over the coming weeks, The Athletic will tell the stories of several teams in each category, so stay tuned.

But first, we’re taking a look at the NCAA players who could soon make the leap to the NWSL through the league’s college draft. The draft will be held on Jan. 12 of next year and players don’t have to register for the draft until Jan. 8, so the draft pool is still very much up in the air. However, what follows is an early attempt at putting…

As the nation turns its attention to college basketball this weekend, fans will be watching what’s happening on the court. Lawyers and other interested parties will continue to track what’s happening off of it.

The NCAA’s business model is under attack from all sides, with multiple cases challenging the organization’s refusal to grant athletes employee status. And last week, two athletes took specific aim at one of college sports’ most recognizable and prestigious conferences.

Brown University basketball players Grace Kirk, who currently plays for the women’s basketball team, and Tamenang Choh, who played on the men’s basketball team until 2022, sued their university and the seven other Ivy League schools over their policy against offering athletic scholarships, alleging that it amounts to illegal price-fixing in violation of federal antitrust law.

It’s the newest intriguing challenge to the status quo. Here’s what you need to know.

What the case alleges

The lawsuit was filed in federal court in Connecticut by lawyers representing Kirk and Choh. The plaintiffs are seeking class-action certification on behalf of current and former Ivy League athletes dating back to March 7, 2019.

At issue is the fact that Ivy League athletes aren’t reimbursed in the form of…