Denver Summit FC hosts San Diego Wave FC Saturday, April 25 at Dick's Sporting Goods Park — and I'm calling it: Denver wins.

The league-leading Wave come to Commerce City on Denver Unite Night in snow, rain, and 33-degree weather at 5,280 feet of elevation. In this preview, I break down why altitude, the Cuiabá travel, and Kenzo Dali's possession game all point to a Summit upset.

What's covered:

• Why San Diego's second-half scoring pattern collapses at altitude
• Abby Smith's 5.05 goals prevented and why she should be NWSL Player of the Month
• Kaleigh Kurtz making NWSL history with 10,000 consecutive regular season minutes
• The Catarina Macario signing — the largest contract in women's soccer history
• Tash Flint's permanent transfer from Tampa Bay Sun
• Lia Godfrey's unsustainable 3-goals-on-4-shots stat line
• Predicted starting XIs for both teams
• Where the NWSL's fall-to-spring calendar vote leaves Denver

Plus: the Denver Unite match with mascots from the Nuggets, Broncos, Rockies, Rapids, and Avalanche.

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Four days after ACL surgery. Pain meds. 63,000 fans. And Malala on the field.

That's how Jasmine Aikey experienced Denver Summit FC's historic home opener — not as a player, but as a rookie who tore her ACL at a national team camp before playing a single professional minute.

In her first podcast interview since the injury, Denver Summit FC forward Jasmine Aikey sits down with Kate to tell the whole story. From growing up in Palo Alto and homeschooling at 13 to keep pace with youth national team camps, to graduating Stanford with a 3.97 GPA in computer science, winning the Hermann Trophy, and now rebuilding her knee in Denver while her teammates play games without her.

She also talks about the junior year nobody covers — playing center back through undiagnosed osteitis pubis, breaking her fibula, having surgery with a plate and screws, and then coming back to lead the nation in points her senior year. And she answers the question she gets asked constantly right now: what does a day actually look like? Spoiler — it involves her dad bringing breakfast because she still can't drive.

This is a conversation about what it takes to keep getting back up.

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A defender who scored 21 goals in college. Her first professional contract. And somehow, she ended up exactly where she always dreamed.

Kate Hanson sits down with Denver Summit FC defender Natalie Means (#4) — Georgetown's do-everything wingback who just made the jump to the NWSL in the club's inaugural season. Kaleigh Kurtz personally vouched for her.

The stats speak for themselves. And after this conversation, you'll understand why this rookie is one of the most interesting players on the roster.

What we cover:

⚽ How Natalie talked her way into Georgetown during COVID recruiting — over Zoom, no visits, barely on scholarship

⚽ Why a natural scorer ends up playing defense — and how Nick Cushing is leaning into it

⚽ What it's like learning a new position next to Carson Pickett and Kaleigh Kurtz in your first pro season

⚽ Her honest take on Summit's 1W-3D-1L start — what's clicking and what's still coming

⚽ The moment at the home opener that took her breath away

⚽ Why she sometimes forgets Denver is an expansion team — and why that's actually a good sign

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