When the RI Reds FC folded, soccer player Shannen Pelletier found herself facing a difficult question: what would happen to women's semi-professional soccer in Rhode Island?

She waited for someone else to step forward. Eventually, she realized no one was coming. "I had only two choices," Pelletier said. "Step up and build it myself, or accept that semi-professional women's soccer in Rhode Island was over."

She could not accept that.

You play ball like a girl! You throw like a girl! “Women’s sports are boring.”

For years, phrases like these echoed through playgrounds, gym classes, and stadiums, reinforcing the idea that women athletes could never compete at the same level as men. Countless little girls grew up hearing these comments used as insults — as if being compared to a female athlete was something to be ashamed of. But somewhere along the way, “playing like a girl” stopped sounding like an insult.

Brown University’s Olivia Pichardo makes history again by becoming the first woman ever to pitch in a D1 baseball game.

Aerin Frankel broke the league record for most shutouts in a regular season for the third time on Saturday against the New York Sirens.