(Mikayla Schmidt/ESPN Images)
SportsCenter anchor Cristina Alexander will kick off her second season as the lead play-by-play voice for NWSL on ESPN Deportes.
The ESPN bilingual, on-air personality will be in the booth at CPKC Stadium in Kansas City – the site of her debut as a play-by-play commentator last season – for Saturday’s Kansas City Current-Portland Thorns FC match on ESPN Deportes and ESPN+ at 12:50 p.m. ET.
In her 10 years at ESPN, Alexander has established herself as one of the industry’s most versatile professionals.
In addition to her role as SportsCenter anchor, she hosts two soccer shows, Futbol Americas with former U.S. Men’s National Team star Herculez Gomez, and Futbol W, alongside two-time World Cup champion Ali Krieger. She also helms the weekly in-season La Peña de LALIGA on ESPN Deportes and starred in ESPN Deportes’ Super Bowl LIX week coverage.
In the videos and in printed responses below, Alexander discusses her excitement for calling NWSL games, her favorite players to watch and more.
How do you prepare for your NWSL play-by-play role?
Preparing for play-by-play has become a ritual I love. My on-air partner and amazing analyst, Natalia Astrain, and I usually participate in weekly coaches’ meetings. Having an insider perspective is so valuable to our presentation. Natalia is a former NWSL and U-17 USWNT coach, so she’s worked with many players in the league. I ask for her insight on players she’s worked with in every match so we can highlight the players’ on-the-field tendencies.
Of course, I do my homework on match stats, but I love to find a story we can tell during the game. I’ll arrive a couple of hours before the game to settle in, write out the lineups, grab a snack and water, and hop on the headset.
How did last season prepare you for this season?
It is so fresh in my head and makes NWSL in 2025 exciting. Whether it’s a player returning from a lengthy injury, new faces ready to take over in their rookie season, veterans leading their teams or new teams ready to debut in a constantly growing NWSL, I have all those storylines as we kick off the 2025 season.
Spencer T. Jackson and Christine Calcagno produced the videos
In the video below, Alexander traces her unique skillset to her upbringing as the daughter of first-generation Mexican Americans
