Anger over a narrow field used for a National Womens Soccer League match last weekend is drawing attention to larger issues as players fight for respect.U.S. national team and NWSL stars Hope Solo, Carli Lloyd and Megan Rapinoe were among those using social media to declare the field unacceptable. More broadly, Solo, the U.S. national team and Seattle Reign goalkeeper who has been vocal about gender equity in her sport, took to her website to decry conditions for players in the NWSL, now in its fourth season and widely considered one of the worlds strongest womens leagues.Solo posted photos of fields with crooked lines, sad locker rooms and cleats that she said had melted after practice on an unwatered artificial turf field on a sweltering summer day.The `We know things arent up to par, but were going ahead with them anyway, attitude, quite honestly, is a fairly accurate reflection of how the NWSL has functioned during the four years of its existence, Solo wrote. Its far past time that the women in our league start being treated like professional athletes -- otherwise, we might as well just admit that the NWSL is just a semi-pro league, and stop pretending like its the best womens league in the world.The NWSL did not immediately respond Wednesday to a request for comment on Solos blog.Saturdays match between the Western New York Flash and Reign was played at Frontier Field in Rochester, New York, a minor-league baseball stadium. The Flash had to move the match because of a concert at their regular field.The field measured 100 yards by 58 yards. But NWSL standards call for a width of 70 yards.Images of the soccer field -- angled in the outfield -- quickly spread over social media, attracting the attention of U.S. national team players who had earlier in the day defeated South Africa in an exhibition to prepare for the Rio Olympics. National team players are allocated across the NWSL, but werent with their club teams this weekend because of the match.Lloyd, who plays for the Houston Dash, called the field shocking and embarrassing on Twitter. Alex Morgan (Orlando Pride) and Rapinoe (Reign) also weighed in, calling it unacceptable.Christine Sinclair, who plays for the Canadian national team and the NWSLs Portland Thorns, posted: How is this ok? Not good enough for professional soccer. 6v6 field?NWSL Commissioner Jeff Plush said in a statement following the match that the league had signed off on the move, but admitted it was the wrong decision in retrospect.As a professional league, we need to ensure that the integrity of the game is always respected both on and off the field, Plush said. We did not do that tonight and we apologize to the NWSL players, coaches and fans.No other womens professional league in the United States has lasted as long as the NWSL. It gets support from the U.S. and Canadian soccer federations, which pay the salaries of the national team players. But the league continues to experience growing pains -- including ongoing efforts to attract big-name sponsors.The field issue comes at a time when female players have been rallying for better treatment.Before the Womens World Cup last summer in Canada, former U.S. forward Abby Wambach led a group of player in protesting the artificial turf playing surface for the event. Players consider artificial turf inferior to natural grass.The group filed a complaint in Canadian court, arguing that staging the event on the surface amounted to discrimination because the men play the World Cup on grass, but it was ultimately dropped before the tournament so that players could continue preparations.Earlier this year, national team players filed a complaint with the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, claiming wage discrimination. The women, who are currently in contract negotiations with U.S. Soccer, maintain that the mens national team players are paid far more in some cases.Morgan also called attention to shoddy accommodations in one NWSL city last season, complaining that bed bugs were found in the team hotel. Solos blog expanded on where she feels the league has fallen short, including low salaries for players who arent stars or on national teams. Marqise Lee Jaguars Jersey . -- Whether Jeremy Hill deserves a prominent role in LSUs offence this early in the season is a matter for debate. Telvin Smith Jaguars Jersey . -- Most satisfying to Russ Smith about No. http://www.authenticjaguarslockroom.com/Youth-Jalen-Ramsey-Elite-Jersey/ .C. -- Al Jefferson joked that he feels he can score from anywhere on the court. Jacksonville Jaguars Jerseys . This should be celebrated because it will not always be this way. With the amount of money given to players by their clubs these days, it is a wonder that so many of those teams allow the sport to continue to take away many of their assets so they can play for a different team in the middle of their season. Leonard Fournette Womens Jersey . LOUIS -- Roman Polak was celebrating even before Alexander Steen scored the winning goal in Saturdays 4-2 win over the Carolina Hurricanes. An Australian Test team described as quiet? No, really.Australias captain Steven Smith has demanded his players find their voices and energy in the lead-up to the home summer, having pinpointed a flat and uninspiring on-field attitude as one of the reasons for the teams recent defeat in Sri Lanka.There was a marked contrast between the lack of assertiveness shown during those matches after the second day of the series, and the more aggressive posture of the limited-overs teams that won 50-over and Twenty20 contests in the aftermath of the Tests.Rested after the second ODI, Smith watched on television from his home in Sydney as the vice-captain David Warner led a far more demonstrative effort. Smith wants that to be the template for the way the Test players carry themselves in future, indicating that a more boisterous, aggressive attitude is critical to the way Australia play their best cricket.I thought his energy was magnificent throughout those games and looking forward thats the sort of energy we want from him and all of the other senior players, Smith said of Warner, in Sydney ahead of the ODI teams departure for South Africa, where they will also play a match against Ireland. Weve got a pretty quiet group and we need that sort of energy come South Africa and the summer as well. I thought in the Test series in Sri Lanka we lacked a fair bit of energy in the field and that probably cost us at times. We put down a few crucial chances and in the grand scheme of things that could have made a difference.The raft of retirements that followed the 2015 Ashes series did serve to trip the national side of plenty of outsized characters, from the captain Michael Clarke and the wicketkeeper Brad Haddin to Shane Watson and Mitchell Johnson - all featured in various on-field confrontations with opponents down the years. The likes of Peter Nevvill, Adam Voges and Nathan Lyon are less likely to raise their voices, but Smith was firm in stating that they need to.ddddddddddddIts difficult, he said. Weve got some pretty quiet characters, so even if its not making noise verbally it might be just about having a bit more presence and the old Australian way of puffing your chest out and making your presence felt for the quieter guys. Its trying to do that, get into the game that way and try to provide some sort of energy that way.Communication was raised in another sense by Smith, when reflecting on the decision to rest him from the latter part of the Sri Lanka tour. The timing was queried by many around the world, even if the games crowded schedule makes such decisions more or less inevitable lest players like Smith or the fast bowlers be burned out well before their careers have run a natural course.For me it was just about getting the messaging across and I think we could have got the messaging across a fair bit better, Smith said. We knew a fair way out that I was going to leave after the second one-day game. The fact we only brought it out the day before probably shocked a few people, so in future if this sort of thing pops up and someones having a rest ... its about getting it out a little bit earlier.I watched every ball that was bowled in the one-day series and I did miss it, but having said that it probably will do me the world of good looking at whats coming up. Particularly the fast bowlers, its very difficult for them to sustain it for long periods of time and go full tilt, which we want those guys doing. Having said that, for this series it gives a couple of guys an opportunity, we get a look at the likes of Tremain, Worrall and Mennie. ' ' '