Houston Dash head coach James Clarkson was surprised when midfielder Gabby Kessler (formerly Seiler) announced her retirement on Monday.

In a media call Tuesday, as teams opened preseason across the NWSL, Clarkson described the situation as “out of the blue.”

“My head is still spinning to be honest,” he said. “Shocked but can only wish her the best. I hope she’s happy and has a really successful life past soccer.”

The loss of Kessler, who joined the Dash in a trade from the Portland Thorns before the 2021 season, adds to the stinging absence of U.S. women’s national team center midfielder Kristie Mewis. The 30-year-old was selected by San Diego Wave FC in the 2022 expansion draft in December and then immediately traded to NJ/NY Gotham FC.

Evidently, the Dash need to rebuild their midfield, and Clarkson has his hopes set on recent signings María Sánchez and Marisa Viggiano filling that role.

“Bringing in some of the players that we have brought in ideally gives us a different feel, a different look,” he said.

Back in the league of her dreams.

Let’s eat, @Maria17_7 🤘 pic.twitter.com/5NxKQllbLS

— Houston Dash (@HoustonDash) January 6, 2022

Having previously spent a month with Houston on loan in June 2021, Sánchez signed a two-year deal with the Dash earlier in January. She arrived from UANL Tigres in Liga MX Femenil, where she scored five goals in three games as Tigres reached the Liga MX final in late December.

Sánchez, who’s also scored five goals in 29 appearances with the Mexican national team, will be an important piece on the left side for Houston.

“That is a major signing for us,” said Clarkson. “I think that is going to continue to help us create goals, score goals and give us a real opportunity of winning.”

“I mean, hopefully I can just do my part,” Sánchez said. “Obviously, I was brought in, looked at for a reason. So hopefully I can just do my part offensively. I know defensively as well, but hopefully be able to get some assists and goals in and participate offensively in what the team needs me to do.” 

On Friday, the Dash announced they had acquired Viggiano from the Orlando Pride in exchange for defender Megan Montefusco (formerly Oyster), $30,000 in allocation money and their natural third-round pick in the 2023 NWSL Draft.

Entering her fourth season in the NWSL, Viggiano is coming off 21 appearances and 14 starts with the Pride in 2021.

“We would have been really light at midfield, so getting Viggiano has been massive for us,” said Clarkson.

Finishing in seventh place with a record of 9-10-5, Houston missed out on the playoffs in 2021, a year after they won the 2020 Challenge Cup and placed second in the Fall Series.  The Dash will need to figure out a plan for their defense if they want to return to the playoffs. Last year, the team let in as many goals as they scored — which is a lot considering Houston was among the top-three scoring teams with 31 goals.

Clarkson said the key to reaching success this season is for players to develop individually, and then collectively, to put “a winning, exciting team on the field.”

It also helps to have a core of three 2020 Olympic gold medalists in Canadians Allysha Chapman (defense), Sophie Schmidt (midfield) and Nichelle Prince (forward). England national team star Rachel Daly was third in the league in scoring last year with nine goals, but did not report to the first day of preseason on Tuesday.

Joining Prince and Daly in the attacking third will be Paulina Gramaglia, on loan from UAI Urquiza for the 2022 season.

“She’s got huge potential,” Clarkson said of the 18-year-old. “We saw some moments of some real quality today. She had a fantastic assist and had a great little run where there was a nutmeg and smashed one off the crossbar. So there’s some good stuff there, and hopefully we can continue to evolve it, push it. Hopefully we can see some big things from this year.”

The Dash are relying heavily on transfers this season. The team is in the process of bringing in two more — one who won’t arrive until the summer and another who will ideally be ready to play before that.

Houston aims to have 22 players on the main roster and four development players. 

“We’ve got the vast majority of the roster sorted,” Clarkson said. “We’ve still got some spaces that we plan to fill over the next couple of weeks.”

Jessa Braun is a contributing writer at Just Women’s Sports covering the NWSL and USWNT. Follow her on Twitter @jessabraun.

The 2025 New York City Marathon not only crowned its champion on Sunday, the race also saw a new course record as Kenya's Hellen Obiri crossed the Central Park finish line with a time of 2:19.51 — shattering fellow Kenyan Margaret Okayo's 2003 record by a full two minutes and 40 seconds.

Returning to the top of the New York marathon field after first winning the race in 2023, 2024 runner-up Obiri led a Kenyan contingent that swept the podium, as 2022 winner Sharon Lokedi trailed by a mere 16 seconds while 2024 champion Sheila Chepkirui claimed third with a time of 2:20:24 — all three blasting through the previous course record of 2:22.31.

"We had a very strong field," said Obiri following the race. "[I told myself] let me try to do my best, let me push."

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With her championship, Obiri claimed both the $100,000 winner's check as well as an additional $50,000 in prize money for breaking the course record.

Though the 2025 New York City Marathon marked the second straight year that Kenyan runners owned the podium, Fiona O'Keeffe also made history by setting a a new US course record with her fourth-place finish.

Finishing the five-borough race in 2:22.49, O'Keeffe shaved nearly two minutes off the previous US record of 2:24:42 — set in 2021 by Tokyo Olympic bronze medalist Molly Seidel.

"I can't take too much credit for the time — that was all on the women ahead of me," O'Keeffe said, sharing the spotlight with the runners who pushed her on Sunday. "Grateful to be back in the marathon. Feels like coming home."

Europe's top soccer teams have started down their 2027 World Cup paths, with UEFA revealing the field of 2026 European Qualifiers in a Tuesday morning league-stage draw.

Reigning world champion and world No. 1 Spain headlines the results, with La Roja set to face 2023 World Cup runners-up — and newly minted back-to-back Euro champs — No. 4 England in Group A3, while Group A1 pits perennial titans No. 3 Sweden against rising stars No. 12 Italy.

Group A2 will see No. 6 France taking on the No. 11 Netherlands, with No. 5 Germany and No. 13 Norway headlining Group A4.

A total of 11 UEFA teams will clinch spots in the 2027 World Cup via the European Qualifiers, which kick off in March 2026, though one additional UEFA nation will earn the opportunity to try and punch a ticket to the Brazil-hosted tournament via an inter-continental playoff in February 2027.

Based on the 2025 Nations League results, UEFA teams fell into three leagues entering the 2026 qualifiers, with League A and B housing 16 squads each while League C holds 21.

The winners of League A's four groups will directly qualify for the World Cup, while the remaining League A teams along with top finishers from League B and C will move on to a series of playoffs to ultimately determine the seven other direct UEFA qualifiers, plus the inter-confederation play-off contender.

The 2026 UEFA World Cup Qualifiers League A Groups

• Group A1: No. 3 Sweden, No. 12 Italy, No. 14 Denmark, No. 35 Serbia

• Group A2: No. 6 France, No. 11 Netherlands, No. 26 Poland, No. 27 Republic of Ireland

• Group A3: No. 1 Spain, No. 4 England, No. 17 Iceland, No. 34 Ukraine

• Group A4: No. 5 Germany, No. 13 Norway, No. 19 Austria, No. 38 Slovenia

With the 64-team national tournament bracket dropping in less than four weeks, the No. 1 Nebraska Cornhuskers remain the only undefeated squad in the 2025 NCAA volleyball season after back-to-back weekend losses snapped the previously unbeaten No. 4 Texas Longhorns' winning streak.

Downed in consecutive Top-10 matchups, Texas first fell to No. 6 Texas A&M in a tense five-set thriller on Friday before No. 2 Kentucky quickly handled the Longhorns in a Sunday sweep.

"We got to make sure that we are dialed in from the very first point. I thought our team fought pretty hard, but we didn't execute the level that we can," said Texas head coach Jerritt Elliott.

The weekend's volatile Top 10 results ultimately cemented Nebraska's standing as the team to beat, with the Huskers earning a unanimous No. 1 vote in the AVCA rankings for the third time this season on Monday.

Nebraska's dominance drives even deeper than the team's current 22-0 season record, with the Huskers only dropping six sets all year as they ride a 13-game sweep streak into their last eight regular-season clashes.

"I wouldn't say there's anything super unique or new that we're doing," said first-year Nebraska head coach Dani Busboom Kelly. "Putting our players in challenging situations in practice against other players has been pretty important."

How to watch Nebraska and Texas volleyball this week

Top-ranked Nebraska will next face unranked Illinois at 8 PM ET on Thursday, airing live on FS1.

Meanwhile, No. 4 Texas will look to bounce back when the Longhorns take on recently unranked Florida at 7 PM ET on Friday, with live coverage on the SEC Network.

As Unrivaled 3×3 Basketball preps for its second season, the upstart league revealed newly designed jerseys for its expanded 2026 campaign on Monday — including branding for incoming teams Breeze BC and Hive BC.

In collaboration with sportswear giant Under Armour, the updated Unrivaled jerseys feature details like bottom hem stripes for untucked wearing, side-body detailing, and a first-ever championship patch for inaugural title-winners Rose BC.

All eight clubs will sport home and away sets, along with alternate uniforms and more elaborate spins for the popular midseason 1v1 tournament.

Unrivaled will also be revealing team rosters this week, with fans of particular teams bracing for change as the offseason league navigates both player pool adjustments and expansion.

Once again, the league's head coaches built team rosters via an internal draft, pulling from six player pods organized according to position.

Each of last year's four playoff teams — the Lunar Owls, Rose BC, the Laces, and Vinyl BC — were able to protect up to two returning players, with the two non-playoff teams (the Mist and Phantom BC) allowed to keep just one player each out of selection.

Expansion sides Breeze and Hive began the draft, choosing the first two players from the non-protected athletes available.

All eight team rosters for the 2026 Unrivaled season will drop in a live Bleacher Report YouTube broadcast at 7 PM ET on Wednesday.

How to buy the Unrivaled 2026 jerseys

Following Wednesday night's roster reveal, fans will be able to purchase a limited number of 2026 jerseys via the Unrivaled shop.