The NWSL made a big return from the international break, setting a new attendance record.
The Chicago Red Stars welcomed 35,038 fans to Saturday's one-off game at iconic Wrigley Field. It beat the previous high of 34,130 set by Seattle during Megan Rapinoe's final home game in 2023.
It was just the second time the Red Stars played inside city limits, with the team normally based at Seat Geek Stadium in Bridgeview, a Chicago suburb. But with new ownership, the team is looking at possibly moving closer to the city — and Saturday’s game proved the appetite is there.
"We'll get the support that we need if we have a stadium in the city, and this is just the beginning," said Red Stars forward Penelope Hocking after the game.
Chicago’s attendance boosted the weekend’s overall numbers, as it was also the first time in NWSL history that league-wide attendance exceeded 100,000 in a single weekend.
But on the field, Chicago lost 2-1 to Bay FC, putting them in sixth place. Kansas City, Orlando, Washington, Portland, and Gotham all saw positive results this weekend, establishing a five-point divide between them and the rest of the pack.
Both the Current and Pride remain unbeaten, although Orlando’s winning streak has come to an end following a 1-1 draw with San Diego.
Ahead of the coming weekend’s matchups, Portland will be hoping that an appeal on Sophia Smith’s second yellow card is successful, otherwise they will be without the Golden Boot leader against Seattle.
The Soccer Tournament has it’s women’s final set, with the US Women and NC Courage set to face off for the $1 million winner-takes-all prize.
Sponsored by the NWSL's North Carolina Courage and led by NWSL and USWNT veteran Jessica McDonald, the NC Courage qualified for the semifinal as runner-up in Group B. They beat Streetball FC Canada, winners of Group A, 2-0 in the first semifinal.
Madison Wolfbauer scored both goals in that game, helping send the Courage to the final.
US Women, led by Heather O’Reilly and coached by USWNT legend Mia Hamm, beat Tampa Bay Sun FC in the second semifinal 4-0. They finished second in Group A, moving ahead of Angel City 7 on goal differential.
Both teams will now compete for the $1 million prize at 8:30 PM ET, with the TST championship match airing live on ESPN+.
Iga Swiatek continues to dominate the French Open, winning a third-straight title on Saturday.
The world No. 1 defeated Italian Jasmine Paolini 6-2, 6-1 in straight sets, with Paolini playing in her first-ever Grand Slam final.
"To play [Swiatek] here is something different," Paolini said. "She's already won four titles at 23-years-old — these numbers are not normal. I've never played someone with this intensity before in my life."
Swiatek is just the third woman to win three straight titles at the Paris major, alongside Monica Seles and Justine Henin. It’s also her fourth title at the tournament in five years, as well as her fifth major overall.
She’s 5-0 when reaching the final of a major tournament, dropping just 17 games since her second-round scare against Naomi Osaka last week. And her win streak at the French Open now spans 21 matches, dating back to 2021.
"I got broken at the beginning, so it wasn't maybe perfect, but I think the level was pretty high," Swiatek said after the match. "It wasn't so easy as the score says."
Elsewhere, new singles World No. 2 Coco Gauff won her first Grand Slam doubles title on Sunday, playing alongside Katerina Siniakova at Roland Garros. It’s her second major tournament title after winning the US Open in singles in 2023.
The NWSL is back in action this weekend following the June international break, as stars look to showcase Olympic form while clubs aim to build momentum going into the latter half of the season.
All but four clubs have played 11 games, with Orlando, Kansas City, and Washington beginning to separate themselves from the pack at the top of the NWSL table. But it’s close quarters across places four through eight, with just seven points separating the teams as the league prepares for the most-expanded postseason in NWSL history.
Orlando and Kansas City are riding unbeaten streaks, with the Pride on a historic eight-game winning streak. Forward Barbra Banda is the leader of the charge, with eight goals through just seven NWSL games played. She’s tied with Portland’s Sophia Smith in the Golden Boot race.
With more than half the season to play, both Banda and Smith could be at a pace to contend for Sam Kerr's single-season NWSL scoring record of 18 goals.
While the top three NWSL teams will go up against the bottom three this weekend, all eyes will be on Chicago where the Red Stars will play Bay FC in their first-ever match at historic Wrigley Field.
The Red Stars are aiming to break the NWSL single-game attendance record, as they take the field inside the Chicago city limits for the first time since 2022. As of May 23rd, Chicago had sold 22,000 tickets, chipping away at Seattle's record of 34,130 when in 2023.
The Oklahoma Sooners swept the Texas Longhorns on Thursday to earn their fourth-straight Women's College World Series championship.
It’s the first time any team has won four straight championships in NCAA softball history.
Oklahoma pitcher Kelly Maxwell was named 2024 WCWS Most Outstanding Player after the team's 8-4 win sealed the deal for the Sooners.
"They've cemented this program in history," said coach Patty Gasso after the game, whose eight national titles ties Arizona's Mike Candrea for the most won by any coach in Division I softball history. "They've cemented themselves in history. History can change, but these guys will never, ever be forgotten."
The Sooners were dealt some pressure along the way, with their 20-game NCAA tournament winning streak snapped by Florida earlier in the week. There were no guarantees about Texas, either, with the Longhorns topping Oklahoma in their regular season series earlier this year.
Gasso even conceded that this has been the team’s hardest title win yet, even though the Sooners outscored Texas 16-7 over two games in the finals. The title is Oklahoma's eighth championship overall, as well as their sixth in the past eight postseasons.
"'Heavy is a head that wears the crown' is the one thing that really stuck out," Gasso said. "I heard someone say that. That really has felt true. It's been exhausting. These players are exhausted, but they keep going."
Aaliyah Edwards made rookie history on Thursday as her Washington Mystics made some WNBA history of their own — and not the good kind.
With 23 points and 14 rebounds, Edwards became the first rookie this season with at least 20 points and 10 rebounds in a single game. She also had four blocks, becoming only the fourth rookie in WNBA history to record a game with at least 20 points, 10 rebounds, and four blocks within her first 10 career games, per ESPN.
The former UConn star has now led the Mystics in points and rebounds in consecutive games, joining Chamique Holdsclaw as the only two rookies in franchise history to do so.
"I just need everyone to know when everyone’s talking about the rookie class, don’t forget her name," Shatori Walker-Kimbrough said of her teammate after the game. "She made a statement today. She makes a statement every day. She comes in, she works. She puts her head down and works. She needs a little bit more talk, and she doesn’t let that affect her."
While Edwards has been finding her groove, the Mystics have been unable to mirror the No. 6 overall draft pick's performance. Despite a halftime lead, they lost 79-71 to Chicago to fall to 0-10 on the season. It marks the worst start in franchise history.
"Extremely frustrated," coach Eric Thibault said postgame.
Oklahoma is on the brink of a four-peat at the Women’s College World Series after taking Game 1 over Texas of the championship series 8-3.
Should the Sooners win, they earn an eighth-overall and fourth-straight WCWS title. No other team has won four consecutive NCAA softball championships.
"This is it," Sooners pitcher Kelly Maxwell, who transferred in this season from Oklahoma State, said of being on the brink. "This is my last opportunity. I'm just going to do everything I can to keep this team in it. I know that they have my back and I got theirs."
While Oklahoma has dominated throughout the regular season, they did face an unexpected setback courtesy of a red-hot Florida team. In Monday’s Game 11, the No. 6-seeded Gators snapped the Sooners’ 20-game NCAA tournament win streak, forcing Tuesday’s winner-take-all Game 12 with a convincing 9-3 win. Florida’s victory was fueled by two monster home runs from infielder Skylar Wallace alongside Keagan Rothrock’s ace pitching.
Despite the upset, a recomposed Oklahoma took the field the following day for a tight eight-inning clash culminating in a walk-off blast from Jayda Coleman that sent the Sooners to WCWS final.
But head coach Patty Gasso knows there’s still work to be done in the WCWS.
"We're not over-jubilant because we know there's still a lot of work to do against a very, very good team that has very good pitchers, very good hitters," Gasso said. "We know what's in front of us still. So you don't see us celebrating."
Texas, meanwhile, entered the postseason as the No. 1 overall seed. And the Longhorns are not about to roll over: In their Super Regional against Texas A&M, they lost the first game before winning the next two to advance.
Earlier this season, they lost the first game of their series to Oklahoma before rebounding to take their first series over the Sooners since 2009.
"Now it's theirs to lose in some respect," Texas coach Mike White said of the Sooners. "They have to win one of the next two games. I like being in that position, sometimes being the underdog. We're the top dog for a little bit, so to speak, but were we? They're three-time national champions. It's a mind game.
"Champions reframe. How can we reframe from this loss, what we're facing right now, come out and have a better game and see if we can play some good softball."
Game 2 of the WCWS Championship Series starts at 8 PM ET on Thursday, June 6th and will be broadcast live on ESPN. Game 3, if necessary, will air on ESPN on Friday, June 7th starting at 8 PM ET.
The French Open final is set, with world No. 1 Iga Swiatek set to face Italy’s Jasmine Paolini.
Swiatek took care of top-ranked American Coco Gauff in straight sets 6-2, 6-4 in Thursday's French Open semifinal. Afterward, Swiatek expressed high praise for Gauff's performance.
"She is progressing a lot. You can see by her results. Last year's US Open, for sure, showed that she's tough. At this age, it's kind of obvious that she's going to just grow. So it's nice to see her handling well everything around her, because it's not easy," Swiatek noted. "I'm sure we're going to have plenty more really intense matches on the really highest level."
For Gauff, the tournament isn’t a total loss. She’ll move up to a personal best world No. 2 this week after 17-year-old Mirra Andreeva upset former No. 2 Aryna Sabalenka at the French Open to become the youngest major semifinalist since 1997.
Gauff will now be the first American tennis player — male or female — to be ranked inside the top two since Serena Williams in 2017.
The first-ever women’s version of the Soccer Tournament (TST) gets underway Friday morning, where eight teams will play for a $1 million winner-take-all prize.
This year’s tournament features a slate of pro, semi-pro, amateur, and retired athletes representing teams from four different countries and five pro clubs: US Women, Wrexham Red Dragons, Burnley FC, Soccerhead FC, North Carolina Courage, Streetball FC Canada, Tampa Bay Sun FC, and Angel City 7S.
TST first launched in June 2023. Since branching out into the women's game for the 2024 season, it’s now the world’s highest-stakes women’s soccer tournament, offering equal $1 million prizes for both the men’s and women’s champions.
The 2023 tournament was modeled after the World Cup, with 32 teams battling it out in eight groups of four before 16 teams advanced to single-elimination knockout rounds.
USWNT legend Heather O’Reilly led the creation of the women’s side when she entered an all-women’s team coached by Hamm into the inaugural tournament, with the rest of the teams being all men.
This year's headliners include NWSL and USWNT vets Mia Hamm, Michele Akers, Heather O’Reilly, Lori Lindsey, Ali Krieger, Allie Long, and Carli Lloyd (US Women); Jessica McDonald (NC Courage); Chenya Matthews and Kealia Watt (Burnley FC); Carley Telford (Wrexham Red Dragons); and Brazil’s Formiga (Tampa Bay Sun FC).
TBT Enterprises — which has run a basketball version of the tournament since 2014 — is behind the venture.
The women’s group stage kicks off on June 7th at 9:30 AM ET and runs through June 10th’s championship doubleheader. Select games throughout the tournament will air on ESPN networks, with the remaining games available to stream on TST’s website.
USA Basketball released its official 3×3 Olympic roster on Wednesday, naming some familiar faces to the four-player team.
2023 FIBA 3×3 World Cup champs Cameron Brink, Cierra Burdick, and Hailey Van Lith were all named to the squad alongside 2022 No. 1 draft pick Rhyne Howard. Brink was named MVP of the 2023 FIBA 3×3 World Cup, while Burdick also won gold at the 2014 World Championship for 3×3.
Brink is a rookie in the WNBA this season, going No. 2 overall to the Los Angeles Sparks. Van Lith, meanwhile, will finish her college career at TCU this upcoming season.
"It is an honor to announce the USA Basketball 3×3 Women's National Team," Jay Demings, USA Basketball 3×3 national team director and member of the USA Basketball 3×3 women's selection committee said in a statement. "It is an exciting process to put a roster together that will represent the country on a global stage. We are thankful for all the athletes who attended training camps or participated in 3×3 competitions on the journey to Paris 2024."
2011 USA Basketball National Coach of the Year and current WNBA Connecticut Sun president Jennifer Rizzotti will be the team’s head coach, while University of Rhode Island coach Tammi Reiss will be her assistant.
The sport was first introduced at the 2020 Tokyo Games, with the WNBA’s Stefanie Dolson, Allisha Gray, Kelsey Plum, and Jackie Young all taking home the inaugural gold medal.
Other qualified teams for the women's Olympic 3×3 competition include China, France, Azerbaijan, Australia, Germany, Spain, and Canada. Team USA is currently ranked second in the world behind China.