The 2024 NCAA College Cup kicks off on Friday with four ACC semifinalists, making the newly realigned coast-to-coast league the first conference in the Cup's 43-year history to field every Final Four team.

Even more, with WakeMed Soccer Park in Cary, North Carolina hosting for the 12th year, three of the four squads will have a home-state advantage. Overall No. 1 seed Duke, No. 2 Wake Forest, and No. 2 UNC all hail from the Tar Heel State.

Joining that local trio of ACC veterans looking to book a spot in Monday's championship match is conference rookie No. 3 Stanford.

Alongside UNC, the Cardinal hold championship experience advantage over Duke and Wake Forest, who are both hunting first-ever national titles. The Tar Heels' historic dynasty leads the NCAA with 21 trophies, though they haven't lifted one since 2012. Stanford has three, the most recent from 2019 when a roster of future superstars including USWNT icons Sophia Smith, Naomi Girma, and Catarina Macario brought the Cup back to Palo Alto.

Wake Forest kicks off 2024 College Cup against Stanford

The first of Friday's two semifinals will see Wake Forest fight to extend their record-setting season by logging a fourth all-time win over Stanford.

The Demon Deacons handed the former Pac-12 team losses in 2000 and 2006 before clashing for the first time as conference foes this September. In then-No. 1 ranked Stanford's first-ever ACC matchup, they fell 1-0 to Wake Forest, who earned their first win over a top-ranked team in program history in the process.

The road to the 2024 College Cup required grit and some penalty kick luck for both squads. The Cardinal needed a shootout to advance past No. 2 Arkansas in the tournament's third round before shutting out No. 4 Notre Dame 2-0 in their quarterfinal to punch their ticket to Cary.

As for Wake Forest, they narrowly defeated No. 3 Ohio State 1-0, then used PKs to oust No. 1 USC to secure entrance to their second-ever College Cup.

Rivals Duke and UNC to square off in second semifinal

The nightcap sees rivals Duke and UNC battle for the fourth time this season, as the Blue Devils look to avenge their lone 2024 loss to the Tar Heels by ousting the 21-time champs en route to a first-ever national title.

The Tar Heels lead the series by a mile with a 44-6-5 record against the Blue Devils but, as the nation's top team, Duke has been the team to beat this season — something UNC has only done once.

After the Blue Devils took both of the pair's regular-season meetings — a program-first home win on September 5th and a Halloween season finale victory — UNC booted Duke 2-1 from the ACC tournament's semifinals on the WakeMed pitch.

In their NCAA-leading 32nd College Cup appearance on Friday, UNC will look to become the first team all tournament to break through Duke's brick-wall backline. Previously, the Blue Devils have yet to concede a goal in the NCAA bracket.

The two rivals are also currently standing on opposite sides of historic coaching legacies. The preseason departure of 45-season leader Anson Dorrance has UNC hungry to prove that their dominance is not Dorrance-dependent. On the other hand, Duke is hoping to gift a program-first national title to head coach Robbie Church, who will retire post-College Cup after 23 seasons at the helm.

How to watch the 2024 College Cup NCAA soccer tournament

The 2024 College Cup contenders begin battle on Friday. First, No. 2 Wake Forest takes on No. 3 Stanford at 5 PM ET, with No. 1 Duke vs. No. 2 UNC following at 7:30 PM ET.

Both semifinals as well as Monday's 7 PM ET championship match will be broadcast live on ESPNU.

Welcome to another episode of Sports Are Fun! presented by TurboTax.

Every week on Sports Are Fun!, soccer legend Kelley O'Hara, sports journalist and basketball expert Greydy Diaz, and JWS intern BJ serve up their hottest takes all things women's sports. And in today's episode, the crew is joined by his week, the crew is joined in the studio by two-time Olympic diver — and Stanford Cardinal alum — Kassidy Cook.

Of course, the co-hosts waste no time in getting down to the biggest conversations in women's sports. And this time of year, that can only mean one thing: March Madness.

"Some would say this is the most exciting Sunday in women's sports," says O'Hara, kicking off a deep dive in the college basketball's fast-approaching Selection Sunday. "Based on this weekend and season overall, who are your number one seeds? Up for discussion we've got Texas, USC, UConn, UCLA, South Carolina, Notre Dame. What are we saying?"

"I'm a little worried about Notre Dame. Going into the season, I was expecting them to have an elite season," Diaz admits. "But losing to Duke? Bro. They do have a great coach, but Notre Dame on paper should have won that game."

"I think UT is still going to get a number one seed," says Cook. "Throughout the year they've had the number one seed. And even though they lost, I'm going to say South Carolina because they just won. And I'm going to say USC because they're a powerhouse. Then UCLA because their only two losses were to USC."

"I want to say UConn as well, because out of the top teams, they are the underdog of that list. I would love to see them walk away with it," Cook adds. "And like you guys said last week, Paige Bueckers doesn't have a championship yet, right?

The co-hosts additionally tackle the NWSL Challenge Cup, the likelihood of a WNBA lockout, Trinity Rodman and Ben Shelton soft launch, and so much more!

'Sports Are Fun!' announces Final Four live show in Tampa

In between hot takes, the Sports Are Fun! team also shared some big news.

JWS is heading to Tampa! Get ready for a live recording of Sports Are Fun! with Kelley O'Hara on Thursday, April 3rd ahead of the NCAA Women’s Final Four.

This exclusive event only adds to the madness of March Madness. There, O'Hara, Greydy Diaz, Merritt Mathias, and JWS intern BJ bring interactive moments, surprise guests, and behind-the-scenes access to the biggest weekend in college basketball.

“There’s never been a better time to be a women’s sports fan, and I couldn’t be more excited to bring Sports Are Fun! to Tampa during the Final Four,” says O’Hara. “The energy around this weekend is going to be electric, and we’re giving fans a front-row seat to be part of it.”

Tickets are $20 and include a complimentary drink and JWS party favor. Get yours now.

About 'Sports Are Fun!' with Kelley O'Hara

'Sports Are Fun!' is a show that’ll remind you why you fell in love with women's sports in the first place.

Join World Cup champ, Olympic gold medalist, and aspiring barista Kelley O'Hara as she sits down with sports journalist Greydy Diaz and a revolving cast of co-hosts and friends. Together, they're talking the biggest, funnest, and most need-to-know stories in the world of women’s sports.

From on-court drama to off-field shenanigans, to candid (and silly) chats with the most important personalities in the space, this show screams "Sports Are Fun!"

Subscribe to Just Women's Sports on YouTube to never miss an episode.

WSL side Manchester City parted ways with manager Gareth Taylor on Monday, just five days before the club faces table-leaders Chelsea in Saturday’s League Cup final — and nine days before they meet Chelsea once again in the UEFA Champions League quarterfinals.

In his nearly five years at the helm, Taylor led Man City to an overall 117-15-29 record, picking up the 2020 FA Cup and 2022 League Cup along the way.

Taylor departs just one year into a three-year contract renewal with the club.

"Manchester City prides itself on competing at the top of the WSL and on its outstanding record of qualifying for European competition," said Man City managing director Charlotte O'Neill in a club statement. "Unfortunately, results this season have so far not reached this high standard."

Former City coach Nick Cushing — who led the team from 2013 to 2020 — will take over interim manager duties for the remainder of the season.

Taylor’s dismissal follows a number of big-name WSL coaching changes, with Arsenal’s Jonas Eidevall and Liverpool’s Matt Beard both exiting the league this season.

Eidevall has since taken over as head coach for the NWSL’s San Diego Wave.

Despite rumblings that Taylor could follow suit and fill the vacancy with the Wave’s SoCal rival Angel City, those rumors appear to be overblown.

Manchester City still in the hunt for non-WSL titles

Sitting 12 points behind Chelsea with just six matchdays left in their 2024/25 season, fourth-place Man City's WSL title hopes have dimmed. However, they remain very much in the running for the League Cup, FA Cup, and Champions League honors.

That said, the Citizens are staring down an unusually demanding gauntlet against one of the world’s top clubs this month.

After facing Chelsea in Saturday's League Cup final and next week's Champions League quarterfinals, City will again take on the Blues in a March 23rd regular-season matchup before wrapping up the pair's two-leg Champions League quarters on March 27th.

Ultimately, the pressure for top WSL teams to properly challenge Chelsea’s years-long dominance is mounting — and some coaches appear to be bearing the brunt of those ambitions.

The buzzer sounded on the eight-week regular season of Unrivaled 3×3 Basketball on Monday, as the inaugural league bids farewell to two teams who failed to advance to the four-squad playoffs.

Both the Mist and Phantom BC fell below the four-team cutoff line, eliminating each club from playoff contention and sending superstars like Unrivaled co-founder Breanna Stewart and Phantom center Brittney Griner home.

Neither team fully found their rhythm in 3×3 play, with both struggling out of the gate to ultimately take the longest to register their first wins in the offseason league.

That said, while the Phantom's elimination was clear-cut, the Mist fell from the playoffs on what was arguably a technicality.

Locked together with Vinyl BC on the Unrivaled table, the final postseason spot came down to multiple tiebreakers. With head-to-head records being equal at 1-1, the final semifinal spot went to the team with the better record against the other three playoff teams — the Lunar Owls, Rose BC, and Laces.

The Vinyl's 3-6 record against that trio edged the Mist's 2-7 record — though one of those three Vinyl victories came from a February forfeit by the injury-laden Laces.

That stat booked Rhyne Howard and the No. 4-seed Vinyl a semifinal matchup with co-founder Napheesa Collier and the top-seeded Lunar Owls, a team that blasted through the season to finish with five more wins than any other club.

After clinching the No. 2 seed, Rose BC — the only team to defeat the Lunar Owls all season — will battle Kayle McBride's No. 3-seed Laces in the second single-elimination semifinal. That said, Rose may be without star Angel Reese, who exited Monday's regular-season finale after re-injuring her wrist.

How to watch the 2025 Unrivaled 3x3 Basketball semifinals

The four squads still standing tip off Unrivaled's first-ever playoffs on Sunday, March 16th, setting the stage for Monday's championship game.

The first semifinal between the Rose and Laces will begin at 7:30 PM ET, immediately followed by the Vinyl's battle against the Lunar Owls.

Sunday's semifinals will air live on TNT.

ESPN’s women's college basketball coverage has exploded across the broadcast giant's platforms, with regular-season viewership 3% up from last year’s record-breaking run and 41% up from 2022/23.

ESPN reports that 2024/25’s overall ratings were their highest since the 2008/09 season, with 2.9 billion minutes of live women's college basketball games consumed.

While this year’s regular-season peaks outdrew last year’s top matchups, ESPN also saw significant growth in steady viewership.

Across the 87 games the broadcaster aired, each game averaged 280,000 viewers, with a record-breaking 15 games drawing over 500,000 viewers.

Due to network partnership deals, ESPN is still missing the rights to Big Ten coverage, while the SEC continues to pull in the heaviest numbers.

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Flagship channels see top women's college basketball viewership

The company's flagship networks also saw significant individual ratings growth in their NCAA women's basketball coverage. Games on ESPN drew an average of 511,000 fans, for an increase of 13% over last season's coverage on the network.

Even more, the three games the broadcaster upgraded to ABC gave the channel an average of 1.3 million viewers, for an overall increase of 120% over 2023/24 games.

ABC also the regular season's two biggest audiences.

Just one week after ESPN broke the 1 million viewer mark with then-No. 4 Texas' upset win over No. 2 South Carolina, ABC's February 16th UConn vs. South Carolina plus Texas vs. LSU shattered double-header that stat.

Then-No. 5 UConn’s 87-58 blowout of the reigning national champion Gamecocks attracted the season’s biggest audience, garnering an average of 1.8 million viewers with a peak of 2.2 million.

Texas’s 65-58 victory over the then-No. 7 Tigers snagged the 2024/25 season's second-biggest audience, peaking at 2.3 million viewers while drawing an average of 1.7 million fans.

Besides leading this season's ratings, those two blockbuster matchups registered as the third and fourth highest regular-season women's college basketball viewership in ESPN's history.