AD Franch put on a clinic in goal Sunday to help Kansas City advance to the semifinals of the NWSL playoffs with a 2-1 win over the Houston Dash.

The 31-year-old goalkeeper made multiple saves to keep the score level at 1-1 in the second half, showcasing her talent in net.

Biiiiiiiiig stretch from @ADizzle23 to keep this one level! #TealRising | @thekccurrent pic.twitter.com/ytd4j7kkgf

— National Women’s Soccer League (@NWSL) October 16, 2022

Another huuuuuge save from @ADizzle23 keeping KC in this one🙌@thekccurrent | #TealRising pic.twitter.com/yFzjVCsuUR

— National Women’s Soccer League (@NWSL) October 16, 2022

Then, in stoppage time, Franch single handedly prolonged Kansas City’s season with a left-footed save against Michelle Alozie. Her save enabled Kate Del Fava to secure the win for the Current in the 10th minute of stoppage time with her first-ever NWSL goal.

Her performance Sunday backs up what was a stellar 2022 campaign for the goaltender, for which she earned a nomination for Goalkeeper of the Year.

While she was a member of last year’s Olympic team for the USWNT, Franch has yet to earn a call-up this year. She has just 10 call-ups during her career and her last national team appearance came in October of last year, when she earned a clean sheet against South Korea.

When talking about the goalkeeper pool in September, Andonovski called the competition from Franch and other NWSL goalkeepers a positive for the team.

“I feel like we’ve talked more about the goalkeeper sometimes than some of the other positions but it is important and we were excited about it because ultimately that’s what we want,” Andonovski said. “We do want good competition. We want the last in each position to push each other as much as possible and get better with it.”

Franch is certainly challenging her lack of inclusion with performances like the one she put on Sunday.

Back in July, Franch addressed the fact that she was not named to the USWNT’s Concacaf qualifying roster.

“I’m not putting anything on the record,” she told The Athletic. “The only thing that I can give you is, the best thing for me to do is to continue focusing on my team here. And, that’s just enjoying what I do. I get to play the beautiful sport. Go out and try to be better every single day, and give whatever I can to this team. That’s what I’m doing right now.”

She gave her all for Kansas City in the opening-round win, and the team will now advance to play OL Reign on Oct. 23 at 7:30 p.m. ET on CBS Sports.

The PWHL is continuing to break records, as Sunday's 2025/26 Takeover Tour stop in Washington, DC, saw 17,228 fans pack into Capital One Arena to see the No. 2 New York Sirens top the No. 4 Montréal Victoire 2-1 — setting a new US women's hockey attendance record in the process.

The benchmark surpasses the previous US record set this past November, when the Seattle Torrent welcomed 16,014 fans to their inaugural home opener.

Sunday's DC crowd also sees the US mark inch closer to the overall professional women's hockey attendance record, set in April 2024 when 21,105 PWHL fans sold out Montréal's Bell Centre to watch the Victoire take on the Toronto Sceptres.

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"Washington, DC, showed up in such a big way, and the energy our fans brought into the arena turned this game into something truly special," PWHL EVP of business operations Amy Scheer said of the first-ever PWHL game in the nation's capital. "Moments like this capture the joy of our sport and the momentum behind the league."

The third-year league is currently racing through its best-attended month on record, drawing more than 154,000 fans across the last 16 games while averaging crowds of 8,726 across all 49 games so far this season.

The Kansas City Current delivered some concerning news this week, with the NWSL club revealing that star striker Temwa Chawinga remains sidelined with an hip adductor injury while the league's 2026 preseason gets underway.

The team currently lists the reigning back-to-back NWSL MVP under a season-ending injury (SEI) designation, a category earned after Chawinga picked up the injury in mid-October, leaving the Kansas City attacker benched for the Current's quarterfinal loss to eventual 2025 NWSL champions Gotham FC.

"It's hard because of the nature of the injury," incoming Kansas City head coach Chris Armas told The Athletic last week. "With Temwa, we've got to be very careful, but she's looking great and doing lots of good work on the return to play."

Also on the Current's SEI list is standout winger Michelle Cooper, with the 23-year-old rising USWNT star suffering a foot injury in Kansas City's final regular-season match of 2025.

"It was a little bit of a tough ending here after, honestly, an amazing historic season," said Armas. "Hopefully they are back as soon as possible, but it's still unclear."

Both Chawinga and Cooper will have some time to recover before Kansas City kicks off their 2026 NWSL regular season against the Utah Royals on March 14th — with teams allowed to lift a player's SEI status any time once the season begins.

The world's top tennis stars are rolling in Melbourne, as the first round of the 2026 Australian Open wrapped early Tuesday morning with only a few ranked seeds suffering early defeats.

World No. 15 Emma Navarro was the highest-ranked US player to fall in the first round, with the 24-year-old exiting the season's first Grand Slam in a 6-3, 3-6, 3-6 loss to Poland's No. 50 Magda Linette on Sunday.

No. 11 Ekaterina Alexandrova also stumbled in the first round, with her Melbourne run ending in a three-set loss to Turkey's No. 112 Zeynep Sönmez on Saturday before No. 68 Peyton Stearns ousted fellow US star and 2020 Australian Open champion No. 30 Sofia Kenin in straight sets on Sunday.

Many contenders still remain in the hunt, however, as the entire WTA Top 10 cruised through their opening matchups to advance to the Slam's second round.

That said, fans will miss out on one highly anticipated showdown, as wild card entry Venus Williams's first-round loss ended the 45-year-old tennis icon's path to a second-round clash with US favorite No. 3 Coco Gauff.

How to watch the second round of the 2026 Australian Open

The 2026 Australian Open continues when the Slam's second round kicks off with a Tuesday night slate that features stars like No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka, No. 3 Coco Gauff, and No. 7 Jasmine Paolini.

Tuesday's action begins at 7 PM ET, with all Melbourne matches airing live across ESPN platforms.

The ongoing dominance of UConn basketball has started to break records, as the top-ranked Huskies humbled unranked Notre Dame 85-47 on Monday — keeping their perfect 2025/26 NCAA season intact.

Monday's 38-point margin of victory marked the largest in the teams' 20-year rivalry, with the win also snapping the Huskies' three-game head-to-head losing streak against the Fighting Irish.

"UConn showed why they're the best team in the country," Notre Dame head coach Niele Ivey said postgame.

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Even more, UConn sophomore forward Sarah Strong added her own individual history to Monday's tally, becoming the third-fastest Husky to reach 1,000 career points, with the 19-year-old trailing only program legends Maya Moore and Paige Bueckers — who each did so in 55 games to Strong's 59 — in the race to reach that stat.

"I would love to see if anybody has scored 1,000 points by taking less shots than she's taking," said UConn head coach Geno Auriemma. "She's so efficient."

"It means a lot to me I guess, but I wouldn't be able to do it without my teammates," Strong said after leading the Huskies with an 18-point, 11-rebound double-double on Monday night.

How to watch UConn basketball this week

UConn now returns to Big East play, with the No. 1 Huskies taking on unranked Georgetown at 7:30 PM ET on Thursday, airing live on TNT.