Stanford University Women’s Field Hockey’s season is done. It’s likely that so, too, is their program. 

The Field Hockey program was one of 11 cut by Stanford prior to the 2020-21 academic year, with the school citing finances and “competitive excellence” as their reasons for dismantling the programs.

Prior to Sunday’s loss in the NCAA tournament to top-ranked North Carolina in the Elite Eight, Stanford Field Hockey won its second-straight America East Championship and its fourth in the past five seasons. 

Stanford competed in the NCAA tournament with a stripe through their school’s name in continuation of a season-long protest. The statement echoes the all-black unitards Stanford wrestlers wore at the NCAA championships, including the wrestling team’s second-ever national champion, Shane Griffith. 

Following the loss, UNC Field Hockey tweeted in support of Stanford’s program.

Bigger than what happens on the field 💙🏑❤️

This was the scene following our game today as Tar Heel captain @courtnie_w delivered a message of support to @StanfordFH on behalf of our program #FHfamily pic.twitter.com/cIyPiE5JW0

— UNC Field Hockey (@UNCFieldHockey) May 2, 2021

Prior to their game against the Cardinal earlier in the tournament, the Miami Redhawks were seen holding a banner in support of the program.

This is the reality so many schools are facing. This pic was taken today at the NCAA Tournament for Field Hockey prior to Stanford’s game. The team holding the banner is their opponent. pic.twitter.com/ngDzINDBwO

— Mackenzie Wenger (@mac_wenger) April 30, 2021

A group of Stanford alumni called 36 Sports Strong has formed to try and reverse the university’s decision. So far, it has received more than $50 million in pledges to save the sports. The group, with advocates Andrew Luck (football), Julie Foudy (soccer), Kerri Walsh Jennings (volleyball), Josh Childress (basketball), Janet Evans (swimming) and Michelle Wie (golf), believes they will be able to raise enough money to allow the sports to become financially self-sustaining. 

However, their efforts have been met with staunch refusal by the administration to discuss possible solutions. The administration alleges that 36 Sports Strong’s financial evaluation is inaccurate.

“Discontinuing sports was an extremely painful decision, and it was driven by the financial challenges of supporting twice as many varsity teams as the Division I average at the level we believe is essential for our student-athletes to excel,” said a Stanford spokesperson. “The fundraising numbers cited by groups that have organized to reinstate individual sports and all 11 sports have significantly underestimated the total amount of funding required to support the programs they wish to reinstate and, in most cases, do not appear to be accounting for the need to adhere to Title IX gender equity requirements.”

But some don’t believe the decision was truly financial. Others have pointed to admissions as a potential issue, as the roughly 850 athletes make up 12 percent of the undergraduate population. While each athlete holds impressive academic achievements, the admissions threshold for a recruited athlete is not as stringent as the general population, resulting in the belief that the decision to cut the sports was to open up 240 admissions slots to students with different academic profiles. 

The idea that “competitive excellence” was a factor has fallen flat as the cut programs have excelled in their respective sports during their seasons. 

Yet the university has remained strong in asserting that the cuts were about finances and competitive excellence. 

As for Stanford Field Hockey, the program certainly isn’t going quietly. So far, the petition to save Stanford’s field hockey team has garnered almost 20,000 signatures.

ESPN scored a pair of blockbuster wins last weekend, as Sunday’s NCAA basketball doubleheader featuring No. 5 UConn vs. No. 6 South Carolina plus No. 2 Texas vs. No. 7 LSU earned the network record viewership.

First, UConn’s 87-58 blowout of the reigning national champion Gamecocks garnered an average of 1.8 million viewers with a peak of 2.2 million. Later, Texas’s 65-58 victory over the Tigers peaked at 2.3 million viewers while drawing an average of 1.7 million fans.

The back-to-back lineup became the most-watched women's basketball games across ESPN platforms this season. Even more, the matchups registered the third and fourth highest regular-season viewership in the NCAA sport in the broadcast giant's history.

Sunday’s pregame show also put up impressive numbers, becoming the most-watched regular-season Women’s College Gameday since 2010.

Notably, Sunday's doubleheader aired on the broadcast conglomerate's flagship network, ABC — placing some of the country's tops college stars into a prime national spotlight.

Fans tune in as NCAA season sprints toward March Madness

With March's postseason play fast approaching, interest in top NCAA basketball programs — and the elite stars on their rosters — continues to explode throughout the 2024/25 regular season.

ESPN’s ratings have risen accordingly, with UConn’s December upset loss to Notre Dame averaging 847,000 viewers, while South Carolina’s win over SEC rivals LSU averaged 1.56 million fans last month.

Ultimately, when major networks elevate regular-season women's college basketball games, fans consistently respond with massive viewership numbers. For ESPN, there’s nowhere to go but up, as the NCAA tournament rights-holder keeps successfully pushing college coverage.

How to watch Top 25 NCAA basketball on Thursday

With almost 260 college basketball games earning airtime across ESPN's platforms this week, 16 of the country's Top 25 teams will be featured on the broadcaster's networks before next Wednesday.

Top Thursday matchups include an SEC clash between No. 18 Alabama and hosts No. 15 Tennessee, which tips off at 6:30 PM ET and will stream live on ESPN subsidiary SECN+.

Earning a prime broadcast spot on ESPN2 is No. 11 Duke, who will host unranked Louisville at 7 PM ET.

Spain's High Court issued a guilty verdict to Luis Rubiales early Thursday morning, finding that the former Spanish football federation president sexually assaulted Spain national team striker Jenni Hermoso.

The two-week trial centered on Rubiales forcibly kissing Hermoso during the 2023 World Cup trophy ceremony, as well as coercion attempts by both Rubiales and three other co-defendants to prod Hermoso into telling the public that the kiss was consensual after the fact.

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Rubiales fined but avoids jail sentence

In the ruling, the court ordered Rubiales to pay a fine of €10,800 for the assault offense, but cleared him of coercion alongside the other trio of ex-federation officials.

Rubiales faced up to four years in prison if convicted on both charges, with prosecutors arguing for an incarceration period of two-and-a-half years. Also on the table was a maximum €50,000 in damages as well as a permanent ban on Rubiales from ever serving as a sports official again.

In addition to the fine, the judge banned Rubiales from communicating with or being within a 200-meter radius of Hermoso for one year. He must also compensate her an additional €3,000 for "moral damage."

In his delivery, Judge José Manuel Fernández-Prieto deemed the kiss "not the normal way of greeting people with whom one does not have an emotional relationship."

Despite calling it a "reprehensible act," the judge ruled against prison time on the basis that there was no intimidation or violence.

"The pecuniary penalty must be chosen, which is less serious than the custodial sentence," Fernández-Prieto explained in his ruling.

Rubiales sentencing earns praise and consternation

While many are celebrating Thursday's guilty verdict, the Rubiales's punishment sparked differing reactions — namely due to the lack of incarceration time.

Applauding the outcome was Spain’s minister of equality Ana Redondo, who tweeted, "When there is no consent, there is aggression, and that is what the judge certifies in this sentence."

On the other hand, the Federation of Progressive Women, a Spanish nonprofit that fights for gender equity, said the minimal sentencing sparked "deep disappointment."

"It has a deactivating effect on complaints from women who suffer #sexualviolence, reinforces distrust in the judicial system, and strengthens aggressors."

The 2025 SheBelieves Cup kicks off on Thursday, when head coach Emma Hayes’s refreshed USWNT roster will take on No. 21 Colombia at Houston’s Shell Energy Stadium.

The match is the first of three international friendlies that the world No. 1 USWNT will play during the annual tournament's 10th edition, with games against No. 15 Australia and No. 8 Japan set for Sunday and Wednesday, respectively.

SheBelieves to test young USWNT players

With a number of big-name veterans missing from the February roster and the road to the 2027 World Cup just beginning, Hayes is using the 2025 SheBelieves Cup to try out less experienced USWNT players against some of the world’s best contenders.

"The reality is we have top ability, that's clear, but we want to develop a combination of things: their personal resilience, which we do, and their learning mindset," Hayes told reporters earlier this week.

"We give them the opportunity, and that opportunity will either tell us that they're ready now, or they're ready later."

One guaranteed area of focus throughout the tournament will be goalkeeping, as the USWNT seeks a replacement for previous mainstay Alyssa Naeher, who hung up her boots at the end of 2024.

With Naeher and her 115 career appearances behind them, Hayes confirmed that both Jane Campbell and Mandy McGlynn are expected to earn starts during this window.

Campbell, the net-minder for the NWSL's Houston Dash, has eight caps with the USWNT, while Utah Royals keeper McGlynn earned her first and only appearance in the team's 3-0 win over Argentina last October.

"[Campbell and McGlynn] have to demonstrate they can make the important decisions under pressure — both sides of the ball," Hayes noted.

With Hayes firmly past the "must win" mode with which she began her USWNT tenure, her next challenge is to properly test this new next-gen roster’s resilience, as the slow and steady ramp-up to the Brazil-hosted 2027 World Cup outweighs immediate results.

How to watch the USWNT vs. Colombia in the SheBelieves Cup

The USWNT will kick off against Colombia at 8 PM ET on Thursday, with live coverage across TBS, Max, and Peacock.

The PWHL Player Safety Committee issued fines to two star players on Tuesday, after reviewing penalties that occurred during Saturday’s matchup between the Montréal Victoire and the New York Sirens.

Victoire forward Marie-Philip Poulin was charged a $500 fine for roughing in the second period. The Committee found that she "exhibited no attempt at playing the puck as she hit her opponent in retaliatory fashion."

Forward Dara Greig also caught a fine for a second-period penalty. There, the PWHL issued a $250 penalty charge for boarding after determining that Greig's check came "from behind and caused her opponent to impact the boards dangerously."

The league-leading Victoire went on to beat the Sirens 6-2.

Poulin pays back-to-back PWHL fines

This week’s ruling marked Greig’s first-ever PWHL fine. However, Victoire captain Poulin has now tallied two, with her first coming less than two weeks ago. That was when she incurred a $250 fine after a major penalty for charging during Montréal's 2-1 win over the Sirens on February 2nd.

In that incident, Poulin avoided an immediate "game misconduct" determination by on-ice referees. As outlined by PWHL rules, it was ruled that the charge did not cause injury to the head or face of her opponent.

Unlike Poulin's first fine, both her second and Greig's initial offense came from incidents that constituted minor penalties during competition.

PWHL monitors player safety in growing pro women's league

Operating under a new set of rules governing both gameplay and disciplinary action, the second-year women’s pro ice hockey league is still navigating how to handle penalties and when to impose fines.

Charting the league's disciplinary course is especially complex in a sport where body checking and other forms of physicality are hallmarks of the game.

When those tactics are deployed strategically, they can intensify the PWHL's already tough competition. However, that's only as long as the league's safety guardrails are clear enough to ensure player protection.