The NWHL is expanding to Toronto for the upcoming 2020-2021 season, the league announced on Wednesday.

BREAKING: The NWHL is officially coming to Canada at the start of Season 6 ????????

????: https://t.co/BnHaylRTDh pic.twitter.com/OFp0EsRU5c

— NWHL (@NWHL) April 22, 2020

This will be the first Canadian team to join what is currently the only professional women’s hockey league in North America following the discontinuation of the Canadian Women’s Hockey League in 2019. The as-yet-unnamed Toronto franchise will be the sixth in the league. The ownership group is led by Johanna Neilson Boynton, a former captain of the Harvard’s women’s hockey team. Margaret “Diget” Murphy, a longtime college and CWHL coach, is the team president, while Tyler Tumminia will serve as a chairman.

The NWHL was supposed to wrap up its fifth season in March, but had to postpone due to the coronavirus.

The league still has a few logistics it needs to sort out, including where the Toronto club will play and how the NWHL will handle salaries and insurance considering it’s a U.S.-based business. Nevertheless, league officials are thrilled to be expanding to what is a hotbed for the sport, with commissioner Dani Rylan calling the move “a pivotal and proud moment for the NWHL.”

The city of Toronto has likewise welcomed the expansion.

“Our city has a rich history with professional women’s hockey and we are excited to begin this next chapter with the NWHL,” said Toronto mayor John Tory in a statement. “I hope that this team achieves success and longevity in our city and that this team will serve as an inspiration for young girls to pursue careers in professional sports.”

Last year, a group of nearly 200 players, including many of the sport’s biggest names, chose not to play in the NWHL, instead creating the Professional Women’s Hockey Players Association. The PWHPA has stated that it intends to boycott all professional leagues in North America in the hopes that a new one will emerge promising greater financial stability. As that has yet to happen, the PWHPA is planning to offer counterprogramming for the second straight year.

In a statement regarding the expansion, the PWHPA said “the opportunities that the NWHL will provide may be good some players, but it’s not the opportunities that we want for our players or for future generations of young girls who will play this game at the highest level.”

????PWHPA statement on NWHL expansion pic.twitter.com/uCvuZYBc9h

— PWHPA (@PWHPA) April 22, 2020

In our own interview with Hilary Knight, the de-facto face of the PWHPA, Knight likewise insisted there was no truth to the “us versus them” narrative pitting the PWHPA against the NWHL.

“I think there’s just a difference of opinion as to how to move the game forward,” said Knight. “I always want to be honest about what I believe is right for the sport, and how people receive it is entirely up to them. I am not on a personal mission to exploit or ‘destroy’ a league, but I will be critical of something that makes lofty claims and doesn’t measure up.”

With half of the Elite Eight now set, a few Big Ten underdogs still have a shot at disrupting the No. 1 seed stronghold at the 2025 NCAA volleyball tournament this weekend.

The No. 3-seed Purdue Boilermakers are through to the quarterfinals after defeating No. 2-seed SMU 3-1 on Thursday, while the No. 4-seed Indiana Hoosiers, No. 3 seed-Wisconsin Badgers, and the still-undefeated overall No. 1 seed Nebraska Cornhuskers all face stiff Sweet Sixteen competition on Friday afternoon.

Coming off a strong regular season, the Big Ten could still field half of the quarterfinal round — though that would require the first No. 1-seed upset of the 2025 national tournament in the form of an Indiana victory over top-seeded Texas.

Bolstered by their defensive leader, senior middle blocker Madi Sell, the Hoosiers booked just their second-ever Sweet Sixteen trip with last week's win over No. 5 Colorado, with Indiana now hoping their lucky run continues against the 2022 and 2023 champion Longhorns.

Meanwhile, the No. 1 Huskers will look to keep rolling against No. 4-seed Kansas while the No. 3 Badgers aim to snag another Big Ten spot in the Elite Eight by ousting No. 2-seed Stanford on Friday.

How to watch the 2025 NCAA volleyball tournament this weekend

The NCAA volleyball tournament's Sweet Sixteen action will wrap with four games on Friday, starting with No. 1 Texas vs. No. 4 Indiana at 12 PM ET.

The Elite Eight will then meet at the net on Saturday and Sunday to determine the last-standing teams heading to next week's Final Four in Kansas City.

All of this weekend's NCAA tournament games will air live across ESPN platforms.

Team USA is on a roll, officially taking the four-game 2025 Rivalry Series against Canada before the slate of friendlies is even over, with the US collecting three consecutive wins so far — and one shot left at making it a clean sweep.

The US downed their northern neighbors by a commanding 10-4 scoreline in Edmonton on Wednesday, marking Team USA's first-ever 10-goal victory against the reigning Olympic champs — all while upping the 2025 series' goal tally to 20-6.

While each team fine-tunes rosters ahead of the 2026 Olympics, one test remains for both international hockey titans before the Winter Games take the ice in February.

"The work doesn't stop. Our Olympic team is not named. There's still one more game to go," said USA captain Kendall Coyne Schofield, acknowledging that her squad is not taking their foot off the gas despite the recent lopsided results.

"We have one more game against them before the Olympics," echoed Canada captain Marie-Philip Poulin. "We're all aware of that."

How to watch Team USA vs. Canada in the 2025 Rivalry Series

The puck drops on the final match of the sixth annual hockey Rivalry Series between the USA and Canada in Edmonton, Alberta, on Saturday.

Live coverage of the clash will begin at 9 PM ET on the NHL Network.

The latest FIFA women's soccer rankings dropped on Thursday, with Spain widening their lead at No. 1 after winning a second consecutive UEFA Nations League title earlier this month.

The USWNT held steady at No. 2, ceding 7.48 points after losing an October friendly to No. 22 Portugal before going on to secure four straight wins over Portugal, No. 35 New Zealand, and No. 13 Italy to close out 2025.

Elsewhere in the FIFA Top 10, No. 3 Germany and No. 6 Brazil both saw boosts after successful fall runs, while Canada skidded to No. 10 amid a recent five-match winless streak, with Les Rouges's last victory coming against No. 43 Costa Rica last June.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Just Women’s Sports (@justwomenssports)

The biggest changes, however, occurred outside the top ranks, as No. 96 Nicaragua, No. 118 Burkina Faso, and No. 137 American Samoa all rose by 16 spots.

Notably, upcoming USWNT opponent Paraguay saw the largest drop in this month's Top 50, sliding five spots to No. 46.

Ultimately, as the USWNT battled to keep pace in a year of roster experimentation — and without a major competition on the team's 2025 docket — the many international competitions in Europe benefitted victors and challenged losers in this week's FIFA rankings update.

The No. 16 USC Trojans are gearing up for another top-ranked test, hosting the reigning national champion No. 1 UConn Huskies in the weekend's flashiest NCAA women's basketball matchup on Saturday.

Coming off their second ranked win of the season, USC topped No. 20 Washington 59-50 last Sunday, with 22 points and 12 rebounds from freshman Jazzy Davidson helping pull the Trojans to a 7-2 record.

"I saw a resolve in our team," said head coach Lindsay Gottlieb afterwards. "I knew we could get the next stop, I knew we could get the next play."

USC will face a particularly familiar foe against the Huskies — this time without sidelined star junior JuJu Watkins — after UConn knocked the Trojans out of the NCAA tournament two years in a row.

Notably, sophomore guard Kayleigh Heckel departed USC over the summer for the Huskies, with the former Trojan averaging 7.7 points per game entering Saturday's clash with her old team.

"I just try to take one game at a time, but I'm excited to go back," Heckel said ahead of her first trip back to LA since transferring. "I had a great freshman year there, and I learned a lot, and it was a great experience, a lot of fond memories. So I'm looking forward to it."

How to watch No. 1 UConn vs. No. 16 USC on Saturday

The Trojans will host the Huskies with tip-off set for 5:30 PM ET on Saturday.

Live coverage of the clash will air on FOX.