UNLV women’s basketball bowed out in the first round of the NCAA Tournament last season. This time around, the Runnin’ Rebels are aiming higher, star Desi-Rae Young said.

Young helped UNLV to a Mountain West tournament championship Wednesday and to a 31-2 record so far this season. If the No. 21 Rebels hadn’t secured the automatic bid with the tournament title, they would have been shoo-ins for an at-large berth.

And wherever they end up on Selection Sunday, they’re ready to wreak havoc as aspiring bracket busters.

“We want to go farther than last year,” Young told KTNV ahead of the Mountain West championship game.

UNLV looked solid in a 71-60 win against Wyoming (22-10) to clinch their second consecutive title, and Young won the tournament MVP award with 28 points and 17 rebounds.

“I’m just so incredibly proud of our team for doing whatever it takes,” coach Lindy La Rocque said. “They had a look in their eyes this morning, and I knew we were going to come away with this one.”

Now, the Rebels must ready themselves for March Madness.

Last season, as a No. 13 seed, UNLV fell in the first round to No. 4 seed Arizona. This season, Just Women’s Sports writer Eden Laase has the team pegged as a No. 12 seed with strong upset potential.

The Rebels will roll into this year’s NCAA Tournament with a 22-game winning streak and with a new swagger.

“We’re coming in with an aggression we didn’t have much last year,” Young said. “We want it this year.”

The team will also have the Las Vegas Aces in its corner as it heads into the tournament. Aces guard and 2022 WNBA Most Improved Player Jackie Young cheered on the Rebels during the Mountain West title game Wednesday at the Thomas & Mack Center on UNLV’s campus.

Checking in from the @MountainWest Championship ✌️@JackieYoung3 // @UNLVLadyRebels pic.twitter.com/c0MgMIJlAi

— Las Vegas Aces (@LVAces) March 9, 2023

Good night champs @UNLVLadyRebels 🏆 pic.twitter.com/R5kE0uA7xR

— Las Vegas Aces (@LVAces) March 9, 2023

Florida State sits on top of the world of NCAA soccer once again, as the No. 3-seed Seminoles staged a 1-0 upset of overall No. 1-seed Stanford in Monday night's 2025 College Cup final to secure FSU's fifth national championship.

For the second time in two matches, sophomore forward Wrianna Hudson played hero by netting the Seminoles' lone goal, breaking Monday's deadlock in the 87th minute to snag the national title — and this year's Offensive Most Outstanding Player award.

"I'm honestly just so grateful. My team worked so hard and I'm so glad we got the [winning] outcome, because we really went through it this game," Hudson said after the match.

View this post on Instagram

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

Hudson's game-winner capped an impressive team-wide defensive performance that snapped the Cardinal's 17-game unbeaten streak, with goalkeeper and Defensive Most Outstanding Player Kate Ockene staging nine saves to keep Stanford — and their NCAA tournament record-breaking offense —— scoreless in Monday's rematch of the 2023 College Cup final.

With the Seminoles now owning five of the last 12 NCAA trophies, their 2025 College Cup title marks FSU's third championship in the last five years, proving that Florida State haven't slowed down since legendary head coach Mark Krikorian left the program to join the Washington Spirit's front office in 2022.

As for the Cardinal, Stanford will rue missed chances after outshooting Florida State 18-8 in Monday's title game.

With a now 3-4 overall record in College Cup finals, Stanford's focus shifts to next season, when the Card will again aim to secure their first NCAA soccer championship since 2019.

Manchester United has a chance to bounce back from their first 2025/26 UEFA Women's Champions League defeat — a 5-2 rout at the hands of Wolfsburg last month — as the UWCL league phase continues with a series of exciting matchups this week.

"The Wolfsburg game, we gave away too many simple goals," Manchester United manager Marc Skinner said on Friday. "That's something we need to fix."

The Champions League debutantes have another difficult opponent waiting for them in their fifth league-phase match on Wednesday, when the Red Devils will contend with eight-time European champions OL Lyonnes, who have yet to suffer a loss in this season's competition.

That said, the return of USWNT goalkeeper Phallon Tullis-Joyce to the European competition will bolster United this week, with the 29-year-old officially available to play as she continues recovering from a fractured eye socket that kept her out of the final US training camp of 2025.

While Manchester United and their Wednesday opponent OL Lyonnes have all-but-guaranteed themselves at least a playoff spot in the 2025/26 UWCL knockout rounds, other top sides like the reigning six-time WSL champions Chelsea and current Champions League title-holders Arsenal chase them in the standings.

Both Chelsea and Arsenal face intriguing matchups during this week's UWCL competition, as the Gunners play Dutch club Twente on Tuesday before the Blues take on Italian side Roma on Wednesday.

How to watch this week's 2025/26 Champions League action

The fifth matchday of the 2025/26 UWCL league phase kicks off with Austria's St. Pölten against Italy's Juventus at 12:45 PM ET on Tuesday, with Arsenal taking the pitch against Twente at 3 PM ET.

Both Manchester United's clash with OL Lyonnes and Chelsea's bout with Roma will begin at 3 PM ET on Wednesday.

All 2025/26 Champions League matches will stream live on Paramount+.

The 2025 College Cup locked in its finalists last Friday, with the NCAA soccer tournament's overall No. 1-seed Stanford and No. 3-seed Florida State advancing past the competition in the semifinals to book an all-ACC championship match for the third straight year.

Stanford kept to their winning ways by ousting No. 2-seed Duke 1-0 on Friday, with senior midfielder Jasmine Aikey burying a 10th-minute free kick to take down the Blue Devils with her 21st goal of the season.

Florida State similarly landed a single strike to end the championship run of No. 2-seed TCU in their semifinal, benefitting from a second-half breakthrough from sophomore forward Wrianna Hudson in the game's 73rd minute.

View this post on Instagram

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

A full half of the last 14 NCAA titles have gone to either the Seminoles or the Cardinal, with Florida State edging Stanford 4-3 in national trophies thus far.

On Monday, the Cardinal will hunt their first national title since their epic penalty shootout victory in 2019, when Stanford narrowly defeated NCAA women's soccer dynasty North Carolina 5-4 from the spot after a 0-0 draw.

Florida State, on the other hand, won the 2023 title with a 5-1 thrashing of the Cardinal.

Stanford arguably holds the advantage over their ACC rivals entering Monday's match, having handed FSU a 2-1 defeat on their own Tallahassee pitch less than two months ago.

How to watch the 2025 College Cup final

No. 1 Stanford will face No. 3 Florida State for the 2025 NCAA women's soccer championship at 7 PM ET on Monday, airing live on ESPNU.

The NWSL may be forcing Washington Spirit superstar Trinity Rodman to "look elsewhere" for her next contract, after the league vetoed a multi-million dollar offer from her current squad last week, Rodman's agent told CBS Mornings last Friday.

"We worked really hard to put together an agreement that we felt complied with the CBA and would keep Trinity in the league for the foreseeable future," said Rodman's rep Mike Senkowski.

"With no certain way to get her fair market value within the NWSL, naturally, that forces you and encourages you to look elsewhere," he continued.

While the fight to keep Rodman Stateside is not over, with the NWSLPA filing a grievance last week arguing that the league office's mandate to reject the Spirit's back-loaded contract — worth more than $1 million per year — is a free agency violation, the NWSL appears unwilling to budge.

In a weekend clarification to The Athletic, an NWSL source noted that commissioner Jessica Berman contests that the Spirit's offer to raise Rodman's compensation in the contract's later years would pull Washington out of salary cap compliance in 2028, with the league disagreeing with the club regarding the potential cap growth under a new broadcast deal.

The league source also noted that the offer has a built-in buyout clause, which the NWSL believes signals an admission of possible salary cap circumvention.

As the Washington Spirit and NWSL fans hope for a win from the union's grievance, the door to recruit Rodman elsewhere seems to be wide open for overseas clubs — particularly those with deep pockets.