Championship Sunday Delivers

Washington Spirit get Their Revenge

This past Friday the Washington Spirit and Orlando Pride kicked off the NWSL season in the Challenge Cup final. The Challenge cup is a game between the two best teams from the previous season, usually the regular season champs vs league champs. Since Orlando won both this game was going to be a rematch of the NWSL final against the Washington Spirit. After last seasons 1-0 loss the Spirit were left heartbroken but hungry to come back stronger for this season. On Friday the game kicked off just like last year the emotion was still there from there final and both teams were playing at a high pace. Both teams had chances but it wasn’t until the 41st minute that Orlandos Rafaelle was able to put them up 1-0 after finishing a rebound off a Marta free kick. After half the Spirit had no choice but to pick up the intensity because they didn’t want to lose in this way again. Finally, in the 72nd minute Washintons’s newest star Leicey Santos scored a banger to bring the game level. The last 15 minutes were a complete stand still as neither team was able to find the winning goal causing this rematch to go to penalties kicks. Washintons’s keeper Aubrey Kingsberry had been here before and it was clear to see that this was where she thrived. Both team made the first two kicks but then Orlando missed their third kick giving the Spirit the advantage. Then Kingsbury made the heroic save as she blocked the fourth kick from Orlando giving her teammates the chance to win it all with the next kick. Tara Mckeown stepped up and blasted the game winning PK into the upper net and Washington were able to celebrate a comeback win for the Challenge Cup trophy. They got the revenge on Orlando which could be the fuel they need for the season ahead. This Friday 14th, the NWSL regular season will officially start and the Spirit will start their campaign as the 2025 Challenge Cup winners.

Championship Sunday Delivers

Sunday was championship Sunday for NCAA women’s basketball, the stakes were high and the match-ups intense. Every conference championship game had the best match-ups, getting us ready for the excitement of “March Madness”. Starting with the ACC, NC State was going against the revenge seeking Duke Blue Devils. The Blue Devils have been on a small revenge tour to end their season from the last regular season to the tournament final game they have been knocking off teams that previously beat them earlier in the season. The highlight was their Saturday game upset against the top 5 ranked Notre Dame Fighting Irish, beating them 61-56. This Sunday was their time to finish that revenge tour and they did just that. After overcoming a double-digit deficit to defeat NC State 76-62. This is the first ACC conference Champions for Duke women’s basketball since 2013. Next was the SEC where the two top five teams battled it out for the title. The NO.1 overall team in the country Texas met NO.5 South Carolina for the third time this season. During the regular season they split the games 1 win each with Texas getting the last win. The first two games were close and came down to the wire each time but South Carolina’s head coach Dawn Staley had other plans. South Carolina had the experience in this game and it showed. They played at another level and Texas looked fatigued and lost. Texas was not able to keep up and South Carolina took off. When buzzer sounded the Gamecocks were once again SEC conference Champions for the third year in a row and their ninth overall. Over in the Big 12 TCU faced Baylor for another exciting match-up. TCU has been having one of the best seasons in school history thanks to two key transfer players Hailey Van Lith and Sedona Prince. Baylor kept the game close and gave TCU a great battle until the end. TCU won the game 64-59 giving TCU their first ever Big 12 Conference Title in school history. Last but not least the Big 10 tournament between rival schools UCLA and USC gave us the best cinema of the day. This game was not only a rivalry but also a chance for UCLA to get their revenge. USC got the better of them in the season winning both games, but the saying “win when it counts” couldn’t have been more fitting for the Bruins. Revenge was the theme for this weekend as you may have guessed and UCLA got the win and were crowned Big 10 tournament Champions. Although we only discussed the major conferences all around the country teams were winning championships and punching their tickets to the “big dance”. Next Sunday will be the most important day prior to the madness because it will be “Selection Sunday”, the day every team finds out who and where they will be playing for a chance to win it all.