The Orlando Pride Crowned NWSL Champions

On Saturday, November 23rd, there were a couple of firsts. CPKC stadium hosted the NWSL final for the first time, and Orlando Pride won its first NWSL championship ever! It was an amazing day. Orlando Pride beat Washington Spirit 1-0 with a controversial first-half goal by Barbra Banda. Now, the goal wasn’t a controversial part; instead, it was the lead-up pass to the goal that shocked Washington Spirit fans. A missed foul call led to Orlando's mid-fielder being able to separate herself from a Spirit defender and send a pass to Banda, who scored the only goal. The game was intense, with there being multiple fouls and three yellow cards in the first half alone. As the second half started, it was all Washington Spirit, but unfortunately, they could not equalize. Orlando Pride earned the NWSL Shield and won the NWSL Championship. Something that has not been accomplished since 2019. Orlando Pride has been through ups and downs but did not give up. Going from being 9th in the NWSL back in 2018-2019 to NWSL Champions in 2024. Throughout that time, legendary player Marta gave her all and stuck it out. This would be her first NWSL Championship title since she arrived in 2017. Her mother flew down from Brazil to watch her play in the States for the very first time. It was an emotional sight to see once the whistle blew how much it meant to Marta. She did not give up and wanted to stay at Pride in hopes of experiencing this exact moment. The question now is whether or not Marta will hang up her cleats and officially retire on a high note. Only time will tell, but if so, it was a fairytale ending for the Goat.

Crazy Weekend for Women’s College Hoops

What a crazy weekend it was for women's college hoops. We had two top-ten matchups and two major upsets. To kick off the weekend, Hannah Hildago and Olivia Miles of Notre Dame traveled to USC to battle Juju Watkins and Kiki Iriafen. The house was packed with celebrities coming to see this top-ten match-up. Going into the game, USC was ranked third while Notre Dame was sitting at 6th. Both teams have been on a role with their respective stars averaging 20+ points a game. The ultimate match-up everyone wanted to see was between two young stars, Juju Watkins and Hannah Hildago both showed out their freshmen year, and now going into their sophomore year, it's like they didn’t skip a beat.
Although these teams are led by their star sophomores, that doesn't mean there aren't any others. Both USC and Notre Dame have their special duos. For USC, Juju Watkins's sidekick is Kiki Iriafen, who transferred from Stanford. For Hannah Hildago, it's Senior Guard Olivia Miles, who is back after missing last season with a major knee injury. So, as you can imagine, with this many stars sharing the court, the game was indeed intense. Throughout the game, USC tried to shut down Notre their freshman nt guard Hannah Hildago, but it just seemed too hard, every time they took away her shot, she found Olivia Miles, who went for 20 points herself. Juju tried to battle back, leading her team with 24 points, but it wasn’t enough as Notre Dame got the upset. After the loss, the USC head coach had this to say: "I just told the team, you don't schedule this game because you are thinking it's going to be a 40-point win," Gottlieb said. "You schedule it because you have an opportunity to have a great crowd, play well and give yourself an early signature win. Or you get exposed. “I would have chosen option one if that was my decision. But given that it was option 2, our only choice is to be exposed, stay together, and get better.". Although a loss like this won’t have too much effect on USC, it was a major win for Notre Dame as they try to get into the top 3 for the rankings. This may happen for them sooner rather than later because, on Sunday, South Carolina got upset by UCLA. Yes, you read that right: the back-back champions and number 1 team in the nation got upset 77-62 by number 5 UCLA, ending a 43-game win streak. It was a full team effort, as UCLA had multiple players with double-digit points. The defensive effort by the Bruins is what caused problems for South Carolina. The best upset of the season so far, and it is so early in the season. This season is bound to be another drama-filled season because of all the powerful teams in the top ten any team can move up to that number one seed at any moment, so make sure to watch out every week for key match-ups and more upsets to come. Women’s college basketball is BACK!!!!