We Back Baby!

NWSL begins!

It feels like it has been a long time since the championship in November where Orlando Pride took the trophy. This weekend was the start of the NWSL season, and it did not disappoint. NWSL got rid of the college draft, and let college graduates negotiate and go where they would like to go. There are plenty of new faces on new teams this season. The start of the season was Friday, March 14th with two games. Orlando Pride (6) vs Chicago Red Stars (0): According to the scoreline, Chicago Red Stars had no chance and were defeated horribly. With Mallory Swanson out for personal reasons, she was most definitely missed. Orlando dominated a great bounceback from their Challenge Cup loss and is looking to go back-to-back. Houston Dash (1) vs Washington Spirit (2): Spirit was able to score both goals in the first half. Without losing hope, Dash was able to score in the second half but wasn’t able to equalize. On Saturday were a handful of games: KC Current (3) vs Portland Thorns (1). Besides the windy weather, Current dominated and it seemed like Portland was still getting into the groove of things. Not having Sophia Wilson was very obvious due to the lack of goals. Utah Royals (1) vs. Bay FC (1): It was an intense game and could have gone either way. None of them were able to equalize. Racing Louisville (1) vs. NC Courage (1): The weather was rainy and cold, which had an impact on the pace of the game. Louisville was able to score early, but NC Courage equalized in the second half. Seattle Reign (1) vs. Gotham FC (1): Gotham scored first in the second half, and it continued scoreless up until the 71st minute. Seattle was able to equalize, and in the 87th minute, Gotham player Mandy Freeman got ejected. Seattle was unable to score with one player less.

Unrivaled Comes to a Close

Tonight will be the night that we get to see who will become the first-ever Unrivalred champion. It seemed like it was just yesterday we were introduced to this new women’s professional basketball league. The talent was there, and it did not disappoint. Every game felt like a playoff game, with players giving it everything they had. We got to see star players link up with other star players and see their amazing chemistry. It's like how Chelsea Gray and Angel Reese balled out together on Team Rose. Or how Skylar Diggins-Smith and Napheesa tras- talk every other team together. Unrivaled has given the fans another league to look forward to after the short WNBA season. While also giving the fans something unique to watch, like the 1V1 tournament that displayed the high-quality talent many players had. In that tournament, we had upsets like Shakira Austin defeating Chelsea Grey in the first round and young star Aliyah Edwards defeating WNBA defending champ and league co-founder Brianna Stewart in the first round. Aliyah kept that momentum and made it to the final where she lost to Napheesa Collier. For Unrivaled co-founder Napheesa Collier this season has been more than she could ever dream of. She won $250,000 for winning the 1v1 tournament, her team has been the number one team in the league and she also was crowned the league MVP before Sunday’s semifinal games. It is safe to say that Unrivaled has been a major success and fans will be looking forward to the next season. Don’t forget to tune in tonight at 7:30 pm E.T. to watch the Rose take on Vinyl in the Championship game.

Get Your Brackets Ready

This past Sunday was selection Sunday for the Women’s NCAA basketball tournament, better known as March Madness. The tournament is separated into four regions, so there are four possible No.1 seeds that top teams like Texas, South Carolina, UCLA, and USC. The opening region started with the NO.1 Overall team in the country, the UCLA Bruins, who are the BIG 10 champions. They host in the Spokane Region 1, which will also have the ACC runner-ups NC State as the 2-seed. In Spokane Region 2, UCLA arch-rivals USC will be the No.1 team and will have to possibly battle UConn, the 2-seed in the elite eight. On the other side of the bracket in the Birmingham Region Two, we have the SEC champion, South Carolina, as the No.1 seed, but during the selection show, it was clear that South Carolina was not too happy about not being the No.1 overall team in the country. This will most likely give them a chip on their shoulder to prove why the 2024 NCAA defending champs deserved that final No.1 season ranking. In the Birmingham region 4, the last No.1 seed was given to the Texas Longhorns. Now, a quick reminder that this is March Madness, and rankings do not guarantee wins. The bracket is stacked, and there are many teams that can make a deep run, like Kentucky or Notre Dame who dropped down to No.3 in their region. Fill out your brackets this week because the first round will kick off on March 21st.