Tag: Constancy Sport

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Basketball

Mist are your Unrivaled Champions but how successful was the tournament? 

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photo taken from @unrivaledbasketball and @mistbc on instagram

Mist won their first title as they faced Phantom in the Championship on Wednesday (4th March). After the 80-74 win for Mist, Breanna Stewart won MVP for the playoffs after helping the side win the championship from a two point free throw.

After the inaugural season in 2025, the competition returned for its second in 2026 after initially being founded by WNBA stars Napheesa Collier and Breanna Stewart. The League allows WNBA players to play domestically and to bypass any complications from the league’s prioritization rule for players who choose to play overseas in the offseason.  

The games are all played on a full court with two ends (being slightly shorter than the ones in the WNBA) and consists of three seven-minute periods. It is then followed by a “winning score” fourth period which is played under Elam Ending conditions (ending the game by playing to a target score). 11 points are added to the leading team’s (or tied teams’) score at the end of the third period with the game continuing with no game clock but with an active shot clock. The first team to reach or exceed the “winning score” wins and the shot clock is shortened to 18 seconds for full possession and 12 seconds for resets. 

Throughout the season: 

The season kicked off with all eight teams playing on the same day (5th January) as Mist, Laces, Rose and Breeze all won their opening games against Hive, Vinyl, Lunar Owls and Phantom respectively. Phantom led the standings after the regular season, winning 11 games and losing just three, with a winning streak of seven in a row. Mist finished in second with 10 wins and four losses with a winning streak of four in a row. The other teams to round out the play off spots were Laces, Rose, Breeze and Vinyl in that order with Vinyl clinching the last remaining spot after five wins and nine losses. 

Lunar Owls and Hive missed out on a play off spot after they both finished with four wins and 10 losses throughout the season and after point difference, Hive finished bottom in their inaugural season. 

In the Semi-Finals, they headed to Barclays Center in New York City where the arena was sold out and hosted 18,000+ fans across the two games.

1on1 Tournament: 

The tournament was held midseason over the week where the world’s best players stood on one court, just themselves and one aim – $200k. After facing Mists’ Allisha Gray in the final, Chelsea Gray from Rose won two out of three of the games in the final. 24 players started the tournament, with Kelsey Plum and Aliyah Boston being the other two to reach the semi final stages. 

In the Final: 

After losing both matchups throughout the season, Mist were coming into this as the underdogs out of the two. Both Breanna Stewart and Kelsey Plum were the stand out performers in the game with the two having 32 and 40 points to their name respectively. For Mist, Veronica Burton, Allisha Gray and Breanna Stewart all started the game with Tiffany Hayes, Kiki Iriafen and Kelsey Plum starting for Phantom. This was Iriafen’s second start in a row after playing the previous game against Vinyl in the Semi-Finals. 

Throughout the quarters, the teams were neck and neck until the third quarter, where Mist ran away with it and went 6 ahead of Phantom – 25-19 (24, 19, 12 each in the other quarters). 

Mist celebrating (L-R: Veronica Burton, Li Yueru, Alanna Smith, Arike Ogunbowale) | photo taken from @unrivaledbasketball and @mistbc on Instagram

Players of the Tournament: 

Roses’ Chelsea Gray was the MVP from the tournament after having four game winning shots, 24.2 points per game and 6.1 assists on average per game. Defensive Player of the year was Phantoms’ Aliyah Boston. She averaged 18.9 points per game, 9.7 rebounds and 2.1 blocks throughout the regular season. This was not the only award for Phantom as Roneeka Hodges got Coach of the Year after bringing her side to the number one seed in the regular season. 

Second Team for 2026 All-Unrivaled saw Brittney Skyes (Laces), Aliyah Boston (Phantom) and Allisha Gray (Mist) all in the team. Laces’ Brittney Skyes saw 20.3 points, 4.7 rebounds and 1.9 assists averaged per game in the regular season. Phantoms’ Aliyah Boston averaged 18.9 points, 9.7 rebounds and 2.1 blocks per game throughout the regular season. Finally, Mists’ Allisha Gray saw 21.8 points, 4.7 rebounds and 2.8 assists averaged per game in the regular season. 

In the first team, we saw Paige Bueckers, Chelsea Gray and Kelsey Plum all take the crown after their efforts in the regular season. Breezes’ Paige Bueckers saw an average of 22.1 points, 6.1 rebounds and 5.5 assists per game. Roses’ Chelsea Gray had averaged 24.2 points and 6.1 assists per game as well as having four game winning shots. Finally, Phantoms’ Kelsey Plum saw an average of 22.6 points, five assists and five game winning shots throughout the regular season. 

What’s Next: 

The WNBA is due to start in two months on May 8th, but will it actually start? There is current controversy over the pay given to the players after some who played in Unrivaled said that they earnt more across one year at Unrivaled than they do across multiple years in the WNBA. 

If the league does start, Opening up the season is Connecticut Sun vs New York Liberty and Washington Mystics vs Toronto Tempo as both start at 7.30pm ET. The WNBA draft for the 2026 season is on April 13th and includes the debut of two additional teams (Portland Fire and Toronto Tempo). The Las Vegas Aces will begin their campaign hunting for another back-to-back title with the first home game being against the same side they faced in the finals last year (Phoenix Mercury). 

Categories
Lionesses

Everton’s Hill Dickinson Stadium to host Lionesses world cup qualifier

PHOTO: ENGLANDFOOTBALL.COM

The Hill Dickinson Stadium is set to play host to the Lionesses as they bid to qualify for the 2027 FIFA World Cup in Brazil.

The ground itself is only a year old, having officially held its first test match in February in 2025. It’s located to the north of Liverpool City Centre and boasts an impressive capacity of exactly 52,769 seats. It will be the ground’s second international fixture this year, with Côte d’Ivoire set to face Scotland there in preparation for the men’s World Cup later this summer

The news was confirmed by the FA earlier this week that the Lionesses will take on Ukraine in a Women’s World Cup qualifier on the 8th of June 2026 with kick-off scheduled for 20:00, as England look to book their spot at the competition.

With this fixture being confirmed, it is the first England international game to be played at the new home of Everton since it opened. It has previously hosted one Barclays Women’s Super League fixture so far, between Everton and Manchester United back in October 2025.

The last time the Lionesses played up in the North-West was on their homecoming tour in October 2025 at the Etihad Stadium in their first match after Euro 2025. In which, they were narrowly defeated 2-1 vs reigning Copa America champions Brazil.

With England facing the world champions, Spain, just four days earlier in the away tie with details of the game still yet to be confirmed, it will be a crunch match to decide qualification, and tickets go on sale to England members from Friday the 27th of February until March 4th before any remaining tickets go on general sale on March 5th onwards.

Categories
FA Cup Uncategorized

Chelsea Victorious as Manchester United Eliminated from FA cup

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photo via chelseafcw on instagram

Chelsea XI: Hampton (GK), Carpenter, Buurman, Nusken, Cuthbert ©, James, Thompson, Girma, Rytting-Kaneryd, Bronze, Walsh

Substitutes: Baltimore (46’), Kerr (72’), Buchanan (91’), Reiten (91’), Kaptein (91’)

Manchester United XI:Tullis-Joyce (GK), Le Tissier ©, Lundkvist, Park, Mallard, Naalsund, Janssen, Zigiotti Olme, Wangerheim, Miyazawa, Turner

Substitutes:  Terland (70’), Awujo (70’), Schuller (106’), George (106’)

The fifth round of the cup saw teams up and down the country face off in a bid to progress to the quarter finals of the Adobe Women’s FA Cup this weekend. For Chelsea FC it meant a repeat opf last year’s FA Cup Final as they hosted Manchester United at home for the first time in the competition.

The teams have met three times in the competition before, with the blues claiming victories in both finals at Wembley Stadium and the Red Devils seeing victory at home to progress to the finals in 2024.

More recently, the teams faced off in the Barclays Womens Super League in Manchester where the sides drew 1-1 thanks to a goal from each side inside the first 20 minutes.

Manchester United took the kick off in South London through Lisa Naalsund however were unable to keep [ppossesion for long, with Chelsea’s counter attack earning both a free kick and a blocked shot going out of play.

The resulting corner gave Keira Walsh an option to shoot in the edge of the area however her shot was blocked once more.

The following moments continued with Manchester United having the upper hand however failing to prove any real threat infront of goal.

It wasnt until the 6th minute that Chelsea regained their possession, with Alyssa Thompson speed working in the Blues favour and Johanna Rytting Kaneryd breaking free in the middle of the field, a touch too many however meant that Domnique Janssen could do just enough to stop the winger from getting the shot off.

The ninth minute brought trouble for Manchester United once again, with Alyssa Thompson forcing a stellar save from the United goal keeper.

Unfortunately for the Blue’s, the two resulting corners led to nothing, and the Red Devils were in possession once again.

A relatively quiet ten minutes meant that neither team provided much promise infront of goal, with several throw-ins taking place instead.

It was in the 25th minute where the game started to pick up again, Chelsea’s press resulting in multiple goal kicks whilst Manchester United’s attempts were also sought wide. 

The 28th minute saw Alyssa Thompson link up with companions, Sjoeke Nusken and Lauren James, the attackers shot was however shot wide once more.

The 29th minute saw yet another corner from Chelsea, with Erin Cuthbert’s corner kicked directly into Tullis-Joyce’s gloves in an impressive attempt on goal.

Just three minutes later, Erin Cuthbert was through on goal once again, with the Manchester United goal keeper called into action once again.

Chelsea’s dominance continued in the following moments, allowing Dutch youngster, Veerle Buurman to get in on the action. Her shot was however blocked with the reds defence blocking the shot once again.

The 41st minute saw Ellie Carpenter break free on the right, progressing on goal with wealths of space however her resulting cross was unable to find the feet of any blue’s.

With Chelsea’s dominance on the up, Lauren James received a ball within the attacking third, her shot however was seen wide by the United defence.

Half time: Chelsea 0-0 Manchester United

The beginning of the second half saw Chelsea substitute Johanna Rytting Kaneryd for Sandy Baltimore in aims for fresh legs to help break the deadlock. 

A missed step from Maya Le Tissier saw Chelsea come close to a goal, however, Tullis-Joyce got her gloves to it once again, sending the ball out for a throw-in.

Chelsea’s dominance continued into the opening stages of the second half, with Alyssa Thompson forcing Tullis-Joyce into yet another save.

Maya Le Tissier stood over the ball in dangerous territory in the 55th minute, however the kick was blocked by Chelsea’s defence, with the follow up from Naalsund being blocked once more resulting in a corner for the visitors.

Moments later, the red devils earnt another corner however Veerle Buurman kicked the ball out of bounds at the far post.

United came close to a surprise opener in the 65th minute when Ellen Wangerheim rattled the post with a shot from range.

Just two minutes later, Manchester United proved threatening again with Melvine Malard taking a shot from range once again, this however was shot well wide of the goal.

The 70th minute saw Elisabeth Terland and Simi Awujo take the field in place of Ellen Wangerheim and Julia Zigiotti Olme.

The following moments saw Chelsea regain their form from the first half, with yet another shot on goal.

Alyssa Thompson made way for Sam Kerr in the 72nd minute, with the Blues continuing to look for the opener.

This addition proved a great benefit to Chelsea, with Tullis-Joyce forced into another save.

With a penable tackle from Domnique Janssen, Chelsea earnt a free kick on the edge of the box which was once tapped wide by the red defence  in the 77th minute.

This corner however, proved the one for the hosts with Naomi Girma collecting the ball at the far post before passing it off for Sam Kerr who was able to tap it in from close range.

Manchester United acted accordingly with another free kick earned in the attacking half. 

Maya Le Tissier stood over the ball once more, with an aim on goal eventually finding Simi Awujo who was able to level the scoring in the 81st minute.

With the score level in the 86th minute, the game looked likely to head to extra time, the teams at an equal threat to one another.

With 3 minutes added time announced, the game had seemingly amped up once more, with both sides getting increasingly hungry for the winner.

This however proved not the case, with the full time score being 1-1 and the game heading to added time.

Full time: 1-1

The beginning of extra time saw Chelsea make three more subs in  Wieke Kaptein, Guro Reiten and in her return from injury, Kadeisha Buchanan.

Chelsea’s substitutes proved to be the games biggest threat once again with Wieke Kaptein linking up with Sam Kerr who shot was blocked once more.

The first half of extra time continued much the same, with Chelsea continuing to be the more dangerous side, putting the United defence to hard work. The red’s however, saw a lot less of the ball, but still provided a dangerous attacking threat.

Yet another corner was won by the hosts in the 97th minute, with Sandy Baltimore pinging it to the head of Veerle Buurman whose shot rebounded to the feet of Naomi Girma who put the blue’s ahead once again.

With one minute added time on the clock, Chelsea continued to have the upper hand and the score remained with Chelsea.

First half extra time: Chelsea 2-1 Manchester United

The start of the second half of extra time saw Gabby George and Lea Schuller replace Millie Turner and Lisa Naalsund.

With 108 minutes on the clock, it was clear that Manchester United were struggling to find a clear opportunity on goal, spells of possession few and far between.

Chelsea earned a free kick from a tug from Maya Le Tissier on the edge of the box however, Erin Cuthbert’s shot was blocked by the red devils two man wall.

Moments later, England youngster, Layla Drury took to the field, replacing Hinata Miyazawa in a bid to level the scoring once more.

Manchester United’s closest attempt came from Lea Schuller in the 114th minute, with her header coming close to the goal line but Hannah Hampton beating the ball to it.

From then on, Manchester United looked to have regained some control on the pitch, earning a free kick in similar territory to their previous goal and even sending Tullis-Joyce up for the kick.

The red devils however failed to get their goal, with Hannah Hampton proving her worth once more.

With a minute added time announced, Phallon Tullis-Joyce found the opposite box once again in a desperate bid for an equaliser, this however proved too little too late, with the full time whistle blown once more.

Full time, extra time: Chelsea 2-1 Manchester United

Categories
FA Cup

Manchester City seal their place in the FA Cup Quarter-finals after a 4-0 win against Sheffield United 

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Photo from @mancitywomen on instagram 

A brace from Lauren Hemp, as well as goals from Aoba Fujino and Laura Coombs helped Manchester City secure a place in the Quarter-finals of the Adobe Women’s FA Cup, and a 4-0 win over WSL2 side Sheffield United. 

Sheffield United kicked us underway but it was Manchester City that started the goal tally off. After an effort from Mary Fowler, Lauren Hemp got the first goal of the afternoon just seven minutes in after Iman Beney found the winger by the far post and her effort was slotted into the back of the net. Just four minutes after the first, the home side found their second from Lauren Hemp as the side repeated the first goal. Iman Beney found Lauren Hemp by the back post and with no one marking her, she fired it into the back of the net. 

The home side continued to pile on the pressure to the WSL2 side with efforts from Leila Ouahabi, but the away side put some shots away from Joy Ralph and Ella Kinzett and failed to find the back of the net. In the 21st minute, Manchester City secured a three goal cushion with a goal from Aoba Fujino. She received the ball from Laura Blindkilde Brown and her shot crossed inside the box and into the bottom corner of the net. 

Both sides continued to provide chances including from Manchester City’s Mary Fowler, Leila Ouahabi, Sam Coffey, Lauren Hemp and Aoba Fujino but all failed to find the four goal lead. Meanwhile for the visitors, chances from Amy Andrew, Lia O’Leary and Mollie Rouse unsuccessfully found the back of the net and couldn’t give Sheffield United a chance. 

First Half: Manchester City 3-0 Sheffield United 

Manchester City started the second half as they meant to go on with multiple chances from Lauren Hemp, Grace Clinton, Mary Fowler and Sam Coffey but they all failed to find something special. After Andree Jeglertz made a quadruple change, the chances continued to arrive for the dominant side. Lauren Hemp was the star of the show after having more chances in the second half but failed to produce another goal and ultimately her hat-trick ball. 

Sheffield United had a number of chances from Amy Andrew but Khiara Keating in net did well to keep the chances away with Laura Coombs in the Manchester City shirt finding the final goal of the day in the 90+3’ minute. Her shot came initially from Rebecca Knaak after a corner saw her head the ball by the far post and a scramble by the goal saw Coombs find the end of it and into the back of the net. 

Second Half: Manchester City 4-0 Sheffield United  

What’s next for both sides: 

After the win in the fifth round, Manchester City now head into the hat for the quarter-final stages with the draw taking place on Monday (23rd February) and fixtures taking place in the first week of April. 

After the international break, Manchester City head to Aston Villa on Sunday 15th March at 11:55 with Sheffield United hosting Newcastle at 6pm on Saturday 14th March. 

Teams: 

Manchester City: Keating, Prior, Greenwood © (Knaak 63’), Ouahabi, Beney, Blindkilde Brown (Lohmann 63’), Coffey, Hemp (Murphy 81’), Fujino (Coombs 63’), Clinton, Fowler (Shaw 63’). 

Unused Substitutes: Cumings, Rose, Miedema, Hasegawa.


Goals: Hemp (7’,11’), Fujino (21’), Coombs (90+3’) 

Sheffield United: Rogers, Cowan, Kinzett © (Phillips 90’), Andrews (King 91’), Ralph (Hill 78’), Devlin (Guyatt 46’), O’Leary (Scofield 63’), O’Rourke, Sherwood, Rouse, Butler. 

Unused Substitutes: Parker-Smith, Thompson. 

Yellow Cards: Guyatt (90’) 

Categories
FA Cup

Women’s FA Cup Match Preview: Manchester City vs Sheffield United 

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Adobe Women’s FA Cup action returns this weekend and the fifth round kicks off as Sheffield United from the WSL2 head to the Joie Stadium and face Manchester City on Sunday (22nd February) at 2pm. 

Last Game: 

They last faced each other in January 2023 with the home side winning 7-0 after goals from Deyna Castellanos, Chloe Kelly, a Julie Blakstad brace and a Bunny Shaw hat-trick. Prior to that, they faced each other only in the League Cup with wins for City in both (6-0 and 4-0). 

Starting 11’s from that day: 

Manchester City: Roebuck, Aleixandri (Casparij 68’), Kennedy, Greenwood, Ouahabi, Hasegawa (Houghton 68’), Angeldahl (Fowler 68’), Castellanos, Kelly, Blakstad, Shaw. 

Sheffield United: N.Wilson, Newsham, Barker ©, Hartley, Riglar, Cusack, Rayner (Muir 62’), Paul, Enderby (Walters 69’), Wilcock (Haywood 46’), E.Wilson. 

Manchester City:

Last Game in the FA Cup: Manchester City last faced Bournemouth in the fourth round, winning 6-0 away from home. Goals from Bunny Shaw, Lauren Hemp and braces from Laura Coombs and Vivianne Miedema secured the win for the blues and they headed to the next round of the Adobe Women’s FA Cup. 

Starting 11: Keating, Rose (Prior 56’), Knaak (Greenwood 46’), Ouahabi, Beney (Casparij 71’), Blindkilde Brown, Hasegawa, Hemp (Murphy 46’), Coombs ©, Clinton, Shaw (Miedema 56’). 

Unused Substitutes: Cumings, Thomas, Adedini. 

Form in all competitions: Manchester City have been in great form in the last five matches – 3 wins and 2 losses in all competitions. Their most recent win came at home against Leicester as they ran out 6-0 winners after their 1-0 loss against Arsenal the week prior. After losing 1-0 to Chelsea in the League Cup semi-finals, they won 5-1 in the league fixture less than 2 weeks later with a 2-1 win away against London City Lionesses between the two. 

Words from Andree Jeglertz’ press conference: 

Speaking to the media, he said that Mary Fowler could be in line for some minutes after suffering some setbacks since returning to full fitness. He also spoke about approaching the game like any other game, with no suggestion of taking the Blades challenge lightly: “We feel there are still things we can do a little better and things we want to improve. Even though we’re in a great place and feel places to grow in.”

Sheffield United:

Last Game in the FA Cup: They last faced Ipswich away from home in the fourth round of the cup, winning 2-1. A brace from Charlie Devlin helped the blades secure their place against Manchester City. 

Starting 11: Rogers, Cowan, Lafayette, Kinzett (Butler 82’), Andrews, Devlin (O’Rourke 85’), Aherene, Bristow, Thomas (Phillips 90’), Rouse, Reavill. 

Unused Substitutes: Parker-Smith, Thompson, King. 

Form in all competitions: United have won one, drawn one, and lost three in the last five games in all competitions. The three losses and a draw makes them sit 10th in the league with 13 points and 3 points ahead of bottom of the league, Portsmouth.