Tag: Women’s Sport

Categories
Basketball

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

Screenshot

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
FA Cup Uncategorized

Chelsea Victorious as Manchester United Eliminated from FA cup

Screenshot

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 

Screenshot

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 

Screenshot

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. 

Categories
Ice Hockey

A rivalry on the ice that has lasted for decades  

Screenshot

from @hockeycanada on instagram 

USA vs Canada Women’s Ice Hockey; A rivalry that has lasted since their first meeting in April 1987. They have already faced each other in the 2026 Winter Olympic games and will face each other again in the Gold Medal match on Thursday (19th February). Playing 194 times, they have faced each other in seven of the eight Olympics, as well as 23 of 24 IIHF Women’s World Championships and 21 of 23 4 Nations Cups since the beginning of their international play. 

Canada currently lead the rivalry 106 wins to America’s 87 but in their latest meeting, USA won 5-0 in the first meeting of the 2026 Winter Olympics. In 1998, America won gold over Canada, but since then the Canadians have dominated in the Olympics where they have won the next four gold medals against the USA (except for 2006 – where Canada won Gold and USA won Bronze). Until 2018, this happened and USA ended the gold winning drought after winning in a shoot out but Canada regained that Gold the following Olympic games in 2022. 

In the World Championships, it is a different story for the USA as from 2005 to 2019 they dominated winning 9 out of 11 and defeating the Canadians on eight occasions. Since 2020, the World Championships have been won by Canada in 3 out of the last 4. At the 4 Nations Cup (a round robin competition with Finland and Sweden added), the two faced each other in every gold medal match (apart from 2001 and 2013) but has not been played since 2018. Between 1996 and 2010, Canada won 12 out of 15 matches with 2011-2018, USA won 6 of the 8. 

In the preliminary round of the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milano Cortina, the USA won 5-0 with goals from Caroline Harvey, Laila Edwards, Kirsten Simms and two from Hannah Bilka . This was not the first time they faced each other twice in the Olympics as it happened in 2022 in China. Back then, Canada won both with the preliminary round being won 4-2 and the Gold Medal match being won by 3-2. 

How both teams got to the final

USA: 

5/02 – USA 5-1 Czechia – Preliminary Round 

7/02 – USA 5-0 Finland – Preliminary Round 

9/02 – Switzerland 0-5 USA – Preliminary Round 

10/02 – Canada 0-5 USA – Preliminary Round 

13/02 – USA 6-0 Italy – Play-offs Quarterfinals 

16/02 – USA 5-0 Sweden – Play offs Semifinals 

Canada: 

7/02 – Switzerland 0-4 Canada – Preliminary Round 

9/02 – Canada 5-1 Czechia – Preliminary Round 

10/02 – Canada 0-5 USA – Preliminary Round 

12/02 – FInland 0-5 Canada – Preliminary Round 

14/02 – Canada 5-1 Germany – Play-offs Quarterfinals

16/02 – Canada 2-1 Switzerland – Play-offs Semifinals 

from @hockeycanada on instagram 

Players to Watch

Canada’s Daryl Watts: 

Playing in all six games, Watts has had eight contributions including two goals and six assists making her a forward to watch. The 26 year old (making her Olympic debut in these games) plays her hockey for Toronto Sceptres in the Professional Women’s Hockey League (PWHL) and in 2021, was named the University of Wisconsin Female Athlete of the Year. The forward finished her NCAA career as the second highest scorer of all time and remains the highest scoring active player to have completed in NCAA Hockey. 

Following the dissolution of the PHF (Premier Hockey Federation), She entered the PWHL draft and was selected by Ottawa in the inaugural draft. After the 2023/24 season, she became a free agent and signed with her current team, Toronto Sceptres. While with the Sceptres, she reached 50 career points (the second player in PWHL history to do so) and quickly emerged to become one of the league’s top offensive players. 

USA’s Caroline Harvey: 

Same as Watts, Harvey has played in six games and received nine goal contributions including two goals and seven assists. As a defense, this shows that she is a player to keep your eyes on in the final. Aged 23, she is currently a senior at the University of Wisconsin and regarded as one of the best defenseman in the world. This is due to her becoming only the second defenseman in history to lead the USA at an Olympics or World Championships in points. As well as being named as the best Defenseman at the 2023 and 2025 World Championships. 

She made her Olympic debut aged 19 in 2022 and was the youngest player on the roster, winning a silver medal – her medal tally isn’t too bad either. She has won gold at the 2023 and 2025 World Championships as well as silver in the 2021, 2022 and 2024 Worlds. For U18 level, she has won gold in 2020 and in 2019, won silver. 

Canada’s Marie-Philip Poulin: 

We couldn’t not include Captain and lead Olympic scorer, Marie-Philip Poulin. She was named the IIHF Female Player of the Year in 2025 and recently scored her 20th Olympic goal, a new record for the Canadian. She is a three-time Olympic gold medallist as well as being a four-time World Champion for her national team. She scored the winning goal in the gold medal matches for three out of the four games she has competed in (2010,2014 and 2022). 

The 34 year old currently plays for the Montreal Victoire, becoming captain for the squad in 2023, and was protected from the 2025 Expansion Draft from Seattle and Vancouver. She was named a knight of the National Order of Quebec in 2024 and has been the Captain of the Canadian National team since 2015. She is now widely being regarded as one of the greatest Canadian players of all time for her clutch performances on the ice.  

from @hockeycanada on instagram