THE EVE EDITION
AFTERGLOW | FRI OCT 16
Friday was the night the favorites lost their grip. Canada finally beat England, ending the Red Roses’ four-year unbeaten run before a record crowd at BMO Field. #3 Minnesota put six goals past #1 Ohio State, BYU handed #8 Texas Tech its first loss, Miami came back from two sets down to stun #5 SMU, and in Peniche, Teresa Bonvalot knocked season leader Gabriela Bryan out of the first event of the postseason.
Not every favorite slipped. Iga Świątek closed out Ann Li to set up an all-Polish semifinal in Wuhan, Liying Yuan won the sprint world title in front of her home crowd in Shanghai, the Jillaroos opened their World Cup defense with a 40-0 shutout of Samoa, and Hye-Jin Choi held on to her lead through three rounds at the LPGA Shanghai.
Northwestern answered its first loss with a win at Indiana, Leipzig won at ten-woman Freiburg, and Melbourne Victory opened the A-League Women season with a win.
Canada Ends England’s Four-Year Unbeaten Run
Canada beat world champion England 24-21 at BMO Field, where replacement Shoshanah Seumanutafa dived over in the corner in the 77th minute to hand the Red Roses their first defeat since the 2022 World Cup final. England scored twice during a Canadian sin bin to lead 14-5 at halftime, and Sarah Bern answered Alysha Corrigan’s try to restore a nine-point lead. Tighthead prop DaLeaka Menin started and finished the move that made it 21-19, and Rachel Smith won a ruck steal five meters from her own line in the closing stages. The crowd of 18,621 was a record for a stand-alone women’s rugby match in North America.
The sides drew 26-26 in Exeter last month, ending England’s record 39-match winning streak, and meet again next Friday in Ottawa. Australia scored eight tries to beat Scotland 56-12 in Sydney, and New Zealand beat France 81-12 in Hamilton, where Shyrah Tuliau-Tua’a scored four tries.
Świątek Ends Li’s Run to Set Up an All-Polish Semifinal
Iga Świątek beat Ann Li 6-4, 6-1 in an hour and 33 minutes, winning seven of the last eight games to reach her first Wuhan semifinal and set up the first all-Polish semifinal at a WTA-level event in the Open Era. The first set was the fight. Li dragged Świątek through service games of 14 and 10 points, and when Świątek served for the set at 5-4, Li earned three break points. Świątek saved all three, and Li never had another. She finished 0 for 3 on break points with 49 unforced errors, while Świątek won 74% of her first-serve points and broke three times in the second set. She has now reached the last four without dropping a set at a seventh different WTA 1000 event, and she is the fourth player since 2009, and the only active one, to reach the semifinals at all 10 current WTA 1000 events.
#16 Maja Chwalińska waits after beating Maria Sakkari 6-0, 3-6, 7-5. The two Poles played once as 15-year-olds, at an ITF event in Stockholm, and later reached the 2017 Australian Open girls’ doubles final as partners. Li leaves Wuhan projected to reach a career-high ranking.
Yuan Wins the Sprint at Home in Shanghai
Liying Yuan beat Great Britain’s Emma Finucane 2-0 in the women’s sprint final at the UCI Track Cycling World Championships, taking the first race by 0.025 seconds and jumping clear in the second after Finucane went to the front. It was Yuan’s second world title of the week, after China beat Great Britain in the team sprint final on Wednesday. She reached the final past Japan’s Mina Sato, while Finucane beat her teammate Sophie Capewell, and Sato took bronze by one thousandth of a second in the deciding race.
Britain still left with a gold. Anna Morris led the omnium from the tempo race onward and won with 125 points, 11 ahead of Japan’s Tsuyaka Uchino, with Denmark’s Amalie Dideriksen third. Defending champion Lorena Wiebes was caught in a mass crash in the opening scratch race, ending her title defense two days after she won a third straight world title in the scratch.
Bonvalot and Veselko Win at Home in Peniche
Teresa Bonvalot knocked #1 Gabriela Bryan out of the MEO Rip Curl Pro Portugal in the women’s Opening Round at Supertubos, winning their heat 11.40-10.93 on the strength of a 7.33 tube ride. Bonvalot was in the draw only as the replacement for the injured Isabella Nichols, and in the first event of the Championship Tour postseason, one heat loss sent the season leader home in ninth place. Carissa Moore had passed Bryan in the live rankings by the end of the day.
Wildcard Kika Veselko gave Portugal a second quarterfinalist by beating #3 Sawyer Lindblad 8.54-7.90. Yolanda Hopkins rode the best wave of the women’s day, a 9.00 tube, but went out 15.74-11.10 to world champion Molly Picklum, who meets Erin Brooks, winner of the last three tour events, in the quarterfinals.
Leipzig Breaks Ten-Woman Freiburg
RB Leipzig played more than 70 minutes against 10 at the Dreisamstadion and needed until the 68th minute to make it count, then won 3-0 for its first away win of the season. Freiburg center back Julia Stierli was sent off in the 18th minute for denying Emanuela Pfister a clear chance on goal. Alieke Tuin swept in a rebound for the opener, and substitute Nikée van Dijk scored in the 78th and 84th minutes.
The win lifts Leipzig to 10 points, level with Freiburg and ahead of it on goal difference. Leipzig took one point from its first three matches and has nine from its last four, and Bayern Munich visits next Friday.
BYU Hands Texas Tech Its First Loss
Texas Tech scored 46 seconds in at South Field and still left Provo beaten for the first time this season. #22 BYU answered with three straight goals and won 3-2, ending the #8 Red Raiders’ 18-match unbeaten run. Mia Goettsche leveled in the 17th minute, and Mattyn Summers-Oviatt took over from there, heading in Sydney Snow’s delivery a minute before halftime and slipping through onto a Mika Krommenhoek pass in the 57th. Taylor Zdrojewski scored both Texas Tech goals, the second standing after video review. With #13 Baylor and #19 Kansas also winning, four teams share first in the Big 12 on 16 points.
#12 West Virginia lost at home for the first time this season, 1-0 to UCF on Naomi Clark’s Big 12-leading 10th goal. #6 Duke won 5-0 at SMU behind Mia Minestrella’s second hat trick of the season, #5 Michigan State won 2-0 at Indiana, and #18 Virginia won 1-0 at Virginia Tech on Sophia Bradley’s 86th-minute goal. #11 UCLA and #14 Washington drew 0-0.
Davis Header Wins Boston’s Home Finale
Deja Davis headed in her first NWSL goal in the 51st minute to give Boston Legacy FC a 2-1 win over Racing Louisville FC at Gillette Stadium, closing the club’s first home season after a weather delay of roughly an hour. Amanda Gutierres finished Bianca St-Georges’ cross in the ninth minute, and Kayla Fischer pulled Louisville level in the 22nd by pouncing on a mistake from Laurel Ivory, in goal after Casey Murphy went on the season-ending injury list this week.
Both teams were already out of the playoff race. Boston moves to 9-14-5 with 32 points and closes with two road games, and Louisville, 7-18-3, plays at Denver Summit FC on Oct. 24.
Jančevski Free Kick Opens Victory’s Season
Alana Jančevski’s free kick from about 30 yards in the 32nd minute gave Melbourne Victory a 1-0 win at Western Sydney Wanderers on the opening day of the A-League Women season. The Wanderers lost new captain Rhianna Pollicina to a non-contact injury in the 16th minute, and her replacement, Samantha Iredale, committed the foul on Zoe McMeeken that set up the goal. Courtney Newbon, the reigning Goalkeeper of the Year, saved from Talia Younis, and Victory won without the injured Grace Maher, Nickoletta Flannery and Poppy O’Keeffe.
Perth Glory also won 1-0, in Newcastle, on Rola Badawiya’s 13th-minute penalty, and Tamar Levin hit the crossbar for the Jets in the last minute of normal time. Central Coast Mariners beat Brisbane Roar 4-2, and Katrina Guillou scored on her debut for the Roar.
Northwestern Answers at Indiana
#2 Northwestern beat #11 Indiana 4-1 in Bloomington, five days after its first loss and three days after losing the top spot to Maryland. Ilse Tromp scored twice on penalty-corner dragflicks, the first of them the first goal Indiana had allowed at home this season, and Ashley Sessa and Raquel Hofmeister added second-half goals. Indiana managed one shot after halftime, and Northwestern, 14-1, has won 11 straight against the Hoosiers.
#1 Maryland beat Michigan State 4-0 to start 13-0 for the first time since 2018 and visits Northwestern on Thursday. #4 UMass won 7-1 at Ball State, #3 UConn clinched the Big East regular-season title at Georgetown, and #9 Princeton beat Cornell 2-1 in overtime for its fifth straight win.
Minnesota Routs #1 Ohio State
#3 Minnesota beat #1 Ohio State 6-2 at Ridder Arena, handing the Buckeyes their first loss of the season. Adrianna Milani scored 14 seconds in, Madison Kaiser made it 2-0 before the four-minute mark, and Chloe Primerano scored on the power play with five seconds left in the first period. Milani added another power-play goal early in the second, and Hannah Clark made 26 saves. Ohio State’s Rowan Houweling made a career-high 31.
Joy Dunne and Jenna Raunio scored for Ohio State in the second period, and Ashley Allard, with her first goal as a Gopher, and Kaiser finished it in the third. Minnesota is 5-0-0, and the teams meet again Saturday at 3:00 PM.
Miami Comes Back From Two Sets Down at SMU
Miami had not won a road match all season and trailed #5 SMU by two sets at Moody Coliseum, then won 22-25, 19-25, 25-22, 33-31, 15-9. Ruth Martinez hit for a career-high 29 kills, Asia Harvey added 17, and the Hurricanes stayed alive by taking a 33-31 fourth set. Ariana Rodriguez finished with 54 assists and served the final ace, which made her Miami’s career leader in aces. Miami is 8-8 but 6-1 in the ACC with six straight wins, and SMU has lost twice at home in five days.
UCLA came from two sets to one down to beat #15 Penn State in five, scoring five straight points from 11-8 down in the fifth. #2 Pitt swept Florida State before a sellout of 3,005, #3 Louisville swept Duke to reach 7-0 in the ACC ahead of Sunday’s visit from #23 North Carolina, also 7-0, and #4 Kentucky won in four at Oklahoma as Brooklyn DeLeye set the program record for career aces. #11 Oregon beat #18 Indiana in five.
Paige Beats Nikki Bella at Her Own Game
Paige beat Nikki Bella on SmackDown in Sacramento with the shortcut Bella used on her in September, a roll-up with her foot on the ropes after a rapid run of pinning attempts. Bella jumped her before the bell and took the fight into the barricades, Paige reached the bottom rope to escape an STF, and each woman took a near fall, Paige with an Attitude Adjustment and Bella with a running forearm. The loss leaves Bella’s title shot in place: she challenges WWE Women’s Champion Chelsea Green on the October 30 SmackDown in Charleston, West Virginia.
Alexa Bliss and Tatum Paxley, a week into their reign as WWE Women’s Tag Team Champions, fought off Jacy Jayne, Fallon Henley and Lainey Reid and make their first defense next Friday against B-Fab and Michin. Blake Monroe meets Giulia in a street fight on the same card.
Jillaroos Open Their Defense With a Shutout
Australia began its bid for a fourth straight Women’s Rugby League World Cup by beating Samoa 40-0 at CommBank Stadium, scoring seven tries after leading 28-0 at halftime. Samoa had the better of the opening minutes and twice turned down shots at goal to chase a try, but Jaime Chapman scored in the 11th minute and Julia Robinson followed with her 23rd Test try, extending her record for the Jillaroos. Jocelyn Kelleher, at five-eighth on her Test debut, kicked six conversions and was named player of the match.
Papua New Guinea played its first Women’s World Cup match at home and beat France 58-4 in Port Moresby, with Naomi Kelly scoring four of 12 tries to equal the Orchids’ record. England beat Wales 70-6 in Perth with 13 tries, including hat tricks from Connie Boyd and Anna Davies, and Isabel Rowe scored 26 points. Australia and England meet in Perth next Saturday.
Choi’s Lead Shrinks to One in Shanghai
Hye-Jin Choi shot a 3-under 69 in the third round of the Buick LPGA Shanghai and leads at 9 under, making four birdies on the front nine a day after a 74 in the wind. Amy Yang shot 68 to move into second alone, the only player in the top three without a round over par this week. Ruoning Yin, the 2024 champion, shot 67, the best score among the contenders, to climb from a share of seventh to 7 under. Choi has won 12 times in South Korea and is still chasing her first LPGA Tour title.
Rio Takeda and Carlota Ciganda share fourth at 4 under, five back. Grace Kim fell out of a share of second with a 75, and defending champion Jeeno Thitikul shot 74 and is nine back at even par.