THE EVE EDITION
AFTERGLOW | TUE OCT 13
Mallory Swanson had waited more than two years for another goal in a U.S. shirt, and she found it in the 86th minute on Tuesday night. Michelle Cooper held the ball up in the box and laid it back, and Swanson swiveled into a volley that finished a comeback from 2-0 down against world champion Spain before 18,648 at Subaru Park. Ashley Sanchez had started it four minutes after halftime with her first national-team goal in more than four years. The USWNT left October without a win over Spain, but with a second half to build on.
The European play-offs went mostly to form until Gdańsk, where Poland needed extra time and a shootout to get past Belgium. Overnight in Wuhan, form disappeared altogether, with the second seed beaten after holding three match points and seeds falling in every session. In Scotland, Texas made the wind look like everyone else’s problem.
Swanson Completes the Comeback Against Spain
Ashley Sanchez and Mallory Swanson scored after halftime as the USWNT came from two goals down to draw world champion Spain 2-2 before 18,648 in Chester, Pennsylvania. Alexia Putellas and Salma Paralluelo scored five minutes apart before the break, but Sanchez, the NWSL’s leading scorer, finished a Sophia Wilson pass in the 49th minute for her first national-team goal since 2022. Swanson’s volley in the 86th, off a layoff from Michelle Cooper, was her 39th international goal and her first since giving birth.
Emma Hayes changed the match with five substitutions around the hour. Kate Del Fava, who started the equalizer with a long ball, and Pietra Tordin made their debuts, Hayes set a program record with 46 players used in a calendar year, and Rose Lavelle passed Julie Ertz with her 124th cap. Spain had won Saturday’s first meeting 2-0 in Washington.
Ostapenko Ousts Pegula in Wuhan
Jelena Ostapenko saved three match points in the second set and beat #2 Jessica Pegula 2-6, 7-6(7), 6-3, finishing with 45 winners after taking a painkiller for arm pain. Pegula, last year’s finalist, was playing her first match in more than a month.
Sonay Kartal beat #9 Belinda Bencic 6-0, 7-5 in her return from a back stress fracture, #6 Karolína Muchová won two tiebreaks against Caty McNally, and #5 Elina Svitolina clinched her WTA Finals place. Iga Świątek’s 40th win of the season was her 149th at WTA 1000 level, moving her past Serena Williams.
England and Ireland Move a Round From Brazil
England beat Greece 5-0 in Leicester for an 8-1 aggregate win, with two goals each from Alessia Russo and Lauren James and Georgia Stanway’s 33rd goal under Sarina Wiegman, the most of the Wiegman era. Poland needed extra time and a shootout to beat Belgium after Ewa Pajor’s 116th-minute goal leveled the tie.
Ireland, the Netherlands, Scotland, Wales and Portugal also advanced. Germany came from behind to beat Japan 2-1 before 26,574 in Bremen, and Australia beat Haiti 7-1.
O’Keefe and Ounap Share St Andrews Title
Texas’ Farah O’Keefe and Washington’s Hannah Ounap finished at 2-under as the first co-medalists in the history of the St Andrews Links Collegiate, the only two players under par after gusts up to 25 mph and rain on the Jubilee Course. It is O’Keefe’s seventh college win.
Texas won the stroke play by 23 shots with all six players in the top 15 and plays the host University of St Andrews for the team title on the Old Course.
Indiana Edges Ole Miss at Medinah
Indiana shot a school-record 840 to win the Illini Women’s Invitational by one over #20 Ole Miss, whose field-best 277 in the final round left it a stroke short. Cara Heisterkamp closed with a 67 for the Hoosiers.
Minnesota’s Luisamariana Mesones won the individual title at 15-under for her first college victory.
Dream Move Finals Games to State Farm Arena
The Atlanta Dream will host Games 3 and 4 of the WNBA Finals at State Farm Arena, about 17,000 seats instead of 3,500 at Gateway Center. Game 3 moves up a day to Wednesday, October 21, and Game 4 tips off at 1:00 PM on Saturday, October 24, ahead of the Hawks’ home opener that night.
The series opens Saturday at Chase Center at 3:30 PM on NBC and Peacock.
Sinclair Gets Her Title Shot
Robert Stone lifted Wren Sinclair’s suspension and made her NXT Women’s Championship match with Kelani Jordan official for Halloween Havoc, overruling a champion who refused to face a contender who won her shot in disguise. Kendal Grey told Sinclair she has been medically cleared.
La Catalina retained the AAA Reina de Reinas Championship against Kali Armstrong with a Shining Wizard.
LAST LIGHT
Maryland is #1 in the NFHCA field hockey poll for the first time since 2013, Nebraska is a unanimous #1 in volleyball for the first time this season, and Texas Tech has cracked the soccer top 10 at #8 ahead of its Friday visit to BYU. Liberty’s #23 ranking is the highest in program history.
Aryna Sabalenka opens against Ann Li in Wuhan this morning, Texas and St Andrews meet on the Old Course, and the Buick LPGA Shanghai begins tonight on Golf Channel. The WNBA Finals open Saturday in San Francisco.