Austin FC will look to continue their successful history against D.C. United and break into the win column when the sides square off on Sunday afternoon in Austin, Texas.

The Verde (0-0-1, 1 point) kicked off the 2026 season with a 2-2 draw at home with Minnesota United on Feb. 21. Austin got goals from Brendan Hines-Ike and Myrto Uzuni and an assist from their flash offseason signing Facundo Torres but gave up the tying goal in the 90th minute and settled for spitting the points.

“We just have played one game and I think we see a team already that is more vertical, that is more going forward,” Austin coach Nico Estevez said Thursday. “We don’t want to lose much time on building if it’s clear that we can be vertical, but we also use the building up to create the spaces in between the lines.

“We want to be a team that is fun to watch and a team that goes forward and wants to score goals, and this is the work that we keep doing.”

The Verde announced Friday that they have acquired forward Christian Ramirez from MLS waivers. Ramirez played last season with the LA Galaxy and started 10 of 25 games, scoring four goals and adding an assist.

Austin has won each of its three all-time meetings with D.C. United, most recently a 4-2 victory last season in the nation’s capital.

D.C. United began their campaign with a 1-0 win at home against the Philadelphia Union, with the game’s lone goal scored by Tai Baribo in the 23rd minute. Baribo signed with the Black and Red in the offseason after he played 2025 with the Union, which added insult to injury in the Week 1 victory.

D.C. coach Rene Weiler lauded his new scoring threat after the win.

“As a striker, you have to be decisive and he scored the goal, it was the decisive goal, so he did his job,” Weiler said. “It’s uncomfortable to play against him, so, it helps us a lot.”

Sean Johnson was sharp in his first competitive start in goal for D.C. United, producing three saves to earn a clean sheet, the 113th of his MLS career.

D.C. United finished last in the Eastern Conference in 2025 but are already off to a better start.

“We want to be unpredictable, so we played some diagonal balls and then we played some long balls,” Weiler said. “So that is an option to open the field.”

–Field Level Media

A sold-out crowd of 17,335 fans at Seattle’s Climate Pledge Arena broke the U.S. attendance record for a women’s hockey game on Friday night.

In the first game back from the Olympic break for both PWHL teams, the host Seattle Torrent fell 5-2 to the Toronto Sceptres.

The Torrent played without captain Hilary Knight, who led the U.S. women’s team to a gold medal in the Milan Cortina Olympics. She was placed on long-term injured reserve due to a lower-body injury she suffered during the Games.

The previous record of 17,228 fans came on Jan. 18 when the Montreal Victoire faced the New York Sirens at Capital One Arena in Washington, D.C.

The Torrent also broke their own attendance mark, set when 16,014 fans filled the Seattle arena for the expansion club’s inaugural home opener on Nov. 28, 2025.

Overall attendance across the PWHL for the league’s third season was up 17 percent through 61 games at the Milan Cortina Olympics break, according to the league.

–Field Level Media

No. 13 Michigan State picked up a valuable road win on Thursday to enhance its NCAA Tournament resume.

The Spartans won’t get much time to savor it, however, as they face Indiana on Sunday afternoon in Bloomington, Ind.

The Spartans knocked off No. 8 Purdue, 76-74, for their third straight win and fifth over a ranked opponent. Michigan State (23-5, 13-4 Big Ten) was projected as a No. 4 seed entering the contest but could move up to a No. 3 or even No. 2 seed with a strong finish.

“They’ve got a hell of a team, it was just our night,” Spartans coach Tom Izzo said of the Boilermakers. “They made 3s. We weathered the storm of all those 3s. To do that on the road in Mackey Arena, I’ll give my team some credit on that.”

It was Michigan State’s first win at Purdue since a 94-79 decision on Feb. 20, 2014. The Spartans had lost seven straight games on Purdue’s home floor.

“I did think we played with a different mentality that we haven’t been playing with as much lately,” Izzo said. “So hopefully that can catapult us. Now we go home, get a quick rest, quick turnaround and then go to Indiana.”

The Spartans, who had four players in double figures, shot 52.7% from the floor, including 57.7% in the second half. They also committed just six turnovers.

“All in all, we couldn’t play much better,” Izzo said.

Now, the Spartans will look for their second win over the Hoosiers (17-11, 8-9) this season. Michigan State rolled to an 81-60 victory in the first matchup on Jan. 13 behind a big performance from point guard Jeremy Fears Jr., who racked up 23 points and 10 assists.

Indiana is desperate for a quality win to improve its chances of getting an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament. The Hoosiers have lost three straight following a stretch of five wins in six games.

They were defeated on the road by Illinois and Purdue before a damaging 72-68 home loss Tuesday to unranked Northwestern.

“It was a tough loss. We have a big home stand here,” coach Darian DeVries said. “This was the first game of it. We’re at that point in the year where games have become very meaningful and it was an opportunity. We certainly wanted to get started off on the front of the home stand with a good note. You know, didn’t happen, so we have to make sure that we put it away. We got a big game on Sunday and then we’ve got to come ready to go.”

The Hoosiers were outscored 39-26 in the second half and missed 11 straight field goal attempts during crunch time.

“The path forward is just keep fighting, keep pushing forward,” DeVries said. “The Illinois and the Purdue losses were tough. They were two tough games, two tough teams. Not a lot of people going in there and winning. I thought our guys were ready (Tuesday). Thought they came out and had good focus in practice, good energy. Thought they came out and played well the first half. Unfortunately, the second half we weren’t good enough.”

Lamar Wilkerson (21.0 points per game) has led the team in scoring the last six games. The Hoosiers will need a big game from him to pull off the upset on Sunday.

–Field Level Media