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

The Philadelphia Union and visiting New York City FC will both look to respond from disappointing away results when they meet on Sunday in Chester, Pa.

As the winner of the 2025 Supporters’ Shield, awarded to the team with the best regular-season finish, the Union (0-1-0, 0 points) suffered one of the MLS opening weekend’s most shocking results in last Saturday’s 1-0 loss at a D.C. United team that finished 2025 with the worst MLS record.

Former Union striker Tai Baribo scored the lone goal for his new club late in the first half. And a red card on the hour mark to Philadelphia Ezekiel Alladoh for an obscene gesture toward an opponent hurt the Union’s comeback chances. It also means Alladoh will be suspended on Sunday.

But after beginning their 2026 schedule with a 5-0 victory at Defence Force in a Concacaf Champions Cup match three days before the league opener, Philadelphia manager Bradley Carnell was able to rest several regulars in Thursday’s home return leg (a 7-0 win).

“It’s only as good as we want it to be, right?” Carnell said of the rest. “I mean we have to apply it in the right way, and just because you’re rested, it doesn’t mean — it’s only an ingredient for success. It doesn’t mean that the success is there. So we have to work really hard at it to make it count.”

New York City (0-0-1, 1 point) earned a 1-1 draw at the LA Galaxy in their opener last Sunday, but that felt more like a defeat after failing to capitalize on a man advantage for the final 26 minutes plus stoppage time.

Nicolas Fernandez Mercau scored the visitors’ lone goal from the penalty spot as they began the season without Alonso Martinez, who led NYCFC in scoring the previous two seasons but suffered a torn ACL while on international duty last November.

But Cityzens manager Pascal Jansen insisted the performance showed his team is still capable of attacking production.

“We are fully aware of the fact that we are missing our No. 1 No. 9,” he said. But the fact is … If you see, if we are able to add maybe 20% more quality, better decision-making, we’ll get the goals …”

–Field Level Media

–Field Level Media