Sports
NWSL roundup: Boston sets attendance mark but loses in league debut
Mar 14, 2026; Foxborough, Massachusetts, USA; Boston Legacy FC goalkeeper Casey Murphy (1) makes a save during the second half of the game against NY/NJ Gotham FC at Gillette Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Natalie Reid-Imagn Images Boston Legacy FC set an NWSL attendance record for an inaugural game with 30,207 fans filling Gillette Stadium, but Gotham FC played spoiler by notching a 1-0 win over the expansion club Saturday afternoon in Foxborough, Mass.
Esther Gonzalez broke a scoreless draw in the 55th minute when teammate Lilly Reale sent a cross on the ground into the box, and Boston defender Bianca St-Georges accidentally backheeled it to the Gotham star for an easy strike.
Gonzalez had 13 goals last year for the reigning NWSL champion Gotham.
St-Georges later earned her second yellow card in the 77th minute, forcing the Legacy to play with 10 women the rest of the way.
Bay 2, Summit 1
Joelle Anderson’s tiebreaking goal capped off a wild 31 minutes and proved to be the game winner as host Bay FC spoiled the first game in Denver Summit FC history with a win in San Jose.
Alex Pfeiffer got the scoring going in the eighth minute to give Bay a 1-0 lead. Melissa Kossler evened it up in the 20th minute with Denver’s first goal but that momentum was quickly wiped away when Janine Sonis was shown a red card for violent conduct in the 27th minute, leaving the Summit short-handed the rest of the way.
Four minutes later, Pfeiffer struck again, this time dribbling through the Summit defense and finding Anderson just above the center of the box. Anderson immediately sent it to the goal and beat Abby Smith in the bottom-left corner.
Courage 2, Racing 1
Ashley Sanchez netted a brace, her second goal the difference in the game as North Carolina edged Racing Louisville FC in Cary, N.C.
Sanchez’s first goal came in the 29th minute, a right-footed shot off a cross from Payton Linnehan that beat Jordyn Bloomer. Sarah Weber answered in first-half stoppage time when Courage goalkeeper Kailen Sheridan’s clearing pass was instead corralled by Emma Sears just outside the box. Sears charged toward the goal then found Weber standing wide open in front of the net.
Sanchez answered in the 86th minute for the Courage when her ball she sent toward the net was instead immediately deflected by a Racing defender, sending the ball high into the air and over the head of a leaping Bloomer for the goal.
Current 2, Royals 1
Host Kansas City scored twice in the final 33 minutes, once off a back-heel pass and the other on an impressive individual effort, to take down Utah.
Tatumn Milazzo got the visitors on the board in the 35th minute with a header from a pass from Cloe Lacasse off a corner kick. Utah then stood tall on defense, but the Royals could not keep the Current out of the net for long.
Croix Bethune, playing her first game with Kansas City after two seasons with Washington, evened the match in the 57th minute when Kayla Sharples set found her in front of the net with a one-touch heel kick off a pass from just inside midfield.
Ally Sentnor then netted the winner in the 69th minute when she dribbled from just outside the top-left corner of the goal box to the middle of the penalty area, then sent a right-footed kick to the right of a diving Mia Justus and into the net.
Dash 1, Wave 0
Makenzy Robbe, who spent the previous four seasons with San Diego, scored in her first game against her former team and Houston weathered 18 minutes of total stoppage time to win on the road.
Robbe’s goal was itself in stoppage time, as she took a pass from Maggie Graham in the seventh minute of first-half stoppage time, then sent the ball across the goal box and past DiDi Haracic into the bottom-left corner of the net.
The Wave had 19 shots to the Dash’s five — and held a 9-2 advantage in shots on goal — but Houston goalie Jane Campbell made numerous big saves, including a leaping punch that sent a shot over the crossbar in the 63rd minute.
–Field Level Media
Sports
Lexi Thompson's U.S. Women's Open streak in jeopardy
Jun 21, 2025; Frisco, Texas, USA; Lexi Thompson plays her shot from the sixth tee during the third round of the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship. Mandatory Credit: Raymond Carlin III-Imagn Images Lexi Thompson’s streak of 19 consecutive U.S. Women’s Open appearances is in jeopardy after she withdrew from a qualifier on Wednesday in Florida.
The streak started in 2007 when a 12-year-old Thompson set a then-record as the tournament’s youngest qualifier.
Thompson, 31, stepped away from full-time golf after the 2024 LPGA Tour season.
The 11-time LPGA Tour winner has missed the cut at the past three U.S. Women’s Opens, where her best finish was a tie for second in 2019 at the Country Club of Charleston (S.C.). Her only major win came at the 2014 Chevron Championship.
Thompson had been scheduled to play a 36-hole qualifier at the Wilderness Country Club in Naples, Fla.
She can still play her way into the field for the June 4-7 tournament at Riviera by winning an LPGA Tour event or climbing into the Rolex Rankings’ Top 75 by May 25. Thompson currently ranks 94th.
Her streak of U.S. Women’s appearances is tied for the longest among active players with South Korea’s Amy Yang.
–Field Level Media
Sports
Mexico threatens Liga MX players' World Cup spots over camp dispute
Nov 17, 2025; San Antonio, Texas, USA; Mexico Coach Javier Aguirre Onaindia speaks to the media ahead of his Mexican National Team match against Paraguay at the Alamodome. Mandatory Credit: Daniel Jefferson-Imagn Images Liga MX players were given an ultimatum by the Mexico Football Federation (FMF): Report to a pre-planned World Cup camp on Wednesday and miss their league playoffs and CONCACAF Champions Cup matches or lose their spots on Mexico’s World Cup roster.
The FMF stated in a Wednesday morning press release that “any player who does not turn up at the (national team’s) training center will miss the World Cup.”
On April 28, FMF announced that 20 players from Liga MX would participate in a pre-World Cup minicamp in Mexico City beginning Wednesday, with 12 of those players guaranteed a spot on the World Cup roster.
As a result, players from Toluca and Chivas de Guadalajara called in by Mexico manager Javier Aguirre would not be able to participate in the Liga MX quarterfinals and any subsequent matches, along with the CONCACAF Champions Cup semifinal second leg and final.
Toluca requested on Tuesday that FMF release players Jesus Gallardo and Alexis Vega for the club’s Champions Cup semifinal decider Wednesday against LAFC. Toluca trails 2-1 on aggregate after losing the first leg. FMF had an agreement with Liga MX clubs, and Toluca’s request was seen as a breach of that agreement.
As for Chivas, it will play Tigres in the Liga MX playoffs on Saturday, and trails 3-1 on aggregate ahead of the second leg of a quarterfinal.
Chivas club president Amaury Vergara wrote on social media platform X on Tuesday, “The agreement is valid only when all parties respect it. I have instructed the club’s sporting leadership that our players are to report to the club’s facilities tomorrow.”
Five Chivas players — former U.S. international midfielder Brian Gutierrez, veteran Luis Romo, winger Roberto Alvarado, forward Armando Gonzalez and Raul Rangel, who is expected to be the starting World Cup goalkeeper — are affected by this conflict.
Mexico’s World Cup roster announcement is expected to come June 1, following friendlies against Ghana and Australia. Mexico faces Serbia on June 4 in a final World Cup tune-up.
Co-hosting the World Cup along with the United States and Canada, Mexico opens the tournament June 11 against South Africa in Mexico City. The tournament runs through July 19.
–Field Level Media
Sports
Streaking Rays cap sweep of Blue Jays with a shutout
May 6, 2026; St. Petersburg, Florida, USA; Tampa Bay Rays first baseman Jonathan Aranda (8) scores a run against the Toronto Blue Jays in the fourth inning at Tropicana Field. Mandatory Credit: Nathan Ray Seebeck-Imagn Images Shane McClanahan fired 5 2/3 scoreless innings and the Tampa Bay Rays earned their 10th straight home win by grounding the Toronto Blue Jays 3-0 on Wednesday afternoon in St. Petersburg, Fla.
McClanahan (4-2) allowed just two hits to stretch his scoreless streak to 16 2/3 innings over the past three starts and drop his ERA to 2.60.
He struck out four and walked one as the Rays swept their six-game homestand over the San Francisco Giants and Blue Jays and moved to 12-1 over the past 13 games with a sixth straight win.
Jonny DeLuca and Chandler Simpson produced RBIs in the fourth inning as Tampa Bay improved to 14-4 in its repaired dome and 16-2 against the American League overall.
Toronto’s Myles Straw went 2-for-3 with a double, but Toronto, on a four-game losing skid, managed only four hits.
Starter Patrick Corbin (1-1) tossed 5 1/3 innings and allowed two runs on five hits with two walks and one strikeout.
Tampa Bay shortstop Taylor Walls ended the top of the first inning with a sensational sliding stop deep in the hole and throw to get Lenyn Sosa with Kazuma Okamoto at second after a double.
Corbin’s wildness cost him in the fourth after a one-out walk to Jonathan Aranda. DeLuca followed by slashing a double into the right-center field gap to plate Aranda for a 1-0 lead. Simpson lined a single to right to score DeLuca two batters later.
McClanahan was sharp after allowing Okamoto’s double in the first. The left-hander retired 13 straight hitters until Straw drilled a double off the left-center field wall in the fifth inning.
Kevin Kelly replaced McClanahan after a two-out walk to Okamoto in the sixth brought up Vladimir Guerrero Jr., and the reliever induced a deep flyout to left to hold the 2-0 lead.
Rays reliever Garrett Cleavinger tossed a wild pitch in the seventh to advance runners to second and third but whiffed Yohendrick Pinango for the final out.
Tampa Bay added an unearned insurance run in the eighth on a throwing error by second baseman Ernie Clement on a double-play ball.
Ian Seymour spun a perfect ninth for his first save.
–Field Level Media
Lexi Thompson's U.S. Women's Open streak in jeopardy
Mexico threatens Liga MX players' World Cup spots over camp dispute
