wsl Page 5 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights

Is The First Pro Surfing Contest In A Wave Pool The Sport's Future, Or Its Bastardization?
LEMOORE, Calif. — Imagine a gymnastics floor routine competition in which athletes are scored on the difficulty, variety, and quality of execution of their maneuvers. Now imagine that the floor itself is in a constant state of change. It may be longer or shorter, harder or softer, weirdly curved, bu...

World Cup Hero Carli Lloyd Is Back Home In New Jersey To Build A Fanbase For Sky Blue FC<em></em>
In the weeks leading up to Carli Lloyd’s home debut with Sky Blue FC, the ticket requests came fast and furious from her friends and family. But by the time the Delran, N.J. native and women’s soccer icon stepped on Yurcak Field Sunday afternoon, the headcount had diminished greatly. The prospect of...

Let Us Cringe Together At A Truly Butchered Pre-Game National Anthem
Rachel Platten is a well-known pop singer. I am a crusty old shitbag, and so I have heard of roughly no one, but I understand she’s had some chart-topping hits and may have performed on, like, Good Morning America or something. At any rate, here she is performing, well, some of the national anthem a...

Surfing's Most Iconic Event Is In Jeopardy Thanks To A Very Dumb Dispute
Oahu’s Pipeline is one of the most famous surf spots in the world, and the North Shore beach’s notoriously big and dangerous waves play host to the World Surf League’s biggest event of the year. Pipeline Masters, or Pipe Masters, has taken place at Pipeline since 1971, and it’s traditionally served ...

Building A Pro Wrestling Hall Of Fame Is A Lot Easier Said Than Done
In traditional competitive sports, the question of what makes a hall of famer, while fodder for heated arguments, is relatively straightforward. While there is always context that can be added, who the best players are is a largely statistical matter. In professional wrestling, it’s completely diffe...

Lindsey Horan's Goal Gives Portland The NWSL Championship
An emphatic Lindsey Horan finish off a long Emily Sonnett free kick proved to be the decisive blow in Saturday’s NWSL Championship Game, as the Portland Thorns defeated the North Carolina Courage 1-0....

Rating Pro Wrestling's New "Best Match Ever" Is Way More Contentious Than It Needs To Be<em></em><em></em>
This week, much has been made of the main event of New Japan Pro Wrestling’s annual Dominion event, which took place on Sunday. IWGP heavyweight champion Kazuchika Okada and challenger Kenny Omega went to a 60-minute time-limit draw, the hallmark of classic title matches for decades. It came five mo...

Rachel Daly Collapses, Is Taken Off On Stretcher At End Of Match
Houston Dash and English national team forward Rachel Daly collapsed just after taking a shot on goal in the final minute of her team’s match today against Seattle....

18-Year-Old Soccer Star Mallory Pugh Is Leaving UCLA To Turn Pro
Mallory Pugh, the blazingly fast and wildly skilled winger who played with the U.S. women’s team in the 2016 Olympics, is leaving UCLA to turn pro, according to a statement released by the school. The 18-year-old enrolled at UCLA in January and would have begun her freshman season in the fall. Inst...

Rachel Daly Curls Brilliant Goal Into Corner Of The Net
Rachel Daly put the Houston Dash up 2-0 over the Chicago Red Stars today with a simply beautiful goal that curved into the corner of the net at juuuust the right angle:...

An NWSL Strike Might Be The USWNT's Best Leverage
The U.S. women’s national team is in the middle of the 2017 SheBelieves Cup, a three-game tournament held in the U.S., and the team’s only major international competition of the year. They beat Germany 1-0 on Wednesday in Pennsylvania, play England on Saturday in New Jersey, and face France in Tuesd...

Western New York Win NWSL Championship In A Shootout After Stoppage Time Equalizer
The Western New York Flash defeated the Washington Spirit in a shootout to win the NWSL title. The Spirit took the lead early into extra time, with Crystal Dunn scoring in the 92nd minute, her second of the night. But Western New York’s Lynn Williams headed in a Jessica McDonald cross four minutes i...
![Grandstanding NWSL Owner Plays National Anthem Early To Avoid Megan Rapinoe's Protest [Update]](https://images.deadspin.com/tr:w-900/dzkm70a8bprf1tkspuop.jpg)
Grandstanding NWSL Owner Plays National Anthem Early To Avoid Megan Rapinoe's Protest [Update]
Megan Rapinoe’s Seattle Reign traveled to Washington D.C. to play the Washington Spirit tonight. It’s the Reign’s first game since Rapinoe knelt in solidarity with Colin Kaepernick last weekend. She expected to kneel again tonight, but she didn’t get a chance to, as Washington played the national an...

Megan Rapinoe Joins Colin Kaepernick, Kneels During National Anthem
Sunday night in Chicago, U.S. Women’s National Team star Megan Rapinoe kneeled during the national anthem before a NWSL game between her Seattle Reign and the host Red Stars. It was, she confirmed after the game, exactly what it appeared to be: a show of solidarity with San Francisco 49ers quarterba...
![TLC Concert Forces Top-Division Soccer Match To Be Played On Ridiculously Tiny Pitch [UPDATE]](https://images.deadspin.com/tr:w-900/mzcdd0kstvqvrw61bmpr.jpg)
TLC Concert Forces Top-Division Soccer Match To Be Played On Ridiculously Tiny Pitch [UPDATE]
Tonight’s match between the Western New York Flash and Seattle Reign took place on a ridiculously-configured pitch at the home of the AAA Rochester Red Wings due to a previously-scheduled concert by TLC at the Flash’s home stadium....

Surfer Whose Arm Was Bitten Off By A Shark Surfs On The Head Of The World's Supposed Best Surfer
Thirteen years ago, Bethany Hamilton’s left arm was bitten off by a tiger shark while she was surfing on Kauai. Despite losing 60 percent of her blood, she survived, returned to surfing three weeks later, became the subject of a number of movies and books over the years, and appeared on a ton of TV ...

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Bill Belichick Had A Plan, It Just Backfired Completely
By now we know that the Patriots’ decision to kick off to start overtime wasn’t a mistake—or at least, not the one it appeared to be at the time. New England never touched the ball in their 26-20 OT loss to the Jets, and while the outcome wasn’t by design, the strategy was. Whether or not it was a w...

Kim Little Finishes Hat Trick By Making Mincemeat Of Houston Defense
Kim Little had all three goals in tonight’s Seattle win over Houston, and her final one in the 90th minute was a Messian work of art as the Scot sliced and diced a tired Dash defense....

A Goalie Goal For The Portland Thorns!
Even with most of the league’s star players busy with that little event in Canada right now, the NWSL has continued unabated. In German keeper Nadine Angerer’s absence, Michelle Betos has stepped up for the Portland Thorns, saving goals and even scoring the tying one herself deep into stoppage time ...