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Power Plays Podcast
Join Lindsay, author of the Power Plays Newsletter, as she brings you the latest news, insights, and stories from women's sports. In each episode, Lindsay and guests will review that week's results from across the women's sporting sphere and bring on special guests to dive deep into the most compelling topics and shine a spotlight on the accomplishments, challenges, and groundbreaking moments of female athletes, teams, and organizations.
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Power Plays Podcast
Final week WNBA playoff scenarios and an UKG NWSL Challenge Cup preview
In Episode 8 of the Power Plays Podcast, host Lindsay Gibbs is joined by Jessie Breggren to discuss this week in women's sports, including a groundbreaking LPGA victory of by 19-year-old Thai qualifier, Chanettee Wannasaen ; a chaotic NWSL weekend full of red cards; the biggest week 1 stories from the U.S. Open; and an update on the possible WTA/Saudi Arabia partnership.
Then (12:00), Maggie Hendricks joins us to scrutinize the last week of the WNBA season. We look at the battle for the No. 1 seed between the New York Liberty and Las Vegas Aces, then dive deep into the many scenarios remaining for the No. 4-No. 8 seeds. There is so much at stake, and this podcast will prepare for it all.
Finally, Courtney Stith (45:07) joins to preview the UKG NWSL Challenge Cup finals. On Wednesday, we'll have the semifinals -- NC Courage vs. KC Current and the OL Reign vs. Racing Louisville, followed by the final on Saturday. There's a $1.1 million prize pool on the line, but how much will the teams prioritize this event?
Hello, hello, hello, and welcome to the Power Plays podcast, your weekly home for all the women's sports news that you could ever want for a need in your life. I am your host, lindsay Gibbs, and I am checking the stream to make sure my lipstick doesn't get on my teeth, because it seems to keep doing that. Anyways, we're doing great. This Tuesday morning I am joined by Jesse Bergen, the assistant here at Power Plays, who's going to go over the weekly results with me. Hi, jesse, hello, how are you doing? I'm doing super good, because you've got a great episode today. We've got two returning guests for the first time. Maggie Hendricks is going to join us to talk all about this final week of the WNBA and the push for the playoffs, so you're not going to want to miss that. And then Courtney Stiff of Diaspora United comes on to talk about the Challenge Cup, because we've got the Challenge Cup playoffs this week in the NWSL. So you know, when I first envisioned the podcast, this is kind of what I would envision getting into the nitty gritty of the women's sports calendar, with experts on the subject. So I think this is going to be fun, but first we want to review some of the results that we're not going to have time for on the rest of the show and I want to start that out with LPGA, because there was the best story on the LPGA this week. Okay, you ready for this? Yeah, I didn't hear about this, so write it.
Speaker 1:So Shannette Wanison and I hope I'm saying that right Shannette Wanison, a 19-year-old qualifier from Thailand. She was a Monday qualifier. She had a qualifier to get into this Portland classic, this tournament this week. She won by four strokes and she came into the final day of play tied for second place and then get this. So she was started off in second place. She's never even come close to winning an LPGA title before she started off with birdies the third hole in the fourth hole, she eagled the fifth and then she got birdies of the sixth and the seventh. So she went six under over five holes to leap out to the lead and never relented it the rest of the day. She's just the third qualifier ever to win an event on the LPGA tour, so we just love that. That's amazing.
Speaker 2:Wow, what a run.
Speaker 1:It's just like incredible. She shattered the tournament scoring record by five strokes, which is just a ridiculous like records don't get shattered by five strokes and gone Like that's ridiculous. So it was really cool. I also love that. I love seeing women caddies out there on the LPGA tour because there aren't that many and her tour is of her caddy as a woman and she's a former golf pro from Thailand and they were just like laughing. The caddy was doing such a good job of keeping her calm out there and I don't know I just we really love to see women caddies out there.
Speaker 1:So, congratulations to Chanel. We are going to talk about the challenge cup in the segment with Courtney, but we're not going to talk a lot about the results this weekend in the WSL. So do you want to get us covered there, Jesse? What happened this weekend?
Speaker 2:Yeah, so I'll just run down the scores really quick because there was a lot of action. So Angel City beat Kansas City 1-0. North Carolina tied New York New Jersey three to three, which sounded like a crazy game it was a ridiculously dumb game.
Speaker 1:It was just it was drunk on NWSL vibes Perfect Extremely.
Speaker 2:I love it. And then Louisville beat Portland 2-1. So that was a big game. Chicago beat Washington 2-0. And then OL Rain beat Orlando 1-0, which was kind of a surprising result considering that Orlando played the entire game basically with 10 players. What Can you please explain?
Speaker 1:that I will.
Speaker 2:Their goalkeeper got a red card in the third minute, which I believe they said was the fastest red card in WSL history. It has to be yeah. So she took out one of the rain players was going in on goal like kind of beat her and she accidentally took her out, so straight red. So she's off. So they're playing with 10 players and their backup keeper for the entire game. Ol Rain had a bunch of chances, only scored once. So that was kind of impressive actually.
Speaker 2:And then the next game, the final game San Diego Houston. Houston also got a red card in the 33rd minute for the same thing, a straight red, for denial of a goal scoring opportunity. The defender kind of took out a player going into a goal. Oh my God, yeah. So San Diego won 1-0. Also kind of impressive, considering they were up a player for two thirds of that game and their goal was by Jaden Shaw. She's one of these teenage phenoms who had a great, great goal and they had a bunch of chances. Houston cleared several chances off the line, so it could have been a lot more, but it was only 1-0 for San Diego. But both those games were kind of nuts. I watched them both and was like what is happening?
Speaker 1:It was a red card city Once again in WSL is just drunk like all the time, Like it's incredible.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:It's definitely. I love it so much yeah.
Speaker 2:It was fun and then so, because of all those results, the standings completely, they all, they shifted completely. So now our top six are San Diego, at the top, followed by Portland, north Carolina, o'belleraine, new York, new Jersey, in Washington. But those six are only now separated by four points, so it's even tighter, and the seven and eight seats, I think, are two points behind the six seats, so it's truly, yeah, really wide open. Anything could change in this last month or so, so it's exciting.
Speaker 1:It's. I'm obsessed, I'm just absolutely obsessed with it. Wnba we're going to go over all the WNBA news and results that you could ever want when the conversation with Maggie. So we're going to save that and that'll be the very next segment you hear. But I did want to talk a little tennis. We don't have any winners to shout out because we're in the middle of the US Open, but it has been a crazy tournament so far. So the biggest headline news is that Ega Shuadtec is out to Elena Osta-Penko and that means that Ega is no longer world number one At the end of this tournament. We know that Irina Sabalenka will be I believe I heard the 29th ever number one player on the WTA Tour. So that's really big news. I picked Irina to win the tournament, so you know feeling good about that. Coco Gough is the other. A lot of people picked her and she's still in the tournament. I don't want to talk too much about her because she's going to play her quarterfinal against Osta-Penko at about the time we published this episode, so it could be out to date pretty quickly.
Speaker 1:But just some other notes. I want to shout out Madison Keys absolutely crushed Jess Pugula, who you know continues to struggle in the second week of slams, but is always in the second week of slams. So pick your poison. But Madison Keys looks like she is her best self and that's scary news to the rest of the field. A few other great stories in the first week Peyton Stearns and CAA Champ made it all the way to the fourth round. She is un-sponsored, so sponsors, get on that please. It was really great to see Jen Brady's continued comeback, as well as Carolyn Wozniacki's comeback. And yeah, I think it's just been. I've just been glued to the tennis, honestly, just non-stop. Have you watched any?
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, I watched a bunch over the weekend. It was really fun. I watched whatever's on. I ended up seeing a lot of Coco's matches, actually over the last couple of weeks. I can't not watch her. She's so fun. She seems like such a delightful person. I just really like her.
Speaker 1:How is she 19 and just has more charisma than, like, any adult I've ever known. I know it's wild.
Speaker 2:She's fun. I hope her run continues because I love watching her and hearing her. Even her like post-game interviews are entertaining. I love it. They're delightful.
Speaker 1:And she shushes her coaches, which we just love to see, I know. She, just she tells these grown men to shut up that she's doing her thing, yeah, and I love that.
Speaker 1:I will always love that. I did want to give a quick update, so this is an evolving story, but last week we had John Worthyme on the podcast to discuss where the WTA finals are going to be, and if you haven't listened to that interview, honestly it's I think it's the best one we've done in this podcast so far. I just see so much insider knowledge. It's really fascinating. But I did want to update. So At the time we recorded that it really did seem like Saudi Arabia was in the lead to score the WTA championships In about two months and it seemed like this WTA and Saudi partnership was inevitable. But it seems like behind closed doors this week, things have shifted and that now Prague is in the lead, or the Czech Republic in general is in the lead to get the WTA finals, and they seem confident that Belarusian and Russian players will be allowed to enter into Prague or into the Czech Republic and their visas will be approved, which is a big deal, because Arina Sabalinka, who I just mentioned is the world number one, is from Belarus.
Speaker 1:So it would be really weird to have a WTA. Whatever your beliefs on whether Russian and Belarusian players should be allowed to compete like they are allowed to compete. So it would be really weird to have a year in where your number one couldn't get into the country, like that would just not be ideal. So anyways, there's just so much happening there. But amongst the midst at all the WTA and the ATP, I've scheduled some meetings and there's possible tour merger talk, which is something I will definitely be covering on Power Place, because I have a lot of thoughts about. I don't think it's anything imminent because it's going to be very, very complicated, but it seems like now. The thought is that instead of partnering with Saudi, who they're afraid are going to make a rival tennis tour, they're hoping to join forces between the ATP and the WTA to fight against the Saudi involvement in the sport.
Speaker 2:So Wow, this is like a movie. This is wild.
Speaker 1:The off court stuff.
Speaker 1:We need someone from the boardroom to continue leaking, because this is just. This is too much. But anyways, we'll just want to. I don't usually update you on the news and politics at the top of. We should try to stick to scores, because we think sometimes it's important stick to the scores, but sometimes you just got to go off script a little bit and, considering the conversation with John Wortham last week, I just really wanted to give you the latest there. So who? Lots, lots of going on. Shall we get to the rest of the podcast.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, let's hear from them.
Speaker 1:Hello, hello, hello, lindsay, I am back here. I am Lindsay. I'm not calling you all Lindsay, I am Lindsay and I'm back here, and joining me is the incomparable Maggie Hendricks. Maggie, thanks so much for being on the Power Plays podcast for the second time.
Speaker 3:I feel special, like maybe like the third time I'll get a set of steak knives. Maybe I don't need steak knives.
Speaker 1:All right, jesse, our producer, can you write that down, that we need to get Maggie some steak knives or something like that? Okay, all right, we'll get on that. You know we do take requests while I follow instructions. Well, and you know I liked that people come back. Anyways, our first order business is to hire Maggie because she's no longer with Valley Sports and you should want to hire her immediately to cover WNBA Olympics any. All the things.
Speaker 3:Oh, I mean, those are my favorite things, but I can cover any of the things.
Speaker 1:But let's do the favorite things WNBA and Olympics.
Speaker 3:WNBA and Olympics is my, is my. Those are my favorite things in the world and they make me happy.
Speaker 1:So well, we want Maggie to be happy, so that's very important. So I'm going to try and center myself a little bit. I feel like I'm way off center here.
Speaker 1:I know that my computer is like tilted, but I also kind of like it, so we're going to go with it, but now I'm centered and we're just going to keep going. So it's one week until the WNBA playoff start. Basically, they start September 13. The last day of the regular season is this Sunday, so we've got lots of scenarios. Are you ready to talk playoff scenarios? That's what we're going to be doing in this segment. We're going to be talking about seeds and who's going to make the playoffs and what this final week is going to look like. There's going to be math and I apologize in advance.
Speaker 3:Okay, well, as long as we like know the math going in and the math doesn't involve like quadratic equations.
Speaker 1:We'll see, we'll see All right. So let's start with, like the easiest quote, unquote easiest. The things that we know are that the aces and liberty will be the top two seeds. I'm going to read you the scenario from Vegas PR. I copied and pasted this directly from an email. So Vegas controls its own destiny. Vegas has two games left. If Vegas wins those games, no matter what the liberty do, vegas will be the number one seed. But should the Vegas lose one game and New York run the table, which would mean both teams were at 33 and seven here are the tie break scenarios.
Speaker 1:If this is so confusing, but it's kind of funny to me that this is like the simple scenario. Okay. So once again, this is if aces lose a game and New York runs the table, connecticut and Dallas. If Connecticut and Dallas are at or above 500, new York is the one seed. If Connecticut, dallas and Minnesota are at or above 500, vegas is the one seed. If Connecticut, dallas, atlanta are at or above 500, new York is the one seed. And if Connecticut, dallas, atlanta and Minnesota are at or above 500, vegas is the one seed. The short but sweet version is basically they need many at the Minnesota to be a part of a tie break scenario, so I don't really understand any of that. It's very confusing.
Speaker 3:Did you understand that, maggie? No, no, we're off to such a good start here. The thing about it is that, like there's always at least one person on Twitter who really understands these things and can explain them to us.
Speaker 1:So but I would say the part I do understand is that the aces control their own destiny, that if they win, they are out and the liberty would have to run the table. I believe for the aces to. If aces lose a game, liberty would still have to run the table. The sun are all but locked into the three seed. Okay, and then now's where we get really fun, because we don't know what's happening. The Dallas wings are 2017. They had a chance to clinch the number four seed, but got steamrolled in overtime against the Indiana fever on Sunday, which was really weird. Like the fever had nothing to play for, dallas had the number four seed, so eight teams make it to the playoffs. The number four seed means you get home court advantage in the first round, which is a big deal. It's only a best of three series, so you really want that home court advantage, and so just for them to lose in overtime. Maggie, you watch this game right. What happened?
Speaker 3:You know it seemed like a lot of bad tendencies that Dallas has actually worked really hard to get rid of. Came back, you know, when the chips were down, when it was a really close game. We saw Arique hold onto the ball too much and get and spend too much time arguing with refs. Not enough passing, not enough like just team play and Indiana. It's so funny because I just watched just before that the Sky game. The sky were playing the Liberty. The sky are fighting for we're going to get to it. I know sky were fighting for a playoff spot. They didn't look urgent at all. The fever looked like they were playing for dinner, so like I mean the fever just looked.
Speaker 1:The end of the season is so confusing it is.
Speaker 3:And they, but they looked so hungry out there and it says a lot about the culture that's been built in Indiana and how they've changed things around, because that team looked like they were you were trying to win the championship. It was insane.
Speaker 1:Yeah, erike got a lot of flak for that game and for the way it ended up.
Speaker 1:I think there's concern that there's a little bit of lack of accountability going on in Dallas. It seems like their culture has been good all season, but I don't know if, just like when you're under the most pressure, if that's when your worst tendencies come out, it's kind of a sign of immaturity a little bit. Nikaius Duncan did a great thread on the Dallas wings, which I will link in the show notes, and really kind of exposed how bad their defense has been over the last 12 games and in particular, how Erike is just not running back to get on defense. She's not hustling when it comes to defense and it's putting the whole team in a really bad position. At the same time she is averaging 37 minutes per game, so she's got to be exhausted. If there's been anything with Dallas it's been confusing to me this year it's been how short their rotation has been when they've got a pretty deep bench. So I think that might be coming back to bite them a little bit as well. When you get fatigued, your worst tendencies come out as well.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I mean, that's honestly what it looked like it was. She did look very tired, it was an overtime game and she played a ton of it, so I get that. But also then there needs to be some like what are the coaches saying to her? What are her teammates saying to her? There needs to be when you screw up, you should have people around you to say, hey, that's not okay. I mean you and I need that, everybody needs that.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah, please. I need people in my life to tell me.
Speaker 3:Right.
Speaker 1:I mean that's love, that's support, that's really wanting success and you know, I don't know. I hope that they get it together. I mean, they still they're ahead. They I think they've got a game and a half up on the links who are in the number five position right now. But they've got a tough schedule. They're at the Liberty on Tuesday, which, as we've mentioned, the Liberty are still playing for that number one seed. So the Liberty are not going to be taken this week off Friday. They're no, they're not at the Liberty, sorry, they're home versus the Liberty on Tuesday. They're home versus the storm on Friday, and then Sunday they're at the dream who might very well be fighting for a playoff seed as well. So that's not a very easy schedule. But let's go down to Minnesota, which is the only team that has a chance to overcome them.
Speaker 1:Minnesota started this season oh and six and they are now 19 and 19. They're only the second WNBA team in history to start the season. Oh and six are worse and clinch a playoff birth, and they're not just like barely clenching a playoff birth there. They have an outside shot to be the number five four seed and it seems like they're definitely going to at least be the five seed. So really, kudos to Minnesota.
Speaker 1:I think it's gone very under the radar what they've put together this season and I know I kind of didn't pay attention enough to it. Probably they clinched, they are, they're officially in the playoffs. They're the only five teams of a clinch have officially clinched playoff. First, minnesota is a fifth, they're 19 and 19 right now. They beat up on the Mercury on Sunday and they've only got two games this week, so it's another thing that helps a lot of most teams have three games this week. They only have to both on the road, friday in Chicago and then Sunday in Indiana, so not as tough of a final week schedule as a lot of teams have. What is impressed you about what the links have done this season and what worries do you still see what? Why? Why would you be worried? Why would you be excited about them going to playoffs and why would you be worried about them?
Speaker 3:Well, I think they've done, first of all, an amazing job with their rookies. I mean, we all knew that Diamond Miller was going to be special, but I don't think I don't think I was expecting her to make this kind of an impact this quickly, and I definitely wasn't expecting that out of Dorca Uhaas. Like Dorca Uhaas was like after there were injuries to Jessica Shepard or Jeff to Jessica Shepard you had an illness. It was like, okay, Dorca, you're starting. So welcome to the league. And she did it and she did it well.
Speaker 3:And so now, because of that, they have some good depth in at center. They have some good. I mean, obviously Nafisa is going to be Nafisa, but even we saw those games a couple weeks ago when Nafisa was out, they still beat the Liberty and beat the sun on the road. So they showed that they have the ability like Caleb McBride really has the ability to elevate the team. And then you know, I mean they just have, they have players who really care about each other and care about winning, and that is a tough thing to overcome for other teams.
Speaker 3:But on the on the things that make me nervous, yeah, I mean some of their rotations don't make sense as far as like who, we're staying calm in the game. Sometimes it drives me insane and there when you get to the playoffs in experience can rare its ugly head in some of the worst ways. And when you have player like when you have two of your key players are rookies and this team, this particular links team, hasn't been tested in the playoffs the way previous links teams have. So they also like as a group. They don't have that. We've been through the playoffs thing that other teams that they will face have.
Speaker 1:Yeah, Just a note on Nefisa she in their win against the Mercury, which cleans their playoff spot, she had 22 points, 16 rebounds, five assists in three blocks and 33 minutes. It was her second straight 20.15 rebound game and she also. It was also her second 20.15 rebound three block game and she's the first player in in WNBA history to have two such games back to back, because in the previous game she had 27.17 rebounds and four blocks. So she's playing well. I have a question.
Speaker 1:I know you've paid attention to the links this season. What's going on with aerial powers?
Speaker 3:You know what? I wish I knew more. That is one thing that I have also wondered. Yeah, she has dealt with a lot of injuries, not just season but over her career, and perhaps she's just not playing in a way that show her things. She should be on the court as much. I mean. I really it's one of those things that, like Ariel's being, it seems like very fairly quiet about it, which I give her credit for she's being she's not really.
Speaker 1:I mean she's tweeted that she wants out of Minnesota. She's going to be on a different team next year.
Speaker 3:Like she let me put it this way she's not being a jerk about it on the court. You know, like we've been that too, we've been listening to that she's still doing doing her job and doing a festive scan. So yeah, I don't blame her for wanting to be out of Minnesota because she was a starter. She was, or like number one off the bench for much of her time there, and now this year she's barely playing. It's odd, but also it's not. We've seen Sheryl Reeve do that before.
Speaker 1:Yeah, we've seen Sheryl Reeve do that before and I also think I love Ariel Powers. I loved covering her in DC. She's a great bench player. She's like your ideal bench player. I don't think she's a starter. I don't think she's a starter. I think she can fool people into thinking she's a starter because she's that good of a bench player. But she's a bench player on a good team. On a good team. She's your ideal hustle player coming off the bench. On a middling team she's not who you want running your offense. That's fair. Another thing to note is Lindsay Allen has a thumb injury. She's been there starting point guard and she's been really good for them this season. Like I did not see this Lindsay Allen renaissance coming by any stretch of the imagination, they're not ruling her out for this season. It doesn't seem like, but it doesn't look good. She's got a cast.
Speaker 3:Yeah, what I believe the report that came through yesterday was that they are continuing, that they're not going surgical, they're going to continue to work on rehab and then update us in 10 days I think it was 10 days from today. They could be out of the playoffs. That's a playoff she could be or she could not. I think they're going to try to keep her around and do what they can and not just say she's been so good.
Speaker 1:That's one of the surprises of the season, for me for sure. Let's move on to, and even juice your conversation on, the four or five, which is the teams that look in place for the six and the seven seeds. That is the Atlanta dream and the Washington Mystics, who were tied with 17 and 20 records. But Atlanta has the edge. I believe that's mainly because of the conference record, though it could be head to head as well. Either way, atlanta definitely has the edge based off of a conference record, and that's not something I don't think the Mystics can make up the dreams schedule this week. Wednesday they have the storm in town. Friday they are at the Mystics Circle. That game, everybody. If you're talking about big time regular season games, friday, dream at Mystics blockbuster. Then Sunday they've got the wings. Who might not be playing for anything at that point? The Mystics, similarly Tuesday they're still on the road. They haven't been good on the road this season, but they are at the Mercury. If you have to be on the road, that's where you want to be right now. Then Friday they're hosting the dream and that big game. Then Sunday they're at New York. Who might not have anything to play for We'll have to see. This is pretty blockbuster.
Speaker 1:There's a lot of things underscoring this. Number one is the difference is either facing the New York Liberty probably, let's say, the Liberty are getting that two seed right the Liberty or the aces. If you're the seven seed, you're likely facing the Liberty, maybe the aces, in the first round. If you're the six seed, you're facing the Connecticut Sun in the first round, the Sunner good team. Don't get me wrong. They would be favored in either matchup. You would rather face them by far than the Liberty or the aces in the first round. I realize that's insulting to Connecticut, but that just is what it is.
Speaker 3:Connecticut's just going to say that's disrespect and give them. They're just going to add Hashtag disrespect.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it is Disrespect, it's fine, I'm fine with that. They might feel favored. They might feel favored.
Speaker 3:On an ad. It's fine, it's fine.
Speaker 1:They just got crushed by the Liberty a few days ago. That is what it is, anyways, another thing that I think is underpinning this is there's been some rumbling of upsetness. Upset of people are questioning whether Tibo GM Mike Tibo did the right thing when he basically passed on Ryan Howard in the draft. The Mystics had the number one overall pick in the 2022 draft and he traded that to Atlanta to the dream and ended up getting the second overall pitch pick and got Shakira Austin. Shakira Austin is a great player, don't get me wrong. Ryan Howard is an all-star, set up to be a perennial all-star, and is a scoring machine. The Mystics need scoring.
Speaker 1:I'm sorry if you guys can hear the train that's coming by my building right now. It just is what it is. We're just going to power through. It's a part of. I don't think you can look at this matchup and look at where they are and how they're fighting for the playoffs without considering that, like I said, it's unfortunate. Shakira Austin has been injured most of the season. That's been the story of the Mystics season. It's part of it. Fans are questioning whether or not that was the right move.
Speaker 3:I think that's going to be one of those things that gets questioned, no matter even if they weren't close to it, close to each other in the playoffs, I think Mike Thiebaud was expecting quite as many injuries. I don't think anybody in the world without a crystal ball could have expected as many injuries to scores to everybody as the Mystics have gone through this season and last season, the Mystics kept having to deal with unbelievable crap. Let's be honest when we were looking at the draft in 2022, we all thought Ryan Howard was going to be a good player. I wasn't expecting who she's become or who she's going to be.
Speaker 1:She surpassed expectations, I think. I think Shakira Austin surpassed expectations too, albeit they were lower. Everyone's saying guesses everything, but I think it's a legitimate question. I think it's a legitimate question about whether he did the right thing or not. I think it's going to be overshadowing this game on Friday for sure. The Mystics finally so.
Speaker 1:Alayna Deladon missed a lot of time with a hip injury and then an ankle injury, ariel Atkins missed a lot of time with an ankle injury and Shakira Austin missed a lot of time with a hip injury. That's three starters that they basically didn't have for most of July and August. They finally got completely healthy last week. She cured Austin, re-injured her hip. We don't know what that looks like. I hope it's just a re-aggravation, but we haven't gotten any official word on how long she's going to be out. And then Ariel Atkins got a broken nose elbow to the nose by Asia Wilson, so she missed this last game. And then Chrissy Talver had also been out. She's a bench player for them now, but she'd been out with plantar fasciitis, finally gotten healthy and then went down with what looked like a terrible non-contact injury in the game against the Sparks, one of those injuries where the whole arena goes silent. This is on Sunday. Whole arena goes silent. All the players are crying.
Speaker 1:I want to read Delvedon's quote to Cream Copeland after the game. This is from Cream Copeland at the Washington Post. She said I'm not going to lie, emotionally I'm shocked. You try to do the whole thing where you want to rally for her, but we were sick, just sick. What she's been through with her foot, how much she's worked to get back. She's talking about next year and all those things. Then, to see something like this happen at this point of her career, it just sucks. She's such a great person, it's brutal. And then Brittany Sykes Addle. The shit broke our hearts.
Speaker 1:So the Mystics were really not able to recover. They lost to the Sparks in a game that could have put them in the driver's seat for this number six seed, maybe even the number five seed, and now they're facing three must win games here at the end of the end of the season. Hopefully we get Atkins, maybe a masked up, ariel Atkins back and Shakira Austin back. You need your starters, no matter what they've got, to figure out a way to get a lay in Deledon the ball they just have to get. You have to get a lay Deledon the ball. She has to get in the rhythm. She doesn't get the ball enough and then when she gets it she's not in any rhythm. But anyways, I follow the Mystics closely and I think there's lots of reasons to be concerned. But it's that game on Friday versus the dream, especially if they both win their games against the storm and the mercury respectively during the week. That's going to be a game.
Speaker 3:Maggie. That is going to be a huge game. And something I just want to mention about Kristy Taliver is she's a coach. She's a coach in the NBA and so obviously she's their teammate, but we all know what her voice is to that team. And I was not watching that game. I was watching I think there was another game happening at the same time or that was late, I can't remember but the way my Twitter lit up with people just being either grossed out, sad, heartbroken, you know, I mean those kind of injuries, just they, just you don't see them as much in basketball as you do, say, in football. So like, when they happen, it's like, oh, just the worst thing, it just breaks my heart.
Speaker 1:And when you see one of your friends, I mean that team, that core of that team. They, you know. I mean Taliver went back to the Sparks a couple of years and came back, but this is the core that won the championship together, right? Heinz Allen and Atkins and Deladon and Natasha Cloud and Taliver Like these, this core has been together for so many years. Tiana Hawkins right, like they know each other so well, and so it's. You know, they're more than teammates. This is really like these are long-term teammates. You don't see this type of consistency that often. Yeah, no, it's tough to see. Yeah.
Speaker 3:Yeah. So I'm reading everything from that game. I have to say I have to give WNBA fans credit. I feel like in men's sports you see a lot more of like oh look at this ugly injury and they're like retweeted a bunch of times and everything like that. We don't do that shit and I'm and I remember the same thing happened with when Mallory's Pew Swanson, when she had her injury there was, it was the same thing.
Speaker 3:I did not see the injury, which is good. I don't want to, but, like it makes me proud of W, of women's sports fans that were like, no, we're not going to take joy in a woman that's going through.
Speaker 1:All right, our final two teams. We need to talk about the final two in playoff contention. The Mercury Storm and Fever are all completely out of it. So you've got the Sparks at 16 and 21 and the Chicago Sky at 15 and 22. So right now the Sparks, I believe, have a half game lead, when all things are considered, over the sky for the eighth and final spot in the playoffs. I do want to mention, though there of course is an outside chance that the Sparks could get as high as the number 16, right, like, like. They are only really one game behind the Mystics and the Dream. So I'm talking about these, we're talking about two teams, two teams, two teams, because that's kind of how it's likely pairing out right. But we could see a bigger shakeup than that, with some surprising results this final week. The Sparks did beat the Mystics on Sunday to put them in the driver's seat.
Speaker 1:For this final spot. There's seven and three in the last 10 games, which is tied for second best in the W, right behind the Aces in the last 10 games. They're tied with the Aces right behind the Liberty Upcoming games, though all three on the road. This is one of the toughest final weeks of any team. Tuesday they're at the Sun, which I guess I don't think the Sun really have anything to play for, so maybe that's the benefit there. But Tuesday they're at the Sun, thursday they're at the Liberty and then Sunday they're at the Storm Taps. Two, three on the road, including two playoff teams, is definitely tough.
Speaker 1:But another thing to notice, to pay attention to, is Nekagumake was a late scratch against the Mystics due to knee pain. It seems like she'll be day to day. She's averaging 19.9 points and 8.9 rebounds, basically 20.9 boards. This season. She's having a transcendent season. So they really need her healthy for the playoffs. But it's really good they were able to win without her. Deirgarhambi filled in and had a double double and Leija Clarendon, who we talked about last time you were on the pod and talked about a lot. And Leija Clarendon, they are just having a remarkable season and it just continues. The Sky you're in Chicago, maggie. What are we seeing from the Sky, who are at 15 and 22? They gave up, I believe, a 26 to 8 run to the Liberty to close their game on Sunday, not how you want to close things off when you're fighting for the playoffs.
Speaker 3:No, their fourth quarter against the Liberty was pretty much just. I mean, hainas is the only one I could come up with. They couldn't score for anything because they were winning. I believe it was 61-60, with 8 minutes left in the game, and then I think they lost something like 85-65. Someday I can't remember the exact score, but they went a very long time without scoring 86-69. Okay, they went a very long time without scoring anything and then, kind of like the wings, some of their worst tendencies came out. Courtney Williams when you see her overthinking about where she should pass the ball or shooting, that's a problem. Courtney, like Courtney, plays fast. She's an instinct player.
Speaker 1:She's an instinct player, yeah.
Speaker 3:And so in any time you see her struggling, that's what you're seeing is she's not trusting herself. So saw some of that, saw some Marina Maybury being way too concerned about the rest, saw Kahlia having to do too much by herself without help, elizabeth Williams getting into foul trouble. So there were a lot of bad tendencies coming out, and I just even though their schedule is much easier, they're playing the fever, the links and who wants that the Sun on Sunday? The.
Speaker 1:Sun. On Sunday, we'll definitely have nothing to play for. Yeah.
Speaker 3:By that game by Sunday. I mean when you have one of your stars is 35 years old, you sit hard. Don't want to be sitting.
Speaker 1:But? And the other one who doesn't have any shoulders Right?
Speaker 3:And you're relaxed. But you look at this guy's schedule and you're like, oh well, they've got the fever, who are already out Sun's not to play for. The links are kind of caught locked in where they are, so maybe they have the easier schedule, but, as we've seen, the fever are not acting like they have nothing to play for and the links the same thing.
Speaker 1:I feel like the links could still have an outside shot at that number four seed, which they would really really want to play for because that's home courted managed.
Speaker 3:Yeah, that difference between four and five is huge Because, don't forget, it's two to one is the thing. So if you run at home, then you don't even have to travel at all, you don't even have to worry about about charity price.
Speaker 1:So which? Do we even want to talk about? That news that came out this week? Yeah, I mean, I didn't even have that on my rundown.
Speaker 3:But yeah, the WNBA tripping over dollars to pick up pennies again and again, and again, and it just you guys.
Speaker 1:just so, the WNBA promised charter flights for the whole playoffs. It was in so many press releases for all the playoffs. There were no asterisks. There were no, no, anything.
Speaker 3:And now, all of a sudden, you and I both have been in too. We've like literally heard these words, kind of with that angle bar to mouth.
Speaker 1:And in like, and that's been their big I mean it's been their selling point of how much progress is being made. And now it's come out that there's this asterisk where if you win your series early, so if and you have time off between the next series you only get one charter flight before your next series. So you have to either choose so let's say, the spark sweep and then they're waiting for, or the aces sweep and then they're waiting for who their next opponent is going to be right.
Speaker 3:It'll only, it'll only be the bottom half of the, because the aces will be at home, because it's oh right, right, you're right.
Speaker 1:That would be later, yeah.
Speaker 3:So say it's the links and the wings and the links do get the fives and the sweep Dallas, and then they're waiting to find out if they're going to Connecticut or Atlanta. Do they stay in Dallas? Do they fly home to Minnesota, or, but on those, or then do they fly to there?
Speaker 1:They use a charter flight for the next one, basically, and so they only get one charter flight, so they can't charter home to Minnesota and then to their second round. They have to choose which one is just dumb. It's dumb because it's saving you so little money.
Speaker 3:So why are we doing this? On the next, it will save about $80,000. Now do you and me? Yes, $80,000. A lot of money. Absolutely. It's a grand scheme of all of the money you're spending on travel for the WNBA playoffs.
Speaker 1:And just the PR you're losing on this.
Speaker 1:It's so dumb and like pissing off the players. What are you doing? It's so dumb, all right, we could go on. I hate ending our segment that way, but I think that's where we're going to end it, with the frustration of the league. But I'm excited for the, for the end of the regular season. I am ready for the playoffs. I can't wait to see how these seeds shake out because, like we said there, but the difference between four and five, six and seven, eight, nine these are huge differences we're talking about. Of course, the biggest is eight nine. You're in or out of the playoffs, but four or five home court advantage, and then six and seven facing the top two teams which are in a tier above right Versus facing the the sun. I mean, these are huge differences. So much at stake. We wanted to give it all the time it deserved. I think we've done that. And, maggie Hendricks, how can people follow you?
Speaker 3:Okay, so currently I'm locked out on my Twitter account, so you can follow me at Maggie HEND606. Maggie, when it rains, it pours. I know it was like all at the same time. So I got locked out on my Twitter account because I screwed up my two factor authentication. But you can also follow me on Instagram and I talk a lot there and blue sky. Those are both Maggie Hendricks.
Speaker 1:Okay, repeat your Twitter thing again, maggie HEND606.
Speaker 3:So basically, if I follow you and you're like, why is Maggie following me and you're not sure it is me, it is me.
Speaker 1:It is, it is not. It's not spam, maggie. It is locked out, maggie, all right, thank you again, hello, hello, hello. I am back and now joined by Courtney Stith of Diaspora United and CBS, and Courtney is ever the New Yorker joining us from her car as she tries to avoid a parking ticket. So the power plate. Last time we talked to you on the power place podcast, you were in New Zealand, so this is a little bit different of a situation.
Speaker 4:Yeah, I was like New York. You're not going to get me again this week, so doing my best to avoid another $65 parking ticket because I've been rocking it up.
Speaker 1:So thank you so much for joining us this week. Last time we were previewing the whole World Cup. This time we're previewing a much smaller cup the UKG NWSL Challenge Cup. The Challenge Cup is this week, so the regular season of NWSL is kind of taking this week off and we're just focusing on the Challenge Cup, which it's tougher to explain than it should be. But essentially it's a cup within a regular season. At least that's how it was done. It used to be a preseason tournament. Now it ran concurrently with the regular season and then next year, as we will talk about it, won't exist anymore. So I don't know how worth it is to go into the details of how this works, but essentially you split up into three divisions. The winner of these round robbing games from each division gets into the Challenge Cup playoffs, which is what we're having this week, and then one other team gets in based off of record. Are we okay?
Speaker 1:Sorry, my fingers, my fingers went on a ride, my fingers went off my steering wheel, sorry, about that.
Speaker 1:So one other team gets in based off of record. So what we're basically left with is this Wednesday evening at 8pm Eastern on CBS Sports Network we've got the Kansas City Current facing off against the North Carolina Courage, and then at 10pm Eastern on CBS Network we've got the OLRain versus Racing Louisville and then the winners of those two games will play on I believe it is Saturday in the championship match. Now there is money at stake. It's the $1.1 million prize pool. It's being touted as the first ever million dollar prize pool in US women's soccer. That breaks down to the winners getting at most around $13,400, which is a lot to some of these players. Some players that's half of what their salary is. You know 50% bump. But you know the million dollars breaks down pretty quickly when you do it player by player.
Speaker 1:Anyways, courtney, we want to talk a little bit. Let's preview the individual games we've got going on here and then we can talk a little bit about whether this week even matters. Isn't that a great pitch for paying attention to the these games? But when you're looking at the current versus the courage, you've got one team that's basically out of the playoff race, at the bottom of the standings in the current and then you've got one team in the courage that is in the running for the league shield, you know, in as a lot of teams are. The races is very close right now the playoff races. We discussed at the top of the show, basically, that I would look at that quickly and go oh, the courage should have this easily. But I don't know, because there could be different incentives here about who's playing hard and who's not.
Speaker 4:Yeah, definitely. I mean, I think when, like I don't know, because the challenge was happening, you know, the the group stage of the challenge was happening while somebody these players are out for the women's World Cup, and so a lot of the team it was it was interesting. You know, I was I was not watching because it was happening in saying hours when I was there, but it was interesting seeing how teams approached it and I think for a lot of teams it was actually like thinking about going down to towards the end of the season. It's where, like, a lot of teams started like cementing themselves. So I know, like for the courage, for example, they were playing the Washington spirit and it was like or it was their second to last group stage game and it was nil nil.
Speaker 1:And then also on this, all of a sudden I scored six goals in like 24 minutes or something like that it was one of the craziest things I've ever witnessed, and by witness I mean refreshed my phone as it was happening like check the score, and was like wait it's four nothing, refresh, wait it's five nothing.
Speaker 4:Right exactly. And so it's like it's interesting thinking about this competition because it is where, like I think a lot of teams like were able to kind of work some things out Like we saw the Kansas City Courage who weren't having like the greatest regular season like find a way to come together and kind of make it through the challenge cup. So you know, when you ask about incentives going in, it might be for some of these teams that they want to do a domestic double, like for the NW cells. I'm going to argue is basically the only league in the world where you can't do it some sort of domestic double or some sort of you know like treble-esque type thing. There's not concurrent competitions. So I think there's still going to be like plenty motivated going into it.
Speaker 4:And also, I mean the monetary factor is a big thing. You know, with the end of with the new NWSL CVA, the salary for was raised a significant amount. But I mean it's still, if you're making. You know I can't remember what the minimum is off the top of my head, but let's say the minimum is, you know, $50,000. If you go and you win and you win $13,000, that's still like more than 25%.
Speaker 1:It's a big chunk of change, yeah.
Speaker 4:Like if.
Speaker 1:I got it if I got a $13,000 bonus for something right now, I would be very happy, and my, you know my salary is not that different from a lot of players.
Speaker 4:So it's like still you know a big, significant thing Like, and also these players are elite athletes like, they want to win, Like at the, at the base of it.
Speaker 1:I think I was wondering more. Like you know, other teams are getting this rest week. Do you risk the health of your team? Do you risk, you know, the fatigue that comes with it If you're still in the shield? Like you know the race for the shield or a high playoff seed, are you playing like for the courage? Example, for the current, I think they're the bottom of the playoff, of the standings. They're going to go all out. You know for this, no matter what right Like this is their chance to really get something out of the season and maybe it could propel them into, you know, grabbing one of the last playoff spots if they really go on a run here at the end because the table's that close. But with the courage, like, are you playing Emily Fox and Caroline, you know, are you playing your best players for their full time? Are you counting minutes?
Speaker 1:I agree, I actually think we're going to see these teams go all out, because I don't really think it's in their DNA to not and over the courage in particular, if they win, they I mean assuming OL Rain has a scheduling conflict and cannot host the final, because I saw the courage who were the three seed in this. They said, if they win their first game, they will be hosting the final, which means they would be facing either the one or the four. So if they're facing the four seed, they would definitely be hosting anyways. And if the one seed is OL Rain so I'm guessing for them to have said that then OL Rain must have a scheduling conflict, because I know it's in the bylaws that the teams get to. But anyways, they're already trying to hype up their defending champions. They're trying to hype up, you know, the fan base around this. So it seems to me like they're going to go all out. Of course, you know if you've got to be in a versus Caroline, like that's a fun matchup, no matter what like sign me up.
Speaker 1:All I'm hoping is that we see that for sure. Who would you pick in the current versus the courage you?
Speaker 4:know I've been thinking about this and I don't know it's tough. I think if we're going to have the courage, I'd like not like got them come back like storm, back to a three three.
Speaker 3:I would be like- I was such a weird courage all the day.
Speaker 4:I think it was absolute chaos. But honestly I think I might tip it to the courage just like a tiny bit. I think the game is going to be Like it watching the courage game so much it was sorry, the current game so much or it was based off transition and I think we oh, you've kind of looking back in the Gotham game that the current, the courage, can be a little bit success, successful on those transition moments and so, yeah, I'm probably just gonna like very slightly like a, like a 45, 55. I tip it to Kansas City because I also think this name and I think for Kansas City, like because of the way the NWSL table is and truly no one is out, like I was explaining to people like there are technically 12 points up for grabs. If a team goes like on a great run and gets those that run, of what three or four wins math.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 4:They could very quickly like, get into, like, but those last playoff spots, but all like that last playoff spot, or even, depending on where, like which team it is, they could very much get like a home semi-final or a buy or something like. The table is Literally so tight that anything is possible. But I'm gonna, I'm gonna tip it to Kansas City just a bit.
Speaker 1:All right, I like that. We're going again. I'm going with the courage here. And If you had to pick one player on Kansas City and one player on in North Carolina, that's not like that, the headliner. So you can't say, like to be To watch out for who would it be?
Speaker 4:Yeah, I probably watch out for CC Kaiser for Kansas City. She's been Really productive in getting into really good spaces and like laying the ball off to a Kristen Hamilton or at times of Dubena, and I think she's honestly had a pretty good season.
Speaker 1:So I would probably have goals, a season or something really good like that.
Speaker 4:Yeah, yeah and she's been, and even when Dubena was out she was still really connecting a lot of play for Kansas City. I'm accessing the attacking third, so I would definitely keep an eye out for that for her and then for Carolina.
Speaker 1:Brianna Pinta. Brianna Pinta, I know.
Speaker 4:I was thinking, I mean a Pinto 100%. Oh, there's an ambulance behind me. Should I stop talking?
Speaker 1:Yeah, just for a second, maybe what neighborhood.
Speaker 4:I live in Clinton Hill Okay. So it's like not I mean where I live, it's like not even super busy either.
Speaker 1:No, it's not. That's a very quiet neighborhood.
Speaker 4:Yeah, let me think I'm trying to say what was approved, scored very recent. Oh oh yeah, actually I remember so for North Carolina, I'm actually well, I think I would want to say Brianna Pinto, I would actually say Nerumi from Japan, who I Was like I think she should be like making a World Cup squad and she did not make the World Cup squad and I was like, how do you? But I actually think she's Really like, honestly, really really good for them, and so I keep my eye out on her. I believe she scored her first ever NWSL goal this past weekend against Gotham and every time I Everyone loves her.
Speaker 3:She's had some assists this season.
Speaker 1:So, yeah, I think she's in a good place. All right, let's move on to the other game We've got going on oh all rain versus racing Louisville oh Well, rain. A stat that is wild to me is they didn't lose a single game in the group stage of the challenge cup, so they've got so many key players. When you're going down their list, from Bethany Balser to Jess fishlock to Sophia Huerta to Quinn Rosalina Bell's been injured a lot this season, but it's always a factor, emily son, I mean the list goes on, what. What sticks out to you from the matchup between the ol rain and racing Louisville?
Speaker 4:Yeah, I think for that you have racing, who is has a really, really young core, thinking about their Like Savannah de Mello, tempica, that Lana, like I, just to stand out for them long strong, while she's a bit older it's not like necessarily like, it's not like she's like 33, just like 27. I believe and that you know they have a lot of internationals performing for them who Honestly play some really really fun football, like I really enjoy watching racing will play like 10 because a lot is like one of my Like all-time favorite players. Now she's so much fun to watch and, and you know they did pick up, I think, a really big Like obviously a big victory in the end of this little table, but also like a really big moral victory this past weekend and beating Portland for the first time ever.
Speaker 4:They had six tries and this is the first time they've ever beaten Portland, and so I think it's like, yeah, that's like, you know, a really huge victory for them and then for all around on the other side. I Know it's really gonna. I had questions about why they swapped out fallen to a Joyce for Dickey I believe it's her last name. So they like swap their goalkeepers a bit in the past I want to say two to three weeks. So the I have some questions about that because I thought fallen to a Joyce was having a fantastic season as keeper. So I think for the two of them all rain it's going to be Can they hit that goal scoring form, because I think at times this past season it's wavered a bit.
Speaker 4:They like you see them on paper, like, oh, they have all these incredible pieces and sometimes it's just quite simply like can they put the ball in the back of the net and then for racing it's? They're also, I think, going to come in with a bit of a point to prove. So I think that I came. It's honestly going to be really, really good too, but I would actually I don't know if I who I'd pick in this. If I'm being my most honest self, you know I'll tip it. Yeah, I'll probably tip it for all rain, but like it'll be like a really close, like It'll be like three, two or two, one or something. It'll be a super close game.
Speaker 1:Cool. I think I'm gonna tip racing, just because they've seemed to have really taken the challenge cup seriously the season maybe the most seriously of anyone and so I like them to Finish it up. Any players in that matchup we should keep an eye out for.
Speaker 4:Yeah, I think for well, for racing, I am definitely gonna tip Timbie cook Alana.
Speaker 4:I just she is so good and I think what she really gets on the ball and Begins to run at people, they just like sometimes go a little scrambled egg brain, it's just like don't really know to do. And on the flip side of that, I think one of the main people who are going to who's going to be defending her is an Alana cook who we unfortunately did not see during the World Cup and so Still not over every time. I think I'm over it, I'm not over it. I know it's such pain and yeah, I think she's gonna be tasked with defending her and maybe take it for a second over in player Jordan Heidemann Play for Canada. She at least watching her play Orlando this past weekend. Obviously she got the goal, but she really seems to be their target forward in the attack and so I think a lot of the players are going to be able to get to the top and so I think a lot of those Aerial duels headers or we'll go through her.
Speaker 1:I think she's her second leading score behind balsa so far this season, so she's she's having a good one for sure, all right. Well, I love that we pick different winners in both of the games.
Speaker 4:I think that Makes sense given the I mean only thing we've seen is that anything is possible, anything is possible.
Speaker 1:I'm excited these games are gonna be on TV and not Paramount Plus. I know it doesn't make a huge difference to a lot of people, but it does to me and I think it does. It just means a little bit more when you've got the TV games. Even if it's CBS Sports Network and not CBS, I'm excited to kind of get to focus in on four teams as opposed to having to watch all 12 at once On a weekend. But yeah, but thank you so much for joining us. And how can people follow your work?
Speaker 4:Yeah, follow me on Twitter at at Courtney Stith and then also follow Diaspora United on Twitter and Instagram at Diaspora UTD POD. And yeah, that's where you can find our work. We're still podcasting, even though we were in a little bit of a world-cup hangover, mostly because that jet lag hit me really really hard when I came back. You had quite the trip, my friend you had quite the trip.
Speaker 4:Yeah, yeah that those long flights really had me down and out for a few days. I just woke up and I was like I don't know what time it is, I don't know what day it is, but yeah, we're back podcasting.
Speaker 1:Awesome. Well, can't wait to hear your latest and look forward to your coverage of the rest of the WSL season. And, of course, things are starting back up in Europe as well, so there is no time off, really, and I Mean truly.
Speaker 4:World soccer never stops.
Speaker 1:It never stops. Thanks so much, courtney, and good luck with avoiding the ticket. Thank you.
Speaker 4:Thank you.
Speaker 1:Thanks so much for listening to the power plays podcast. See you all next week. You.