Huddle Up with Coach Jackie

Everything that happened last week in women's sports!

Hello!

Sorry, I took a couple weeks off (even though I just started this). It was my birthday, and then, because I am an Aquarius, the next week my birthday continued. I went to New York and saw a bunch of Broadway shows. It was awesome. If you’re a secret theatre girl like me, I highly recommend “Death Becomes Her.” But we’re talking about my other most favorite thing here, and that’s women’s sports. Just to be frank, I will likely start making these weekly newsletters more of just the headlines. And then I’ll put the longer stories out as individual articles throughout the week. Bear with me as a I figure out the best way to work this new writing endeavor into my schedule.

LAST WEEK IN WOMEN’S SPORTS

• 🎿Mikaela Shiffrin became the first alpine skier to reach 100 World Cup Wins

  • This is especially impressive given the fact that just after she got her 99th win, she got into an awful crash and suffered a puncture wound. She has been slowly coming back, and working through her PTSD. This win was really not expected, but Mikaela is QUITE LITERALLY the Greatest Of All Time. Perhaps, I should raise my expectations.

• ⚽Fiancées Magdalena Eriksson and Pernille Harder face off as dueling captains in Sweden vs England’s UEFA Nations League match

  • I had a hard time wording that. Magda is the captain of Sweden’s women’s national soccer team. Pernille is the captain of Denmark’s women’s national soccer team. They are engaged to each other in a gay women loving women kind of way. Sweden ending up winning the match 2-1. I love when these two face off. Queer joy and competition at its finest.

• 🏀The Lunar Owls lose for the first time in Unrivaled to Rose BC

  • Hootie WHO? I’ve been waiting to say that. It has thus far been inapplicable, but the Lowls (as I like to call them) got handed their first loss on Friday. Notably, Angel shot Unrivaled’s first 20-20 game with a 22 point and 21 rebound double double for the Rose. Unlike when she was ejected for literally no reason, you probably didn’t get a notification about that historic milestone.

• 🏃Nikki Hiltz wins the distance double getting the national title in the 3000m and 1500m in the USATF Indoors Championships

  • I watched both of these races live. I find the way Nikki runs to be so thrilling. They’re known for their kick which is basically the part at the end of the race where runners really “kick” it into third gear. Nikki’s positioning in both of these races was so just as smart as the timing of their kick. Our queer joy and queer wins are our resistance.

• 🎾It was announced that Venus Williams was given a wild card to take part in the 1000 level event Indian Wells, but Venus says she had no idea about it

  • This just happened yesterday, and I think it’s crazy. So basically, earlier last week Indian Wells announced that they gave Venus Williams a wild card to play in their tournament. Wild Cards are for anyone that didn’t qualify to play, and are typically extended to younger up-and-coming local players. There was this whole annoying discourse online about whether or not she should have been given the wild card which I think is crazy because…she’s Venus Williams. BUT THEN, yesterday at an event someone asked her about it and she said, “I found out about the wild card when you guys did. Just saying. And I love Indian Wells, I would love to be there and if I could have accepted it, I would have been like, 'Yes.' But I already made commitments.” So…was the announcement of the invite supposed to be the invite? Was it a publicity stunt? Lots of intrigue here. Stay tuned.

• 🏀No. 13 NC State women’s basketball upset No. 1 Notre Dame in a double overtime win

  • This was a TRULY crazy game, and a great demonstration of the quality of the NCAAW product right now. Women’s college basketball has never been more competitive. I mean that in the truest sense of the word. You just don’t know who’s gonna win a lot of these games that a year ago would’ve been a lock for the favored team. I can’t wait for March Madness.

• ⚽Luis Rubiales, former president of the spanish football federation, was found guilty of sexual assault

  • If you don’t know, he’s the one who kissed Jenni Hermoso without her consent after Spain’s 2023 World Cup win. This is a win and a lose. The win is that he is officially guilty of what he very cleary did (because it was on live tv). The lose part is that he was let of pretty easy (a €10,000 fine) and found not guilty of coercion. I commend Jenni for her courage in dealing with the assault itself and everything that’s come from it.

• 🥌Rachel Homan and Team Canada win the Scotties Tournament of Hearts

  • The Scotties is Canada’s women’s national curling tournament, and it has been my obsession of the week. I am about 45 years late to discovering what I’ve found is a very beloved yearly event for most Canadians. I also found out that money, resources, and tv time in Canadian curling are completely equal between the men and women. And beyond that, last year, the women actually had more viewership than the men. I love women’s curling. And I’ll be making a video on Rachel Homan today because she’s a legend.

• ⚽New Denver NWSL team puts its name up to a vote

  • Options are: Denver FC, Denver Elevate FC, Denver Peak FC, Denver Gold FC, Colorado Summit FC, and Colorado 14ers FC. I like 14ers, and I hope they save Summit for what will soon be (if Cathy’s smart) the new Tennessee WNBA team. Hilariously, they made it very clear that they are under no obligation to choose the most popular name, but it’s fun anyway. Plus, ranked choice voting is always nice to see.

• 🥎No. 20 Stanford softball got an upset win over No. 1 Texas

  • This was Texas’ first loss of the season. Unlike, women’s college basketball lately, college softball has been a bit top heavy the last few years. If you think I’m lying, the Oklahoma softball team who four-peated in the last four years would beg to differ. All of that to say, I love softball upsets because they truly always feel so unexpected. Every team is catching up to the big players with exponential speed! It’s so fun to watch.

• 🥊Olympic boxer Claressa Shields tested positive for marijuana, but in a follow up urine sample tested negative

  • I only saw the first half of this headline reported, so I wanted to be clear to set the record straight here. Claressa goes into the timeline in her instagram post that you should read. At the end of the day, urine tests are the most reliable test and her urine confirmed there was no marijuana in her system. She should not be suspended.

• 🏒The PWHL had its first fight

  • I talked in length about why this a good thing to see from the new hockey league in a video. I’ll add here that I saw someone chose to watch this PWHL game instead of the Four Nations final due to an aversion to fighting, and yet the men’s hockey ended up being pretty much fight-less compared to the PWHL. Kind of an hilarious turn of fate.

• ⚽The SheBelieves Cup has me believing in the UWSNT again

  • Now listen, the SheBelieves Cup is easily the silliest tournament that exists. It is entirely without consequence. However, they usually bring some great teams into the fold. After this tourney, I’m either left terrified about the US Women’s National Team’s future or my obsession is reignited. These first two games have reignited my obsession. We’re playing through the midfield again and taking our good chances when we have them instead of being reactionary. And all of that while we’ve got a lot of incredible players (I’m looking at you triple espresso and Naomi Girma) out with injury. Of course, the real question is what’s going on with Australia, but you can always count on Michelle Heyman (who scored their one goal in the USWNT’s 2-1 win over them) to keep them in the game.

What I’m Watching This Week

I thought it might be fun to just give you exactly what I’m most excited to watch each day this week. Also, I just discovered ESPN+ is included with Disney+, if that means anything to anyone.

• Monday

  • Sunbelt Indoor Track and Field Championships at 4pm ET on ESPN+. This starts on Monday, but continues into Tuesday.

• Tuesday

  • NCAA Swimming and Diving: Big 12 Championships Day One Finals at 8pm ET on ESPN+. I admittedly have not been tuning in to as much swimming and diving as I’d like to, so this will be fun to watch.

  • NCAA Lacrosse: No. 3 Northwestern vs. No. 4 Syracuse at 2:30pm CT on the ACC Network. I LOVED watching the WLL, so now I’m in my lacrosse era.

• Wednesday

  • SheBelieves Cup: Australia vs Colombia at 7:30pm ET and USWNT vs. Japan at 10:30 ET all on Max. Japan and the US are both undefeated, so that late night game will decide the tournament winner.

• Thursday

  • Women’s College Basketball: No. 9 UNC taking on their rival and No. 11 Duke at 7 pm ET on ESPN. These are two teams that have sweet sixteen potential. Tune in or miss out. There’s also a bunch of other college wbb games on Thursday, so you can pick another, but I’ll be watching this and LSU.

  • College Softball: No. 5 LSU vs. No. 4 UCLA at 2 pm CT (I don’t know where to watch yet). I LOVE LSU softball. We are very very good at it.

• Friday

  • Unrivaled!

  • NCAA gymnastics: No. 1 Oklahoma vs. Auburn at 6:45 pm on SEC+

  • NCAA Swimming and Diving: Big 12 Championships Day Four Finals at 9pm ET on ESPN+. Yes, this is happening all week.

• Saturday

  • Women’s College Basketball: No. 4 USC vs No. 3 UCLA at 9 pm ET on ESPN. USC handed UCLA their first loss a couple weeks ago, so this will be a super exciting matchup.

• Sunday

  • WSL Soccer: Arsenal vs West Ham at 12:30 pm. I watch this using my vpn!

  • NCAA gymnastics: Big Four (UCLA, Ohio State, Nebraska, and Rutgers) at 2 pm PT on Fox Sports.

I’m sure I missed things, so let me know what you’ll be watching this week in the comments. I hope you all have a great last week of February!

I love women’s sports,

Coach