™Some weekends settle arguments. This one settled two of the biggest of the season: Golden State are champions, and Gotham are the best team in the NWSL over 30 games. Around them, college basketball tipped off in Rome, a golf title was defended, and the next postseason is already set. Here is what mattered most from October 30–November 1.
Valkyries finish the job in Game 7
The first Game 7 in WNBA Finals history went to the home team, and to the player who refused to let the season end quietly. Golden State beat Atlanta 68–63 on Saturday night at Chase Center, winning the franchise's first championship in only its second season — our full Game 7 recap is already live on the site.
The short version is still worth repeating: Gabby Williams scored two points in the first half and 28 after it, finishing with 30 and Finals MVP honors. Atlanta led by six at halftime and by as many as nine, and still lost, because Williams took over the third quarter and never gave it back. For the Dream, a brilliant season ends one win short of a first title. For Golden State, an expansion team that made the playoffs in year one and won it all in year two, the only question now is how long this can last. The parade is set for Wednesday at noon Pacific along the Embarcadero in San Francisco.
Gotham take the Shield on Decision Day
Gotham FC did not leave it to anyone else. Needing a win or a draw to secure a first Shield in club history, they beat Utah Royals 2–0 at home on Sunday, with Guro Reiten scoring inside the first ten minutes and Jaedyn Shaw doubling the lead in the 80th. San Diego won 1–0 against Bay FC, but the Gotham loss they needed never came.
The one sour note is a real worry for the playoffs: midfielder Jaelin Howell, one of Gotham's most consistent players all season, left with a non-contact injury in the first half and was replaced by Savannah McCaskill. Gotham have already won the NWSL Championship in 2023 and 2025 under Juan Carlos Amorós; a Shield without Howell in midfield would be a much harder trophy to follow up.
Elsewhere on Decision Day, Seattle took the last play-off place with a 1–0 win over Orlando, rendering North Carolina's 1–0 win over Denver moot. Washington beat Chicago 2–0, Portland beat Houston 2–0, Kansas City beat Racing Louisville 2–0, and Angel City ran out 4–1 winners over Boston. The quarter-finals are set: San Diego host Utah on Friday, November 6, Kansas City host Angel City on Saturday, November 7, and on Sunday, November 8, Gotham host Seattle before Washington host Portland.
Sanchez ties the scoring record
North Carolina's Ashley Sanchez finished the regular season as Golden Boot winner with 20 goals, tying the single-season record set by Temwa Chawinga in 2024. She added five assists for 25 goal contributions, the second-most in a single NWSL season. Barbra Banda finished second with 17 goals, and Portland's Sophia Wilson was third with 15, including a Decision Day brace. Sanchez scored her 20th back on September 27 and was held scoreless in her last three games — so the record stands tied, not broken, and that will sting a little all winter.
College basketball tips off in Rome
The women's college season opened in some style on Sunday, with No. 13 Notre Dame beating Villanova 99–75 in Rome in the Eternal City Tip-Off, the first regular-season women's game played in Italy. Hannah Hidalgo opened her senior season with 32 points, eight assists, seven rebounds and three steals — including a leaping interception that looked more like a defensive back's play than a guard's. She had company this time: Leah Macy marked her Notre Dame debut with 27 points and 14 rebounds after missing last season through injury, and Princeton transfer Madison St. Rose added 17. Villanova's Jasmine Bascoe answered with 26 points and nine assists, but Notre Dame shot 56 percent from the floor and never really looked back after the second quarter. If Hidalgo has this kind of help all season, the Irish are a problem for everybody.
Elsewhere in the college game, the season is only just getting going — UConn open against Cornell on Monday — but the early previews are already pointing the same way: the top of the sport is crowded, and the first month will sort out who belongs there.
Golf, tennis, and the rest
On the LPGA Tour, Miyu Yamashita held off Yan Liu to defend her Maybank Championship title — a successful defense is never routine, and doing it with the lead under pressure is exactly how reputations are built.
In tennis, Diana Shnaider edged Alexandra Eala once more to reach the Pan Pacific Open semi-finals in Tokyo, where Mia Pohankova awaits, while Harriet Dart scored a three-set upset over Paula Badosa in the Guangzhou quarter-finals to reach her second WTA semi-final. The bigger tennis date is Tuesday evening, when the WTA Finals draw is made ahead of the November 8–15 event in Indian Wells.
Off the court, Friday brought significant PWHL news ahead of the 2026–27 season: after expansion to 12 teams, the league increased roster sizes and raised minimum salaries — and Minnesota captain Kendall Coyne Schofield announced she will miss the season following her second pregnancy. And on the youth international stage, Maddie DiMaria scored her record-setting 12th tournament goal as the United States Under-17s beat Spain 2–1 to reach the World Cup quarter-finals.
Back next Monday with the next weekend that was — after the NWSL quarter-finals and the WTA Finals draw.