Tag: Challenge Cup

NWSL Challenge Cup 2023: Standings, teams, schedule, TV and streaming

Your complete guide to the 2023 NWSL Challenge Cup

The NWSL Challenge Cup is back, and a new format will see group stage matches spread throughout the season.

The tournament begins on April 19 with the same geographic divisions used to create three groups of four teams apiece. While matches will largely be played on Wednesdays during April, May, and June, the NWSL will use the World Cup break to fit many games in on Friday and Saturday nights

The group stage will conclude on August 9, with each division’s winner advancing along with the runner-up with the most points. The top two teams will host semifinal matches on September 6, and September 9’s Challenge Cup final will be held at the home of the team with the best record of the two finalists.

Tournament sponsor UKG has put up what it calls the first-ever million-dollar prize pool for this edition of the Challenge Cup, though a breakdown of how that money will be dispersed is not yet known.

If teams are tied on points, goal difference is the first tiebreaker followed by goals scored. After that, it will go to head-to-head results between the teams that are tied, followed by goal difference in games between the teams that are tied and then head-to-head goals scored in games between the teams that are tied.

If teams are still tied, then it will go to a tiebreaker based on the number of yellow and red cards each team received and then, finally, to drawing of lots.

Here is how the 2023 Challenge Cup will play out.

East division

Team W D L GF GA GD Points
North Carolina Courage 3 2 0 15 3 +12 11
NJ/NY Gotham FC 3 2 1 10 7 +3 11
Washington Spirit 3 0 3 10 13 -3 9
Orlando Pride 0 2 4 5 15 -10 2

East division schedule

Wed, April 19: Orlando Pride 1-1 North Carolina Courage
Wed, April 19: NJ/NY Gotham FC 1-0 Washington Spirit
Wed, May 3: North Carolina Courage 1-1 NJ/NY Gotham FC
Wed, May 10: Washington Spirit 4-2 Orlando Pride
Wed, June 14: Washington Spirit 1-2 North Carolina Courage
Sat, July 22: North Carolina Courage 6-0 Washington Spirit
Sun, July 23: Orlando Pride 1-3 NJ/NY Gotham FC
Fri, July 28: Washington Spirit 4-2 NJ/NY Gotham FC
Sat, July 29: North Carolina Courage 5-0 Orlando Pride
Fri, Aug. 4: Orlando Pride 0-1 Washington Spirit
Sat, Aug. 5: NJ/NY Gotham FC 2-0 North Carolina Courage
Wed, Aug. 9: NJ/NY Gotham FC 1-1 Orlando Pride

(Home teams listed first. All times Eastern, all broadcasts on Paramount+ unless otherwise indicated)

Central division

Team W D L GF GA GD Points
Kansas City Current 4 1 1 14 4 +10 13
Racing Louisville 4 0 2 10 6 +4 12
Houston Dash 2 0 4 4 11 -7 6
Chicago Red Stars 1 1 4 3 10 -7 4

Central division schedule

Wed, April 19: Houston Dash 0-2 Kansas City Current
Wed, May 3: Houston Dash 2-0 Chicago Red Stars
Wed, May 17: Racing Louisville 3-2 Kansas City Current
Wed, May 31: Chicago Red Stars 0-2 Racing Louisville
Wed, June 14: Kansas City Current 4-0 Chicago Red Stars
Wed, June 14: Racing Louisville 3-0 Houston Dash
Fri, July 21: Racing Louisville 2-0 Chicago Red Stars
Sat, July 22: Kansas City Current 3-1 Houston Dash
Sat, July 29: Chicago Red Stars 0-0 Kansas City Current
Sat, July 29: Houston Dash 1-0 Racing Louisville
Sat, Aug. 5: Kansas City Current 3-0 Racing Louisville
Sat, Aug. 5: Chicago Red Stars 3-0 Houston Dash

(Home teams listed first. All times Eastern, all broadcasts on Paramount+ unless otherwise indicated)

West division

Team W D L GF GA GD Points
OL Reign 4 2 0 7 0 +7 14
Angel City FC 2 2 2 7 8 -1 8
Portland Thorns 2 1 3 8 7 +1 7
San Diego Wave 1 1 4 4 11 -7 4

West division schedule

Wed, April 19: San Diego Wave 1-0 Portland Thorns
Wed, April 19: Angel City FC 0-2 OL Reign
Wed, May 3: OL Reign 0-0 Angel City FC
Wed, May 31: San Diego Wave 0-3 OL Reign
Wed, May 31: Portland Thorns 3-2 Angel City FC
Wed, June 28: Portland Thorns 0-1 OL Reign
Wed, June 28: Angel City FC 2-1 San Diego Wave
Fri, July 21: Portland Thorns 4-1 San Diego Wave
Fri, July 28: OL Reign 1-0 San Diego Wave
Sat, July 29: Angel City FC 2-1 Portland Thorns
Sat, Aug. 5: San Diego Wave 1-1 Angel City FC
Sun, Aug. 6: OL Reign 0-0 Portland Thorns

(Home teams listed first. All times Eastern, all broadcasts on Paramount+ unless otherwise indicated)

Knockout rounds

Semifinal schedule

Wed, Sept. 6: Kansas City Current 0-1 North Carolina Courage
Wed, Sept. 6: OL Reign 0-1 Racing Louisville

Final

Sat, Sept. 9: North Carolina Courage 2-0 Racing Louisville

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Team Hurlbert maintains lead heading into final round of 2022 Golfweek Senior Challenge Cup

It all comes down to this.

With 18 holes left, the 2022 Golfweek Senior Challenge Cup is primed for a dramatic finish.

2021 Golfweek Player of the Year Craig Hurlbert has captained his team to a six-shot lead after two rounds of play at Jacaranda Golf Club in Plantation, Florida. Hurlbert’s team is looking to go wire-to-wire against 2022 Golfweek Player of the Year Rusty Strawn and company.

Hurlbert’s crew went into Thursday’s second round with a 19-shot advantage. Although not as sharp on Thursday, Team Hurlbert used consistent play to maintain its lead. Seven of the 10 players that counted toward Wednesday’s first-round score counted toward the second round: Hurlbert, Gary Durbin, Greg Hendrix, Ken Kinkopf, Tom Lape, Jerry Slagle and Peter Van Ingen.

On the opposite sideline, Rusty Strawn’s team looks to continue its climb back after a positive penultimate round.

With Jacaranda playing tough, two rounds of even par from Mike Combs and Tim Vigotsky were enough to claim low rounds of the day and help close the gap.

Just as dramatic as the team portion is, the Senior Challenge Cup medalist races are setting up for a wild 18-hole shootout.

Overnight leader Rich Buckner fell from his perch Thursday with a 5-over 76. Currently in a tie for third at 3 over with Hurlbert and teammate Gary Durbin, Buckner looks to make up the ground he lost to Kinkopf and Combs, who are at 1 over.

The Super Senior division is a dog race among Team Strawn teammates. Tied atop the leaderboard at 4 over are Mike Arter and Tim Vigotsky. Two shots back is fellow Team Strawn member Marc Fried.

Van Ingen was able to grow his lead to seven shots despite a second-round score of 73. He remains the only Legend to have his score count towards team totals this week.

Joe Pavoni, the 2022 Yancey Ford Award winner, has an opportunity to go wire-to-wire in the Super Legend division. One shot back is Jim Dubois. 

The final round of the 2022 Golfweek Senior Challenge Cup tees off at 7:39 am local time Friday.

If you want to put your game to the test against some of the best senior amateur golfers in the world, check out the 2023 Golfweek events schedule, here to sign up.

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2022 Golfweek Senior Challenge Cup features stacked field

The 2022 Golfweek Senior Challenge Cup is more than just the penultimate event of the season.

The 2022 Golfweek Senior Challenge Cup is more than just the final ranking tournament of the season. It’s an opportunity to share camaraderie, stories and plenty of healthy rivalries.

The 54-hole stroke play event will be at Jacaranda Golf Club just outside of Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, and features four different age groups ranging from 55 to over 75 years old. Aside from crowning individual medalists in each age division, the Challenge Cup features a team aspect as well.

Not only are bragging rights and player of the year points up for grabs, but crucial World Amateur Golf Rankings points. The top 20 ranked senior amateur men in WAGR are exempt into the 2023 U.S. Senior Amateur. Although the points race for the U.S. senior am ends in August, every event matters.

Captaining the two teams are 2022 Golfweek/USA Today Sports Player of the Year Rusty Strawn and 2020 Golfweek/USA Today Sports Player of the Year Craig Hurlbert. Strawn is coming off an incredible year that was highlighted by wins at the U.S. and Canadian senior amateurs. Hurlbert is getting back in the playing saddle after taking time off to upstart a venture, raising over a billion dollars in investment capital for his newest company, Local Bounti.

Backing them is plenty of firepower: 2021 U.S. Open low amateur Billy Mitchell, Golfweek No. 2-ranked senior am Kevin Vandenberg and 2022 Yancey Ford Award winner Joe Pavoni.

If you want to play premier courses across the country and test your skills against the best senior amateur golfers, check out the 2023 Golfweek senior amateur golf schedule.

The NWSL Challenge Cup final was ugly, and the league’s players noticed

The game was supposed to be a showcase, but instead it again revealed some of the NWSL’s player-safety challenges

The NWSL Challenge Cup final was supposed to be a showpiece event, but the league may not have been pleased that a national TV audience witnessed some of the ugliness in Saturday’s match.

The North Carolina Courage defeated the Washington Spirit 2-1 in the finale of the preseason tournament, but the final score seemed secondary after age-old issues of refereeing and player safety again stole the headlines.

The most prominent incident came near the end of the game when the Spirit’s Jordan Baggett scarily collided with an opponent and stayed down. With Spirit medical staff on the pitch, players took it upon themselves to get a stretcher out to their teammate quicker.

Spirit star Trinity Rodman was far from pleased after the game.

Two more incidents left Courage players fuming. Courage defender Abby Erceg was caught with a stud to the chest, but Erceg and goalkeeper Katelyn Rowland said the incident went unpunished because the referee (wrongly) determined it was the ball, not Ashley Hatch’s boot, that caught Erceg.

The Spirit again got away with a potentially serious challenge when Sam Staab’s tackle in the box on Kerolin was not deemed to be a penalty despite replays clearly showing Kerolin’s ankle being rolled up under Staab’s tackle.

Courage defender Kayleigh Kurtz, among others, was left fuming.

Unlike in most professional men’s leagues, NWSL referees do not have the ability to utilize VAR, which could have reversed the decisions in the incidents with Erceg and Kerolin.

NWSL players past and present weigh in

With player safety on the pitch clearly still an issue, a number of NWSL players, both current and former, took to social media after the game to voice their displeasure with what they saw.

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