Seattle, WA
New York Sirens beat Seattle Torrent in front of sold-out MSG crowd in historic game for women’s hockey
History was made Saturday night at Madison Square Garden as the New York Sirens played the Seattle Torrent before a sold-out crowd.
It was the first time a Professional Women’s Hockey League game was played at the iconic arena.
The ceremonial puck drop didn’t just signify the start of a game, but a new era in women’s sports.
“We got women in space right now. We got women on the ice,” Queens resident Aaimz Davis said. “We got women everywhere.”
For Sirens season ticket holders, a sold-out MSG to see their ladies play was less of a “who would’ve thought?” and more of a “it’s about time.”
“Women’s sports have come a long, long way and this just means– this is just an awesome feeling,” fan Patricia Fraser-Morales said.
“You had the Liberty, yeah, OK, then you have Gotham, the soccer,” fan Myrna Morales-Fraser said. “Now you have hockey.”
It was a history-making game for the sport — both the first home game at the legendary arena for the Sirens, and the first time it’s drawn a crowd this big for women’s hockey.
On hand to mark the occasion was 39 Grand Slam-winning tennis great and trailblazer Billie Jean King.
“My dream has always been to help women’s sports grow because I come from a time when nobody cared about women in sports. It was horrible,” she said. “So when I see this, and I’m so happy I’m still alive to see it, you have no idea.”
Girls from the New Jersey Colonials youth hockey team, coached by Sirens Coach Greg Fargo, were excited and inspired. They see themselves going far, hoping to see their names up alongside the legends’ banners at New York’s center-stage arena.
“Maybe it’s gonna start growing more and more, and it’s gonna inspire more girls,” player Quinn Doherty said.
To give fans even more reason to celebrate, it ended up being a thrilling 2-1 shootout win for the Sirens.
Social media is absolutely flooded with the images, video and words showing a vibrant city and region full of the joys of our soccer heritage. The supposedly dying city of Seattle put on an exceptional show for the world’s game and once again is convincing USMNT players to consider the Sounders for their next stop.
None of that happens with a suburban stadium in Renton. None of it.
The championship banners in Lumen? They’d be gone, reducing the symbols of local soccer excellence from the TV feed.
All those packed local bars with their Sounders scarves, posters and kits? Gone.
This isn’t a hypothetical. Plenty of MLS teams are in metro areas hosting the World Cup. The other US MLS teams aren’t getting this kind of love. LA hosted a bigger US win, but that match experience was not an advertisement for the Galaxy or LAFC.
When Santa Clara hosts the Round of 32 match you are not going to hear a word about the 50-year-old San Jose Earthquakes. If the US advances to the semis in Arlington you won’t hear a peep about FC Dallas. If they make the final in East Rutherford the Red Bulls will be a footnote.
But when the world’s game comes to Seattle the Sounders are the conversation, because this team is in the heart of a city and region that loves it.
Ripping the Sounders away from these types of moments for revenue control while eliminating the free marketing to players and fans is laughable. Renton’s Legacy Square is doing a wonderful job for thousands of visitors a week. It is not Seattle. Nor is Southcenter’s shows in Tukwila.
Moments like Friday, the future Women’s World Cup matches and maybe even a US Round of 16 with hundreds of thousands of people experiencing Seattle’s soccer culture are only possible while soccer is a major tenant in a downtown stadium.
It’s why Don Garber praises the Sounders, and hardly ever mentions the flood of owners who built tiny houses in the burbs. “MLS isn’t what it is without the Sounders.”
The Sounders aren’t what they are without Lumen Field in Seattle. Full stop.
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Catching up on Sounder at Heart
Here’s what you missed on the site this week.
World Cup
Next Seattle match: Wednesday, June 24 between Bosnia-Herzegovina and Qatar.
Sounders
Next match: July 16 hosting Portland Timbers during rivalry week.
Reign
Next match: July 4 at North Carolina
Defiance
Next match: June 21 vs Real Monarchs.
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NWSL and women’s soccer
Puget Sound and other stuff
Ranger Suarez carried a no-hitter into the seventh inning, and the Boston Red Sox beat the Seattle Mariners 6-2 on Friday night.
Suarez (3-3) struck out five and walked three in 6 2/3 innings. His no-hit bid ended with Josh Naylor’s one-out double in the seventh.
The 30-year-old lefty earned his first win since April 27 against Toronto.
Caleb Durbin put the Red Sox ahead with a second-inning solo homer, his fifth of the year. Durbin had his second three-hit game this season, with his first coming against Tampa Bay on June 10.
Ceddanne Rafaela scored on a wild pitch in the seventh, and Marcelo Mayer drove in two more runs with a bases-loaded single.
Carlos Narváez added a sacrifice fly before Seattle finally escaped the inning on a diving catch by Dominic Canzone in right field.
Suarez issued a two-out walk that loaded the bases in the seventh on his final pitch of the night, but Justin Slaten ended the threat by striking out pinch-hitter J.P. Crawford to preserve a 5-0 lead.
Mayer added one more insurance run with a ninth-inning RBI double. The Mariners got on the board thanks to Julio Rodríguez’s two-run homer in the ninth.
Seattle starter Bryce Miller (3-1) struck out seven in five innings. He allowed three hits and one run.
Luis Castillo, who has started in all but three of his 258 career appearances, gave up five runs in four innings of relief as the Mariners revived their “piggyback” rotation.
Up next
Red Sox LHP Connelly Early (5-5, 3.81 ERA) starts opposite Mariners RHP Emerson Hancock (5-3, 3.28) on Saturday night.
Seattle, WA
Seattle fans pack waterfront hours early as USA defeats Australia, advances in World Cup
SEATTLE — Soccer fans descended on Seattle’s waterfront well before kickoff Friday, staking out their spots early to watch a highly anticipated World Cup matchup at Seattle Stadium between the United States and Australia. That patience paid off as Team USA won the match and now advances to the knockout round.
The atmosphere at Pier 62 was electric from the start, with fans lining up for prime viewing positions, whether down on the water’s edge or taking in the sweeping scene from the waterfront overlook above.
“I mean, look at all these people that are here hours beforehand to celebrate this incredible game,” said Paul Hanson, who was rooting for Team USA. “The hairs are going up on the arm.”
The energy was a draw in itself.
“The energy is amazing, everyone’s in a great mood, it’s just a lot of fun to be down here,” Maggie McNeil said.
Not everyone in the crowd was wearing red, white, and blue.
Lizzie Manning hails from Melbourne, Australia, and is now living in the Pacific Northwest.
Manning told KOMO News she hasn’t been back home in nearly a decade, but taking in the U.S.A-Australia match with the waterfront crowd gave her a taste of it.
“Whenever I see another Australian I’m like, ‘Aussie Aussie Aussie, oy oy oy,’” she said. “I feel so close to home. I need a meat pie, life’s good.”
“I’ve met so many people who are visiting from other countries,” Seattle resident Maddie Chaplain said. “I sat next to a couple yesterday who was eating dumplings for the first time from Argentina, that was so awesome.”
With Team USA advancing, fans like Aaron Olson say they’ll be back for more.
“USA’s gonna win it,” Olson said. “I will come down here every game. This is spectacular.”
The World Cup watch parties continue on Pier 62 throughout the tournament. They are free and open to the public with online registration, but capacity is limited.
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