Unseeded Washington completes epic run to first NCAA soccer championship

Yahoo Sports AM is our daily newsletter, keeping you up to date on all things sports. Register here Get it every weekday morning.

🚨 Headlines

🏈 Arch returns: Archie Manning will return to Texas for his junior year instead of declaring for the NFL Draft. After a rough start to the season, he ultimately led the Longhorns to a 9-3 record and just shy of a berth in the College Football Playoff.

advertise

🏀 Flagg makes history: In the Mavericks’ overtime loss to the Jazz, Cooper Flagg scored a career-high 42 points, breaking LeBron James’ record for the most points in a game by an 18-year-old player. He turns 19 this Sunday.

⛳️ Scottie names POY again: Scottie Scheffler has once again been named the PGA Tour Player of the Year, joining Tiger Woods as the only golfer to win the award in four consecutive seasons.

⛳️ AP poll: Arizona State (men) and UConn (women) remain atop their respective AP Top 25 polls, with little change in the polls after a week with no notable surprises.

⚽️ Red Bulls hire Bradley: Former U.S. national team captain Michael Bradley has been named head coach of the New York Red Bulls, taking over the role his father Bob held two decades ago. Bradley led the club’s MLS Next Pro team to the championship last month.

⚽️ Huskies complete epic title run

Washington competes in the NCAA men’s soccer tournament as an unseeded player. Four weeks later, they were national champions.

advertise

Cinderella Run: The Huskies defeated North Carolina State 3-2 in Monday’s championship game to win their first national title and become the first team to win six games on the road in the tournament, defeating five seeds along the way.

• First round: Washington 3, Oregon State 2 (overtime)

• Second round: Washington 1, SMU 0

• Sweet Sixteen: Washington 1, Stanford 0

• Elite Eight: Washington 3, Maryland 1

• Semifinals: Washington 3, Furman 1

• Final: Washington 3, North Carolina 2 (overtime)

Golden target: Washington gave up a two-goal lead in the second half, but Harrison Bertos won it with 1:54 left in overtime.

What are they saying: “It was a great game and it was a spectacle for all 10,000 people who were there to witness it,” Huskies head coach Jamie Clark said. “It was a spectacle because NC State didn’t bow down, 2-0, and they pushed us to the limit.”

💯 Big numbers

🏈 23 consecutive wins

The Steelers defeated the Dolphins 28-15 last night to win their 23rd consecutive home game on Monday Night Football, their longest streak since the MNF began in 1970.

advertise

Speaking of stripes: It was Miami’s 14th consecutive loss (including playoff games) in games below 40 degrees.

🏀 7 undefeated teams

No. 1 Arizona State (9-0) is one of seven undefeated teams remaining in men’s DI basketball, along with No. 2 Michigan (10-0), No. 3 Duke (10-0), No. 4 Iowa State (10-0), No. 13 Vanderbilt (10-0), No. 15 Nebraska (11-0) and Miami-Ohio (10-0).

A historic beginning: The top-ranked Wildcats are the first team in AP Poll history (since 1948) to defeat ranked opponents in five of their first nine games. they already earned Their undefeated start.

⚽️ 277 goals scored

Mohamed Salah scored his 277th goal for Liverpool on Saturday, breaking the record for most goals (goals and assists) for a single club in Premier League history.

advertise

Whose record did he break? The Egyptian has scored 188 goals and 89 assists for Liverpool in England’s top flight, surpassing Wayne Rooney’s 276 goals (183 goals and 93 assists) for Manchester United.

🏈27 years

With the Chiefs out of playoff contention, the upcoming NFL playoffs will be for the first time in 27 years (Since 1998) No Peyton Manning, Tom Brady or Patrick Mahomes.

Who was the quarterback in 1998? John Elway (Broncos), Brett Favre (Packers), Steve Young (49ers), Dan Marino (Dolphins), Drew Bledsoe (Patriots), Randall Cunningham (Vikings), El Wes Gerback (Chiefs), Kordell Stewart (Steelers), Mark Brunell (Jaguars), Trent Dilfer (Buccaneers), Danny Carnell (Giants), Scott Mitchell (Lions).

🏈 2025 AP All-American

Indiana’s Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback Fernando Mendoza tops the Associated Press first-team All-American list, which was released Monday along with the second- and third-team All-Americans.

advertise

notes:

• By meeting: The Big Ten (10) has the most players on the 27-man first team so far, followed by the SEC (6), Big 12 (3), C-USA (2), ACC (1), American (1) and MWC (1), plus three independents.

• By school: Ohio State has four first-team players, including three from their FBS All-Defensive team. Notre Dame, USC, Iowa, Texas A&M and Texas Tech are the only schools with multiple first-team players.

• By category: Seniors (14) and underclassmen (10) make up nearly the entire first team, with only three underclassmen advancing: sophomores Jeremiah Smith, Ahmad Hardy and Leonard Moore.

Signs of the times: Nearly half of first-team players (12 of 27) did not start their careers at their current school, which has become the norm in the era of the transfer portal.

100 years later… This year marks the 100th anniversary of his first selection to the Associated Press All-American team in 1925. To celebrate, the Associated Press selected all-time All-Americans in August, with the likes of Tim Tebow, Barry Sanders and Dick Butkus leading the 25-man first team, and Archie Griffin, Lawrence Taylor and Champ Bailey leading the second team.

🏈 The dangers of an 18-game NFL season

From Jay Busbee of Yahoo Sports:

If football is good, then more football is better, right? If NFL Sunday is the best Sunday, why not create another?

advertise

More football games means more revenue for leagues and broadcast partners, more fantasy and gambling opportunities for fans, and more of everything that makes football great. Who doesn’t want an 18th game added to the NFL season?

“I’m not a big fan of it,” one NFL player said in July when asked about the possibility of the NFL season moving to 18 games. “You’ve seen the number of injuries at the end of the season and you want to get your best players into the biggest games.”

That player is Patrick Mahomes, He is now out for the season due to a torn ACL in Week 15. Also gone in 2025: Green Bay’s Micah Parsons, who suffered a torn ACL around the same time as Mahomes.

Every game in the NFL is a roulette wheel with the potential for catastrophic injuries. Each additional play means another 40 or 50 spins of the wheel.

advertise

For Mahomes and Parsons, it was a double-zero on Sunday. Asking who’s next — and wondering whose season will be derailed by injury — is a tall order, but it’s necessary if we’re talking about adding another game.

Read on.

📺 Watchlist: Tuesday, December 16th

🏀 NBA Cup Finals

Spurs and Knicks face off tonight in Las Vegas (8:30 p.m. ET, prime time)the champion will be crowned in the third annual in-season tournament.

bonus: Each player on the winning team will receive $530,933, while each player on the runner-up team will receive $212,373. That might be a drop in the bucket for the NBA’s greatest star, but it’s a huge reward for players on league-minimum deals.

advertise

🏒 NHL on TNT

Sidney Crosby and Penguins take on Connor McDavid and Oilers in first round of doubleheader (7:30 p.m.)while the Kraken host the league-leading Avalanche in the nightcap (10 p.m.).

Alone at the top of the mountain: Not only does Colorado (23-2-7) have the best record in the NHL, their +54 goal differential is more than double that of the next-best team (Stars, +25).

More to watch:

• 🏀 National Aeronautics Association: No. 11 Louisville, No. 20 Tennessee (7 p.m., ESPN); DePaul, St. John 22 (7 p.m., Peacock); Butler, No. 5 UConn (8:30 p.m., Peacock)

• 🏈 NCAAF: Troy vs. Jacksonville State (9 p.m., ESPN) …Veterans Tribute Bowl in Montgomery, Alabama.

Today’s total.

🏈NFL Trivia

52 years ago today, OJ Simpson became the first nine players in NFL history to rush for 2,000 yards in a season.

question: How many other eight people can you name?

The answer is at the bottom.

📸 Photo completed

🇨🇭 Davos, Switzerland—— Italy’s Davide Graz competes in the World Cup cross-country race. What a strike.

Trivia Answers: Eric Dickerson (2,105 yards in 1984); Adrian Peterson (2,097 yards in 2012); Jamal Lewis (2,066 yards in 2003); Barry Sanders (2,053 yards in 1997); Derrick Henry (2,027 yards in 2020); Terrell Davis Davis, 2,008 yards in 1998); Chris Johnson (2,006 yards in 2009); Saquon Barkley (2,005 yards in 2024)

advertise

We hope you like this version Yahoo Sports AMour daily newsletter to keep you up to date on all things sports. Register here Get it delivered to your inbox every weekday morning.