Former Stanford star Smith signs a record NWSL deal
Sophia Smith had options but in the end felt like she “wasn't done” in Portland.
The Thorns announced Wednesday that they signed Smith to a contract extension through 2025, with a player option for 2026. Portland says the deal gives the 23-year-old former Stanford star forward the highest annual salary in the National Women's Soccer League but would not disclose terms. However, it's believe to be at least $2.5 million.
“I've felt so welcomed and so loved and so believed in and I just felt like I wasn't done here. And there's still things that I want to do with this team and this club and trophies I want to win,” she said. “And just with new ownership coming in, I have already felt that this club is just going in the right direction.”
College basketball
CLARK AND IOWA DRAW NEARLY 5 MILLION VIEWERS FOR SECOND-ROUND NCAA
WIN » It didn't take long for Caitlin Clark and the Iowa Hawkeyes to break their viewing record in the women's NCAA Tournament.
The Hawkeyes' 64-54 victory over West Virginia in Monday night's secondround game averaged 4.90 million viewers on ESPN, according to Nielsen, making it the most-viewed women's tournament game ever — excluding Final Four contests and title games.
The viewership surpassed the 3.23 million who watched Iowa's firstround win over Holy Cross
on Saturday on ABC.
Monday night's game is also the most-watched NCAA Tournament game — men's or women's — on cable this year. The previous high was 4.09 million for Houston's overtime victory over Texas A&M Sunday night on TNT.
FLORIDA AND CAL BOTH WIN RELAY EVENTS AT MEN'S SWIMMING AND DIVING CHAMPIONSHIPS »
Florida won the first event of the NCAA men's swimming and diving championships, and the Gators are tied with California for the first-day lead in the team standings.
The Gators opened the meet by capturing the 200-yard medley relay with a time of 1:20.15 — to set a program and NCAA record. The Golden Bears finished fourth with a program-record time of 1:21.08, topping the mark set with the same lineup at last year's championships.
Cal won the only other final of the day, the 800yard freestyle relay with a time of 6:02.26 to set the NCAA and US Open records. It was the first time since 1986 that Cal won the event at the national championship.
MLB SMITH, DODGERS REACH $140 MILLION, 10-YEAR DEAL »
Catcher Will Smith and the Los Angeles Dodgers agreed to a $140 million, 10-year contract Wednesday, raising the team's spending to nearly $1.4 billion for five key players since December.
Smith's deal supersedes an $8.85 million, one-year agreement reached in January.