Is Torrent Draftee Grace Elliott the PWHL’s Most Interesting Rookie?
While top five pick Abbey Murphy will draw most of the attention heading towards her first PWHL season, Seattle Torrent fourth round draft pick Grace Elliott has the upside to be “one of the most unique players in women's hockey.”
That’s according to women’s hockey scout and The Score contributor Kyle Cushman. Elliott was one of two U Sports (Canadian college) players drafted in the 2026 PWHL Draft. She was the 2024-25 Broderick Award winner as the top women’s U Sports player. Last season, she put up a league-leading 24 goals and was third with 37 points in 28 games.
But dominating a lower-level of hockey isn’t worthy of a fourth round pick. The other 2026 draftee from U Sports was taken with the last pick in the draft, and it was by her hometown team. Elliott’s selection comes with a bigger expectation.
“I don't want to frame it as ‘the upside stops with her height,’ because I think that's a disservice to the player, but she wouldn't have the upside that she has if not for her height,” Cushman explained to the Emerald City Spectrum.
'There Is No Way I'm Not Scoring Goals:' Dejan Joveljić Confident For Sounders Tenure
RENTON, Wash. — Longtime Seattle Sounders head coach Brian Schmetzer has always maintained his vision of the ideal Sounder.
"Gritty" is a common word of choice for the on-pitch product, but there's another layer. Schmetzer has gone after players who don't draw attention to themselves, and certainly don't need to be recognized when they, say, go out to dinner with their families.
From all appearances, Seattle's newest starting striker fits the bill.
27-year-old Dejan Joveljić, Sporting Kansas City's leading scorer for the last two years and 2024 MLS Cup champion with the LA Galaxy, was formally introduced by the team on Tuesday at its facility in Renton. The moment came three days after Fabrizio Romano first reported the team was buying Joveljić for $6 million, putting an end to a five-year drought of summer transfer-window moves.
Joveljić, known by the nickname "Deki," fits Schmetzer's bill by keeping life "simple." He holds a FIDE ranking of over 2200 in chess and plays every day. He's also scored 60 MLS goals in five and a half seasons.
"Simple life, family, chess, thinking about soccer and waiting (for the) weekend for the games," Joveljić said.
When he starts against the Chicago Fire this Saturday, according to Schmetzer on Tuesday, fans will see Joveljić's game is anything but simple. The Serbian national formerly of the Serbian SuperLiga's Red Star and Bundesliga side Eintracht Frankfurt has scored 60 MLS goals in five-and-a-half seasons.
"I'm here to bring goals, and help win the game," Joveljić said. "I can score with left, right, head, doesn't matter. If Seattle is playing the way they played the last couple of years, I'm going to score a lot of goals," Joveljić said.
As far as coming to the only club to win the U.S. Open Cup, the MLS Cup, Leagues Cup and the Concacaf Champions Cup, Joveljić knew what he was getting with the Sounders.
"When you say Seattle, you mean winning," Joveljić said. "When everyone is healthy, this team is scary… we are finally in the same colors."
Washington State Names Caiden Pinnick Starting Quarterback
Washington State has its starting quarterback for the 2026 season.
The Cougars have named UC Davis transfer Caden Pinnick the starter ahead of their season opener against the Washington Huskies. Pinnick entered fall camp as the favorite to win the job and ultimately beat out returning quarterbacks Julian Dugger and Owen Eshelman.
For Washington State, the decision gives the Cougars some clarity at one of the most important positions on the roster heading into the start of the Kirby Moore era.
As a redshirt freshman at UC Davis, Pinnick completed 69.6% of his passes for 3,206 yards, 32 touchdowns, and 10 interceptions. Those numbers show the type of production Washington State is hoping to get from its new quarterback.
Where Do Jacardia Wright, Bubble Players Stand as Seahawks Approach 53-Man Cutdown?
On the heels of a 19-16 loss to the Tennessee Titans in their second preseason game, the Seattle Seahawks have one dress rehearsal left in Kansas City before final cutdown day, putting a ton of pressure on several players aiming to make the 53-man roster.
Emerald City Spectrum reporter Corbin Smith examines the cases of 12 different 'Hawks, including a pair of running backs and receivers still entrenched in a tight competition, for making the team and where things stand with one more preseason game left to play at Arrowhead Stadium.
Big Dumper Returns: Cal Raleigh’s Three Homers Power Mariners Past Phillies
With both teams sending their top starters to the mound, a low-scoring game was expected between the Seattle Mariners and Philadelphia Phillies on Monday night. A pitching duel it was not, however, as the Mariners bludgeoned Zach Wheeler and the playoff-bound Phillies by a score of 9-2.
The M’s offense got hot early and stayed hot, scoring five runs in the first inning to give their starter Logan Gilbert quite the cushion. Cal Raleigh finally found his stroke, blasting three home runs and working a walk as well.
Gilbert continued his Cy Young-worthy campaign by battling through five innings, and Seattle’s bullpen put up zeros the rest of the day to put Philadelphia on ice.
The team is being resilient and finding a way to win, as their superstar catcher noted.
“We’ve endured a lot this year,” Raleigh said afterward. “We are fighting with everything we’ve got right now.”
Stock Watch: Who’s Hot, Who’s Not After Seahawks’ 19-16 Preseason Loss to Titans
Winning remains the goal for an NFL team any time they take the field, even in the preseason where games don’t count in the standings, for coach Mike Macdonald, there were plenty of positives coming out of the Seattle Seahawks 19-16 loss to the Tennessee Titans on Sunday at Nissan Stadium.
“I really do feel like our team got better this week from the work that we got in practice, and I thought we did a lot of great things, especially earlier in this game, which is what we're looking for,” Macdonald said post-game. “I think we took a step. I think we're improving. I think the important thing for our team is that we have to shed an expectation about where we need to be right now. I think the focus needs to be about how fast can we improve on a daily basis, and our guys have had that attitude. So through that lens, I think it was a successful week.”
Looking back at Saturday’s defeat in the Music City, which players improved their stock the most? And which ones didn’t seize their latest opportunity as cut down day and the regular season rapidly approach?
Mariners’ Half-Measure Deadline Additions Floundering
The Seattle Mariners certainly didn’t have the sexiest trade deadline. No big fish like Mason Miller came to town. They didn’t make a serious run at Tarik Skubal. Most of the bats that moved at the deadline have not panned out for their new teams. They made two very mild additions while shedding payroll.
For the Mariners, their only offensive acquisition was Taylor Ward, from Baltimore. To be fair, on paper, this made all the sense in the world. He was only one season removed from a 36-homer campaign with the Angels in the AL West. He mashes lefties and plays a decent outfield. The Mariners are one of the worst teams against left-handed pitchers, ranking 29th in team OPS. Ward was supposed to shore that up.
Analysis: What Do ‘Tough’ Bud Clark, Mason Richman Injuries Mean for Seahawks?
While a loss in preseason play isn’t the end of the world, the Seattle Seahawks didn’t just lose on the scoreboard in a 19-16 loss to the Tennessee Titans on Sunday, as the injury bug took a significant toll on the roster over the span of three-plus days in Nashville.
Beginning the string of bad luck on Seattle’s first road trip of the new season, receiver Jake Bobo suffered a severe knee injury during a joint practice on Friday, landing awkwardly as he tried to gather a contested catch against a linebacker in coverage before being carted off the field. Just two days later, the misfortune continued for the defending Super Bowl champions, as lightning struck twice in the opening quarter at Nissan Stadium with rookie safety Bud Clark and second-year offensive lineman Mason Richman leaving the field with significant injuries of their own.
After Tennessee managed to steal the win late on Sunday night, Seahawks coach Mike Macdonald painted a bleak picture for both Clark and Richman, providing more specifics on the former than the latter with the information at hand.
“We had two really tough injuries today,” Macdonald stated. “Bud has a broken ankle to my knowledge. Severity I'm not sure, but he's going to be out multiple months. We're going to try to figure out what's going on with Mason, but we also think that's a major injury, a long-term injury. Two guys that we love, that play our style of ball, that are our type of guys. Teammates love them. Great teammates, great guys, great football players. They have great futures. It's a really - it's a heartbreaker, honestly. We had three heartbreakers this week, which is tough.”
Point Guard Position Remains Question Mark for Gonzaga as Regular Season Approaches
Although the Gonzaga Bulldogs have several committed players capable of playing the position, the status of the Zags’ starting point guard for the 2026-27 season is far from settled.
One of the Zags’ biggest ‘5-in-5’ targets, UCLA transfer Donovan Dent, committed to LSU on Friday. He is one of the best true point guards in the country, but will head to New Orleans, not Spokane, for his fifth and final collegiate season. Also on Friday, the Tenth Circuit granted the NCAA’s stay request in Wisne v. NCAA, which includes the Colorado and Ohio lawsuits that were previously cleared, the latter involving Bulldog transfer Javon Bennett.
So Bennett, a 5-10 point guard from Dayton, who was expected to factor into GU’s point guard situation, is currently ineligible. And although Theo Lawson of the Spokesman-Review reported that 23-year-old Nathan De Sousa plans to arrive in Spokane this week, the French point guard is still awaiting approval for eligibility after committing to Gonzaga in June.
So where do the Zags go from here, still searching for a definitive answer at lead guard?
Miller Start Goes South, Mariners Lose 19-2 to Cubs
Bryce Miller’s previous start had become, for a given and quite load-bearing definition of “worst”, the worst loss in Mariners history, a 22-0 thrashing that began to be as humorous as it was maddening.
Going by that same run differential metric, Sunday was the fourth worst loss in team history, only behind their Milwaukee calamity, a 21-1 loss in Houston in 2019, and a 20-3 loss in Detroit back in 1993. It became the worst run differential ever in a Mariners home game, beating out three 16-1 losses.
The score was 19-2. Both teams left this series disappointed. Seattle, despite winning two out of three, had long since run out of games to punt, whereas the Cubs outscored their opponents 28-13 and lost the series.
“Today ended up similar to the other day, just kinda got out of hand, and those are tough ones,” said M’s skipper Dan Wilson. “Our team has shown the ability to flush them.”
While it is true that these awful losses haven’t set off any massive avalanches of failure, they haven’t been able to build any momentum from their successes, either. That’s why Sunday’s loss dropped them to 62-69, a record that would knock them out of commission in a normal year but one that barely keeps them afloat in the chase for the worst AL West since 1994, when the best team at the time of the strike was the 52-62 Texas Rangers.
Rapid Reaction: Seahawks Start Hot vs. Titans’ Starters, Fall 19-16 in Preseason Road Tilt
In the aftermath of a 17-7 loss to the Dallas Cowboys to begin exhibition season, Seattle Seahawks coach Mike Macdonald issued a challenge to both his players and coaches, sharing his unhappiness about the team’s “process” in all three phases.
While the final result didn’t go as planned, it appears everyone in the locker room received the message this week on the practice field and in the film room, as Drew Lock and the Seahawks bounced back nicely with 16 first quarter points for a fast start on the road against the Titans before losing their lead late in a 19-16 loss at Nissan Stadium.
Lock played a near-flawless game under center, completing 12 out of 14 passes for 107 yards and a touchdown pass to Elijah Arroyo, while running back Jacardia Wright paced the rushing attack with 81 yards on eight carries. Defensively, Connor O’Toole led a resurgent pass rush, tallying 1.5 sacks, three quarterback hits, and two tackles for loss to help keep the Titans out of the end zone until late in the fourth quarter.
Instant Takeaways: Storm Suffer Worst Loss in 8 Weeks vs. Wings
Paige Bueckers scored 18 of her 32 points in the first quarter to help the Dallas Wings build a massive early lead, and the Seattle Storm fell flat in a 92-70 loss on Sunday, Aug. 23, at College Park Center.
Seattle (7-31) was sluggish and mistake-prone in its first game in the last seven days. Dallas (22-16), on the other hand, looked like a team prepared to make a playoff run.
Flau’jae Johnson led the Storm with 23 points, six rebounds, two assists and three steals. Jade Melbourne added 15 points, four rebounds and two steals. Bueckers gave the Wings their early lead and helped them never look back after a 34-point first quarter.
Kade Anderson Debuts, Randy Arozarena Delivers as Mariners Walk Off Cubs Again
Looking to gain ground in a tight wild-card race, Seattle welcomed the Chicago Cubs back into T-Mobile Park after walking them off the night before. The Mariners elected to go the exciting route again, advancing from a walk-off single to a walk-off home run in the bottom of the ninth.
This was the Randy Arozarena game. Coming into the night, everyone thought the story would be about the phenom pitcher making his debut for the Mariners. Randy had other ideas, blasting a two-run home run 404 feet to dead center. If Seattle makes the playoffs this year, this game could mark the turning point of the season.
Seattle saw its top prospect, and one of the top prospects in all of baseball, make a promising debut. The bullpen was also able to keep the game close to set up a dramatic ninth inning.
Grand Ole Audition: Seahawks to Watch in Second Preseason Game at Titans
While starters won't play once again for the Seattle Seahawks in their second exhibition tuneup, Sunday's matchup against the Tennessee Titans still carries plenty of weight for several players sitting on the roster bubble.
Emerald City Spectrum reporter Corbin Smith breaks down which players he will be watching most closely in Nashville, including a pair of backup running backs set to see a heavy workload, a handful of EDGE defenders who need to pick up their play after underwhelming preseason debuts, and the duo of Montorie Foster Jr. and Cody White being under the microscope after Jake Bobo's season-ending knee injury.
Freshman Edge Ramzak Fruean Makes More Impressions at Huskies Mock Game
While it’s important to avoid reading too much into the Washington Huskies’ “mock game” on Saturday, true freshman edge Ramzak Fruean once again looked like a future star.
By future, we mean when UW kicks off the season Sept. 6 against Washington State in the Apple Cup. As has been the case for much of fall camp, Fruean once again proved difficult to contain on Saturday. He broke through for, unofficially, 2½ touch sacks against UW’s offense in a scrimmage that served as a dress rehearsal for the season.
After the mock game, head coach Jedd Fisch confirmed Fruean will become Washington’s third true freshman starter, joining defensive lineman Derek Colman-Brusa and left tackle Kodi Greene.
Takeaways: Reign Survive for Draw in Kansas City
The Seattle Reign bounced back from a midweek loss with a 1-1 draw at defending NWSL Shield-winner Kansas City Current on Saturday afternoon, defending chance after chance to split the points.
The result, Seattle's first at Kansas City since 2021, moves the eighth-place Reign to 8-8-4, two points ahead of the Houston Dash with 10 games remaining. Getting the point was monumental, as Seattle was left preserving the 1-0 advantage it picked up off an early Kayla Sharples own-goal forced by dangerous service from Seattle defender Sofia Huerta.
By the end of KC's onslaught, however, the Reign didn't concede a goal in the run of play. Only when striker Mia Fishel's elbow crept up to make contact with a Current pass in the box in the 51st did Seattle concede a goal off a penalty from star midfielder Debinha.
From there, Seattle defended for its life as defensive fixtures Jordyn Bugg (five tackles), Phoebe McClernon (six tackles) and Madison Curry (eight tackles) seemed to only get stronger as the game went on. By the end, KC ended up dwarfing Seattle's 0.7 expected goals with 3.3, but had to split the points.
Reign head coach Laura Harvey knew what type of effort she was going to need from her young team without star midfielder Sam Meza (thigh) for a third straight game, and she got it.
"We know coming here is really difficult," Harvey said postgame. "There's been moments this season and last season where I think some of our inexperience has shown. And I think tonight we looked like an experienced team at times.
"And look. If you'd have said to me before the game started, 'Would you take a point on the road in Kansas?' Probably."
WATCH: Sounders Snap Eight-Game Losing Streak, Draw with Cincinnati Despite Rotated Team
Emerald City Spectrum reporter Qasim Ali breaks down the Seattle Sounders’ 1-1 draw at FC Cincinnati on Saturday night.
The result marked the end of a franchise-worst eight-game MLS losing streak as Kalani Kossa-Rienzi bagged the equalizer in the 83rd minute off service from Albert Rusnak. Seattle also managed to split the points with a heavily rotated squad that saw Stuart Hawkins and Ryan Sailor notch 90-minute games while winger Paul Rothrock wore the captain’s armband for the first time.
Sounders to Sign Kansas City Star Striker Dejan Joveljić in $6 Million Deal
The Seattle Sounders were sick of answering for their lack of midseason signings, and they put the criticism to rest on Saturday evening.
GM Craig Waibel and company reportedly agreed to sign Sporting Kansas City star striker Dejan Joveljić for $6 million, according to Fabrizio Romano and later confirmed by other sources. The 27-year-old Serbian was in his second season at KC after four successful years with the LA Galaxy, culminating in a 2024 MLS Cup win.
The move signals Seattle’s first summer signing since 2021, with the transfer window set to close on Sept. 2. In the midst of a record MLS eight-game losing streak, head coach Brian Schmetzer had repeatedly hinted at the Sounders having a move in the works.
That purported move apparently came to fruition on Saturday with the team on the road in Cincinnati, picking up a draw for its first points in eight fixtures. Seattle is 7-9-4 and in 11th place in the Western Conference — two points behind ninth-place Portland.
As for Joveljić, he’s scored 60 goals in five and a half MLS campaigns and brings instant offense to the second-least productive offense in the league. Seattle’s striker pairing of Danny Musovski and Osaze De Rosario has combined for just three MLS goals in 21 games while designated player Jordan Morris has missed large chunks of the season injured as his year-to-year production craters from all-time-leading-scorer territory.
Schmetzer has been openly challenging one of the strikers to make the starting job their own, to no avail on an offense that’s struggling overall.
To make way for the new DP, who's making a listed wage of $3 million according to Capology, Niko Moreno of Sounder at Heart reported the team extended DP Albert Rusnák by two-and-a-half years to move him out of a DP spot. If that report holds, Seattle’s three DP spots will be occupied by Joveljić, Morris (set to return in the next month) and injured winger Pedro de la Vega (out for the season, quad).
Rusnák’s deal, which carried a club option next season, has him carrying a cap hit of nearly $2.7 million this season, per Spotrac.com.
The deal also puts to use the funds Seattle has generated by its many outbound transfers of young players. Midfield Obed Vargas fetched $3 million from Atletico Madrid before the season while Georgi Minoungou (Colorado Rapids) and Danny Leyva (Nexaca) also pulled in $3 combined.
5 Burning Questions as Seahawks Face Titans in Second Preseason Game
Taking their training camp show on the road for detour to Nashville, the Seattle Seahawks held a spirited joint practice with the Tennessee Titans on Friday, likely meaning that no noteworthy starters will play for Mike Macdonald’s squad in Sunday’s second preseason game.
However, that doesn’t mean that the second dress rehearsal at Nissan Stadium isn’t still an important one. Even if Sam Darnold, Jaxon Smith-Njigba, Leonard Williams, and other stars stay on the sidelines with a jersey and ball cap on, plenty of roster spots remain up for grabs in all three phases with Seattle’s matchup against Tennessee providing another valuable opportunity to impress the coaching staff with cutdown day now less than two weeks away.
Looking to turn in a far better performance than they did in a 17-7 loss to the Cowboys on their home turf last weekend, here are five key questions for the Seahawks heading into their latest preseason tuneup against the Titans:
1. Will Seattle's quarterback duo of Drew Lock and Jalen Milroe bounce back after underwhelming openers?
Putting up just seven points on the scoreboard to kick off exhibition season, there were far more hands in the cookie jar of offensive dysfunction for the Seahawks than just Lock and Milroe, who each completed north of 60% of their passes but failed to generate much yardage with their passing opportunities, combining to average a dismal 3.6 yards per attempt against the Cowboys. As subs started to rotate into the lineup, the offensive line progressively got worse as the game wore on with the third-team unit allowing consistent pressure on both quarterbacks, including Milroe getting sacked twice in the second half. Penalties also proved to be a major issue, including reserve tackle Logan Brown being flagged twice for crucial fourth down holding penalties.
Leo Rivas Walks Off Cubs, Gives M’s Homestand Jolt
It’s the kind of thing that engenders legitimate hope in a team so downtrodden, but it’s the kind of thing fringe Mariners role players have done for decades in ultimately sour-ending seasons.
Regardless of the view from 30,000 feet, it was a magical moment for those celebrating within a three-foot radius of Leo Rivas in the bottom of the 10th on Friday night.
The game had been a back-and-forth affair between the M’s and Cubs, two teams with high expectations going into 2026 but only one of whom had performed up to snuff. At times, Seattle looked like the team they had constructed on paper, with Brendan Donovan and Cal Raleigh both producing runs. At others, the Cubs ambushed mistake pitches from multiple Mariners pitchers, and it had gone to extras before Seattle triumphed 6-5.
Emerson Hancock recovered from early struggles to put together almost six innings.
During the first half of the season, Mariners starting pitching had the sixth best ERA, fifth best StatCast expected ERA (xERA [1]), best fielding independent pitching (FIP [2]) and third best expected FIP (xFIP [3]) of any rotation in baseball.
In the second half, however, Seattle’s starters have had the seventh worst ERA, fourth worst FIP, and ninth worst xFIP. Their xERA ranking of 10th best since the break is small consolation with their struggles spanning all the non-StatCast metrics. They went from a league-best 11.0 starting pitcher FanGraphs WAR (fWAR) pre-break to a second-to-last 0.5 fWAR post-break.
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