Just over three months after winning the franchise's first NWSL Championship, the Orlando Pride enters 2025 in the unfamiliar position of league favorite.

"Everybody's gonna hunt after us, and we need to deal with this and find a way to keep doing our best to keep making history for this club," six-time world player of the year and Orlando forward Marta said on Thursday.

Orlando and the Washington Spirit kick off the 2025 NWSL slate on Friday in the NWSL Challenge Cup, a Community Shield type of event that doesn't count toward the standings but pits the previous year's NWSL Shield and NWSL Championship winners against each other for a preseason trophy.

Orlando won both trophies last year, making this year's Challenge Cup a rematch of November's final. The Pride won 1-0 behind a goal from forward Barbra Banda.

"Yeah, it's personal," Spirit goalkeeper Aubrey Kingsbury said on Thursday about the rematch. "I want to win everything, and this is the first trophy. [Spirit head coach Jonatan Giráldez] has talked to us a lot about that. We're here to win."

"It's a good and big opportunity that we have right now to win a title," Giráldez said. "We only have to play a game, try to be better than them and create more chances and be close to win this title. We know that the game is going to be probably different compared with the last final."

Washington and Orlando were the two best teams in the regular season in 2024. The Pride went unbeaten through the first 23 games of the regular season, setting a new NWSL record. They also set a new points record (60). Washington finished second, tying Orlando for a new league record with 18 wins.

Orlando had not previously won a trophy since launching in 2016, and frequently finished seasons at or near the bottom of the table. That dire history motivated the Pride last year, but they enter 2025 as the team everyone is chasing.

"There's no difference going into this this year," Pride head coach Seb Hines said. "We're shifting into this championship mentality now, which is changing the verbiage from 'underdog' to now 'championship.' But we have to stay consistent with everything that we do."

Both Orlando and Washington largely retained their 2024 rosters while strengthening certain positions this offseason.

The Spirit signed Japan international midfielder Narumi Miura and recently acquired standout Mexican defender Rebeca Bernal via transfer from Monterrey.

The Pride just removed Brazilian defender Rafaelle and Zambian midfielder Grace Chanda from the season-ending injury list after they missed most of and all last year, respectively. Both players are available for Friday's clash.

Giráldez was coy about the potential availability of United States forward Trinity Rodman, who played through a back injury in last year's final and missed the last four U.S. women's national team training camps to focus on rehabbing to full strength.

Rodman recently said that she is in a "really good place" with her back issues.

Giráldez also did not elaborate on the status of U.S. midfielder and 2024 NWSL Rookie of the Year Croix Bethune, who missed the final three months of last season with a torn meniscus suffered while throwing out a first pitch at an MLB game.

Marta, who turned 39 last month, is back to start her ninth campaign with the Pride after signing a new two-year contract in the offseason. Last year was her best in Orlando since her inaugural season with the Pride in 2017, and earned her a renewed place with Brazil as the team won an Olympic silver medal.

She said on Thursday that she is happy to be back in Orlando.

"It's exciting to know that everybody is gonna look to us and then try to make it difficult for us," Marta said. "But for me, it's the best feeling, because you're good at what you do, so just go and play, go and have fun. Go and get people excited to see you on the field. And it's what I'm looking for."

The NWSL's regular season kicks off on March 14.

The Kansas City Current host the Portland Thorns on March 15 on ABC and ESPN+ (12:45 p.m. ET), and opening weekend continues on March 16 as Los Angeles' Angel City FC hosts San Diego Wave FC on ESPN2 and ESPN+ (6:50 p.m. ET).

AUBURN, Ala. -- Auburn fired women's basketball coach Johnnie Harris on Thursday, one day after the Tigers lost to Florida 60-50 in the first round of the Southeastern Conference tournament.

Harris went 58-63 in four seasons. Auburn earned its first NCAA tournament appearance since 2019 last season, but the Tigers followed that up by going 12-18 overall and 3-13 in SEC competition this year.

Auburn's SEC tournament defeat marked its seventh consecutive loss. The Tigers finished the regular season in a four-way tie for last place in the SEC with Missouri, Texas A&M and Arkansas.

"I have a tremendous amount of respect and admiration for Johnnie," Auburn athletic director John Cohen said in a statement. "Having worked with her for more than a decade at two institutions, I know Johnnie is an exceptional person with a great basketball mind. I thank Johnnie for the way she represented Auburn and for her contributions to our women's basketball program. While these decisions are never easy, the program must move in a new direction."

Harris had been an associate head coach on Vic Schaefer's Mississippi State staff from 2012-20, while Cohen was Mississippi State's athletic director from 2016-22. Harris followed Schaefer to Texas and was associate head coach there in 2020-21 before taking over Auburn's program.

She went 10-18 in her debut season at Auburn, which had gone 5-19 the year before her arrival. Auburn went 16-15 in 2022-23 -- the Tigers' first winning season since 2018-19 -- and 20-12 in 2023-24 before backsliding this season.

Auburn's 2023-24 team posted its highest win total since 2019 and went 8-8 in SEC play, the first time since 2019 the Tigers finished .500 or better in league competition. That team lost to Arizona 69-59 in the First Four round of the NCAA tournament.

The Jacksonville Jaguars are trading wide receiver Christian Kirk to the Houston Texans for a 2026 seventh-round pick, a source told ESPN's Adam Schefter on Thursday.

A source had told Schefter on Wednesday that the Jaguars planned to release Kirk when the new league year begins next Wednesday. But they have instead found a trade partner within their own division.

The seventh-round pick headed to Jacksonville originally belonged to the Rams, the source told Schefter.

The Texans have uncertainty at the wide receiver position beyond No. 1 receiver Nico Collins. Stefon Diggs is a free agent and Tank Dell's availability for the 2025 season is in question after a serious knee injury suffered last December. Dell underwent a second surgery on Wednesday, this time to repair a torn ACL, after earlier having surgery to repair other torn ligaments.

Kirk, who is entering the final year of his four-year contract, was scheduled to have the Jaguars' highest cap number in 2025 at $24.4 million and be paid a $15.5 million salary.

Kirk signed the four-year, $72 million deal in 2022 and immediately set career highs in catches (84), receiving yards (1,108) and touchdown receptions (eight) that season.

But he missed 14 games over the past two seasons because of an abdominal injury and broken collarbone, finishing with a combined 84 catches for 1,166 yards and four TDs in 20 games over that stretch.

Kirk, 28, spent the first four seasons of his career with the Arizona Cardinals, who selected him in the second round of the 2018 draft, catching 236 passes for 2,902 yards and 17 touchdowns.

ESPN's Michael DiRocco contributed to this report.

ST. LOUIS -- St. Louis Blues No. 1 defenseman Colton Parayko is expected to miss the rest of the regular season after injuring his left knee in the team's shootout victory at the Los Angeles Kings.

President of hockey operations and general manager Doug Armstrong said Thursday that Parayko will undergo a scope on the injured knee and be evaluated in six weeks. The Blues play their final regular-season game two days short of the six-week mark.

Parayko, 31, plays more ice time than anyone else on the Blues, averaging nearly 24 minutes over 62 games and recording 35 points. His absence is a blow to their hopes of making the playoffs and comes after beating LA put them one point back of the second and final wild-card spot in the Western Conference.

Manchester United took the lead through Joshua Zirkzee but were held to a 1-1 draw at Real Sociedad in the first leg of their Europa League last-16 tie on Thursday.

United had the only real chance of the first half against Sociedad when Bruno Fernandes had a goal-bound shot blocked and Zirkzee's follow-up effort was saved.

Alejandro Garnacho hit a shot into the side netting but 12 minutes into the second half he pulled a pass back to the unmarked Zirkzee on the edge of the area and the Dutch forward drove a first-time shot past keeper Alex Remiro.

Sociedad pushed for an equaliser with Brais Mendez bending a shot just wide of the post and they were awarded a penalty for a handball by Fernandes which Mikel Oyarzabal converted to level the tie with 20 minutes remaining.

As the hosts grew in confidence, Mendez forced United keeper Andre Onana into a fine save and substitute Orri Oskarsson put a close-range effort wide but United hung on to remain the only unbeaten side in the competition this season.

Something changes for players in the Premier League when winter turns to spring. The dark nights and the yellow match ball are behind you for another season, replaced by bright afternoon games and the white ball. This final stretch of the season is still a time of hope for many teams, but a dip in form quickly turn that into despair. Everyone is playing for something, and one mistake can define your season.

Up to this point of the campaign, teams and coaching staff have been focused primarily on performance levels -- how well is the manager's playing style bedding in? Which players are forming effective partnerships? But by the time you get to March and April, the reality is that it's all about the outcome. Results are the most important thing. If you're down at the bottom, you have to get a result. If you're up near the top, it's a must-win game. Springtime is business time.

Even with Liverpool, who have a 13-point lead on Arsenal at the top of the table having played an additional game, have moved into the mode of just getting it done. Their general performances were probably at a higher level a few months ago, whereas now they're finding ways to get results, which is the sign of a team that is worthy of winning a league title. They are not just the best team in the country. They have also shown in the last few weeks after a couple of bad setbacks -- exiting the FA Cup to lower-league Plymouth and then being held to a combustible draw at Everton which earned their manager a touchline ban -- that they are also the best at getting the job done.

Of course, all 38 games of a campaign have the same number of points available, but at this stage of the season those results become more pivotal. Last season, there was one weekend in April when Liverpool and Arsenal were both above Manchester City but lost at home to Crystal Palace and Aston Villa respectively. That allowed City to go above them, and they held on to that lead for the rest of the season. If those results had happened in gameweek 12 or 13, they could have been written as stumbles with a lot of road still ahead of them. But, when it happens with only five games left, there is barely any time to bounce back.

City are way out of the picture for the league and Europe this season -- they are 20 points behind Liverpool in fourth and out of the Champions League -- but they still need to be getting results. Even with the Premier League likely to have five qualification spots for next season's Champions League, City cannot relax. They are away at third-placed Nottingham Forest next and then play the Brighton & Hove Albion, who are currently on the longest winning run in the league. So even though they are in the unfamiliar position of not chasing for the title, they still are in a position whereby they know the value of every single game. They've had to adjust their goals from the start of the season, but this is the final objective; they need to be in the Champion League next season. The players know that -- it's important not only for their status as stars but potentially for their futures at the club. So that's the thing that will be motivating them on a day-to-day basis.

Pep Guardiola's team are still in the FA Cup, too, and there is no situation in which results trump performances than knockout cup football. How many cup finals are actually great games? In general, people remember the winners of finals, not how they won.

Whether you are at the top of the league or fighting relegation, everything just feels that bit more definitive. Wolverhampton Wanderers may have a cushion between them and the relegation zone, where Ipswich and Leicester are five points behind them, but that is only two wins for either of those sides and two losses for Wolves. Trying to get two wins is one thing, but trying to get two wins of your last three games when you are battling to stay up and then also looking out for the results of the teams around you is something else entirely.

That's a situation that those teams should be doing their utmost to avoid while they still have 10-11 games left, because depending on other teams is a difficult place to be. The aim at the end of the season to be playing for something and to have your fate in your own hands but sometimes. when you are requiring other things to go your way, it can really affect the mood if they don't.

Some of the games against teams down near at the bottom could actually be really tough, especially when you're away from home, because they are desperate. So you need teams that aren't just going to focus purely on the football, but understand that the nature of this game is different to what it could have been earlier in the season.

You want all your players available to this important stretch because you know the gravity of every single game. The pressure rises for everyone now, based on the goals that they are trying to achieve. And when some teams are outperforming what others might have expected of them, as a consequence that puts an internal pressure on that team but also squeezes the teams around them who suddenly have another rival to worry about.

For teams who have real genuine requirements, whether it be the vital financial boost of reaching the Champions League or avoiding the potential calamity of relegation, the team getting the results they need in this final stretch can be change the fate of the football club. The pressure is massive. The fans will feel it, the players will feel it, the management will feel it. And so when you go out in those matches, if you win, it feels great, but if you're losing all of a sudden there's a more anxiety from everyone involved.

ESPN analyst Nedum Onuoha was speaking to Tony Mabert.

The Cincinnati Bengals have granted All-Pro defensive end Trey Hendrickson permission to seek a trade.

"It's been an honor and privilege to represent Cincinnati over the last four years," Hendrickson, who led the NFL with 17.5 sacks last season, said in a statement released to ESPN's Adam Schefter on Thursday. "I love this city and organization. I appreciate the privilege of now being allowed to explore my options."

Hendrickson is under contract through the 2025 season but has stated a desire for a new contract, dating back to a failed trade request last season.

Hendrickson, 30, is coming off his eighth season in the league. All four of his seasons with the Bengals have resulted in Pro Bowl appearances.

The former third-round pick, who signed with Cincinnati as a free agent in 2021, requested a trade at the start of last offseason, despite receiving a one-year extension in 2023. Despite being one of the league's most productive players over the past few seasons, he ranks 11th in average annual salary among edge rushers, per Roster Management System.

He has 77 sacks in his eight-year NFL career.

ESPN's Ben Baby contributed to this report.