The Chicago Tempest host the defending champion Denver Onyx at Benedictine University during Round 10 of the 2026 WER season!

Both the Tempest and the Onyx conclude their 2026 regular season campaigns with this game, which marks the second meeting of the season between the two sides following a Round 5 clash at Infinity Park in Denver. In that game, the Onyx took a 45-21 victory over a stubborn Tempest side to take a 3-0 lead in the all-time match up. Heading into this game, the Onyx have already locked up a spot in the 2026 Legacy Cup on August 8th and sit atop the WER standings with 39pts and an 8-1 record. This completely mirrors the Chicago Tempest who, despite picking up their first victory in team history, sit in 6th with a 1-8 record and only 8pts. While the playoffs are secured, the Onyx will want to finish the regular season in that top spot, while the Tempest are still hungry for another win and if results go their way, could lift themselves off the bottom of the standings with an upset here.

Unfortunately for the Tempest, the Denver Onyx came out of the gates on fire. They scored within the first minute of the game through Canadian Karenna Ottywill, with Alyssa Cunningham doubling up after 7 minutes. Chicago hit back with a score of their own through Gracie Anderson but this did little to dent Denver’s momentum. The Tempest added an Ashtyn Kelly penalty goal just before the half, but by the time the whistle went for half time, the Denver Onyx had racked up five tries for a 10-31 lead.

The defending Champions kept their foot on the gas in the second half, scoring again early through Sydney Davis. They would add another score in the 50th minute, with both scored converted by Aly Cunningham to give them a huge 10-45 lead. The only score of the frame for the hosts came from Chloe Runge in the 66th minute. Marin Cohan added the extras to cut the deficit, but it wasn’t enough. The Denver Onyx added a final flourish from Caroline Bullock in the 71st minute, and they held firm for a 17-52 victory to seal 1st place in the WER standings for the 2026 season, repeating their 9-1 record from 2025, and will face the Bay Breakers for the 2026 Legacy Cup.

The Chicago Tempest fall to 1-9 and finish in 6th, improving from their 2025 season with a first ever victory, but unable to challenge for the top spots this season.

The New York Exiles travel to Benedictine University to face the Chicago Tempest during Round 8 of the 2026 WER season.

This is the second meeting of the 2026 season between these teams, having met in a Round 3 clash at Mount Vernon Memorial Stadium where the Exiles picked up one of their 2 victories so far this season with a 40-19 win at home. New York hold a 3-0 lead in this match-up all time heading into this game but there isn’t much that separates these two sides so far this year. The Exiles are sat 4th with a 2-5 record and 10pts, while the Tempest are in 6th with a 1-6 record and 6pts. Both sides will be desperate for a win here and if the Tempest claim it, it would be their first win over the Exiles and just their 2nd victory as a franchise.

The Exiles got off to a dream start, with Nic Carroll crossing just a minute in and Jetta Owens adding the extras to give the visitors a 0-7 lead almost immediately. It would be almost 15 minutes before another score, as Gracie Anderson got the Tempest on the board but the conversion sailed off target, so the Exiles hold on to a narrow 5-7. Not for long! Around 5 minutes later the Exiles hit back and extend their lead to 5-14 which they would take to the HT break, points being hard to come by in this game. the 2nd half was much the same and it was clear that both these sides were desperate for a win and quite evenly matched. It would be the Exiles that opened the second half scoring and extended their lead to 5-19 from a Chloe Jex score in the 50th minute, and New York were slowly but surely pulling away. The Tempest however, had other ideas. As the game entered it’s final quarter, Caoilfhionn Morrissey crossed for Chicago and the Kalie Korpitz conversion cut the gap to 7pts. The momentum gradually shifted over to the Tempest and 10 minutes later, Morrissey crossed for her 2nd of the game and Marin Cohan nailed the extras to tie the game up at 19-19.

This is how the 80 minutes finished. However, for the first time in WER history, the Golden Point rule came into effect. The game continued, with the first team to score the next points declared the winner. After coming back from a 14pt deficit, it was heartbreak for the Chicago Tempest as Misha Green-Yotts, the first try scorer in WER history, crossed for the exiles to become the first Golden Point scorer in WER history and claim both the bonus point and the victory for the New York Exiles in the 88th minute of play. The Tempest, so close to a win, take a losing BP and move up to 5th in teh standings, while the Exiles solidify their 4th place spot, improving to 3-5.

The Bay Breakers travel to Chicago to face the Tempest at Benedictine University during Round 6 of the 2026 WER season!

This marks the 2nd meeting between these two sides this season after they met at Heart Health Park a few weeks ago in Round 4. The Bay Breakers hold a 3-0 series lead over the Chicago Tempest entering this game, and recorded a huge 66-17 victory at home in their last meeting a couple of weeks ago. Unfortunately for the Tempest, nothing had changed in the last few weeks.

Despite the Chicago Tempest opening the scoring after only 4 minutes through Emily Krahn, the league leading Bay Breakers hit back almost immediately with a pair of tries from Mariah Overby before the 10 minute mark. The visitors raced out to a 26-5 lead just after the 20 minute mark before the Tempest added their 2nd try through Gracie Andersen at the 30 minute mark, but this would be the final score of the game for the hosts. The Breakers added another score before half time, then four more tries in the second half, capped off by a 79th minute try from Mariah Overby to secure her hat trick, and a massive 10-57 road victory for the Bay Breakers.

With this, the Bay Breakers move back into the lead atop the WER Standings, while the Chicago Tempest stay rooted to the bottom, in 6th place with a 1-5 record.

The Chicago Tempest host the Boston Banshees at Benedictine University during Round 2 of the 2026 WER season!

The Boston Banshees hold a 2-0 series lead in this matchup, claiming a 49-12 victory over the Tempest in their most recent meeting during Round 9 of the 2025 season. Having recorded a 0-10 season last year, the Chicago Tempest are still looking for their first ever win as a franchise and in this match, they finally got it.

In front of a home crowd, the Chicago Tempest trailed 14-27 to the Banshees at the halftime break. Although the Banshees scored quick, the Tempest hit right back with early second half scores from Colleen Murphy, Katie Lohaus, and Gracie Anderson put the hosts into the lead with just under 30 to play, leading 29-27. Nicoleta Mesina was able to extend the Tempest lead in the 63rd minute and Nicole Fisch added the extras for a full 7pts to take their lead up to 36-27, and even though the Banshees hit back through a 67th minute Keisha Durden score, it wasn’t enough.

The Chicago Tempest claim an historic 36-32 victory over the Banshees for their first ever WER win!

The Chicago Tempest host the TC Gemini as both teams kick off their 2026 WER Campaigns. This match marks the first WER game held at the new home of the Tempest, the Benedictine University Sports Complex.

These two teams finished at the bottom of the pile during the 2025 season, with the TC Gemini in 5th with a 2-8 record, and the Tempest 6th with 0-10. The Hosting Tempest will be eager to get the monkey off their backs and secure a 1st franchise victory early in the 2026 season, and they came very close to beating the Gemini on both occasions in 2025, with a 15-20 defeat in RD 1 of 2025, and a nailbiting 12-10 match in RD 11, but the Gemini squeaked both, and hold a 2-0 record over the Tempest. Both of the victories for the TC Gemini in 2025 came against the Chicago Tempest.

The first match up of 2026 was nowhere near as close as in 2025 however. Despite fielding only 22 players, the Gemini recorded an enormous 22-78 road victory to blow the Tempest away, scoring 4 tries before Chicago were able to get on the board, and racking up 11 tries in total, including a hat trick from Melisa Rios Mena on her Gemini and WER debut. The Chicago Tempest salvage a try bonus point, but were never really in this game.