Lavelle, U.S. score win
Rose Lavelle, away from the Boston Breakers while on national team duty, scored in the second half, lifting the U.S. women’s soccer squad to a 1-0 victory against Sweden in a friendly yesterday in Goteborg, Sweden.
A perfectly timed run from the midfield by Crystal Dunn led to a throughball for Lavelle inside the 18-yard box. Lavelle calmly put it home in the 56th minute for her second international goal in her fifth international appearance.
“I pulled out wide, Crystal popped in that pocket, and Crystal was running out the backline and laid an awesome ball to me and I hit it with my right foot,” Lavelle said. “When I got the ball, I was debating should I play it across the face of the goal or should I shoot it. I decided to be a little selfish. It was a good choice this time.”
Keeper Alyssa Naeher earned the shutout.
“To travel this far and get a result, sometimes those games you dominate and some you don’t,” coach Jill
Ellis said. “And sometimes you just have to find a way to win, and I think we did that. . . . A lot of great lessons.”
The women will play Norway on Sunday to finish their two-game trip. . . .
Christian Pulisic rescued the United States men’s national team with a pair of second-half goals, and the Americans beat Trinidad and Tobago, 2-0, in Commerce City, Colo., to move into third place at the halfway point in the final round of World Cup qualifying.
Tim Howard was in goal for the shutout.
Pulisic, an 18-year-old phenom from Hershey, Pa., ended a frustrating start for the U.S. offense with a goal in the 52nd minute, then added another in the 62nd. He has seven goals and five assists in 15 international appearances, including four goals and three assists in his last four contests.
The U.S. is at Mexico on Sunday.
Colleges: Staying put
Creighton men’s basketball coach Greg McDermott said he is staying with the Bluejays after a report he was offered the job at Ohio State, where Thad Matta resigned earlier in the week. McDermott tweeted: “I’m blessed and honored to be the coach at Creighton . . . and am looking forward to many more great years in Omaha!” Pittsburgh released Cameron Johnson from the men’s basketball program to play immediately at felllow ACC member North Carolina as a graduate transfer. The Panthers reversed an internal policy of making a transfer sit out a year when moving on to a conference foe.
Misc.: Top foursome
Matt Every, Scott Brown,
Stuart Cink and Sebastian Munoz each shot a 6-under 64 in Memphis Open to share the lead after one round of the PGA’s St. Jude Classic. Charl Schwartzel and Matt Jones were each 1 stroke back at the final tuneup before golf’s U.S. Open. . . .
New Zealand clinched a spot in the America’s Cup challenger finals by beating Britain off Bermuda and will face today’s Sweden-Japan winner. The challenger finals winner will then face two-time defending Cup champion Oracle Team USA for this year’s title.