Ellis made president of San Diego NWSL team

Former U.S. national team coach Jill Ellis will serve as president of a National Women’s Soccer League expansion team in San Diego. The new team, owned by investor Ron Burkle, will be launched next season.

Ellis quit as coach of the national team in 2019 after the United States won its second straight World Cup. She was hired as coach in 2014 and led it the U.S. to eight tournament titles.

Over the course of her tenure, the United States lost just seven matches. Burkle is a co-owner of the NHL’s Pittsburgh Penguins.

Burkle’s business associate Matt Alvarez will lead the NWSL team.

• Derrick Etienne scored in the 63rd minute, and Haiti won 1-0 over Nicaragua in Port-au-Prince to win Group E of the first round of World Cup qualifying in North and Central America and the Caribbean.

Haiti (3-0) will play Canada in a two-match, totalgoal series on Saturday and June 15 for a spot in the eight-nation regional finals along with the the 20th-ranked United States, No. 11 Mexico, No. 45 Jamaica, No. 50 Costa Rica and No. 67 Honduras. Canada beat Suriname, 4-0, in Bridgeview, Ill.

• Goalkeeper Zack Steffen will miss the United States’ exhibition against Costa Rica tonight with a bone bruise on his left knee.

U.S. coach Gregg Berhalter said that Steffen will need a recovery time of about 10 days.

In addition, Berhalter said defender Bryan Reynolds will miss the Costa Rica match because of a bone bruise on his left knee.

Fowler barely misses U.S. Open field

Rickie Fowler came up just short — one roll of the ball — in his last shot at avoiding sitting out another major when he failed to get through U.S. Open qualifying.

Fowler, a Murrieta native, had five holes to play in the rain-delayed qualifier at Brookside and The Lakes in Columbus, Ohio, and he needed three birdies. From over the back of the 18th green, his chip was about a full turn short before peeling away to the right.

That left him one shot out of the 5-for-4 playoff for the remaining spots to the U.S. Open next week at Torrey Pines in San Diego.

Chez Reavie and Erik van Rooyen of South Africa led the way in Ohio, the largest of nine U.S. Open qualifiers across the country because of so many PGA Tour players in the field.

Former major champions