Florida State wins third women’s soccer title on Zhao’s penalty kick

Yujie Zhao rocketed home the game-winning penalty kick and Florida State edged BYU 4-3 in PKs late Monday to win its third women’s national championship in program history and second in the past four years.

“I had faith that we were going to win in the PKs,” Zhao said. “I was super, super happy.”

Sophomore goalkeeper Cristina Roque made two saves during penalty kicks for the Seminoles, who, ironically, lost last year’s national championship game in PKs.

“It feels quite nice to be sitting on this side of it,” Florida State coach Mark Krikorian said. “Last year, I thought that we were quite good and had some unfinished business that we needed to address.”

In the first-ever meeting between the schools, No. 13 BYU and top-ranked Florida State traded chances through 90 minutes of regulation time, but neither team could break through.

ETC.

Soccer: Liverpool made it a perfect six in the Champions League group stage by winning 2-1 at AC Milan as the Italian team’s return to Europe’s premier club competition came to a swift end … Second-half substitute Erling Haaland scored twice as Borussia Dortmund signed out of the Champions League with a 5-0 rout of Turkish team Besiktas. … Boban Nikolov scored a last-gasp equalizer for Sheriff to draw at Shakhtar Donetsk 1-1.

Tennis: Novak Djokovic has been named in the Serbian team for January’s ATP Cup, an indication that Djokovic could play in the Australian Open a week later despite controversy over his vaccination status. Organizers said 18 of the world’s top 20 players will take part in the 16-country tournament in Sydney from Jan. 1-9, with Djokovic leading top-seeded Serbia. Djokovic hadn’t publicly committed to defending his Australian Open title at Melbourne Park or revealed his vaccination status, with a mandate that he needs to be double-vaccinated to play. While the ATP Cup doesn’t have the same entry criteria, his inclusion for the ATP Cup means he now appears likely to chase a 10th title and 21st Grand Slam singles title at Melbourne Park, which would break a tie for major singles wins with Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal.

Olympics: China will take part in the men’s hockey tournament at the upcoming Winter Olympics in Beijing after initial concerns that the team would be embarrassed on home ice against NHLlevel competition. Players making up the Chinese national team played two recent test games against Russian opponents with international officials watching closely. The team, playing as Kontinental Hockey League club Kunlun Red Star, lost 4-1 to Avangard Omsk and 5-4 in overtime to Amur Khabarovsk, getting outshot 77-43 in the two games combined. Kunlun coach Ivano Zanatta said the games were evidence his team meets Olympic standards.