MLS likely to open with replacement referees
Major League Soccer will lockout referees after its union rejected a tentative contract, putting Lionel Messi’s Inter Miami on track to open the season next week with replacement officials.
The Professional Soccer Referees Association said Saturday that 95.8% voted againsta tentative agreement with the Professional Referee Organization, which supplies match officials to MLS, the NWS Land some lower-tier leagues.The union said 97.8% of approximately 260 eligible members voted.
Golf
Patrick Cantlay shot a 1-under70 at Riviera and will take a two-shot lead into the final roundof the Genesis Invitational. Tied for second after both shot 65s are Xander Schauffele and Will Zalatoris. Cantlay will be in the final group Sunday with Schauffele.
Pro football
Chicago Bears great Steve McMichael has MRSA—a type of staph infection that resists most antibiotics — and is undergo in gablood transfusion at a suburban Chicago hospital. The latest news on McMichael’s condition — whohas been in a yearslong battle with ALS — comes after hewas admitted to the intensivecare unit Thursday with a urinary tract infection. McMichael was elected to the Hallof Fame earlier this month.
Hockey
Auston Matthews posted his second straight hat trick to push his NHL-leading goals total to 48 and added two assists for a career-high five points as the Toronto Maple Leafs routed the Anaheim Ducks,9-2. The hat trick was Matthews’ sixth of the season —a Toronto record. In other NHL highlights: Matthew Tkachuk and Sam Bennett each had two goals and two assists as the Atlantic Division leading Florida Panthers won a franchise-record 11th consecutive road game by routing Tampa Bay, 9-2.
•A crowd of 19,285 showed upat Scotiabank Arena in Toronto Friday night to see Toronto defeat Montreal in PWHL play. It marked a record for women’s hockey, betterin gthe old mark of 18,013set at the 2013 world championships in Ottawa, Ontario.
Pro basketball
Former NBA center Scot Pollard had a heart transplant, his wife said on social media Friday night. Pollard, 49,needed a transplant because of damage to his heart froma virus he caught in 2021 that likely triggered a genetic condition. Pollard’s size complicated efforts to find a donor witha heart big enough to fit his6-foot-11, 260-pound body.
Tennis
No.1-ranked Iga Swiatek wonthe Qatar Open for a thirdyear in a row, defeating No.4 Elena Rybakina 7-6 (8), 62.Serena Williams was the last woman to win a WTA event three successive times (the Miami Open, 2013-15).
•No. 2-ranked Carlos Alcaraz was upset by Nicolás Jarry7-6 (2), 6-3 in the semifinals of the Argentina Open.
Swimming
Standout swimmers Claire Curzan of the United States and Pan Zhanle of China won their fourth gold medals at the worldchampionships in Doha, Qatar. Curzan was in control all the way through the200-meter backstroke final asshe won by 1.26 seconds. Pan was part of China’s winning 4x100 mixed freestyle relay.