WAVE FC GOES DEFENSE AT NO. 1 PICK

The San Diego Wave Fútbol Club selected Stanford defender Naomi Girma

with the first overall selection in the NWSL Draft.

The addition of Naomi further fortifies Wave FC'S defensive line, which includes World Cup champion Abby Dahlkemper.

The club continued to build out its roster throughout the draft with the addition of four midfielders, Marleen Schimmer (Grand Canyon), Sydney Pulver (Washington State), Belle Briede

(Stanford) and Kayla Bruster (Georgia).

San Jose native Girma joins Wave FC following a standout collegiate career at Stanford where she was a three-time team captain for the Cardinal and led them to a national championship in 2019. Her collegiate career was filled with team and personal accolades, including two-time Pac-12 Defender of the Year, United Soccer Coaches All-america first team and MAC Hermann Trophy semifinalist.

Girma has also served as U.S. Under-20 Women's National Team captain, where she was voted the 2020 U.S. Soccer Young Female Player of the Year.

“I'm so excited to be starting my professional career at Wave FC,” Girma said. “It's an honor to be selected first and join a team with such incredible coaches, staff, and players. I can't wait to get started and give as much as I can to Wave FC and the San Diego community.”

More soccer

Chelsea forward Christian Pulisic has been named U.S. Soccer's male player of the year.

Ricardo Pepi was named the governing body's young male player of the year before the U.S. team's 1-0 win over Bosnia and Herzegovina in Carson in the final exhibition of 2021.

Pulisic became the first American to play in the

Champions League final and the first to win it during Chelsea's championship season. He had six goals and four assists across 40 appearances for the London club, highlighted by a two-goal game against Crystal Palace in April and a goal against Real Madrid in the first leg of the Champions League semifinal.

Baseball

Buck Showalter has been hired as the New York Mets manager, bringing him back to the Big Apple to take over his fifth major league team.

The former Yankees skipper replaces Luis Rojas, let go in early October following two losing seasons. Mets owner Steve Cohen announced the move Saturday afternoon on Twitter.

Showalter has managed more than 3,000 big-league games over 20 seasons, giving the Mets an experienced bench boss for the first time since Terry Collins' sevenyear tenure ended after the 2017 campaign.

New York has been searching for solid leadership ever since — in the dugout and the front office.

Showalter certainly carries credibility, with a long history of turning around losing teams. No doubt that made him an attractive candidate to new Mets GM Billy Eppler and Cohen, who is spending freely on players and eager to win quickly since buying the bungling franchise in November 2020.

Olympics

Alex Ferreira is a virtual lock to make the U.S. Olympic team for the Winter Games in Beijing.

The silver medalist in Pyeongchang now has backto-back wins in back-to-back competitions in the same Copper Mountain halfpipe in Colorado.

Ferreira scored 95.75 points at the Dew Tour contest to edge teammate Aaron Blunck. Brendan Mackay of Canada wound up third while two-time reigning Olympic champion David Wise finished fifth.

The most drama-packed event of the day was the men's snowboard slopestyle competition with Olympic champion Red Gerard winning on his last run. He edged teammate Chris Corning and Mark Mcmorris of Canada took third.

In the women's snowboard slopestyle event, the day belonged to New Zealand's Zoi Sadowski Synnott, who increased the degree of difficulty each run through the course to take the title.

Also

American Bryce Bennett won the first classic downhill of the World Cup season in Val Gardena, Italy.

For his first career victory, the 6-foot-7 Bennett finished 0.14 seconds ahead of Otmar Striedinger of Austria and 0.32 ahead of Niels Hintermann of Switzerland.

American Jennifer Brady has withdrawn from next month's Australian Open and two warm-up tournaments because of a foot injury.

PATRICK MCDERMOTT GETTY IMAGES Stanford defender Naomi Girma (3) playing for the U.S. against Alicia-sophie Gudorf and Germany in an U-20 friendly, was selected first in the NWSL Draft.