Two of soccer’s best clash in NCAA semis
Two of the three finalists for the women’s MAC Hermann Trophy, college soccer’s national player of the year, will face off today at the College Cup at Avaya Stadium.
Stanford’s Catarina Macario and UCLA’s Jessie Fleming will lead their respective teams in the women’s national semifinals (6:30 p.m.) after North Carolina plays Washington State in the first game (4 p.m.).
UNC junior defender Emily Fox was the third finalist announced Thursday by the award’s organizers. Fox suffered a knee injury in the quarterfinals andwillnot play in San Jose.
Macario, the reigning player of the year, has scored a schoolrecord 32 goals this season and also has 23 assists. But Fleming, a veteranmidfielder of twoWomen’s World Cups for Canada, successfully stopped Macario when Stanford defeated UCLA 1- 0 on Oct. 20.
The winner of the Hermann Trophy will be announced Jan. 3. Stanford players have won the award five times since 2009, including the previous two years.
• Stanford’s Macario, Naomi Girma, MadisonHaley, Kiki Pickett, Cal’s Angelina Anderson and Yale’s Aerial Chavarin of Oakland received All-America honors Thursday. STANFORD MEN IN QUARTERFINALS » Stanford (12-2- 4) is in the quarterfinals of the NCAA Tournament for the fifth consecutive season and ninth time in program history. The Cardinal, a threetime NCAA champion and No. 7 seed this year, travels to Clemson (South Carolina) for amatch with
the second-seeded Tigers (18-2-1) today (3 p.m.). QUAKES OPEN AGAINST TORONTO
» The San Jose Earthquakes kick off their 2020 Major League Soccer season at Avaya Stadium on Feb. 29 vs. Toronto FC. Toronto FCis the reigningEasternConference champion and has reached theMLSCup Final in three of the past four years, winning in 2017.
Major League Soccer is breaking away from soccer’s tradition of having each team play every opponent in its league. MLS is expanding to 26 teams in2020with the additions ofMiami and Nashville but will keep a 34-game regular-season schedule. A teamwill play each of its 12 conference opponents home and away, and will face only 10 of the 13 teams in the other conference. MLS HOPES TO PUT 30TH TEAM IN CHARLOTTE » Major League Soccer will try to reach anagreement for ïts 30th team to be Charlotte, North Carolina. Carolina Panthers ownerDavid Teppermade a presentation toMLS owners. Tepper would own the team, which would play at Bank of America Stadium, home of his NFL franchise.
NBA
WOMANSEEKSDISMISSALOFLAWSUITAGAINSTLUKEWALTON » Former sportscaster Kelli Tennant is seeking dismissal of her sexual assault lawsuit against Sacramento Kings coach Luke Walton, a court document shows. The request for dismissal of the civil case was filed Tuesday in Los Angeles County Superior Court. The dismissal form did not include any information on the reason for dismissal.
ROCKETSTOPROTESTOVERHARDEN’SDUNK » Not backing down in their fight to overturn their 135133 double- overtime loss to the San Antonio Spurs, the Houston Rockets plan to file an official protest over the James Harden dunk that wasn’t counted, according to published reports.
The team’s argument will cite that Harden’s dunk that wasn’t counted is an example of a “misapplication of rules,” and should have been correctly recorded as a two-point basket, according to reports. The Rockets believe it shouldn’t be considered a judgment call by the officials.
Figure skating
LIULEADSJUNIORSINITALY » Alysa Liu of Richmond continued her rise on the world stage Thursday by taking the lead at the Junior Grand Prix of Figure Skating in Turin, Italy.
Competing in the biggest international competition in her budding career, Liu, 14, landed a triple axel in a combination jump to score 71.19 points in winning the short program ahead of Russia’s Daria Usachva and Kseniia Sinitsyna. Four of the six competitors are from Russia.
Golf
REEDBUILDS3-SHOTLEADINBAHAMAS » A tropical breeze replaced the raging wind and made golf a lot easier for Patrick Reed, Tiger Woods and just about everyone else Thursday in the Hero World Challenge. Reed took advantage of the back nine at Albany Golf Club in Nassau, Bahamas, for the second straight day. He was tied for the lead until making six birdies over his last 10 holes for a 6-under 66 that gave hima threeshot lead over U. S. Open champion Gary Woodland.
Reed was at 12- under 132. Woods kept a clean card tomatch Reed’s 66 and remain six shots behind.
Woodland, whomakes his Presidents Cup debut next week, lost ground with consecutive bogeys that left him six shots behind at one point. He fixed that by finishing with three straight birdies for a 69 and will be paired with Reed again today for the third round.
Defending champion Jon Rahm also had a 66 to match the low round of the day, leaving him four shots behind with Henrik Stenson, who had a 67.
Woods was in the group at 6-under 138 along with Rickie Fowler and Justin Thomas, who each shot 69.
College basketball
USFMAKES IT TWO IN A ROWOVER CAL » Jamaree Bouyea and Jimbo Lull each converted a three-point play inthe first twominutes of the second half as USF pulled away from Cal for a 76- 64 men’s basketball victory lateWednesday at Memorial Gym.
The win was the second straight for the Dons (8-2) over the Bears the past two seasons after the clubs hadn’t met in 10 years. Lull finished with 20 points and a game-high eight rebounds for USF, which had lost two in a row after a 7- 0 start.
KareemSouth scored 20 points for Cal (5-3), which has lost three of four after a 4- 0 start.
Baseball
GIANTSHIREHITTINGCOACH » The Giants are expected to announce several new hires on Monday at the winter meetings, but one of the coaches joining the organization is now known. Cincinnati Reds assistant hitting coach Donnie Ecker is slated to join new manager Gabe Kapler’s staff as the Giants’ hitting coach, according to published reports.
Ecker, 33, spent last season with the Reds. The Bakersfield native attended Los Altos High before playing one season of baseball at Long Beach State University. Following a stint at Lewis- Clark State College, Ecker was selected in the 22nd round of the 2007 draft by the TexasRangers.
NHL
FLAMESSIGNDEALFORNEWDOWNTOWNCALGARYARENA » The Calgary Flames have a deal for a new downtown arena, a 35-year agreement that keeps the NHL club in the city for that time. The team, the city and the Calgary Stampede rodeo signed an agreement Thursday to replace the 36-yearold Saddledome.