San Diego Union-Tribune (Sunday)
HALL OF FAME COACH STRINGER RETIRES
C. Vivian Stringer has been a trailblazer, serving as a role model to many Black coaches and players throughout her 50-year career.
The Hall of Fame coach announced her retirement on Saturday.
She finished with 1,055 wins — fourth all time among Division I women’s basketball coaches behind Tara Vander veer, Geno Auriemma and Pat Summitt.
Stringer, 74, made four Final Four appearances and reached the NCAA Tournament 28 times while leading Cheyney State, Iowa and Rutgers. She was the first coach in men’s or women’s basketball to take three different teams to the national semifinals.
Stringer was emotional when she talked to her team Friday night on a Zoom call.
“My life has been defined by coaching and I’ve been on this journey for over five decades,” she said in a statement. “It is rare that someone gets to do what they love for this long and I have been fortunate to do that. I love Rutgers University for the incredible opportunity they offered me and the tremendous victories we achieved together.”
When Stringer first broke into coaching in 1971 at Cheyney State, there were no other female Black coaches to look up to for advice. She turned to friend and mentor John Chaney, who was the men’s coach at the school.
One of the many coaches who Stringer influenced is South Carolina’s Dawn Staley, who won her second national championship on April 3. Staley tweeted her admiration for Stringer on Saturday.
Boxing
Katie Taylor remained the undisputed lightweight champion in a thrilling first women’s boxing match to headline at Madison Square Garden, edging Amanda Serrano in a split decision. Both fighters were cut as they fit in plenty of powerful exchanges during the twominute rounds — one shorter than men’s. Taylor emerged with scores of 96-93 and 97-93 on two of of the judges’ cards, while Serrano won 96-94 on the other.
Soccer
It’s still advantage Manchester City in the English Premier League title race after the league leader and Liverpool won tricky away matches at in-form teams.
Liverpool won at Newcastle 1-0 to go brief ly atop of the table.
City won at Leeds 4-0 a few hours later to move back above Liverpool by a point. There are four rounds left in their compelling title fight.
Marcelo Silva, Zac Macmath and a late video review led host Real Salt Lake to a 1-0 victory over the LA Galaxy in MLS action. Silva scored the only goal just four minutes into the second half — heading in a corner kick by
Pablo Ruiz — and Macmath saved all four shots he faced for RSL (4-2-4), which ended a five-match winless streak.
Dejan Joveljic appeared to score the equalizer in second-half stoppage time for the Galaxy (5-3-1), but an LA foul disallowed the goal after a video review.
Locally
San Diego Loyal SC forward Evan Conway scored in the 85th minute to give his team a 3-2 come-from-behind victory at the Tampa Bay Rowdies (3-3-4) in USL Championship play. Jack Blake had tied the game in the 75th minute for the Loyal (6-2-1).
The San Diego Legion (6-6) defeated the Dallas Jackals 53-14 on the road at the Choctaw Stadium in National Rugby League action. The Legion were led by Peter Malcolm with two trys in the 16th and 49th minutes.
The San Diego Gulls (28-33-5-2) rallied to tie the game with six seconds left but then saw the Tucson
Roadrunners score twice in the shootout for a 3-2 victory on Friday night. The Gulls conclude the AHL season on a three-game losing streak and 1-7-2-1 record in their last 11 games. They open the playoffs at Ontario this week.
Local colleges
San Diego State tennis is advancing to the NCAA Team Women’s Championship for the 23rd time in school history. The thirdseeded Aztecs (17-6) completed a dominant run through the Mountain West Tournament, defeating fourth-seeded UNLV, 4-1, to claim the program’s first league tournament title since 2003.
No. 24 SDSU (32-12, 15-2) clinched its sixth consecutive Mountain West softball series with a 10-2, five-inning victory at San Jose State. Taylor Adams and AJ Murphy combined for seven RBIS for the Aztecs.
The Aztecs (14-31, 6-15) dropped a 6-2 Mountain West baseball decision at Fresno State (22-21, 11-10).
The eighth-ranked Cal State San Marcos softball team (39-9, 28-8 CCAA) split its final regular-season doubleheader, taking rthe first game 7-1 before falling 10-2 in the finale at Cal Poly Humboldt (14-39, 7-29).
UC San Diego baseball (17-23, 8-9 Big West) used a season-high four homers to beat UC Riverside, 12-6, at home.
The SDSU men’s golf team fired a 15-under-par 273 to move comfortably into second place on the second day of the Mountain West Championship at the par-72, 7,115-yard Olympic Course at Gold Mountain Club in Bremerton, Wash. The Aztecs are two shots behind Colorado State.
Tennis
Simona Halep has played some of her best tennis at the Madrid Open again and defeated home crowd favorite Paula Badosa in straight sets. The two-time Madrid Open champion had 21 winners as she defeated No. 2-ranked Badosa 6-3, 6-1.
Danish teenager Holger Rune will play Botic van de Zandschulp in the final of the BMW Open after they came through the semifinals in Munich. Rune defeated home favorite Oscar Otte 6-4 6-4, and Van de Zandschulp rallied to defeat Miomir Kecmanovic 2-6, 7-6 (4), 6-4.