San Diego Union-Tribune (Sunday)
USD’S HOLMGREN FALLS IN THIRD SET IN NCAA FINALE
A historic season with countless accolades came to an end for sixth-seeded August Holmgren of the University of San Diego men’s tennis team, as the senior fell in the NCAA Singles championship match to Florida’s No. 1-seeded Ben Shelton, 4-6, 6-3, 6-2, at Champaign, Ill.
“It’s tough to put into words what August has done for this program,” Toreros coach Ryan Keckley told USD media officials. “He deserves all the praise he gets because of what he puts into his game and what he has done for USD tennis. Today wasn’t the outcome we wanted, but this week showed you just how good August is and how much faith we have in him to take that next step into his career as a professional athlete. August will go down as one of the best to play the game for the Toreros!”
Holmgren took an early 2-0 lead in the first set, but Shelton answered with three straight. After Shelton went up 30-0 in the next game, Holmgren swept the next four points to lock it at 3-3. Holmgren eventually won the first, 6-4.
Shelton jumped out to a 4-1 lead in the second set, and eventually won, 6-3. In the third set, Shelton took the first two games, but Holmgren bounced back to cut the deficit to 2-1. Shelton responded with four of the next five points to seal the win.
Shelton’s singles national championship comes a year after teammate Sam Riffice won the 2021 title. Riffice advanced to the semifinals this year before losing to Holmgren.
More colleges
The UC San Diego baseball team closed out its second season of Division I competition with a 3-1 victory at CSUN. The Tritons (24-32, 13-17 Big West) were led by Michael Fuhrman, who finished 2for-3 with an RBI.
The Palomar College baseball team (37-12) dropped an 11-5 decision to Ohlone College (45-4) of Fremont in the first round of the state community college tournament.
The wait was worth it for the Maryland men’s lacrosse team. The top-seeded Terrapins started their NCAA tournament semifinal in East Hartford, Conn., four hours late after weather snarled the day’s schedule, then finished off Princeton, 13-8, to move within a victory of an undefeated season. Maryland (17-0) will meet seventh-seeded Cornell (13-4), a 1710 winner over sixth-seeded Rutgers, in Monday’s title game.
Locally
El Cajon’s Christian Craig finished third in the 450 cc division at the U.S. Nationals Motocross tour event at Fox Raceway in Pala. Chase Sexton and Ken Roczen finished first and second in the 450. In the 250 event, brothers Jeff and Hunter Lawrence from Australia were 1-2. This is the first stop of a 12-race series.
The San Diego Legion lost, 44-28, on the road against Austin Gilgronis at Bold Stadium in Austin, Texas. The Legion finished the regular season with a record of 8-8, missing the Major League Rugby playoffs.
The San Diego Strike Force (2-8) lost to the Duke City Gladiators, 54-49, at the Rio Rancho Center in Albuquerque, N.M., in Indoor Football League play.
The Colorado Mammoth beat the host San Diego Seals, 15-13, in the NLL West Conference finals. The Mammoth will now face the Buffalo Bandits in the NLL finals.
The San Diego Loyal gave up two goals in extra time and had to settle for a 2-2 tie at the LA Galaxy II in USL Championship action. Charlie Adams and Kyle Vassell scored first-half goals for the Loyal.
Track and field
Olympic gold medalist Elaine Thompson-herah of Jamaica held off American Sha’carri Richardson in the 100 meters at a rainy Prefontaine Classic. Thompson-herah won golds in the 100 and 200 and the 400 relay at the Tokyo Olympics. She defended her Pre title in 10.79 seconds, in front of Richardson in 10.92. Trayvon Bromell raised his arms in victory before crossing the finish line of the men’s 100 in 9.93 seconds. He crossed the line ahead of Fred Kerley and defending world champion Christian Coleman. American Michael Norman won the 400 in a meet-record 43.60. He won at the trials last year and finished fifth in the event at the Olympics, but now has his sights set on worlds.
Hockey
Defenseman Miro Heiskanen had a goal and two assists and Finland beat the United States 4-3 to set up its third straight world hockey championship final against Canada. Dylan Cozens scored twice in Canada’s 6-1 victory over the Czech Republic in the other semifinal.
Soccer
Brian Rodriguez scored the deciding goal in a 3-2 MLS win for LAFC over the visiting San Jose Earthquakes. Rodriguez’s game-winner came in the 47th minute for LAFC (9-3-2) and was the only goal scored in the second half. LAFC jumped out to a 2-0 lead on Christian Arango’s penalty-kick score in the eighth minute and a goal by Ryan Hollingshead in the 13th. Jeremy Ebobisse scored two goals for the Earthquakes (3-6-5) — in the 16th and 31st minutes — to knot the score at 2.
The sale of Premier League club Chelsea to a consortium fronted by Los Angeles Dodgers part-owner Todd Boehly is expected to be completed Monday. The club says in a statement that “a final and definitive agreement was entered into last night” to sell to the Boehly and Clearlake Capital consortium. The price is 2.5 billion pounds ($3.2 billion) — the highest ever for a sports team. The club says “It is expected that the transaction will be completed on Monday.”
WNBA
A’ja Wilson had 22 points and 16 rebounds, Dearica Hamby added 14 and 12, and Las Vegas (8-1) beat the defendingchampion Chicago Sky (4-3) 83-76 for the Aces’ sixth consecutive win.
Dewanna Bonner, Alyssa Thomas and Courtney Williams all scored 14 points and the Connecticut Sun (6-2) beat Washington (6-3) 79-71 to move past the Mystics atop the Eastern Conference standings.
Also
Gervonta Davis regained his knockout power and retained his lightweight title after stopping Rolando Romero in the sixth round at New York. Davis landed a crushing left hand near the corner and Romero fell forward into the ropes. He struggled and got up but was wobbly the whole way and referee David Fields ended the fight.