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MLS opens the playoffs on Wednesday with 2 wild-card games

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 16:58:08 GMT

Major League Soccer’s playoff matchups were set following a chaotic Decision Day across the league on Saturday. The postseason opens on Wednesday with a pair of wild-card games. Eighth-seeded Sporting Kansas City will host the No. 9 San Jose Earthquakes in the Western Conference. In the East, the eighth-seeded New York Red Bulls will host No. 9 Charlotte, which made the playoffs for the first time.Games in each of the league’s conferences were played simultaneously Saturday with the Eastern Conference kicking off three hours before the West. There were five playoff spots still up for grabs when the games began. Dénis Bouanga scored in LAFC’s 1-1 draw with the Vancouver Whitecaps at BC Place to win the league’s Golden Boot with 20 goals in his first full MLS season. He is the third LAFC player to win the award for the league’s leading regular-season scorer in the last five years, joining Carlos Vela in 2019 and Diego Rossi in 2020.The New York Red Bulls made the playoffs ...

Nevada breaks 16-game losing streak, beats San Diego State 6-0

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 16:58:08 GMT

SAN DIEGO (AP) — Brandon Talton kicked two field goals Saturday night and Nevada beat San Diego 6-0 to snap a 16-game losing streak and record the Wolf Pack’s first shutout in more than a 12 years. Nevada (1-6, 1-2 Mountain West), which lost 10 in a row to close last season, won its first conference game since a 52-10 win at Colorado State on Nov. 27, 2021 and held an opponent scoreless for the first time since a 37-0 win over UNLV on Oct. 8, 2011. Talton, who missed from 48 yards in the third and fourth quarters, made a 37-yard field goal midway with 7:03 left in the first quarter and a 39-yarder as time expired in the first half to make it 6-0. Jack Browning missed a 34-yard field goal-attempt in the second quarter for the Aztecs. The Wolf Pack had just 242 total yard but limited San Diego State (3-5, 1-3) to 204, just 47 yards passing. The Aztecs were held scoreless for the first time since a 27-0 loss to Ohio on Dec. 19, 2018. ___ Get alerts on the latest AP Top 25 poll th...

Panarin scores two goals lifting Rangers over Kraken 4-1

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 16:58:08 GMT

SEATTLE (AP) — Artemi Panarin scored twice, Filip Chytil had three assists and the New York Rangers beat the Seattle Kraken 4-1 on Saturday night.Kaapo Kakko and Alexis Lafreniere also scored for the Rangers while Jonathan Quick, signed in the offseason as New York’s backup goalie, had 18 saves in his first start for the team.Justin Schultz scored for the Kraken, who have scored one goal or fewer in four of their five games this season. Philipp Grubauer had 23 saves.Schultz gave the Kraken a 1-0 lead with a one-timer from the left circle midway through the first period, his first goal of the season.The Rangers tied it up less than four minutes later on Panarin’s first goal.New York scored a pair in the second period to go up 3-1.With about seven minutes left in the second, Grubauer wasn’t able to control a shot by Jacob Trouba as the puck got past him into the crease, where Kakko was able to knock it into the net. LaFreniere scored his second goal of the season with two minute...

O’Connor scores another short-handed goal, Avalanche beat Hurricanes 6-4

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 16:58:08 GMT

DENVER (AP) — Logan O’Connor scored short-handed for the third straight game, one of five Colorado goals in the second period, Arturri Lehkonen had a goal and two assists, and the Avalanche beat the Carolina Hurricanes 6-4 on Saturday night.Nathan MacKinnon, Mikko Rantanen, Ryan Johansen and Fredrik Olofsson also scored and Alexander Georgiev made 23 saves for Colorado, which has started the season 5-0 for the first time in four years.“We’ve done a good job to start the year,” Avalanche coach Jared Bednar said. “I’m happy with the results but I know it’s nowhere near as good as we can play.”O’Connor became the seventh player to score short-handed in at least three consecutive games and tied Joe Sakic’s franchise record set in 1998. Dave Reid had short-handed goals in four straight games for Toronto in 1990.“It’s always nice to score short-handed, especially consecutively,” O’Connor said.Four of the Avalanche’s six goals came on special teams and they were 3 for 5 on the power play.“...

Utah QB Cam Rising, TE Brant Kuithe declared out for season after Utes’ win over USC

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 16:58:08 GMT

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Utah quarterback Cam Rising and tight end Brant Kuithe will not play for the No. 14 Utes this season, coach Kyle Whittingham announced shortly after their victory at Southern California.Whittingham said the Utes (6-1, 3-1 Pac-12) don’t know whether Rising or Kuithe will return in 2024. Neither veteran had played a snap this season after getting hurt last year, but Utah publicly held out hope both would play this fall.“That hopefulness each week is no longer,” Whittingham said. “It’s a medical decision to just shut them down. Don’t know what the future holds exactly for each of them, but when they’re ready to talk about that, they’ll be the ones to do that.”Utah also lost linebacker Lander Barton for the season with an injury during its 34-32 win at the Coliseum.Rising was the starting quarterback for both of Utah’s back-to-back Pac-12 championship teams in the previous two seasons. The Ventura County native has passed for 5,572 ...

BYU forces five turnovers to beat Texas Tech 27-14

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 16:58:08 GMT

PROVO, Utah (AP) — Kedon Slovis threw for 127 yards and two touchdown passes, and BYU forced five turnovers to power a 27-14 victory over Texas Tech on Saturday night.LJ Martin piled up 93 yards rushing on 10 carries. The Cougars (5-2, 2-2 Big 12) never trailed despite totaling only 277 yards on offense.“We didn’t get down on ourselves tonight, and I thought the energy and the belief that we could make plays was there, especially in the first half,” BYU coach Kalani Sitake said. “I thought our first half was a good half. It wasn’t perfect, but our guys played really sound in all three phases.”Jake Strong threw for 236 yards and a touchdown pass but also had three interceptions in his first start for Texas Tech. Tahj Brooks added 105 yards and a score on the ground. Turnovers caused the Red Raiders (3-5, 2-3) to lose in their first game in Utah despite 389 yards and going 9-of-18 on 3rd down.“It’s just the whole offense,” Red Raiders receiver Xavier White said. “We just have to make ...

Without Van Dyke, Miami rallies and stuns Clemson 28-20 in double OT thriller

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 16:58:08 GMT

MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. (AP) — They were down by 10 in the fourth quarter. They were facing an opponent that always seems to blow them out. They were without their starting quarterback. And they were coming off two losses that left a very distinct sense of here-we-go-again around a program that has sputtered plenty in recent years.No, Miami is not back.But this might be a night the Hurricanes remember for a long time.Ajay Allen got the go-ahead score on a 3-yard run in the second overtime, and shorthanded Miami ended the game on a fourth-down stop to stun Clemson 28-20 on Saturday night.“It validates a lot,” Miami coach Mario Cristobal said. “And it increases our appetite to go get more.”Emory Williams, playing in place of injured Miami quarterback Tyler Van Dyke, completed 24 of 33 passes for 151 yards and a touchdown for the Hurricanes (5-2, 1-2 Atlantic Coast Conference). The biggest hit Williams — who wasn’t sacked — took in the game actually came after the game, when Van Dyke...

MLB playoffs 2023: Valdez tries to close out Rangers; Phillies head home with 3-2 lead over D-Backs

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 16:58:08 GMT

Framber Valdez tries to pitch the Astros to their second straight World Series appearances when Houston tries to win the American League pennant in Game 6 of the Championship Series against the Texas Rangers on Sunday night.After losing the first two games at home, the Astros finished a three-game sweep at Arlington with a testy 5-4 win in Game 5 on Friday behind Jose Altuve’s three-run homer in the ninth off José Leclerc.The Astros went 39-42 in Houston during the regular season and their home woes have continued this postseason, where they are 1-3. They have won 19 of their last 22 road games, including all five in the postseason.“What can I say? If I had the magic words, I would have said them like two months ago,” manager Dusty Baker explained. “We’ve just got to get it done. There are no words that can describe what we have to do. Simply action.”This year’s ALCS between Texas and Houston marks the first League Championship Series in which the visiting team won the opening five ...

Israel strikes Gaza, Syria and West Bank as war against Hamas threatens to ignite other fronts

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 16:58:08 GMT

RAFAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — Israeli warplanes struck targets across Gaza overnight and into Sunday, as well as two airports in Syria and a mosque in the occupied West Bank allegedly used by militants, as the two-week-old war with Hamas threatened to spiral into a broader conflict.Israel has traded fire with Lebanon’s Hezbollah militant group on a near-daily basis since the war began, and tensions are soaring in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, where Israeli forces have battled militants in refugee camps and carried out two airstrikes in recent days.For days, Israel has seemed to be on the verge of launching a ground offensive in Gaza as part of its response to Hamas’ deadly Oct. 7 rampage. Tanks and tens of thousands of troops have massed at the border, and Israeli leaders have spoken of an undefined next stage in operations.But the military acknowledges there are still hundreds of thousands of Palestinian civilians in northern Gaza despite a sweeping evacuation order, which...

Rapids Takeaways: As worst season in club history concludes with loss to Real Salt Lake, Diego Rubio hints at exit

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 16:58:08 GMT

COMMERCE CITY — At last, the Colorado Rapids’ 2023 season is over.Of course, it ended in a loss to arch rival Real Salt Lake for a fourth time this season Saturday night at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park, solidifying the worst season in club history.Interim head coach Chris Little put out a strong starting eleven in the narrow 1-0 loss. Homegrown Players Sebastian Anderson and goalkeeper Abraham Rodriguez started, and a total of five, a club record, were on the field at one point in the match.The tombstone for the Rapids’ season: 5-17-12, 27 points and 0.79 points per game. Colorado finished dead-last in the MLS Western Conference, 28th of 29 in the Supporter Shield standings, with 26 goals and 54 goals against.Here are the final takeaways from a season full of frustrations.The Homegrowns get “it”Little was not afraid to “play the kids” as Cole Bassett (Littleton), Anderson (Highlands Ranch), and Rodriguez (Thornton) started, and Oli Larra...