LaBonta, Chawinga score goals and Current beat Spirit 2-0
Temwa Chawinga scored her second goal of the season and the Kansas City Current remained undefeated with a 2-0 victory over the Washington Spirit in National Women's Soccer League play on Saturday.
Elsewhere in the NWSL, the Seattle Reign beat North Carolina Courage 2-1; Bay FC eased past Racing Louisville 2-0; and the San Diego Wave took care of the Utah Royals 3-2.
Lo'eau LaBonta gave Kansas City the lead from the penalty spot in the 56th minute, firing into an open net after sending Spirit goalkeeper Aubrey Kingsbury the wrong way. It was the 10th successful penalty kick of the Kansas City captain's NWSL career.
Spirit head coach Jonatan Giráldez turned to his bench to bring on U.S. Olympian Trinity Rodman, who appeared to make an immediate impact with a goal in the 61st minute, but it was offside.
Chawinga, the reigning league MVP, made it 2-0 just before the final whistle, scoring on a counterattack sparked by a long ball up the field from Hallie Mace.
The contest was played in front of a sold-out crowd of 19,254 at Audi Field, the third straight home sellout for the Spirit going back to the 2024 playoffs.
Bugg rocket seals Seattle win
The Reign's 18-year-old Jordyn Bugg scored her first professional goal in the 56th minute at First Horizon Stadium in Cary, North Carolina. She collected a high clearance, took a touch, and then smashed the ball from 37 yards out into the top right hand corner of the net to make it 2-0.
Jess Fishlock made her 200th career appearance for the Reign, and marked the occasion by opening the scoring in the first half.
Aline Gomes pulled one back for North Carolina just three minutes after Bugg's goal.
Lema stars in Bay road win
Rookie Karlie Lema intercepted the ball on the edge of her own box, and then dribbled almost the entire length of the field at PayPal Park before striking a swerving shot into the corner of the net to make it 2-0 in first half stoppage time.
It was Lema's first professional goal and she also becomes the first rookie to score for Bay.
Joelle Anderson opened the scoring in the 12th minute.
Louisville midfielder Savannah DeMelo left the match because of lightheadedness and was taken to the hospital as a precaution.
Wave holds off Royals
Gia Corley scored the winning goal and the San Diego Wave held on for the win at Snapdragon Stadium.
With 16 minutes left in the match, Corley intercepted a poor goal kick from Utah's Mandy McGlynn and immediately lasered the ball into the net to make it 3-2.
Corley earned an assist on the Wave's opening goal, weaving her way along the touchline and sliding a pass across the face of the goal for María Sánchez to tap in. Delphine Cascarino had a breakaway dribble and pass to set up Adriana Leon from point-blank range for the Wave's second goal.
The Royals responded when Claudia Zornoza curled a free-kick over the wall and into the back of the net in the 61st minute to make it 2-1. Mina Tanaka tied it with a goal in the 72nd minute.
___
AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer
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Women's hockey is on the rise in Pacific Northwest, with young girls excited about PWHL's arrival
SEATTLE (AP) — Elly Garcia-Dudek can't help but gaze out toward the ice during hockey practices at the Kraken Community Iceplex. The 12-year-old Garcia-Dudek is a big fan of women's national team stars like Hilary Knight, who starred for the Boston Fleet of the Professional Women's Hockey League last season. Pretty soon, Garcia-Dudek – who started playing through the Seattle Kraken's Learn to Play program — won't have to look across the country for role models like Knight. The PWHL is expanding to Vancouver and to Seattle next season, which was music to Garcia-Dudek's ears. She and her family are Kraken fans and have already put down deposits for PWHL Seattle season tickets. Luckily for Garcia-Dudek, Knight has agreed to play in Seattle. 'It's really inspiring and cool to watch them play because it's different from the men's game because women aren't used to playing with contact, but they get to with the PWHL, which is really cool to watch,' Garcia-Dudek said. 'It inspires me personally like, 'Oh, I can be one of them when I grow up.'' Seattle's lineup should feature plenty of offense from the outset, especially with Knight — a four-time Olympian and PWHL MVP finalist last season — on the scene. 'Hillary is a superstar in every way, right?' Seattle GM Meghan Turner said of Knight after the PWHL expansion draft. 'Like she plays the way she plays, the way she carries herself in the locker room, the way that she carries herself outside the rink. She's just really got at all.' The Pacific Northwest expansion will give the PWHL eight teams and its first two west of Minnesota. The moves are expected to spur even more interest across the region in hockey, which has steadily grown especially in Seattle since the arrival of the Kraken in 2021. Pacific Northwest hockey When Martin Hlinka began his tenure as director of the Kraken Youth Hockey Association in April 2021, they had just 72 players across six teams. The KYHA now has 39 boys and girls teams, including a 14U Jr Kraken team that Garcia-Dudek will play on this year. Hlinka credits this growth in large part to the Kraken's presence. 'The growth was great because more kids watch games on TV or in-person,' Hlinka said, 'and they have a better interest and they're excited to be part of it.' The expectation on Hlinka's end is that the addition of PWHL Seattle will only further increase Seattle's intrigue in hockey at the youth level. The sport has already taken sizable steps forward, though, over the last few decades. Since 2014-15, there's been an increase of 1,744 more youth hockey players in Washington. And since 2021-22, when the Kraken began play, an additional 268 kids have started playing in the state. The growth has been observed by Julia Takatsuka, a goalie coordinator for the Jr Kraken who grew up playing hockey in the Seattle suburb of Lynnwood. When she was a kid, Takatsuka said, she had to travel to Canada every weekend for tournaments, and that practice rinks were relatively spartan compared to the Iceplex, which boasts three rinks and was built in September 2021. 'I would have loved to train at a place like (KCI) where we have all of the actual things we need,' Takatsuka said. 'I was a goalie, so we need pegs to hold the nets down. I didn't have that. We have that now. We have ice that has real creases for the goalies. Didn't have that growing up, either.' The Seattle area requires more work and time to become a women's hockey hotbed, though. As Hlinka pointed out, there is only so much ice time to go around, and there aren't nearly as many rinks in Seattle as there are in cities like Vancouver or Toronto. Seeds for growth Still, there's clear evidence women's hockey has already grown in Seattle. The women's club hockey team at the University of Washington played its inaugural season in 2021. This has allowed Regan Thomas, a West Seattle native and student at Washington, to continue playing the sport she adores. It wasn't until she went to boarding school in New Hampshire that Thomas even became aware she could play hockey. Soccer was Thomas's spot of choice as a kid, and she had quite the role model in Megan Rapinoe, the national team standout who starred for Seattle Reign FC for a decade. Though Thomas wishes Seattle could have had a pro women's hockey team when she was a kid, such won't be the case for countless young girls in the Pacific Northwest moving forward. 'I think having those role models is incredibly important,' Thomas said. 'I find myself even now like 'Ugh, I wish this was around 10 years ago.' Because not that I would have ever made it, but just kind of the dream of making it – you figure out how to push yourself harder.' Lindsay Skogmo's son, Otto, already has plenty of role models whenever he shows up to KCI for practice with the 8-and-under Jr Kraken team. When Skogmo was recently at her son's school, she heard rumblings from girls about how hockey wasn't for them. Skogmo hopes pro women's hockey in Seattle will inspire young girls like Garcia-Dudek to keep dreaming big. 'I feel like in this world right now, in our country, a lot of females feel like it's not going good for us, or it's going against us,' Skogmo said. 'So, for us to be able to get a professional female team here really gives a lot of girl power.' ___ AP women's hockey:
San Francisco Chronicle
an hour ago
- San Francisco Chronicle
Women's hockey is on the rise in Pacific Northwest, with young girls excited about PWHL's arrival
SEATTLE (AP) — Elly Garcia-Dudek can't help but gaze out toward the ice during hockey practices at the Kraken Community Iceplex. The 12-year-old Garcia-Dudek is a big fan of women's national team stars like Hilary Knight, who starred for the Boston Fleet of the Professional Women's Hockey League last season. Pretty soon, Garcia-Dudek – who started playing through the Seattle Kraken's Learn to Play program — won't have to look across the country for role models like Knight. The PWHL is expanding to Vancouver and to Seattle next season, which was music to Garcia-Dudek's ears. She and her family are Kraken fans and have already put down deposits for PWHL Seattle season tickets. Luckily for Garcia-Dudek, Knight has agreed to play in Seattle. 'It's really inspiring and cool to watch them play because it's different from the men's game because women aren't used to playing with contact, but they get to with the PWHL, which is really cool to watch,' Garcia-Dudek said. 'It inspires me personally like, 'Oh, I can be one of them when I grow up.'' Seattle's lineup should feature plenty of offense from the outset, especially with Knight — a four-time Olympian and PWHL MVP finalist last season — on the scene. 'Hillary is a superstar in every way, right?" Seattle GM Meghan Turner said of Knight after the PWHL expansion draft. 'Like she plays the way she plays, the way she carries herself in the locker room, the way that she carries herself outside the rink. She's just really got at all.' The Pacific Northwest expansion will give the PWHL eight teams and its first two west of Minnesota. The moves are expected to spur even more interest across the region in hockey, which has steadily grown especially in Seattle since the arrival of the Kraken in 2021. Pacific Northwest hockey When Martin Hlinka began his tenure as director of the Kraken Youth Hockey Association in April 2021, they had just 72 players across six teams. The KYHA now has 39 boys and girls teams, including a 14U Jr Kraken team that Garcia-Dudek will play on this year. Hlinka credits this growth in large part to the Kraken's presence. 'The growth was great because more kids watch games on TV or in-person,' Hlinka said, 'and they have a better interest and they're excited to be part of it.' The expectation on Hlinka's end is that the addition of PWHL Seattle will only further increase Seattle's intrigue in hockey at the youth level. The sport has already taken sizable steps forward, though, over the last few decades. Since 2014-15, there's been an increase of 1,744 more youth hockey players in Washington. And since 2021-22, when the Kraken began play, an additional 268 kids have started playing in the state. The growth has been observed by Julia Takatsuka, a goalie coordinator for the Jr Kraken who grew up playing hockey in the Seattle suburb of Lynnwood. When she was a kid, Takatsuka said, she had to travel to Canada every weekend for tournaments, and that practice rinks were relatively spartan compared to the Iceplex, which boasts three rinks and was built in September 2021. 'I would have loved to train at a place like (KCI) where we have all of the actual things we need,' Takatsuka said. 'I was a goalie, so we need pegs to hold the nets down. I didn't have that. We have that now. We have ice that has real creases for the goalies. Didn't have that growing up, either.' The Seattle area requires more work and time to become a women's hockey hotbed, though. As Hlinka pointed out, there is only so much ice time to go around, and there aren't nearly as many rinks in Seattle as there are in cities like Vancouver or Toronto. Seeds for growth Still, there's clear evidence women's hockey has already grown in Seattle. The women's club hockey team at the University of Washington played its inaugural season in 2021. This has allowed Regan Thomas, a West Seattle native and student at Washington, to continue playing the sport she adores. It wasn't until she went to boarding school in New Hampshire that Thomas even became aware she could play hockey. Soccer was Thomas's spot of choice as a kid, and she had quite the role model in Megan Rapinoe, the national team standout who starred for Seattle Reign FC for a decade. Though Thomas wishes Seattle could have had a pro women's hockey team when she was a kid, such won't be the case for countless young girls in the Pacific Northwest moving forward. 'I think having those role models is incredibly important,' Thomas said. 'I find myself even now like 'Ugh, I wish this was around 10 years ago.' Because not that I would have ever made it, but just kind of the dream of making it – you figure out how to push yourself harder.' Lindsay Skogmo's son, Otto, already has plenty of role models whenever he shows up to KCI for practice with the 8-and-under Jr Kraken team. When Skogmo was recently at her son's school, she heard rumblings from girls about how hockey wasn't for them. Skogmo hopes pro women's hockey in Seattle will inspire young girls like Garcia-Dudek to keep dreaming big. 'I feel like in this world right now, in our country, a lot of females feel like it's not going good for us, or it's going against us,' Skogmo said. 'So, for us to be able to get a professional female team here really gives a lot of girl power.'
an hour ago
Family threatens legal action after track star is disqualified over celebration paying homage to Olympian
The family of a 16-year-old track star is threatening to take legal action after the California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) disqualified their daughter and stripped her of her gold medal after she celebrated her win in the state final by spraying her feet with a fire extinguisher – an homage to Olympic champion Maurice Green. Clara Adams, a North Salinas High School sophomore, said that CIF officials told her that she was disqualified for "unsportsmanlike" behavior after the 400-meter state final and was prevented from standing on the podium to claim her number one spot or competing in the final race. ABC News reached out to CIF representatives but requests for comment were not returned. Adante Pointer, an attorney representing Clara Adams, told ABC News that the family is "certainly" planning on taking legal action if the CIF doesn't reverse its decision. "That was the championship, she would have been the fastest sprinter in the state of California – she is, she won, but she doesn't have the title nor the medal," Pointer said. "She'll never have that moment." According to the CIF code of conduct on sportsmanship, student athletes are in part, not permitted to engage in or allow "taunting, boastful celebrations, or other actions that demean individuals or the sport." The Monterey County Board of Supervisors wrote a letter in support of Adams that the county is set to vote on Tuesday afternoon, urging CIF officials to reinstate her immediately. "Clara's celebration did not take place on the track itself, not was it directed at any of the competitors, the letter says, calling the punishment "disproportionate." Adams spoke out about the incident alongside members of the NAACP and her father, David, who is also her coach, during a press conference on Friday, saying that she was "crushed" by the CIF's decision. "I had to watch the girls get on the podium without me," she said. "I had to watch somebody else get on the number one spot that I was supposed to stand on. And that wasn't cool at all. That was wrong." Adams said that her father handed her the fire extinguisher after her win and instructed her to get off the field before spraying her feet in a nod to Greene, an iconic Olympian sprinter, who famously celebrated his 2004 Olympics win in the 100 meter race by taking off his shoes and having a teammate spray them with a fire extinguisher to put out the figurative fire on his feet. Pointer said that Adams was "surprised" that she was punished because she was "paying homage to one of her icons." Greene, who spoke with ABC affiliate in Salinas, KSBW-TV, said he was happy to see Adams pay homage to him and suggested that she should be reinstated. "When I heard, cause it happened, and then people just started calling me 'This girl who just ran the 400 did your celebration' I was like huh? What?" Greene said. "If it was away from everyone and not interfering with anyone, I would say reinstate her."
