Latest news with #ChampionshipRound
Business Wire
05-05-2025
- Sport
- Business Wire
Jake Lawrence Earns First MLF Bass Pro Tour Win at O'Reilly Auto Parts Stage 4 Presented by OPTIMA Batteries
CHATTANOOGA, Tenn.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Thirty hours of competition across four days at the Major League Fishing (MLF) O'Reilly Auto Parts Stage 4 Presented by OPTIMA Batteries boiled down to the final 20 seconds. Separated on SCORETRACKER® by just 6 ounces, Jake Lawrence and Jacob Wheeler both set the hook. Wheeler and Lawrence had long since distanced themselves from the rest of the field during Sunday's Championship Round on Nickajack Lake. The latter half of the day morphed into a one-on-one prize fight: Wheeler, the winningest Bass Pro Tour angler of all time, who caught all smallmouth in the current beneath Chickamauga Dam, versus Lawrence, a rookie who caught all largemouth roughly 40 miles down the lake. Lawrence had led most of the day, but with 6 minutes left, Wheeler finally passed him. Still, both anglers felt like if they could just muster one more scorable bass, they'd secure the trophy and $150,000 top prize that comes with it. With 45 seconds left before lines out, Lawrence made a bomb cast with his Buckeye Buzzerk buzzbait. About halfway back to the boat – 21 seconds left to be exact – a massive mouth engulfed it. Nine seconds later, Lawrence swung the bass over the gunnel and hung it on the BUBBA scale: a 5-pound, 9-ounce buzzer-beater, easily enough to put him back in the lead. At virtually that exact moment, Wheeler hooked up with another smallmouth, but he couldn't get it in the boat before time expired. It might not have been enough to overcome Lawrence's late lunker anyway. With a total of 83-2 on 27 scorable bass, Lawrence had won his first Bass Pro Tour title in one of, if not the most dramatic finish in the seven-year history of the tour. More than an hour later, he still couldn't come up with a way to describe the ending other than divine intervention. 'The only thing I can say is, man, He wanted me to do it,' Lawrence said. 'Wheeler jumped me there by a couple ounces, and I said out loud, 'Lord, if you want me to do this, you're going to make it happen.' I had 45 seconds left, and I had just gotten my buzzer back to the boat, and I said, alright, you can throw right, which is where I had been catching them, or you can throw somewhere totally new. And I chose to throw somewhere totally new, and it was the deal. Unbelievable.' L ink to Photo Gallery: Fast track to Nickajack finale for Stage 4 Championship Round Link to Photo Gallery: Lawrence scores his first Bass Pro Tour win Link to HD Video of Highlights from Day 4 Championship Round Competition On his first cast that way, the bass struck so violently, Lawrence initially thought it had missed his bait. He set the hook, flipped it into the boat, grabbed its lower lip and unleashed a guttural scream of celebration. 'She hit it with such force coming at me that it threw a bunch of slack in my line, and I honestly though she missed it,' he said. 'I started to go wind it in fast to make another cast, and when I started winding it down, she was there. I was like, 'oh my goodness. There is no way this is happening.'' Every angler likes to end an outing with a fish. Growing up fishing alongside my dad and brother, we'd always ask for some 'last cast magic' as everyone threw one final time. Of course, the last cast usually doesn't turn out to be the last cast – until you catch one. But with the Bass Pro Tour's live scoreboard, Lawrence almost certainly didn't have time to make another cast and fight a fish before lines out. That 5-9 – the second biggest bass of the day not only for Lawrence but the entire Championship Round field – delivered the ultimate last-cast magic. 'That's God's work right there,' Lawrence said in the seconds after his win became official. 'That's the way to end one.' The top 10 pros at the O'Reilly Auto Parts Stage 4 Presented by OPTIMA Batteries on Nickajack Lake finished: 1st: Jake Lawrence, Paris, Tenn., 27 bass, 83-2, $150,000 2nd: Jacob Wheeler, Harrison, Tenn., 27 bass, 77-15, $45,000 3rd: Cole Floyd, Leesburg, Ohio, 17 bass, 48-14, $35,000 4th: Ron Nelson, Berrien Springs, Mich., 15 bass, 42-7, $30,000 5th: Wesley Strader, Spring City, Tenn., 15 bass, 37-14, $25,000 6th: Michael Neal, Dayton, Tenn., 12 bass, 37-4, $23,000 7th: Matt Becker, Ten Mile, Tenn., 12 bass, 29-9, $22,000 8th: Drew Gill, Mount Carmel, Ill., 11 bass, 25-9, $21,000 9th: Justin Cooper, Zwolle, La., seven bass, 21-12, $20,500 10th: Justin Lucas, Guntersville, Ala., six bass, 15-8, $20,000 A complete list of results can be found at Lawrence won the Berkley Big Bass Award on Sunday with his giant 8-pound, 3-ounce largemouth that he caught in the first period. Berkley awards $1,000 to the angler who weighs the heaviest bass each day. The O'Reilly Auto Parts Stage 4 Presented by OPTIMA Batteries was hosted by Visit Chattanooga and Fish Tennessee and showcased 66 of the top professional anglers in the world, competing for a purse of $650,000, including a top payout of $150,000 and valuable Angler of the Year (AOY) points in hopes of qualifying for the General Tire Heavy Hitters all-star event and REDCREST 2026, the Bass Pro Tour championship. Television coverage of the O'Reilly Auto Parts Stage 4 at Lake Chickamauga and Nickajack Lake Presented by OPTIMA Batteries will premiere as a two-hour episode starting at 7 a.m. ET, on Saturday, Oct. 11 on Discovery, with the Championship Round premiering on Saturday, Oct. 18. New MLF episodes premiere each Saturday morning on Discovery, with re-airings on Outdoor Channel. Proud sponsors of the 2025 MLF Bass Pro Tour include: 7Brew Coffee, Abu Garcia, Athletic Brewing, Bass Force, B&W Trailer Hitches, Bass Pro Shops, Berkley, BUBBA, E3 Sport Apparel, Fishing Clash, Grizzly, Lowrance, Mercury, MillerTech, Mossy Oak Fishing, NITRO, O'Reilly Auto Parts, Power-Pole, Ranger Boats, Rapala, Star brite, Suzuki Marine and Toyota. For complete details and updated information on Major League Fishing and the Bass Pro Tour, visit For regular updates, photos, tournament news and more, follow MLF's social media outlets at Facebook, X, Instagram and YouTube. About Major League Fishing Major League Fishing (MLF) is the world's largest tournament-fishing organization, producing more than 250 events annually at some of the most prestigious fisheries in the world, while broadcasting to America's living rooms on CBS, Discovery Channel, Outdoor Channel, CBS Sports Network, World Fishing Network and on demand on MyOutdoorTV (MOTV). Headquartered in Benton, Kentucky, the MLF roster of bass anglers includes the world's top pros and more than 30,000 competitors in all 50 states and 20 countries. Since its founding in 2011, MLF has advanced the sport of competitive fishing through its premier television broadcasts and livestreams and is dedicated to improving the quality of life for bass through research, education, fisheries enhancement and fish care.
Yahoo
06-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Trump Has Another Miracle Golf Victory at His Own Course
Amid the carnage wrought by his decision to start a global trade war and send the stock market plummeting, President Donald Trump experienced a personal victory after winning a round of golf at his own golf course. On Saturday, Trump won the second-round matchup in a Senior Club Championship held at his very own Trump National Golf Club in Jupiter, Florida, which means he advances to the Championship Round held on Sunday. Many in the media were quick to highlight just how tone-deaf the announcement sounded at the end of a tumultuous week, including CNN's Jake Tapper, who declared, 'Great news, everybody!!!!!' while Meet the Press host Chuck Todd wrote on X, 'Just astonishingly tone deaf. Crater the world economy then spend the weekend golfing against Washington General-like competitors. Seems fairly clear he's not interested in running for any office again.' Others drew comparisons between the announcement of Trump's win at Trump's own golf course and North Korea's Supreme Leader Kim Jong Un, with The Bulwark's Sarah Longwell tweeting, 'Our President crashed the economy at the end of the week and is spending the weekend golfing and putting ou[t] North Korea-style updates about it.' Other X users circulated an image of Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt as a Fox News newsreader dressed in a traditional Korean hanbok with Trump edited to look like Kim Jong Un, with the chyron reading, 'Dear Leader won his second round matchup of the Senior Club Championship.' Many compared Trump to other famously out-of-touch historical figures. CNN's Ana Navarro-Cárdenas quipped, 'Let them eat cake,' in reference to the quote misattributed to Marie Antoinette, while others shared an AI-generated image of Trump as Nero, who is known for fiddling as Rome burned. The Atlantic's David Frum compared Trump to another Roman leader, writing on X, 'One of the emperor Augustus's best tricks for legitimizing his authoritarian rule: he made a point of losing at games, joking about his bad luck, and paying his forfeits cheerfully. It made his reign look less arbitrary and terrifying to fellow members of the Roman elite.' Despite the appeals to his base, Trump has never been a man of the people. But it's clear that for many, golfing while the stock market crashes is a bridge too far, particularly once you factor in Trump's decision to skip a ceremony for four fallen service members in order to play golf, opting to send Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth in his stead. Mediaite spoke to several veterans and their spouses, who were outraged at Trump's decision not to visit Dover Air Force Base to witness the dignified transfer of four soldiers killed in a training exercise in Lithuania, with one veteran telling the outlet, 'I can't begin to express my disgust with what this admin is doing to the troops and the veterans… Coming home from dying in service and, 'I'm going to hang out with the Saudis because of golf?' I'm disgusted at a minimum.'
Associated Press
10-03-2025
- Sport
- Associated Press
Drew Gill Wins MLF Bass Pro Tour PowerStop Brakes Stage 3 Presented by Strike King at Lake Murray
The Championship Round of PowerStop Brakes Stage 3 Presented by Strike King at Lake Murray quickly turned into a microcosm of the past two years on the Bass Pro Tour (BPT): a one-on-one battle between Drew Gill and Jacob Wheeler for the top spot. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: 22-year-old pro Drew Gill of Mount Carmel, Illinois, caught 19 bass weighing 58 pounds, 2 ounces, Sunday, to win the Major League Fishing Bass Pro Tour PowerStop Brakes Stage 3 at Lake Murray Presented by Strike King, and earn the top prize of $150,000. (Photo: Business Wire) Gill and Wheeler have been arguably the two most dominant pros not just on the BPT but in all of professional bass fishing over the past two years, when Gill arrived on Major League Fishing's top tour. Both have multiple national wins in that span. They finished first and second in the 2024 Fishing Clash Angler of the Year race and are now back in the top two spots in 2025. So, perhaps it shouldn't have come as a surprise that the two employed virtually identical game plans on Lake Murray, using forward-facing sonar during Period 1 to rocket to the top of SCORETRACKER®, then skipping boat docks with Neko rigs for the rest of the day. They separated themselves from the rest of the pack in the first couple hours of the Championship Round, but neither angler ever built a comfortable lead over the other in the race for the $150,000 top prize. Ultimately, despite a stressful third period that saw him fail to catch a scorable bass during the final 89 minutes, Gill prevailed. His total of 58 pounds, 2 ounces edged Wheeler by 2-3 – less than the average size of a scorable bass caught on Lake Murray this week. Link to HD Video of Highlights from Championship Round Competition Even though he spent the final hour convinced Wheeler was going to run him down, Gill came away with his second Bass Pro Tour victory in just 10 career events and his fourth win across BPT, Team Series and Tackle Warehouse Invitationals competition in the past 13 months. 'If you had told me, 'Hey, last hour and a half, you're not going to catch a bass. Do you think Wheeler is going to catch 4 pounds?' I would have been like, 'Absolutely, he is,'' Gill said with a chuckle. 'And [the bite] just died for both of us.' Gill rode an emotional roller coaster not just for the final period but the entire Championship Round. When he launched his boat Sunday morning, he admitted he didn't like his chances of winning, as he figured the overcast, cool conditions would hurt his afternoon dock pattern. 'I knew the conditions were going to shoot my dock bite, and to be honest, I didn't think I could do 45 (pounds) in the first period to make up for that,' the 22-year-old said. While Gill's prediction about a slower afternoon bite proved correct, he made up for it with his two greatest strengths – a well-thought-out, math-based strategy and his mastery of forward-facing sonar. Gill used the first period each day to target bass that were chasing blueback herring in ditches. He fished deeper than most other anglers, catching his fish in 28 to 35 feet of water, where some related to stumps on the bottom and others suspended. He believes those bass weren't getting as much pressure as the shallower populations other anglers targeted with forward-facing sonar, allowing him to fool a higher percentage of them into biting. 'With a lake like Murray that has so many bass in it, your focal point when you're using 'Scope should always be bite percentage,' Gill explained. 'You're always going to be able to put a bait in front of a bass. You're not going to beat other people by putting a bait in front of more bass than they are. You're going to beat other people by dialing your deal as best you can and ideally finding a population that other people aren't pressuring. And I fished for them deeper than anybody else did this week.' Wielding a 4-inch minnow on a 1/4-ounce jighead with a 1/0 hook, Gill used a pair of flurries to stack weight on SCORETRACKER® in a hurry. In one 37-minute window, he boated six bass totaling nearly 25 pounds. Then, toward the end of Period 1, he added four more for 11-8 within 23 minutes. He credits a fortuitous break for the latter action: The overnight switch to daylight savings time put the field on the water an hour earlier than they'd fished the rest of the week, extending his bite window. '(The bite) kind of went away around 9 a.m. all week,' Gill said. 'But because of the time change, we got out there an hour earlier, and so that 9 a.m. became today's 10 a.m. So, without the time change, I don't win this tournament.' Gill's first-period total of 45-7 led Wheeler by 9-6 and put him nearly 27 pounds clear of everyone else. At that point, even though he wasn't overly optimistic about skipping docks, he started to believe he could pull off the win. 'The two days when I needed to catch shallow fish, I caught like 17 pounds both days and shook them off the rest of the day,' Gill said. 'I thought no way, even though the conditions were worse, do I catch any less than 20 pounds.' The bass had other plans. After locking up his forward-facing sonar unit, Gill went more than 2 hours without boating a scorable bass. Meanwhile, Wheeler steadily added to his total. He passed Gill and built a lead of more than 6 pounds. Finally, with less than 10 minutes left in Period 2, Gill connected with his most important bass of the day. Twice, he skipped his Big Bite Baits Nekorama, which he paired with a No. 1 straight-shank hook and 1/16-ounce Bass Pro Shops tungsten nail weight, under the same dock, got bit and failed to hook up. On the third try, he let the fish eat his bait a tad longer, then connected with a 5-1. Not only did that fish close his deficit to one scorable bass, it gave him a clue about what sort of docks to look for – floating docks on round, shallow points, the more isolated the better. 'That 5-pounder was a real turning point in my day,' Gill said. 'Because it kind of clued me in to the deal that allowed me to get a handful of bites, which was anywhere I had a little, round, shallow point. If there was a dock on the side of it and under it was like 4 to 7 feet, I knew it was going to be pretty high percentage. Of my five scorable bites I got the rest of the day, four of them were on that deal. … They wanted to be on that break, that depth break, anyways, and if you had that depth break occur right under a dock, it just kind of doubled the percentage of that dock having a fish.' Armed with that information, Gill added three more bass for 7-10 early in the third period, not only retaking the lead but extending his advantage over Wheeler to more than 6 pounds. That included a 3-pounder that he somehow landed despite having his line wrapped around the motor of a docked boat and the dock's ladder – another break that seemed to prove the oft-repeated fishing axiom that when it's your time to win, it's your time. 'I don't land that fish, I don't win this tournament,' Gill said. 'Because of a couple very fortunate turns of events, we got it done.' The fact that it was Wheeler, an eight-time winner on the Bass Pro Tour, chasing him down made Gill's late lull even more stressful. Once he got the news that Wheeler had pulled within one bite with about 30 minutes left before lines out, Gill became convinced he needed to catch one more to ice the win. In the end, holding off the No. 1-ranked angler in the world made this win even more memorable. Gill seems to be making a habit of winning in stressful fashion, as he had to weather a similarly slow final period in his first BPT victory, which came on the Chowan River last June. 'At Chowan, I got chased within a handful of pounds by Michael Neal, and this one, by Wheeler,' Gill said. 'Those are two guys that I have tremendous respect for their fishing abilities, and they're two guys that you don't want to have chasing you. And it was something where I did not see that coming, and I was very gratified by the fact that I was able to hold my ground enough to steady this one out.' Gill – who, as recently as January 2024 was competing in Abu Garcia College Fishing events – emphasized that any national-level win is special to him, no matter how it comes. However, he acknowledged that he set out this season to prove that his success isn't just a product of forward-facing sonar. Mission accomplished. On the Bass Pro Tour, where anglers can only utilize the technology for one of three periods each day, he's finished seventh, 11th and first in three events. He sits second to Wheeler in the Angler of the Year standings, just six points back. Throw in a runner-up finish two weeks ago at an Invitationals event on the Kissimmee Chain of Lakes, where forward-facing sonar was banned on Day 2 of the three-day tournament, and Gill has left little doubt about his ability to catch them, no matter the circumstances. 'I will say, to come out here with the new format this year – and with some question marks spiraling – and to start the year with a seventh, an 11th and a win, I feel like is a statement that I was wanting to make to start the year, and it's one that is made now,' Gill said. 'Especially after the second at Kissimmee as well, not having it at all the second day of that tournament. 'It does mean something to me. But it's no sweeter than a win any other way. … A win is a win, man, and it's sweet either way.' The top 10 pros at the PowerStop Brakes Stage 3 at Lake Murray Presented by Strike King finished: 1st: Drew Gill, Mount Carmel, Ill., 19 bass, 58-2, $150,000 2nd: Jacob Wheeler, Harrison, Tenn., 20 bass, 55-15, $45,000 3rd: Marshall Robinson, Landrum, S.C., 11 bass, 37-10, $35,000 4th: Mark Daniels Jr., Tuskegee, Ala., 13 bass, 36-2, $30,000 5th: Brent Ehrler, Redlands, Calif., 10 bass, 30-4, $25,000 6th: Bryan Thrift, Shelby, N.C., nine bass, 27-4, $23,000 7th: Jeff Sprague, Wills Point, Texas, seven bass, 24-6, $22,000 8th: Matt Becker, Ten Mile, Tenn., seven bass, 23-3, $21,000 9th: Alton Jones Jr., Waco, Texas, seven bass, 19-8, $20,500 10th: Jake Lawrence, Paris, Tenn., seven bass, 18-10, $20,000 For a full list of results visit Overall, there were 110 scorable bass weighing 331 pounds even caught by the final 10 pros on Sunday. Pro Jeff Sprague of Wills Point, Texas, won Sunday's $1,000 Berkley Big Bass Award with a 6-pound largemouth that he caught on a crankbait in Period 1. Berkley awards $1,000 to the angler who weighs the heaviest bass each day. The four-day PowerStop Brakes Stage 3 at Lake Murray Presented by Strike King event was hosted by the Capital City/Lake Murray Country Regional Tourism Board and showcased 66 of the top professional anglers in the world, competing for a purse of $650,000, including a top payout of $150,000 and valuable Angler of the Year (AOY) points in hopes of qualifying for the General Tire Heavy Hitters all-star event and REDCREST 2026, the Bass Pro Tour championship. Television coverage of the PowerStop Brakes Stage 3 at Lake Murray Presented by Strike King will premiere as a two-hour episode starting at 7 a.m. ET, on Saturday, Oct. 4 on Discovery, with the Championship Round premiering on Sunday, Oct. 5. New MLF episodes premiere each Saturday morning on Discovery, with re-airings on Outdoor Channel. The 2025 Bass Pro Tour features a field of 66 of the top professional anglers in the world, competing across seven regular-season tournaments around the country, for millions of dollars and valuable points to qualify for the annual General Tire Heavy Hitters all-star event and the REDCREST 2026 championship. Proud sponsors of the 2025 MLF Bass Pro Tour include: 7Brew Coffee, Abu Garcia, Athletic Brewing, Bass Force, B&W Trailer Hitches, Bass Pro Shops, Berkley, BUBBA, E3 Sports Apparel, Fishing Clash, Grizzly, Lowrance, Mercury, MillerTech, Mossy Oak Fishing, NITRO, O'Reilly Auto Parts, Power-Pole, Rapala, Star brite, Suzuki Marine and Toyota. For complete details and updated information on Major League Fishing and the Bass Pro Tour, visit For regular updates, photos, tournament news and more, follow MLF's social media outlets at Facebook, X, Instagram and YouTube. About Major League Fishing Major League Fishing (MLF) is the world's largest tournament-fishing organization, producing more than 250 events annually at some of the most prestigious fisheries in the world, while broadcasting to America's living rooms on CBS, Discovery Channel, Outdoor Channel, CBS Sports Network, World Fishing Network and on demand on MyOutdoorTV (MOTV). Headquartered in Benton, Kentucky, the MLF roster of bass anglers includes the world's top pros and more than 30,000 competitors in all 50 states and 20 countries. Since its founding in 2011, MLF has advanced the sport of competitive fishing through its premier television broadcasts and livestreams and is dedicated to improving the quality of life for bass through research, education, fisheries enhancement and fish care. JOE OPAGER DIRECTOR OF COMMUNICATIONS p: 218.434.0748 e: [email protected] INDUSTRY KEYWORD: OUTDOORS FISHING SPORTS ENTERTAINMENT TV AND RADIO SOURCE: Major League Fishing Copyright Business Wire 2025. PUB: 03/09/2025 08:57 PM/DISC: 03/09/2025 08:57 PM
Yahoo
02-03-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Bianconere win seven goal thriller against Roma
The first Matchday of the Women's Serie A Poule Scudetto (Championship Round) went the way of the Bianconere in the match played at the Pozzo-La Marmora stadium in Biella by Juventus Women's First Team against Roma. Juventus Women triumphed in a pulsating match full of twists and turns, as Mathilde Harviken's opener and Cristiana Girelli's wonderful hat-trick, were enough to seal a 4-3 victory. The first chance of the match came via the head of Emma Kullberg, following a croner kick, as she tried to direct the ball goalwards but was unable to find the target. In the 7th minute the Giallorossi hit the crossbar with Manuela Giugliano's shot before Girelli's effort over the bar at the other end. It was an intense start to the match, but the best of the action was yet to come. Everything happened between the 19th and 25th minute with the spectators at the Pozzo-La Marmora in Biella witnessing a blow for blow encounter. Harviken gave Juve the lead with a powerful shot, following a rebound in the penalty area, with her effort hitting the crossbar on its way to finding the back of the net; three minutes later came Roma equalised through Moeka Minami and two minutes later they took the lead via Emilie Haavi; In the 25th minute these six hectic minutes reached their pinnacle when Cristiana Girelli, like the fox in the box that she is, latched onto a stray ball and finished with a precise right-footed shot. The main action of the first half was all concentrated in the middle of the period and after 45 minutes of play it was 2-2 in Biella. The second half began with another flurry of goals in a matter of seconds. Girelli got her second goal of the game in the 55th minute following an exchange on the right between Paulima Krumbiegel and Martina Lenzini, with the latter dlivering the ball into the area for Girelli who guided the ball home at full stretch . Two minutes later Evelyne Viens levelled the scoreline following a goalmouth scramble. Then, on the hour mark came Cristiana Girelli's moment of magic, as she sealed her hatrick with a backheel volley to put Juventus back in front. In the closing stages, it was Pauline Peyraud-Magnin who was in the centre of the action, as she had to stop two threatening efforts from Giada Greggi from outside the area. Kathrine Moller Kuhl also came close with a right-footed shot that hit the crossbar. A phenomenal Juventus Women were victorious on the first Matchday of the Serie A Poule Scudetto (Championship Round) thanks to a 4-3 win over Roma at the Pozzo-La Marmora stadium in Biella. Gallery | Poule Scudetto | Juventus Women-Roma Pozzo La Marmora (Biella), Sunday 2 March, 2025 at 15:30 (CE5T) Goals: 19' Harviken (J), 22' Minami (R), 24' Haavi (R), 25' Girelli (J), 54' Girelli (J), 57' Viens (R), 60' Girelli (J) Juventus: Peyraud-Magnin, Lenzini, Kullberg, Harviken, Krumbiegel, Brighton, Bennison, Bergamaschi (88' Thomas), Bonansea (69' Vangsgaard), Girelli, Cantore (70' Rosucci). Unused Substitutes: Lehmann, Stolen Godo, Beccari, Cocino, Capelletti, Gallo, Termentini, Proulx. Coach: Massimiliano Cazi. Roma: Kresche, Thogersen, Minami, Linari, Di Guglielmo, Corelli (73' Pilgrim), Dragoni (73' Moller Kuhl), Guigliano, Greggi, Viens (60' Giacinti), Haavi. Unused Substitutes: Ceasar, Glionna, Oladipo, Pandini, Cissoko, Nielsen, Merolla. Coach: Alessandro Spugna. Bookings: 10' Brighton (J), 75' Bennison (J) Next Match Juventus-Fiorentina Women's Coppa Italia - Semi-Final - Second Leg Thursday, 6 March, 2025 at 18:00 (CET) Pozzo La Marmora (Biella)
Yahoo
01-03-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
WOMEN, FIORENTINA v AC MILAN: MATCH PREVIEW
On Sunday 2 March, at 18:00 CET, AC Milan will be playing Fiorentina on Matchday 1 of the Women's Serie A Championship Round. The match will be played at Viola Park, in Florence. Bakker's side are working hard to prepare for their match against de la Fuente's Fiorentina. Now in the final stage of the season, every point is crucial for the Rossonere. Let's focus on Women's Serie A with our Match Preview. LATEST FROM THE PUMA HOUSE OF FOOTBALL AC Milan are going into the match off of a tough home loss against Juventus and a three-week break. Despite that defeat, the Rossonere have been in good form recently, with two comebacks (both 3-2) against Roma and Sassuolo. These wins were key in securing their place in the Championship Round. Bakker's squad are determined to get back to winning ways and to improve their position in the table. The match against Fiorentina is an opportunity for the Rossonere to prove themselves and, ultimately, to climb the table. Absences, as well as Babb, Grimshaw and Zanini, come in the forme of Nadim and Soffia. However, Sorelli has recovered from a knock and is available, fresh from signing a new deal alongside Arrigoni and Renzotti. "We are happy to be in the Championship Round, but we are not satisfied with that", Coach Bakker said ahead of the game. "We know that the gap with the top three - which entitles us to European football - is big, but as a team we will do everything we can in every match to achieve the best possible result. Starting tomorrow against Fiorentina." LATEST FROM FIORENTINA Fiorentina, under coach de la Fuente, have most recently drawn 0-0 with Roma. The Viola have been in fluctuating form, with a 2-3 loss to Juventus in the away leg of the Coppa Italia semi-finals (after beating AC Milan in the quarters), and a 1-1 draw with Sassuolo in the league. Despite their difficulties, Fiorentina are determined to climb the table and to take points against AC Milan in order to reignite their 2025, which has been underwhelming so far. The game at the Viola Park will be another big test for their ambitions ahead of a Cup second leg against the Bianconere in midweek. As such, De La Fuente could rotate his usual XI. Martina Toniolo is one yellow away from suspension, while Vero Boquete - formerly of Milan Women - has recovered from an injury she picked up in January. Emma Færge ahead of the game: "We had two good games against AC Milan, so I've got a great feeling. We've not had the best run recently, but I think there has been improvement. We're hungry for results and we want the three points. On a good day, we can beat anybody. We'll need to give our all, then anything is possible." "The group has worked in full only in the past few days. It's our fifth meeting with AC Milan; they're a good side, and they need special attention," Coach De La Fuente added. "It'll be important to have the right mindset and battle hard mentally. We have to win. We want to play in Europe again, and we need points to do that." PRE-MATCH STATS Fiorentina and AC Milan's last two matches in the Championship Round finished as a draw: 3-3 on 26 March 2023 in Lombardy and 1-1 on 7 May 2023 in Florence. This is the only time in history that the Rossonere and the Viola have drawn two consecutive Serie A games, but their last game ended in a draw on 24 November last year (2-2). Fiorentina haven't won in Serie A since 7 December away at Sampdoria and in their last six league matches, they have scored only once. The Viola have drawn two home matches in a row, and they have never drawn three home matches in a row in the top flight in their history. AC Milan's last five matches have seen 26 goals scored (average of 5.2 per game), with all matches having at least four goals scored. Evelyn Ijeh is AC Milan's only player to have contributed to 10 goals in the league this season, and she is the youngest player to reach this tally in this Serie A campaign. She has a total of six goals (one at home to Fiorentina) and four assists (one against Fiorentina at Viola Park). WHERE TO WATCH FIORENTINA v AC MILAN ON TV In Italy, the match will be live on DAZN from 18:00 CET. You can't miss our coverage on the Rossonere Instagram page, on and AC Milan Official App where, from the day after, the entire match recording will be available to watch. LATEST FROM WOMEN'S SERIE A Maksym Frasynyak will referee Fiorentina v AC Milan, with assistants Lauri and Mastrosimone, and fourth official Giordani. There are two Sunday fixtures for Matchday 1 of Women's Serie A Championship Round. Juventus v Roma will be played, before Fiorentina v AC Milan, at 15:30 CET. These are the current standings: Juventus 45; Inter 38; Roma 35; Fiorentina 28; AC Milan Kits, clothing, accessories, gift ideas and much more: visit AC Milan online Store!
