Place an Ad Calendars Classified Forums Sports Weather

sptimes.com Text-only News sections Arts & Entertainment AP The Wire Business Citrus County Columnists Floridian Hernando County Hillsborough Letters Movies Neighborhood Times News Update North Pinellas North of Tampa Obituaries Opinion Pasco County South Pinellas Sports State Tampa Bay TV Times World & Nation  Find your local news section Weekly sections Brandon Times City Times Homes Outdoors Perspective Personal Tech Taste Travel Weekend Xpress Special Sections Arena football Buccaneers College football Devil Rays Lightning Police reports Schools Seniority Subscriber Services Subscribe Renew Help Advertise Place an ad In print Online Market Info Join Us Internships Scholarships Times Jobs Contact us

Sports briefs

Compiled from Times wires

© St. Petersburg Times, published January 28, 2001

U.S. tops ex-coach, China in soccer 2-1

The U.S. men's soccer team beat China 2-1 in Oakland, Calif., Saturday in an international friendly, the first of two exhibitions in eight days for the Americans before heading into the final round of World Cup qualifying.

Forward Landon Donovan was involved in both goals for the United States, sending striker Brian McBride through for the first in the 27th minute and pressing in the second to force an own goal by China's Wang Liang in the 47th.

The U.S. plays Colombia Saturday in Miami before facing Mexico on Feb. 28 in Columbus, Ohio, to start the final round of qualifying for the North and Central American and Caribbean region.

The U.S. controlled the ball for most of the match, as China, under former U.S. coach Bora Milutinovic, appeared content to defend and counter.

FIGURE SKATING: Irina Slutskaya needed three attempts to hit a triple lutz and she skipped her signature triple-triple combination, but she hit five strong triple jumps to win her fourth European title in Bratislava, Slovakia. Yevgeny Plushchenko edged Alexei Yagudin in the men's event in which each completed three quads during the competition. Yelena Berezhnaya and Anton Sikharulidze reclaimed the pairs title stripped from them last year after a drug violation. The World Championships are March 18-25 in Vancouver.

COLLEGE FOOTBALL: Pittsburgh senior center Jeff McCurley, injured during Senior Bowl workouts, had surgery to reconstruct the anterior and posterior ligaments in his left knee.

COLLEGE BASEBALL: Kevin Howard hit a two-run homer and Tom Farmer pitched six solid innings to lead Miami past FAU 4-2 in Coral Gables. Angel Cruz singled home Dwight Edge with the winning run of the first game and Matt Smith had three hits in the second as Tampa beat Lynn 2-1 and 9-3 to sweep a season-opening three-game series.

COLLEGES: Florida senior Whitney Laiho advanced to today's final of the College Invitational Flight A singles tennis draw after defeating Gator teammate Jessica Lehnhoff 5-7, 7-5, 6-1 at Lake Cain Tennis Courts in Orlando. Laiho meets top-seeded Ansley Cargill of Duke at 8:30 a.m. The Florida State women opened their tennis season with a 7-0 win against Georgia Southern in Tallahassee. The Florida men's tennis team swept Florida A&M 7-0 to start the season 2-0, the 13th consecutive time the Gators have begun the season with two wins. USF won in straight sets in its five singles wins on the way to an 8-1 men's tennis victory against Jacksonville. The Florida gymnastics team posted the second-highest team score in school history to win a dual meet at N.C. State 196.475-195.325. Freshman Kristen Perry had a pinch-hit, run-scoring single in the ninth inning of the first game as FIU beat South Florida 1-0 and 5-4 in softball.

BOXING: Michael Bennett won his pro debut, stopping Andrew Hutchinson in the first round in New York, as six Olympians made victorious debuts. Also winning were Ricardo Williams Jr., Jermain Taylor, Jose Navarro, Clarence Vinson and Dante Craig. Istvan Kovacs became Hungary's first world champ, stopping Antonio Diaz in the 12th round in Munich, Germany, for the WBO light heavyweight title. Also, former WBO heavyweight champ Vitali Klitschko stopped Orlin Norris in 69 seconds. Johnny Nelson retained his WBO cruiserweight title with a lopsided decision against George Arias in London. Unbeaten Acelino "Popo" Freitas stopped Orlando Soto in the first round in Brasilia, Brazil, to retain the WBO super-featherweight title. Junior welterweight Mike Stewart ran his record to 24-0-2, stopping Joshua Smith in the fourth round in Atlantic City, N.J.

TRACK AND FIELD: Svetlana Feofanova became the first European woman to clear 15 feet in the pole vault, soaring 15-1/4 at the $500,000 Karlsruhe indoor meet in Germany. Feofanova broke the European record of 14-11 1/2 set by Nicole Humbert on her first attempt. ... Olga Kotlyarova produced the best result of the indoor season in the women's 400 meters, winning in 50.42 seconds at the Russian Winter meet in Moscow.

SWIMMING: Australian Olympic gold medalist Michael Klim won the 100-meter freestyle and 50-meter butterfly on the first day of a short-course World Cup meet in Paris.

SKIING: Fritz Strobl captured the last downhill before the World Championships in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany, in a race in which World Cup leader Hermann Maier lost a ski and crashed at high speed. Strobl recorded his first World Cup victory. Maier lost his left ski and plowed into two rows of safety netting at about 65 mph. He was not hurt and walked off the course, slamming one of his skis into the snow. ... Germans Sebastian Haseney and Marco Baacke finished 1-2 in a World Cup Nordic combined sprint event in Steamboat Springs, Colo., with the top six 7.9 seconds apart. ... Aerialists Dmitri Dashinski and Jacqui Cooper won World Cup events in the U.S. Freestyle Grand National at Newry, Maine. Joe Pack, who was second, was the top American finisher.

SPEED SKATING: Jeremy Wotherspoon and Hiroyasu Shimizu shared third place in Helsinki, Finland, as they resumed their battle for the World Cup title. Wotherspoon, the world-record holder, and Shimizu were timed in 36.86 seconds. Shimizu has 392 points to 390 for Wotherspoon with five races left. Manabu Horii won the race in 36.77 seconds.

© 2006 • All Rights Reserved • Tampa Bay Times
490 First Avenue South • St. Petersburg, FL 33701 • 727-893-8111

Contact the Times | Privacy Policy
Standard of Accuracy | Terms, Conditions & Copyright