Seminoles, Trojans reach women’s final
Amanda DaCosta scored the winning goal in the 72nd minute to help Florida State advance to its first NCAA Women’s College Cup final with a 3-2 win over Notre Dame on Friday night at College Station, Texas.
The Seminoles will play Southern California in Sunday’s championship. The Trojans defeated top-ranked UCLA 2-1.
Amy Rodriguez scored her second goal with 16 minutes left as the Trojans upset the Bruins.
The Trojans are playing in their first College Cup and reached the final by snapping a nine-game losing streak to their cross-city rival. UCLA was making its fifth consecutive appearance but has never won the championship.
Golf
Austin tied at top
Woody Austin and Mark Calcavecchia shot an 8-under-par 64 in modified alternate-shot play for a share of the first-round lead with Fred Funk and Jeff Sluman in the Merrill Lynch Shootout at Naples, Fla.
Tournament host Greg Norman and Bubba Watson are a stroke back, and defending champions Jerry Kelly and Rod Pampling opened with a 66.
•AT&T is dropping sponsorship of the PGA Tour’s Atlanta-area event after next year, forcing the tournament at TPC Sugarloaf to seek new financial backing for 2009.
The AT&T Classic will celebrate its 40th anniversary in 2008.
Basketball
Rush apologizes
Kansas star Brandon Rush apologized, a day after his arrest for failing to appear in court in Lawrence, Kan., on traffic charges.
Rush was released from jail Thursday after posting $500 bond.
He was to have been in court Nov. 28 on charges of speeding and driving with a suspended license Oct. 19 and a December 2006 case for driving on the wrong side of the road and having no proof of insurance.
•UConn basketball coach Jim Calhoun was publicly reprimanded by the Big East for comments he made about the officiating in UConn’s win over Northeastern a day earlier.
Miscellany
American wins 500
American Tucker Fredricks won the 500 meters in 34.89 seconds in the World Cup speedskating event at Heerenveen, Netherlands.
Canadian Jeremy Wotherspoon, who skipped the event, leads the overall standings with 400 points.
In the women’s event, Beixing Wang of China won the 500 in 37.96 seconds.
•The World Cup women’s downhill scheduled in Aspen, Colo., was postponed one day because of heavy snow.
•Undefeated Canadian Joachim Alcine stopped Alfonso Mosquera at 2:17 of the 12th round to retain the WBA light middleweight title at Montreal.
•The Coca-Cola Co. said it has extended for another 10 years a partnership with NASCAR that allows it to use the auto racing body’s name and logo in its advertising.