Substitute Levesque powers Sounders to victory
MLS: Second-half substitute Roger Levesque scored twice in the second half to give the Seattle Sounders a 4-2 win over the visiting New York Red Bulls in Major League Soccer play on Thursday night.
In a game that set the Sounders’ attendance record and also the mark for an MLS game at 46,505, Levesque headed in a corner from Leo Gonzalez to snap a tie in the 67th minute, then knocked the ball away from goalkeeper Greg Sutton and into the open net in the 78th.
The two goals for Levesque, who came on in the 60th minute, were his first of the season for the Sounders.
Seattle also got goals on corners from Erik Friberg in the 11th minute and Osvaldo Alonso in the 12th.
Top-seeded Virginia eliminates California
College baseball: Tyler Wilson (10-0) carried a shutout into the eighth inning, Virginia used a four-run sixth to break open a close game and the No.1-seeded Cavaliers (56-11) eliminated California from the College World Series with an 8-1 victory on Thursday night at Omaha, Neb.
Virginia will face defending national champion South Carolina in the Bracket 2 final. The Cavs would need to beat the Gamecocks today and again Saturday to reach next week’s best-of-3 finals.
The loss ends an improbable postseason run for California (38-23), which started the year with its program scheduled to be dropped in 2012 for budgetary reasons. A $9 million fundraising effort saved the program.
Vandersloot’s Sky win in two overtimes
WNBA: Epiphanny Prince scored 10 of her 25 points in the second overtime, and Sylvia Fowles added 24 points and 12 rebounds to help the Chicago Sky beat the Connecticut Sun 107-101 at Rosemont, Ill.
Courtney Vandersloot (Gonzaga University) had 14 points and 10 assists for Chicago.
Tseng leads by two at championship
Golf: Top-ranked Yani Tseng shot a 6-under-par 66 to take a one-stroke lead over Paula Creamer in the first round of the LPGA Championship at Pittsford, N.Y.
Angela Stanford, Meena Lee, Diana D’Alessio and Stacy Prammanasudh were at 4 under. Morgan Pressel, Stacy Lewis, Ryann O’Toole, Amy Hung, Minea Blomqvist and Hee Young Park were 3 under.
Defending champion Cristie Kerr, who was ailing with a light case of the flu, shot an even-par 72, one shot better than Wendy Ward (Edwall, Wash.).
• Rain stalls Travelers: Michael Bradley had a one-stroke lead when first-round play in the Travelers Championship was suspended by rain for the day at Cromwell, Conn.
Alex Prugh (University of Washington/Ferris High) didn’t tee off.
Owners, players expect more talks
NFL: Round 4 of the “secret” negotiations is over. Round 5 is coming soon – perhaps to a suburban locale near you.
NFL owners and players met for the second straight day in Hull, Mass., 18 miles south of Boston, as they attempt to close in on a collective bargaining agreement.
A league statement said the sides will have more meetings. Those talks are expected next week.
Star players make vow to snub bad deal
NBA: With NBA stars from veteran Kevin Garnett to Rookie of the Year Blake Griffin standing behind him, union president Derek Fisher said that players won’t accept a bad deal to avert a work stoppage.
Player representatives from each team were in New York for their summer meeting and were updated on the state of negotiations with owners. The collective bargaining agreement expires Thursday, and the sides remain far apart headed into another session today.
• Cuban gets bill for parade: Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban has received a bill for the cost of a parade honoring the NBA champions, which he has pledged to pay out of his own pocket. City officials determined the cost of the June 16 downtown celebration came to $340,947.
Flyers’ trades make cap space for goalie
NHL: Mike Richards (to Los Angeles) and Jeff Carter (to Columbus), two key cogs in the Philadelphia Flyers’ run to the Stanley Cup finals a year ago, were both dealt in trades that shake up the franchise on the eve of the draft.
The moves cleaned house – and cleared needed salary cap space to sign goaltender Ilya Bryzgalov. Later in the day, the Flyers announced they signed the franchise goalie to a multiyear contract. TSN reported it was a $51 million, nine-year deal.
• Salary cap rises: The NHL salary cap is going up, marking the fifth consecutive year it has risen since it was established for the 2005-06 season.
Teams will have $64.3 million to spend next season, an increase from $59.4 million.