Colombia scores 2 first-half goals, beats US in Copa opener
Soccer: Cristian Zapata scored his first international goal, James Rodriguez added a 42nd-minute penalty kick and Colombia beat the United States 2-0 Friday night in the opener of the Copa America.
U.S. coach Jurgen Klinsmann spoke about the importance of a strong showing in this special edition 100th anniversary Copa to create buzz for a potential 2026 World Cup bid. Instead, the 31st-ranked Americans began the biggest tournament at home since the 1994 World Cup with a dud as FIFA President Gianni Infantino watched among the announced sellout crowd of 67,439.
Geoff Cameron lost his mark on the first goal, and DeAndre Yedlin left a raised arm that led to a hand ball call and Rodriguez’s penalty kick. Colombia dominated, with Carlos Bacca putting a shot of the crossbar in the 77th minute.
The Americans will look to rebound on Tuesday against Costa Rica at Chicago, then close their group stage four days later against Paraguay at Philadelphia.
US women’s soccer team bound by no-strike clause
Women’s soccer: A federal judge says the world champion U.S. women’s soccer team currently does not have the right to strike to seek improved conditions and wages before the Summer Olympics.
Judge Sharon Johnson Coleman ruled Friday that the team remains bound by a no-strike clause in earlier agreements.
The case pits the team’s union, the U.S. Women’s National Soccer Team Players Association, against the Chicago-based governing body, the U.S. Soccer Federation. The federation sued to clarify the strike issue.
The federation warned that a strike could have forced the women to pull out of the Olympics, which, in turn, would have hurt the development of the sport in the U.S. The union wanted the option of striking, though it hadn’t said definitively it would strike.
Ex-Seattle FB Derrick Coleman charged with vehicular assault
Football: Former Seattle Seahawks fullback Derrick Coleman has been charged with felony hit and run and vehicular assault for a car crash last October.
Coleman is scheduled to be arraigned June 16. He could face 12 to 16 months behind bars if convicted of both charges.
Prosecutors received the case from the Bellevue Police Department in January and announced the charges.
During the investigation, Coleman told police he had smoked “Spice” – lumped in as synthetic marijuana – about an hour before the crash. Coleman’s truck was traveling at 60 mph in a 35 mph zone and hit a Honda Civic. The driver of the Civic suffered a broken collarbone when his car was flipped over.
Team Penske beats rain to lead qualifying
Auto racing: With rain falling, Brad Keselowski led a Team Penske front-row sweep and won the pole at Pocono Raceway in Long Pond, Pennsylvania.
Keselowski and teammate Joey Logano gave owner Roger Penske and Ford the top spots the race Sunday.
Keselowski turned a lap of 181.726 mph in the third round and rain hitting the track. He just nudged Logano out of the top spot to clinch his first pole of the season.
Rain washed out the only Sprint Cup practice and two practices for the Xfinity Series. The Cup cars attempted practice in the morning, but only 28 cars hit the track in roughly 10 minutes before rain brought the incomplete session to a halt.
Helio Castroneves was second and Juan Pablo Montoya qualified third. It was Pagenaud’s third pole of the season and fifth of his career.
Pagenaud, the series points leader, has finished first or second in every race this year – with the exception of last weekend’s Indianapolis 500, when he was 19th.
Betsa throws 4-hitter for Michigan
College Softball: Megan Betsa threw a four-hitter to help Michigan beat LSU 2-0 in the Women’s College World Series.
Betsa struck out eight and walked two in seven innings and never allowed a runner to reach third for the Wolverines (52-5), last year’s runner-up.
With the game scoreless in the bottom of the sixth inning, Michigan loaded the bases with no outs to chase pitcher Allie Walljasper. Carly Hoover stepped in for the Tigers, but Michigan’s Tera Blanco doubled down the right-field line and knocked in two runs.
Blanco, who had two hits, was the only player on either team with more than one.
Michigan advanced to play Oklahoma in a winners’ bracket game Saturday night. Michigan senior star Sierra Romero will play against her sister, Oklahoma freshman Sydney Romero.
LSU (50-17) will play Alabama in an elimination game Saturday.
Oklahoma’s Paige Parker pitched a complete game shutout for the Sooners (53-7) in their 28th straight victory.
Alabama (51-13) threatened in the top of the fifth when Reagan Dykes led off with a double and advanced to third on a fielder’s choice.
Alabama’s Alexis Osorio had a no-hitter until the bottom of the fifth, when Kady Self singled and moved Nicole Pendley to third with one out. But Osorio escaped with a pop out to first, then a strikeout.
Oklahoma’s Sydney Romero sent one to the warning track in the sixth, but Alabama’s Haylie McCleney caught it against the wall.
Steele, Kuchar enjoy Muirfield’s soft conditions
Golf: Brendan Steele, whose only PGA Tour victory was in his rookie season five years ago, had a 5-under 67 on Friday and was tied for the lead with past champion Matt Kuchar (66) going into a wide-open weekend at the Memorial in Dublin, Ohio.
Steele and Kuchar were at 12-under 132. The scoring was so good in Muirfield’s soft conditions, however, that the cut was at 2-under 142, the lowest since Jack Nicklaus started this tournament in 1976.
Jordan Spieth made six birdies over his last 12 holes for a 68 to at least stay in range, six shots behind at the halfway point.
Rory McIlroy shot a 66, playing the last seven holes in even par. Jason Day was thrilled with a 71 because he lost his swing and figured it should have been something in the upper 70s.
Haru Nomura, a two-time winner this year, was a stroke back along with Casey Grice and Catriona Matthew. Lewis had five birdies in a bogey-free round to join Beatriz Recari, Jodi Ewart Shadoff, Maude-Aimee Leblanc, Christel Boeljon, Katherine Kirk, Stephanie Meadow and Amelia Lewis at 66.
Tom Lehman was tied for second with Todd Hamilton, Gary Hallberg, Mike Goodes and John Riegger.
Miguel Angel Jimenez opened with a 68 in his first start in the event. John Daly, also making Des Moines debut, had a 74.
Donnell Whittenburg leads US Gymnastics Championships
Gymnastics: Donnell Whittenburg vaulted his way into the all-around lead Friday after the first day of the U.S Gymnastics Championships.
Whittenburg finished with 89.9 points, just ahead of three-time defending champion Sam Mikulak. Whittenburg was second last year at the national championships.
Mikulak led after the first five rotations, but stepped out of bounds on the final tumbling run of his floor routine and finished with 89.85 points. The 23-year-old is back from an Achilles injury that kept him out of the world championships last fall.
Five gymnasts were within a point of the lead heading into Sunday. Chris Brooks was third at 89.5, and Jake Dalton fourth with 89.4.
Eighteen men will be chosen from this competition to compete in the Olympic trials this month in St. Louis, where they will vie for spots on the five-member Olympic team competing in Rio in August.
Big 12 plans championship game in 2017
College football: The Big 12 is bringing back its football championship game in 2017.
Commissioner Bob Bowlsby says the conference’s presidents and chancellors voted to approve “in concept the re-implementation of a championship football game.”
How the 10-team conference will decide which teams play in the championship is still to be determined. The Big 12 currently plays a nine-game, round-robin schedule, with no divisions, but that could change even if the conference does not add members.
Records show 20-year-old Dakota Devon Allen was arrested late Thursday on a charge of burglary of a habitation, a second-degree felony punishable by up to 20 years in prison. Jail records don’t list attorney information for Allen, who was released early Friday on $5,000 bond.
Allen and teammates 18-year-old Trace Keaton Ellison and 20-year-old Robert James Castaneda are accused of breaking into a Lubbock home sometime between Dec. 20 and Jan. 9 and stealing a gun safe containing handguns and rifles. All three have been dismissed from the team.