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| United States team mates celebrate their team's first goal during the women's international friendly match between Germany and the United States at Sparda-Bank-Hessen-Stadion on April 5, 2013 in Offenbach, Germany. |
With less than a year to go before the Sochi 2014 Olympic Winter Games, one of the biggest winter sports rivalries is already heating up.
After Canada beat Team USA in a shootout last week to open the IIHF Women’s World Championships in Canada, Team USA won its next two games to receive a quarterfinal bye. Now both teams find themselves in opposite semifinals on Monday with a chance to meet for a rematch in Tuesday’s final.
The U.S. women face Finland while Canada faces Russia.
The game against Finland will be a rematch from last Wednesday, when Team USA beat the 2010 Olympic bronze medalists, 4-2. Team USA clinched the quarterfinal bye with a 5-0 win Friday over Switzerland.
“We played a complete game today and were able to dictate the play against a hard-working team,” U.S. coach Katey Stone after her team outshot Switzerland, 61-6. “We continue to improve and get stronger throughout the tournament.”
Brianna Decker, who had two goals and an assist, was named U.S. Player of the Game. Alex Carpenter, Kendall Coyne and Julie Chu also scored goals.
Read Julie Chu’s blog on the tournament and Team USA’s “Team First” attitude here.
SOCCER
On the 100th Anniversary of the U.S. Soccer Federation, the U.S. women played to a 3-3 tie with Germany Friday night in Offenbach.
All of the game’s scoring came in the second half. Abby Wambach, Megan Rapinoe and Alex Morgan scored for the United States. Wambach, who also had an assist, opened the scoring with her 155th career international goal.
Rapinoe and Lauren Cheney also had assists for the United States, which had a pair of two-goal leads before settling for the draw.
“Overall, it was a fair result and a competitive, exciting game that showed the quality of the two best teams in the world,” U.S. coach Tom Sermanni said. “It’s always disappointing when you’re winning the game with 10 minutes to go and you end up drawing.
“But the positive side for us is we created some very good chances. We knew it was always going to be very difficult to come here and get a result.”
The United States will play Netherlands Tuesday at 1 p.m.
Meanwhile, the U.S. Under-17 Men's National Team got two goals from Christopher Lema and a late strike from Ahinga Selemani to lead the team to a 3-0 victory against Haiti in its opening match of the CONCACAF Under-17 Championship at Estadio Rommel Fernandez in Panama City, Panama.
With the victory, the U.S. sits atop Group C with three points and can earn a spot in the quarterfinals with at least a tie in their second and final group game against Guatemala Thursday.
TENNIS
Novak Djokovic, the world’s No. 1-ranked player, defeated Sam Querrey in four sets Sunday to complete Serbia’s 3-1 victory over the United States in a Davis Cup quarterfinal match in Boise, Idaho.
Serbia brought a 2-1 lead into the final day after Nenad Zimonjic and Ilija Bozoljac outlasted the world’s top-ranked doubles team (and 2012 Olympic champions), Bob and Mike Bryan, 15-13, in the fifth set Saturday. The 4-hour, 23-minute match was the second longest U.S. Davis Cup doubles match in history, one minute shorter than the longest match back in 1991.
Querrey gave the United States its only point Friday with a singles win.
John Isner lost in singles Friday and his scheduled match Sunday against Viktor Troicki was not played once the team outcome was determined.
“These matches can hinge on a point here and there,” U.S. captain Jim Courier said. “The doubles was a big one for us. Teams won the exact same amount of points out there, but one team won the match.
“We win that one, we’re out in the fifth match and it’s a different energy.”
GYMNASTICS
U.S. gymnast Peyton Ernst took the all-around silver medal at the FIG World Cup Saturday in Tokyo.
Ernst, of Coppell, Texas, claimed the lead through the halfway point at the end of competition Saturday and went on to finish second among eight women in the field. Ernst posted the highest scores in the vault and the floor exercise.
Danell Leyva, the 2012 Olympic all-around bronze medalist, had to withdraw from the event Saturday because of a shoulder injury.
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WRESTLING
The U.S. men won three individual titles, six total medals and the team championship in men’s freestyle Sunday at the Pan American Championships.
Mark McKnight (55 kg/121 pounds), Phil Keddy (84 kg/185 pounds) and Zach Rey (120 kg/264.5 pounds) won titles.
“The guys did an awesome job today,” U.S. coach Chris Bono said. “They wrestled hard and smart. We were very close to having seven finalists.”
Drew Headlee (66 kg/145.5 pounds) added a silver medal, while Nick Marable (74 kg/163 pounds) and David Zabriskie (96 kig/211.5 pounds) added bronzes.
The United States outscored Cuba, 61-48.
The U.S. women’s freestyle team had three medalists and placed third in the team standings Saturday.
Sarah Hildebrandt won a title at 55 kg/121 pounds. Brittany Roberts (72 kg/158.5 pounds) claimed silver and Julia Salata (67 kg/147.5 pounds) won bronze.
Elsewhere, Clayton Ream and Adam Coon repeated Junior titles at the Cliff Keen/USA Wrestling Folkstyle Nationals in Cedar Falls, Iowa.
Nick Reenan (152 pounds) from Texas and Cash Wilcke (182 pounds) from Iowa repeated Cadet titles.
BOXING
Marlen Esparza, a 2012 Olympic bronze medalist, remained unbeaten in seven USA Boxing National Championships with a unanimous decision Saturday over Virginia Fuchs in the flyweight final in Spokane, Wash.
Queen Underwood, another 2012 Olympian, won a split decision over reigning featherweight world champion Tiara Brown, 2-1, to claim her sixth USA Boxing National Championship title.
A total of 27 titles were determined in elite men’s and women’s and senior men’s divisions.
Light flyweight Leroy Davila won the title after finishing second a year ago.
Malik Jackson (flyweight), Eduardo Martinez (bantamweight), Kenneth Sims Jr. (lightweight), Jose Alday (light welterweight), Jamontay Clark (welterweight), Leshawn Rodriguez (middleweight), Geremias Torres (light heavyweight), Michael Hilton (heavyweight) and Cam F. Awesome (super heavyweight) won the other elite men’s titles.
Elisha Halstead (light flyweight), Christina Cruz (bantamweight), Jennifer Hamann (featherweight), Bertha Aracil (light welterweight), Danyelle Wolf (welterweight), Franchon Crews (middleweight) and Tiffanie Hearn (light heavyweight) won women’s titles.
PARALYMPIC SWIMMING
Paralympic gold medalist Ian Silverman set two world records at the U.S. Paralympics Spring Swimming Nationals/Spring CanAm in Minneapolis. More than 200 athletes from nine countries entered the event.
Results from the performances in this meet will be used to determine who will be named to the U.S. Paralympics World Championships Team that will compete in Montreal, Aug. 11-17. The roster will be announced on April 15.
Silverman set his first record Thursday in the S10 division men’s 1,500-meter freestyle and followed that by setting around world record on Friday in the (S10) 800 race.
Meanwhile, Victoria Arlen set American and Pan American records in the S6 division women’s 50 freestyle Friday.
The last day of the event proved to be a great success for U.S. swimmers. More than 10 records were broken on the final night of competition at the University of Minnesota, and Kayla Wheeler was awarded Swimmer of the Meet.
Wheeler broke two more American records, in the 200m freestyle and 200m freestyle split (S1) in 6:00.64 and 2:54.52, respectively.
U.S. Paralympian Kelley Becherer broke the world, PanAm and American records with a 32.61 swim in the 50m backstroke in the women’s S13 class. Justin Zook broke the American record in men’s S10 50m backstroke in 59.33.
The 200m breaststroke American record was broken by Elizabeth Wasil with her 3:34.14 in the SB9 class, and in men’s SB1 event, Curtis Lovejoy set an American record in 7:33.26.
Three more American records were set in the women’s S11 50m backstroke by Letticia Martinez, Elizabeth Smith in the S9 class and Alyssa Gialamas, who finished in 50.39, setting a PanAm record in the S5 class.
Ryan Duemler broke a 13-year-old American record with his swim in the 400m freestyle (S8) with a time of 4:40.78. Duemler broke two records during the three day meet.
Twelve-time Paralympic champion Jessica Long won all three events she entered, the 100 free (1:09.06), the 200 individual medley (2:45.58) and the 400 free (4:43.42).
For full results, click here.
ARCHERY
Jesse Broadwater edged Reo Wilde in a shootoff for the men’s compound title Sunday at the AAE Arizona Cup in Phoenix. Broadwater returned after a back injury kept him out of recent competition.
“I’m all better now and really looking forward to practicing for this outdoor season,” Broadwater said. “I’ve got some confidence now and just want to keep it rolling.”
Jamie Van Natta won the women’s compound gold. The United States won gold medals in men’s recurve and compound team events and silver in women’s recurve and compound team.
Khatuna Lorig claimed the women’s recurve silver medal, falling to Mexico’s Mariana Avita in a rematch of the London 2012 Olympic Games bronze-medal match that Avita also won. Two-time Olympian Brady Ellison took the men’s recurve silver.
In Paralympic competition, Michael Lukow topped the recurve standing men's group, while Paralympian Russell Wolfe led the recurve W2 men. Paralympian Lee Ford finished on top for the recurve standing women. Fabry, Stutzman and Chavez led the compound W1 men's, compound open men's and compound women's categories, respectively, with their world-record setting performances.
CURLING
Team USA finished ninth at the 2013 Ford World Men’s Curling Championship, presented by Booster Juice, which does not equate to enough points for the American men to qualify directly to the Sochi 2014 Olympic Winter Games.
Brady Clark and teammates Sean Beighton, Philip Tilke, Darren Lehto and Greg Persinger finished with a 5-6 record, which equated to four Olympic qualification points. That total coupled with last year’s five points earned in Basel at the 2012 Men’s World Championship, put the United States one spot short of qualifying directly to Sochi.
The World Curling Federation’s Olympic Qualification Event (OQE) will take place Dec. 11-15 in Fussen, Germany, where the final two men’s and women’s spots will be determined to bring the full field to 10 men’s and 10 women’s teams in Sochi. The United States and seven other countries are eligible to participate in the OQE.
The winning men’s team from the upcoming 2014 U.S. Olympic Team Trials for Curling (Nov. 10-17 in Fargo, N.D.) will represent the United States (upon confirmation by the U.S. Olympic Committee) at the Olympic Qualification Event to earn the berth for Sochi.
Etc.
FENCING: Ariel Simmons won the cadet men's epee world championship title after defeating Latvia's Andris Jahimovics, 15-13, to win Team USA's first men's epee title at cadet worlds since 2006. Sabrina Massialas earned a silver medal in the cadet women’s foil at the Junior and Cadet World Championships in Porec, Croatia, Saturday. Jonah Shainberg went 5-0 Saturday in pool competition for the cadet men’s saber. He went on to finish 10th Sunday.
CYCLING: Mary McConneloug and Kate Courtney raced to titles Sunday at the Pan American Continental Mountain Bike Championships in Tucuman, Argentina. McConneloug won the women’s elite race and Erin Huck finished third. Courtney won the junior women’s cross country race. Jacqueline Harmony won the women’s downhill Saturday.
SAILING: Annie Haeger and Briana Provancha won one of two races Saturday to finish third overall in women’s 470 at the ISAF World Cup in Palma de Mallorca, Spain. Stuart McNay and David Hughes won the only race of the day in men’s 470 to finish seventh overall.
SHOOTING: Michael McPhail claimed a silver medal in the men’s 50-meter prone rifle event Saturday at the ISSF World Cup event in Changwon, Korea. Two-time Olympian Eric Uptagrafft was ninth and Jason Parker was 15th. The World Cup continues through Wednesday.
Elsewhere, Starlin Shi won a third straight National Junior Olympic Shooting Championship with a victory in the Women’s Sport Pistol Saturday in Colorado Springs. Competition continues through April 19.
TRIATHLON: Matt Chrabot finished 12th at the Barfoot & Thompson World Triathlon Auckland, the season opener of the ITU World Triathlon Series, in Auckland, New Zealand. Gwen Jorgensen, a 2012 Olympian, did not finish.
TRACK AND FIELD: Janet Bawcom won the USA Women’s 10-Mile Championship in Washington, D.C. in a time of 53:28. The title was the third straight for Bawcom, a 2012 Olympian.
SYNCHRONIZED SKATING: The Haydenettes earned their fourth straight world championship in synchronized skating Saturday in night in Boston. The Miami University team finished eighth.
CANOE/KAYAK: For results from the Silver Blade Regatta, which was held at the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Chula Vista, click here. The Silver Blade Regatta is a warm-up event for the USA Canoe/Kayak Flatwater Sprint Team Trials, which will be held April 26-27 in Oklahoma City, Okla.
Story courtesy Red Line Editorial, Inc. Tom Robinson is a freelance contributor for TeamUSA.org. Material from various news services and press releases from National Governing Bodies was used to compile this report. This story was not subject to the approval of any National Governing Bodies.