Browsing: short

Next Match:

Southern Connecticut State University

10/21/2025 | 7:00 p.m.

Oct. 21 (Tue) / 7:00 p.m.

 Southern Connecticut State University

PLEASANTVILLE, N.Y. –In a match filled with momentum swings and long rallies, the Pace University volleyball team battled fiercely but came up just short in a five-set showdown against Saint Michael’s College on Saturday afternoon at the Goldstein Fitness Center. After dropping the first two sets, the Setters stormed back to even the match before narrowly falling 3-2 (17-25, 19-25, 25-20, 25-21, 14-16). The result moves Pace to 8-7 overall and 0-4 in the Northeast 10 Conference, while the Purple Knights improve to 5-13 and 2-2 in league play.

The opening frames saw Saint Michael’s capitalize on early errors, but once the Setters found their rhythm, the energy inside Goldstein shifted dramatically. Behind the offensive consistency of Cyanna Shirley and Kadence Ackmann, the Blue and Gold clawed their way back into contention and used strong serving and net defense to seize momentum in the middle stages of the match.

Shirley powered the attack with 14 kills on a .407 hitting percentage and four blocks, while Ackmann matched her with 14 kills, 18 digs, and a pair of aces. Emily Cineus added eight kills and four blocks, while Aralyn Saulys posted 17 assists, 14 digs, and two service aces to lead a balanced offense. Setter Camila Rodriguez finished with 16 assists, one ace, and five digs, and Alice Bender anchored the back row with 13 digs and two aces.

After the Setters won back-to-back sets to force a decisive fifth, both sides traded points in a tense final frame that featured seven ties and five lead changes. Despite Pace’s relentless defense and a surge of late kills from Shirley and Ackmann, the Purple Knights escaped with a 16-14 finish to close the match. The Blue and Gold tallied 83 digs, 22 total blocks, and 10 aces in the loss, highlighted by Leah Mendez’s eight block assists at the net.

Pace will look to bounce back on Tuesday, October 21, when it returns home to host Southern Connecticut State University in another NE10 match-up at the Goldstein Fitness Center.
Â

Source link

After losing three of their first four games of the 2025-26 season, the Los Angeles Kings entered Thursday night looking for a much-needed victory to get their season back on track.

However, they would have to battle through some early adversity as they would be without their captain and starting goaltender. Anze Kopitar and Darcy Kuemper were both sidelined against the Pittsburgh Penguins with injury.

The losses proved to be critical as the Kings once again fell short in a game that they should have come out on top.

Final from LA. #GoKingsGopic.twitter.com/BlqsVTx33S

— LA Kings (@LAKings) October 17, 2025

First Period: Fast Start Gets Rewarded

From the initial drop of the puck, the Kings were the better team for the entire first period. The Kings were solid on both sides of the ice. At one point, they were outshooting Pittsburgh 8-2 before finishing the period with an 11-8 advantage in shots on goal.

Less than five minutes into the opening frame, Warren Foegele buried his first goal of the season. Foegele was rewarded after winning the battle for a loose puck off the rebound of his first shot attempt. After battling for the puck, Foegele powered it past Arturs Silovs to give LA an early 1-0 lead.

FIRST FOEGOAL OF THE YEAR! pic.twitter.com/uPddEqViMa

— LA Kings (@LAKings) October 17, 2025

Just under halfway through the period, Kevin Fiala made it 2-0 Kings with his third goal of the year. Fiala finished off a beautiful passing play by Joel Armia and Quinton Byfield. Armia carried the puck into the offensive zone before dishing it over to Byfield, who then found Fiala with a gorgeous setup.

After 20 minutes of play, it was clear that the Kings were the better team. With strong play on both ends of the ice, LA holds a 2-0 lead with 40 minutes of play to go.

Second Period: All of a Sudden, We’re Tied

The Kings started the second period off strong, generating an early scoring chance. Fiala rifled a shot off the post after a nice play by Byfield. This is the second post for LA as Trevor Moore rang one off the iron in the first period.

After a rare occurrence of no penalties in the first, the Kings found themselves shorthanded early in the second period after Byfield was called for hooking. Special teams hurt them once again as Evgeni Malkin beat Anton Forsberg on the man advantage. Forsberg was beaten with a wrister from the face-off dot, one that he probably wants back.

Not even one minute after Malkin cut the LA lead in half, Conor Dewar made it 2-2. Dewar scored after gaining possession of a loose puck in front of the Kings’ net. Kind of a whacky goal, but another one that Forsberg probably wants another stab at.

With just under four minutes left in the middle frame, LA found themselves on the man advantage after Sidney Crosby was called for tripping. Despite the Pens captain being in the box, the Kings couldn’t get anything going on the power play.

Third Period: Special Teams Prove to be not so Special

Once again, that silly red post got in the way of a potential Kings goal as Cody Ceci fired a shot off the crossbar. After a slower-paced third period, LA had a chance to redeem themselves on the power play after Crosby was called for his second stick infraction of the evening.

They did exactly the opposite. Another terrible power play proves to be costly. The Penguins managed to escape their zone, leading to a brief two-on-one that was shut down. However, the Kings fell asleep after that, and Filip Hallander took advantage by banging home the loose puck for his first career NHL goal, which was also the eventual game-winning goal.

Los Angeles pushed to tie the game, but to no avail. With 30 seconds left in the final frame, Crosby iced the gam,e making it 4-2 with an empty net goal.

Result: Penguins Win 4-2

Another disappointing loss. After a first period that looked like the Kings might run away with the game, the Penguins competed hard and battled back to steal two points. This loss is due to horrendous special teams and the lack of big saves. Hopefully, those issues can be chalked up to the absence of Kopitar and Kuemper. If not, those issues need to be figured out as soon as possible.

The Kings (1-3-1) will have their hands full next game as they face the Carolina Hurricanes (4-0-0) on Saturday at 6:00 p.m. PT, 9:00 p.m. ET.

Source link

Emma Raducanu has brought an early end to her season following physical struggles in China. The British No 1 had hoped to put together a strong finish to 2025 to guarantee herself a seeding at the Australian Open in January but that is now up in the air.

There is good news on the coaching front, though, with Francisco Roig reaching a deal to continue their work together in 2026.

Raducanu retired during the second set of her match against Ann Li in Wuhan last week with dizziness in hot and humid temperatures, and later posted a picture on social media of herself at a doctorâ€s office. She said she felt better and chose to play the Ningbo Open this week but was clearly not 100% and again lost her opening match.

Emma Raducanu receives treatment after wilting in the heat in the first round of the Wuhan Open. Photograph: Sky Sports

Raducanu won the first set against Zhu Lin but looked lethargic in the second and had her blood pressure checked, while she struggled with a recurrence of lower back issues in the decider and was barely moving by the end.

Raducanu had been due to play in next weekâ€s Pan Pacific Open in Tokyo and then the Hong Kong Open beginning on 27 October, but has instead decided to focus on recovery. The former US Open champion has been feeling unwell over the past 10 days and has made the decision not to push her body further.

She will now take some time away from the court before linking up with Roig, the long-time former coach of Rafael Nadal who she began working with in August, for a pre-season training block.

It has been an up-and-down season for Raducanu, who experienced a difficult first few months on and off court, with her then coach Nick Cavaday stepping down because of ill health before she was left in tears during a match in Dubai after spotting a man exhibiting fixated behaviour in the crowd.

Emma Raducanu reached the quarter-finals of the Miami Open in March. Photograph: Robert Prange/Getty Images

She had won only three matches before at the Miami Open but a temporary coaching arrangement with Mark Petchey bore immediate fruit as she reached her first WTA 1000 quarter-final.

That heralded a fine spring and summer, with Raducanu consistently winning matches and nearly halving her ranking, but the optimism that surrounded her when she left New York with Roig in tow has taken another dip.

skip past newsletter promotion

Sign up to Sport in Focus

Sign up to Sport in Focus

Privacy Notice:Newsletters may contain information about charities, online ads, and content funded by outside parties. If you do not have an account, we will create a guest account for you on theguardian.com to send you this newsletter. You can complete full registration at any time. For more information about how we use your data see our Privacy Policy. We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

after newsletter promotion

She made a late decision to pull out of representing Great Britain at the Billie Jean King Cup Finals and will have bridges to rebuild on that front, while she won just two matches in four tournaments in Asia, losing from match points up against both Barbora Krejcikova and Jessica Pegula.

Raducanu may have done enough to be seeded in Melbourne, boosting her chances of avoiding the sort of draws she has faced at grand slams this season, and she has given herself a good platform to build from. Having gone into this yearâ€s Australian Open ranked 61st, Raducanu has elevated herself to 29th in the world while, crucially, she has shown her body can mostly stand up to a full season. If she can continue to gel with Roig, find stability again on the physical training front and put together a strong pre-season, there should be high hopes for a positive 2026.

Source link

A day after making perhaps one of the greatest comebacks in franchise history, the Calgary Flames were humbled 5-1 by the Vancouver Canucks at Rogers Arena in Vancouver on Thursday night.

Here are my three takeaways for the game:

After outshooting the home team 3-2 for the first 5:41 of the first period, not only did the Canucks restrict the Flames to just two shots on goal, but they put six on them for the rest of the period including a goal off a giveaway.

But Calgary, being a great comeback team it is, rebounded in the second period.

By the second break, the Flames had outshot the Canucks 39-26 in total shots in the game. Even though the stat sheet showed 16-13 shots on goals as favoring Canucks, the scoring opportunities were 17-9 in Calgary’s favor., including seven high-danger scoring opportunities for Flames versus a flat out zero for the hometown Canucks. Yet, Vancouver was still up 1-0 by the second intermission.

Unfortunately, it was the third period, where the Flames crapped the bed. More on that below.

This was probably the most disappointing. A team that has four opportunities at the man-advantage and comes up with zero goals is not going to go very far in the regular season.

During Calgary’s first power play, they were 0-for-3 in faceoffs, which was a big reason why the man-advantage didn’t materialize into anything. So they need to clean up their faceoff act as well.

Yeah, I’m not a pro hockey player, but even I know you don’t stop playing until the ref blows the whistle.

I get how the Calgary players were concerned about their comrade Kevin Bahl getting hit in the head and falling on the ice, but that doesn’t mean you freeze up and leave the goal unguarded.

As a result, Vancouver’s Filip Chytil scored a goal and put the Canucks up 2-0.

How costly was that?

It drained all the life out of the Calgary bench, and until the next Chytil goal 5:59 minutes later, the Canucks outshot the Flames 10-3 in total shots.

After that, Vancouver put on two more goals.

Except for a Morgan Frost goal, the Flames never recovered and frankly never had a chance.

As to things that I did like, going 4-for-4 on the penalty kill is amazing. The Flames did get out of their zone more easily than they did against Edmonton and they did have a lot more scoring opportunities than against the Oilers, but ultimately it was that second goal that just killed any life on the Calgary bench.

The Flames will now host the St. Louis Blues for their home opener on Saturday.

Source link

Natalia Bryant has made her debut as a creative director with a short film that features a subject matter with which she’s very familiar.

The 70-second piece is called “Forever Iconic: Purple and Gold Always,” and it’s all about the worldwide impact of the Lakers — something Bryant has experienced throughout her life as the oldest daughter of one of the Lakers’ great icons, Kobe Bryant.

The film, posted online Wednesday by the Lakers, is a fast-paced tribute to the team and its fans. It features a number of celebrity cameos — Dodgers superstar Shohei Ohtani takes batting practice wearing a Lakers cap; current Lakers star Luka Doncic yells “Kobe!” as he shoots a towel into a hamper; fashion designer Jeff Hamilton creates a number of Lakers jackets; actor Brenda Song obsessively watches and cheers for the team on her computer; Lakers legend Magic Johnson declares, “It’s Showtime, baby!”

Advertisement

Mixed in are shots of regular fans paying tribute to the team in their own ways.

“This project was an amazing, collaborative environment with such creative people and we all came together to try and portray the Lakers†impact, not only in L.A. but around the world,” Natalia Bryant said in a statement released by the Lakers. “Everyone has their own connection to the Lakers. I hope those who already love this team watch this project and remember what that pride feels like. And if youâ€re not a Lakers fan yet, I hope you watch this, and it makes you want to be.â€

Bryant, who graduated from USC’s School of Cinematic Arts in May, included some famous Lakers clips, such as LeBron James arguing, “It’s our ball, ain’t it?” and her father hitting a buzzer-beating shot against the Phoenix Suns during the 2006 playoffs.

Advertisement

“Such an honor to be apart of this project!” Bryant wrote on Instagram. “Thank you @lakers for having me join as creative director💛lakers family forever”

Lakers controlling owner and president Jeanie Buss also posted the video on Instagram.

“Cheers to the millions of fans around the world who make the Lakers the most popular team in the NBA!!” Buss wrote. “You are the best fans in the league. Congratulations and huge thanks to the amazing @nataliabryant who helped bring this film to life for her creative director debut.”

Advertisement

Lakers superfan Song also posted a number of photos related to the project on Instagram, including one of herself with Bryant.

“Lake show for life,” Song wrote.

Bryant responded in the comments, “For life!”

Get the best, most interesting and strangest stories of the day from the L.A. sports scene and beyond from our newsletter The Sports Report.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.

Source link

• 

  Jesse RogersOct 4, 2025, 07:34 PM ET

  Close

  Jesse joined ESPN Chicago in September 2009 and covers MLB for ESPN.com.

MILWAUKEE — The Chicago Cubs took a 1-0 lead into the bottom of the first inning against the Milwaukee Brewers in Game 1 of their NLDS showdown on Saturday only to leave the inning about 20 minutes later down 6-1.

Most of the damage came against Cubs starter Matthew Boyd, who didn’t look sharp while pitching on three days’ rest, lasting just eight batters.

“It’s unfortunate it was such a big inning, but that was the difference in the game today,” Boyd said after the Brewers’ 9-3 victory.

Boyd, 34, left after an 11 pitch at-bat by Brewers center fielder Blake Perkins, who singled home Milwaukee’s fourth run of the game.

Editor’s Picks

1 Related

At that point, Cubs manager Craig Counsell had seen enough, pulling Boyd after 30 pitches, four hits and a walk. Boyd was eventually charged with six runs, but only two were earned after a Nico Hoerner error opened the inning up for the Brewers.

Asked afterward why he started Boyd on short rest, Counsell cited the fact he had thrown only 58 pitches in the Cubs’ Game 1 win over the San Diego Padres in the wild-card series and also “what he’s done all season, being our best starting pitcher.” The Cubs said they were thinking about giving Boyd the ball for NLDS opener not long after he came out of his start against the Padres. It might have backfired.

Over the past 30 postseasons, starting pitchers on three days of rest have a 4.50 ERA, according to ESPN Research.

“We picked Matt Boyd to pitch,” Counsell said when pressed about the decision. “I don’t know what to say. He pitched, it didn’t go well. We’ve got to make decisions. We went with Matt.

“We’re very comfortable — I was very comfortable — putting Matt Boyd on the mound today. The whole organization was comfortable putting Matt Boyd on the mound today.”

Matthew Boyd, who pitched on three days’ rest Saturday, lasted just eight batters and didn’t make it out of the first inning in a 9-3 Game 1 loss to the Brewers. Benny Sieu-Imagn Images

Coming into the game, Boyd had limited experience pitching on three days, compiling a 4.70 ERA in three career games before Saturday. Against the Brewers in Game 1, he posted some of his worst numbers of the season, including landing only 43% of his pitches in the strike zone, his lowest rate of the year. Boyd also induced a 60% swing rate by the Brewers, his second highest of the season.

The Brewers weren’t fooled by anything he threw.

“The main thing we talked about [all week] is, promise me you’ll be ready for the first pitch,” Brewers manager Pat Murphy said of his hitters. “When the bell rings, you’re ready. You’ve got to get your pitch, as they say, and Boyd was coming back on short rest. We hit some balls where they weren’t and we were ready, and I loved the at-bats early.”

Perkins added: “I’m kind of sitting there, too, like dang, how are we doing this sometimes? It’s a cool feeling, and it’s really fun to be a part of.”

The time off between the regular season and the postseason didn’t impact Milwaukee’s offense, though the time on the mound during the previous round seemingly impacted Boyd. He struggled down the stretch of the regular season as well, compiling a 5.31 ERA in September, by far his worst month of the season.

The Brewers added three more runs in the second inning, sending reliever Mike Soroka to the showers after a shortened outing, forcing former Brewer Aaron Civale to pick up the slack, pitching 4â…“ innings. It might be the only positive after an awful day for the Cubs: They saved their pen for another day.

“Aaron’s outing, really, really saved us,” Counsell said.

Game 2 is Monday night in Milwaukee.

Source link

It’d be great of we could hit every green in regulation, but unfortunately that’s simply not possible. Heck, even the best players in the world don’t hit everygreen. In 2025, the average GIR percentage on the PGA Tour was just under 66 percent, meaning even the best of the best found themselves scrambling about a third of the time.

When you think about it like that, it’s obvious why short game is so important. Golf is not a game of perfect, so learning how to recover from your mistakes is crucial.

Missing a green in regulation is one of the most common mistakes a golfer can make, but it can easily be rectified if you’ve got a solid short game. If you can get up-and-down at a decent clip, missing greens won’t hurt your scorecard quite so much.

In the video below, GOLF Teacher to Watch Parker McLachlin, aka the Short Game Chef, explains an easy way to improve your short game by fixing mistakes in your takeaway.

Fix this takeaway mistake

When I had a quick lesson with McLachlin at last winter’s GOLF Top 100 Teacher Summit, one concept he explained continues to stick with me. With short-game shots, there are two distinct families of techniques. One is the pitching and chipping motion, which is similar to a putting stroke, and the other is the flop and bunker motion, which involves more wrist action.

For many shots we face around the greens, the pitching and chipping motion is all you need to get the ball close. And to properly execute the shots, all you need to do is focus on rocking your shoulder back and forth, much like a putting stroke.

This can be difficult for many recreational players to get the hang of. Having quiet wrists is not something they are used to when hitting shots around the greens.

That’s why the video above from McLachlin can be so helpful. In order to achieve those “quiet wrists,” all you need to do is focus on your takeaway.

“I want to feel low on this takeaway and wide,” he says. “I don’t want to feel vertical and narrow.”

By taking the club back low and wide, you’re forcing yourself to keep your wrists quiet and shallowing your angle of attack. And in doing so, you are guarding against digging the leading edge into the ground and chunking the shot.

“However I take this thing away, that’s pretty much how I’m going to deliver it into the ball,” McLachlin says.

By mastering this low and wide takeaway, you’ll quickly improve your short game, get up-and-down more and shoot lower scores.

WINNIPEG — It seems to be a go-to question whenever the Winnipeg Jets begin training camp: Can the team take…

SPOTLIGHTED PODCAST ALERT (YOUR ARTICLE BEGINS A FEW INCHES DOWN)… What length would you prefer AEW PPVs last (not counting…

England’s meeting to select an Ashes squad will be “short”, according to head coach Brendon McCullum.The group for the tour…