Nov 3, 2018 4 min read

W&J repeats as Empire 8 champion

Washington & Jefferson repeated as Empire 8 women’s field hockey champion with a 1-0 win over St. John Fisher in the conference championship game Saturday at Cameron Stadium.

The Presidents improved their record to 17-1 and earned its third E8 championship and an automatic bid into the NCAA Division III Tournament.

Tournament MVP Rachel Buyan scored the game-winning goal 21:36 into the first half. The senior defender dribbled the ball into the circle and took a shot that was turned away by St. John Fisher’s goalie. On the rebound, Buyan regained possession and lofted a shot into the cage. The goal is the 47th of Buyan’s career, moving the senior into a tie for second most in program history.

Buyan’s performance on both ends of the field helped her secure her second consecutive E8 Tournament MVP. The Presidents’ defense held the E8’s most-potent offense to just five shots and none on goal.

Goalie Rena Israel logged her 13th shutout in 16 starts.

Pairings for the Division III tournament will be released Sunday night.

Cardinals release Bradford

The Arizona Cardinals have released quarterback Sam Bradford.

Bradford, whose eight NFL seasons have been plagued by injuries, signed a one-year, $20 million contract – with $15 million guaranteed – in the offseason. He started the first three games before being replaced by rookie Josh Rosen.

Bradford had been inactive for every game since.

The former No. 1 overall pick out of Oklahoma has 83 career starts with St. Louis, Philadelphia, Minnesota and Arizona.

The Cardinals also announced they had placed offensive lineman John Wetzel (neck) on injured reserve. Arizona (2-6) does not play this week.

In the NHL

Jeff Skinner and Jason Pominville each had two goals and an assist to lead the Buffalo Sabres to a 9-2 win over the Ottawa Senators Saturday.

Conor Sheary, Casey Mittlestadt, Patrik Berglund and Zemgus Girgensons added a goal and an assist apiece, Kyle Okposo also scored, Jack Eichel had three assists and Linus Ullmark made 27 saves for the Sabres, who snapped a three-game losing streak.

College wrestling

Washington & opened the 2018-19 season with a ninth-place showing at the 16-team Ned McGinley Invitational hosted at King’s College.

W&J totaled 52.5 points to place just ahead of Scranton (51 points). York won the team championship with 206.5 points behind four first-place finishers.

W&J junior Hunter Neely won the championship in the 157-pound bracket, going 5-0 and besting the No. 7 and No. 9 wrestlers in the country in the Intermat.com rankings. He began by earning a DQ victory against Angelo Mahaffey from Muhlenberg and then got a technical fall (19-4) over Jarrett Weir of Stevens. In the quarterfinals, Neely pinned NYU’s Liam Drury in 1:46 before taking a 3-2 decision from No. 7 Tyler Gazaway of Roger Williams in the semifinals and an 8-5 decision against No. 9 Eric Hutchinson of York.

In the NBA

Joel Embiid scored 32 of his 39 points in a dominating first half and had 17 rebounds to lead the Philadelphia 76ers to a 109-99 victory over the Detroit Pistons Saturday.

Embiid made 10 of 18 field goals and 18 of 23 free throws to help Philadelphia improve to 6-0 at home.

Blake Griffin had 38 points, 13 rebounds and six assists to lead Detroit.

• Jeremy Lamb had a season-high 19 points and eight rebounds, and the Charlotte Hornets had no problem defeating the Cleveland Cavaliers, 126-94.