Apr 30, 2021 4 min read

W&J wins PAC men’s soccer title

Zach Bowser’s goal with less than 10 minutes remaining Friday night gave Washington & Jefferson a 2-1 victory over Westminster in the Presisdents’ Athletic Conference championship match.

Westminster scored first after Tyler Caterino, a Monessen graduate, received a pass from Payton Goodwin in the box off a deflection from a free kick and drilled the ball to the back of the net at the 14:55 mark of the first half.

Washington & Jefferson (8-2-1) tied the score at 42:41 of the first half on a goal off the foot of Thomas Einolf.

With less than 10 minutes remaining, W&J’s Joey Feola found Bowser for the eventual game-winning goal, shot lofted over the head of the Westminster goalkeeper.

The Titans had an opportunity with less than a minute to go off a corner kick by Nick Iregui followed by a header by David Stuebgen that just went over the crossbar.

High school softball

West Mifflin pulled to within a half-game of first place in Class 4A Section 2 by overcoming a five-run deficit to beat Belle Vernon 18-10 Friday.

West Mifflin (8-1, 13-1), winner of seven straight, used a grand slam by Alyssa Schmidt and a seven-run fifth inning to beat the Leopards (5-3, 8-6).

Lauren Yuhas also homered for the Titans, who trailed 9-4 after three innings.

Belle Vernon’s Maren Metikosh had four hits, including a triple,Lexi Daniels homered and drove in three, and Abby Fabin homered.

Wild Things sign 2

The Washington Wild Things continued to fine tune their roster for the 2021 Frontier League season by signing left-handed pitcher Sean Kealey and shortstop Andrew Penner.

Penner was Washington’s selection in the league’s recent dispersal draft. Penner played in 2019 for the league champion River City Rascals and was signed by Ottawa for 2021, but the Titans will not make their Frontier League debut until 2022.

Kealey, a former Baldwin High School standout, played at Allegheny College, and last summer appeared in five games for the Steel City Slammin’ Sammies at Wild Things Park. For the Sammies, Kealey pitched eight innings, walking four and struck out 15. He did not allow a hit or run.

Kansas hires Leipold

Kansas hired Buffalo’s Lance Leipold on Friday, turning over one of college football’s worst programs to a longtime Division III coach with strong Midwestern roots.

Leipold signed a six-year contract and takes over for Les Miles, who won a national championship at LSU. Miles parted with Kansas after two losing seasons and amid sexual harassment allegations dating to his time with the Tigers.

Leipold has been with the Bulls the past six years, building a downtrodden program into a perennial bowl contender. He is 37-33 with Buffalo, leading the school to its best seasons since joining the Mid-American Conference in 1999.

Before jumping to the Division I level, the 56-year-old Leipold won six national championships in eight seasons while going 109-6 as the head coach of Wisconson-Whitewater.

In the NHL

Yegor Sharangovich scored twice, Mackenzie Blackwood made 21 saves and the New Jersey Devils beat the Philadelphia Flyers 5-3 Thursday night.

Jesper Boqvist, Pavel Zacha and Jesper Bratt also scored as the Devils won their second straight game after an 0-9-1 stretch. Defensemen Damon Severson and Will Butcher each recorded two assists.

In the NBA

Ben Simmons, Joel Embiid and Tobias Harris each scored 18 points to lead the Philadelphia 76ers to a 126-104 victory over the Atlanta Hawks on Friday night.