YSU
Volleyball
YOUNGSTOWN — Youngstown State stayed within a goal of Valparaiso for 70 minutes before surrendering two late scores in a 3-0 loss Friday at Stambaugh Stadium.
Freshman goalkeeper Caitlin Bodzioney tied her career high with 11 saves against the Crusaders, but Valpo (9-2) fired 26 shots.
The Penguins (2-7) open Horizon League play today with a noon match against UW-Green Bay at Stambaugh Stadium.
Volleyball
YOUNGSTOWN — Youngstown State freshman Ruth Boscaljon had 20 kills and nine blocks, and junior Jessica Fraley had a season-high 19 kills, but the Penguins (8-11, 0-3 Horizon League) dropped a five-game match to UIC (9-10, 3-0), 26-30, 30-19, 30-25, 28-30, 13-15, Friday at the Beeghly Center.
STEELHOUNDS
Signing
YOUNGSTOWN — The Youngstown SteelHounds signed rookie defenseman John Neal has signed a one-year contract.
Neal, 21, played last season with the Brantford Golden Eagles of the Ontario Hockey Association's Mid-Western Junior Hockey League. In 37 games, the 5-foot-10, 175-pound defenseman scored 13 goals with 40 assists for a league-best 53 points among defensemen. He also had 126 penalty minutes and was named the league's defenseman of the year.
LOCAL
Curbstone Coaches
BOARDMAN — George "Shotgun" Shuba of Austintown, a native of Youngstown who played baseball for the Brooklyn Dodgers in the late 1940s and early 1950s, will be the guest speaker at the Curbstone Coaches noon luncheon session Monday at the Lockwood House.
Shuba, who grew up on the West Side, was the first National League player to hit a pinch-hit home run in a World Series game.
REGION
Crew wins
COLUMBUS — The Columbus Crew were eliminated from MLS playoff contention despite beating FC Dallas 3-1 Saturday night on goals by Joseph Ngwenya, Jacob Thomas and Jason Garey.
Columbus (7-14-9) will miss the playoffs for the second straight year as a result of the New York Red Bulls' 1-0 win over the Chicago Fire on Saturday. Dallas, which already had clinched a playoff spot, fell to 15-11-4.
Ngwenya gave Columbus the lead with his fourth goal of the season in the 22nd minute, assisted by Garey and Crew defender Ritchie Kotschau. Thomas doubled the Crew's lead with his first goal of the season, a low, right-footed shot from 30 yards that Dallas goalkeeper Shaka Hislop put a hand to but was unable to keep out of the back of the net in the 66th minute.
Garey sealed the win for Columbus 10 minutes later with his fourth tally of the year. Carlos Ruiz put Dallas on the scoreboard in second-half extra time, his 12th of the season.
Crew midfielder Brandon Moss got two yellow cards and was ejected.
The start of the game was delayed 30 minutes as a thunderstorm passed over Crew Stadium.
Game rescheduled
ADA — A game between Ohio Northern and Otterbein that was postponed because an Otterbein player was diagnosed with meningitis has been rescheduled for today.
Kickoff for the game, originally scheduled for Saturday, was set for 2:30 p.m. at Ohio Northern.
The Otterbein player with meningitis was expected to recover, school spokesman Ed Syguda said.
Tests determined the player's infection was not bacterial and posed no risk of infection to other players, Syguda said.
Kentucky Cup Classic
FLORENCE, Ky. — Ball Four survived a foul claim and won the $350,000 Kentucky Cup Classic at Turfway Park on Saturday.
Ball Four, trained by Patrick Biancone, set the pace under Julien Leparoux a year ago in this race but was overtaken by Shaniko in deep stretch.
This time, with Willie Martinez aboard, Ball Four went right to the front and led all the way, outfinishing Perfect Drift, ridden by Leparoux, at the wire.
Kent Desormeaux, the jockey on favorite Premium Tap, filed a claim of foul after trying to make a move inside Ball Four and then taking up sharply at the top of the turn. But the stewards found insufficient evidence that Ball Four interfered with Premium Tap.
The winner bettered Shaniko's track record for 1 1/8 miles on Polytrack, winning in 1:48.29 to pay $27.80, $9 and $4.40.
Perfect Drift returned $3.40 and $2.40 to place, and Good Reward paid $2.80 to show.
WORLD
Tennis roundup
PALERMO, Sicily — Filippo Volandri of Italy advanced to his third successive Palermo International final when Nicolas Almagro of Spain retired from the clay-court tournament with a left ankle injury Saturday.
Second-seeded Volandri was leading 6-0, 2-1 when No. 4 Almagro retired after aggravating an injury he sustained in the quarterfinals that were played Friday.
Volandri's opponent today in the final will be unseeded Nicolas Lapentti of Ecuador, who beat Ruben Ramirez Hidalgo of Spain 6-2, 6-1 to reach his first ATP final in three years.
Lapentti broke the eighth-seeded Ramirez Hidalgo six times.
*LUXEMBOURG — Italian veteran Francesca Schiavone will try to end her losing streak in seven career finals when she meets Ukraine's Alona Bondarenko for the Fortis Championships title today.
In Saturday's semifinals, Schiavone outlasted Poland's Agnieszka Radwanska 7-5, 2-6, 6-1, and Bondarenko saved a match point in rallying past the Czech Republic's Kveta Peschke 6-3, 5-7, 7-5.
Schiavone, who helped Italy win its first Fed Cup title this month, will be aiming for her first WTA Tour title.
Her first final came in 2000, and Nos. 6 and 7 were this year in Sydney and Amelia Island.
*BEIJING — Fourth-seeded Anabel Medina Garrigues of Spain ground out a 7-5, 2-6, 6-4 win over Tzipi Obziler of Israel on Saturday to advance to the Guangzhou Open final.
Medina Garrigues will face No. 3 Anna Chakvetadze of Russia in today's title match after top-seeded Jelena Jankovic of Serbia retired because of heat illness in the second set of their semifinal trailing 7-5, 2-0.
Chakvetadze will contest her first WTA final, while Medina Garrigues is chasing her third tournament win this year after claiming the Canberra and Palermo titles. Chakvetadze has won all three of their matchups, including this year in Berlin and Los Angeles.
Vindicator staff/wire reports
Sunday, October 1, 2006
YSU
Volleyball
YOUNGSTOWN — Youngstown State stayed within a goal of Valparaiso for 70 minutes before surrendering two late scores in a 3-0 loss Friday at Stambaugh Stadium.
Freshman goalkeeper Caitlin Bodzioney tied her career high with 11 saves against the Crusaders, but Valpo (9-2) fired 26 shots.
The Penguins (2-7) open Horizon League play today with a noon match against UW-Green Bay at Stambaugh Stadium.
Volleyball
YOUNGSTOWN — Youngstown State freshman Ruth Boscaljon had 20 kills and nine blocks, and junior Jessica Fraley had a season-high 19 kills, but the Penguins (8-11, 0-3 Horizon League) dropped a five-game match to UIC (9-10, 3-0), 26-30, 30-19, 30-25, 28-30, 13-15, Friday at the Beeghly Center.
STEELHOUNDS
Signing
YOUNGSTOWN — The Youngstown SteelHounds signed rookie defenseman John Neal has signed a one-year contract.
Neal, 21, played last season with the Brantford Golden Eagles of the Ontario Hockey Association's Mid-Western Junior Hockey League. In 37 games, the 5-foot-10, 175-pound defenseman scored 13 goals with 40 assists for a league-best 53 points among defensemen. He also had 126 penalty minutes and was named the league's defenseman of the year.
LOCAL
Curbstone Coaches
BOARDMAN — George "Shotgun" Shuba of Austintown, a native of Youngstown who played baseball for the Brooklyn Dodgers in the late 1940s and early 1950s, will be the guest speaker at the Curbstone Coaches noon luncheon session Monday at the Lockwood House.
Shuba, who grew up on the West Side, was the first National League player to hit a pinch-hit home run in a World Series game.
REGION
Crew wins
COLUMBUS — The Columbus Crew were eliminated from MLS playoff contention despite beating FC Dallas 3-1 Saturday night on goals by Joseph Ngwenya, Jacob Thomas and Jason Garey.
Columbus (7-14-9) will miss the playoffs for the second straight year as a result of the New York Red Bulls' 1-0 win over the Chicago Fire on Saturday. Dallas, which already had clinched a playoff spot, fell to 15-11-4.
Ngwenya gave Columbus the lead with his fourth goal of the season in the 22nd minute, assisted by Garey and Crew defender Ritchie Kotschau. Thomas doubled the Crew's lead with his first goal of the season, a low, right-footed shot from 30 yards that Dallas goalkeeper Shaka Hislop put a hand to but was unable to keep out of the back of the net in the 66th minute.
Garey sealed the win for Columbus 10 minutes later with his fourth tally of the year. Carlos Ruiz put Dallas on the scoreboard in second-half extra time, his 12th of the season.
Crew midfielder Brandon Moss got two yellow cards and was ejected.
The start of the game was delayed 30 minutes as a thunderstorm passed over Crew Stadium.
Game rescheduled
ADA — A game between Ohio Northern and Otterbein that was postponed because an Otterbein player was diagnosed with meningitis has been rescheduled for today.
Kickoff for the game, originally scheduled for Saturday, was set for 2:30 p.m. at Ohio Northern.
The Otterbein player with meningitis was expected to recover, school spokesman Ed Syguda said.
Tests determined the player's infection was not bacterial and posed no risk of infection to other players, Syguda said.
Kentucky Cup Classic
FLORENCE, Ky. — Ball Four survived a foul claim and won the $350,000 Kentucky Cup Classic at Turfway Park on Saturday.
Ball Four, trained by Patrick Biancone, set the pace under Julien Leparoux a year ago in this race but was overtaken by Shaniko in deep stretch.
This time, with Willie Martinez aboard, Ball Four went right to the front and led all the way, outfinishing Perfect Drift, ridden by Leparoux, at the wire.
Kent Desormeaux, the jockey on favorite Premium Tap, filed a claim of foul after trying to make a move inside Ball Four and then taking up sharply at the top of the turn. But the stewards found insufficient evidence that Ball Four interfered with Premium Tap.
The winner bettered Shaniko's track record for 1 1/8 miles on Polytrack, winning in 1:48.29 to pay $27.80, $9 and $4.40.
Perfect Drift returned $3.40 and $2.40 to place, and Good Reward paid $2.80 to show.
WORLD
Tennis roundup
PALERMO, Sicily — Filippo Volandri of Italy advanced to his third successive Palermo International final when Nicolas Almagro of Spain retired from the clay-court tournament with a left ankle injury Saturday.
Second-seeded Volandri was leading 6-0, 2-1 when No. 4 Almagro retired after aggravating an injury he sustained in the quarterfinals that were played Friday.
Volandri's opponent today in the final will be unseeded Nicolas Lapentti of Ecuador, who beat Ruben Ramirez Hidalgo of Spain 6-2, 6-1 to reach his first ATP final in three years.
Lapentti broke the eighth-seeded Ramirez Hidalgo six times.
*LUXEMBOURG — Italian veteran Francesca Schiavone will try to end her losing streak in seven career finals when she meets Ukraine's Alona Bondarenko for the Fortis Championships title today.
In Saturday's semifinals, Schiavone outlasted Poland's Agnieszka Radwanska 7-5, 2-6, 6-1, and Bondarenko saved a match point in rallying past the Czech Republic's Kveta Peschke 6-3, 5-7, 7-5.
Schiavone, who helped Italy win its first Fed Cup title this month, will be aiming for her first WTA Tour title.
Her first final came in 2000, and Nos. 6 and 7 were this year in Sydney and Amelia Island.
*BEIJING — Fourth-seeded Anabel Medina Garrigues of Spain ground out a 7-5, 2-6, 6-4 win over Tzipi Obziler of Israel on Saturday to advance to the Guangzhou Open final.
Medina Garrigues will face No. 3 Anna Chakvetadze of Russia in today's title match after top-seeded Jelena Jankovic of Serbia retired because of heat illness in the second set of their semifinal trailing 7-5, 2-0.
Chakvetadze will contest her first WTA final, while Medina Garrigues is chasing her third tournament win this year after claiming the Canberra and Palermo titles. Chakvetadze has won all three of their matchups, including this year in Berlin and Los Angeles.
Vindicator staff/wire reports
Sunday, October 1, 2006
Youngstown State stayed within a goal of Valparaiso for 70 minutes before surrendering two late scores in a 3-0 loss...
