Weekly Sports Update
Amanda Miles
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LUMBERJAX LOSE LACROSSE PLAYOFF GAME TO THE STING
The Arizona Sting defeated the Portland LumberJax 14-11 in front of 10,843 Rose Garden fans on Saturday night, April 21. The loss knocked the expansion team host out of the National Lacrosse League West Division semifinals.
The Sting led by three goals in the fourth quarter, but Mike Hominuck scored with 2:08 to play, bringing Portland to just a one-goal deficit at 12-11. But Arizona's Lindsay Plunkett scored at the 1:35 mark, effectively putting the game out of reach. The Sting also added an empty-net goal to reach the game's final score.
Arizona brought just an 8-8 record into the game, but have experience the LumberJax couldn't match; the Sting reached the league final last year.
The loss capped an impressive season for the LumberJax. They won the West Division title with an 11-5 record as a first-year squad and won their last six regular-season games. Previously, no NLL expansion team had ever won a division title. The squad was embraced by the city and has thrived thus far under the ownership of 25-year-old Angela Batinovich, the youngest owner of a pro sports team.
KASTOR BREAKS AMERICAN RECORD TO WIN LONDON MARATHON
Deena Kastor raced to victory in the London Marathon on Sunday, April 23, and broke her own American record in the process. The 33-year-old 2004 Olympic bronze medalist in the marathon, Kastor covered the London course in 2 hours,19 minutes and 36 seconds, becoming the eighth woman to break the 2:20 barrier in the event. The win was her second in a row in a major marathon; Kastor also won the Chicago Marathon last fall.
Russian Lyudmila Petrova placed second in 2:21:29, a national record, and Kenyan Susan Chepkemei was third in 2:21:45. Berhane Adere, a former world champion at 10,000 meters, also set a national record; the Ethiopian was clocked in 2:21:52 to place fourth.
Kastor's previous American record was 2:21:16, which she also set at London in 2003 to place third behind Great Britain's Paula Radcliffe, who set the world record of 2:15:25 that day. Kastor's performance on Sunday made her the fourth-fastest female marathoner ever.
Kenyan Felix Limo won the men's race in 2:06:39. American Khalid Khannouchi, former world record holder in the event (2:05:38, set in 2002 while still running for Morocco), was the top American; he placed fourth in 2:07:04, returning to racing after fighting injuries for the past couple of years.
PORTLAND BEGINS SPRING PREP FOR NATIONAL-TITLE DEFENSE
The University of Portland Pilots women's soccer team played two exhibition matches at Merlo Field over the weekend to begin the defense of their national title. The squad tied the Mexican national team 1-1 on April 21, and then beat Gonzaga 3-1 on April 22.
Against Mexico, sophomore forward Natalie Budge forged a Pilot lead with her goal in the 55th minute. However, Mexico battled back to tie the game when Carmenita Padilla found the back of the net in the 87th minute, just before the game ended.
Junior forward Elsa Hume started the scoring on Saturday against Gonzaga with a goal in the 36th minute off the cross of redshirt sophomore midfielder Angie Woznuk. Redshirt freshman midfielder Megan Rapinoe added two goals, one in the 64th minute off a pass from Michele Scifo and the other on a penalty kick in the 74th minute after she was taken down in the box.
The Pilots won their second NCAA title last December (the other coming in 2002) when they defeated UCLA 4-0 to cap off an undefeated 23-0-2 season, becoming just the second team to do so. Now, in order to prepare for the fall season, the Pilots are adjusting to soccer without goal-scoring machine Christine Sinclair and All-American Lindsey Huie, the most influential graduates off last year's title squad. The Pilots are especially looking to compensate for the loss of Sinclair up front, who scored 39 goals last year, an NCAA single-season record.