HOCKEY
Reid Stefanson opened the scoring just 30 seconds into the game, and the Maine Mariners rolled to a 7-2 win over the Norfolk Admirals in their next-to-last game of the ECHL regular season Saturday night at Cross Insurance Arena.
Grant Gabriele, Alex Kile, Matt Filipe, Austin Albrecht, Andrew Peski and Alex-Olivier Voyer also scored for the Mariners. Despite the win, Maine is now locked into the No. 3 seed in the North Division and will start its first-round playoff series on the road against the Reading Royals.
WOMEN’S WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS: Hilary Knight, Amanda Kessel and Tessa Janecke each scored twice, and the United States secured its tournament-record 22nd berth in the gold-medal game with a 9-1 rout of the Czech Republic in Brampton, Ontario.
The victory sets up another showdown against rival Canada in the championship game on Sunday. Canada beat Switzerland, 5-1.
NHL: Brad Larsen was fired as coach of the Columbus Blue Jackets after two seasons without a playoff appearance. The Blue Jackets finished last in the Eastern Conference and 31st out of 32 NHL teams.
BASEBALL
EASTERN LEAGUE: Matthew Lugo’s two-run double highlighted a four-run, two-out rally in the fifth inning, and Chih-Jung Liu pitched five scoreless innings Saturday as the Portland Sea Dogs cruised to a 6-1 win over the New Hampshire Fisher Cats at Manchester, New Hampshire.
Ceddanne Rafaela was 3 for 5 with an RBI and a run scored. All nine batters in Portland’s lineup got at least one hit as the Sea Dogs improved to 7-1.
Liu struck out eight, walked three and allowed five hits.
GOLF
RBC HERITAGE: U.S. Open champion Matt Fitzpatrick shot his best round on the PGA Tour with a 63 for a one-shot lead over Patrick Cantlay through three rounds in Hilton Head Island, South Carolina.
Fitzpatrick had six birdies and an eagle when he holed out from 149 yards away on the par-4 third hole. He was at 14-under 199.
Cantlay, who lost in a playoff to Jordan Spieth a year ago, shot 66 to move to 13 under.
Spieth was also again in the hunt, another stroke back after a 66. World No. 2 Scottie Scheffler and second-round leader Jimmy Walker were among five players tied at 11 under.
SOCCER
ENGLAND: Manchester City striker Erling Haaland tied the record for the most goals in a 38-game English Premier League season, moving his tally to 32 by scoring twice in the first half of a 3-1 win over Leicester.
Haaland matched Liverpool forward Mohamed Salah, who scored 32 goals in the 2017-18 season.
City has eight more games to play in the league, and Haaland is on course to break the record of 34 goals for a 42-game campaign, shared by Andy Cole (Newcastle, 1993-94) and Alan Shearer (Blackburn, 1994-95).
• Fifth-place Tottenham’s hopes of qualifying for the Champions League were dented by a 3-2 loss to Bournemouth.
• Aston Villa overwhelmed Newcastle, 3-0, to move within six points of third-place Newcastle and fourth-place Manchester United.
GERMANY: Borussia Dortmund conceded three late goals against 10-man Stuttgart and settled for a 3-3 draw, squandering a chance to capitalize on league leader Bayern Munich’s 1-1 draw with Hoffenheim.
Gio Reyna gave Dortmund a 3-2 lead when he scored in injury time, but there was still time for Stuttgart’s Silas Katompa Mvumpa to score an equalizer, leaving Dortmund two points behind Bayern with six rounds remaining.
FRANCE: Kylian Mbappé and Lionel Messi scored as French league leader Paris Saint-Germain profited from a red card to beat second-place Lens 3-1 and move nine points clear of its rival.
Mbappé’s goal made the 24-year-old striker the all-time top scorer for PSG in French league games with 139 goals.
TENNIS
BILLIE JEAN KING CUP: Jessica Pegula sent the U.S. into the finals with a 6-1, 6-3 victory over Austria’s Julia Grabher.
The victory gave the Americans a 3-0 lead and clinched the best-of-five tie in Delray Beach, Florida. The third-ranked Pegula also won her singles match Friday after No. 6 Coco Gauff, playing in her hometown, beat Grabher.
France, Spain, the Czech Republic, Kazakhstan, Germany and Italy also secured berths in the finals, scheduled for Nov. 7-12 at a site to be determined. Those nations will join reigning champion Switzerland, 2022 runner-up Australia and one wild-card recipient.
MONTE CARLO MASTERS: Fifth-seeded Andrey Rublev rallied to beat eighth-seeded American Taylor Fritz 5-7, 6-1, 6-3 in a rain-interrupted semifinal in Monaco.
The Russian player, who lost in the final two years ago, will play for his first at Masters-level title Sunday against sixth-seeded Holger Rune, who also fought back to win 1-6, 7-5, 7-5 against No. 7 Jannik Sinner.
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