College Sports
Dom Amore
The U.S. men’s soccer team has a year to get its act together in time for the World Cup, and its trip to Hartford comes during a time of transition. Jobs are no longer secure, reputation and past performances no longer relevant, and Matt Turner, the former Fairfield University goalkeeper, is one of the veterans […]
The U.S. men’s soccer team has a year to get its act together in time for the World Cup, and its trip to Hartford comes during a time of transition.
Jobs are no longer secure, reputation and past performances no longer relevant, and Matt Turner, the former Fairfield University goalkeeper, is one of the veterans fighting to keep his spot as he returns to Connecticut for the match with Turkey at Rentschler Field on Saturday at 3:30 p.m.
“I don’t see myself as the No.1 all the time,” Turner told reporters via Zoom call this week. “Every inch has to be fought for, and going into every camp, that’s my mindset. Every opportunity I’ve had with the current staff, I’ve earned through my performances.”
Turner, who will turn 31 this month, has been a fixture in goal for the USMNT since 2021, when he led the team to victory in the CONCACAF Gold Cup with five clean sheets in six games. He played throughout the 2022 World Cup in Qatar and had two clean sheets, an achievement not seen from a U.S. keeper since 1930.
But three years later, the U.S. has a new coach. Mauricio Pochettino, a former Argentine player and long-time coach in Europe, was hired last September and he has been shaking things up, calling out veteran players for appearing too comfortable.
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“If you arrive to the camp and you want to spend nice time, play golf, go for a dinner, visit my family, visit my friend, that is the culture that we want to create?” Pochettino asked after a disastrous performance in the Nations League last March. “No, no, no, no, no. What we want to do is to go to the national team, arrive and be focused and spend all my focus and energy in the national team. … If we want be good in one year time, we need to think that today is the most important day.”
For this summer’s friendly matches and the Gold Cup, Pochettino will operate without a few of the old mainstays, most particularly superstar Christian Pulisic, who electrified the Rentschler crowd with a goal against Germany a year and a half ago. The coach will be evaluating younger players, such as East Hartford’s dynamic Patrick Agyemang, 24, at striker. Notably, the current roster has more from the top North American league, MLS, and fewer from European clubs, perhaps to get an infusion from hungrier players who have been playing regularly for their teams.
Turner’s performances at the Gold Cup in ’21 put him on the international map, and propelled him from the New England Revolution in MLS across the pond to Arsenal. It was quite a rags-to-riches story: Turner, from New Jersey, began his college career as a walk-on and with a blooper, an own-goal that went viral in 2013. He rose, though, to be a top player for the Stags and go pro.
“For me, winning that Gold Cup in 2021, I’m not really sure I was in a period where I could process the gravity of what we achieved,” Turner said. “Looking back on that team, the joy we played with, passion, energy, the way we started games, those were things I look back on and think we can bring forward.”
Since going over to the Premier League, Turner has played for Arsenal, Nottingham Forrest and Crystal Palace, but has not played regularly and soccer analysts have been wondering whether he should return to MLS to get more appearances. Pochettino has suggested as much. “He needs to find the way to compete every week,” the coach said.
Turner said he will make a decision on his future later this summer.
“I’d always be open to coming back home,” Turner said, “but I’ve had a lot of positive talks with a lot of different clubs, and the important thing for me is finding the right situation for me to play in and to maximize what I feel is my potential.”
In the meantime, Pochettino has declared the No.1 keeper’s job open. Zack Steffen, Matt Freese and Patrick Schulte have been considered contenders. Steffen left camp with an injury and was replaced by young Chris Brady.
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“I think anybody could attest to the work that I’ve put in to earn each opportunity that I get,” Turner said. “There are lots of good goalkeepers in the pool right now. I think a lot of guys are performing well, especially some of the guys here in MLS, so it’s nice to be around them, to train with them, and just keep pushing myself and pushing them to get better and hold the standards true to what we want to build on this national team.”
Creative tension will be part of the atmosphere for the game against Turkey in East Hartford. These matches usually fill Rentschler Field and the parking lots outside; there were 36,000 for the game against Germany in October 2023. Turner played in that game, a 3-1 loss, and expressed the need for better cohesion and attention to detail afterward. In light of the Nations League losses to Panama and Canada in Los Angeles 2 1/2 months ago, the call is for recapturing the intensity and exuberance that fueled the American squad earlier.
“The end-all and be-all of that camp is, it wasn’t good enough for anybody,” Turner said. “We can lose, but there’s a way to lose and what we showed out on the pitch and for the fans, it wasn’t anywhere near good enough in terms of the mentality and intensity. From players 1 to 60, the minimum standard is, we’re going to show up and be intense and we didn’t have that in Los Angeles.”
So for better days to come for the U.S. National Team, for a good showing in the event the country pays the most attention to, the FIFA World Cup, everything will have to start looking better Saturday in East Hartford.
“The biggest thing is (Pochettino) has a very consistent approach with what he wants to achieve,” Turner said. “The message is the same, roster is different. He’s not going to care about what you do elsewhere, he’s going to care about what you do when you are here. What we need to control is what we bring to the table every single day. This is an an opportunity for us to put a lot of things together tactically, technically, emotionally. When things don’t go how we want them to go, how do we respond?”
Originally Published:
College Sports
New details on how MLB might split expiring ESPN package
The saga of ESPN’s expiring MLB rights package involves four contenders — and perhaps more — vying for different pieces of the pie. MLB is in active negotiations with ESPN, Comcast-owned NBCUniversal, Apple and Netflix on the expiring ESPN rights package, and it is possible that other platforms could enter the mix, Andrew Marchand of […]
The saga of ESPN’s expiring MLB rights package involves four contenders — and perhaps more — vying for different pieces of the pie.
MLB is in active negotiations with ESPN, Comcast-owned NBCUniversal, Apple and Netflix on the expiring ESPN rights package, and it is possible that other platforms could enter the mix, Andrew Marchand of The Athletic reported Thursday. Though Marchand did not state as much, the details of the report leave open the possibility that MLB could reach deals with all four companies.
The expiring $550 million/year package, which includes “Sunday Night Baseball,” the Wild Card round, Home Run Derby and a handful of weekday games (including Opening Day), has been on the market since ESPN opted out of the final three years of its deal in February. Any deals MLB eventually reaches will be for those remaining seasons only, bringing the expiration in line with those of the league’s deals with Fox and TNT Sports.
According to Marchand, Apple and NBCUniversal are believed to be “the final contenders” for “Sunday Night Baseball” and the Wild Card round. Netflix, as reported by Bloomberg last week, is eyeing the Home Run Derby. While the loss of those three properties would seem to leave incumbent ESPN with nothing, Marchand reported Thursday that ESPN is “after a new set of rights” that would include weekday and local games.
ESPN president Jimmy Pitaro has repeatedly stated his network’s interest in local MLB rights, including in a podcast interview with Bryan Curtis of The Ringer three days ago. According to Marchand, ESPN is interested in MLB.tv, which the league was reported earlier this year to be willing to include in negotiations.
Depending on the size of a potential weekday package, ESPN could for all intents and purposes exit the national MLB business. “Sunday Night Baseball” has for nearly 40 years been a cornerstone of the network’s lineup and this season is averaging its largest audience since 2017. A move to NBCU would create a year-round run of Sunday night programming with “Sunday Night Football” in the fall, “Sunday Night Basketball” in the spring and “Sunday Night Baseball” in the summer.
For Apple, the acquisition of “Sunday Night Baseball” would presumably give the streamer two weekend nights of exclusive game inventory to go along with the company’s Friday night games.
According to Marchand, it is possible that MLB could split Sunday Night Baseball and the Wild Card games. In that scenario, one imagines NBC would get the Sunday night games; it would defy logic for NBC to acquire the three-day Wild Card round with no other MLB inventory. An Apple package that includes Friday night games and the Wild Card round also seems more in line with the streamer’s strategy than one that includes three games and two nights a week all season long.
In the event that MLB sells Sunday Night Baseball to NBCU, the Wild Card playoffs to Apple, the Home Run Derby to Netflix, and a new package of weeknight and local games to ESPN, the league would seem to have at least some chance of cobbling together a combined rights fee that approaches what ESPN is currently paying.
It would also give the league a whopping seven national rights partners entering the expiration of its media rights deals in 2028.
College Sports
MacBean, Herr earn college soccer honors
LONG BEACH, Calif. – The Penn State women’s soccer program garnered a wide array of national attention from TopDrawerSoccer.com in its preseason releases, with the Nittany Lions landing the No. 6 overall team ranking while securing one Best XI Team selection and a pair of preseason top-100 players in the organization’s releases Tuesday. Penn State […]
LONG BEACH, Calif. – The Penn State women’s soccer program garnered a wide array of national attention from TopDrawerSoccer.com in its preseason releases, with the Nittany Lions landing the No. 6 overall team ranking while securing one Best XI Team selection and a pair of preseason top-100 players in the organization’s releases Tuesday.
Penn State picked up the No. 6 national ranking according to TopDrawerSoccer’s preseason release, the highest rated program in the Big Ten Conference and the highest ranked team in the nation outside of the Atlantic Coast Conference. The Nittany Lions are one of eight Big Ten programs in the national preseason top 25, with PSU joining UCLA (No. 8), Ohio State (No. 9), Michigan State (No. 11), Wisconsin (No. 13), Minnesota (No. 14), Iowa (No. 17) and USC (No. 21). In total PSU, will challenge a trio of teams who are ranked in the national preseason top 25 by the organization, including Duke (No. 5), Ohio State and Wisconsin.
On an individual basis, graduate forward Kaitlyn MacBean secured a pair of preseason accolades, earning an appearance on the TopDrawerSoccer Preseason Best XI Second Team, the only forward from the Big Ten Conference recognized by the TDS Best XI teams. MacBean also secured the second-highest ranking of any B1G athlete in the organization’s Preseason Top 100 Player Rankings, landing the No. 18 position nationally. On the back line, redshirt junior defender Kayleigh Herr picked up the No. 80 individual ranking to round out PSU’s list of preseason accolades from TopDrawerSoccer.
MacBean, a native of Excelsior, Minnesota, published a 2024 season in the Blue & White that was by far her most statistically significant since joining the Penn State program as a true freshman in 2020. Her single-season career-best 34-point outburst a year ago marked the highest scoring individual season by a Nittany Lion since Maya Hayes turned in an astounding 70-point campaign in 2013. MacBean also managed to muster the third-longest goal scoring streak in Penn State history in a span from the 2023 and 2024 seasons. The veteran attacking player started all 25 fixtures for PSU in the team’s run to the NCAA Tournament National Quarterfinals last season, helping anchor the Nittany Lions with the third-most points in the B1G and 15th-most nationally while scoring 16 goals and adding two assists. MacBean was the highest-ranked forward in the league according to TDS and picked up the second-highest overall ranking in the Big Ten behind Ohio State midfielder Amanda Schlueter.
Herr, a native of Cary, North Carolina, made an instant impact on the Nittany Lion back line as an everyday starter in her first season in Happy Valley in 2024. She shattered career highs in multiple statistics, highlighted by a career-best 25 appearances paired with 25 starts in her inaugural season with the Blue & White. Herr finished second on the Penn State roster and was one of just three PSU student-athletes to surpass the 2,000-minute threshold, with the then-redshirt sophomore tallying 2,076 minutes of action on the pitch. She logged one assist and point on the offensive end of the pitch, adding five total shots with three on-target attempts. Overall, Herr helped power the Nittany Lion defense to 11 shutouts in the 2024 season with a 0.88 goals-against average, one of the strongest marks in the nation.
Last season, the Nittany Lions advanced to the National Quarterfinals for the second year in a row, extended the nation’s longest streak of consecutive Sweet 16 appearances to eight-straight, secured the program’s 30th consecutive NCAA Tournament bid and booked the program’s 31st consecutive season with at least 10 victories, the second-longest stretch of that nature in women’s college soccer. The Blue & White return six starters from last year’s Elite Eight run, including goalkeeper Mackenzie Gress, defenders Herr and Bella Ayscue, midfielder Molly Martin, and forwards MacBean and Amelia White. Penn State additionally boasts the nation’s fifth-ranked recruiting class and strongest signing group in the Big Ten Conference per TopDrawerSoccer’s July release. With MacBean and Herr leading the charge, the United Soccer Coaches 11th-ranked Nittany Lions will open their 2025 season in two days’ time, with a 7 p.m. (ET) kickoff scheduled against the fourth-ranked Duke Blue Devils on Thursday, August 14, from Koskinen Stadium in Durham, North Carolina.
College Sports
Lindsey Phibbs ’02 (2025) – Skidmore College Athletics Hall of Fame
Lindsey Phibbs was a once-in-a-generation equestrian talent whose poise, precision, and grace were instrumental in propelling the women’s riding team to national prominence. As captain in her sophomore year, she led her team to national team championships in both the Open Fences and Open Flat divisions. In the same season, she captured the coveted Cacchione […]
Lindsey Phibbs was a once-in-a-generation equestrian talent whose poise, precision, and grace were instrumental in propelling the women’s riding team to national prominence.
As captain in her sophomore year, she led her team to national team championships in both the Open Fences and Open Flat divisions. In the same season, she captured the coveted Cacchione Cup, the highest honor for extraordinary individual performance. The 1999 riding team was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2008.
Phibbs was celebrated not only for her results but also for her quiet determination and leadership. She was known for having a tremendous feel for the horse and a remarkable eye from the moment she stepped into the ring — instincts that elevated her to the top tier of collegiate riders.
Phibbs was already a rising star in the equestrian world before she came to Skidmore College. In 1997, she was named National Junior Equestrian of the Year by the US Equestrian Federation. She was also the national junior jumper champion and winner of the Washington International Horse Show Equitation Finals.
After Skidmore, Phibbs pursued a career in medicine, becoming a respected OB/GYN in Toledo, Ohio. She brought the same care, precision, and compassion to her patients that she had shown as a rider and teammate.
Lindsey Phibbs passed away in 2015 after a courageous battle with cancer. She is remembered as an extraordinary athlete and dedicated physician who was deeply loved by her family, friends, and teammates. Her legacy endures in the many lives she touched and inspired.
College Sports
Souza to Represent UNH at Spengler Cup as Assistant Coach of U.S. Collegiate Selects
DURHAM, N.H. – University of New Hampshire head men’s hockey coach Mike Souza will represent UNH at the 97th Spengler Cup as an assistant coach of U.S. Collegiate Selects on Dec. 26-31 in Davos, Switzerland. The Selects will be the first team made up of collegiate athletes to compete in the world’s oldest invitational hockey […]
Guy Gadowsky (Penn State University) was selected as the inaugural head coach, while Jason Lammers (Niagara University) will join Souza as an assistant coach.
“I am very excited to be on a staff with coach Gadowsky and coach Lammers, and to represent UNH at the Spengler Cup, a tournament with so much tradition and prestige,” said Souza. “It is an honor to be a part of the first team made up of collegiate athletes to compete in the tournament. This will be a tremendous opportunity for the student-athletes who are selected, and I am looking forward to coaching in such a special environment.”
The U.S. Collegiate Selects will be made up of 25 student-athletes from across NCAA men’s ice hockey, with each conference being represented. The competition runs from December 26-31, with the six participating teams playing a minimum of two contests apiece. Along with the Selects, host HC Davos, Team Canada, HC Fribourg-Gotteron, Sparta Praha and IFK Helsinki will be taking part in the 2025 edition.
This will be only the second time an American-based select team has taken part in the Spengler Cup, following a U.S. squad that won the tournament in 1988, but this will be the first to be made up of collegiate athletes.
Souza is now in his eighth season as head coach at UNH, which included a 20-15-1 record in 2023-24 for the program’s best finish in 11 years.
A native of Wakefield, Mass., Souza played at UNH from 1996-00 totaling 66 goals and 90 assists for 156 points, as the Wildcats reached the national championship game in 1999. He went on to play professionally in the AHL and ECHL, before heading overseas to play in Switzerland, Germany and Italy. His coaching career began as an assistant at Brown University (2011-13), before heading to the University of Connecticut (2013-15) and eventually his alma mater as an associate head coach (2015-18).
For more information on the Spengler Cup, visit www.spenglercup.ch/en.
The Wildcats start the 2025-26 season at Michigan State on Thursday and Friday, Oct. 9-10, while the home season will begin versus LIU (Oct. 24) and Quinnipiac (Oct. 25).
Individual game tickets for the 2025-26 University of New Hampshire men’s hockey season are on sale now for all 17 home games by visiting UNHWildcats.com/BuyTickets or by calling (603) 862-4000.
College Sports
Aggies Fall to Colorado College in Home Opener
Next Game: Abilene Christian 8/17/2025 | 1:00 p.m. ESPN+ Aug. 17 (Sun) / 1:00 p.m. Abilene Christian History LAS CRUCES, N.M. — NM State women’s soccer opened its 2025 campaign with a 2-1 loss to Colorado College on Thursday night at the Soccer Athletic Complex. Kendall Memoly’s brace for the Tigers proved to be the […]
Next Game:
Abilene Christian
8/17/2025 | 1:00 p.m.
ESPN+
Aug. 17 (Sun) / 1:00 p.m.
Abilene Christian
History
LAS CRUCES, N.M. — NM State women’s soccer opened its 2025 campaign with a 2-1 loss to Colorado College on Thursday night at the Soccer Athletic Complex.
Kendall Memoly’s brace for the Tigers proved to be the difference, despite the Aggies leveling the match midway through the first half. After Colorado College jumped ahead in the 14th minute, NM State answered just nine minutes later when Meredith Scott slotted home a finish off a feed from Tessa O’Neill. The visitors reclaimed the lead less than three minutes later on Memoly’s second goal, and the Aggies couldn’t find the equalizer despite a more active second half that produced three shots and four corner kicks.
Goalkeeper Valerie Guha kept NM State within striking distance with four saves, including a pair of stops in the second half. The Aggies pressed late, with Andrea Alvarenga forcing a save in the 77th minute, but Colorado College’s defense held firm to secure the win. NM State will look to bounce back as it continues its homestand this weekend on Sunday against Abilene Christian.
A total of five newcomers logged their first minutes in the opener as Tessa O’Neill, Amaya Simoni-Walters, Doriela Norzagaray, Daniela Portillo and Rachel Haan all appeared Thursday night.
For complete coverage of NM State Soccer, visit NMStateSports.com – the official home of Aggie Athletics – and follow us on Twitter (@NMStateWSOC), Instagram (@NMStateWSOC), and like us on FaceBook (@NMStateWSOC).
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College Sports
Massachusetts Women's Soccer Opens 2025 Campaign With 1
AMHERST, Mass. – Freshman Amelia Deren’s first collegiate tally helped propel University of Massachusetts women’s soccer to a 1-0 victory over St. John’s on Rudd Field in the squad’s 2025 season opener on Thursday afternoon. With the victory, the Minutewomen improve to 1-0-0, while the Red Storm falls to 0-1-0 on the season. Offensive opportunities were […]
AMHERST, Mass. – Freshman Amelia Deren’s first collegiate tally helped propel University of Massachusetts women’s soccer to a 1-0 victory over St. John’s on Rudd Field in the squad’s 2025 season opener on Thursday afternoon. With the victory, the Minutewomen improve to 1-0-0, while the Red Storm falls to 0-1-0 on the season.
Offensive opportunities were limited in the first half with each side putting two shots on target and combining for just seven attempts at goal in total combined.
UMass ratcheted up its attack in the second half, however. Out-shooting St. John’s 9-2 in the final 45 minutes and holding the Red Storm without a shot on goal in the period.
The Minutewomen broke through for the only goal of the match in the 68th minute. Graduate student Sarah DeFreitas fed Deren up top outside the box and Deren drove her shot into the bottom left corner.
UMass finished the day with 10 corners to the Red Storm’s two and controlled possession, 61% to 39%. Fouls were even at 11 apiece.
Redshirt freshman Leah Nisenfeld earned the shutout with two saves for the Minutewomen, while Kayla Bower had four stops for St. John’s.
UMass will be back in action with a trip to NJIT in Newark, New Jersey next Thursday, August 21. Match time is set for 5 p.m.
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