The times. (Gainesville, Ga.) 1972-current, December 03, 2018, Image 11

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The times., December 03, 2018, Image 11

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Newspaper Page TextSPORTS The Times, Gainesville, Georgia | gainesvilletimes.com Monday, December 3, 2018 3B INTERNATIONAL SOCCER Gregg Berhalter to coach U.S. men’s team BY RONALD BLUM Associated Press Gregg Berhalter was hired Sun day to coach the U.S. men’s national team, making him the first person to run the Americans after playing for them at the World Cup. Berhalter, who spent the past five seasons as coach of Major League Soccer’s Columbus Crew, repre sents a generational change for an American team staggered by its failure to reach this year’s World Cup after seven straight appearances at soc cer’s showcase. A native of Englewood, New Jersey, Berhalter grew up in Tenafly and played alongside future U.S. captain Claudio Reyna at Saint Bene dict’s Prep in Newark. Berhalter’s Columbus teams succeeded despite one of the league’s lowest payrolls. “They try to keep the ball. He’s got ideas and a style of play that they stick to,” U.S. goalkeeper Brad Guzan said. “That guidance will be important going forward.” The 45-year-old was long viewed as the front-runner for a job that stayed open for nearly 14 months. He is the second youngest coach for the Americans in four decades; Steve Sampson was 38 when he took over in 1995. “He is a coach that is learning at all times,” said U.S. general manager Earnie Stewart, who made the deci sion approved Saturday by the U.S. Soccer Federation board of direc tors. “Every single day he tries to develop himself so he can be a bet ter leader for the team that he has. That is something that really stood out with Gregg and went a long way in the decision to offer him the job.” Berhalter is a godson of baseball Hall of Famer Carl Yastrzemski. His 47-year-old brother, Jay, is the U.S. Soccer Federation’s chief commer cial and strategy officer. A defender who made 44 appear ances for the U.S. from 1994-06, Gregg Berhalter started on the left side of a three-man back line in the 2002 knockout stage matches against Mexico and Germany after Jeff Agoos got hurt and U.S. coach Bruce Arena changed formation. In the 1-0 quarterfinal loss to Ger many, Berhalter’s 49th-minute shot bounced off goalkeeper Oliver Kahn and the left arm of German defender Torsten Frings, but Scottish referee Hugh Dallas did not award a penalty kick. Ten minutes earlier, Michael Bal- lack outjumped Berhalter and Tony Sanneh to head Christian Ziege’s free kick past Brad Friedel. Berhalter was a late addition to the 2006 World Cup roster after Cory Gibbs injured a knee in a pre-tour nament exhibition against Morocco, but Berhalter did not get into a World Cup match that year. He also was on the roster for the 1995 Copa America, 1998 CONCACAF Gold Cup and the 1999 and 2003 Confederations Cups. He played college soccer at North Carolina. Months after the U.S. hosted the 1994 World Cup, Belhalter made his national team debut that October in an exhibition at Saudi Arabia. Berhalter played at the club level with Zwolle (1994-96), Sparta Rotterdam (1996-98), Cambuur Leeuwarden (1998-00), Crys tal Palace (2001-02), Ener- gie Cottbus (2002-06), 1860 Munich (2006-09) and the LA Galaxy (2009-11). Berhalter started his coaching career at sec ond-division Hammarby in Sweden in Decem ber 2011 and was fired in July 2013. Berhalter was hired by Columbus in November 2013 and led the team to third, second, ninth and consecutive fifth-place finishes. The low-budget Crew lost to Portland in the 2015 MLS final and to Toronto in the 2017 East ern Conference final. Arena replaced Jurgen Klinsmann in November 2016 after a 0-2 start in the final round of World Cup quali fying. The Americans fell one point short of the tournament when they lost 2-1 at Trinidad and Tobago on Oct. 10, 2017, and Arena quit three days later. A search was delayed until after the USSF presidential election. After Carlos Cordeiro was voted in to suc ceed Sunil Gulati in February, the USSF board decided to institute a men’s national team general man ager to head the search. Stewart, a former Berhalter teammate on the national team, was hired in June but didn’t start until mid-August because of his obligations to the Philadelphia Union, further delaying the search. Stewart consulted with eight Americans with 100 international appearances, then worked with USSF chief sport development offi cer Nico Romeijn and chief soccer officer Ryan Mooney to develop a five-page job description. It included 10 base value qualifications such as implementing a recognizable style and understanding analytics, and six with added value such as multiple languages. Stewart compiled a list of 33 can didates, narrowed it to 11 and inter viewed two: Oscar Pareja, who left FC Dallas last month for Mexico’s Tijuana, and Berhalter. “His willingness, work ethic and ideas about developing this player pool and influencing these players in and outside of camp and the thought process he has about that — con stantly seeking new things — set him apart,” Stewart said. Dave Sarachan, Arena’s top assis tant, has coached the team in the interim. Berhalter COLLEGE SOCCER BEN MCKEOWN I Associated Press Florida State celebrates their victory over North Carolina in an NCAA women’s soccer championship game Sunday in Cary, N.C. Florida State women’s team wins national championship Associated Press CARY, N.C. — Dallas Dorosy made one more play for Florida State at another big moment. Dorosy scored in the 60th min ute to help the Seminoles beat North Carolina 1-0 on Sunday for the NCAA Women’s College Cup championship. Florida State (20-4-3) won the NCAA title for the second time. It also won it all in 2014. “I thought our kids fought extremely hard,” coach Mark Krikorian said. “Resilient as can be.” Dorosy scored five of her seven goals this season in Flor ida State’s final seven matches. She was a big reason why the Seminoles advanced to the Final Four, scoring the equalizer in the second and third rounds with her team trailing 1-0. “As a senior, you realize that it’s your last run,” Dorosy said. “My teammates work so hard for me, and I try to work hard for them.” Dorosy uncorked the winning shot as she slid to the ground in front of North Carolina defender Lotte Wubben-Moy, beating Samantha Leshnak to the near post. Dorosy one-timed a feed from Deyna Castellanos, who crossed the ball along the ground from just outside the penalty area on the right side. “I just threw my body in there with everything I had,” Dorosy said. Caroline Jeffers made two saves in Florida State’s 16th shutout of the season. She dived on a dangerous loose ball in the 85th minute to preserve the lead. North Carolina (21-4-2), a 21-time NCAA champion, was shut out for the second time all season. “If there was a way for nei ther team to lose that game, I think that would have been the just result,” North Carolina coach Anson Dorrance said. North Carolina’s best scoring chance came in the 36th minute, when Rachael Dorwart’s header off a corner kick sailed wide left. The Tar Heels outshot Florida State 6-2 in the second half and finished with a 5-1 advantage in corner kicks for the game. “It was really close,” North Carolina defender Julia Ashley said. “But we just weren’t able to get it done. It was one pass or one shot away.” The Seminoles finished the year with a nine-match unbeaten streak after a 1-0 loss at Miami on Oct. 25. They recorded their 10th win all time against North Carolina, more than any other school against the Tar Heels. The final was the third meet ing this season between the Atlantic Coast Conference rivals. North Carolina won 1-0 at Florida State on Sept. 14, and the Seminoles beat the Tar Heels 3-2 in the ACC Tournament final on Nov. 4. After scoring twice against North Carolina in the ACC title game, Dorosy hurt the Tar Heels once again. “Same team, same stadium,” she said. Florida State completed an impressive run to the national title. In their last four games, the Seminoles eliminated the last three NCAA champions (Stan ford, Penn State and Southern California) and the most accom plished program in the sport. The Tar Heels were in the Final Four for the 28th time in the 37-year history of the tourna ment. They have now gone six years since their most recent NCAA title in 2012. Before this stretch, they had never gone more than two years in a row without the crown. “It’s never easy, no matter what the stage is, to play against North Carolina,” Krikorian said. “They’ve defined excellence in all of college sports, not just college soccer. For us to be sit ting here, finding a way to score a goal, finding a way to get the result and win, I think we all feel very good about that. ” GOLF Rahm wins third tide of season in Nassau BY DOUG FERGUSON Associated Press NASSAU, Bahamas — Jon Rahm broke into tears when he beat Tiger Woods in the Ryder Cup, the most meaningful moment of his career. Sunday wasn’t bad either, not with Woods handing him the trophy after Rahm turned a potential shootout into a runaway victory on the back nine in the Bahamas to end his year by winning the Hero World Challenge. That makes two full years as a pro for the 24-year-old Spaniard, each with three victo ries worldwide. “I hope I keep winning three times every year,” Rahm said. “Still wouldn’t get to what Tiger’s done in 20 years, but it would be pretty impressive.” Starting the final round in a three-way tie with Tony Finau and Henrik Stenson, Rahm took the lead for good on the eighth hole and never trailed again. Finau was his final chal lenger until he took double bogey on the par-4 14th hole as Rahm made birdie for a five-shot lead, and the rest was easy. Rahm closed with a 7-under 65 for a four- shot victory at Albany Golf Club. “Even if I make a 4 there, I’m going to have to do something pretty dang special,” Finau said. “Hats off to Jon this week. He played incredible golf, and he deserved to win this week.” Woods was never in the picture until it was time to hand out the trophy. Woods got off to another rough start, rallied on the back nine and had to settle for a l-over 73 to finish 17th against the 18-man field. He finished 19 shots behind, the biggest gap this year from the winner over 72 holes. “Overall, it was a long week, but one that I hope the players enjoyed,” Woods said. DANTE CARRER I Associated Press Spain’s Jon Rahm poses with the tournament trophy after winning the Hero World Challenge at Albany Golf Club Sunday in Nassau, Bahamas. PLAYOFF ■ Continued from 1B title on Saturday, paying back a three-point loss in October in Dallas in the Red River Rivalry game. Oklahoma is making its third appearance in the five- year-old playoff. Defending national champion Ala bama has played in them all. Clemson is making its fourth straight appearance. Notre Dame is in the playoff for the first time, making it 10 teams in five seasons to participate in the playoff. Unbeaten UCF finished eighth in the final rank ings, nowhere to be found in the committee’s playoff discussion. The Knights will put their 25-game winning streak on the line against another SEC team after beating Auburn in the Peach Bowl last season. The debate leading up to championship Saturday was whether Oklahoma or Ohio State might take the fourth spot if Alabama beat Georgia. The wild card was Geor gia beating the mighty Tide, which could have meant two SEC teams for the second straight season. Instead, the Bulldogs lost but played well enough to allow coach Kirby Smart to make that case that Georgia should remain in the top four. Smart told reporters after the SEC title game to ask Alabama coach Nick Saban which team he would like to avoid in the playoff? Saban, of course, endorsed his former defensive coordi nator and conference-mate. The committee didn’t buy it and stayed with the one consistent data point throughout the five years of playoff selections: No team with more than one loss has ever made the playoff. Of the 20 teams that have been selected, only two have not won a conference title. For the second straight season, two of the Power Five conferences were left out and for the second straight season it was the Big Ten and Pac-12. Ohio State was the first team out last season and again appears to have gotten squeezed because of a lopsided loss to an unranked team. The Buckeyes were blown out by Pur due in October, sim ilar to the way they lost at Iowa in 2017. “The CFP com mittee does its best and I appreciate their commitment to college football,” Big Ten Commis sioner Jim Delany told the AP in a text message. “Not frustrated at all because I know we have three teams capable of winning it all, but only have four playoff slots.” The Pac-12 was never in the discussion, with its champion Washington fin ishing 10-3. Georgia had both two losses and a blowout loss (at LSU, by 20 in October). The Bulldogs have been rolling since and had Alabama on the ropes before the Tide erased a 14-point deficit. The Bulldogs proved they could hang against the best, but it was not enough. Oklahoma has had defen sive issues all season, but its offense has been virtually unstoppable. Smart INTRODUCING a* rfjatnte Saved You 2011-201? Mr. Nibble V^WOUl *“>-aO! 7 Little & Davenport Funeral Home To inquire about pricing packages available to memorialize a pet in print, please contact Megan Lewis at 770-535-6371 or mlewis@gainesvilletimes.com Pets at Peace will appear in The Times the last Sunday of each month.