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Friday, Nov. 14, 2008

Sports briefs

UK Sports

Men's soccer to face C. Florida in conference quarterfinals

After dispatching Marshall in the first round of the Conference USA Championship, the No. 23 Kentucky men's soccer team will try to extend its school-record eight-game unbeaten streak, facing Central Florida in the quarterfinals at 6 p.m. Friday in Dallas.

Kentucky (11-4-4, 6-1-1 C-USA) got two goals from senior forward Michael Strong in the 4-2 victory against Marshall. The Wildcats defeated Central Florida 2-1 on Oct. 22 at the UK Soccer Complex.

Kentucky's offense has 39 goals this season, which is fourth in school history. Strong has led the way with nine.

Volleyball: No. 22 Kentucky (23-4, 14-2 SEC) will host South Carolina at Memorial Coliseum at 7 p.m. Friday. The Gamecocks, who are in fourth place in the SEC East, are 10-5 in conference play.

Women's soccer

Three Ky. teams in NCAA tourneys

Three women's soccer teams from the commonwealth will be competing in NCAA tournaments this weekend.

Morehead State (9-8-3) will face regional third seed and host Wake Forest (12-7) in the first round of the NCAA Women's College Cup at 5 p.m. Friday.

Centre (12-5-1) will oppose No. 19 Denison at Otterbein College in the NCAA Division III tourney at 2 p.m. Saturday.

Northern Kentucky (15-3) is the No. 3 seed in the Midwest Region of the Division II tourney. The Norse will play Rockhurst at host Wisconsin-Parkside at 1 p.m. Friday. The winner will face Parkside on Sunday.

Morehead won its first Ohio Valley Conference Tournament 1-0 over UT Martin. The Eagles are led in scoring by OVC Freshman of the Year and co-Offensive Player of the Year Jillian Birchmeier with nine goals. Sophomore goalkeeper Lily Meisner was tournament Most Valuable Player. She has 73 saves this season.

Centre was second in the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference. The Colonels are led offensively by Erin Menard and Allison Terry. They are tied for sixth in the SCAC in points. Menard led the league in goals with nine. Terry had seven. Terry led in game-winning goals with four. Centre allowed 1.05 goals a match. Goalkeeper Rosie McAuley posted five shutouts and was fourth in goals against average (0.99). Denison won the season opener over Centre 2-1.

Northern Kentucky lost to Parkside 2-1 in the finals of the Great Lakes Valley Conference Tournament title match. Rockhurst defeated NKU 1-0 in the regular season. Danielle Boyce scored the only goal.

Horse racing

Laurel Park isolates barn

Laurel Park in Maryland isolated a barn after a 2-year old filly tested positive for equine herpesvirus. Nin, trained by King Leatherbury, was sitting up and eating Thursday morning with no fever. She could not stand on Wednesday. A hold order was placed on Barn 1 at the central Maryland track. None of the 29 horses in the barn will be permitted to train or race, pending further testing.

Churchill Downs: Diverse won the $44,100 Kentucky Derby Museum Purse, beating Kiss the Queen by a nose. The 4-year-old daughter of Kingmambo covered the mile over the turf in 1:38.75 with Robby Albarado aboard.

Golf

Lam leads big names in Singapore

Lam Chih Bing upstaged the big names to take a first-round lead at the Singapore Open in a bid to become the first local player to win the tournament. Lam birdied three of the final four holes to finish with a 4-under 67 and the clubhouse lead over Marcus Both (68) in an opening round delayed by lightning. Play was halted because of darkness with almost half the field unable to finish their opening rounds.

South Africa's Ernie Els, who lost this tournament in a playoff in 2006 before missing the cut last year, was three under after 14 holes when play was called off, leaving him tied for second. Phil Mickelson shot 73 and is six strokes off the pace in the $5 million event.

Ochoa struggles in own tourney

Lorena Ochoa struggled in the first round in her own Lorena Ochoa Invitational, shooting a 1-over 73 on her home course in Guadalajara, Mexico, to drop five strokes behind Annika Sorenstam and the other leaders. LPGA Championship winner Yani Tseng, No. 2 in the world behind Ochoa and ahead of Sorenstam, topped the leader board at 68 along with Sorenstam, Angela Stanford, Karen Stupples, Seon Hwa Lee, Nicole Castrale, Hee-Won Han and Brittany Lang.

Etc.

Attorneys: Vick plans NFL return

Imprisoned NFL quarterback Michael Vick expects to return to pro football, according to his bankruptcy attorneys who laid out a plan to pay creditors based in part on his anticipated earnings. The former Atlanta Falcons star is serving a 23-month sentence in a federal penitentiary for bankrolling a dogfighting ring in rural Virginia and is scheduled to be released on July 20.

■ Julio Castillo, a Peoria Chiefs minor-league pitcher accused of throwing a ball that hit a fan in the head during a bench-clearing brawl, has pleaded not guilty. Castillo was indicted last month on two counts of felonious assault.

The last word

In the 156 times NASCAR points leader Jimmie Johnson and Carl Edwards have raced each other, Edwards has never made up 141 points on Johnson in a single race. Edwards actually found that to be encouraging:

"Have you heard that statistic?" Edwards asked Johnson. "You'd better be nervous. This is racing. We've all raced long enough to know that anything can happen. That's a good confidence booster for me."