WWAY’s Monday night sports – October 28

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WILMINGTON, NC (WWAY) — New Hanover High graduate Kadeem Allen made a verbal commitment to the University of Arizona for college basketball. WWAY Full Court Press co-host Kevin Schneider provided his take on Allen’s commitment on Monday’s 11pm sports. Click the play video icon to get Schneider’s assessment. Allen played basketball at Laney prior to his transfer to New Hanover. Allen is currently a sophomore at Hutchinson Junior College in Kansas.

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ST. LOUIS (AP) – Jon Lester smothered St. Louis on four hits into the eighth, David Ross hit a tiebreaking RBI double in a two-run seventh inning off Adam Wainwright and the Boston Red Sox beat the Cardinals 3-1 Monday night to take a 3-2 World Series lead.

David Ortiz’s RBI double in the first put the Red Sox ahead until Matt Holliday hit his second home run of the Series in the fourth, ending a 16 1-3 inning Series scoreless streak for Lester dating to 2007.

Lester beat Wainwright for the second time this Series, striking out seven and walking one in 7 2-3 innings, and Koji Uehara finished the four-hitter for his second save.

Wainwright allowed all three runs and eight hits in seven innings with 10 strikeouts and a walk. He also gave up Jacoby Ellsbury’s RBI single in the seventh.

Boston can win its third title in a decade on Wednesday night, when the Series resumes at Fenway Park.

(Copyright 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

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ST. LOUIS (AP) – Davis Ross, a gray-bearded baseball journeyman, has nearly completed his long-and-winding trek to a World Series title.

The very definition of a bench player – a backup catcher who has never gotten more than 311 at-bats in a season – Ross got the biggest hit of the year thus far for the Boston Red Sox.

Ross pulled a hanging curveball down the left-field line that landed just a few inches fair in the seventh inning, driving in the go-ahead run and boosting the Red Sox over the St. Louis Cardinals 3-1 for a 3-2 World Series lead.

Now 36, Ross’s sandy-colored beard makes him look more aging rocker than dashing athlete. A veteran of six major league organizations, he signed last November for his second tour with the Red Sox, his team for part of 2008. And in a season interrupted by a concussion that sidelined him for more than two months, he emerged as Jon Lester’s catcher in October.

With Jarrod Saltalamacchia slumping at the plate, Ross got the opportunity of his 12-year major league career.

The bottom of Boston’s batting order had been a bust in the first four games: the Nos. 7-9 hitters were 2 for 43 (.047) with two walks and three RBIs.

With the back end of the Red Sox rotation in shaky condition, Boston didn’t want to have to return to Fenway Park needing to sweep two games.

Ross was 1 for 9 in the Series before his fifth-inning single. He stepped to the plate in the seventh against Adam Wainwright following a single by rookie Xander Bogaerts and a walk by Stephen Drew, took a called strike, watched a ball and then fouled off a pitch. When Wainwright left a 79-mph hanger up, he pounced. If the ball hadn’t bounced into the stands, Drew would have scored, too, but he came around on Jacoby Ellsbury’s single as Ross was thrown out by Shane Robinson.

Ross isn’t out there for his speed. He’s usually not on the field for his bat.

In an October of unexpected surprises, Ross provided the biggest one for Boston.

(Copyright 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

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WILMINGTON, NC (UNCW) — UNCW sophomore forward Katrina Guillou was named Co-Player-of-the-Week by the Colonial Athletic Association on Monday.

Guillou, who shared the honor with Drexel’s Lauren Stollar, became the second Seahawk player to earn the award this season. Sophomore Maddy McCormick garnered Player-of-the-Week accolades on Sept. 16.

“This is a well deserved honor,” said UNCW Head Coach Paul Cairney. “Katrina has been a dynamic force for us all season. She worked very hard during our spring and summer this year and her disciplined approach is paying off. She is an enjoyable player to watch and I am very happy for her. As with any individual accolade, however, Katrina shares this award with all of her teammates.”

A native of Ft. Washington, Md., Guillou scored two goals and assisted on the third in UNCW’s 3-1 victory over Delaware on Sunday that earned the Seahawks a berth in the CAA Tournament. Guillou opened the scoring a goal just 4:55 into the contest and assisted on the game-winner by McCormick less than 10 minutes later. She capped her performance by adding an insurance goal on a penalty kick in the 65th minute.

Entering postseason play, Guillou leads UNCW with 10 goals, six assists and 26 points. She has tallied at least one point in 11 of the Seahawks’ last 14 contests.

No. 5 seed UNCW (9-9) opens the 2013 CAA Women’s Soccer Championship with a first-round contest at No. 4 seed Hofstra.

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WILMINGTON, NC (UNCW) — UNCW freshman goalkeeper Sean Melvin was named Colonial Athletic Association Rookie of the Week and junior defender Jacob VanCompernolle earned a spot on CollegeSoccerNews.com’s Team of the Week following an impressive week for the Seahawks.

The Seahawks ran their record to 8-5-1 overall and 3-2-0 in the league with road wins at 11th-ranked UNC Chapel Hill (1-0) and Delaware (2-1) last week. Both teams were in the NCAA’s top-25 in the RPI.

Melvin earned the win in both games for the Seahawks and finished with four saves while allowing one goal. The Vancouver, British Columbia native drew the start in the UNC game and answered the call. It was his first start in a month and he fashioned his second shutout of the season. The win snapped a seven-game winless streak against the Tar Heels, dating back to 1978.

VanCompernolle was another vital cog in the Seahawk defense last week, one that limited the nation’s top offense in Delaware to just two shots on goal.

VanCompernolle, who is one of two Seahawks to start every game this season, recorded his third assist of the season in the UD game, setting a career high.
Defensively this season, UNCW has posted a 1.11 goals against average and a .746 save average. Opponents are averaging just 4.5 shots on goal per game.
The Seahawks moved into a tie along with William & Mary for third in the CAA with nine points and host the Tribe on Nov. 2 at 7 p.m.

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WILMINGTON, NC (CCL RELEASE) — Country Club of Landfall’s ACES 18’s Intermediate Jr. Team Tennis team came in 2nd at the Jr. Team Tennis National Championship for the first time ever this past weekend. The team competed in the United States Tennis Association’s National Jr. Team Tennis Championships in Columbia, South Carolina, competing against teams from sections all over the country, including the Mid-Atlantic, Southern California, Middle States, Southern and Missouri Valley.

The team qualified for Nationals by winning the Jr. Team Tennis North Carolina Championships and the Southern Championships held in Alabama earlier this summer. Last year, the team competed at Nationals for the first time and took home a third place finish.

“This is probably one of the closest groups of juniors I have ever coached,” said CCL Head Tennis Professional and Jr. Team Tennis Head Coach, Jon Ingham. “They have trained together for years and our team has become like a family. It is this closeness that helped propel them to a third place finish last year and now another huge step forward with a second place finish this year.”

The 18’s team is comprised of Patrick Ryder, Parker Anderson, Alex Gianoplus, Jack Gallop, Reid Gilbert, Tyler Smith, Chase Horton, Anna Hodges, Erin Nesselroade, Brooke Graham, Talat Gourdarzi and coached by Country Club of Landfall Head Tennis Professional Jonathan Ingham and Assistant Tennis Professional Alan Donald.

The team began their match play at Nationals by beating the Mid-Atlantic Section team from Baltimore then went to play a team from Southern California. In the next round of matches the ACES took on the Middle States and a team representing Delaware, followed by a wild card team from the Southern Section and the state of Georgia. After beating Georgia, the ACES qualified to play in the National Championship Finals where they lost a hard fought battle versus the Missouri Valley Section represented by a team from Oklahoma.

The 18’s earned the ACES and the Country Club of Landfall their second national place finish in two weeks with the 14’s winning the National Championship at the very same site one weekend ago. “For the programs to finish first and second in the nation, competing against teams from much larger cities is a testament to the hard work our juniors put in day in and day out,” continued Ingham. “It is a very proud day for our program and for our Club.”

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RALEIGH, NC (AP) – Rookie Jayson Megna had his first career goal and assist, and the Pittsburgh Penguins snapped a three-game losing streak by beating the Carolina Hurricanes 3-1 on Monday night.

Chris Kunitz and Tanner Glass also scored for the Metropolitan Division-leading Penguins. Brooks Orpik had three assists, Sidney Crosby added two and Marc-Andre Fleury stopped 20 shots.

Pittsburgh ended its longest losing streak since 2011-12 by defeating the Hurricanes for the fourth straight time.

Nathan Gerbe scored a power-play goal for Carolina, which lost its third straight but remained tied with the New York Islanders for second in the division – five points behind the Penguins. Justin Peters made 26 saves in his second straight start in place of the injured Cam Ward.

(Copyright 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

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