NEU » Terrell Suggs is the closest.

SAN JOSE, Calif. -- No one left in the Womens College Cup has any championship experience.That wont stop either USC or West Virginia from experiencing a championship Sunday inside Avaya Stadium.It certainly didnt stop the Trojans and Mountaineers from earning the right to try.Fridays national semifinals were perhaps best summed up by the fact that the first coach to wonder aloud if a team felt final four jitters was the one who has won this tournament 21 times in the past. No such questions dogged No. 1 West Virginia after a 1-0 win over No. 2 North Carolina, the aforementioned Anson Dorrance dynasty, or No. 2 USC after its 1-0 win over No. 2 Georgetown.While USC won a national championship nine years ago, neither the head coaches nor the players involved on either side of Sundays final have any experience in such a setting. But in semifinals with such slim margins of error, both teams showed experience shapes in many ways.In a physical opening game in which chances had been decidedly scarce for both teams, an ill-timed foul by North Carolina gave West Virginia a free kick near its opponents end line in the 74th minute. Served toward the opposite post, the ball fell amongst a scrum. Several touches failed to produce a clearance for the Tar Heels, and the last attempt rolled to the feet of Michaela Abam just inside the 18-yard box. West Virginias leading scorer each of her first three seasons, Abam dragged the ball behind her with a deft touch, then let loose a left-footed shot that Dorrance accurately noted screamed into the top corner.Abam was raised on stories of Cameroonian soccer legend Roger Milla (who led a team with no World Cup experience to a draw against mighty Italy in 1982, presaging future glory) by parents from that nation. So upon scoring in the College Cup, she ran to the corner flag and broke out Millas signature celebratory dance. Neither the shot nor the dance hinted of any jitters.Goals have become precious in this postseason. All four quarterfinals were settled by the same 1-0 score as Fridays semifinals, the first time that happened in tournament history. Abams chance was West Virginias best, and she didnt let it go to waste.Excluding the first year of the NCAA tournament, teams were 7-19-1 in College Cup debuts entering this years semifinals. That included a 2-8-0 mark this century.Yet West Virginia isnt a typical newcomer. The Mountaineers arent here at the end of a Cinderella run. They are the last No. 1 seed standing, the only team in the country that hasnt lost multiple games (a fact its opponent ensured when it upset No. 1 seed South Carolina a week earlier).They havent been here before, but it helps them act as if they have when two captains have been on an Olympic medal podium. And when Kadeisha Buchanan and Ashley Lawrence have played with a nation watching, including 54,027 in the stands for a World Cup quarterfinal.I even think last year, when we [lost] in that Elite Eight game at Penn State, I think some of us got a little bit nervous and a little unsettled, West Virginia coach Nikki Izzo-Brown said. I think experience, obviously [Buchanan] and Ashley bring so much at the highest stages, so we can feed off of them as our captains and our leaders. [Midfielder] Carly Black has been [around] for five years, she recognizes that. ... The leadership is a piece that potentially we didnt have last year or the years before.North Carolina had chances after Abams goal. But those chances came only when it threw caution to the wind and pushed forward to try and equalize. It had chances only when those chances came with a season riding on their success. Perhaps that added weight played its part when freshmen Bridgette Andrzejewski and Madison Schultz leaned a little too far back on chances and blasted balls over the crossbar in the closing minutes.When West Virginia lost starting right back Bianca St. Georges to an ankle injury early in the second half, the talented sophomore carried off without putting any weight on either leg, Lawrence relocated from the midfield to play on the back line and substitute Vanessa Flores entered the midfield. The game was still scoreless at the time, and it wasnt as if the Mountaineers were knocking on the door with great opportunities. But rather than fret about moving a world-class player farther from the opponents goal, West Virginia used the plan that worked in the regular season.Obviously its a very difficult move for us to lose [Lawrence] in midfield and that constant threat that she provides for us, Izzo-Brown said. But it was something we needed to do to make sure that we could stay in this game and be effective. We have other players we have called on -- I thought Vanessa Flores did an incredible job, as Ashley Woolpert did and Carla [Portillo]. Its difficult to make a call like that, but Ashleys done that for us in numerous games.In that moment, like the game as a whole, West Virginia trusted its own experience.Scoring chances were marginally more plentiful in the second semifinal between USC and Georgetown, but the final product was no easier to locate. The game was scoreless at halftime, a fortunate development for a USC team that was arguably outplayed during those first 45 minutes. Georgetown proved its own College Cup debut no fluke, but the Hoyas couldnt score.In addition to some tangible tactical tweaks to break up Georgetowns spatial dominance, USC players heard a halftime message that coach Keidane McAlpine summed up in one word: Breathe.Several of the players who were a part of USCs win Friday were around when the team missed the NCAA tournament entirely in 2013. That completed the programs fall from grace after its 2007 title and precipitated the coaching change that brought McAlpine from Washington State.The first thing with the program that we had to do was learn how to compete again and get back to the national tournament, McAlpine said. That was year one.The past two years were about playing the kind of competition, even beyond the Pac-12, that teams must master if they hope to compete for a championship. That culminated a month ago in a setting that couldnt match the stakes of the College Cup but still dwarfed the atmosphere in San Jose on Friday in front of a crowd that numbered barely 4,000 on a workday afternoon and with little time to publicize the event following its relocation from Cary, North Carolina, because of that states anti-LGBTQ legislation.That was when USC lost 1-0 to UCLA and perhaps cost itself a No. 1 seed.There were 8,500 people there, McAlpine said. It was a rivalry game. There were a lot of things going on, a lot of distractions that could take us away from the job at hand. Losing that game, I think, helped prepare us to understand what the intensity needs to be, what the environment feels like of a game like this. And that game helped propel us today.So it was that in the 60th minute, as USC began to take control of the games flow, when Morgan Andrews gathered a pass on the edge of the 18-yard box and chipped a picture perfect delivery to Katie Johnson. Her back to goal, Johnson spun over her right shoulder, separated from the defender behind her and beat the keeper with a low shot toward the post. If it ceded artistic merit to Abams goal, it wasnt by all that much.Credit to Andrews, the senior who transferred from Notre Dame, for finding Johnson, a fifth-year senior on the field only because of a redshirt season a year ago due to injury.Experience comes in many forms.Pleased with how his team played in its own debut, the unmistakable pain of the result aside, Georgetown coach Dave Nolan said he told his players after the game to look around them.Theres worse places to finish, Nolan said.Indeed, there is no experience quite like it for a college soccer player. But that wasnt a prerequisite for success Friday. Dusty Baker Jersey . Still, Brewers manager Ron Roenicke thought taking him out before the fifth inning was an unusual move. "Im looking up at the board and hes got two hits given up and one run, and Im taking him out after the fourth inning," Roenicke said. Matt Joyce Braves Jersey . The winner Saturday will remain in the elite 10-team field next year. "We talked about wanting to be disciplined and stick with our game plan and good things will come," Draisaitl said, who had two goals for the victors. https://www.cheapbraves.com/1083o-brian-mccann-jersey-braves.html . -- There were so many positives from the Orlando Magics first victory of the season that it was hard for coach Jacque Vaughn to stop praising his players. Jeff Burroughs Braves Jersey . Artturi Lehkonen, Joni Nikko and Ville Leskinen had the other goals for Finland (1-0) while Juuse Saros stopped 28 shots. Tim Robin Johnsgard had the lone goal for Norway (0-2). Max Fried Jersey . Halifax beat the Saint John Sea Dogs 7-5 on the strength of two goals apiece from Nikolaj Ehlers, Matt Murphy and Brent Andrews. Jonathan Drouin also scored and had three assists while Zachary Fucale made 17 saves for the Mooseheads (16-8-0), who led 6-1 after two periods. OWINGS MILLS, Md. -- As the Baltimore Ravens grind through another training camp practice, Joe Flacco drops back gingerly to throw.The quarterback has a metal brace wrapped around his left knee and is the only player on the field in a red jersey. Hes wearing No. 5, but it might as well read: Do Not Touch.Flacco was once considered a Baltimore football equivalent to Orioles Hall of Famer Cal Ripken, baseballs Iron Man. Now, however, Flacco is seeking to return from a season-ending injury in November that snapped his run of 137 consecutive starts.It was one of many injuries that contributed heavily to a dismal 5-11 finish for the Ravens -- their first losing season under coach John Harbaugh.In his previous seven years, Harbaugh compiled a 72-40 record, reached the playoffs six times and won a Super Bowl.Then came 2015, when everything went awry.Baltimore placed 20 players on injured reserve, eight of them starters. The downward spiral began on the first day of training camp, when top draft pick Breshad Perriman tore a knee ligament. The speedy wide receiver was supposed to fill the void left by the departure of free agent Torrey Smith, but Perriman never played a minute and remains in recovery mode with the Sept. 11 opener against Buffalo less than a month away.Flacco and running back Justin Forsett (broken arm) are back on the practice field, but neither played in Baltimores preseason opener Thursday night.The wait remains for Perriman, wide receiver Steve Smith (torn Achilles tendon), and linebackers Terrell Suggs (torn Achilles tendon) and Elvis Dumervil (foot). All four are on the physically unable to perform list and have been rarely seen this summer, even on the sidelines.They all want to play, I know that, Harbaugh said this week. Theyre all working really hard to play in the preseason, but were certainly expecting them all back for the opener. Well just have to make some decisions. Terrell Suggs is the closest. He had the injury the soonest. Hes already on me about practice, and Im holding him back right now. Hell be out there soon practicing. How muchh we play him remains to be seen.dddddddddddd The other guys are probably a little longer away than he is -- him being ready -- but well just see where we go.Theres also the matter of tight end Dennis Pitta, who had his season end in 2013 and 2014 with a serious hip injury. Pitta missed all last year and is attempting another comeback, but his bid was stalled by a sprained finger he received during a training camp scuffle.If it isnt one thing, its another.Third-round draft pick Bronson Kaufusi, a promising defensive end, broke his ankle in a low-contact drill and will miss the entire season.Thats a part of the game; its a part of football, Harbaugh said with a shrug. It happens for a reason, in my opinion. You have to look at it that way.At least the Ravens have Flacco, who spent countless hours rehabilitating his knee to be ready for the start of training camp. Baltimore used three starting quarterbacks in his absence last year, none of whom came close to serving as an adequate alternative to the franchise leader in completions, touchdown throws and yards passing.Obviously, last season, what he went through -- what a lot of guys went through -- to have him back and leading this team says a lot about his character, his toughness and why hes one of the best, said safety Eric Weddle, arguably the most significant of Baltimores offseason free agent pickups.Until Smith and Perriman join the mix, its uncertain who Flacco will be targeting on the outside. Newcomer Mike Wallace appears to be the most viable option, but he knows he cant go it alone.I cant wait until they get back, because I just want to see our group in full, Wallace said. I think we can be dangerous.Being healthy would be good enough.I think you always want to play at full strength, Flacco said. But in the NFL, thats not a reality. You go out there, you play your best, and do your best with what youve got.---AP NFL website: www.pro32.ap.org and http://twitter.com/AP-NFL ' ' '