COLLEGE

UMaine rankings slide with loss in football

The University of Maine dropped out of one national FCS college football poll and barely hung on in another Monday following its 27-20 loss Saturday at William & Mary.

The Black Bears dropped out of the Top 25 in the coaches’ poll but received the most points for an unranked team. They are 24th in the STATS poll. North Dakota State leads both polls.

The Black Bears will be home at 1 p.m. Saturday against Albany.

FIELD HOCKEY: Brooke Dugan tied it early in the second half, then won it in overtime as Southern Maine (10-7) beat Husson (2-11) at Bangor, 4-3. Samantha Ellis and Abbie Staples also scored for USM. Sadie Royer scored two goals and Arika Brochu had the other for the Eagles.

n Emma Rutledge scored one goal and assisted on another as St. Joseph’s (16-1) opened a 3-0 halftime lead on the way to a 4-1 victory over Plymouth State (5-10) at New Hampton, New Hampshire. Libby Pomerleau, Leah Mayes and Kayla Kelly also scored for the Monks.

BASEBALL

BRAVES: Right–hander Brandon McCarthy, who missed the second half of the season with a knee injury, can become a free agent if he chooses to continue his career. He had a clause in his contract that could have triggered a team option if he had been on the disabled list for a certain amount of time due to a specific injury.

McCarthy, 35, told MLB.com in August he plans to retire but hasn’t finished the necessary paperwork.

TENNIS

WTA FINALS: Sloane Stephens, the 2017 U.S. Open champion, beat this year’s winner, Naomi Osaka, in Singapore in the season–ending tournament for the top eight players in the world.

Both are making their debut appearances at the tournament, but Stephens appeared to be more composed while Osaka, who became the first Japanese citizen to win a Grand Slam title last month in New York, never seemed comfortable.

WAWRINKA SIDELINED: Stan Wawrinka, a three–time Grand Slam champion, ended his season after withdrawing from the Swiss Indoors with a back injury.

PREP SCHOOL

GIRLS’ SOCCER: Caroline Starr blasted a diagonal through ball from Karly Meyer into the side netting, setting Berwick Academy (11-2-1) on its way to a 3-0 victory against Brimmer & May (6-4-1) at South Berwick.

Starr added an assist, feeding Aaliyah Farid for a breakaway goal early in the second half. Chili Dowd put back a rebound to complete the scoring.

GOLF

ANALYST NAMED: NBC Sports hired Paul Azinger as its lead golf analyst with hopes he can deliver his own brand of sharp, candid observations that made Johnny Miller such a strong presence in the broadcast booth for three decades.

Miller’s last event will be the Phoenix Open on the first weekend in February.

EUROPEAN: Sergio Garcia won his third Andalucia Valderrama Masters at Sotogrande, Spain, finishing the rain-shortened event four shots ahead of Shane Lowry.

– Staff and news service report

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