COLLEGES
Endicott opened a three-goal lead in the first half and rolled to a 4-0 win over Southern Maine in a field hockey game on Thursday in Gorham.
Kathleen Reissfelder, Meaghan Hogan and Maddy Dengler helped Endicott (13-4, 5-1 Little East) open a 3-0 lead. Olivia Lampasona added a goal in the fourth quarter. Brianna Anslow made one save for the shutout.
Goalkeepers Eleanor Folsom (seven saves) and Julianna Kiklis (three saves) each played a half for the Huskies (13-7, 10-3).
BASKETBALL
Jeremiah Melendez scored 19 points as visiting North Essex Community College built a lead in the first half and went on to a 77-57 win over Southern Maine CC in a season opener in South Portland.
Thomas Martinotti had 16 points and Bode Meader added 11 points for the Seawolves.
BASKETBALL
NBA: Damian Lillard has a minor right calf strain and will be re-evaluated in one to two weeks, the Portland Trail Blazers said Thursday.
Lillard left the Blazers’ game against the Miami Heat on Wednesday night because of a strained right calf. The team announced that the six-time All-Star had an MRI on Thursday that revealed a grade one, or minor, strain.
Lillard came up limping with just over five minutes to go in the third quarter and headed for the locker room. He did not return and the Blazers lost, 119-98.
Lillard scored 30-plus points in three of the Blazers’ first four games this season. He led all scorers with 22 points against the Heat before leaving the game.
GOLF
EUROPEAN TOUR: Despite not feeling well, Jordan Smith shot a 9-under 62 to take a one-stroke lead at the Portugal Masters at Vilamoura, Portugal.
The Englishman made seven birdies and a 30-foot eagle in a bogey-free round on a low-scoring opening day at the Dom Pedro Victoria Golf Course.
Smith is yet to win this season but has two runner-up finishes.
Joost Luiten and Jeff Winther each shot a 63 to sit tied for second place. Both made eight birdies and were bogey free.
PGA: Arjun Atwal went to Southampton, Bermuda without having competed in the three months since his father died and without the guarantee of a tee time. He walked off Port Royal on Thursday with an 8-under 63 that left him one shot behind in the Butterfield Bermuda Championship.
Atwal had not played golf of any kind since returning from India until last Friday, and he wasn’t sure how his 49-year-old body would hold up over 18 holes. He felt great, and he played even better. Atwal was one shot behind Austin Smotherman and Harrison Endycott, who played his final five holes in 5 under. Each had a 62.
Scoring conditions were so ideal that nearly 75% of the 132-man field broke 70.
No one was more surprised than Atwal, whose lone PGA Tour victory was in the Wyndham Championship in 2010 on a sponsor exemption. The field is so weak for this tournament – only one player from the top 50 in the world ranking – that Atwal was high enough on the alternate list to fly to the middle of the Atlantic Ocean.
SOCCER
NWSL: Portland Thorns forward Sophia Smith has been named the 2022 National Women’s Soccer League Most Valuable Player.
Smith had 14 goals in 18 matches for the Thorns, setting a team single-season record. She scored on all three of her penalty kick attempts and had four two-goal games.
The 22-year-old Smith, who also plays for the U.S. national team, is the youngest ever recipient of the award.
AUTO RACING
NASCAR: An appeals panel on Thursday denied the attempt by Stewart-Haas Racing to overturn $200,000 in NASCAR fines for manipulation of a playoff race.
The behavioral penalty was issued to Cole Custer, crew chief Mike Shiplett and team owner Gene Haas after the Oct. 9 race at Charlotte Motor Speedway. NASCAR said Custer deliberately slowed on the final lap to hold up traffic and assist teammate Chase Briscoe in gaining positions Briscoe needed to advance in the playoff race.
Custer was fined $100,000 and docked 50 driver points, Haas was docked 50 owner points and Shiplett was suspended indefinitely as well as fined $100,000. SHR had maintained it had data to present to the National Motorsports Appeals panel that would prove Custer did nothing wrong.
• David Gilliland will move his racing organization from Ford to Toyota next season and rebrand it as TRICON Garage, which will field entries in both the Truck Series and ARCA Series.
TRICON, formerly known as David Gilliland Racing, will run three full-time Toyota Tundras and one part-time entry beginning with next season’s opener at Daytona International Speedway.
FORMULA ONE: Formula One on Thursday announced a three-year extension to continue the Mexico City Grand Prix at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez through 2025.
The deal announced ahead of Sunday’s race is an agreement between F1, the Government of Mexico City and the event promoters. The new contract begins with the 2023 race next Oct. 29.
CYCLING
TOUR DE FRANCE: Starting in the Basque Country in northern Spain, next year’s Tour de France will feature four mountain-top finishes and a Tour record 30 difficult climbs but only one time trial.
Race director Christian Prudhomme revealed the route for the July 1-23 race. The 110th edition covers 3,404 kilometers (2,115 miles), encompassing eight mountain stages across five mountain ranges and eight flat stages for sprinters.
TENNIS
SWISS INDOORS: Stan Wawrinka beat Brandon Nakashima 6-4, 5-7, 6-4 in the second round on Thursday in Basel, Switzerland after failing to serve out the match in the second set.
Two days after a straight-set win over No. 3-ranked Casper Ruud, the 37-year-old Wawrinka hung with the 21-year-old American in the decider then converted the only break point of the set to take a 5-4 lead. The three-time Grand Slam winner, now ranked No. 194 after injury-hit seasons, clinched the victory with a backhand winner.
Wawrinka will face Roberto Bautista Agut in the quarterfinals on Friday after the sixth-seeded Spaniard eased to a 6-3, 6-2 win over another three-time Grand Slam champion, Andy Murray.
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