Young Nadeshiko stumbles in U-20 Women's World Cup semifinals

Two-time champion Germany ended Japan's bid to reach the Under-20 Women's World Cup final for the first time with a 3-0 win in Tuesday's semifinal.

A goal in the opening minute from Melanie Leupolz got the Germans off to a flying start at National Stadium, and it was a blow from which the Young Nadeshiko would not recover as two more from Dzsenifer Marozsan and Lena Lotzen with less than 20 minutes on the clock put the Europeans safely on the road to Saturday's final.

Germany will play the United States in the title match after the Americans beat Nigeria 2-0 in the day's earlier semifinal, but Japan manager Hiroshi Yoshida was left to rue his side's nightmare start having gone on to create the better second-half chances in front of a home crowd of 28,306.

"We wanted to win this game but we weren't able to do anything at the beginning," said Yoshida. "We lost the first goal and after that we weren't able to stay calm. The first goal really shook our confidence, and no one was able to even touch the ball.
"The players were feeling down, but at halftime we said we just had to start again. We had to be confident, but even though we had our moments we weren't able to take our chances."

Japan got off to the worst possible start when Leupolz got between Japan's central defenders to latch onto a slide-rule pass and calmly fire across goalkeeper Sakiko Ikeda for her third goal of the tournament.

Japan reacted with a series of nimble attacks that threatened to find an equalizer, but the hosts were dealt a huge setback when Marozsan doubled Germany's lead in the 13th minute. The forward rushed through to lift a bouncing through ball over Ikeda with her first touch, and there was nothing the goalkeeper could do as the ball dropped under the crossbar and into the net.

Lotzen then rose unchallenged to power home a header for Germany's third, prompting Yoshida to reshuffle his pack and replace midfielder Mina Tanaka with Kumi Yokoyama with only 25 minutes gone.

The change allowed Japan to steady the ship until halftime, and the home side returned from the break with renewed purpose as first Asuka Nishikawa then Hanae Shibata went close to pulling a goal back.

But there was to be no way through as Germany held firm to the final whistle, leaving Japan to contest the third-place playoff against Nigeria on Saturday in the undercard before the headline event.

"The players are feeling really down at the moment," said Yoshida. "Starting tomorrow we have to pick ourselves up and get ready for the next game."

Goals from Morgan Brian and Kealia Ohai either side of halftime were enough to send the U.S. into the final for a third time, seeing off a determined effort from the previously unbeaten Nigerians in the day's earlier semifinal.

"I'm exhausted, and I didn't even do anything," said U.S. manager Steve Swanson. "We are obviously very happy to be moving on. It was a difficult match physically. It wasn't pretty at times but getting the first goal was critical. It was a good result for us.

"If we play Japan then it will be quite a treat for their country for their team to do so well, but if it's Germany then we have had good games against them in the past. We will be ready to play either one. We have played a few games against Germany and we have played against Japan, and we have respect for both."

View the original article here

Lundqvist gives Rangers young guns platform to batter Isles

NEW YORK — So often, New York Rangers' winning streaks have been fueled by the stonewall goaltending of Henrik Lundqvist.

He is still a big part of the equation, but suddenly he has an ever-improving, young supporting cast that is making this group of Rangers a legitimate threat in the NHL.

Rookie forward Carl Hagelin scored twice for his second career multigoal game, and Lundqvist stopped all 28 shots he faced as the Rangers beat the New York Islanders 3-0 on Monday night for their fifth straight victory.

The names of high-priced forwards Marian Gaborik and Brad Richards are quite familiar, and they have both played a key role in the Rangers' surge to the top of the standings. But suddenly, youngsters such as Hagelin and defenseman Stu Bickel have contributed to New York's recent success.

Despite injuries to defensemen Marc Staal and Michael Sauer, the Rangers haven't missed a beat.

"There is great depth in this organization," said Hagelin, who also scored twice against Buffalo on Dec. 10. "There's a lot of guys out and it shows that the organization is doing a great job preparing guys for this. It's fun."

Hagelin, in just his 16th NHL game, scored in the second and third periods for the Rangers (22-8-4) — the Atlantic Division leaders, who leapfrogged defending Stanley Cup champion Boston into first place in the Eastern Conference.

The Rangers finished a 3-0 homestand that included a pair of victories over the Islanders in a five-day span. New York's past four victories have been against division rivals. The Rangers begin a three-game trip at Washington on Wednesday that will conclude with the outdoor Winter Classic in Philadelphia next Monday.

Lundqvist improved to 23-11-5 against the Islanders with four shutouts. He has three shutouts overall this season and 38 in seven NHL seasons.

"I don't have too many this year, but hopefully I can change that," he said.

Blackhawks 4, Blue Jackets 1

In Chicago, Viktor Stalberg scored two goals and Corey Crawford made 37 saves.

Avalanche 4, Wild 2

In St. Paul, Minnesota, Jan Hejda scored the go-ahead goal at 10:20 of the third period and Colorado snapped a nine-game road losing skid.

Canucks 5, Oilers 3

In Vancouver, Andrew Ebbett scored twice to lead the Canucks over Edmonton.

Sabres 4, Capitals 2

In Buffalo, Brayden McNabb capped the Sabres' four-goal first period with his first NHL goal.

Hurricanes 4, Devils 2

In Raleigh, North Carolina, Cam Ward made 23 saves and was credited with a bizarre empty-net goal to lead the hosts.

Kings 4, Coyotes 3

In Los Angeles, Willie Mitchell scored the tiebreaking goal early in the third period, and the Kings broke an offensive slump for their second victory under new coach Darryl Sutter.

Blues 5, Stars 3

In St. Louis, Adam Cracknell, recalled from the minors earlier in the day, put the Blues ahead for good in the second period.

Ducks 3, Sharks 2

In San Jose, Andrew Cogliano scored the tiebreaking goal midway through the second period and Jonas Hiller made 36 saves as Anaheim ended a 13-game winless skid on the road.

Red Wings 4, Predators 1

In Nashville, Valtteri Filppula scored a pair of goals to lead Detroit over the Predators.

Pavel Datsyuk and Danny Cleary also scored for the Red Wings, who scored twice in a span of 13 seconds during the second period and stopped a two-game skid.

View the original article here

Two Sports Are Better Than One - Why Young Athletes Should Try New Sports