HALIFAX, Nova Scotia — Sami Lepisto’s goal at 3:59 of overtime led Finland to a 3-2 victory over the United States on Wednesday night in the world hockey quarterfinals.
Lepisto took a pass from Saku Koivu at the point and fired the puck through a crowd and underneath U.S. goalie Robert Esche for the victory. Finland advanced to play Russia, a 6-0 winner over Switzerland, in the semifinals Friday at Quebec City.
Tuomo Ruutu and Anssi Salmela also scored for Finland, which held a 2-0 lead with less than five minutes remaining in regulation.
The Americans rallied with goals by Phil Kessel and Drew Stafford 37 seconds apart to force overtime.
In other games, Derek Roy scored three goals and added an assist to help defending champion Canada rout Norway 8-2, while Sweden defeated the Czech Republic 3-2 in overtime.
Sweden will face Canada in the second semifinal.
Former LSU QB Perrilloux signs with Jacksonville State
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — Quarterback Ryan Perrilloux, kicked off LSU’s national championship team after repeated off-the-field problems, signed with Jacksonville State.
Perrilloux will be able to transfer and start immediately for the Gamecocks. The MVP of last season’s Southeastern Conference title game won’t have to sit out a year because Jacksonville State plays in the lower Football Championship Subdivision. Perrilloux, 21, was a sophomore last season.
• Southern California signed a new 25-year lease that will keep the Trojans’ football team in the Los Angeles Coliseum and include improvements in the stadium. USC has played in the 85-year-old facility since it was built in 1923.
Among other details, the agreement calls for the Coliseum Commission to replace all of the seats, upgrade the video and scoreboard on the peristyle end and add a video-scoreboard on the other end of the stadium.
Footnotes.
Zenit St. Petersburg became the second Russian team in four seasons to win the UEFA Cup, beating Scotland’s Glasgow Rangers 2-0 in the final of Europe’s No. 2 club soccer tournament in Manchester, England.
• The U.S. Golf Association announced a four-year deal with the Royal Bank of Scotland, the fourth corporate partnership it has signed in 18 months after going 113 years without one.
• Rich Merritt, the Nevada men’s golf coach who was the target of an NCAA investigation into rules violations, resigned, saying he made some “errors in judgment.”
• San Antonio Silver Stars guard Shanna Crossley, who averaged 9.2 points last season, will miss the WNBA season after tearing a knee ligament in a preseason game.
• American sprinter Michelle Collins was reinstated by track and field’s governing body, the IAAF, after serving three-plus years of a BALCO-related suspension. Collins, 37, is eligible to try to qualify for the U.S. Olympic Trials, which start next month.
• Pavel Brutt won the fifth stage of the Giro d’Italia, while Franco Pellizotti retained the overall lead for a fourth day.
The Associated Press
