BRISTOL, Conn. — Work was no match for the Americans as their victory over France on Wednesday drew the highest weekday ratings ever for a Women’s World Cup match.
The 3-1 victory, which put the Americans in the World Cup final for the first time since 1999, drew a 2.2 overnight rating. ESPN said that was the best ever for a weekday match on any network, and the fourth- best rating for any Women’s World Cup match. It ranks just behind Sunday’s wild quarterfinal win over Brazil, which drew a 2.3 rating.
The U.S. plays Japan in the final Sunday.
• The Seattle Sounders signed coach Sigi Schmid to a contract extension that runs through the 2015 season.
The 58-year-old Schmid is the MLS career leader in both regular-season victories (he has a 148-107-82 record) and postseason victories (19-10-5).
Logjam atop Viking Classic leaderboard
MADISON, Miss. — Tim Petrovic shot a 7-under-par 65 in the first round of the Viking Classic, joining John Mallinger, Brendon de Jonge, Peter Lonard, Sunghoon Kang and Bobby Gates in a six-way tie atop the leaderboard.
With the vast majority of the world’s best players competing thousands of miles away at the British Open, the leaderboard was loaded with names rarely seen so high at a PGA Tour event. Gates, Mallinger, de Jonge and Kang have never won on tour. Nine players, including 50-year-old Kenny Perry, were one stroke back at 6-under.
Footnotes.
The Stanley Cup champion Boston Bruins re-signed defenseman Adam McQuaid to a three-year contract extension that would keep him in the fold through the 2014-15 season.
• Race day medication will be banned at the Breeders’ Cup World Championships, starting with 2-year- olds in 2012 and covering all races beginning in 2013.
• Iowa State reinstated suspended center Jordan Railey, though he will not be allowed to play in the Cyclones’ first three basketball games next season.
• Iowa announced that swingman Anthony Hubbard, a junior college transfer who spent nearly four years in prison before earning a Division I scholarship, has left the program.
• Phoenix’s Diana Taurasi, Seattle’s Sue Bird and Indiana’s Tamika Catchings have been voted as starters for the WNBA All-Star Game again. The trio has been selected as starters in every game that has taken place.
The Associated Press
