Kings lose in shootout to Hurricanes

• October 15, 2023

LOS ANGELES — With two of last season’s division champions on the schedule to start the season, Kings coach Todd McCellan said he wanted to give both goaltenders a chance to get time in the net.

“We have to get everybody going here,” McClellan said. “We are playing against arguably two of the top five teams probably in the National Hockey League right off the bat and both are going to get tested. We need them to play all season long.”

The Kings goalies got an early look at what lies ahead as the season gets rolling. Cam Talbot started the opener and allowed four goals in a loss to the Colorado Avalanche. On Saturday, Phoenix Copley started and gave up five goals to the Carolina Hurricanes.

But while goaltending might be a challenge moving forward, the Kings’ offense was in midseason form, coming back from a three-goal deficit against one of the best teams in the league to force overtime. The result wasn’t what the Kings had hoped to get – losing 6-5 in a shootout – but it showed they could stay with the best.

“It was a very good point we earned and it’s a bad point we gave away,” McCellan said. “I think the resilience of the group coming back and not quitting, actually playing, for the most part, made it a pretty good game.

“The brain cramps — I can’t use some words I’d like to use in the individual errors — were very costly for the group as a whole. Those have to get cleaned up. There’s some guys that need to get sharp.”

Anze Kopitar was not one of the players McCellan was referring to in his postgame interview.

Kopitar scored his second goal on a wrist shot with 1:22 left in regulation to tie the game at 5. The Kings had trailed 5-3 heading into the final period.

The Kings went back to a more traditional lineup, playing 12 forwards and six defensemen in their second game. In their season-opening loss, they used 11 forwards because of the injury to Viktor Arvidsson, who was placed on the long-term injured list with a lower-body injury, and salary cap issues.

Arvidsson will have surgery next week, McCellan said, which will not only ease the cap space, but open job opportunities for some players.

Despite having a full complement of players, the Kings struggled to stop the Hurricanes in the early going, as Carolina scored three times in the opening period and twice in the second.

The Kings pulled to within one 5-4 on a goal by Vladislav Gavrikov midway through the final period before Kopitar’s game-tying goal.

Veterans Drew Dougherty, Trevor Moore and Kopitar accounted for the Kings’ first three goals and Gavrikov added the fourth score in the third on an unassisted goal from the left side.

Trailing 4-1, the Kings cut the lead on a power play when Kopitar took a pass from Adrian Kempe for a tip-in. It was Kopitar’s first goal of the season; he got an assist in the previous game.

The Hurricanes padded their score on a goal by Teuvo Teravainen before Moore scored a power-play goal to cut the Hurricanes lead 5-3 heading into the final period.

The Hurricanes jumped on Copley early.

After riding out the game’s first power play, Carolina’s Brett Burns powered in a shot from just inside the faceoff circle for a 1-0 lead. Jacob Slavin assisted on the play.

Less than two minutes later, the Hurricanes’ Jordan Martinook was called for tripping, giving the Kings a man-advantage in their first power play. It didn’t matter as the Hurricanes added to their score, this time on a backhand by Sebastian Aho, who slipped the puck past Copley at the 13:19 mark of the first period. Aho also had an assist.

The Hurricanes added to Copley’s rough outing with another goal. Jesperi Kotkaniemi won a faceoff against Phillip Danault and raced down the ice, catching Copley unaware for an unassisted goal and a 3-0 lead.

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The Kings got more aggressive as the period wore on, crowding the net and taking 14 shots, finally connecting on a slap shot from Doughty with 1:33 left in the opening period.

Two games is a small sample but McCellan said there are some things he has been impressed with and others not so much.

One, was how the Kings limited the Hurricanes to 19 shots on goal.

“That rarely happens,” he said. “And we did a pretty good job against Colorado, yet we gave up nine goals in two games. That’s not good.

“So, what’s happening? Where are they (the mistakes) coming from? We’ll start in the crease. We got to get better in that area. Our back end wasn’t real strong against Colorado but it was better tonight. Our special teams gave up two on the powerplay tonight. That’s not good. So, it’s happening from all over the place.

“We will score enough goals to win games. It’s the tightening up of certain areas of our game.”

​ Orange County Register 

Eichel, Hill lead Golden Knights to win over Ducks

• October 15, 2023

By W.G. RAMIREZ (Associated Press)

LAS VEGAS — Mason McTavish scored and John Gibson made 34 saves for the Ducks in their 4-1 season-opening loss. Gibson dropped to 4-17-5 in his career against Vegas.

Trevor Zegras gave the Ducks their first good look at a goal early in the second when he beat Vegas’ defense with a slick pass to himself through his legs but couldn’t finish with a backhand attempt on Hill.

Jack Eichel had a goal and an assist, Adin Hill made 22 saves and the Vegas Golden Knights beat the Ducks (0-1) on Saturday night.

Chandler Stephenson and Shea Theodore also had a goal and an assist, and Jonas Rondbjerg got his first goal of the season. The defending champion Golden Knights, playing their third game in five nights, improved to 3-0-0 with all the wins by identical scores.

Hill improved to 6-0-1 in his career against the Ducks.

Eichel scored his second of the season when he skated through and around the Ducks’ defense, dangled around Gibson, and fired the puck into a wide-open net for a power-play goal with 2 seconds left in the first period.

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Stephenson put Vegas in front by two on a perfect 2-on-1 with Paul Cotter. After passing to Cotter across the slot, Stephenson took the return feed for a short tap into a wide-open net.

Theodore, who started his career in Anaheim and was playing in his 400th game as a member of the Golden Knights, scored his first of the season with a blistering one-timer from the top, Vegas’ second power-play goal of the night. Theodore’s assist on Eichel’s goal left him one shy of 200 helpers for his career.

The Ducks answered less than a minute later when McTavish cleaned up a rebound in the slot to beat Hill.

Rondbjerg’s empty-net goal provided the final margin.

​ Orange County Register 

Galaxy settles for draw against Real Salt Lake as regular season winds down

• October 15, 2023

CARSON — The road to 2024 is officially underway for the Galaxy.

After being eliminated from playoff contention with last Saturday’s 5-2 loss at Minnesota United, the Galaxy is left to play to the role of spoiler with two games remaining, including Saturday’s penultimate game of the season against Real Salt Lake.

As has been the situation this season, the Galaxy (8-13-12) enjoyed success, but in the end was forced to settle for a 2-2 draw in front of 20,673 at Dignity Health Sports Park.

Dejan Joveljic scored in the seventh minute and Douglas Costa scored in the 34th minute to give the Galaxy a 2-0 lead. The lead was cut in half just before halftime as RSL’s Anderson Julio’s deflected shot went past Galaxy goalkeeper Novak Micovic.

“We want to keep the competitive spirit and the energy alive,” Galaxy coach Greg Vanney said during the week leading to Saturday’s game. “Like I said to our guys, I’ve been impressed and appreciative of the character that they’ve shown over the course of this season in the face of a lot of challenges.”

RSL would eventually take advantage of a failed clearance in the 76th minute, leading to Diego Luna’s game-tying goal. RSL is in the playoff chase and turned up the heat on the Galaxy in the second half, but Micovic was able to keep the third goal from scoring.

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“The guys have battled,” Vanney said. “I think back to a game a couple of weeks ago on the road, Austin I think, and we battled until the end and four guys dropped on the field (at the end) because they had given everything they had. I think guys have done that and we fell short …ultimately we didn’t get it done enough to get into the playoffs, but I want us to remain true to the character that we have expressed over the course of the season.”

This season’s elimination from the playoff contention with two games remaining was the earliest for the Galaxy in a full season since 2017. That team, which started the season coached by Curt Onalfo, but finished with Sigi Schmid back in charge after replacing Onalfo in July. That season was also the first since 2008 that saw the Galaxy miss the playoffs.

Now, as the 2023 season comes to an end, the Galaxy have yet to put together back-to-back playoff seasons and have missed the postseason in five of the last seven seasons.

The final chapter on this season will be written Saturday at home against FC Dallas and then another important off-season will begin.

​ Orange County Register 

UCLA stumbles in Pac-12 loss to Oregon State

• October 15, 2023

CORVALLIS, Ore. — No. 18 UCLA’s bid to stay in the hunt for a trip to the Pac-12 championship game took a big hit Saturday with a 36-24 road loss to 15th-ranked Oregon State.

UCLA (4-2 overall, 1-2 Pac-12) ran the ball effectively, but couldn’t overcome three first-half interceptions by freshman quarterback Dante Moore — the last of which was returned 67 yards for a touchdown by the Beavers’ Ryan Cooper Jr. in the final minute of the second quarter to give Oregon State a double-digit cushion it wouldn’t relinquish.

Moore’s struggles led the Bruins to turn to backup Collin Schlee at times, who sparked two touchdown drives with his legs and racked up 80 yards on six carries. Overall, UCLA ran for 284 yards and averaged 5.7 per carry but the lack of a consistent passing attack — and the ability to stop Oregon State’s offense in the second half — doomed any chance at a comeback victory.

Still, the Bruins twice drove deep into Oregon State territory with a chance to pull within single digits in the fourth quarter, but came up short both times.

Moore finished 15-for-34 for 168 yards, his third straight game of completing 50 percent or fewer of his pass attempts.

UCLA came in with one of the top defenses in the country, allowing 12.2 points and 254 yards per game through their first five games. But Oregon State racked up 415 yards and found success through the air, with quarterback DJ Uiagalelei throwing for 266 yards and touchdowns of 43 and 32 yards in the third quarter as the Beavers led 36-17 entering the final period.

Carson Steele and T.J. Harden ran for touchdowns in the second half for the Bruins. Steele led the Bruins with 110 yards on 22 rushes, his second consecutive 100-yard effort.

Five teams having zero or one loss in Pac-12 play, meaning the Bruins would likely need to win their last six games — and still may need help — to reach the conference title game in Las Vegas in the league’s final season.

Oregon State (6-1, 3-1) led 13-0 after one quarter, thanks to interceptions of Moore by Akili Arnold and Andrew Chatfield. The Beavers sandwiched two field goals around a 10-yard touchdown pass by Aidan Chiles to Jack Velling.

The Bruins got a spark early in the second quarter from Schlee, who ran three times for 44 yards to set up a 10-yard touchdown pass by Moore to Logan Loya to cut the deficit to 13-7.

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UCLA’s John Humphrey then forced a fumble that was recovered by Oluwafemi Oladejo inside Beaver territory, but the Bruins could get no closer than the 18-yard line and settled for a 36-yard R.J. Lopez field goal to pull within 13-10.

After Oregon State added another field goal, the Bruins were driving for the lead when Cooper anticipated Moore’s sideline throw to J. Michael Sturdivant and intercepted the ball in stride and raced untouched to the end zone for a 23-10 Beaver lead at the half.

Oregon State extended the lead when Uiagalelei found a wide-open Silas Bolden, who streaked well past the UCLA secondary to catch a 43-yard touchdown pass. A missed two-point conversion left the score 29-10.

After Harden’s nine-yard scoring run, Uiagalelei hit Velling for a 32-yard touchdown to rebuild the lead to 19. Steele’s seven-yard run in the first minute of the fourth quarter gave the Bruins some hope, but they could get no closer.

​ Orange County Register 

Caleb Williams and USC hit a wall in blowout loss to Notre Dame

• October 15, 2023

SOUTH BEND, INDIANA — In the deep heart of the Midwest, the magic from Caleb Williams’ fingertips turned to dust.

A year ago, when the Fighting Irish marched into the Coliseum and USC marched them right out, was Williams’ crowning moment, a four-touchdown dazzler that all but tied up his Heisman in a neat little bow. And heading into South Bend Saturday night, these Trojans needed the same sort of Atlas-level performance from their junior quarterback, shouldering the weight of a much-maligned defense that had given up 40 points in back-to-back games.

But in front of a packed-out Notre Dame Stadium booming with vengeance and Irish-green pom-poms, against a defense that gave not a few inches of breathing room to blanketed receivers, the rabbit-from-a-hat plays that have made Williams “Caleb freakin’ Williams” went shockingly and irreparably wrong in a blowout 48-20 loss.

He carried the worst game of his collegiate career in the lines of his face postgame, eyes glassy and furrowing his lips to keep obvious emotion at bay, standing tall with chin high after reclining casually at the postgame podium in USC’s previous wins. Three interceptions, all in the first half, most in his collegiate career. And after points of clear frustration with media through the start of the season, USC’s leader stood square and assumed responsibility for a night Lincoln Riley called “incredibly disappointing.”

“I made mistakes that I usually don’t make,” Williams said, when asked if he felt he’d forced a couple throws. “Been in college for three years now — I don’t think I’ve ever had a season or a game or anything like that.”

“You got to be a leader, it starts at the head of the snake,” Williams continued, later in his response. “And I’ll be better.”

Blame, though, falls across the locker room, most notably up front. The offensive line was a dying star on Saturday night, pocket collapsing upon Williams repeatedly, a third-quarter push for momentum quashed on back-to-back sacks where USC’s quarterback had little chance to think before multiple Fighting Irish blitzers torpedoed at him.

A Notre Dame team that entered 108th out of 130 FBS teams in sacks per game, at 1.57, finished with six against the Trojans’ O-line, Williams on the ground in the middle of a dogpile too many times for comfort.

“They’re a good defense,” Riley said, postgame. “We knew that coming in. We put ourselves in too many bad positions. That’s what happens.”

But USC’s first-half whole was dug, in large part, by Williams, in a true bizarro-world of a sentence rarely written in his time at USC. His three picks all lead directly to Notre Dame scores, far and away the worst stretch of play in not only his tenure at USC but his collegiate life.

The first shocker came just two minutes in, when Williams – who’s bona-fide missed, in total, a handful of throws all season – lofted a seam ball to Lake McCree simply too high and into the cradle of Notre Dame’s Xavier Watts.

“A couple of throws I always make, didn’t make,” Williams said. “The one to Lake, went over his head. How often do you see that?”

How often do you see, too, what happened next?

Down 10-3 with a few minutes left in the first half, Williams stepped up in the pocket to evade a rapidly charging Benjamin Morrison, firing on the move with his momentum carrying forward – the kind of impervious-to-pressure toss that always seems to end in a first down over the middle.

Except his pass got tipped at the line of scrimmage, and a floating duck fell right into the arms of Notre Dame safety Xavier Watts for his second pick.

Down 17-3 just a few seconds later, Williams escaped another detonated pocket, rolling to his left, setting his feet with a defender charging and firing against his body – the kind of devil-may-care back-foot throw that always seems to end in a receiver plucking a laser out of thin air.

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Except there was little mustard on a desperation heave, and one of the worst in-moment decisions Williams has made in his USC career ended in his third pick of the half.

In a cruel stroke of irony, after weeks of constant chatter over USC’s defense that grew so loud Riley went on a two-minute-long defense in media availability Tuesday, they played “good enough to win the football game,” as Riley put it postgame. They delivered when afforded the length of the field, Christian Roland-Wallace submitting an excellent game in pass coverage and linebackers wrapping up admirably in open-field situations.

But Notre Dame quarterback Sam Hartman finally popped the lid off the Trojans’ defense with a 46-yard touchdown bomb to extend the lead to 31-13 in the third quarter, and after an electric return by the returning Zachariah Branch set up a USC fourth-quarter answer, Notre Dame’s Jadarian Price took a kickoff 99 yards to the house himself. Untouched. Ballgame, for all intents and purposes.

There can be no hiding, after Saturday night. The thin sheen of an undefeated record, and quarterback’s consistent brilliance, were both ripped away brutally by the Fighting Irish, wounds unveiled raw and ugly.

“Still very much believe in this football team, 1000%,” Riley said postgame, frequently speaking with a pained smile. “The good from this football team is good enough to beat anybody. But we obviously know we got to put it together quickly.”

Utah awaits. Oregon looms. Washington licks their chops. Optimism is no longer enough.

“We have to coach and play better,” Riley said. “But is it in our power? Is it something we’re capable of? I believe it, to my core, and we’re going to go fight our ass off to get it done.”

​ Orange County Register 

UCLA’s Dante Moore struggles in first half against Oregon State

• October 15, 2023

For the third consecutive week, UCLA came up empty on the scoreboard in the first quarter and fell behind. Oregon State took advantage of two Bruin turnovers to grab the early 13-0 lead.

The Bruins ran only one play inside Beaver territory in the opening quarter, a drive that ended immediately with Dante Moore’s second interception.

UCLA came out in the second quarter with junior Collin Schlee at quarterback, and he put together runs of 28 and 14 yards before Moore came back into the game. Schlee made his first appearance since Sept. 16 against North Carolina Central.

UCLA trailed Washington State 3-0 last week through one quarter before rallying to win 25-17. The previous week, Utah led the Bruins 7-0 after the first quarter on the way to a 14-7 defeat.

First So Cal opponent for DJ U

Oregon State quarterback DJ Uiagalelei, a graduate of St. John Bosco, faced a Southern California team for the first time in his college career Saturday. The junior spent three seasons at Clemson before transferring to Corvallis after last season.

UCLA was at one point considered among the favorites to land Uiagalelei when he entered the transfer portal, but the 6-4, 252-pounder chose instead to head to Oregon State. Earlier this week, Bruins coach Chip Kelly said that Uiagalelei is a “Cam Newton-type” of player due to his size.

DJ’s brother Matayo — also a Bosco alum — is a freshman defensive end at Oregon.

Rare — and perhaps final — visit to Corvallis

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Despite taking over the UCLA program for the 2018 season, Chip Kelly hadn’t visited Oregon State as coach of the Bruins until Saturday. Kelly was 2-0 on the road against the Beavers in his four seasons at Oregon, winning 37-20 in 2010 and 48-24 in 2012.

UCLA’s last trip to Corvallis was a 41-0 victory in 2015, and Saturday’s game was the last conference matchup in a series that goes back to 1930. This was just the third time in 65 meetings in which both teams were ranked in the AP Top 25.

With UCLA moving to the Big Ten next season, this was the last scheduled game between the two programs.

Two injured vets still sidelined

The Bruins once again played without junior wide receiver Titus Mokiao-Atimalala and senior linebacker Ale Kaho, each of whom missed significant time thus far this season. Though there have been rumblings that one or both could be nearing a return to the lineup, neither was in uniform against the Beavers.

​ Orange County Register 

JSerra boys water polo surges past Newport Harbor in second half to win North-South Challenge

• October 15, 2023

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JSerra’s boys water polo team used a strong second half Saturday in Northern California to claim its third major tournament of the regular season and send Ryder Dodd off to the U.S. national team on an impressive note.

The Lions outscored Newport Harbor by three goals in the third period and two in the fourth to defend its title at the North-South Challenge with a 15-9 victory at Sacred Heart Prep in Atherton.

Dodd scored three of his four goals in the third quarter as the Lions (22-0), ranked No. 1 in Orange County, turned a 7-6 lead at intermission into a 12-8 advantage going in the fourth.

The USC commit, who also tallied four assists in the championship match, had plenty of support. Princeton-commit Tas Palcza and rising junior Taylor Bell also scored in the third period, and each attacker added a goal in the fourth.

Dodd soon departs with the U.S. national team for the Pan American Games, which begin Oct. 30 in Chile against Mexico. The Americans need to capture the tournament to quality for the Paris Olympics next summer.

Dodd plans to rejoin the Lions before the CIF-SS Open Division semifinals on Nov. 8.

Newport Harbor (19-3), ranked second in Orange County, suffered a blow in the third period when attacker Connor Ohl fouled out.

JSerra led 7-6 at halftime behind five goals — all from center — from Stanford-committed Will Schneider. The senior snapped a 6-6 tie with 33 seconds left in half.

Newport Harbor led 2-0 and 4-3 late in the first period. The Sailors shot well from the perimeter in the opening half but the Lions’ tightened their defense in the final two periods in front of sophomore goalie Jonas Ransford.

Newport Harbor’s Gavin Appeldorn and Kai Kaneko connected on perimeter strikes in the second to tie the score at 5-5 ad 6-6.

JSerra earlier won the South Coast Tournament and the Delfina USA Classic. In the latter, the Lions edged Newport Harbor 10-9 in sudden-death overtime.

In the semifinals Saturday, JSerra defeated Sacred Heart Prep 14-5 behind three goals apiece by Dodd, Schneider and Bell.

Newport Harbor advanced to the finals with a 9-6 triumph against Harvard-Westlake behind four goals from UCLA-bound center Peter Castillo.

Harvard-Westlake edged Sacred Heart Prep 13-12 in the third-place match.

Please send water polo news to Dan Albano at [email protected] or @ocvarsityguy on X and Instagram

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​ Orange County Register 

USC-Notre Dame notebook: Zachariah Branch makes an energetic return

• October 15, 2023

SOUTH BEND, INDIANA — He bounded out of the tunnel with helmet and full pads and neon-green mouthguard, gait something between a skip and a frolic, putting his head down and bobbing his arms to the pregame thumps of A$AP Rocky’s “Praise The Lord” across Notre Dame Stadium loudspeakers.

And pockets of USC fans, slowly trickling in from outnumbered tailgates across a waterlogged South Bend campus Saturday night, let out a faint smattering of cheers. Because the implication, from the kid’s ever-electric demeanor, was clear.

Yeah, Zachariah Branch was back. 

For two weeks, ever since he surprisingly didn’t dress for USC-Colorado, Branch’s status had been clouded. Seen fielding punt returns at practice across the last couple weeks, but out again against Arizona, one of the Trojans’ most dynamic weapons relegated to the sidelines. Head coach Lincoln Riley didn’t even confirm his absence was due to an injury — using incredibly unspecific language like “we don’t think it’s long-term” — until Thursday.

“He’s going to continue to need to make some jumps here to be ready for us,” Riley said Thursday.

Those jumps were made, literally and figuratively, Branch leaping into the air in early warmups to snag a one-handed grab, youthful excitement buzzing from a freshman who’d captured the nation with four touchdowns in his first four collegiate games.

“We’ve got a long stretch of football ahead of us,” Riley said Tuesday, “so we’re trying to, obviously — excited to get him back when the time is, but we’ve got to be smart when that time is.”

Even with Branch’s return, USC played it conservative with his usage in the first quarter on Saturday, the receiver doing band-work on his right leg with strength coach Bennie Wylie in warm-ups. He started the game at kick returner but didn’t play a major role on offense until USC’s third drive late in the first quarter.

In the second, though, he seemingly eradicated all doubt as to his health — taking a handoff on a 2nd-and-20 and springing up the middle, cutting back in succession for a 17-yard gain.

Raesjon Davis earns a start

When healthy, USC’s linebacker corps has remained relatively steady: transfer Mason Cobb starting alongside Tackett Curtis. It’s a formation, though, that’s scratched a few heads at times, as both the eye test and advanced metrics have indicated both the returning Eric Gentry and Raesjon Davis have been productive at the ILB spot in limited time.

And Davis, after a no-show against Arizona, was out filling a spot next to Curtis in the first half Saturday — who played admirably himself, executing a couple of nice tackles after struggling slightly with physicality over the past couple weeks. Cobb cycled in at various points throughout the first half to contribute to an overall strong USC defensive effort, but the odd man out was Gentry, who didn’t make any first-half noise after earning 31 snaps against Arizona last week.

Jacobe Covington out

After a game-changing pick against Arizona the previous week, cornerback Jacobe Covington was in street clothes against Notre Dame. Domani Jackson returned after an absence to bolster USC’s secondary.

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​ Orange County Register