Sports
LAFC treats U.S. Open Cup like a top prize as it reaches semifinals
Last season the U.S. Open Cup was little more than an afterthought for LAFC, when the club thought about the tournament at all.
The team’s run to the final of last spring’s CONCACAF Champions League, combined with the start of the MLS schedule, meant LAFC played a game every four days through the first three months of the season. By the end of the year, the team had played an MLS-record 53 games in four countries and two continents, traveling far enough to circumnavigate the globe 2½ times.
There was simply no room for the U.S. Open Cup. But that’s not the case this season; with Wednesday’s 3-1 win over New Mexico United sending LAFC on to next month’s semifinals of a tournament, it’s suddenly being taken very seriously.
“I wouldn’t say that we prioritize certain competitions. It’s really just kind of when do you need to rest, guys? When can you rotate?” LAFC coach Steve Cherundolo said. “Last season it just wasn’t physically possible to push the guys for another game.
“That’s different 1720717715.”
Is it ever. Last season Cherundolo used teenagers from the club’s MLS Next Pro team in LAFC’s two-game Open Cup run. On Wednesday, he started four current or former MLS all-stars, including Denis Bouanga, the league’s reigning Golden Boot winner; Kei Kamara, the second-leading scorer in league history; and Hugo Lloris, who has started more World Cup games — including the last two finals — than any goalkeeper in history.
The goals came from Timothy Tillman, David Martínez and Mateusz Bogusz, extending LAFC’s unbeaten streak in all competition to 13 games and sending it on to next month’s tournament semifinals against the Seattle Sounders.
It was an effort that was more blue collar than blue ribbon.
“Our objective was to advance and we did that,” Cherundolo said. “I think we jumped just as high as we needed to. Tonight, we just cleared the bar, which is OK.
“We checked all the boxes, so I’m happy with that. And that we advanced. But certainly we can play better.”
This will mark LAFC’s second trip to the U.S. Open Cup semifinals; the first came in 2018, the team’s inaugural season, when it lost on penalties to eventual champion Houston.
And the reason the team is all in on the Open Cup this season is the same reason it tapped out early last year — the schedule. Without the stress and travel of the CONCACAF tournament and with the start of Leagues Cup, the other in-season North American tournament, more than two weeks away, LAFC has played just 24 times in 20 weeks this year. Players who were gassed at this point last summer are relatively fresh now.
Plus the Open Cup provides the easiest way back to the CONCACAF championship (now called the CONCACAF Champions Cup), the region’s most prestigious club competition. Win the tournament and LAFC qualifies for next winter’s Champions Cup, gets a check for $300,000 and wins a trophy.
That last point is also important for a team hungry for some hardware. LAFC has gone empty-handed since winning the Supporters’ Shield and MLS Cup in 2022, playing for six trophies last season but winning none.
“The Open Cup is very important for us this year,” Tillman said.
The team could also grab a Champions Cup invitation by winning MLS Cup, placing in the top three in the MLS Supporters’ Shield, finishing atop the Western Conference table or by finishing in the top three in the Leagues Cup. But with new rules limiting the Open Cup field to just eight MLS teams, five of which have already been eliminated, this tournament offers the path of least resistance.
Then there’s also the long history associated with the Open Cup, the oldest national soccer tournament in the U.S. and one of dozens of domestic cup competitions held around the world.
“The Cup is very important in every single country,” continued Tillman, who grew up in Germany and played five games in the DFB-Pokal, that country’s domestic cup competition. “It’s an opportunity to win a trophy in just a couple of games. So if you focus on the right things at the right moment, there’s a chance of winning a trophy.
“It’s single elimination, so whoever plays better on that day is going to go through.”
On this day that was clearly LAFC. But then what else is new? The team hasn’t lost since May 4, shares the top spot in the MLS Western Conference standings and is unbeaten at home. It is also chasing a second Supporters’ Shield in three seasons and a third straight appearance in the MLS Cup final, something that hasn’t been done in 17 years.
But it needs just two more U.S. Open Cup wins to get back to the Champions Cup. And this time it’s taking those games seriously.
Sports
UCLA softball pummels South Carolina to advance to NCAA super regional
No. 8 UCLA stuck with right-hander Taylor Tinsley throughout the Los Angeles Regional and that faith in the senior paid off.
During the Bruins’ NCAA tournament opener at Easton Stadium, Tinsley gave up 10 runs before her teammates rallied for a walk-off win. She returned less than 24 hours to pitch against South Carolina, giving up two earned runs in a victory. Tinsley was back in the circle Sunday afternoon, yielding one run in UCLA’s 15-1 victory over the Gamecocks to advance to the super regionals.
“I am proud of Taylor’s resiliency, the ability to do whatever she can to help this team,” UCLA coach Kelly Inouye-Perez said. “She got stronger through the weekend. I am proud of that.”
Tinsley and her teammates will host Central Florida in a super regional that begins Friday.
“I feel good,” Tinsley said after pitching three key games in three days. “I could have gone more innings if needed.”
South Carolina right-hander Jori Heard gave up only one hit through two innings, keeping UCLA’s potent bats relatively quiet. The Gamecocks had runners on first and second with two outs in the second, but Tinsley escaped the inning with a pop-up to left field.
The Bruins got on the board first with a two-run home run from left fielder Rylee Slimp in the third inning. The Bruins followed it up by loading the bases with no outs in the fifth for right fielder Megan Grant.
Grant cooked up a grand slam to make it 6-0. She has 40 home runs, extending her hold on the NCAA single-season home run record. Oklahoma freshman Kendall Wells trails Grant with 37 homers.
“Its just incredible because I am blessed to be able to say the number 40,” Grant said.
South Carolina broke through on an RBI single from left fielder Quincee Lilio to cut UCLA’s lead to 6-1 in the fifth inning after being held to just one hit since the first inning. The Gamecocks couldn’t cash in the rest of the way.
The Bruins resumed scoring in the sixth inning, with the bases loaded and Grant at bat again. Fans at Easton Stadium anticipated another grand slam, holding up their cellphones hoping to catch some magic. Grant served up a two-run RBI single to expand the lead 8-1.
Jordan Woolery added to the scoring with a two-run RBI double down the left-field line, and Kaniya Bragg hit a home run to left-center field. Soo-jin Berry put a bow on the win with one more home run.
Sports
Pro wrestling star learns what ‘land of opportunity’ means in US as he details journey from Italy to America
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Cristiano Argento has been tearing up opponents in the ring for the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) as he worked his way up the ladder to get a few shots at some gold.
But the path to get to one of the most prestigious pro wrestling companies in the U.S. was long and a path that not many wrestlers have taken.
Argento was born and raised in Osimo, Italy – a town of about 35,000 people located on the east side of the country closer to the Adriatic Sea. He told Fox News Digital he started training in a ring at a boxing gym before he got started on the independent scene in Italy. He wrestled in Germany, Sweden, France and Denmark before he came to the realization that, to become a professional wrestler, he needed to make his way to the United States.
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Cristiano Argento performs in the National Wrestling Alliance (Instagram)
He first worked his way to Canada to get trained by pro wrestling legend Lance Storm. He moved to Canada, leaving most of his friends and family behind and without a firm grasp on the English language.
“At the time, my English was horrible. I didn’t speak any English at all,” he said. “But I was with my friend, Stefano, he came with me and he translated everything for me. I probably missed 50% of the knowledge that Lance Storm was giving to us because I was unable to understand. I was only given a recap and everything I was able to see. I’m sure if I was doing it now with a proper knowledge of English, it would have been a different scenario.
“Eventually, I moved back to Italy after the training and I said, OK, now, I want to go to the U.S. So, I studied English more properly, and eventually I got my first work visa that was in Texas. I was in Houston for a short period of time. I trained with Booker T at Reality of Wrestling. I got on his show, which was my debut in the U.S. That was awesome. I eventually got a new work visa in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where I currently live since 2017. Since then, my wrestling career, thankfully, kept growing, growing, growing and growing until now wrestling for the NWA. One of the bigger promotions in the U.S.”
Argento said that his family thought he was “nuts” for chasing his pro wrestling dream.
He said they were more concerned about his well-being given that he was half-way around the world without anyone he knew by his side in case something went sideways.
“My family, friends, everybody was like why do you want to move to the opposite side of the world not knowing the language, not knowing anybody, by yourself, to try to become a professional wrestler? And I was like, well, we have one life, I love, and that’s what I’m gonna do,” he told Fox News Digital. “Eventually, my family was really supportive. But when I first said, ‘Hey, mom and dad, I want to do that.’ They looked at me like, ‘Are you nuts? Are you drunk or something? What are you talking about?’ And I said, no that’s what I want to do. And they knew I loved this sport because in Italy I was traveling around Europe, spending time in Canada training, so they started to understand slowly that’s what I want to do with my life. They were proud of me.
Cristiano Argento works out in the gym. (Instagram)
“They’re still proud of me. I think more like the fact that you’re gonna try that, that it’s hard than more like you’re gonna leave us. The fact like, oh, my son is gonna go on the opposite side of the world for a six-hour time difference and we’re gonna see him maybe, when, like, I don’t know. Not often. I think it was more that. And for me too, it was really hard. It was heartbreaking not being able to see my family every day or every month. Like once a year if I’m lucky. I think that was the biggest part for them because of concern or that I was here by myself and if I have any issue or any problem, I didn’t have nobody. So they were scared. Like, you get sick, if you have a problem, anything, and they’re not being able to be here next to me. But they were really supportive since day one.”
Argento is living out his dream in the U.S. He suggested that the moniker of the U.S. being the “land of opportunity” wasn’t far from what is preached in movies and literature – it was the real thing.
“I was inspired by people who came to the U.S. and made it big,” Argento told Fox News Digital. “The U.S. was always like the land of opportunity. That’s how they sell it to us and this is what it is. I feel like, in myself, that was true because anything I tried to do so far I was able to reach a lot more than if I wasn’t here. I’m not yet where I’d like to be but I see like there’s so many opportunities in this country. Not just in wrestling but like in any business to reach the goal. I’m really happy of the choices I did here.
National Wrestling Alliance star Cristiano Argento poses in Times Square in New York. (Instagram)
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“But my big inspirations were big-time actors who moved to the country, who didn’t know English, with no money, no support system. I had one dream, I have to go right there to make it happen and I’m gonna go and do it and I’m gonna make it happen. So those people were always the biggest inspiration even if it wasn’t in wrestling, just how they handled their passion, how they pursued their dream without being scared of anything, how far you are, how alone by yourself … You don’t know the language, you’re like, let’s go, let’s do it.”
Outside of the NWA, Argento has performed for the International Wrestling Cartel, Enjoy Wrestling and Exodus Pro Wrestling this year.
Sports
Loyola wins Southern Section Division 1 lacrosse championship
There’s no denying that Loyola’s lacrosse program is best in Southern California and could be that way for years to come with the number of elite young players participating.
On Saturday night, the Cubs (16-3) won their latest Southern Section Division 1 championship with a 14-6 win over Santa Margarita. The Cubs have won three title since the sport was adopted as a championship event in the Southern Section. Defense has been Loyola’s strength all season.
Senior defenders Chase Hellie and Everett Rolph and junior goalkeeper William Russo led one of the best defenses in program history under coach Jimmy Borell.
Senior Cash Ginsberg finished with five goals and junior North Carolina commit Tripp King finished with two goals.
In girls Division 1, Mira Costa upset top-seeded Santa Margarita 12-6.
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