Nine-Year Soccer Reign Ends for Tar Heels

Notre Dame ended perennial champion North Carolina’s nine-year reign as national champion in women’s soccer with a 1-0 victory Friday in the NCAA semifinals at Chapel Hill, N.C.

Notre Dame (20-2-2) avenged a 5-0 loss to the Tar Heels in last year’s final without even scoring a goal. The Irish got their goal when Tar Heel forward Cindy Parlow accidentally headed a ball into her own net in the first half.

In Sunday’s final, Notre Dame will face Portland (20-0-2), which defeated Southern Methodist, 4-2.

Baseball

Hall of Famer Duke Snider, 69, a longtime Brooklyn Dodger hero, was sentenced to two years of probation and a $5,000 fine in New York for tax evasion. He had pleaded guilty to not reporting $97,400 in cash from card shows and memorabilia sales between 1984 and 1993.

Eduardo Perez, expected to challenge for the Angels’ third base job next spring, underwent arthroscopic surgery on his left shoulder. Perez was injured diving in a winter league game.

The Dodgers promoted Charlie Blaney to vice president in charge of minor league operations, owner Peter O’Malley said. Blaney, 57, had been the Dodgers’ director of minor league operations since 1987.

The New York Yankees exercised their $1.1-million option for 1996 on right-hander Scott Kamieniecki, 31.

The Cincinnati Reds, trying to reduce their payroll, put outfielder Darren Lewis on unconditional release waivers.

Joe Niekro and former Dodger Don Sutton, 300-game winners who previously have fallen short in Hall of Fame voting, head the list of eligible players on ballots.

Heading the group of first-time players are Keith Hernandez and Fred Lynn. Others eligible are Bob Boone, Bill Buckner, Bob Knepper, Chet Lemon, Jeffrey Leonard, Dan Quisenberry, Johnny Ray, Jerry Reuss, John Tudor, Claudell Washington and Frank White.

Three players are on the ballot for the 15th and final time: Curt Flood, Tony Oliva and Vada Pinson. Results will be announced Jan. 8.

College Basketball

Terrance Roberson, Fresno State’s most highly touted recruit since Jerry Tarkanian became coach, was declared ineligible for the season after failing the American College Test.

Roberson, a 6-foot-7 freshman, compiled a 15.8 on his latest ACT, leaving him .7 short of the grade he needed to average on the four-part test, the university said.

Golf

Laura Davies and Mark McCumber shot a six-under-par 67 and took a one-stroke lead at 14 under in the second round of the JCPenney Mixed-Team Classic in Tarpon Springs, Fla. . . . Nick Price had a five-under-par 67 and took a three-shot lead at six-under 138 in the Million Dollar Golf Challenge in Sun City, South Africa.

Boxing

April 6 is the likely date for a heavyweight showdown between Riddick Bowe and Lennox Lewis, British promoter Panos Eliades said. Possible sites include Las Vegas, Kenya and South Africa. . . . The Dec. 8 World Boxing Assn. light-heavyweight title fight between champion Virgil Hill of the United States and Switzerland’s Stefan Angehrn in Zurich has been canceled because of insufficient funding, organizers said.

Swimming

Australian Samantha Riley lopped more than a second off the world record in the 200-meter breaststroke with a time of 2 minutes, 20.85 seconds at the World Short Course Swimming Championships in Rio de Janeiro. The old mark was 2:21.99 by China’s Guohong Dai in 1993.

Pieter Hoogenband of the Netherlands, who tied for first in the 50-meter freestyle a day earlier, won the 200 freestyle in 1:48.28 at the U.S. Swimming Championships at Auburn, Ala.

Miscellany

Luc Alphand of France, the defending World Cup downhill champion, got off to a good start again with a victory in 1 minute 37.93 seconds in a men’s downhill ski race in Vail, Colo.

Walker Evans, who won the first short-course off-road race at Riverside International Raceway 22 years ago, became the first to win at Glen Helen Park in San Bernardino when he lapped all but one truck in the unlimited truck main event at the Chevrolet SODA Winter Series. Robby Gordon, the fastest qualifier Thursday, withdrew because of a sore shoulder.

Sprinter Michael Johnson won U.S. track and field’s highest honor, the Jesse Owens Award, for the second year in a row.

World champion Italy trounced the United States, 15-8, 15-5, 15-4, and won the men’s volleyball World Cup title at Tokyo, also clinching a berth in the Olympics. The United States gets a berth as host country.