Indiana Wins NCAA Soccer Title

Indiana scored twice in four minutes to defeat St. John’s, 2-1, Sunday at Columbus, Ohio, and deliver the sixth NCAA men’s soccer championship for retiring Coach Jerry Yeagley.

“I’ve been trying not to think about me. This is about this team. Maybe in a few days I’ll collect myself,” Yeagley said.

In a game that ended under a steady snowfall, Ned Grabavoy scored on a free kick in the 16th minute, and Jacob Peterson made it 2-0 in the 20th for the eighth-seeded Hoosiers.

“To get on the board first in a championship game is very huge for our team to get our confidence going,” Grabavoy said.

Yeagley started Indiana’s varsity soccer program in 1973, and he leaves with more victories and a higher winning percentage than any other men’s college soccer coach. He led the Hoosiers to 16 appearances in the College Cup.

With 1 minute 30 seconds to play, Yeagley sat Buddha-like on the empty bench, wearing a serene smile on his weathered face. As time expired, he calmly shook hands with St. John’s Coach Dave Masur before walking on the field and being engulfed by his players.

“I did have the strangest feeling after the game was over ... it was almost like a surreal-type experience,” Yeagley said.

St. John’s, playing in its first NCAA final since winning the 1996 title, got a goal from Ashley Kozicki with 12 minutes left.

Trying to send the game into overtime, St. John’s took a variety of desperation shots in the last 10 minutes on a field covered by an icy, white blanket.

“I was getting a little nervous because everything was starting to get wet, and they were just starting to pump balls into the box,” Indiana goalkeeper Jay Nolly said.

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Winter Sports

Kalle Palander of Finland won a World Cup giant slalom for the first time, in a race in which Bode Miller of the United States finished fourth.

Palander covered the steep Gran Risa course at Alta Badia, Italy, in a combined 2:30.57. Davide Simoncelli of Italy was second, 0.92 behind, and Frederic Covili of France was third, 1.08 behind.

Miller, the defending champion, was second after the first run. He had trouble staying under control in his second trip and ended 1:12 behind.

Miller won the first two giant slaloms this season at Soelden, Austria, and Park City, Utah.

Tami Kiuru of Finland withstood strong and shifting winds at Titisee-Neustadt, Germany, for his first World Cup ski jumping victory.

Kiuru jumped 126 meters and was awarded 145.8 points in an event pushed back from Saturday because of bad conditions and reduced to one jump.

Andreas Widhoelzl of Austria was second with 140.8 points and a leap of 133.5, and Janne Ahonen of Finland was third with 139.9 and 133.0.

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Miscellany

Jed Bedford, captain of the Columbus State (Ga.) men’s basketball team, died at a hospital about an hour after collapsing during a practice.

The Muscogee County coroner told university officials that cardiac arrest was the cause of death. Bedford was 21.

Bedford, a senior from Leesburg, Fla., led NCAA Division II with 135 three-point baskets last season. He was averaging 21.4 points this season.

Raul Gonzalez of the New York Mets homered twice and finished with six runs batted in, leading Puerto Rico to a 14-7 victory over the Dominican Republic at San Juan, Puerto Rico, in the teams’ first winter league All-Star game.

Puerto Rico starter Dickey Gonzalez struck out five of the nine batters he faced.

The Dominican roster included shortstop Angel Berroa of the Kansas City Royals, the 2003 American League rookie of the year; designated hitter David Ortiz of the Boston Red Sox; and shortstop Rafael Furcal of the Atlanta Braves.

The Puerto Rican lineup included infielder Alex Cora of the Dodgers and outfielder Luis Matos of the Baltimore Orioles.

Pieter van den Hoogenband led the Dutch men’s 200-meter freestyle relay team to a world record in the European Short Course Swimming Championships at Dublin, Ireland.

The team of Hoogenband, Mark Veens, Johan Kenkhuis and Gijs Damen finished in 1:25.55 to surpass the short-course record of 1:25.87 set by a U.S. team Oct. 20, 2001.

Antje Buschschulte of Germany set a European record of 2:04.23 in the women’s 200 backstroke.

Britain’s Georgina Harland won the modern pentathlon world title at Athens to qualify for next summer’s Olympics.

Harland, who won the gold medal in the 2001 world championships, secured the victory in the last of the five events -- the 1.8-mile cross-country race.

She finished 10 minutes behind race winner Michelle Kelly of U.S., but picked up enough points to pass Tatyana Tereshchuk of Ukraine, 5,384 to 5,376. Tereshchuk qualified for the Olympics.

Jimmy Muindi of Kenya beat two-time defending champion Mbarak Hussein to win the Honolulu Marathon.

Muindi finished in 2:12.59. He pulled away from the lead pack of four runners just past the 18-mile mark. Hussein finished second in 2:15:01.

Eri Hayakawa of Japan won the women’s division in 2:31:57.