U.S. women tie New Zealand in soccer friendly

It was a tie that felt like a loss to the Americans.

Hannah Wilkinson, twice denied on near goals, chipped in a 15-yard shot in the 87th minute to allow New Zealand to forge a 1-1 draw with the United States in a soccer friendly Wednesday night at Columbus, Ohio.

Sydney Leroux scored in the 42nd minute for the Americans.

“Any time the U.S. women’s national team ties, it’s a loss for us,” Leroux said. “We’re very proud. I think we should have won. We’re going to be upset about this for a while. But we’ll move on.”

Goalkeeper Hope Solo had three saves for the Americans, 12-0-3 this year and unbeaten in their last 38 games (32-0-6).

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Mexico made Miguel Herrera a winner in his coaching debut with the national team, a 4-2 exhibition victory over Finland at San Diego.

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Brad Evans blasted in a hard shot in the 28th minute and Eddie Johnson added a goal during second-half stoppage time to give the Seattle Sounders a 2-0 victory over the Colorado Rapids in the MLS Western Conference knockout playoff game at Seattle.

The No. 4-seeded Sounders limped into the postseason on a seven-game winless streak but advanced to face the No. 1 Portland Timbers in the two-leg, aggregate-goals West semifinals. The first game will be Saturday in Seattle.

ETC.

Nadal, Federer win in Paris

Top-seeded Rafael Nadal advanced to the third round of the Paris Masters, and Roger Federer qualified for the ATP Finals for a 12th straight year.

Nadal beat Marcel Granollers, 7-5, 7-5, in an all-Spanish meeting, and Federer topped Kevin Anderson, 6-4, 6-4.

Nadal is playing in the Paris Masters for the first time since 2009. He missed the tournament the last three years because of injuries or fatigue.

The U.S. Open champion is seeking a record sixth Masters title in a single season. He will face last year’s runner-up, Jerzy Janowicz of Poland, in the third round.

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Simona Halep, Samantha Stosur and Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova were straight-sets winners in the season-ending WTA Tournament of Champions at Sofia, Bulgaria.

Top-seeded Halep beat seventh-seeded Alize Cornet of France, 6-4, 6-4, with a second consecutive round-robin win in the Serdika group to ease her way to the semifinals.

Former U.S. Open champion Stosur had a 6-3, 6-3 victory over fifth-seeded Russian Elena Vesnina in the Sredets group. Vesnina took a surprise 3-0 lead in the second set before Stosur rallied to take the match. In Wednesday’s last match, Russia’s Pavlyuchenkova topped Ukraine’s Elina Svitolina, 6-2, 6-4.

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Florida Atlantic football Coach Carl Pelini and defensive coordinator Pete Rekstis resigned after university officials said they acknowledged using illegal drugs.

The school received information about the allegations of drug use by the two coaches on Monday, said Athletic Director Patrick Chun. An investigation began immediately and Chun confronted the coaches Wednesday, a day when law enforcement officials also visited the school’s athletic offices.

Chun said that as of now, neither Pelini nor Rekstis is facing any charges. The investigation is continuing, and Chun said that was limiting the amount of information he could publicly reveal, other than that the drug use happened off-campus, not at an official school event or on the team’s most recent trip, and that no players were involved.

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Allen Iverson officially retired from the NBA, ending a 15-year career during which he won the 2001 most-valuable-player award and four scoring titles. Iverson retired in Philadelphia, where he had his greatest successes and led the 76ers to the 2001 NBA Finals. The 6-foot guard 24,368 points and was an 11-time All-Star.

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The Chicago Bulls exercised 2014-15 contract options on guard/forward Jimmy Butler and guard Marquis Teague.

The Bulls exercised the fourth-year option for Butler and third-year option on Teague.

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A Texas company is closer to forcing Lance Armstrong to return about $12 million in bonuses he was paid for winning the Tour de France while secretly using performance-enhancing drugs.

In a key ruling against Armstrong, a Texas arbitration panel said it would consider Dallas-based SCA Promotions’ appeal to recover its money. The company tried to prove Armstrong used steroids and other drugs and doping methods back in 2005 but ultimately agreed to pay him in a 2006 settlement.