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US women’s soccer team sees 3-peat dreams dashed

Sweden put an end to any hopes the U.S. Women’s World Cup team had for a three-peat in their meeting in the round of 16s. The Americans, for the second time, failed to notch a goal in regulation time and were hurt even worse when the aggressive Trinity Rodman had to go out with an injury. Just before the game headed into overtime, Megan Rapinoe, playing in her final Cup, was inserted. Rapinoe played subpar during the course of overtime, and when the game came to penalty kicks, she sailed her kick way high and laughed about it. U.S. goalie Alyssa Naeher stopped the winning PK from ...

Rugby World Cup will be worth watching

In a little more than one month, the Rugby World Cup will kick off on Friday, Sept. 8, with a barnburner of a game. That’s when France will play New Zealand to start things off. Twenty countries will be represented, with all games in France. Watch out for Antoine Dupont, who plays scrumhalf for France. Imagine Patrick Mahomes — though a bit sturdier — playing quarterback and defensive back. That is Dupont. The World Cup will be on Peacock, with some games on NBC. Take a few minutes and watch some of the greatest rugby players in the world represent their country. n n ...

With conference realignment, no program safe in dash for cash

Don’t call it conference realignment. Call it college football consolidation. Recent history suggests few are safe from being the next to get squeezed out. And even if your school makes the cut it can come with a cost. What was once a Big Six in major college football conferences became a Power Five and is now down to four after the Big 12 and Big Ten, motivated by a dwindling pool of television network dollars, carved up the Pac-12 over the course of about 36 hours last week. The previous time college football lost a power conference was right before the Bowl Championship Series ...

If Blitz is here, football not far away

By Michael Boytim mboytim@altoonamirror.com The Mirror’s 11th annual Blitz magazine is now on newstands including most Sheetz locations, Martin’s and Weis grocery stores and also available for purchase at the newspaper’s office at 301 Cayuga Ave. during regular business hours. Blitz serves as “opening day” for the Mirror’s scholastic sports coverage of the 2023-2024 school year. The magazine, like our day-to-day coverage, is something we take a lot of pride in and hope you will support, much like an opening-day game at PNC Park in Pittsburgh. There’s plenty of ...

Snyder’s ouster win for franchise

Football fans in the nation’s capital are enjoying their biggest victory since Joe Gibbs’ Hogs won their third Super Bowl 31 years ago. It may take a while before Washington celebrates similar on-field success. Getting rid of owner Dan Snyder is the first step toward rebuilding a once-proud franchise, but it won’t be easy after decades of decline. The Commanders’ new ownership led by Josh Harris and including Magic Johnson have plenty of major challenges ahead. Harris outlined his priorities Friday. “I’m stressed. Training camp is next week and the first game is six ...

PSU Altoona gives wrestling in area a boost

This week’s announcement that Penn State Altoona was bringing back men’s wrestling and also implementing a women’s program, both for the 2024-25 season, was tremendous news for the sport in our area. Think about college wrestling in our area past the high school level. We have the best collegiate wrestling dynasty, maybe in the history of NCAA wrestling, just down the road from us at Penn State. Lock Haven and UPJ also aren’t too far away, and Pitt, Clarion and Edinboro are all a nice day trip. The problem is these are all NCAA Division I schools in wrestling, with the ...