Meister der Farbe » otball odds and ends-- Seventy-one

COLUMBIA, S.C. -- Senior striker Sophie Groff converted a penalty kick in the 74th minute to lift No. 1 seed South Carolina womens soccer to a 1-0 win over 20th-ranked Colorado in the second round of the NCAA Tournament Thursday night at Stone Stadium. The victory gave the No. 3 ranked Gamecocks (20-1-1) their most wins in a season ever and advanced them to the NCAA Tournament third round for the third time in school history. Colorado ends its 2016 campaign at 15-6-1 following the loss.Groffs game-winner came after she was taken down in the box trying to collect a cross from senior forward Daija Griffin from the right side. Colorado goalkeeper Jalen Tompkins charged into Groff and knocked her down to set up the ensuing attempt from 12 yards out. Groff, who opened the NCAA Tournament with a multi-goal match last Friday, saw Tompkins dive right and calmly slipped the ball into the left side of the net. The goal marked her second successful penalty kick of the season.Carolina, which put six shots on frame Thursday, nearly opened the scoring on two separate occasions in the first half. In the 17th minute, senior midfielder Chelsea Drennans corner kick located senior center back Paige Bendell deep inside the box. Bendell drilled a header towards net that deflected off Groff before being cleared off the line by a Colorado defender. The Gamecocks almost broke through in the 35th minute when Griffin rifled a shot from the left side of the box that was knocked away by Tompkins. The deflection created a dangerous loose ball, and Tompkins was able to punch it away again before a charging Groff could tap it in.The Gamecocks bid for a goal fell just shot again in the 50th minute when junior forward Savannah McCaskill raced to the ball and sent a diving cross into the box. Her delivery found Drennan, who one-timed a shot that missed just left. Less than 10 minutes after Groffs goal, McCaskill nearly doubled the advantage after sending a header wide left following a Carolina corner kick.Colorados best chance of the night came in the 55th minute when Buffalo forward Emily Bruder evaded the defense and found herself one-on-one with Gamecock goalkeeper Mikayla Krzeczowski. Krzeczowski charged off her line and used her leg to turn the shot away before Carolina center back Kaleigh Kurtz cleared the danger.The Gamecocks finished the match with a 15-9 shot advantage and attempted five corner kicks. Colorado put five attempts on target and totaled four corner kicks throughout the contest. Krzeczowski tallied five saves to earn her 10th shutout of the year and improve to 17-1-1 in 2016.QUOTABLEIm so proud of this team and what theyve done all year. I keep saying, you dont really understand what youve done until you can reflect upon it. Were all so focused on the run and meeting our own expectations of doing well. This team has shown all year (that) they find a way to win and they can play against the best. - South Carolina womens soccer coach Shelley SmithGAMECHANGERSenior forward Sophie Groff clinched the victory for the Gamecocks with her penalty kick in the 74th minute. The tally was the 10th career game-winning goal for the Grapevine, Texas, native.KEY STATThe Gamecocks limited the Buffaloes to just two shots on goal in the second half. Only four Colorado players registered a shot on the night.NOTABLESouth Carolina has reached the Round of 16 in the NCAA Tournament in two of the last three years. Senior striker Sophie Groffs nine career points (4G, 1A) in NCAA Tournament play are the most by a Gamecock ever. The Gamecocks are 4-of-5 on penalty attempts this season. Groff and senior midfielder Chelsea Drennan have both made two penalty shots on the year. South Carolinas 13 shutouts this fall are two shy of the programs single-season record. The Gamecocks have allowed just three goals at home in 2016. UP NEXTSouth Carolina faces No. 4 seed BYU in NCAA Tournament third round action Saturday at Stone Stadium. The fourth-ranked Cougars downed 25th-ranked Oklahoma 2-1 in Columbia earlier Thursday. Kickoff this weekend is slated for 7 p.m. ET. Jaquiski Tartt Super Bowl Jersey .C. -- Charlotte Bobcats coach Steve Clifford said after all of these years in the NBA hes still amazed at some of the things LeBron James does. C. J. Beathard Super Bowl Jersey . Terms of the deal were not immediately available. The 26-year-old finished last season with Clevelands Triple-A affiliate in Columbus after signing with the Indians in August. http://www.49ersofficialfanshop.com/ronnie-lott-jersey-sales.html . After Gasquet beat fifth-seeded Ivan Dodig of Croatia 7-5, 6-3, Tsonga followed up with a 6-7 (3), 6-2, 6-2 win against sixth-seeded Edouard Roger-Vasselin in an all-French match. Mike Person Super Bowl Jersey . But what about the officials? Every sport has officials and they also have stories about hard work and sacrifice but their accomplishments are seldom recognized by anyone outside their inner circle. Raheem Mostert Super Bowl Jersey . Toronto has dropped games to Indiana and Miami since a five-game winning streak and closed out a three-game road trip at 1-2. The line on the Michigan-Ohio State game moved significantly in the hours leading up to Saturdays noon kickoff, after reports of Wolverines quarterback Wilton Speight warming up on the field surfaced on social media.Speight missed the previous weeks game against Indiana with an injured non-throwing shoulder suffered in a loss to Iowa on Nov. 12.Oddsmakers didnt expect Speight to play against Michigan, and made the Buckeyes as high as 7-point favorites over the Wolverines to start the week. The line ticked down slightly earlier in the week, after local media reports out of Ann Arbor had Speight practicing, but Ohio State remained a 6-point favorite heading into Saturday.At 11:30 a.m. ET, just 30 minutes before kickoff, the line started dropping rapidly. Ohio State went to -5, then to 4.5 and 4, before eventually bottoming-out at Buckeyes -3.5 at MGMs sportsbooks right before kickoff.We started getting sharp action [on Michigan] that morning, MGM vice president of race and sports Jay Rood said. Usually, you get one [sharp bet] and another shows up while youre in the middle of changing (the line). Youll see four or five guys try and hit it, before you can move it.Caesars Palace sportsbooks also saw rush of Michigan money as word spread that Speight would start.We took a fair deal of late Michigan money, a Caesars sportsbook manager said Sunday afternoon. The line kept dropping and people kept betting them. We didnt take any monster plays right before kickoff, but we did get a lot of smaller bets on Michigan in the half hour leading up to kickoff.The late flurry of Michigan money contributed to extremely even and heavy betting action on Saturdays marquee game.ddddddddddddTwenty-minutes before kickoff, there were slightly more bets on Ohio State, but slightly more money on Michigan at CG Technologys books.The handle on the game was huge. Only four NFL games attracted more game-day money than what was bet on Michigan-Ohio State on Saturday at William Hills sportsbooks.Michigan lost the game 30-27, but covered the spread.College football odds and ends-- Seventy-one teams have been underdogs of 28 points or greater this season, according to sports betting analytics site BetLabs on SportsInsights. Kentucky is the only second to win straight-up.The Wildcats were 28-point underdogs at Louisville on Saturday. They won 41-38 on a 47-yard field goal by kicker Austin MacGinnis with 12 seconds to play.Kentucky was around a 16-1 underdog to beat Louisville straight-up. Largest money-line bet on the Wildcats was $200 that netted $3,200 at the William Hill sportsbook at Hard Rock Tahoe. William Hill also took a $726 money-line bet on the Cardinals that would have netted $12.10.-- Salmons, the Westgates head football oddsmaker, said hed make Alabama a 7.5-point favorite over Ohio State on a neutral field if the two teams played this week. He added that he only has four teams ahead of USC in his current rankings.-- Heading into the final week of the regular season, underdogs are 413-375 ATS. Road teams are 400-369 ATS; 411 games have stayed under the total, while 387 games have gone over. ' ' '