Sports Briefs
High school soccer
A pair of area high school soccer players were named to the United Soccer Coaches All-Region II East teams.
Peters Township forward Regan LaVigna, a Youngstown State commit, was one of five girls from the WPIAL to earn a spot. Despite her season being finished in the WPIAL quarterfinals with an injury, LaVigna scored a team-high 19 goals.
Belle Vernon’s Markello Apodiakos was one of three players from the WPIAL to be named to the boys’ team. Apodiakos, a Duquesne commit, had 22 goals and 19 assists on the season.
Penguins claim
Dea off waivers
The Pittsburgh Penguins have claimed forward Jean-Sebastien Dea off waivers from the New Jersey Devils Thursday.
Dea, who has been assigned to the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins of the American Hockey League, was claimed off waivers by New Jersey from Pittsburgh on September 28, 2018. The 24-year-old appeared in 20 games with the Devils this season with three goals and two assists.
During the 2016-17 and ’17-18 seasons, Dea saw action in six NHL games for the Penguins and recorded one goal, the game-winning goal, on January 23, 2018 against the Carolina Hurricanes.
The 5-foot-11, 175-pound forward spent the previous four seasons in the Pittsburgh organization since being signed as an undrafted free agent in 2013.
Athletics to get
new ballpark
The Oakland Athletics have found a location for their modern new ballpark, announcing plans to build near Jack London Square along the water.
Team President Dave Kaval had hoped to finalize a site by the end of the year, and the A’s made the announcement they had settled on the Howard Terminal site.
The club, coming off its first playoff berth since 2014, had to switch gears after a proposed plan at Laney College fell through last December.
Kaval says the A’s will build a “bold, iconic ballpark” and the “design will allow us to blur the boundaries of a traditional ballpark and integrate into the surrounding neighborhood.”