Sports briefs
Girls soccer
Mia Deramo’s goal in the seventh round of penalty kicks gave fifth-seeded South Fayette a 1-0 victory over top-seeded Mars in the WPIAL Class 3A girls soccer semifinals Tuesday at Dormont Stadium.
South Fayette won the penalty kicks shootout, 3-2. Alex Delaney and Anna Fraps also scored in the shootout for the Lions (13-4-2).
South Fayette will play either Montour or Moon, in the title game Saturday at 1:15 p.m. at Highmark Stadium.
Galicic, Froelich named all-state
Two local boys soccer players, Canon-McMillan’s Ryan Galicic and Peters Township’s Nathan Froelich, were among 14 from the WPIAL who were named all-state Tuesday by the Pennsylvania Soccer Coaches Association.
Charleroi’s Jon Ducoli, who has guided the Cougars to the WPIAL championship game, was named the Class A Coach of the Year by the Western Pennsylvania Soccer Coaches Association.
W&J picked first in PAC wrestling
Washington & Jefferson was voted as the Presidents’ Athletic Conference wrestling preseason favorite in a vote of league coaches and sports information directors.
W&J garnered four first-place votes and totaled 19 points to edge Thiel, who finished with two first-place votes and 16 points. Saint Vincent, who collected the final first-place vote, and Waynesburg tied for third with 14 points.
The thin margin between the top two teams should come as no surprise since Thiel and W&J tied for the PAC Championship a season ago. Although the Tomcats won five weight classes while the Presidents claimed four, Thiel needed a winning decision in the final match at 285 to tie for the crown.
The season will be its first season of competition for Saint Vincent since the program was restarted.
In the NBA
James Harden publicly called his boss a liar and swore he would never again play for the Philadelphia 76ers.
So he won’t – the 10-time All-Star with a history of trade demands only slightly shorter than his signature beard is on the move to his fifth NBA team, chasing his first championship, this time with the Los Angeles Clippers.
Harden joins Kawhi Leonard, Paul George and Russell Westbrook to shape a core group of veterans trying to win the Clippers their first NBA title in franchise history.
The final haul was yet to be settled Tuesday but the key parts are this: the 76ers sent Harden, P.J. Tucker and Filip Petrušev to Los Angeles for Marcus Morris, Robert Covington, Nic Batum, K.J. Martin, a 2028 unprotected first-round draft pick, two second-round picks, a 2029 draft-pick swap and an additional first-rounder from a third team.
In horse racing
A horse set to run in this weekend’s Breeders’ Cup died Tuesday at Santa Anita, and a short time later, Belmont Stakes winner Arcangelo dropped out of the $6 million Classic because of a foot issue.
Practical Move was returning from a morning gallop when he collapsed near the eighth pole. Breeders’ Cup officials said they suspected “a cardiac event.”
Practical Move was the early 3-1 second choice for the $1 million Dirt Mile on Saturday.
In college football
Central Michigan said Tuesday it is investigating whether Michigan football staffer Connor Stalions was on its sideline scoping out Michigan State during its season opener in September.
Photos circulating on the internet suggest that Stalions was on the Chippewas’ sideline during the Sept. 1 game, about six weeks before the Wolverines played and beat Michigan State.