Page 32 - bon-dia-aruba-20211002

A32 sports
Diasabra 2 OctOber 2021

NWSL calls off weekend games after allegations against coach

ley’s coaching license follow- won the NWSL champion- volving team officials.
ing The Athletic’s report, in ship in 2018 and 2019.
which former NWSL play- Washington Spirit coach
ers Sinead Farrelly and Mana The NWSL Players’ Asso- Richie Burke was fired after
Shim recounted their experi- ciation has called for an inde- a Washington Post report de-
ences with Riley. pendent investigation of the tailed verbal and emotional
allegations leveled at Riley. abuse of players. The league
The alleged harassment of The union also demanded formally dismissed Burke
Farrelly started in 2011 when the suspension of any league and sanctioned the Spirit on
she was a player with the or club staff who have been Tuesday after an independent
Philadelphia Independence accused of violating the investigation.
of the now-defunct Women’s league’s antiharassment poli-
Professional Soccer league. cy or of failing to report mis- Gotham FC general man-
conduct, no matter when it ager Alyse LaHue was fired
She told the website the occurred. in July after an investigation
abuse continued when Far- connected to the league’s an-
relly was with the Portland The union also demanded to tiharassment policy. She has
Thorns. Shim, a former know how Riley was hired by denied any wrongdoing.
Thorns player, also allegedly another club after allegations
experienced harassment. The of misconduct surfaced while Racing Louisville coach
(AP) - The National Wom- was made with the NWSL Thorns said Thursday that he was with the Thorns. Christy Holly was fired in
en’s Soccer League will players’ association. the team investigated claims September but the reasons
not play the games sched- about Riley and passed those The union is currently nego- for his dismissal were not
uled for this weekend as it “This week, and much of on to the league when he was tiating its first contract with made public.
deals with the fallout from this season, has been incred- dismissed. the league.
allegations of sexual ha- ibly traumatic for our play- OL Reign coach Farid Ben-
rassment and misconduct ers and staff, and I take full Riley told The Athletic the “We refuse to be silent any stiti abruptly resigned in July.
against a former coach. responsibility for the role I allegations were “completely longer. Our commitment as On Friday, OL Reign chief
have played. I am so sorry for untrue.” players is to speak truth to executive officer and minor-
North Carolina Courage the pain so many are feeling,” power,” the union said. “We ity owner Bill Predmore said
coach Paul Riley was fired by said Baird, who came to the Riley was head coach of the will no longer be complicit in Benstiti was asked to resign
the team following a report in NWSL in early 2020. “Rec- Thorns in 2014 and 2015. a culture of silence that has after an undisclosed incident
The Athletic that detailed the ognizing that trauma, we After he was let go by the enabled abuse and exploita- during practice.
alleged misconduct, which have decided not to take the Thorns, he became head tion in our league and in our
included claims by two for- field this weekend to give ev- coach of the Western New sport.” Benstiti had previously been
mer players of sexual coer- eryone some space to reflect. York Flash for a season before accused by U.S. national
cion. Business as usual isn’t our the team was sold and moved The league did not imme- team midfielder Lindsay
concern right now. Our en- to North Carolina. diately respond to those de- Horan of sexist behavior dur-
The NWSL did not specify tire league has a great deal of mands. ing his time as coach of Paris
Friday whether the games healing to do, and our players Riley was WPS Coach of the Saint-Germain. Horan has
were canceled or postponed. deserve so much better.” Year in 2011 and earned the In its ninth season, the said she was berated by Ben-
In a statement, Commission- same honors in the NWSL in NWSL has been rocked by stiti because of her weight.
er Lisa Baird said the decision U.S. Soccer suspended Ri- 2017 and 2018. The Courage several recent scandals in-

WNBA playoff semifinals all even, shifts to Chicago, Phoenix

(AP) — The WNBA semi- had a career playoff-high 37 game back. Sky won 101-95 as Courtney postgame press conference
final playoff series are points in the 117-91 victory. Vandersloot had the second that his team would be split
knotted at a game apiece “That’s what these games “You know, this is probably triple-double in WNBA play- among three flights out of
and both could go the full come down to. In Game 1, one of the hardest things I’ve off history. two different airports to get
five games based on the they were the aggressors. ever gone through,” Thomas to Chicago. The Sky had to
historic and gritty perfor- They played more physical. said of the injury, which she Some other tidbits about the get up at 3:30 a.m. and split
mances thus far. Today we did that and sus- suffered in January while semifinals: up to three different airports
tained that for long periods.” playing overseas. “There’s a to make it home Friday.
Diana Taurasi and the Phoe- lot of hard days. I’m a perfec- TRAVEL ADVENTURES:
nix Mercury put on a shoot- Taurasi barely missed despite tionist, and I’m just so used to While the Mercury and Aces Miller said he had the wacky
ing clinic as they scored the dealing with an ankle injury bouncing back from things. had no problems getting travel arrangements so that
most points in a regulation that forced her to sit out Days that weren’t good and flights to Phoenix, the Sky his tall players wouldn’t have
playoff game in the league’s the final four regular season I couldn’t get after it or push and Sun had a more diffi- to be in the middle seats and
25-year history in a win over games and the playoff opener myself were frustrating. cult time. Connecticut coach would be more comfortable
Las Vegas on Thursday night. against New York. She hit 10 Curt Miller said during his on the flights.
Eight months after having of her 13 shots and made a “You really start from ground
surgery to repair a torn Achil- career-high eight 3-pointers. zero just to learn how to walk
les’ tendon Alyssa Thomas again. It was a slow process,
provided a spark for the Con- Her performance came a hard process. But you’ve
necticut Sun in a victory over shortly after Thomas had 15 just got to celebrate the little
the Chicago Sky. points, 11 rebounds and six things.”
assists and provided a defen-
Both series are now tied at sive lift for the Sun to even For Connecticut to keep the
1-1 and play will shift to Chi- their series with Chicago. momentum going, the Sun
cago and Phoenix for the next Thomas’ game was even will have to try and once
set of games scheduled to tip more remarkable as she had again contain the potent Sky
off on Sunday. returned two weeks earlier offense. When Chicago has
from a ruptured Achilles’ scored less than 80 points
“We brought a different tendon injury she suffered in this season the team has won
mindset to the game, an ag- January. The 79-68 win over just twice. In the opener, a
gression,” said Taurasi, who Chicago was only her fourth double-overtime thriller, the