WORCESTER, Mass. — Ida Kuoppala and Morgan Sadler scored in the first period, Loryn Porter stopped 34 shots and the University of Maine earned a 2-1 win over Holy Cross in a women’s hockey season opener Friday night.

In Maine’s first game in any sport since the start of the pandemic, Kuoppala scored with assists from Ella MacLean and Ally Johnson midway through the first period. Sadler made it 2-0 with 17 seconds left in the period, assisted by Līga Miljone and Elise Morphy.

Bryn Saarela scored early in the third period and Jada Brenon finished with 33 saves for Holy Cross.

FOOTBALL

COVID-19: Washington State Athletic Director Pat Chun says the school has nine football players in COVID-19 protocols, and four players had to be put into the protocol Friday morning, leading to the cancellation of the Cougars’ game Saturday at Stanford.

The latest positives kept the Cougars from reaching the Pac-12 mandate of 53 scholarship players available.

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Chun said it was too early to know whether next the Apple Cup game next Friday against rival Washington will be played as scheduled.

Phillip Fulmer, Tennessee’s athletic director and former football coach, said he is in isolation after testing positive for COVID-19. And Miami’s Manny Diaz became the latest active football coach to announce he has contracted the virus.

Fulmer, 70, posted on Twitter that he is “feeling fine” and was deemed not to have been in close contact with any Tennessee athletes or “sport-specific staff members.”

Tennessee plays at No. 23 Auburn on Saturday.

Fulmer is a College Football Hall of Famer who coached the Vols for 17 years and won a national championship 1998. He has been Tennessee’s AD since 2017.

Diaz made a similar social media post earlier to announce he tested positive for COVID-19 and is isolating. Diaz, 46, said he will work virtually with the No. 12 Hurricanes until he can return to the field.

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Seventh-ranked Cincinnati’s game against No. 25 Tulsa has been moved again in a shuffling of the American Athletic Conference schedule.

The Bearcats and Golden Hurricane are now set to play Dec. 12, a week before the planned date of the conference championship game. The game was originally scheduled for Oct. 17, then moved to Dec. 4.

The AAC also announced new dates for five other games postponed because of COVID-19 issues. The first is Memphis at Navy on Nov. 28.

Three games have been set for Dec. 5: Houston at SMU, Memphis and Tulane and Tulsa at Navy. Houston at Memphis was rescheduled for Dec. 12.

 

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