Gruppen » goals match the output in her first three seasons. H

RIO DE JANEIRO -- Chris Froome said he had no regrets so often, as he contemplated his bronze-medal finish in the Olympic cycling time trial, it was as if he was trying to convince himself.Not long before, a couple of hundred meters from the finish line, he had shaken his head and looked the picture of disappointment.But it was hard not to admire Froome for his determination to present a brave face after an achievement that would have made most ordinary athletes ecstatic. He even disputed the claim from British Cycling programmes director Andy Harrison that Froome had been suffering from a tight chest.I gave it everything I had, the three-time Tour de France winner said. I was absolutely dead by the finish line. [Winner] Fabian Cancellara was clearly the strongest guy on the road, so congratulations to him.At the end of the day, its been an amazing summer. I wanted to come here and try to back it up. A second medal is pretty special.Froome, 31, took bronze in this event in London four years ago, when British compatriot Bradley Wiggins was the gold-medal winner.The more colourful of the two characters sat on a throne at Hampton Court Palace to celebrate finishing first then, but that sort of thing wouldnt have been Froomes style whatever had happened on Wednesday.He is a quietly spoken, reserved type of guy, the sort of character who thanks his family for hanging in there with him during the time he has spent away, committed to his sport, an athlete who planned to rise early a day after the time trial to fit in a five- or six-hour training ride before leaving Brazil.I want to keep the body ticking over. I have not done any big training rides since I left the Tour, Froome explained.If there was a criticism that could be levelled at the British rider, it was that he spread himself too thinly at these Games. Froome gave his all in the road race last Saturday, and even when it looked like he would come up short, he refused to relax in the saddle.He knew beforehand, too, that the hilly course would make it tough for him to win, and the time trial had seemed the better bet anyway, given how well he had performed in the equivalent Tour stage.Whether it was overconfidence, a sense of duty or his competitive spirit -- another of his admirable qualities -- it wasnt the smartest approach.[There were only] three days between the road race and time trial, Froome said after finishing 1 minute, 2.12 seconds behind Cancellara. I gave it everything in the road, I emptied myself there -- both events. Its not in my nature to try and sit up. I was here to give it everything.Froome proved with his effort how highly he values the Olympics, but as is also the case for golfers and tennis players, the Games do not offer the biggest prize in his sport.The top target for road cyclists, nearly every time, will be the Tour de France, and Cancellara, who pulled out of that early this year to focus on the Olympics, was an exception who proved the rule.Did that give the Swiss a crucial advantage? Potentially, it could have, Froome said. He was stronger than everybody else. Even in the road race, he was going really well. Tom Dumoulin [who took silver], potentially, he dropped out of the Tour with injury. He bounced back pretty well.Its one of the challenges in the cycling world. Given how big the Tour is, that has to stay my No. 1 priority for now.It has been an amazing season, to have won the Tour for a third time, and still come here and medal.Froomes asthma may also have handed his rivals an advantage, with Harrison hinting he had been struggling with a related problem for several days in the buildup to the race.Froome, however, refused to give any excuses for missing out on a hoped-for gold. Its been fine the last few days, he insisted.Hopefully, Ive got another Olympics in me. I know some people may see a bronze as a disappointment, but Im extremely happy to have medalled again.The time for Froome to mentally move on, once his role as a competitor in the Games ended, came pretty quickly. Processing any disappointment as fast as he appeared to left absolutely no room for regrets. Luckily, as he said, he didnt have any. Buy Shoes Black Friday . After a first half in which he thought "the lid was on the basket," the Toronto Raptors coach watched his squad mount a second half surge to defeat the Cleveland Cavaliers 98-91. Fake Shoes Black Friday . -- Hunter Smith scored the winner with just 12 seconds remaining in the third period as the Oshawa Generals edged the host Sarnia Sting 5-4 on Friday in Ontario Hockey League action. https://www.cheapshoesblackfriday.com/ . -- Matt Kuchar and Harris English ran away with the Franklin Templeton Shootout, shooting a 14-under 58 on Sunday in the final-round scramble to break the tournament course record. Cheap Shoes Black Friday . Kyle Denbrook, a soccer player from Saint Marys University, took the CIS male athlete of the week honour. Stanley, a fourth-year business administration student from Charlottetown, scored both goals in a 2-0 win over Dalhousie on Friday and tallied again in a 1-0 win over Saint Marys on Sunday. China Shoes Black Friday .C. at the helm of the top team in the Eastern Conference. His tenure as the GM in Vancouver was all too brief. Though he led the Canucks to what was then a franchise record-shattering campaign in just his second season, Nonis was gone and replaced one year later. It began with more than 300 teams competing for four spots in Cary, North Carolina. Now a final quartet is headed instead to San Jose, California, to settle a national championship. Relocated by the NCAA in response to anti-LGBTQ legislation in North Carolina, the College Cup begins Friday with semifinals pitting No. 1 West Virginia against No. 2 North Carolina (ESPNU, 5 p.m. ET) and No. 2 Georgetown against No. 2 USC (ESPNU, 7:30 p.m. ET). What follows is a first look at what to expect.The 2016 College Cup is a sign of the timesFor the first time since 2010, which was also the only other instance in the past 20 years, the College Cup includes two first-time participants in Georgetown and West Virginia. And with USC making just its second appearance, this field misses out on having arguably the least seniority in the events history only because, well, North Carolina is North Carolina.In some respects, this College Cup is a sign of a very specific moment in time. It cannot be a coincidence that the teams in San Jose were, by and large, less hampered by the Under-20 Womens World Cup than the likes of UCLA or reigning champion Penn State. Or that Florida State and Virginia, two postseason staples in recent seasons, finally saw their balance tilt from reloading to rebuilding. Or that Stanford fell victim to one of the tournaments great upsets despite taking 31 shots on the night against Santa Clara.And, as always, there was good fortune involved in surviving penalty shootouts (USC and West Virginia) or staying at home throughout the first four rounds (Georgetown). It isnt much of a stretch to imagine that Duke, Florida State and Stanford could be alongside North Carolina.Then again, it might just as easily be South Carolina and Auburn alongside Georgetown and West Virginia in a field of four first-timers. And perhaps thats more the point. Since 2010, there have been eight first-time participants and four first-time champions in the College Cup. In the 10 tournaments between 2000 and 2009, just four programs made College Cup debuts.This isnt a College Cup of upstarts or underdogs. Just one of unfamiliar names.How did they know the way to San Jose?Georgetown: There was drama during a 1-0 quarterfinal win over Santa Clara, the goal coming from Notre Dame transfer Crystal Thomas in the 76th minute and standing up only after a save in the final minute. But by the standards of this bracket, Georgetown progressed with ease. The Hoyas havent allowed a goal yet and took the lead inside an hour in each of their first three games. Not bad for a program that is less than a decade removed from its NCAA tournament debut and matched its previous all-time postseason win total with this run.North Carolina: As was true of their most recent title in 2012, North Carolina is the only semifinalist that played on the road en route to the College Cup, a 1-0 quarterfinal win at South Carolina. The Tar Heels also played this season without Jessie Scarpa, a first-team all-ACC selection, and freshman Taylor Otto because of the U-20 World Cup, as well as midfielder Joanna Boyles because of injury. So early struggles, including a 3-0 loss at USC, were hardly a shock. But the past month has been a tour de force, including wins over Florida State, Virginia, Notre Dame, Clemson and South Carolina.USC: USC survived a second-round penalty shootout against Texas A&M and had to hold off Auburn in an evenly played quarterfinal, a game it had the chance to play at home because Auburn beat top-seeded Florida a week earlier. But that was also the second win of the season over Auburn, in addition to wins against North Carolina and Stanford. Somewhat improbably the first Pac-12 program to win a national title in 2007, beating more familiar Stanford and UCLA to the distinction, USC could now become the first team from the conference with multiple titles.West Virginia: The Mountaineers havent had a two-goal lead since the first round, played nearly 40 minutes of overtime, gave up one lead in the final minute of regulation, survived a penalty shootout against UCLA and were outshot in a 1-0 quarterfinal win over Duke. But unlike every other No. 1 seed, they still have games to play. Dont let the postseason drama, which plenty of past champions endured, obscure the full body of work. This team that shut out the Big 12 -- the entire league -- had the second-stingiest defense in the nation.The four keysGeorgetowns versatility: It may be new to the championship scene, but Georgetown brings the diversified portfolio of a longtime participant. Yes, the Hoyas like to have the ball and break opponents down. Fifth in the nation in scoring entering the quarterfinals, they are the only semifinalist ranked in the top 30 in scoring. But their best win of the regular season came at West Virginia, a game in which they surrendered the vast majority of possession and defended for their lives. They shut out Virginia in the Sweet 16 when they recorded just three shots of their own, and they shut out Rutgers in the second round when they allowed just four shots.North Carolinas depth: Less than two minutes after she entered as a substitute against South Carolina, Madison Schultz placed a bending shot into the corner of the net for the games only goal. A round earlieer, Dorian Bailey had been on the field for 10 minutes when she provided the only goal against Clemson.ddddddddddddThis is what North Carolina does. Subs like Schultz and Bailey played 6,046 minutes for the Tar Heels this season. Subs played 3,500 minutes for their opponents. Thats a difference of more than 100 minutes of fresher legs per game.USCs back line: Way back on Aug. 19, Santa Clara scored three goals in just more than 96 minutes to win its season opener against USC in overtime. In more than 2,000 minutes since, the rest of USCs opponents have combined to score just seven more goals. Auburn (twice), North Carolina, Stanford, Texas A&M and Utah were among those 15 opponents shut out. That isnt done by packing numbers behind the ball, but it also isnt simply the byproduct of USC dominating games at the other end. Mandy Freeman and Ally Prisock are physical center backs comfortable on the ball, and goalkeeper Sammy Jo Prudhomme is as steady as they come.West Virginias Canadians: The NCAA presumably wont play the Canadian anthem before the semifinal, but it should. The starting lineup against Duke included seven Canadians (notable among them is sophomore defender Bianca St. Georges, who just returned from the U-20 World Cup). As with North Carolinas depth, this isnt new. West Virginia nearly reached the College Cup in 2007 with Amanda Cicchini, Deana Everrett headlining another cast of Canadians. But the current group is the most deep and accomplished. It would be a title crafted in Canada.Stars to watchMorgan Andrews, MF, USC: It has been a long journey for the former two-time national high school player of the year. A surprise omission from the United States U-20 team in 2014, having captained the U-17 team in a World Cup two years earlier, she then transferred to USC from Notre Dame after that college season. All shes done since is excel. She has 21 goals in 45 appearances for USC and is the playmaking fulcrum in the center of the midfield.Kadeisha Buchanan, D, West Virginia: Shes played more World Cup minutes than the rest of this field has played College Cup minutes. The same thing is true of her Olympic minutes (as it is for teammate and midfielder Ashley Lawrence). She doesnt have an NCAA title, but she has an Olympic medal. Not since Heather OReilly and Christine Sinclair have we seen College Cup participants already so accomplished on the world stage. She controls games from the back.Rachel Corboz, MF, Georgetown: You can trace Georgetowns rise under coach Dave Nolan through the history of three players: Ingrid Wells, Daphne Corboz and now the younger of the Corboz sisters. As the lineage and family connections suggest, that left Rachel with no small task in carving out her own legacy. But here the Hoyas are in their first College Cup, Rachel the NCAA leader with 16 assists in addition to 11 goals of her own.Lindsey Harris, GK, North Carolina: She wasnt among the all-conference selections, but none of those who were made a save like this in a quarterfinal. Her eight saves in that game pushed her total to 91 on the season, breaking a program record that stood for 36 years. Sure, some of her predecessors on more dominant teams had less work, but Harris saves are a reflection of her athleticism and her presence. There is no goalkeeper rotation with her in form this year.Meet the X factorsMichaela Abam, F, West Virginia: Shes not Canadian. She hasnt played in the World Cup or Olympics. But she can score goals. Abam leads the Mountaineers with 11 goals this season and has 31 in three seasons. She scored the overtime winner in the Sweet 16 against Ohio State, her fourth NCAA tournament goal in the past two seasons. As the work before the perhaps fortunate goal against the Buckeyes highlighted, she isnt just a poacher. She can create goals.Grace Damaska, F, Georgetown: Weve gotten this far without mentioning the player with the most goals of anyone in San Jose. And in a College Cup in which goals appear destined to be precious, that is an oversight. The seniors 14 goals match the output in her first three seasons. Her pace slowed a bit as this season progressed (she had five in a weekend in August), and an illness left her at less than 100 percent in the second and third rounds of the NCAA tournament. But at 5-foot-11, she can score in a lot of ways for the Hoyas.Hanna Gardner, D, North Carolina: The fifth-year senior is the only player in San Jose who has any experience playing in the College Cup. Her 188 minutes of experience are 188 more than the combined total of the hundred-plus other players on hand. As much as the Tar Heels substitute, the three starting defenders are constant and constantly good: Gardner, Julia Ashley and Maggie Bill (also a lacrosse All-American who won a national title earlier this year).Kayla Mills, MF, USC: The Pac-12 defensive player of the year a season ago (Mandy Freeman claimed the honor this season), Mills nonetheless boosted this teams title chances by changing positions. Not only did moving her off the back line open up minutes for impressive freshman Julia Bingham, it gave USC a rock solid defensive midfielder in Mills. ' ' '