Sunday’s Sports Roundup includes Crimson Hawks football, basketball, and volleyball, as well as high school football and volleyball, and a Penguins recap.
In college football Saturday, the undefeated IUP Crimson Hawks beat West Chester, 24-7 to win the PSAC championship. While the draw for the regional championship tournament won’t be held until Sunday, IUP is expected to retain the top spot in the rankings and get a bye for the first round next week.
In basketball, the IUP men fell short in their game against Virginia State. After falling behind by 12 points in the first half, IUP came back to take a brief 54-50 lead, but they were outscored 19-10 the rest of the way and lost 69-64.
It took a while to solve West Virginian Wesleyan, but the IUP women won their home opener Saturday at Memorial Field House, 82-54.
The IUP women’s volleyball team won the PSAC Southwest Division titled with a 3-1 win over Seton Hill.
In high school sports, Northern Cambria bowed out of the District 6 football playoffs, losing to Juniata Valley, 19-14.
The Northern Cambria girls lost to Clarion, 3-1 yesterday in the state Class A volleyball playoffs, while the West Shamokin girls beat New Hope-Solebury, 3 games to 2, to advance in the Double-A playoffs.
Exactly 5 months after winning their latest Stanley Cup, the Penguins fell to the Predators in Nashville, 5-4 in a shootout. Brian Rust was the first to score with a short-handed goal in the first period. The Pens gave up three goals in the second period before answering with a goal from Phil Kessel. A goal by Jake Guentzel would tie the game early in the third. Nashville regained the lead before Brian Dumoulin would tie the game once more. The final 12 minutes would remain scoreless, as would the overtime period. In the shootout, Sydney Crosby scored for the Pens, but the Predators’ Kevin Fiala and Filip Forsberg scored on goaltender Tristan Jarry, who blocked 24 of 28. The Penguins will host the Buffalo Sabres Tuesday night at PPG Paints Arena.
