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Rupakus, Borick, Walker Score Goals In Unico Scranton Soccer Cup Victory
By Tom Robinson

SCRANTON - Blue Ridge’s Hayley Rupakus, Forest City’s Alysa Borick and Mountain View’s Megan Walker scored the last three North goals Friday night in a 4-2 victory over the South in the girls’ opener of the ninth annual UNICO Scranton Soccer Cup.

The South went in front at the University of Scranton’s Fitzpatrick Field on the first of two goals by Valley View’s Katie Iyoob.

Mid Valley’s Erika Symons, who won the game’s Most Valuable Player Award with a goal and an assist, scored to tie the game.

The three Susquehanna County players took it from there.

Intense heat led to the game being switched from 40-minute halves to 30-minute halves with a break in the middle of each half, creating essentially a four-quarter game.

Seconds after players returned to the field for the second of those four quarters, North Pocono defender Corrine Glassman misplayed a ball for the South.

Rupakus picked up the loose ball about 30 yards out, dribbled in alone and scored to give the North a 2-1 lead with 14:45 left in the half.

Iyoob tied the game with 10:56 remaining, but Borick and Walker scored less than five minutes apart for the win.

Glassman tracked down Symons to stop one scoring chance in the penalty area. Symons kept working, however, and fought to knock the ball loose from Glassman and West Scranton goalie Amanda Greene.

Borick charged in and knocked the loose ball into the open net for a 3-2 lead with 8:15 remaining.

Walker made several strong runs up the right side throughout the second half. She got one to pay off with the insurance goal by connecting on a shot to the short side with 3:32 left.

The North led in shots, 16-13, and corner kicks, 3-2.

Mountain View’s Olivia Zick went the whole game in goal and made five saves.

Forest City’s Rebecca Keller, Montrose’s Amelia DiPhillips and Alex Lewis and Mountain View’s Taylor Brainard also played for the winning North team.

BOYS’ GAME

Elk Lake’s Joey Woolcock set up the first of two goals by Honesdale’s Tom Cahill, helping the North to a 3-1 victory in the boys’ game that completed the UNICO Cup doubleheader.

Cahill went on to claim the game’s MVP award.

Woolcock’s pass up the middle off a header just 6:49 into the game got it started.

Danny Simonds helped finish off the win. The Montrose goalie made three saves while playing the second half.

The only goal against Simonds came when Justin Klingman of Abington Heights knocked in a rebound to cut the North lead to 2-1.

Elk Lake’s Bo Bushnell; Blue Ridge’s Taylor Carlsen, Eric Giangrieco, Greg Stonier and Nick Vales, Forest City’s Adam Dix and Kevin Swartz and Montrose’s Mike Marz were also part of the North win.

The North finished with a 23-15 lead in shots and a 4-1 advantage in corner kicks.

THE WEEK AHEAD

Susquehanna’s Nick Marco and Dan Kempa earned spots in the starting City defensive lineup for Wednesday night’s 77th annual Dream Game at Scranton Memorial Stadium.

“Marco’s a tough kid,” Scranton Prep coach Nick Donato said after deciding on Marco to anchor the 4-3 City defense from the middle linebacker position.

Kempa will start at strong safety and is also scheduled to see some time at quarterback.

Susquehanna’s Steve Skurski and Robert Hubal and Montrose’s Ethan Jones and Josh Oliver are also on the City team.

TOM ROBINSON writes a weekly local sports column for the Susquehanna County Transcript.

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NASCAR Racing
By Gerald Hodges

Edwards Wins Nashville Nationwide Race

LEBANON, Tenn. - Carl Edwards overcame a mid-race pit road speeding penalty at Nashville Superspeedway to give Roush Fenway its fourth one-two finish of the season in the Nationwide Series.

Edwards, who led 124 laps, said he thought the penalty would be a problem for him in the race, but the speed of his Ford through traffic nullified the loss in position.

“I can't believe I was leading and I sped on pit road,” he said. “That was really, really not smart. But in the end it made our night more fun. I probably learned more.”

Carl Edwards, winner of Nashville Nationwide race.

Ricky Stenhouse Jr. came in second, moving up one spot to second in the NNS point standings - five points outside of first. Trevor Bayne finished ninth, giving Roush Fenway three teams inside the top-10 on the night.

“We were just too loose on that last run,” Stenhouse said. “We were tight in the middle part of the race. I never really got it exactly where I needed it. We were one adjustment away from being really fast, but Carl has always been really good here.”

Austin Dillon, Justin Allgaier, Aric Almirola, Sam Hornish, Drew Herring, Reed Sorenson, Trevor Bayne, and Kenny Wallace rounded out the top-10 finishers.

Top-10 leaders after 20 of 34: 1. Sorenson-702, 2. Stenhouse-697, 3. Sadler-688, 4. Allgaier-672, 5. Almirola-631, 6. Leffler-608, 7. K. Wallace-605, 8. S. Wallace-558, 9. Annett-550, 10. Scott-537.

DILLON TAKES NASHVILLE TRUCK RACE

Austin Dillon passed Johnny Sauter with 23 laps to go and did not look back, winning Friday night's Truck Series race at Nashville Superspeedway for his first trip to victory lane this season.

Dillon, who won two races in 2010, picked up his third career win and his first since Sept. 2010 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

Following Dillon and Sauter across the finish line were Timothy Peters in third, Nelson Piquet Jr. in fourth and Parker Kligerman in fifth.

Todd Bodine, James Buescher, David Starr, Elliott Sadler, and Joey Coulter rounded out the top-10.

Top-10 leaders after 12 of 25; 1. Sauter-431, 2. Dillon-413, 3. Buescher-389, 4. Whitt-388, 5. Peters-384, 6. Crafton-377, 7. Kligerman-373, 8. Coulter-366, 9. Hornaday-362, 10. Bodine-350.

NASCAR: THE GOOD AND NOT SO GOOD

Attendance at most NASCAR tracks has declined this year. But on the other hand, the number of fans watching it on television has remained steady, or shown a slight increase.

Indianapolis Motor Speedway sent out a memo last week that said ticket sales for next week's Brickyard 400 were again off-pace from last season.

“Ticket sales are significantly behind from previous years,” the memo said.

Since sales have been dramatically down at every race, since teams encountered tire problems in 2008 at the track, another decline would be significant.

Last year’s reported attendance of 140,000 was only slightly more than half what had been “listed” (270,000) three years earlier. In 2003, the listed attendance was 300,000.

Attendance has declined at almost all tracks, but not to that extent. The warnings from Indy should be taken seriously. Apparently the track and NASCAR are bracing for a further decline.

NASCAR will move the 2012 Nationwide race from the smaller Indianapolis Raceway Park to the big IMS. It will also add a NASCAR-owned Rolex Grand Am series race the same weekend in an attempt to bolster the attendance.

This past Saturday night the “official attendance” at the Nationwide race outside Nashville was listed at 11,000 but most estimates put the crowd at no more than 4,000.

The Dover-owned track is winding up its 11th season and has struggled with attendance since its inception. After its first race, some 20,000 temporary bleachers were dismantled, leaving the track with approximately 25,000 permanent seats. It has yet to sell out.

Meanwhile the summer television ratings have shown an improvement over last season. TNT saw overall growth in total viewers, ratings and households in its six-race coverage of the 2011 Sprint Cup Series increase by three per cent.

I receive two or three e-mails a week from fans that tell me they have given up going to the races and watch it on TV. Most are from long-time fans that have followed NASCAR for many years.

J.B. of Steubenville, Kentucky said: “NASCAR has been my family’s passion for years, but something has gone out of the sport in recent years. My wife and I feel like it’s not worth the effort or cost it takes to attend in person. Watching it on TV is not like being there, but it’s a less frustrating than spending several hours getting in and out of traffic at Bristol or Martinsville.”

R.C. of Bar Harbor, Maine offers his view: “Watching on TV is a lot less expensive, and I can go to the refrigerator and get a beer any time I want, without standing in a long line.”

New fans appear more likely to attend races, while those who have attended many NASCAR events are content to stay home and watch it on TV.

Weekend Racing: NASCAR’s three major series will be at two different tracks this weekend. The Cup teams are at the 2.5-mile Indianapolis Brickyard, with the Nationwide and Truck teams racing at the nearby 0.686-mile Indianapolis Raceway Park.

Fri., July 29, Camping World Trucks, race 13 of 25, Starting time: 7:30 p.m.; TV: SPEED.

Sat., July 30, Nationwide Series, race 20 of 34, Starting time: 7:30 p.m.; TV: ESPN2.

Sun., July 31, Sprint Cup Brickyard 400, race 20 of 36, Starting time: 1 p.m.; TV: ESPN.

All times are Eastern.

Racing Trivia Question: Who is Kasey Kahne’s teammate at Red Bull Racing?

Last Week’s Question: Mark Martin has said he will continue to race in the Cup Series until at least the end of the 2012 season. Where is his hometown? Answer. It is Batesville, Arkansas.

You may contact the Racing Reporter at hodges@race500.com.

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