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LEXINGTON, Va. — The Middlebury College field hockey team scored twice in the second half and held off a strong Tufts squad to capture the NCAA Championship with a 2-1 triumph. The Panthers secured their seventh straight crown and ninth overall as the program finishes the season with a 19-2 mark. Middlebury manufactured a great opportunity on the first penalty corner with 5:49 elapsed. Grace Keefe blasted a rising shot off an insert that Tufts goalie Lydia Eastburn deflected away with her blocker. The Jumbos countered at the 6:36 mark as Claire Gavin took a redirection off a Panther stick and raced toward the left side of the cage. Goalie Madeline DiLemme thwarted Gavin's backhanded attempt to keep the score 0-0. The Panthers had two final chances in the opening quarter off penalty corner inserts from Caroline Segal. Each shot attempt from Emily Stone (9:39) and Megan Fuqua (14:32) was blocked by Jumbo defenders as the score read 0-0 after one. Middlebury continued its relentless pressure just 50 seconds into the second stanza. Georgianne Defeo grabbed possession in a group of Jumbos and Panthers and blasted a bid toward the left post that was stopped by Eastburn. Lilly Branka nearly put the Panthers ahead at the 18:18 mark by sliding around two Tufts defenders on the endline and launching a bid near the left post. Eastburn stood her ground, pinning herself to the post and knocking the bid away. Lainie Person looked to put the Jumbos on the board just 2:04 into the second half, but her bid sailed wide left. Middlebury took the lead with 2:10 left on its first shot of the second half. Branka dribbled the ball near the Tufts endline and flicked a pass toward the middle of the cage. Segal sprawled out and tapped the ball in while diving to the ground for the 1-0 edge. The Panthers extended their lead at the 50:44 mark. Claire McMichael ran down the right side of the field and slid a pass toward the middle of the circle. Eastburn came off her line to kick the ball away, but Defeo got to the ball a second earlier and poked it underneath Eastburn's pads to make it 2-0. Tufts responded 22 seconds later off a penalty corner. Kylie Rosenquest found the cage after a great pass from Pearson to cut the deficit to one with 8:54 showing on the clock. Tufts tried to muster up some momentum, but Middlebury's defense stepped up to the task, not allowing a single shot over the remainder of action to earn the 2-1 triumph. Branka was named the NCAA Tournament's Most Outstanding Player after tallying two assists during the playoffs. Branka also earned a spot on the all-tournament squad alongside Amy Griffin (2G, 2A), Keefe (1G, 1A) and Segal (6G, 1A). With one goal today, Segal moves into fifth all-time in single-season points (57). Her tally is her fifth game-winner this season and the 10th of her career. Segal's marker caps her season with 24 goals, which is tied for fifth in program history over one campaign. The Panthers close the season with 105 goals scored, good for second all-time behind the 107 scored by the 2022 and 2023 National Championship teams. Tufts and Middlebury battled for the 35th time and the fourth time in the NCAA Tournament. The Panthers have won each of the last two meetings in the postseason, including a 2-0 victory in the 2018 title tilt. Middlebury made its 21st postseason appearance and played in the championship game for the 13th time. This marked the fifth time that the NCAA Championship took place between a pair of NESCAC squads. The Panthers have appeared in each of those five contests, claiming three of them. Middlebury caps the season with a 19-2 record, marking the 13th-consecutive season that the program has tallied 15 or more triumphs.
By Conor Ryan We’re on to Chapel Hill. Former Patriots head coach Bill Belichick has finalized a deal to become the new head coach at the University of North Carolina. UNC confirmed the news on Wednesday evening , announcing a five-year contract for the football legend. “I am excited for the opportunity at UNC-Chapel Hill,” Belichick said in North Carolina’s press release. “I grew up around college football with my Dad and treasured those times. I have always wanted to coach in college and now I look forward to building the football program in Chapel Hill.” Wednesday’s report marks the end of more than a week of speculation regarding the future Hall-of-Fame head coach’s future in football. Talks between the eight-time Super Bowl champion reportedly intensified on Wednesday afternoon, with ESPN reporting that “the ball [was] in Belichick’s court” when it came to joining the Tar Heels. Among the final sticking points for Belichick were reportedly his salary at the university, a potential role for his son, Steve Belichick, and the school’s commitment to the proper resources for NIL deals and Belichick’s staffing requests. Belichick, 72, is heading into uncharted waters when it comes to his new role at Chapel Hill. While his resume speaks for itself, this will mark the first collegiate coaching position he’s ever taken over a career in football spanning nearly 50 years. Belichick served in some sort of coaching capacity in the NFL from 1975 until the 2023 NFL season, after which New England moved on from Belichick following 24 years with the organization. Belichick has taken on several media obligations during his season away from football in 2024, with the former Patriots coach recently mapping out his vision for a collegiate program on Monday during his weekly appearance on ESPN’s “The Pat McAfee Show.” "IF I was in a College program it would be a pipeline to the NFL for the players that had the ability to play in the NFL.. It would be a professional program at the College level.. I don't have any doubt that the players would be ready for the NFL" ~ Bill Belichick #PMSLive pic.twitter.com/JyMDtzs2yR “If, and let me put it in capital letters: I-F. If I was in a college program, the college program would be a pipeline to the NFL for the players that had the ability to play in the NFL,” Belichick said Monday. “It would be a professional program — training, nutrition, scheme, coaching techniques — that would transfer to the NFL. “It would be an NFL program at a college level and an education that would get the players ready for their career after football, whether that was the end of their college career or at the end of their pro career. But it would be geared toward developing the player, time management, discipline, structure, and all that.” Belichick has some ties to the Tar Heels. Beyond it being the alma mater to his most-beloved football player in Lawrence Taylor, Belichick’s father, Steve, served as an assistant coach at North Carolina from 1953 to 55. Choosing UNC as his next move after an illustrious career in the NFL still comes as a surprise. Beyond his track record at football’s highest level, Belichick sits just 15 wins behind Don Shula for the most in NFL history. North Carolina is also not exactly a powerhouse in the college football landscape, with their last ACC football title coming in the 1980s. However, things reportedly progressed in short order after Belichick first expressed interest in the Tar Heels’ head-coaching vacancy, a result of the team firing Mack Brown last month amid a 6-6 record. “The initial conversation with Bill Belichick and UNC was just to see what both sides thought of the idea,” Fox Sports’ Jordan Schultz reported on X . “It went so well that it resulted in several more conversations, proposals back and forth, and now a stunner no one could’ve seen a few weeks ago: Belichick in the college game.” Schultz added: “Belichick made it clear as talks progressed that he was serious about coming to UNC if they were willing to put his vision into place. There were many back channel conversations that happened shortly after and UNC eventually went all-in.” Surpassing Shula’s wins record was once a “driving force” for Belichick, The Athletic reported on Wednesday . But citing sources, that same report noted that Belichick “was turned off by the NFL’s hiring cycle last winter,” especially after only the Atlanta Falcons opted to interview him despite eight head-coaching jobs being available. According to ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler , the sentiment from the NFL owners meeting was that Belichick “simply hadn’t garnered much NFL interest if at all this cycle.” The level of control offered to a head coach of a collegiate football program served as an appealing pitch for Belichick in his new role with the Tar Heels. “At UNC, Belichick can run the program without answering to anyone about football decisions. There will be other challenges — like NIL, the transfer portal and navigating boosters — that are more complicated than reporting to one owner, but football decisions in college go through the head coach, and now Belichick can yield that kind of power again,” The Athletic noted . Conor Ryan Conor Ryan is a staff writer covering the Bruins, Celtics, Patriots, and Red Sox for Boston.com, a role he has held since 2023. Boston.com Today Sign up to receive the latest headlines in your inbox each morning. Be civil. Be kind.Trump has promised again to release the last JFK files. But experts say don’t expect big revelations
Live: High school football scores in the Baton Rouge area for the playoff semifinalsTikTok's future in the U.S. appeared uncertain on Friday after a federal appeals court rejected a legal challenge to a law that requires the social media platform to cut ties with its China-based parent company or be banned by mid-January. A panel of three judges on The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit ruled unanimously that the law withstood constitutional scrutiny, rebuffing arguments from the two companies that the statute violated their rights and the rights of TikTok users in the U.S. The government has said it wants ByteDance to divest its stakes in TikTok. But if it doesn't and the platform goes away, it would have a seismic impact on the lives of content creators who rely on the platform for income as well as users who use it for entertainment and connection. Here are some details on the ruling and what could happen next: What does the ruling say? In their lawsuit, TikTok and ByteDance, which is also a plaintiff in the case, had challenged the law on various fronts, arguing in part that the statute ran afoul of the First Amendment and was an unconstitutional bill of attainder that unfairly targeted the two companies. But the court sided with attorneys for the Justice Department who said that the government was attempting to address national security concerns and the way in which it chose to do so did not violate the constitution. The Justice Department has argued in court that TikTok poses a national security risk due to its connections to China. Officials say that Chinese authorities can compel ByteDance to hand over information on TikTok's U.S. patrons or use the platform to spread, or suppress, information. However, the U.S. hasn't publicly provided examples of that happening. The appeals court ruling, written by Judge Douglas Ginsburg, said the law was “carefully crafted to deal only with control by a foreign adversary." The judges also rejected the claim that the statute was an unlawful bill of attainder or a taking of property in violation of the Fifth Amendment. Furthermore, Ginsburg wrote the law did not violate the First Amendment because the government is not looking to “suppress content or require a certain mix of content” on TikTok. What happens next? TikTok and ByteDance are expected to appeal the case to the Supreme Court, but it's unclear whether the court will take up the case. TikTok indicated in a statement on Friday the two companies are preparing to take their case to high court, saying the Supreme Court has “an established historical record of protecting Americans’ right to free speech." "We expect they will do just that on this important constitutional issue,” a company spokesperson said. Alan Morrison, a professor at The George Washington University Law School, said he expects the Supreme Court to take up the case because of the novelty of the issues raised in the lawsuit. If that happens, attorneys for the two companies still have to convince the court to grant them an emergency stay that will prevent the government from enforcing the Jan. 19 divestiture deadline stipulated in the law, Morrison said. Such a move could drag out the process until the Justices make a ruling. Tiffany Cianci, a TikTok content creator who has supported the platform, said she was not shocked about the outcome of the court's ruling on Friday because lower courts typically defer to the executive branch on these types of cases. She believes the company will have a stronger case at the Supreme Court. “I believe that the next stages are more likely to produce a victory for TikTokers and for TikTok as a whole,” Cianci said. What about Trump? Another wild card is President-elect Donald Trump, who tried to ban TikTok during his first term but said during the recent presidential campaign that he is now against such action . The Trump transition team has not offered details on how Trump plans to carry out his pledge to “save TikTok." But spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt said in a statement last month that he plans to “deliver” on his campaign promises. After Trump takes office on Jan. 20th, it would fall on his Justice Department to enforce the law and punish any potential violators. Penalties would apply to any app stores that would violate a prohibition on TikTok and to internet hosting services which would be barred from supporting it. Some have speculated that Trump could ask his Justice Department to abstain from enforcing the law. But tech companies like Apple and Google, which offer TikTok's app on their app stores, would then have to trust that the administration would not come after them for any violations. Craig Singleton, senior director of the China program at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, said enforcement discretion — or executive orders — can not override existing law, leaving Trump with “limited room for unilateral action." There are other things Trump could potentially do. It's possible he could invoke provisions of the law that allow the president to determine whether a sale or a similar transaction frees TikTok from “foreign adversary” control. Another option is to urge Congress to repeal the law. But that too would require support from congressional Republicans who have overwhelmingly supported the prospect of getting TikTok out of the hands of a Chinese company. In a statement issued Friday, Republican Rep. John Moolenaar of Michigan, chairman of the House Select Committee on China, said he was “optimistic that President Trump will facilitate an American takeover of TikTok” and allow its continued use in the United States. Is anyone trying to buy TikTok? ByteDance has said it won't sell TikTok . And even if it wanted to, a sale of the proprietary algorithm that powers TikTok is likely to get blocked under Chinese export controls that the country issued in 2020. That means if TikTok is sold without the algorithm, its likely that the buyer would only purchase a shell of the platform that doesn't contain the technology that made the app a cultural powerhouse. Still, some investors, including Trump’s former Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and billionaire Frank McCourt, have expressed interest in buying it. This week, a spokesperson for McCourt’s Project Liberty initiative, which aims to protect online privacy, said participants in their bid have made informal commitments of more than $20 billion in capital. The spokesperson did not disclose the identity of the participants. Haleluya Hadero, The Associated Press