Sports in Brief: West Chester women win lacrosse crown

West Chester edged C.W. Post, 13-12, to win the NCAA Division II women's lacrosse title yesterday in Houston as senior

Steph Kienle

scored a hat trick and added an assist.

Kienle scored an NCAA-record 143 points for the Golden Rams (20-1) this year, breaking her single-season record set last year.

The Pioneers finished 17-2.

Villanova's

Sarah Morrison

finished fourth in the 3,000-meter steeplechase at the ECAC women's track championship in Princeton.

In the 5,000 meters,

Leah Brogan

of Penn was sixth in 17 minutes, 5.17 seconds. In the hammer throw,

Amanda Cole

of Temple took eighth with a heave of 173 feet, 9 inches.

Villanova's

Arusha McKenzie

led all qualifiers in the ECAC 800 in 2:06.68. Temple's women qualified for two ECAC relays, the 4x400 and the 4x800.

The IC4A men's championship is also in Princeton, and Villanova's

Elvis Lewis

led all qualifiers in the IC4A 400 meters in 46.50.

Former sophomore Florida forward

Jonathan Mitchell

, who was a New York state Mr. Basketball out of Mount Vernon, intends to transfer to Rutgers.

Kasey Kahne

technically wasn't eligible to compete in NASCAR's all-star race at Lowe's Motor Speedway in Concord, N.C. He didn't let that stop him from stealing the $1 million prize in the 100-lap shoot-out.

Kahne's berth was a result of one slot going to a driver voted on by the fans to compete in the main event.

With a gamble on the final pit stop, Kahne put the field in his rearview mirror to become the first driver ever voted in by the fans to win, and just the third driver in all-star history to advance from the preliminary race and claim the final trophy.

At the same site,

A.J. Allmendinger

won for the first time in his NASCAR career, taking the Sprint Showdown.

Sam Hornish Jr

. finished second.

Graham Rahal

, the son of 1986 Indianapolis 500 winner and IRL IndyCar Series team owner

Bobby Rahal

, was one of 22 drivers who qualified yesterday for next Sunday's Indy race.

Townsend Bell

was the fastest of the day's early qualifiers with a four-lap, 10-mile average of 222.539 m.p.h., barely bumping Rahal's 222.531 out of the 11th spot.

Rafael Nadal

won a three-set struggle with

Novak Djokovic

to protect his No. 2 ranking and advance to the Hamburg Masters final today in Germany against top-ranked

Roger Federer

.

Maria Sharapova

pulled out of the Italian Open semifinals because of a strained left calf in Rome.

Sharapova was to meet

Jelena Jankovic

, who in today's final will play qualifier

Alize Cornet

, a 3-6, 6-4, 6-3 winner over

Anna Chakvetadze

.

Los Angeles rookie

Candace Parker

narrowly missed becoming the first WNBA player to debut with a triple double, leading the Sparks over the the defending champion Phoenix Mercury, 99-94. She scored 34 points, the most in a WNBA debut, and added 12 rebounds, while dealing eight assists.

Melanie Roach

, 33, qualified in Atlanta for the Olympics as the top-rated lifter at the U.S. weightlifting trials. She will be joined in Beijing by

Carissa Gump

,

Natalie Woolfolk

and third-time Olympian

Cheryl Haworth

.

The three-member U.S. men's team was led by

Kendrick Farris

, followed by

Chad Vaughn

and

Casey Burgener

.

Mark Steenhuis

scored five goals to lead the host Buffalo Bandits to a 14-13 victory over the Portland LumberJax and the National Lacrosse League championship.

Peter Vanderkaay

broke the U.S. men's swimming record in the 400 freestyle, winning in 3 minutes, 43.82 seconds in Santa Clara, Calif.

Vanderkaay broke the mark of 3:44.11 set by

Klete Keller

on Aug. 14, 2004. It was the sixth-fastest time ever in the event.

Portsmouth won its first title in 69 years by beating Cardiff, 1-0, in the FA Cup soccer final in Wembley, England, on a goal by

Nwankwo Kanu

in the 37th minute.