Penalty Box

MIAMI -- Trailing by two goals in the third period against one of the NHL's top teams, the Washington Capitals didn't appear to have a fighting chance against the Florida Panthers last night.But then Kevin Kaminski dropped his gloves for a classic scrap with Florida's Paul Laus and the inspired Capitals scored three straight goals to deck the Panthers, 5-4, before a sellout crowd of 14,703 at Miami Arena."You don't know. It's an intangible," Capitals coach Jim Schoenfeld said when asked if the goals by Ken Klee, Sergei Gonchar and Pat Peake had come as a result of the fight.

Noelle Brown doesn't like to kick with her left foot."I try not to," said the Oakland Mills sophomore midfielder. "It's not my dominant foot. I don't get the most out of it."But she did last night.Brown's left-footed shot, from just outside the penalty box directly in front of the goal, with 2:50 left to play lifted the Scorpions over 13th-ranked Wilde Lake, 2-1, in a 1A-2A South regional semifinal game at Howard.Oakland Mills (6-6-2) will play the winner of Monday's Northeast at Hammond game for the regional title.

WASHINGTON -- In a battle between the two top teams in women's soccer, an unlikely hero emerged for the U.S. national team.Making her international debut, substitute forward Tammy Pearman took advantage of a costly error by the Norwegian goaltender and scored the winning goal in the Americans' 2-1 sudden-death win over rival Norway in the U.S. Cup championship game at RFK Stadium yesterday.In the 92nd minute, defender Jenny Grubb kicked a long pass from midfield toward the goal. Norwegian goaltender Bente Norby, who had five saves and disrupted numerous U.S. scoring opportunities, came out to the top of the penalty box to catch Grubb's pass.

The Spirit is waiting word from National Professional Soccer League commissioner Steve Paxos concerning the action to be taken following Saturday night's incident at Kansas City.The Spirit and host Attack were involved in a bench-clearing brawl that interrupted the third quarter for 30 minutes.Spirit forward Jon Parry was ejected for punching Attack midfielder Goran Hunjak, and Brad Smith and Lance Johnson were dismissed for leaving the penalty box. All three could face one-game suspensions upon further notice from Paxos.

PALO ALTO, Calif. -- In the sixth minute of yesterday's World Cup match between Brazil and Russia, the temperamental Brazilian star known around the world as Romario found himself alone with the ball and bearing down on the Russian goal. The horn-blowing, yellow-shirted Brazilian fans filling Stanford Stadium leapt to their feet.When Romario's tame shot flew right to the goalkeeper, the fans groaned and sat down, and the Brazilian samba drummers went silent. Romario stopped and stared at his offending right foot, then at the goal, slowly shaking his head in disbelief.

DETROIT -- The Thunder tried a reversal of fortune, but came up short, losing to the Detroit Turbos, 14-13, in front of 4,112 fans at Joe Louis Arena last night.There were two goals in the last 14 seconds of regulation, but Duane Jacobs scored the winner with 2.7 seconds left for the Turbos (5-1).The Thunder (0-6) must win its last two games, both against the New York Saints (1-5), to make the Major Indoor Lacrosse League playoffs."We've been building every week," coach Skip Lichtfuss said.

Tamir Linhart scored the winning goal with 3:15 left, as George Mason (6-4-1) ended the six-game winning streak of No. 20 Loyola (8-2) with a 2-1 victory yesterday in Fairfax, Va.The winning play began with a corner kick on the right side of the field. Sophomore John Ferrandino made a short pass to freshman Craig Melton, who dribbled along the top of the penalty box before lofting a left-footed shot toward the goal. Linhart dived and headed the ball just inside the right post for his eighth goal.

In less than 24 hours, the Baltimore Spirit made a miraculous comeback against the Detroit Rockets Saturday night and came out riding an emotional high to hold off a persistent Buffalo Blizzard team, 18-14, yesterday at the Baltimore Arena.The past three games have been an emotional roller coaster for the Spirit (27-12). They clinched the National Professional Soccer League's American Division championship on Thursday, rallied from an 11-point deficit to win 26-24 in sudden death on Saturday and yesterday held off a fourth-quarter rally by the Blizzard (22-17)

What: The Baltimore Claws Pro-Box Indoor Football team in the newly formed five-team Atlantic Coast Professional Football LeagueWhen and where: Claws will play five games this summer at Du Burns Arena on Boston Street. Claws are playing all home games because other teams had trouble getting arenas. Tonight is the first game, with the New England Crusaders providing the opposition.Rules of game: Pro-Box Football has nothing to do with Arena Football. It is a cross between indoor soccer, box lacrosse (indoor lacrosse)

PITTSBURGH -- It's probably fortunate Vince McMahon was off peddling his World Wrestling Federation somewhere last night. If he had caught a peek at what transpired here in the third game of the Pittsburgh Penguins-Washington Capitals NHL playoff series, he would certainly be going into his pocket for a piece of the action.Welcome to HockeyMania I! First off, the Pens won, 6-4, their first victory in the best-of-seven. And the sellout crowd at the Civic Arena was treated to a virtuoso performance by the Marvelous One, Mario Lemieux.