Carli Lloyd leads US women’s soccer in friendly vs. Sweden

Carli Lloyd scored twice, Christen Press added a goal and the US women’s national soccer team held off Sweden, 3-2, on Thursday night at Mapfre Stadium in Columbus, Ohio, giving Vlatko Andonovski a victory in his first match as head coach. The US is 19-1-3 in 2019 and has a 22-match unbeaten streak. The US dominated early in the friendly, as Lloyd took a pass in the third minute from Press with a right-footed shot from the center of the box and put it past goalkeeper Hedviq Lindahl to the bottom right corner. Press followed in the 28th minute, faking out a pair of defenders with fancy footwork and burying a ball from Lindsey Horan for her 50th goal in international competition. Press is just the 11th American to reach that milestone. Three minutes later, Lloyd found the back of the net again with a right-footed shot just inside the box, off a chip pass from Tobin Heath.

Lloyd, who has 22 multi-goal games, has 120 international goals and leads the US in scoring this year with 15.

Basketball

Clippers fined $50,000 over Leonard’s status

One day after Kawhi Leonard sat out a nationally televised home game against the Milwaukee Bucks, the NBA fined the Los Angeles Clippers $50,000 for comments made by coach Doc Rivers about the health status of the NBA Finals MVP. At issue was whether Leonard, who played just nine games during the 2017-18 season due to injury, is officially healthy. In 2017, the NBA implemented a new rule that subjected teams to fines of up to $100,000 if they rested healthy players for nationally televised games. According to the NBA, Leonard, 28, is ‘‘suffering from an ongoing injury to the patella tendon in his left knee’’ that exempts him from those rules. The league confirmed Thursday the Clippers acted appropriately in resting Leonard on Wednesday as part of an ‘‘injury protocol’’ that calls for him to avoid playing in back-to-back games. The Clippers drew the fine because Rivers suggested Wednesday Leonard was healthy, leading observers to assume that the rest was a precaution and therefore a potential violation of the league’s load management rules.

. . . Philadelphia 76ers guard Ben Simmons will sit out Friday’s game at Denver because of sprained AC joint in his right shoulder suffered in Wednesday’s loss at Utah. Simmons did not play in the second half after bumping into Royce O’Neale’s chest while posting up on a first-quarter play. Simmons finished with 2 points and two assists in 10 minutes

. . . Blake Griffinwas cleared by the Detroit Pistons’ medical staff for basketball-related activities and his progress will be monitored daily, the team said. Griffin hasn’t played at all this season because of hamstring and knee issues.

Baseball

Red Sox spring tickets go on sale Dec. 7

Tickets for Red Sox spring training games will go on sale Dec. 7 at 10 a.m. at JetBlue Park in Fort Myers, Fla., and online at redsox.com. The Red Sox will play 18 exhibition games at JetBlue Park — 17 Grapefruit League contests and one against Northeastern — beginning Feb. 21, 2020 . . . Houston Astros president Reid Ryan, the son of Hall of Fame pitcher Nolan Ryan, is shifting to a lesser role in the organization and owner Jim Crane’s son, Jared, is joining the executive team, moves announced 11 days after the 65-year-old Crane apologized to a Sports Illustrated reporter and retracted a statement by the club accusing her of trying to ‘‘fabricate a story.’’

Crane maintained the moves were not related to the incident with SI or the firing of assistant general manager Brandon Taubman for directing inappropriate comments at female reporters during a clubhouse celebration after the team clinched the AL pennant on Oct. 19 . . . The Seattle Mariners manager Scott Servais filled out his major league coaching staff for next season, promoting Pete Woodworth to pitching coach, Carson Vitale to field coordinator, and Jarret DeHart to assistant hitting coach . . . Blue Jays second baseman Devon Travis, 28, who spent the entire 2019 season on the injured list following surgery to his left knee, refused an outright assignment to Triple-A Buffalo and elected to become a free agent.

Hockey

Blues’ Steen (ankle) out four weeks

St. Louis Blues winger Alex Steen will miss at least four weeks because of a high ankle sprain suffered in a collision with Edmonton’s Alex Chaisson late in the second period of St. Louis’s 5-2 win over the Oilers on Wednesday night. The 35-year-old Swede had five assists in 17 games this season, his 12th with St. Louis, and had 5 points in the playoffs to help the Blues win their first Stanley Cup title in franchise history.

The Blues were already without top-line winger Vladimir Tarasenko following season-ending right shoulder surgery. Earlier this week, the Blues traded 2014 first-round pick Robby Fabbri to Detroit for Jacob de la Rose.

Colleges

Havard-Yale kickoff set for noon Nov. 23

The kickoff time for the 136th playing of The Game — the annual football clash between Ivy League rivals Harvard and Yale to be televised by ESPNU — has been set for noon on Saturday, Nov. 23, at the Yale Bowl in New Haven . . . UConn freshman guard James Bouknight, 19, of New York City, was suspended three games over allegations he fled from a Sept. 27 car crash . . . Southern California hired Mike Bohn, the 58-year-old athletic director at the University of Cincinnati, as its new AD.

. . . Syracuse point guard Tiana Mangakahia, 24, of Australia, is recovering from breast surgery after being diagnosed with Stage 2 breast cancer in June and has been undergoing treatment. Mangakahia, who led Syracuse in scoring last season, will sit out this season and petition the NCAA for an extra season of eligiblity. She recently finished her eighth and final chemotherapy treatment on media day last month with teammates at her side.

Miscellany

Woods uses Presidents Cup pick on himself

US captain Tiger Woods used one of his four wild-card selections for the Presidents Cup on himself. He will become the first playing captain since Hale Irwin in the inaugural edition 25 years ago. Woods, the Masters champion who is No. 6 in the world rankings, also took Tony Finau, US Open champion Gary Woodland and Patrick Reed. The Presidents Cup is Dec. 12-15 at Royal Melbourne . . . Authorities identified an Alabama man wanted in connection with the disappearance of Aniah Blanchard, the 19-year-old stepdaughter of UFC heavyweight Walt Harris. A warrant for first-degree kidnapping was issued for 30-year-old Ibraheem Yazeed, who was inside a convenience store where Blanchard was last seen on Oct. 23.

. . . Fox Sports fired Cris Carter after three years at the network. Fox Sports issued a statement saying Carter, the Pro Football Hall of Famer who had been a co-host of FS1’s ‘‘First Things First’’ morning show since its launch in 2017, was no longer at the network and had no further comment.