Author: Jesse

Jen Larrick didn’t try to hide the disappointment Saturday night, interrupting her postgame media availability to cast her gaze to the other side of TCO Stadium where the Utah United were celebrating their 1-0 victory over her Minnesota Aurora in the USL W League national semifinals.

“It’s hard to watch them dancing right now,” said the first-year Aurora head coach, whose team finished its season 12-1-2 overall.

“We work so hard to go undefeated and it stings when you lose and don’t get a chance again.”

Instead, it is Utah in its inaugural season who will go on to host defending league champion NC Courage U23 — which defeated Asheville City SC 2-1 in Saturday’s other semifinal — in the national title game on July 19.

A goal by Utah’s Ellie Walbruch in extra time at the end of the first half proved the difference, lifting her team to victory before a crowd of 5,607 gathered on a hazy Eagan night in which the poor air quality from Canadian wildfires necessitated regular hydration breaks.

Aurora defender Charley Boone and her teammates were trying to advance to the franchise’s first national championship game appearance since the team’s inaugural season in 2022.

“It’s heartbreaking,” Boone said. “You can almost taste (a berth in the national championship game). But hopefully this is just fuel for next season.”

Utah — which entered play leading the league in goals — controlled the tempo for much of the first half, keeping the pressure on Minnesota goalkeeper Taylor Kane and the Aurora defense.

“I think we started a little junkier than I anticipated,” Larrick said. “We’re used to this home crowd, so usually it rattles the other team a little more than it rattles us. But we were a little off during the first 10 minutes.”

Yet, Aurora forward Ava Westlund started to assert herself as play went on, firing off a shot from just to the left of United goalkeeper Taylor Rath, then breaking free in front of the Utah net before Rath stepped up to make another save.

“I thought those were our best chances of the night,” Larrick said. “On a different day, I think Westy puts at least one of those, if not two, away. But they’re people. They’re humans and she was giving us all she can.”

That meant it was Walbruch who scored first, beating Kane to the ball and driving it into the net to put the United up by a goal at halftime. It marked just the second goal the Aurora had surrendered at home all season.

“I’m not going to lie, it was hard to have that happen right before halftime,” Boone said. “But we tried to use that as fuel going into the (second) half.”

The goal meant the Aurora found themselves trailing, a position in which a team that had allowed just four goals all season entering Saturday’s game, hasn’t found itself in very often.

“It’s definitely a bit of a mental battle,” Boone said. “You go from being level with a team to being below them a little bit, so it’s always in the back of your mind that you have to score. The pressure is on.”

Yet Minnesota did not go quietly, continuing to create opportunities — including three shots that sailed high of the net in extra time. But Boone and company could not find a way to get the ball past Rath.

“We were building,” Boone said. “I think if you gave us another five minutes, we would have created a few more chances for ourselves. We just ran out of time.”

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Rudy Gobert won three Defensive Player of the Year awards with the Jazz.

The Utah Jazz have been called home by a number of NBA legends and great players throughout their 51 seasons in the Association. This list highlights the two players who have won a Defensive Player of the Year award while playing for the Jazz, Mark Eaton and Rudy Gobert, who each won multiple trophies.

Mark Eaton – 1985, 1989

Eaton was a hulking defensive presence for the majority of his 11-year career, which he spent entirely in Utah. The 7-foot-4, 275-pound lefty blocked more than three shots per game in each of his first seven seasons, including four straight with at least 4.1 bpg from 1984 to 1987. Eaton’s career mark of 3.5 blocks a night is an all-time record, and he also holds the all-time records for total blocks (456) and blocks per game in a season (5.56), achieving both feats during the 1984-85 campaign. That same year, he led the league in blocks for a second consecutive season while pulling down the most defensive boards a night (8.8), culminating in the best average rebounds (11.3) of his career.

Originally drafted in 1979 by the Phoenix Suns, Eaton chose to go back to college until he was selected by the Jazz in the fourth round of the 1982 draft. Although not much of a scorer, the big man was one of the greatest shot-blockers in the history of the sport, as he paced the NBA in blocks four times, all of which came in a five-year span. Eaton was also incredibly durable, appearing in all 82 games on five occasions, including 1988-89, when he won his second DPOY award and made his lone All-Star team. He tallied 6.2 points, 10.3 rebounds and 3.8 blocks that season and was named to his fifth and final All-Defensive team (three first, two second).

Rudy Gobert – 2018, 2019, 2021

The Jazz made Gobert the 27th overall pick in the 2013 NBA Draft, and the Frenchman rewarded them by becoming one of the best defensive anchors over the last decade or so. Gobert has been a walking double-double in addition to his shot-blocking prowess, averaging at least 12.0 points and 10.7 rebounds in each of his last nine seasons. He led the league in blocks (2.6) in 2017 and total rebounding (14.7) in 2022, and he swatted at least two shots per game in eight consecutive seasons (2015-22). Gobert recorded either a 98 or 99 defensive rating for four straight years from 2015 to 2018, and his 101 rating in 2021 was an NBA-best.

Not only did Gobert earn several individual accolades for his defense, but he was also the backbone of some of the stingiest defenses in the three seasons he won DPOY. Utah ranked first in defensive rating in 2018 (103.0), second in 2019 (105.3) and third in 2021 (107.5) with the French Rejection as the last line of protection. The three-time All-Star has been named to eight All-Defensive teams (seven First) and four All-NBA teams (one Second, three Third) throughout his 12-year career. After winning his fourth career DPOY with Minnesota in 2024, Gobert, along with Ben Wallace and Dikembe Mutombo, have each won the Hakeem Olajuwon Trophy a record four times.

AI-assisted summary
• President Trump’s immigration enforcement actions have led to a significant increase in arrests, exceeding the daily rate of the past decade.
• Texas, Florida and California have seen the highest number of arrests, with Florida experiencing a 219% increase in daily arrest rates compared to 2024.
• While arrests have risen sharply, the administration’s impact on deportation rates remains to be seen.

As President Donald Trump continues his mission to carry out the biggest mass deportation in history, multiple reports show how much daily immigration enforcement arrests have ballooned nationwide.

The administration has set its sights on deporting 1 million people annually, which would more than double the annual peak set during the Obama administration that helped earn him a critical reputation of “deporter in chief.”

Trump’s directives to the Immigration and Customs Enforcement to expand its deportation efforts have led to widespread protests, more assaults on federal officers and multiple legal battles.

A Reuters analysis of ICE and White House data shows the national daily arrest rate has doubled under the Trump administration compared to the last decade. A New York Times analysis of obtained data shows average daily arrest rates have more than doubled in 38 states compared to the 2024 rate.

LOGAN – A match between longtime friends and teammates Simon Kwon and Tyson Shelley would have made an epic finals match at the 127th Utah Men’s State Amateur tournament.

Unfortunately the luck of the draw put two of Utah’s best amateurs in the same early bracket and they had to face each other in the round of 16 Thursday afternoon at Logan Country Club.

Kwon and Shelley, who will both be seniors on the BYU golf team this fall, had played together hundreds of times as junior golfers, Skyline High teammates and Cougar teammates, but only one of them could advance to Friday’s quarterfinals and it was 2023 champion Kwon who prevailed with a 3 & 2 victory.

Kwon was visibly emotional moments after the match, holding back tears as he talked about his relationship with Shelley and how difficult it was to have to play him.

“It’s hard to have to play one of your best friends early on,” he said. “He’s just a really good person – I was a groomsman at his wedding. Obviously I love winning, but it’s kind of bittersweet.”

The match was close all afternoon and Shelley actually led 1 up after the 12th hole, but Kwon ran off four straight birdies to close out the match at No 16.

Kwon will face 24-year-old John Fox, an Olympus High graduate who didn’t play college golf but will graduate from Utah Valley this year.

Fox prevented a match of former champions when he came from behind to beat 2021 champion Martin Leon 1 up by winning the final two holes.

Noah Schone, who won medalist honors Tuesday, advanced to the quarterfinals with wins over Calvin Lillywhite 7 & 6 in the morning and Tyse Boman 4 & 2 in the afternoon.

Schone will take on Jackson Shelley, who won the battle of the brothers in the morning with a 3 & 2 victory over younger brother Austin and then beat Sean Lam 5 & 4 in the afternoon.

Jackson, who is leaving for a church mission to South Korea Monday, took the early lead with birdies on two of the first three holes.

He pushed his lead to 4 up through 14 and closed out the match on 16 against Austin, who will be a senior at Skyline High.

Speaking of brother battles, Jackson and Bowen Mauss will square off in a Friday morning quarterfinal after both posted a pair of victories Thursday.

Jackson, a sophomore-to-be on the BYU golf team, won 4 & 3 over an exhausted Will Pizza, who had to go 25 holes in his round-of-16 match to beat Gavin Dosch.

Bowen, who will be a freshman at Arizona State, edged Jacob Randall 2 & 1 in his round-of-16 match.

The other quarterfinal will pit David Liechty against Jack Summerhays. Liechty, the 2023 State Am runner-up, beat last year’s semifinalist Brendan Thomas 5 & 3, while Summerhays, the 17-year-old son of former champion Daniel Summerhays, advanced with a win over Lucas Schone, the younger brother of Noah.

The matches will begin at 9:30 a.m. Friday with semifinals to follow in the afternoon. The semifinal winners will face off at 9:30 a.m. Saturday for the State Amateur title.