SPORTSSECTION C

T U E S D A Y , O C T O B E R 1 6 , 2 0 0 7

HUDSON TAKES FIFTH at Old Colony League golf championship C3 PINEIRO SIGNS two-year, $13M deal with Cardinals C5

NFL C2HIGH SCHOOLS C3

BASEBALL C4-5

By ED COLLINSStandard-Times staff writer

DARTMOUTH — Let’s call it even and move on.

For the second time in three days, Dartmouth and New Bedford played a 1-0 girls soc-cer game. The Indians won by that margin Saturday night and the Whalers returned the favor on Monday with a good effort that qualified them for the state tournament.

Both teams were victorious on the road and New Bedford’s Andrea Nogueira, who scored 3:03 into the rematch, said the Whalers (9-4-1) were focused on earning a split with their border-town rivals.

“We were more determined to win this time and we played a full game, non-stop,” said Nogueira. “It’s always a tough battle when we play Dart-mouth. We have a good rivalry with them and we didn’t want to let them sweep us.”

A junior midfielder, Nogueira took a nice lead pass from senior Chelsey Sylvia on the left

side of the field and attacked the net with a good burst of speed before scoring into the right corner.

“We came out with a lot of energy and we put some quick pressure on Dartmouth’s defense,” said Nogueira. “We wanted to get off to a better start this time and give our defense a lead to work with.”

The Indians (3-8-2) came out a little flat and had some early problems getting into synch at both ends of the field in the game’s first 20 minutes.

“We used up a lot of emotion on Saturday. We scored with five minutes left to play and it was a very draining game,” said Dart-mouth coach Mark Poirier. “We got better as the game went on today. We put some nice shots on net in the second half, but (senior Baileigh Wirzburger) made some great saves and we did everything but score.”

Wirzburger, who turned away seven shots en route to notch-ing her seventh shutout, made the play of the game with 17:35 left when she stopped a point-

Right back at you

MIKE VALERI/The Standard-Times

New Bedford's Chelsea Metivier gets high off the ground to control this ball.

NEW BEDFORD 1, DARTMOUTH 0

Nogueira’s early goal helps New Bedford avenge 1-0 defeat

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESSFOXBORO — After beating

the Dallas Cowboys in Sunday’s hyped matchup of unbeaten teams, the Patriots are shifting their focus to the opposite kind of opponent— the winless Dol-phins.

But coach Bill Belichick said motivation won’t be an issue.

“The last time we went down there, we got shut out,” Belich-ick said of last season’s 21-0 loss in Miami. “So I hope we can do better than that this time. It will be a big challenge for us ... I don’t think we’ll have any prob-lem getting ready for that.”

The Dolphins (0-6) tradition-ally have given the Patriots fits in Miami, winning five of seven since Belichick became New England’s coach in 2000.

In last season’s shutout, Tom Brady threw for only 78 yards and was sacked four times.

That, however, was when Randy Moss was in Oakland, Donte’ Stallworth was in Phila-delphia and Wes Welker was playing for the Dolphins.

All three receivers are Patri-ots this season and have con-tributed to New England’s siz-zling start.

Welker set career highs in catches (11) and receiving

Pats’ foes go from hyped to haplessAfter dispatching undefeated Cowboys, attention turns to winless Dolphins

SWEET 16The Pats would never think about 16-0, but if you want to, here’s the road ahead, including opponents’ records:Sunday at Dolphins (0-6)Oct. 28 vs. Redskins (3-2)Nov. 4 at Colts (5-0)Nov. 18 at Bills (1-4) Nov. 25 vs. Eagles (2-3)Dec. 3 at Ravens (4-2)Dec. 9 vs. Steelers (4-1)Dec. 16 vs. Jets (1-5)Dec. 23 vs. Dolphins (0-6)Dec. 29 at Giants (4-2)

See WHALERS C3

I N D I A N S 4 , R E D S O X 2ALCS GAME 3 ■ INDIANS LEAD SERIES, 2-1 ■ WP: WESTBROOK; LP: MATSUZAKA; SV: BOROWSKI

Red Sox vs. IndiansGame 1: Red Sox 10, Indians 3

Game 2: Indians 13, Red Sox 6

Game 3: Indians 4, Red Sox 2; Cleveland leads series, 2-1

Tonight: Boston (Wakefield 17-12) at Cleveland (Byrd 15-8), 8:21

Thursday: at Cleveland, 8:21

x-Saturday: at Boston, TBD

x-Sunday: at Boston, TBDx-if necessary

More coverage■ Jake Westbrook’s strategy handcuffs Sox. C4

■ Kielty could get second start of series tonight. C4

■ A matchup of soft-tossers tonight. C5

See PATRIOTS C2

Mistakes by the lakeJON COUTURE

At the ALCS

CLEVELAND �— Against the undermanned Angels, there was no home run inches over the leaping J.D. Drew to set the tone. The ground-ball single up the middle never came, stranding the runners instead of scoring them.

These Indians are a team that’s fit to go to the World Series, and on Monday night, they executed the answer to how you beat a team that won’t leave the strike zone.

Throw strikes, and don’t stop until your cardiac closer makes it look easy.

“Those first two games, we got away from what we needed to do to be successful,” Indians manager Eric Wedge said. “I thought Jake (Westbrook) did a great job today with working ahead and working to put the ball on the ground and staying ahead in the count.”�

Great job? Try 21 out of 27 batters faced. To their credit, the Red Sox didn’t come out swinging, making a man who walked 55 in only 152 innings show he could hit the zone.

He got a looking first-pitch

Sox need to get back in the zone

By TOM WITHERS Associated Press writer

CLEVELAND — The third wheel ran over the Red Sox.

Jake Westbrook, an often overlooked third starter in Cleveland’s rotation, kept Boston grounded for nearly seven innings Monday night, leading the Indians to a 4-2 win and a 2-1 lead in the AL championship series.

The laid-back right-hander, who missed a big chunk of the season with an injury, doesn’t possess the overpowering stuff of either C.C. Sabathia or Fausto Carmona — Cleveland’s two aces who flopped badly in Games 1 and 2 at Fenway Park — or their stellar reputa-tions.

But Westbrook does have a devastating sinkerball, and oh my, how it sunk the Red Sox.

“I was able to make good pitches when I needed to,” Westbrook said. “It was fun to be a sinkerball pitcher tonight. That’s what I live and die by. That’s what I threw all night.”

Backed by an early homer from old pro Kenny Lofton, Westbrook took a shutout into the seventh inning.

“We needed it,” said Indians manager Eric Wedge, who had to use five relievers in Cleve-land’s Game 2 win. “Our bullpen has been working hard. Jake controlled the ballgame.

By DAVID BROWNStandard-Times staff writer

CLEVELAND — Slicing through barbecue ribs and green beans with heartless precision, Daisuke Matsuzaka sat alone at a table in the Red Sox clubhouse Monday night emitting a silence whose meaning is universal in all lan-guages.

There he stomached one final meal, bid-ing time before he was expected to march into a firing squad of more than two dozen reporters so he could tell his home country of Japan why he had just lost the most impor-tant game of his life.

The Red Sox’ $103 million import was once again less than stellar in a postseason start, surrendering four earned runs on eight hits in 4 2/3 innings of work, and losing a 4-2 decision that gives the Cleveland Indians a 2-1 lead in the American League Champion-ship series.

Red Sox reliever Mike Timlin explained the Game 3 loss as the result of opportunistic swings by the Indians, who hit good pitches and took advantage of a few mistakes. The biggest mistake was a thigh-high fastball to left fielder Kenny Lofton, who stroked a two-run homer to right field in the second inning.

“The balls that he threw, they were effec-tive,” Timlin said. “He kept the ball down,

Matsuzaka a gamble lost

AMY SANCETTA/The Associated Press

Daisuke Matsuzaka leaves Game 3 after just 4 2/3 innings. Matsuzaka allowed six hits, two walks and four earned runs. It was the second time, in as many postseason starts, that Matsuzaka didn’t get through the fifth inning.

DPs and Dice-K’s struggles sink Sox

See DICE-K C4

See COUTURE C4

See GAME 3 C4