play. Costello missed his fourth straight game with mononucleos

FOXBOROUGH, Mass. -- Andy Dorman and Kelyn Rowe scored in the second half to lead the New England Revolution to a 2-1 victory over Sporting Kansas City in the first leg of their Eastern Conference semifinals series on Saturday night. Dorman put the Revolution on the scoreboard in the 55th minute, while Rowe made it 2-0 in the 67th. Aurelien Collin pulled Sporting within one in the 69th. "I thought it was a hard-fought battle between two teams fighting for everything," Revolution coach Jay Heaps said. "It certainly wasnt a pretty game, but (rather) two teams pushing hard and two teams trying to get ahead in the playoffs." The Revolution, appearing in the post-season for the first time since 2009, entered the match with a 501-minute regular season goal drought against Sporting Kansas City, a streak that reaches back to the 2011 season. The Revolution spent much of the first half trying to find their rhythm and ending the streak. "We played with a lot of discipline, and we were very well organized," Sporting goalkeeper Jimmy Nielsen said. "We forced their back four to play the long balls up to the striker, our centre backs won the ball, and our midfielders were good on the second balls. The Revolution had to survive an early scare before they were able to step on the gas. In the 18th minute, Graham Zusis corner kick found Chance Myers, who headed the ball toward the goal before Lee Nguyen cleared it off the line. "Some games, we put two players on the post and sometimes, we put one player on the post," Heaps said. "But tonight, we made the right call and put two players on the post." After a first half filled with erratic play from both teams, the Revolution were able to break through early in the second half. Diego Fagundez blasted a shot that was initially saved by Nielsen before the rebound fell to Juan Agudelo. The Revolution striker was able to direct on frame and Dorman tapped it through. Rowe made it a two-goal advantage 12 minutes later when Nguyen slid it toward him and his touch redirected it into the back of the net. Sporting struck back two minutes later. Amid a chaotic fight for the ball inside the Revolution box, Collin was able to steer C.J. Sapongs ball into the net. "I think we showed how strong this team is to come back, and that goal gave us a good life line," Nielsen said. The clubs will play the second leg of the series on Wednesday at Sporting Park in Kansas City, Kan. The team with the most aggregate goals in the two matches will advance to the conference finals against the winner of the New York-Houston matchup. Saquon Barkley Jersey . Pironkova, who was ranked outside the top 100 despite reaching the Wimbledon semifinals in 2010, beat three top 10 players in Sydney, 2012 French Open finalist Sara Errani, 2011 Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova and Kerber. New York Giants Jerseys . Zdeno Chara scored with 13 seconds left in regulation after David Krejci tied it late, lifting the Bruins to a 3-2 win over Pittsburgh on Saturday night in a game that saw Orpik taken from the ice on a stretcher. http://www.nygiantsfanaticshop.com/Black...tml?cat=941.com) - The New York Islanders will try to solve their issues against Central Division opponents when they visit the Minnesota Wild for Tuesdays battle at Xcel Energy Center. Kyle Lauletta Jersey . -- Kyle Busch edged teammate Joey Logano at the Bristol Motor Speedway finish line Friday night to become the all-time winningest driver in Nationwide Series. Saquon Barkley Giants Jersey . It will then be back to business once the puck drops as the two clubs battle for key points in their respective playoff races. Watch the game live on TSN Canadiens and listen on TSN Radio 690 starting at 7:30pm et.EAST LANSING, Mich. -- Keith Appling put together an impressive performance after a poor one. Appling scored 16 of his career-high tying 27 points in the first half to help No. 5 Michigan State pull away and rout New Orleans 101-48 Saturday. The senior point guard, playing with a hip pointer, was held to four points on 2-for-11 shooting with just two assists in last weeks 14-point win at Texas. "I was able to get a couple of days off over Christmas break and rest up," Appling said. "That helped my body heal. Now, my hip feels 100 per cent." Appling equaled the career high in scoring he set last month against Oklahoma, a fact that didnt surprise New Orleans coach Mark Slessinger. "Being from the Midwest, Im still a Big Ten junkie and I watch Big Ten stuff," said Slessinger, who is from Bloomington, Ind. "Hes always been underrated nationally. We didnt stop him in transition and he played a very, very efficient game." Appling matched a season high with eight assists, had only one turnover and grabbed five rebounds against the Privateers. "The biggest thrill was Keith coming off one of his worst games, really bounced back," Michigan State coach Tom Izzo said. The Spartans (11-1) struggled for several minutes against New Orleans (3-5) before taking control with a 12-0 run midway through the first half. They led 44-27 at halftime and easily added to their comfortable cushion in the second half with 57 more points, finishing with their highest-scoring game since beating Nebraska-Omaha 110-68 two years ago. "Once we got on track, there were some bright spots," Izzo said. The Privateers had won two straight, including their previous game at UTEP. New Orleans Matt Derenbecker scored 16 and Cory Dixon had 11 points. "We took some ill-timed shots that were outside of our game plan," Slessinger said. "We wanteed to shorten the game and make it almost a little ugly and really try to work the clock and try to get the best shot we could.dddddddddddd. We got out of our comfort zone and our game plan for this game and that allowed them to make runs." Gary Harris scored 19, Adreian Payne had 17 points and Denzel Valentine had 10 points, a career-high 13 rebounds and six assists for the Spartans in their final tuneup before beginning the Big Ten season Tuesday night at Penn State. Michigan State rested starting forward Branden Dawson because of a shin bruise. "He got kicked in the shin (Friday) on a drill," Izzo said, adding he probably couldve played Saturday. The Spartans also let centre Matt Costello watch one more game even though he was cleared to play. Costello missed his fourth straight game with mononucleosis, but is expected to play a little in the conference opener. Reserve centre Kenny Kaminski will be eligible to add depth against the Nittany Lions after serving an academic-related, three-game suspension. "I like the direction were heading," Izzo said. "I just need more consistency, but when you dont get practice with everybody for three weeks, you shouldnt be totally surprised by the lack of consistency." Harris responded with a poor start against New Orleans with a solid game offensively. The sophomore shooting guard was 0 for 5 before a second straight 3-pointer capped Michigan States pivotal run that gave it a 21-10 lead. Before the burst, the Spartans had more turnovers (six) than made shots (four) against a fired-up team aiming for an upset. New Orleans, a Southland Conference school, couldnt sustain its early success and fell to 7-30 against ranked teams. "We started off kind of sluggish," Appling said. "We didnt cover things exactly to way we wanted, but the big thing is that we finished strong." ' ' '