HOCKEY

Goals by Jacob Hayhurst and Brent Beaudoin 4:29 apart early in the third period lifted the Worcester Railers to a 4-3 ECHL win Wednesday night over Maine Mariners at Worcester, Massachusetts.

The loss ended a five-game point streak for the Mariners, who had won four and lost in a shootout in their last five games.

Cameron Askew had a goal and an assist for the Mariners, who also got goals from Reid Stefanson and Conner Bleackley.

Maine plays at Reading at 7 p.m. Friday.

AHL: Rochester Americans forward Ben Holmstrom has been suspended eight games for “homophobic language,” the American Hockey League announced.

Holmstrom, signed to a professional tryout in February, was assessed a game misconduct for using offensive language at the end of the first period of a home game against the Utica Comets on March 30.

The 34-year-old Holmstrom, a career minor leaguer who played college hockey at UMass Lowell, has already served two games of the suspension. AHL officials say that as part of his punishment Holmstrom will participate in “diversity and inclusive education.”

BASKETBALL

WNBA: The Atlanta Dream acquired the No. 1 overall pick in the WNBA draft from the Washington Mystics.

The Mystics obtained the No. 3 overall pick Monday and the No. 14 selection in the second round.

Washington also has the right to swap its 2023 first-round pick with Atlanta’s first-round pick acquired from Los Angeles on Feb. 5. The Dream traded Chennedy Carter and the rights to Li Yueru to the Sparks for Erica Wheeler, Los Angeles’ first-round draft choice next year and the No. 15 pick this season.
Atlanta still retains the No. 15 pick in the second round of the draft.

The trade gives Atlanta, which finished 8-24 last season, the first selection in the draft for only the second time in franchise history. In 2009, the Dream used the No. 1 overall pick to draft Angel McCoughtry, who led the team to the WNBA finals in 2010, 2011 and 2013.

SOCCER

CHAMPIONS LEAGUE: Real Madrid Coach Carlo Ancelotti tested negative for the coronavirus, allowing him to fly to London to be with the team for the Champions League match against Chelsea.

Ancelotti contracted COVID-19 last week and did not travel to England with the rest of the Madrid squad on Tuesday ahead of the first leg of the quarterfinals. He missed his team’s 2-1 win over Celta Vigo in the Spanish league on Saturday.

“He will travel to London this morning to join the first-team training camp,” Madrid said in a statement.

Chelsea Manager Thomas Tuchel said his team would gain a slight advantage if Ancelotti missed Wednesday’s game at Stamford Bridge, but wanted the Italian coach alongside him on the touchline. Ancelotti is trying to win his second Champions League with Madrid, after the first in 2014.

• Karim Benzema scored three goals as Real Madrid beat defending champion Chelsea 3-1 in the first leg of the quarterfinals.

• Villarreal pulled off another surprising league result with a 1-0 win over visiting Bayern Munich in the first leg of the quarterfinals.

Arnaut Danjuma’s goal early in the first half was enough for Villarreal.

Bayern was unbeaten in its last 22 away games in the Champions League, with 17 wins and five draws in a record run that had started after a loss in 2017 to a Paris Saint-Germain team coached by Emery.

PREMIER LEAGUE:  Everton plunged to within a point of the relegation zone after conceding in the 85th minute to lose 3-2 at Burnley in a wild, end-to-end match.

Maxwel Cornet grabbed the winner for Burnley, which climbed above Watford into 18th place and within striking distance of overtaking Everton in 17th.

U.S. MEN: The United States will host Grenada on June 11 and play at El Salvador three days later in World Cup prep matches.

The CONCACAF Nations League matches will follow exhibitions on June 1 and 5, the latter possibly against Uruguay.

The U.S. also is planning exhibitions for Sept. 23 and 27.

Back in the World Cup for the first time since 2014, the U.S. opens Group B against Scotland, Wales or Ukraine on Nov. 21. It faces England four days later and meets Iran on Nov. 29.

TENNIS

CHARLESTON OPEN: Top-seeded Aryna Sabalenka won for the first time since late February, outlasting American Alison Riske 7-6 (3), 6-4  to start the weather-delayed tournament at Charleston, South Carolina.

Sabalenka, of Belarus, had lost her opening matches at Indian Wells and Miami after falling to new No. 1 Iga Swiatek in the quarterfinals at Qatar six weeks ago.

Other seeded winners included No. 3 Karolina Pliskova, No. 6 Jessica Pegula, No. 9 Madison Keys, No. 10 Belinda Bencic and No. 12 Alize Cornet.

Pliskova of the Czech Republic topped Katarina Zavatska of Ukraine 5-7, 7-5, 6-4. American Pegula ousted Italian Jasmine Paolini 6-2, 6-1, and Keys of the United States beat Norway’s Ulrikke Eikeri 6-3, 6-1.

Keys was supposed to start Tuesday night until bad weather postponed things.

Bencic, who won Olympic gold in Tokyo, defeated Linda Fruhvirtova of the Czech Republic 6-1, 7-6 (6). Cornet of France bested American Hailey Baptiste 6-3, 6-2.

U.S. MEN”S CLAY COURT CHAMPIONSHIP: Michael Mmoh beat Sam Querrey 6-2, 6-4 in the second round at Houston.

Mmoh, who had a bye into the second round after No. 1 seed Casper Ruud dropped out because of a wisdom tooth problem, advanced to a tour-level quarterfinal for the third time in his career.

Querrey, who has reached the final in Houston twice, was defeated after advancing to the quarterfinals of this tournament in five of the previous six seasons.

In other singles action, Nick Kyrgios beat Tommy Paul 6-4, 6-2 to reach his first tour-level quarterfinal since doing it at this tournament in 2018. It’s the second time he’s advanced to a quarterfinal this season.

RETIREMENT: Former Australian Open runner-up Jo-Wilfried Tsonga announced he will retire after the French Open, hoping to put the final touches on an injury-plagued career in front of his home crowd.

The 36-year-old Frenchman reached a career-high ranking of No. 5 in 2012, but has dropped to No. 220 following his latest lengthy injury layoff. That means he can’t enter the main draw at Roland Garros automatically through his ranking, and will have to rely on being granted a wild-card entry by organizers.

ROAD RACING

BOSTON MARATHON: Athletes from Russia and Belarus previously accepted to compete in this year’s Boston Marathon who are currently residing in either country will no longer be allowed to participate, the Boston Marathon Association announced.

The exclusion from the world’s oldest annual marathon also extends to athletes previously accepted into the B.A.A.’s 5K event. However, it doesn’t affect Russian or Belarusian athletes registered for the events who are not residents of the countries. They will be allowed to compete but won’t be able to run under their country’s flag.

“Like so many around the world, we are horrified and outraged by what we have seen and learned from the reporting in Ukraine,” B.A.A. president and CEO Tom Grilk said in a statement. “We believe that running is a global sport, and as such, we must do what we can to show our support to the people of Ukraine.”

The B.A.A. said it won’t recognize the country affiliation or flags of Russia and Belarus until further notice. This year’s Boston Marathon, 5K, and Invitational Mile do not include any professional or invited athletes from those countries.

Organizers said they will make reasonable attempts to refund entry fees to athletes no longer able to participate.