Alonso Martínez and defender Thiago Martins scored first-half goals and New York City FC forced a deciding match with a 3-1 victory over FC Cincinnati at Citi Field on Saturday.

Santiago Rodríguez scored on a penalty kick in the seventh minute of second-half stoppage time to help No. 6 seed NYCFC even the best-of-three first-round series with third-seed Cincinnati.

Cincinnati, which had won six of the last seven matchups with a plus-9 goal differential entering play, will host the finale on Saturday.

Atlanta rallies over Miami to even playoff series

Xande Silva scored with about a minute to go in stoppage time shortly after a goal by Lionel Messi was waved off by a clear offside, giving ninth-seeded Atlanta United a 2-1 victory over Inter Miami on Saturday night and evening the best-of-three MLS playoff series at one game apiece.

Silva blasted a right-footed shot into the top left corner to beat goalkeeper Drake Callender in the 94th minute. The Atlanta player celebrated by ripping off his shirt and dancing in front of the supporters section at Mercedes-Benz Stadium while the announced crowd of 68,455 cheered.

Messi had plenty of good scoring chances but only found the back of the net with the flag raised for offside. Atlanta United took off the other way for Silva’s game winner.

hockey

Clark scores late as Gophers beat Penn St.

Jimmy Clark scored at 19:34 of the third period as Minnesota’s No. 4-ranked men’s hockey team beat No. 18 Penn State 1-0 on Saturday night to sweep the weekend series.

Clark’s third goal of the season came on assists to Luke Mittelstadt and Leo Gruba at even strength.

Liam Souliere made 28 saves for the Gophers (7-1, 2-0 Big Ten), while Penn State’s netminder Arsenii Sergeev had 11 saves.

Murphy scores twice as Gophers beat Beavers

Abbey Murphy scored two goals as the No. 3-ranked Minnesota women’s hockey team beat Bemidji State 4-1 on Saturday.

Murphy opened the scoring on the power play 10:11 into the first period. Natalie Mlynkova and Emma Kreisz added goals for the Gophers (8-3-1, 4-3-1 WCHA) before Murphy would score before the end of the first.

Bemidji State’s Morgan Smith had a second-period goal.

Hannah Clark made nine saves in goal for Minnesota. Kaitlin Groess made 30 saves for the Beavers.

Augustana men win, split with St. Thomas

After St. Thomas’ men’s hockey team beat Augustana 4-0 on Friday, the Vikings came back wiht a 3-2 win on Saturday to split the series.

St. Thomas (2-4-1, 1-1-0 CCHA) twice came back from one-goal deficits in the loss. Joe Delgreco opened the scoring for Augustana in the first period before the Tommies got on the board with a goal from Ryan O’Neill.

Brett Meerman put the Vikings back on top in the second only for Liam Malmquist to the tie the game for St. Thomas. But Tyler Hennen had the game’s final tally.

Tommies goaltender Aaaron Trotter made 20 saves. Josh Kotai stopped 38 shots for Augustana.

basketball

Marsh hired as coach of WNBA’s Chicago Sky

Tyler Marsh has been hired as coach of the Chicago Sky, taking over a team that features two of the WNBA’s most promising young players in Angel Reese and Kamilla Cardoso.

Andy Miller, Marsh’s agent, confirmed the move in a text message to the AP. ESPN first reported the hiring.

The Las Vegas Aces assistant inherits a squad led by Reese and Cardoso. The Sky also have a lottery pick in next year’s WNBA draft.

Marsh replaces Teresa Weatherspoon, who was fired after one year in charge. Chicago finished 13-27 and missed the playoffs for the first time since 2018.

Marsh, 36, is the team’s fourth coach since the Sky won the championship in 2021.

Briefly

Golf >> Heavy rain and storms associated with Typhoon Kong-rey washed out the third round of the LPGA’s Japan tournament on Saturday and reduced it to 54 holes. The LPGA said the tournament was scheduled to be completed on Sunday.

Horse racing >> Sierra Leone won the $7 million Breeders’ Cup Classic by 1 1/2 lengths Saturday at Del Mar, ending a frustrating run of recent losses, including the Kentucky Derby.

— From news services