D10 EZ M2 THE WASHINGTON POST.SUNDAY, APRIL 10 , 2022
ASSOCIATED PRESSSophia Smith became the
youngest player in 22 years to
score a hat trick for the U.S. wom-
en’s national team, which routed
Uzbekistan, 9-1, on Saturday in
Columbus, Ohio, and extended its
unbeaten streak on American soil
to 66 games.
Smith scored in the 33rd, 35th
and 56th minutes. At 21 years
242 days, she b ecame the youngest
American woman with an interna-
tional hat trick since Christie
Welsh at 19 years 38 days in an 8-0
win over Iceland on April 5, 2000.
Smith’s only previous national
team goal came Sept. 21 against
Paraguay.
Andi Sullivan, Mallory Pugh,
Catarina Macario, Jaelin Howell,
Ashley Hatch and Ashley Sanchez
also scored at L ower.com Field for
the top-ranked United States.
Aziza Norboeva scored for
48th-ranked Uzbekistan, the first
goal the United States h as conced-
ed on home soil since March 11,
202 0, against Japan.
l MLS: J avier “ Chicharito” Her-
nandez and Sega Coulibaly scored
in the first half, and the LA Galaxy
ended LAFC’s unbeaten start to
the season with a 2-1 win in Car-
son, Calif....
Leonardo Campana scored in
the 88th minute to finish off a hat
trick, leading Inter Miami to its
first win of the season with a 3-2
victory over t he New England Rev-
olution in Fort Lauderdale, Fla....
Romell Quioto scored into an
empty net in the 81st minute, and
CF Montreal rallied late to defeat
the New York Red Bulls, 2-1, in
Harrison, N.J....
In Sandy, Utah, Jayden Nelson
scored his first MLS goal to help
To ronto earn a 2-2 draw with Real
Salt Lake....
C.J. Sapong scored in the 68th
minute to spark Nashville t o a 2-1
victory over Sporting Kansas City
in Kansas City, Mo....
Sebastian Ferreira scored a goal
in each half to propel the host
Houston Dynamo to a 4-3 victory
over the S an Jose Earthquakes....
Ercan K ara scored i n the s econd
half to lead Orlando City to a 1-0
win over the visiting Chicago Fire.
l ENGLAND: Everton gained a
huge win in its fight for Premier
League survival and further dam-
aged Manchester United’s flimsy
top-four hopes with a 1-0 victory.
Anthony Gordon’s shot from
the edge of the penalty area de-
flected into the net off the out-
stretched leg of United defender
Harry Maguire in the 27th minute
at G oodison Park....
Chelsea consigned host South-
ampton to its latest humiliating
defeat, with the 6-0 thrashing
proving good shooting practice
ahead of a must-win Champions
League match next week....
Leeds moved further away f rom
the relegation zone with a 3-0
away win that inflicted another
blow on Watford’s increasingly
desperate campaign t o stay u p....
Son Heung-min had a hat trick
as To ttenham took control of the
race for a top-four spot with a 4-0
win at A ston Villa....
Arsenal’s q uest to qualify for the
Champions League received an-
other setback with a 2-1 home loss
to Brighton.
l GERMANY: Lukas Nmecha
scored twice to set host Wolfsburg
on its way to a convincing 4-0 win
over A rminia Bielefeld.
Kevin Paredes, an 18-year-old
left-footed wing back from Vir-
ginia, entered in the 86th minute
for Wolfsburg in his Bundesliga
debut. He transferred in January
from D.C. United....
Robert Lewandowski convert-
ed a l ate penalty a s Bayern Munich
rebounded from its Champions
League defeat to beat Augsburg,
1-0, at home.
l FRANCE: Kylian Mbappé
and Neymar both recorded hat
tricks as runaway leader Paris
Saint-Germain moved closer to a
10th Ligue 1 title by thrashing
Clermont, 6-1, on the road....
Benjamin Bourigeaud scored
twice as Rennes moved into sec-
ond by winning at Reims, 3-2.
l SPAIN: Real Madrid consoli-
dated its already commanding
lead at t he t op of La L iga with a 2-0
home win over Getafe....
Atlético Madrid l ost, 1 -0, at M al-
lorca, stumbling again after its
Champions League defeat to Man-
chester City.
l ITALY: Defending Serie A
champion Inter Milan moved to
within one point of league leader
AC Milan with a 2-0 win against
Hellas Verona at San Siro.SOCCER ROUNDUPSmith nets
hat trick
to power
Americans
UNITED STATES 9,
UZBEKISTAN 1BY NICKI JHABVALARon Rivera has said that every-
thing changed when the Washing-
ton Commanders found out Car-
son Wentz was available by trade
in late February.
The team, desperate for stabili-
ty a t quarterback, gave up a pair of
draft picks to the Indianapolis
Colts and accepted Wentz’s hefty
contract with the hope he’d ap-
pear more like the player he was at
the start of the 2017 season and
less like the journeyman he has
been since.
But as Washington shifted
gears once again at quarterback,
its salary cap and approach to free
agency shifted too, Rivera said.
“That’s kind of what’s pushed
us into waiting and being a little
bit more patient as we go through
this,” he said at the league’s meet-
ings in Palm Beach, Fla., last
month.
Wentz’s contract ate into the
bulk of the Commanders’ project-
ed $30 million-plus of projected
salary cap space at t he start of free
agency. Based on the NFL Play-
ers Association’s records and
O vertheCap.com’s c omputing, the
team has less than $6 million in
cap room after accounting for its
drafted rookies but will have clos-
er to $18 million in June, when
safety Landon Collins’s contract
clears the books.
Much of that could be allocated
to l ong-term deals for wide receiv-
er Te rry McLaurin and possibly
defensive tackle Daron Payne. But
Washington is lacking in some
capacity at nearly every position,
and Rivera indicated early in the
year a plan to be aggressive inremaking the roster.
So far, the Commanders have
been among the league’s most
conservative in both cash and cap
spending in free agency, signing
only two free agents who weren’t
with the team last season. (The
Dallas Cowboys a re the only other
team to sign only two so far in free
agency.)
Andrew Norwell, a 30-year-old
veteran, signed a two-year deal to
play left guard, and Efe Obada, a
backup defensive lineman, ar-
rived on a one-year deal for depth
up front. Both played for Rivera
on t he Carolina Panthers. Both got
relatively cheap contracts.
The Commanders made more
headway in keeping some of their
own players but none for con-
tracts longer than two years. Safe-
ty Bobby McCain received the
largest contract of Washington’s
incumbent free agents, a $10 mil-
lion deal identical to Norwell’s.
On Thursday, wide receiver/re-
turner DeAndre Carter, who
emerged last season as one of
Washington’s most productive
signings, agreed to a one-year deal
with the Los Angeles Chargers,
according to a person with knowl-
edge of the transaction. Carter
ranked second in the NFL last
season with 904 kick return yards
and was a key offensive piece for
Washington when its receiving
corps was depleted, recording 296
receiving yards and three touch-
downs.
Although he appeared to be a
player the Commanders wanted
to keep, the team did not make an
offer after the end of the season, a
person informed of the discus-
sions said.Washington also decided to
move on from tight end Ricky
Seals-Jones and defensive tackle
Tim Settle, who signed with the
New York Giants a nd Buffalo Bills,
respectively. Defensive tackle
Matt Ioannidis was surprisingly
cut, landing with C arolina; start-
ing guard Brandon Scherff signed
a massive deal with the Jackson-
ville Jaguars; and fellow guard
Ereck Flowers was a cap casualty,
freeing up $10 million in space.
Collins was designated a post-
June 1 cut, so the Commanders
will have even more room but not
before that date.
So now what?
Last month, Rivera indicated
the team will continue to take a
wait-and-see approach.
“We’ve been fortunate the last
couple of years that we’ve done
pretty good with free agency,” he
said. “We’ve got to continue to
study the guys that potentially can
come free after the draft.”
The addition of draft picks
could prompt teams to move on
from some veterans. Last year,
Washington signed starting left
tackle Charles Leno, McCain and
Seals-Jones after the draft.
But Washington still needs a
starting right guard to replace
Scherff (Rivera said that position
will be an open competition). It
needs more pass-catchers, at both
wide receiver and tight end; a
third quarterback; depth on both
lines; a versatile safety; another
cornerback or two; and, with Cart-
er gone, a reliable returner, too.
It a lso needs help at l inebacker,
a defensive weakness for the Com-
manders the past two seasons.
According to one person familiarwith the talks, Washington was
interested in signing linebacker
Jermaine Carter but w asn’t as ag-
gressive a s the Kansas City Chiefs,
with whom Carter signed in
March. A former University of
Maryland standout, Carter was a
2018 fifth-round draft pick by the
Panthers when Marty Hurney was
their general manager and Rivera
their coach.
At the league meetings, Rivera
and Washington GM Martin May-
hew spoke glowingly of Cole Hol-
comb’s d evelopment.
“We feel like Cole Holcomb has
a chance to go in there and play
[middle linebacker] for us, so
there’s not a tremendous urgency
to go and do something right
there,” Mayhew said in Florida.
“He did a good job when he was in
there.”
In r ecent weeks, focus has shift-
ed once more to the draft, which
starts April 28. The Commanders
have the 11th overall selection in
the first round and a total of six
picks to try to fill out their roster.
“The biggest thing is that it
takes time,” Rivera of his team’s
continued rebuild. “It doesn’t
happen overnight. What hap-
pened in 2020 , the division was
down. We won the division, I get
it. But then last season, I think,
really was an indication that we’re
not where we need to be or where
we wanted to be.
“A s we started to play and you
saw some positive things, you saw
the growth. It really was a reflec-
tion for me of what happened my
first two years in Carolina. To me,
this third year is big, and I’ve said
that, and I believe it’s an opportu-
nity for us to take a step.”Commanders taking their time filling r oster holes
round pick in 2019 after Haskins.
Wide receiver Kelvin Harmon,
a sixth-round pick in the same
draft, shared a text message con-
versation between he and
Haskins from Oct. 9, 2020, two
days after Coach Ron Rivera
benched Haskins the first time.
“A in’t trying to be on yo back
bout this [expletive] but you
know I believe in your for sure,
your chance gone come again and
they’ll regret disrespecting you
like this,” Harmon wrote. “Whole
league gone see.”
“Thanks brotha I appreciate
you man,” Haskins replied. “I’m
good bro just gotta keep work-
ing.”
Washington reserve offensive
lineman Keith Ismael shared a
direct-message exchange with
Haskins from Dec. 6, 2021, the
day after Ismael made his first
career NFL start at Las Vegas.
“So proud of you my g!”
Haskins wrote.
“Thanks dawg,” Ismael wrote
back. “everything we always
talked about.”
Despite the challenges
Haskins faced while trying to
reestablish his career in Pitts-
burgh, Steelers players seemed to
enjoy him as several teammates
shared heartfelt tributes on Twit-
ter.
“The world lost a great person
today,” star edge rusher T. J. Watt
wrote. “When Dwayne first
walked into the locker room I
could tell he was an upbeat guy.
He was always making people
smile, never taking life for grant-
ed. His impact on me will last a
forever.”the school as well, said in a
statement they were “devastated”
and called Haskins “a young man
with a tremendous amount of
potential who had an infectious
personality.”
“Tough to find the words...
you will be missed,” tweeted Cin-
cinnati quarterback Joe Burrow,
who lost the Ohio State starting
quarterback competition to
Haskins in 2018 before rising to
stardom at LSU.
Recently retired Steelers quar-
terback Ben Roethlisberger
tweeted a letter to “D-Hask,”
whom he shared a meeting room
with during the 2021 season. He
captured a sentiment many
shared, that Haskins “came to
work everyday with a smile on his
face,” and said: “Like I told you to
your face, I still wish I could
throw the ball like you! Love ya
pal.”
Roethlisberger and his wife,
Ashley, included a note to Ka-
labrya, Haskins’s wife.
“We want you to know we are
praying for you and with you,”
they wrote. “We don’t u nderstand
why God does what he does but
we have to trust and believe in his
plan. You are an amazing woman
of faith and we trust you will get
through this.”
More than two dozen Com-
manders players, including those
who had overlapped with
Haskins and those who hadn’t,
posted stunned and sorrowful
tributes to him on Instagram.
“Rest up bro. Gone [too] soon. I
know you at peace now,” wrote
defensive end Montez Sweat, who
was Washington’s second first-year early despite experts advis-
ing him not to, as well as choosing
to host his own NFL draft party
rather than accept an invite from
the league.
“Maybe if he stayed in school
[an extra] year he wouldn’t do
silly things... [like] jogging on a
highway,” Brandt added.
“This is beyond unacceptable,”
former NFL wide receiver Dez
Bryant responded on Twitter.
“I really hope you didn’t mean
what you said about Dwayne,”
ESPN NFL analyst Louis Riddick
added, tagging Brandt.
“This morning while learning
of Dwayne Haskins’ passing, I
reacted carelessly and insensi-
tively on a radio interview,”
Brandt later tweeted. “I want to
apologize to Mr. Haskins’ family
and anyone who heard my poor
choice of words. I truly apologize.
My heart goes out to his family at
this difficult time.”
The loss of Haskins seemed to
be felt acutely in the Washington
area. In 2013, before ninth grade,
Haskins moved from Highland
Park, N.J., to Potomac, and except
for a three-year stop in Colum-
bus, Ohio, he lived in the area
until his tumultuous tenure with
Washington ended with his re-
lease in December 2020.
Washington running back Jar-
et Patterson, who was two years
younger than Haskins and played
nearby at DeMatha Catholic
High, tweeted: “A DMV LEG-
END.”
Commanders co-owners Dan-
iel and Ta nya Snyder, who first
noticed Haskins at Bullis and
whose son later played football atteammates, according to social
media posts published Friday
night. Haskins’s parents, Dwayne
Sr. and Ta mara; s ister Ta mia; and
wife Kalabrya did not have im-
mediate public comments.
In breaking the news, ESPN’s
Adam Schefter, in a since-deleted
tweet, said that Haskins, “a
standout at Ohio State before
struggling to catch on with Wash-
ington and Pittsburgh in the NFL,
died this morning.”
Many took issue with Schefter
noting Haskins’s struggles in re-
porting the quarterback’s death.
“How about ‘Dwayne Haskins,
son, husband, buckeye brother,
friend, beloved teammate has
passed away,’ ” former Ohio State
quarterback Cardale Jones wrote
on Twitter. “... Let his family &
friends grieve instead of throw-
ing shade. Praying for the
Haskins family!!”
Schefter would later publish a
new tweet describing Haskins as,
“a standout at Ohio State before
becoming Washington’s first-
round pick and playing in Pitts-
burgh.”
Hall of Fame NFL analyst Gil
Brandt, 90, stoked the anger.
Shortly after the news broke,
SiriusXM NFL radio host Dan
Leberfeld asked Brandt what he
thought of Haskins before the
2019 draft. Brandt said that,
while any death saddened him,
Haskins “was a guy that was
living to be dead, so to speak.”
Brandt suggested Haskins had
a history of making poor deci-
sions, such as leaving Ohio State aHASKINS FROM D1Death of Haskins evokes grief, disbelief
JOHN MCDONNELL/THE WASHINGTON POST
Dwayne Haskins was a star quarterback at Bullis School in Potomac, Md., and Ohio State before being drafted by Washington in 2019.BY HANK KURZ JR.martinsville, va. — William
Byron took the lead on pit road
after Stage 2 stops and held it
pretty much the rest of the way at
Martinsville Speedway on Satur-
day night to become the first
repeat winner this season in NAS-
CAR’s Cup Series.
Byron needed to hold off a
challenge — and a nudge — from
Joey Logano on a two-lap over-
time sprint to finish it, but he won
for the fourth time in his career
and gave Hendrick Motorsports
four victories in eight races this
season.
Byron had both a fast car that
allowed him to pull away on
restarts and a strong one on long
runs, critical because there wasn’t
a caution for anything but the end
of a stage until the 311 th of 400
laps on the 0.526-mile oval.
That changed when To dd Gil-
liland had a flat tire and hit the
wall with five laps to go. Byron
and the top eight cars on the track
opted not to pit, with Byron pick-
ing the inside lane and Austin
Dillon on the outside running
second.
Logano, running third and be-
hind Byron, got a better jump
than Dillon on the restart and
bumped Byron in Turn 2 on the
last lap, but Byron held on for his
second win of the week. He won
in the Truck Series on Thursday
night.
Logano was second, followed
by Dillon, Ryan Blaney and Ross
Chastain.
Dillon appeared to have a car
likely to challenge on a long
green-flag run and beat Logano
for second on a restart with 80
laps to go. But after Byron pulled
away, lapped traffic and consis-
tency helped him build a nearly
three-second lead.
The start of the race was de-
layed by more than an hour when
rain and some sleet fell on an
already frigid night. It got under-
way with radar suggesting more
precipitation was coming, per-
haps even some snow, but none
materialized.
It all conspired to provide a
clean track and a virtual parade.
Pole sitter Chase Elliott led the
first 185 laps, winning the first
and second stages for the fifth
time in his career, but lost the lead
in the caution stops that followed
Stage 2 and had trouble as the
night went on. He finished 10th.
Elliott’s 185 laps led to begin
the race matched what Darrell
Waltrip did at t he start of the 1980
race at Martinsville. Waltrip,
though, went on to win.
Coming off a victory at Rich-
mond Raceway, Denny Hamlin
was looking to stay hot on an-
other short track, where he leads
all active drivers with five wins,
but any hope he brought to Mar-
tinsville was taken away b it by bit.
He qualified 25th, was lapped by
Elliott at the end of Stage 1, made
laps in the back of the field and
finished 28th.
The rest of the Joe Gibbs Rac-
ing stable didn’t f are much better,
though Kyle Busch rallied for
seventh. Martin Truex Jr. — who
had won three of the last five
races here — finished 22nd, and
Christopher Bell was 20th.
— Associated Press
NASCAR
Byron is
first repeat
winner of
the season
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