SHORT TAKES

• Recently, former Minnesota United team president Djorn Buchholz took over as the general manager of the NASL's struggling Rayo OKC franchise — and is already dealing with his first scandal. The team has been using a temporary artificial turf field this year. In midweek, Buchholz found out that one of the team's minority owners had taken half the turf, without telling anyone, so that the other owners couldn't sell the turf to make ends meet. In a related story, Rayo OKC might not survive as a franchise.

• The Gophers women's soccer team has made an excellent start to the season, winning its first four games and earning a No. 9 ranking nationally. Now the schedule gets much harder; the Gophers visit No. 7 Duke this week and No. 2 Stanford next week.

• Major congratulations to Minnesotan Adrienne Richardson, who was named to the U.S. roster for the Under-17 World Cup in October. Richardson, a striker, plays for Minnesota Thunder Academy in Woodbury and came on strong in the past year to make the team.