Minnesota United FC will play an exhibition match against AFC Bournemouth, an English Premier League club, on July 20 at the National Sports Center Stadium in Blaine.
The 2015–16 season was AFC Bournemouth's first in England's top division. The Cherries went 11-18-9, placing 16th out of the 17 teams that will remain in the league next season.
The Loons, who open their fall season in the North American Soccer League on Saturday, last played host to an Premier League club in 2014, when Swansea City drew 9,064 fans to Blaine. Saturday they lost an exhibition 4-2 to Club Leon of Mexico at Target Field before an announced crowd of 18,505.
The game with Bournemouth comes during the annual Schwan's USA Cup international youth soccer tournament in Blaine. The event draws thousands of youth players from 18 countries.
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• Senior defenseman Lee Stecklein was named the captain of the Gophers women's hockey team for the 2016-17 season while fellow seniors Kate Schipper and Dani Cameranesi, both forwards, were named assistant captains. Stecklein was one of the co-captains on the NCAA championship team this past season.
• Justin Zook was named swimming and diving coach at St. Catherine University. Zook, of Plymouth, is a three-time Paralympic gold medalist in the 100-meter backstroke. Zook was the boys' and girls' swimming and diving coach at Armstrong High School the past two school years.
• Becky Hilgert, a former Bloomington Jefferson and University of St. Thomas star athlete, was named the softball coach at Calvin College after serving as an assistant coach at the school in Grand Rapids, Mich., the past three seasons.
• Breland Almadova had a homer, a triple and a steal of home to lead the St. Paul Saints to a 7-4 victory over the Sioux Falls Canaries at CHS Field. Mark Hamburger got the win to improve to 7-0. He pitched eight innings, giving up four runs — one earned — on eight hits.
• Todd Dufault was named Chisago Lakes boys' basketball coach after five seasons in the same position at Waseca where his teams were 92-47. Dufault led the Blue Jays to the state tournament this past season.
