With the short-handed Warriors needing help

U.S. womens national team forward Alex Morgan will spend the first half of 2017 with French club Lyon before returning to the NWSLs Orlando Pride.Lyon is the reigning European champions and have reached the UEFA Womens Champions League quarterfinals, where it will face Wolfsburg in March.The club has also won the French league for 10 straight seasons and currently has a perfect record through six games.Morgan, 27, will stay with Lyon until its season ends -- as late as June 1 -- before rejoining the Pride, for whom she scored four goals in 15 appearances last season.Lyon is a team thats world-renowned for excellence, with a roster that includes many of the greatest players in the world, Morgan wrote on The Players Tribune. They are committed to growing womens soccer and provide the women with first-class facilities and an unparalleled training environment on par with the mens team.My motivation is pretty simple. I hope that this change will help push my game to another level. I hope that training with these incredible athletes each day, and learning a unique style of play, is exactly what I need, and that it will help me find that next gear. Importantly, I will also be immersed in a soccer culture that I believe is precisely what I need at this point in my career. It has always been a dream of mine to live soccer and to compete in the Champions League.Orlando acquired Morgan in a trade with the Portland Thorns before last season.We are obviously disappointed that Alex will miss the beginning of the Pride season but understand her wishes to play in Europe and we look forward to her rejoining her teammates after Lyons season, Orlando president Phil Rawlins said in a statement. This in no way affects our plans or commitment to growing Orlando Pride and we will continue providing the team the best available players, training resources and staff to become a championship contender in the NWSL and a leader in womens professional soccer.Morgan asked Pride fans for their support. She said shes leaving behind her husband, family and her dog to become a better soccer player.I want my fans to know how much I love and appreciate them, and that this move, at the end of the day, means Im going to come back better than ever, she wrote. It means Im going to come back knowing that I took a risk in life in order to become the very best soccer player I can be. Air Jordan Canada Store . LOUIS -- Roman Polak was celebrating even before Alexander Steen scored the winning goal in Saturdays 4-2 win over the Carolina Hurricanes. Air Jordan Canada Sale . "No difference at all," chirped U.S. roommate and linemate James van Riemsdyk. "Its still the same cranky Phil. http://www.canadaairjordan.com/ . In the lead up - which seemed to begin the moment Mike Geiger blew the whistle in Houston last Thursday night - the Impact rumour mill went into overdrive. The speculation went into meltdown mode, of the golden nugget variety. Air Jordan Cheap Authentic . Fellow centre Pavel Datsyuk remains out because of a concussion. Zetterberg has 11 goals and 19 assists for a team-high 30 points, and Datsyuk has a team-high 12 goals and 11 assists. Cheap Jordan Shoes Sale . With the short-handed Warriors needing help from someone -- anyone -- to stop a three-game skid, ONeal returned from right knee and groin injuries that had sidelined him for four games and put up season highs with 18 points and eight rebounds. It was just enough to help lift Golden State to a 102-101 victory over the New Orleans Pelicans on Tuesday night. For a long time, they played in the same conference. But now Nebraska is in the Big Ten, and Missouri in the SEC. Sunday, they both played exciting five-set NCAA volleyball matches that could be key to conference titles. Theres still a long way to go, of course, but the past weekend was big for the Tigers and the Cornhuskers.Missouri atop the SECKentucky was riding a 13-match winning streak coming into Mizzou on Sunday, but the Tigers got off to a fast start by taking the first two sets. The Wildcats responded by winning the next two.Then it came down to a fifth-set battle in which Tigers senior outside hitter Carly Kan took over. She had five of her 17 kills in that set, leading Mizzou to a 15-12 victory.Kan is a native of Hawaii, yet went all the way to Missouri because she loved the coaching staff and team atmosphere. At 5-foot-9, Kan is a bit small these days for an outside hitter. But her role model in that regard is former Hawaii star Kanani Danielson, who finished her career for the Rainbow Wahine in 2011 as a three-time AVCA first-team All-American. The 5-10 Danielson had 1,760 kills for Hawaii; Kan is at 1,527 for Mizzou.While the Wildcats streak was snapped, the Tigers now have won 13 in a row. Theyre 18-3 overall and 9-0 in the SEC. Sundays victory didnt quite get Missouri into this weeks AVCA Top 25, but that could come if the Tigers can extend their streak. Wednesday, theyre on the road at last years SEC champion, Texas A&M (9 p.m. ET, ESPNU). The Aggies stand fourth in the SEC behind Missouri, Kentucky and Florida.Nebraska solidifies No. 1The top ranking in the AVCA poll was a hot potato for the past few weeks, but it stayed put Monday.The Huskers, who started the season ranked No. 1, dropped to third in the Oct. 3 poll after a loss to Ohio State. But Nebraska went back to No. 1 on Oct. 17 after both Minnesota and Wisconsin had taken a turn in the top spot.Those two teams visited a packed-as-usual Devaney Center over the weekend, and Nebraska beat them both. The matches were quite different. The Huskers crushed it in a 3-0 sweep Friday against the Badgers, who had trouble getting anything going. Contrast that to Sunday, when Nebraska prevailed in a gritty 3-2 win over Minnesota.The Gophers looked a lot more like themselves than they did in a surprisingly difficult, come-from-behind 3-2 victory at Iowa on Friday. Nebraska vs. Minnesota had the look of a national championship match, with some thrilling rallies and great plays from both sides.Perhaps the ultimate decider was defense. Huskers senior Justine Wong-Orantes set a school record for digs in a match with 35. Shes now 35 away from becoming Nebraskas career leader in that category.The Huskers also had a season-high 17 blockks against Minnesota, led by Briana Holmans 10.ddddddddddddut the overall star of the weekend for the Huskers was senior middle blocker Amber Rolfzen. She had a career-high 16 kills against Wisconsin, and then equaled that with 16 more against Minnesota. That earned her the Big Ten player of the week award Monday.Nebraska is now tied atop the Big Ten at 9-1 with Penn State, which lost 3-2 at Michigan on Saturday. The Wolverines Carly Skjodt had a career-high 27 kills in that match.By the way, the Huskers and the Nittany Lions still have two meetings this season: Nov. 4 at Penn State and Nov. 16 at Nebraska.Texas vs. Kansas, Part 2Texas remains atop the Big 12 at 8-0, but it hasnt been easy for the Longhorns. They have just one sweep in their conference matches, vs. TCU. And three of their last five matches have gone five sets.The most recent was Friday at Texas Tech, which is winless in the Big 12. But the Red Raiders pushed the Longhorns the distance after winning the fourth set 28-26. Texas won the fifth set 15-7, but it was still a little too close for comfort for the Longhorns.Meanwhile, Kansas is 7-1, with its only loss coming at Texas on Sept. 24. Now its almost time for the rematch. No. 2-ranked Texas visits No. 6 Kansas on Saturday (7:30 p.m. ET, ESPN3).First up, though, its Oklahoma for the Longhorns on Wednesday, while the Jayhawks are at Texas Tech that night.Irish testCoach Jim McLaughlin left Washington, where he won a national championship in 2005, to try to turn Notre Dame into a true volleyball powerhouse. In his second season with the Irish, hes already made great progress.Last year, Notre Dame was 7-25 overall and 2-18 in the ACC. This year, the Irish are 18-4 and 9-1, tied with Florida State for second in the league behind 10-0 North Carolina.The Irish gave the visiting Tar Heels a run for their money on Oct. 14, but UNC escaped 15-13 in the fifth set. This weekend, Notre Dame is host to Miami and Florida State.Meanwhile, out WestNo. 17 Stanford is an uncharacteristic 6-4 and tied for fifth in Pac-12 play. But its been kind of a weird season overall in the conference. The Cardinal have a chance to make up some ground this week. Theyll host league-leading Washington, 8-2 and ranked No. 7, on Wednesday. Then Stanford takes on No. 18 Washington State -- which is tied for third at 7-3 with UCLA and Oregon -- on Friday.San Diego remains unbeaten atop the West Coast Conference, but the match of the year in conference play is Friday. No. 5 San Diego travels to Provo, Utah, to face No. 16 BYU. The Toreros are 10-0 in the WCC, while the Cougars are 8-2. ' ' '