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(STATS) -- If North Dakota has any jitters about playing in its first-ever FCS playoff game, the comfortable surroundings of the Alerus Center should help alleviate that.Richmond, meanwhile, has nothing but terrible memories of the Peace Garden State.Saturday night will mark the FCS playoff debut for North Dakota, which hopes to stretch its winning streak to 10 when the Spiders visit for a second-round matchup.While No. 8 North Dakota has experienced plenty of postseason success, all of it came during the schools Division II era before making the jump to the FCS level prior to the 2008 season. The Fighting Hawks went 20-12 in the Division II playoffs, winning the national championship in 2001 with another championship game appearance in 2003.It means a lot for us to play in the tournament, coach Bubba Schweigert said. It will mean much more if we get a positive result, we know that. We think it will help us in terms of exposure and recruiting. Our fan base will also be really excited to be part of that atmosphere.North Dakota (9-2) has been idle since completing its most successful FCS regular season with a 38-31 victory over Northern Arizona on Nov. 12. It was the ninth straight win for the Fighting Hawks, who finished unbeaten in the Big Sky Conference and went 5-0 at home to continue a longtime trend of success in Grand Forks.North Dakota is 81-22 overall at the Alerus Center, including a 10-0 mark in playoff games there, and 13-3 at the indoor facility in Schweigerts two-plus seasons.Were excited to be home. Its an advantage if you play well, Schweigert said. If your crowd gets in the game, it can help you if you approach it the right way and come out with a lot of energy and youre focused.Richmond (9-3) knows all too well how difficult it can be to play in a loud and raucous atmosphere after it was routed 33-7 at North Dakota State in last seasons national semifinals.The 12th-ranked Spiders earned another trip to the state of North Dakota with a 39-10 victory over visiting North Carolina A&T in the first round Saturday. After two-year starting quarterback Kyle Lauletta suffered an ACL tear in the regular-season finale, Richmond removed the redshirt from Kevin Johnson and he passed for 315 yards and a touchdown to back a stout defensive effort.We were highly motivated Saturday at home, motivated to win. We were really highly motivated to extend our season, Richmond coach Danny Rocco said. These guys had a taste the last couple of years of the postseason, winning in the postseason, and theres something about going to North Dakota that I thought is really meaningful. Were working hard to find a way to beat a really good football team.While Johnson played well and redshirt freshman Deontez Thompson carried 24 times for 98 yards, the Spiders won with defense and special teams. They forced four turnovers, got a 92-yard punt return from Dejon Brissett and four field goals from Griffin Trau.Overcoming adversity has become a theme for Richmond, which has lost a whopping 18 players to season-ending injuries.Weve got a great group of guys who fight for each other every day and thats exactly what this is, Johnson said. Were excited for the opportunities in front of us.The Spiders are no strangers to success, having won the national championship in 2008 and standing as one of only five schools in the country with a playoff win each of the past three seasons. Last weeks victory was Richmonds 42nd in the last five years, the eighth most in the nation during that span.I do believe our (playoff) experiences have helped us and were a better program and a better football team for having been through the experiences weve had the last couple years, including this past Saturday, Rocco said.Johnson will find the going much tougher against a North Dakota defense that led the Big Sky and ranked seventh in the FCS, allowing 91.5 yards per game. That unit is anchored by safety Cole Reyes, the Big Sky Defensive Player of the Year. Reyes finished the regular season with 58 tackles, a sack, three interceptions, eight pass break-ups, two fumble recoveries and two forced fumbles.A Richmond loss would mark the end of a brilliant career for receiver Brian Brown, just the second player in CAA history to have three consecutive seasons of 1,000-plus receiving yards. Hes the top target for an attack that led the conference with 279.6 passing yards per game.The schools share one common opponent in Stony Brook, which defeated North Dakota 13-9 in the Sept. 1 season opener and rolled to a 42-14 rout of Richmond two weeks later.This will be the first meeting between these programs, and the winner advances to the quarterfinals to face either 14th-ranked Central Arkansas or No. 3 Eastern Washington, which shared the Big Sky title with North Dakota. Kyle Kuzma Lakers Jersey . Despite dominating possession, Schalke needed an own goal from Nicolas Hoefler for the breakthrough a minute before the interval. The Freiburg midfielder misjudged Jefferson Farfans corner and bundled the ball into his own net. Jerry West Lakers Jersey . The 27-year-old Scrivens will be joining his third NHL club since signing with the Toronto Maple Leafs as a free agent in 2010. The move also reunites with him with head coach Dallas Eakins from their time together with the American Hockey Leagues Toronto Marlies. http://www.lakersbasketballshop.com/Michael-Cooper-Jersey/ . The Dutchmans tenure got off to a poor start when referee Guido Winkmann awarded a penalty within two minutes for Niklas Starks clumsy challenge on Alexandru Maxim. Nick Van Exel Jersey . Thousands of Southern California fans enveloped the Trojans to celebrate an improbable win secured by an interim coach, an inconsistent kicker and a thin defence that wouldnt break. Tyson Chandler Jersey . Nathan MacKinnon, Jamie McGinn and Jan Hejda also scored for the Avalanche, who won despite being outshot 38-23. MacKinnons goal, also on the power play, came with just over a minute remaining. Maria Sharapova can start playing tennis again in April.That was the ruling of the Court of Arbitration for Sport on Tuesday after hearing an appeal from Sharapova in September over her two-year doping ban. The court reduced the Russian tennis stars suspension to 15 months after determining that she acted with no significant fault.Tennis is my passion and I have missed it, Sharapova said in a statement. I am counting the days until I can return to the court.In a 28-page decision, the independent panel said the suspension imposed by the International Tennis Federation for Sharapovas use of the banned drug meldonium was reduced, in part, because under no circumstances ... can the player be considered to be an intentional doper.With the penalty backdated to when she tested positive at the Australian Open in late January, Sharapova will be able to compete in April. She will miss each of tennis Grand Slams once during her suspension and will be eligible to pursue her sixth major title starting with the 2017 French Open.Ive gone from one of my toughest days of my career last March when I learned about my suspension until now, one of my happiest days, Sharapova said in her statement. In so many ways, I feel like something I love was taken away from me and it will feel really good to have it back.WTA CEO Steve Simon said in a statement that the tennis organization supports the CAS ruling and looks forward to Sharapovas return to tennis.Simon said Sharapova, who will have to rebuild her ranking from scratch, is entitled to unlimited wild cards based on her record. He expects her to be granted wild cards as soon as she is eligible, including for the French Open.I would be very surprised if there are too many tournaments that wouldnt extend her that opportunity, Simon said in a telephone interview. I think shell be able to work her way back onto the tour.Sharapova appealed to the CAS after a tribunal appointed by the ITF in June ruled that she would be suspended for two years -- even though it was concluded that the contravention of the anti-doping rule was not intentional.The CAS tribunal wrote that the fact that she didnt intentionally try to cheat the system was relevant to the length of her suspension and therefore granted a reduction.The panel wishes to point out that the case it heard ... was not about an athlete who cheated, the panel wrote. It was only about the degree of fault that can be imputed to a player for her failure to make sure that the substance contained in the product she has been legally taking over a long period, and for most of the time under the basis of a doctors prescription, remained in compliance.Meldonium, a Latvian-made heart drug that is commonly used in Russia, where it can be purchased over the counter, was included on the World Anti-Doping Agencys list of banned substances at the start of this year because it is believed to help the body produce energy more efficiently.Sharapova was prescribed melddonium by a family doctor in 2005 and used it for more than a decade for what her team said was a family history of conditions that the drug addressed.dddddddddddd She tested positive for meldonium in January at the Australian Open, and later said she was unaware that it had been banned.Sharapovas suspension wasnt vacated because the CAS determined that she bore some responsibility. Sharapova had said she hadnt listed meldonium as a drug she took because it wasnt banned prior to 2016.Her agent, Max Eisenbud, said in testimony that he failed to check for newly banned substances at the beginning of the year.But the panel also felt that the ITF and WADA didnt do a satisfactory job of making sure players knew meldonium became banned in January or that Mildronate was a brand name for the drug. Sharapova had tested positive for meldonium when it wasnt banned, and neither organization ever informed her of its change in status.Following the Australian Open testing, the ITF said Sharapova also tested positive for meldonium in an out-of-competition control in Moscow on Feb. 2.Sharapovas lawyer, John Haggerty, called Tuesdays ruling a stunning repudiation of the ITF, which he said failed to properly notify players of the meldonium ban.The panel has determined it does not agree with many of the conclusions of the ITF, Haggerty said in a conference call. As we demonstrated before CAS, not only did the tennis anti-doping authorities fail to properly warn Maria, if you compare what the ITF did with how other federations warned athletes of the rule change, its a night-and-day difference.Sharapova told PBS Charlie Rose on Tuesday that she did not consider meldonium a performance enhancer, and criticized the ITF for not alerting her and other players of its addition to the list of prohibited substances. There are lots of things that could have been done to prevent this, she said.?Head, one of the four major brands Sharapova endorses along with Nike, Porsche and Evian, congratulated Sharapova on her reduced suspension Tuesday.We are very proud to have stood by Maria for the right reasons throughout these difficult and testing times for both Maria and those who have supported her all over the world, Johan Eliasch, chairman and CEO of the tennis racket company, said in a statement.Eliasch also called for a wholesale comprehensive review and change to the anti-doping system due to the inconsistencies highlighted in Sharapovas case. Nike, Evian and Porsche also released statements of support for Sharapova on Tuesday.Ivars Kalvins, the Latvian chemist who invented meldonium, recently met with WADA to demonstrate why he thought the drug is not a doping substance. On Friday, WADA released its 2017 list of banned substances, which still includes meldonium.Information from The Associated Press contributed to this report. ' ' '