opening loss by having Bowden and Phillips replace Admiral Schofield and Detrick Mostella in the starting lineup.Bowden had played just six minutes in the Chattanooga game, but the

MONTREAL -- When Blake Smith scored his first goal in Major League Soccer, the rookie did a cartwheel followed by a perfectly executed back flip. The Montreal Impact hope to see more of those acrobatics from the energetic midfielder they selected eighth overall in this years MLS SuperDraft. The 22-year-old has been used off the bench as a substitute with increasing regularity and has begun to make an impact on the scoresheet with a goal and an assist in his last two league games. "At the start of the season I wasnt getting into games and I used that as motivation to work hard in practice," Smith said this week. "I think the coaches saw that and gained confidence in me, so Im getting more playing time and Im trying to take advantage of my moments." The natural left-footer has been subbing in for Andres Romero late in recent games and may see action again as the Impact (7-2-2) visit Sporting Kansas City (6-4-4) in a key Eastern Conference match-up on Saturday night. Montreal arrived on a high after a 2-2 draw in Vancouver on Wednesday night gave them the Voyageurs Cup as winners of the Amway Canadian Championship and a berth in the CONCACAF Champions League. They have also won two MLS games in a row, and Smith figured in both. In a comeback 3-2 win over Salt Lake two weeks ago, the five-foot-10 Texan fed Matteo Ferrari for the game-winner in added time. Last Saturday, he was sent in on the left side by Patrice Bernier to score the insurance goal, again in extra time, in a 5-3 victory over Philadelphia. That had him bounding across the Saputo Stadium grass in celebration. "Its pretty crazy -- all my friends and family have congratulated me -- but now that Ive got that behind me, Im onto the next game," said Smith, who has been doing the backflips since high school. None of Smiths success is a surprise to Jeremy Fishbein, his coach the last four years at the powerhouse University of New Mexico. Smith scored 13 times in 68 games for the Lobos, and was an NCAA all-star in 2012. "Hes got a lot of fire in him," Fishbein said this week. "I felt he was going to be an excellent pro player. "Like anyone, theres an adaptation period. Hes on a veteran team. Hes playing well in that role now, but everyone aspires to be a 90-minute player and I hope he gets that chance." Fishbein said one of Smith strength is "tremendous lung capacity" that is ideal for playing the full game. But with the team doing well, so far coach Marco Schallibaum has preferred to continue using Smith off the bench, even with injuries to midfielders Davy Arnaud (concussion) and Andrea Pisanu (thigh), as well as forward Daniele Paponi (thigh). Fishbein wonders how much feedback Smith gets on a team with a European coach that is dominated by European, mostly Italian, veterans. Smith is also playing in a different country where the majority language is French. But the El Paso native looks to be fitting in well. Fishbein has watched Impact games and noted his progression. "He played safe and thats good at the start, but theres another level to him where hes going to break teams down," he said. With the Impact, Smith finds himself lining up with stars like ex-Bologna and Italy forward Marco Di Vaio and former AC Milan giant Alessandro Nesta. "It took some getting used to for sure," he said. "There are some guys here where its pretty intimidating to say youre teammates. "Youve got a World Cup winner (Nesta), and here I am coming from a college. But the adaptation wasnt too difficult. "Honestly, I had no expectations," he added. "I wanted first of all just to prove to myself that I was good enough to be here. As soon as I realized I could play with these guys, then my expectations are to be on the field and to find minutes and ultimately, to be a game changer." He is not alone in MLS. Smiths UNM teammate, the bushy-haired Devon Sandoval, was drafted in the second round and is now a starting forward for Real Salt Lake. Sandoval got his first MLS goal May 8 against New England. The two players exchanged texts of congratulation. Smiths first appearance was on March 30 when he subbed for Di Vaio in a 2-0 loss at Kansas City. The Kansas City player who did most of the damage was midfielder Graham Zusi, but he and defender Matt Besler are away with the U.S. national team for friendlies in Belgium and Germany. The teams meet again July 27 in Montreal. Four days after that, the MLS all-star game will be held at Sporting Park, where the leagues top players will take on Italian Serie-A club AS Roma.China Jerseys Cheap . Louis. To which I would say two things: 1. Where there is smoke, there is or perhaps has been a little fire. Or, in other words, the two teams would appear to have at least spoken. And spoken is defined as one calling the other to inquire, no more, no less. Fake China Jerseys . Kyle Denbrook, a soccer player from Saint Marys University, took the CIS male athlete of the week honour. Stanley, a fourth-year business administration student from Charlottetown, scored both goals in a 2-0 win over Dalhousie on Friday and tallied again in a 1-0 win over Saint Marys on Sunday. https://www.chinajerseyscheap.us/ .35 million, one-year contract that avoided salary arbitration. Plouffe batted .254 with 14 home runs and 52 RBIs in 477 at-bats last season, his second as a regular in the lineup. China Jerseys Stitched . Arsenal failed to take full advantage of its main rivals stumbles on Saturday as substitute Gerard Deulofeu levelled with a hard shot from a tight angle in the 84th minute to give Everton a deserved point. Ahead of a crucial fortnight that will see them play against Napoli in the Champions League, Manchester City and Chelsea, Arsenal leads by five points ahead of Liverpool and Chelsea. China Jerseys Wholesale . Just as Montreal was settling into the first full working week of a new year, the Impact announced the appointment of their new head coach.KNOXVILLE, Tenn. -- Tennessee was dominant enough for one six-minute stretch to make up for any youthful mistakes it made the rest of the night.Robert Hubbs III scored 16 points to lead six Tennessee players in double figures Tuesday as the Volunteers capitalized on a 21-0 first-half spurt in a 103-94 victory over Appalachian State.Tennessee, which has seven true freshmen and one redshirt freshman on its roster, bounced back from a season-opening 82-69 home loss to Chattanooga and avoided its first 0-2 start since 1965-66.I cant imagine theres a younger team, Tennessee coach Rick Barnes said. I do think we did some things better from the first game, but we still, at times tonight, acted like the really young basketball team we are.The Vols (1-1) trailed 11-9 early before reeling off 21 straight points by feasting on Appalachian State turnovers. Jordan Bone and Grant Williams each scored five points during that 21-0 run, which culminated with a 3-pointer from Jordan Bowden.Tennessee led by as many as 26 points during a first half in which the Vols forced 15 turnovers.I think we missed some easy ones and I think they ramped up their pressure, Appalachian State coach Jim Fox said. It slowed us down. Our guys were making uncharacteristic mistakes. If we passed the ball up, we caught the ball right by halfcourt so they trapped us. We were really tentative with things that we did. Credit them. They did a great job. Theyre tremendously athletic.The Vols werent quite as effective the rest of the way. Appalachian State (0-2) got the margin all the way down to seven with 58 seconds left but couldnt get any closer.Tennessee won with a balanced scoring attack.Lamonte Turner scored 15 points, Bowden had 14. Kyle Alexander and Williams each had 13 and Shembari Phillips added 11 for Tennessee.I feel like everybody on our team can score the ball, Bowden said. Everybody gives the ball and is not really selfish on offense.Ronshad Shabazz and Patrick Good each scored 21 for Appalachian State. Griffin Kinney had 13 points and Kelvin Robinson added 12.ddddddddddddTHE TAKEAWAYAppalachian State: The Mountaineers inability to take care of the ball in the first half proved costly. Appalachian State had 15 turnovers in the first half. Tennessee outscored Appalachian State 22-8 in first-half points off turnovers. The Mountaineers deserve some credit for chipping away at the deficit rather hanging their heads once they trailed by 26.Tennessee: The Vols corrected many of the mistakes theyd made in their loss to Chattanooga. Tennessee shot 1 of 16 from 3-point range and had 18 turnovers and four assists against Chattanooga. The Vols were 8-of-19 on 3-pointers and had 26 assists and 12 turnovers Tuesday. Bone, who had just one assist in the Chattanooga game, had eight assists and two turnovers against Appalachian State.LINEUP CHANGEBarnes responded to Tennessees season-opening loss by having Bowden and Phillips replace Admiral Schofield and Detrick Mostella in the starting lineup.Bowden had played just six minutes in the Chattanooga game, but the freshman guard shot 4 of 8 from 3-point range and scored 14 points Tuesday.We started (Bowden) because he earned it, to be quite frank, Barnes said. The other night, the reason we switched the lineup a little bit is some of those guys that started (against Chattanooga) didnt do the things that we wanted them to do defensively.REDSHIRT DUOBarnes said he is planning on redshirting freshman guard Jalen Johnson and freshman walk-on Jacob Fleschman.INJURY UPDATETennessee guard Kwe Parker missed a second straight game while wearing a walking boot on his left foot.NEXT UPAppalachian State hosts Warren Wilson College on Thursday.Tennessee faces Wisconsin on Monday in the first round of the Maui Invitational in Lahaina, Maui.---More AP College Basketball: http://collegebasketball.ap.org---Follow Steve Megargee at www.twitter.com/stevemegargee ' ' '