Graham Zusi scored on a free kick with six minutes left in extra time to put Maryland in the College Cup final with a 1-0 win over St. John's last night at Frisco, Texas.

The Terrapins (22-3-0) will meet 13th-seeded North Carolina (15-7-1), which upset defending champion Wake Forest, 1-0, for the NCAA title tomorrow.

"Appropriately, the best player on the field got the game-winning goal," Maryland coach Sasho Cirovski said. "Graham Zusi was outstanding."

Neal Kitson made nine saves for the Red Storm (19-3-3), but his diving attempt to deny Zusi was just late.

"It was a great free kick," Kitson said. "There's not much you can do."

Maryland beat North Carolina twice this season, winning 2-1 in College Park early last month, then 1-0 in the ACC quarterfinals five days later — dealing the Tar Heels their fifth straight loss and forcing them to wait for an at-large bid into the NCAA field.

Maryland is 6-0-1 against the Tar Heels in their last seven meetings. North Carolina's last win in the series was Oct. 5, 2003.

Brian Shriver scored on a six-year header less than four minutes in, and goalkeeper Brooks Haggerty helped the goal stand up to lead the Tar Heels over the Demon Deacons.

FIGURE SKATING

HOMETOWN FAVORITE

They call her Queen Yu-na in South Korea and, returning home for her first international competition in her native country, the two-time Grand Prix Finals champion did not disappoint.

Kim Yu-na edged chief rival Mao Asada of Japan for the top score in the short program yesterday at Goyang, South Korea, putting the 18-year-old on course to make it a three-peat. She can match Russia's Irina Slutskaya's record of three straight Grand Prix finals titles if she wins today's free skate.

Among the men, Japan's Takahiko Kozuka swept to the top of the scoreboard with a stylish program set to jazz music that earned 83.90 points — a season's best for the teen.

HORSE RACING

BREEDERS' CUP CUTS COST

The Breeders' Cup will slash $4.5 million in co-funding of stakes races at North American tracks in 2009 because of the economic downtown.

The cutback will affect 121 stakes races for Breeders' Cup-nominated horses at about 40 racetracks, spokesman Jim Gluckson said yesterday. The Breeders' Cup kicked in extra purse money to what a track already offered for those races.

The reduction won't affect the two-day Breeders' Cup, scheduled for November at Santa Anita in Arcadia, Calif. The purse money of $25.5 million will remain the same as this year.

"Even with the difficult economic circumstances, the board was committed strongly to holding the line on championship purses," Breeders' Cup president and chief executive Greg Avioli said. "While the financial results for the 2008 championships were solid, the combination of the economy and its effects on the sales and breeding segments of our business provides a challenging environment."