If you want to incorporate quality time with animals into your yoga practice, you have a lot of options these days. There’s puppy yoga, cat yoga, and perhaps the most famous — goat yoga.

Now, in Fairbanks, Alaska, there’s a new offering: a yoga class with fauna particular to the cold northern climes of the subarctic. Reindeer.

In a grassy pen at the Running Reindeer Ranch, adult and baby reindeer are milling around — grazing, nosing curiously at water bottles, and pawing yoga mats as people shake them out for class.

The air is buzzing with mosquitoes, and the sky is threatening rain, but a good two dozen or so people have shown up for this petting zoo and exercise experience.

“I’ve wanted to do goat yoga, but this is like one step up,” says Tarah Hoxsie, one of the attendees. “This is like the ultimate, OK. So while everybody’s doing goat yoga in the lower 48, we’re doing reindeer yoga, which is way cooler.”

The reindeer yoga class is a brand new offering for the ranch — it’s only the third class. They usually give natural history walking tours with the animals.

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A reindeer stands in front of participants at the start of the yoga class.

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Ravenna Koenig/KTOO

Jane Atkinson, one of the owners, does yoga herself. She thinks that reindeer are particularly well-suited to it. They’re twisty creatures — especially in the springtime when their antlers are growing and itchy, and they scratch them with their back hooves.

“So you’ll see the reindeer getting into these amazing poses,” she says, “and it’s like wow … look at this little yoga move that they do!”

One of Atkinson’s employees at the ranch, Elsa Janney, happens to also be a yoga instructor.

She starts the class with a safety talk — things like, don’t touch the reindeer’s sensitive antlers because it could hurt them.

From there, much of the class follows a typical yoga class script. But there is some extra stuff mixed in, like what Janney says after she asks the class to pay attention to the sounds around them.

“Reindeer make a click when they walk,” she says. “That is a ligament connected to two different ankle bones. That is unique to both caribou and reindeer.”

At the start of class, most of the reindeer are standing up or slowly wandering around the mats.

But as the class goes on, one by one they all lie down. Rocket, an elegant male reindeer, spreads out between the first and second rows and spends most of the class making a soft, breathy, grunting sound — like snoring.

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Rocket the reindeer takes a rest during a yoga class at Running Reindeer Ranch in Fairbanks, Alaska.

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The whole thing is pretty surreal. There’s a lot of giggling. Especially when one of the reindeer relieves itself on the grass.

After class, Beth Ann Chase says she didn’t really mind sharing her mat with Rocket the lounging reindeer.

“It was awesome. It was super cool,” she says. “I could hear him snoring the whole time that I was doing it. … It definitely brought me to like, a peaceful place.”

And Diana Saverin says that trying to maintain focus was part of the workout.

“As the rain came down, the mosquitoes buzzed, and the reindeer snored, it was like, can you stay with your breath?” she says, laughing. “It’s good hard work.”

Plus, all the participants now have some kind of animal yoga bragging rights.

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The U.S. got a little redemption at the Women’s World Cup with a 2-0 victory over Sweden. The U.S. powered to the win with a strong defense and relentless attack. It was the hardest game yet for the Americans and shows the team is in top form as it enters the knockout round to defend its World Cup title.

A capacity crowd of 25,000 at Stade Océane in Le Havre, France got to see a gem of a match. The U.S. was sharp and precise from the beginning. It didn’t take long for the Americans to score. In the third minute, Megan Rapinoe punched a corner kick into the penalty area. It skipped low through the box and Lindsey Horan poked it into the back of the net for the fastest goal scored in this tournament.

The second goal came in the second half at the 50th minute. Tobin Heath did some very Tobin Heath things with her footwork. Faced with a crazy angle, she blistered the ball off a Swedish defender into the goal.

This was the toughest opponent the U.S. has faced so far. At the last two games there was an assumption that the U.S. would win, this time around the only known was that some very good soccer would be played. And indeed, it was. Sweden pressured the U.S. but it was never enough.

The U.S. team was well-rested. Seven of its starters did not play in the last match against Chile. The biggest surprise was the absence of midfielder Julie Ertz. She is the anchor of the U.S. backfield and held out of competition today for precautionary reasons. U.S. Soccer said Ertz had a “minor hip contusion.” Star forward Alex Morgan played the first half but went down late and was replaced by Carli Lloyd at halftime.

Both the U.S. and Sweden had already advanced to the knockout round regardless of what happened on the field today. But this match was about bragging rights. There’s a long history between the U.S. and Sweden.

The teams have played each other 38 times going back to 1987, and they’ve faced off at five previous World Cups. The U.S.’s record in those matches is three wins, one loss and one tie.

In fact, it was at the 2015 Women’s World Cup when these two teams also squared off in the final game of group play like today. The Swedish coach then was Pia Sundhage who had led the U.S. until 2012 including Olympic gold medals in 2008 and 2012. It was also her Sweden team that knocked the U.S. out of the 2016 Olympics in the quarterfinals.

That loss still stings the U.S. Soccer program. It was the earliest the Americans got bounced from a major tournament and forced the team to change to a more attacking style of play that was both more technical and more tactical. U.S. forward Christen Press says the loss sticks with her to this day. “You don’t forget the taste in your mouth when you fail and when you lose in a world championship,” she said. “There’s a little bit of that that will definitely act as motivation. And you always play to win and to never have that feeling again.”

With the win, the U.S. will take on Spain in the Round of 16. Spain has struggled offensively and squeaked into the knockout round of the Women’s World Cup for the first-time ever. The Spaniards defeated South Africa 3-1 in the opener, then lost to Germany 1-0 and played to a scoreless draw against China. The U.S.-Spain match is Monday at noon (ET) at Stade Auguste-Delaune in Reims.

Laurel Wamsley contributed to this report.

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A mix-up and a bad photo contributed to a gunman shooting retired Red Sox player David Ortiz by mistake, instead of his intended target in Santo Domingo, Dominican officials announced Wednesday.

Surveillance video from the evening of June 9 shows a man who approaches Ortiz, a legend in his native Dominican Republic, and shoots him in the back at close range as Ortiz sits at a bar’s outdoor table in the country’s capital.

Next to Ortiz was his friend Sixto David Fernández, who was the actual target, said Attorney General Jean Alain Rodríguez and Maj. Gen. Ney Aldrin Bautista Almonte, director of the national police. The officials delivered an update on the shooting at a news conference in Santo Domingo.

About a dozen people have been arrested, including Rolfi Ferreras Cruz, the man police say is the gunman.

Dominican officials say Víctor Hugo Gómez, whom they describe as an associate of a Mexican drug cartel, is believed to have orchestrated the hit in an attempt to murder his cousin, Fernández. They say Gómez suspected his relative of betraying him to Dominican drug investigators years earlier.

Fernández was well-known at the upscale Dial Bar and Lounge, regularly reserving a table on Sundays, police said. Ortiz, on the other hand, rarely visited, so his appearance there came as a pleasant surprise to the other guests.

But that unexpected visit would place Ortiz at the wrong place and wrong time in what officials called “a regrettable mistake.” They point to evidence that includes mobile communications between the suspects describing Fernández’s table, along with a blurry photo taken minutes before the attack.

An accomplice, identified as Alberto Miguel Rodríguez Mota, snapped a picture of Fernández at the bar in an effort to help the gunman identify him, the authorities said. But the lighting was bad and in the image Fernández’s lower body was obscured by a white object, making it seem that he was wearing white pants. Fernández was actually wearing black pants. And Ortiz, clad in white pants, was hit with the bullet meant for Fernández, officials said.

Speaking through the bars of his Dominican jail cell last week, Ferreras Cruz told reporters that he mistakenly shot Ortiz based on information about the color of his clothing. Officials have now corroborated the claim for the first time.

Still, as The Associated Press reports, some Dominicans remain skeptical that a baseball superstar who looms large at over 6 feet tall and dresses in distinctively flashy clothing and jewelry could be confused with Fernández, who appears to be much smaller and have a lighter complexion.

Ortiz, 43, remains hospitalized in the intensive care unit at Boston’s Massachusetts General Hospital after undergoing surgery. His wife, Tiffany Ortiz, said this week that doctors have upgraded his condition to good.

Known by the affectionate nickname Big Papi, Ortiz retired from the Red Sox in 2016, after helping the team win three World Series championships. Over his near-two-decade career in the majors, Ortiz hit 541 home runs and was a 10-time All Star.

Television personality Jhoel López was also injured in the shooting at the bar; he is expected to recover.

Gómez, the alleged mastermind, remains at large and is believed to be in the United States. Attorney General Rodríguez says they have asked the FBI for help in capturing him.

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The United States doesn’t have to beat Sweden in the last game of the group stage of the Women’s World Cup on Thursday. The Americans are already through to the next round, as are the Swedes.

But in another sense, the U.S. women’s national team does have to beat Sweden today in Le Havre, France — if they want to show they are the best in the world. The game starts at 3 p.m. ET and will be televised on Fox and Telemundo.

The USA and Sweden have a lot of history on the pitch. The teams have played each other 38 times going back to 1987, and they’ve faced off at five previous World Cups. The U.S.’s record in those matches is three wins, one loss and one tie.

And Sweden dealt the U.S. one especially painful defeat: knocking the Americans out of the 2016 Summer Olympics in the quarterfinals, the earliest the U.S. squad has ever left a major tournament. At the time, Sweden’s team was led by the former U.S. coach Pia Sundhage, which only added to the insult.

U.S. forward Christen Press said Wednesday that she has rewatched parts of that match in Brazil.

“You don’t forget the taste in your mouth when you fail and when you lose in a world championship,” she said. “There’s a little bit of that that will definitely act as motivation. And you always play to win and to never have that feeling again.”

In that game, Sweden hunkered down defensively and prevented the U.S. offense from getting chances. This was the match after which then-U.S. goalkeeper Hope Solo called the Swedish team “a bunch of cowards” — and thereby sealed the end of her time on the U.S. squad.

Press said that loss drove the U.S. to develop new strategies and be more mentally tough to take on an opponent like Sweden.

“As the game’s evolved, the team’s evolved,” she said. “And both technically and tactically, we’re able to do things that we weren’t able to do three years ago.”

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U.S. fans celebrate during their team’s victory over Chile at Parc des Princes on Sunday in Paris.

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For both teams in today’s game, there is a question: How hard do you play in a game that you don’t need to win? How much should you risk injury, fatigue and yellow cards when you have difficult must-win games ahead?

Adding to the strategic muddle: The team that loses this game could actually have an easier path to winning the tournament. The match’s winner will likely go on to face France in the quarterfinals — a team that may be second in strength only to the U.S. squad.

The U.S. has made it clear that “going easy” isn’t one of its modes. Coach Jill Ellis and her squad have repeatedly demurred any notion that the U.S. would try anything but its best, even if that means an early encounter against Les Bleues.

“I struggle to tell my team not to tackle each other in training the day before” a match, Ellis said.

U.S. defender Abby Dahlkemper agreed: “It’s in our team’s DNA to want to win and do really well.”

The U.S.’s first two games in this tournament — a 13-0 thumping of Thailand, and a 3-0 win over Chile that would have been 6-0 if not for spectacular saves by La Roja goalie Christiane Endler — have been a showcase for the Yanks’ offensive prowess.

But the U.S. defense has so far been untested in the tournament. The team’s defenders have spent many minutes in front of the halfway line, ready to assist or score. And goalkeeper Alyssa Naeher has barely touched the ball: Thailand mustered only two shots at the goal, and Chile just one.

The U.S. team has shown itself to be skillful, experienced and packing enough talent to fill two full squads that could be the best in the world.

And it brings along one more advantage to Stade Océane in Le Havre: a huge crowd. Fans wearing USA jerseys disembarked trains from Paris on Wednesday and Thursday, ready to watch their team take on a tough opponent. U.S. players have said playing in front of so many fans cheering for them makes it feel like they’re playing a home game — even though they’re thousands of miles from home.

So, will the U.S. put on a show for all those fans? Mia Hamm, who was part of the 1999 U.S. team that won the World Cup in a dramatic penalty shootout at the Rose Bowl, said the U.S. always plays toward victory.

“You want to be world champs? You win every game,” Hamm told ESPN. “That’s the easiest way to do it. Then it’s all in your hands. This team — they’re monsters. They’re not ducking anyone. They want to play the best, they want to beat the best, to be world champions. And that’s what they’ll do.”

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