SEPTEMBER 21,1998
Back to the Books
Sports
Emerald
X-Country
Both the Oregon men’s and
women’s teams have experience
and talent returning/5E
Droughns
The junior-college transfer
leads the Oregon rushing
attack/20E
1998 Oregon Football
Herman Ho-Cbing breaks through the Michigan State defensive line en route to a surprising 48-14 victory on Sept. 5.
Oregon grinds down early opponents
oy hod moseiey
Associate Editor
Mike Bellotti has done a few things
right in his three-year tenure as head
coach of the Oregon football team.
Bellotti became the first coach in Ore
gon history to lead his team to postsea
son appearances in two of his first three
seasons by following up a 1996 Cotton
Bowl appearance with a win in the Las
Vegas Bowl last season.
The Ducks’ 22 wins represent the high
est total ever during the first three years
of a coach’s term.
This season, Bellotti will attempt to do
something that’s happened just twice in
the history of Oregon football — lead the
Ducks to consecutive postseason bowl
appearances.
“I truly believe we
have the talent and the
llttfMm potential and the athleti
URLaun cism to win every
game,” Bellotti said be
fore this season. “The
chemistry that allows you to do that, the
energy, the belief, the trust, all those
things are going to be fostered and ce
mented in fall camp, and in the first cou
ple games of the season that we play.
That’s why a good start for us is very im
portant.”
Bellotti got his wish, as the Ducks be
gan the season 2-0, including a crushing
defeat of then-No. 23 Michigan State on
national TV to open the season.
The difference-maker for the Ducks in
each of their first two games — the sec
ond being a 33-26 squeaker over UTEP
on Sept. 12 — has been a different player
at what was presumed to be one of the
Ducks’ weaker positions entering the sea
son.
Turn to FOOTBALL, Page 16E
Veterans will
lead young
Volleyball team
By Allison Ross
Oregon Daily Wmerald
The 1998 Oregon volleyball team came
into the season with a new attitude, a new
assistant coach, high expectations, and a
goal of reaching the NCAA Tournament.
The Ducks feature five returning letter
winners, including senior Alii White, who
missed most of the 1997 season with a knee
injury, and senior Madeline Ernst, who led
ine ducks in kills in
22 of the 28 matches
played last season.
Annie Pogue
comes off a redshirt
year ready to be a ma
jor force in the Ducks
success. Pogue joins
six incoming fresh
men and three junior
college transfers, all
of whom were re
cruited by head coach
Cathy Nelson. Having
her own recruits is
something Nelson
VOLLEYBALL:
Annie Pogue be
gins her first sea
son with Ducks.
Feature/Page 9E
reels will make this season different.
“There’s no denying that there is mere of
a connection between me and the players
that are on the floor this year than we ever
had last year," Nelson said. “That’s just
part of taking over a program. I think that’s
going to make a huge difference this year
and down the road as I continue to get my
own players here.”
One of the strongest additions is 6-foot
freshman setter Julie Gerlach, who Nelson
said is “someone who I think will be the
best setter Oregon has ever had.”
Regardless of the youth and inexperience
of this season’s team, the Ducks are confi
dent that this is the season meant for
change in the program.
“I think this needs to be the year that we
really turn the program around,” Pogue
said. “This year we set a precedent to go to
the NCAA Tournament. I think we need to
accomplish a winning season as a team.”
Turn to VOLLEYBALL, Page 8E
Third-year Ducks shoot for more after best-ever start
Bolstered
by the
contributions
of several
newcomers,
Oregon is off
to a hot start
By Tim Pyle
Oregon Daily Emerald
Head coach Bill Steffen is pleased with the
efforts of the Oregon women’s soccer team
through the first two weeks of the season.
But that doesn’t mean that he—or the rest
of the Ducks—are satisfied.
After a 3-2 overtime loss to Wake Forest
and a 1-0 shutout of Florida International in
the Adidas Invitational at Portland on Sept.
12, Oregon is off to the best start of its three
year existence with a 3-1 record.
“We’re getting solid results,” Steffen said.
“A lot of my expectations have been met.
Once the players meet those expectations, I
raise them and challenge them for more. The
girls have a lot of aspirations. They want to
go as far as they can.”
Freshman forward Chalise Baysa has
sparked the Ducks to their early-season suc
cess, scoring all five Oregon goals in the first
two games ofthe season. Comparatively, Kristi
Morris and Sierra Marsh tied for the team-lead
with five goals for the entire 1997 season.
Baysa's scoring touch allowed the Ducks
to debut their brand-new Pap6 Field in style,
with 3-1 and 2-0 wins over Tennessee and
SOCCER
UNC-Greensboro, respec
tively. Last season, the
Spartans blasted the Ducks
6-0 in Greensboro, N.C.
The fast and aggressive
Baysa, from Oak Harbor,
Wash., was just the reme
dy Oregon needed after
scoring only 25 goals last season on its way
to a 5-14-1 record.
“She is amazing,” junior fullback Carrie
McLanahan said. “She just makes everybody
want to play so much better. She always
wants the ball. We can always see her. She’s
Turn to SOCCER, Page 6E
LAURA GOSS/Emerald
Freshman forward Chalise Baysa bursts to the ball in practice.