Emerald
Editor in chief: Laura Cadiz
Sports Editor: Tim Pyle
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Jeffrey Stockton Emerald
Stacy Hebert was one of 11 original Ducks to finish their careers this season.
Seniors save best for last
By Brett Williams
Oregon Daily Emerald
Reflecting back, the first recruiting class
of the Oregon women’s soccer program has
a sense of pride.
While the original 11 was unable to fulfill
its goal of an unprecedented trip to the
NCAA Tournament, the Ducks have shown
vast improvement each season since their
inaugural campaign in 1996.
Before, Oregon’s chances of beating na
tionally ranked Pacific-10 Conference op
ponents were slim. One example of how far
the team has come was the Ducks’ 2-1 upset
of then-No. 20 UCLA in Oregon’s last home
game of the season.
“We performed well,” said goalkeeper
Amanda Fox, who recorded 3 1/2 shutouts.
“We beat teams we wouldn’t have beat a
few years ago.”
Oregon (7-11-1 overall, 3-5-1 Pac-10) had
a frustrating nonconference season. Despite
consistently outshooting its opponents,
Oregon was unable to get the ball in the net.
The Ducks dropped three of their first four
games, including a 2-1 loss to Davidson.
That defeat irked Oregon head coach Bill
Steffen because the Ducks had chances to
put Davidson away but came up empty.
“We are not clicking right now,” Steffen
said then. “Sometimes we play good soccer,
and we can’t convert. What we really need
to focus on now is keeping our composure
and getting ourselves out of this slump.”
Oregon responded with impressive ef
forts the following week at the Wake Forest
Nike Invitational. The Ducks played tough
in a loss to Wake Forest before ending their
four-game skid with a win against North
Carolina-Charlotte.
Outstanding personal efforts by Fox and
midfielder Chalise Baysa earned them all
tournament team honors. Baysa scored the
game-winning goal against the 49ers, and
Fox finished the tournament with eight
saves.
After a 2-1 victory over Idaho in Oregon’s
home opener, the Ducks took on Portland in
the first meeting between the two teams at
Pape Field. Oregon suffered a 2-0 loss, but
it was a one-goal game until the Pilots
added a meaningless goal with less than a
minute remaining.
Portland head coach Clive Charles, who
has led his team to four of the last five
NCAA Tournament Final Fours, saw a large
amount of Duck potential for years to come.
Turn to Soccer, Page 12
Oregon’s best
season yet is
highlighted by
its first-ever
win against
UCLA
Mo matter
what it says,
UW in charge
■ With two games remaining, the
Huskies control their own destiny
in the Rose Bowl race
By Mirjam Swanson
Oregon Daily Emerald
It took a while, but finally a Pacific-10
Conference team has found a way to
squeeze back into the national rankings af
ter being excluded for a couple of weeks.
To the dismay of Oregon fans every
where, it’s now-No.23 Washington (6-3
overall, 5-1 Pac-10) that has emerged as the
conference’s most-likely Rose Bowl partici
pant.
The Huskies are throwing their best front
trying to play it off.
After Saturday’s win at Arizona, all Of
Washington’s team captains reportedly
made a spectacle of depositing some roses
that they’d been given into the locker room
garbage can.
Even head coach Rick Neuheisel is feign
ing humility about his team’s place in this
loopy Pac-10 race.
“We haven’t all of a sudden become a
sleek race car,” Neuheisel told the Seattle
Times. “We’re still a jalopy, trying to get to
the finish line.”
Unfortunately for everyone else in the
conference, all that stands between the
Dawgs’ supposedly sputtering jalopy and
that finish line in two weeks are last-place
UCLA (3-6,1-5) and Washington State (2-7,
1-5).
Neither of which is quite like a Porsche.
Getting defensive
OK, so California, the Ducks’ next oppo
nent, is a great defensive team.
The Golden Bears (4-5, 3-3) boast the best
scoring defense in the Pac-10. They’re rush
ing defense is also tops in the conference
and 23rd in the nation.
Playinaker Deltha O’Neal is second na
tionally in interceptions, averaging .78 in
terceptions per game.
During Cal’s 17-7 loss to Oregon State last
week, the Beavers scored more points
(eight) against the Bears’ offense than
Turn to Pac-10, Page 10
Scott Barnett Emerald
Head coach Jack Griffin hopes Portland native Amy Juppenlatz will make a difference for hisjtrogram.
Juppenlatz
at home
with Ducks
■ Amy Juppenlatz, a former
Wilson High School standout,
has made a good first impression
with the women’s tennis team
By Matt O’Neill
lor the Emerald
For freshman Amy Juppenlatz, ten
nis was not the first choice.
Rather, soccer usually came first,
but a tennis racket was always nearby.
“Soccer was more my sport growing
up,” Juppenlatz said. “But I was intro
duced to tennis pretty young. My sis
ters played, so I just hit around when
they played.”
At 13, Juppenlatz began to focus
more on tennis under the tutelage of a
personal coach. With that extensive
coaching, she developed an “all-court
game,” which enables her to use the
entire court to her advantage.
Juppenlatz then took her game to
Portland’s Central Catholic High
School for two years before transfer
ring to Wilson High.
There, the 5-foot-4 Juppenlatz began
gaining regional recognition, eventual
ly being ranked as high as No. 65 in
the junior circuit. She was also recent
ly named women’s open player of the
year in the Northwest.
Because of her superior play and nu
merous accolades, many universities
came knocking at her door. Among
them were Kentucky, Purdue and Ore
gon.
“I chose Oregon because it was close
to home,” Juppenlatz said. “I really
like Oregon. It is a good school and has
a good tennis program.”
Head coach Jack Griffin is happy
that Juppenlatz decided to stay home
and become a Duck.
Turn to Juppenlatz, Page 9