Women get psyched
to kick start season
■ Oregon women’s soccer prepares for a season minus eight
graduated seniors, but with budding stars in the wings
By Peter Hockaday
Oregon Daily Emerald
The Oregon women’s soccer team
is young in every sense of the word.
The program is young, the coach is
relatively young, the players are
young, the field is ... well, you get
the point.
If we want to be a na
tionally ranked team,
we’ll have to find out what
it takes.
Bill Steffen
women’s soccer
head coach
In a season after the team graduat
ed eight starters, head coach Bill
Steffen dealt with breaking this
young team in by lining up the
toughest preseason schedule in
team history.
Before they even prepare for
games against traditional Pacific-10
Conference powerhouses like No.
17 Southern California, No. 14
UCLA and No. 7 Stanford, Oregon
first tangled with national power
houses Duke (No. 22), Santa Clara
(No. 3) and North Carolina (No. 1).
Steffen insists his ultimate goal is
a trip to the NCAA Championships,
which would be the Ducks’ first
ever, even if it appears he scheduled
suicide for his team.
“If we want to be a nationally
ranked team,” Steffen said, “we’ll
have to find out what it takes. ”
If Steffen’s gamble pays off, the
dividends could be significant. The
Ducks have the talent to challenge
the premier teams, but the next step
is winning those types of games—
something they tasted last year with
a victory against UCLA.
Repeating such an accomplish
ment could come at the feet of Ore
gon’s forwards and midfielders. Ju
nior midfielder Chalise Baysa will
easily pass Erin Anderson, who
graduated last year, as the Ducks’
all-time leading scorer. She is the
biggest offensive weapon Oregon
has this season.
“When Chalise has the ball, peo
ple pay attention,” Steffen said.
Turn to Kick start, page 17E
Football
continued from page 4E
Granted, Harrington would end
that drive with two incomplete pass
es, a sack and then an interception,
but the character of the 2000-01
Ducks was evident.
“There wasn’t any doubt in my
mind that we were going to score on
that last drive,” said Harrington, who
admitted in his soft, emotional voice
that he didn’t quite know how to re
act to this loss as he’d never lost a
game as an Oregon starter before.
“We’ve done it so many times before.
We’re going to fight down to the end
and never give up. It just didn’t hap
pen this time for us. But that’s what
Oregon football is all about.”
For most people who experienced
last season’s wild ride, it was a mes
sage that was not new. But for highly
touted junior college tailback Maurice
Morris, it was a great sign to him that
enforced in his mind that he came to
the right place to play college football.
“The one thing I learned about this
team is that we’re not going to quit,”
said Morris, who was regarded as the
No. 1 junior college prospect in the
country last year. “I’m pretty sure that
everyone’s disappointed, but we’re
not going to let this one game have an
effect on the rest of our season. I was
excited to see us play like this and am
glad to be here.”
While the hype leading up to the
Wisconsin game was big, the hype
on Morris was even bigger. The tail
back didn’t play spring ball because
he was finishing up classes at Fres
no City College, and didn’t get a lot
of chances to show his stuff during
fall camp.
Which meant most ot the tocus
would be on him during Oregon’s
season-opener. And the junior didn’t
disappoint, rushing for 166 yards on
20 carries.
His most impressive run thus far in
the season occurred in the second
quarter against Nevada. All Harring
ton had to do was pitch it out to Mor
ris, and the speedster took care of the
rest. Morris followed one-block and
then turned on the after-burners, en
route to a 66-yard touchdown sprint.
Against Wisconsin, he was some
what held in check, but still managed
to show off his speed and strength by
picking up 95 yards in 20 carries.
“Iam very pleased with Maurice,”
head coach Mike Bellotti said. “He
showed the full gamut out there in
that first game, and did a great job
here in Wisconsin in a very tough en
vironment.”
While Morris’ success is not a
huge surprise, the sluggishness of the
Oregon passing game certainly is. In
the first two games, the Ducks only
completed a total of 30 of 79 passes,
as well as giving up a total of four in
terceptions.
Still, Harrington has resumed the
starting quarterback role for his junior
year, and left senior A.J. Feeley on the
sidelines with a backwards hat and a
headset. Feeley did get in briefly in the
fourth quarter against Nevada, but
only attempted four passes.
While mistakes such as dropped
balls and missed reads plague the of
fense, the Duck defense continues to
shine. In the first game, the defense
came out inspired and held Nevada
to minus-3 yards rushing, as well as
giving up only 103 total offensive
yards — its best such performance
since 1962.
“I know there were some worries
about us before the season started,”
said Smith, who returned back an in
terception against Wisconsin for a
47-yard touchdown. “But we are
very confident in our abilities. It’s a
challenge every week to stop an op
position’s offense and I would put us
up against anybody right now. ”
Saul Patu — he of the billboards
along Eugene streets with the slogan
“Tu Tough” on it—and Nikolao help
Smith lead a pride-filled defense.
Nikolao recorded Oregon’s first
points of the season when he stuffed
Nevada running back Adrien Dugas
in the end zone of Autzen Stadium
for the safety.
After the first two games, the three
big guns have a combined 40 tackles,
four sacks and one interception.
Another huge addition to the de
fense is cornerback Rashad Bauman,
who missed all of last season with a
knee injury. Bauman made an imme
diate impact this month with an in
terception against the Wolfpack and
by playing a tightly covered game
against Wisconsin.
His return lets the Oregon defense
have more options because defen
sive coordinator Nick Aliotti can put
him on the opposing team’s best re
ceiver, leaving the rest of the defense
Turn to Football, page 17E
We screen print and embroider
t-shirts and sweatshirts, etc. for
fraternities, sororities, dorms, etc.
865 Conger St.#16 • 686-5890 • 9 am-6 p.m. M-F
Our Mistake, YOUR PRICE BREAK!’’ WE ARE
~Z1
M
D
^ $49
TWIN MATTS
$65
TWIN SET
$69
FULL SET
siSSt’’
$109
QUEEN SET
KING KOIL
FIRM SUPPORT
TWIN SET $169°°
FULL SET $1 99°°
QUEEN SET $259°°
10-Year Warranty
KING KOIL
SUPER PLUSH
TWIN SET $239°°
FULL SET *289°°
QUEEN SET $359°°
KING SET *459°°
10-Year Warranty
KING KOIL
PILLOW TOP
TWIN SET $299°°
FULL SET *359“
QUEEN SET $399°°
KING SET *599“
10-Year Warranty
$179
KING SETS
AMERICAN
MATTRESS
MANUFACTURING
Bring in this ad for FREE DELIVERY
Mon - Sat 9-6, Sun 11-5 » 4075 W. 11th • O^O^DaU
*’«OW*A
• Quality pizza since 1977
• College student specials every term
• Minimum delivery $8.95
• Tuesday night is pint night
• Come watch the game with us
• Specials every night after 10pm
• Open 11am till midnight Sun-Thur and
1 1 am till 1 am Fri-Sat (delivery closes 30 min prior)
www.tracktownpizza.com
1809 Franklin Blvd. • 484-2799
FREE DELIVERY!
FIND THINGS IN ODE CLASSIFIEDS (ROOMMATES, TICKETS, STUFF
YOU LOST, BICYCLES, CARS, JOBS, ON-CAMPUS OPPORTUNITIES)