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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Sept. 26, 2001)
Sports Editor: Adam Jude adamjude@dailyemerald.com Assistant Sports Editor: Jeff Smith jeffsmith@dailyemenxld.com Wednesday, September 26,2001 Best Bet MLB: Seattle at Texas 4:05 p. m., Fox Sports Net Adam Amato Emerald UO needs to improve to stay with Pac-10 ■Although it has won two straight games, the Oregon soccer team knows it must make progress before conference play begins By Peter Hockaday Oregon Daily Emerald In her first games for the Oregon soccer team, midfielder Chalise Baysa set the tone for her remarkable career by scoring five goals in two games and immediately changing the face of Duck soccer. Now, as a senior, Baysa is watching young Nicole Garbin do the exact same thing. Garbin, a freshman, has scored four goals, three of them game-winners, in Oregon’s three wins this season. The three game-winners match an Oregon season record, and Garbin has 13 games left to smash it. But it won’t get any easier for the Ducks. After facing San Diego and Eastern Wash ington at home this weekend, Oregon’s next four opponents feature No. 5 Port land, No. 6 California and No. 8 Stanford. Oregon head coach Bill Steffen said his team still needs to improve, even be fore this weekend. “We want to keep developing, keep*' moving forward,” Steffen said. “I don’t think we’ve been doing that.” Baysaagreed. “We’re not playing well right now,” Baysa said. “We need abetter showing.” Oregon will take on San Diego Friday at 3 p.m., and Eastern Washington Sun day at 1 p.m. Home cookin’ The Duck kickers are smack-dab in the middle of their longest-ever home stand, and they need to enjoy it while they can. Turn to Soccer, page 15 Adam Amato Emerald Ann Westermark (left, 11) suffered a sprained ankle in Sunday’s physical contest with Nevada. Julie McLellan (top, 22) scrapped her way through the Nevada defense in Oregon’s 2-1 win Sunday. Washington State’s Gesser ‘the best’ QB in the conference ■Cougar junior quarterback Jason Gesser is making some noise for the Pac-10’s most potent offense By Adam Jude Oregon Daily Emerald Maybe the Pacific-10 Conference coaches should rethink their preseason predictions. The biggest surprise of the season, thus far, has no doubt been the massive offensive explosion by Washington State and junior quar terback Jason Gesser. The Cougars, picked to finish dead last in the conference standings, are 3-0 and lead the Pac-10 with 546.3 yards of total offense per game, nearly 400 of that through the air. This weekend the Cougs take on undefeated Arizona. “If you were a defensive coach, and these were the numbers against you, you wouldn't sleep, period,” Arizona head John Mackovic told the Arizona Daily Star. So much hype has surrounded Oregon’s senior quarterbacks — the Ducks' Joey Harrington and the Beavers' Jonathan Smith — that the kid from the Palouse has seemingly come out of nowhere. But that’s not necessarily true. Gesser, who threw for 432 yards in Saturday’s 51-20 victory over California, torched the Wildcats for 348 yards and six touchdowns last season. And Duck fans will remember Gesser’s performance in Pull man last November, when the 2000 Pac-10 leader in passing effi ciency nearly pulled off an upset before suffering a broken leg that caused him to miss the rest of the season. When the Ducks again travel to Pullman Oct. 26, you can bet Turn to Pac-10, page 14 Oregon marches on with tragedy in mind ■ Oregon volleyball team members were touched by the nation’s tragic events, and recall where they were when the attacks on the East Coast occured on Sept. 11 By Hank Hager Oregon Daily Emerald Like football, baseball and every other sport in America, volleyball also felt the aftermath of the tragic events that took place on Sept. 11. Matches all across America were canceled, which included the Pacific-10 Conference. The Oregon volleyball team was slat ed to open its Pac-10 season at McArthur Court with matches against conference rivals UCLA and USC on Sept. 14 and 15, but the Ducks had to wait a week to open conference play. Oregon players were fortunate not to have any family mem bers involved in the unfortunate circumstances that took place that fateful day. Despite the distance between Oregon and the East Coast, the events that unfurled were felt 3,000 miles away. “The first time I heard about it, I was actually (at McArthur Court],” sophomore Heather Gilmore said. “I went to get treat ment, and it was on the news and everyone was saying, ‘Have you heard about the bombings?’ It was dead silent in the training room. It was unbelievable ... It was like a movie.” “I remember my alarm clock went off, and I heard something about airports being closed, and I just hit that snooze button, not thinking," senior Monique Tobbagi said. “I showed up (at McArthur Court) and heard about it on TV, and it was just scary.” While the tragedy affected each player mentally, most on the team felt it was more important to spend time with their teammates than to dwell on what had happened by going home to watch the events unfold on television. The thing about volleyball and a lot of sports on the Oregon campus is that none of our players have any family locally, so where do they go to lean on somebody?” said head coach Carl Turn to Volleyball, page 15 Emerald Junior setter Sydney Chute and the Oregon volleyball team returns to McArthur Court this weekend, sporting an 0-2 Pac-10 record.
