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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Oct. 26, 2001)
Sports Editor: Adam Jude adam jude@dailyemerald. com Assistant Sports Editor: Jeff Smith jeffsmith@dailyemerald.com Friday, October 26,2001 Best Bet College Football: Fresno State at Hawaii 7:00p.m., ESPN Thomas Patterson Emerald All-American Jason Hartmann (left), who finished second in last year’s conference championships, leads the 20th-ranked Ducks into the Pac-10 Championships this weekend. Cross country faces tests at Pac-10 Championships ■With Stanford the obvious favorite, the Oregon runners need their best performance of the season to make their mark By Chris Cabot Oregon Daily Emerald The cross country season heads into the Pacific-10 Conference Championships, one of the biggest meets for the Ducks, this weekend in Scottsdale, Ariz. With five men’s and five women’s Pac-10 teams ranked in the latest top-25 national polls, the Oregon harriers will have to be at their best if they want to make a statement this weekend. Stanford, a perennial power, is the overwhelming favorite as the Cardinal men are ranked No. 2 and the women No. 1 in the country. The men’s field also in cludes No. 13 Arizona, No. 19 Arizona State and No. 24 Washington. Oregon men’s head coach Martin Smith, who has his team ranked No. 20 in the nation, is looking forward to the race. “It should be a very good meet,” he said. “There are several good teams, and they all seem to have at least two or three low scorers up front.” All-American junior Jason Hartmann, who placed second last year in the event, will lead the way for the Ducks and has a chance to win the in dividual title. Arizona State’s Fasil Bizuneh and Stanford’s Ryan Hall and Louis Luchini are among the runners with the best chance of taking the spot light away from Hartmann. “This is an opportunity for Jason to see how he stacks up with some of the best individuals in the country,” Smith said. In order for Oregon to finish well as a team, their other runners must finish near the front. Martin Smith said that the Ducks’ success will be meas ured by how many of the two through six runners finish in the 15th to 20th range. On the women’s side, following No. 1 Stanford should be No. 7 Arizona State, No. 11 Arizona, No. 13 Washington and No. 22 UCLA. Oregon head coach Tom Heinonen is not expecting to beat any of the five ranked teams, but did say that his team will run well. “We’re healthier now than at Pre-NCAAs,” he said. “We think we can have our best showing of the season this week.” Sophomore Laura Harmon has recovered from a kidney infection and redshirt sophomore Alicia Snyder-Carlson is back from an ankle sprain, so the Ducks’ are only missing Tara Struyk, whom they have been without for the entire season. With no seniors on the team, Heinonen is look ing at each race as a learning experience. Turn to Cross country, page 10A In Washington, UO could find first win ■The volleyball team travels north to take on conference rivals Washington State and Washington By Hank Hager Oregon Daily Emerald Round two anyone? The second-half of the Pacific-10 Conference is fi nally here, and to start it off, the Ducks will battle Pa cific Northwest foes Washington State and Washington this weekend. First up for Oregon will be the Cougars, Friday at Bohler Court. Washington State (10-8 overall, 5-6 Pac-10) defeated Oregon (8-12, 0-9) earlier in the season, domi nating head coach Carl Ferreira’s squad in three games. The Ducks began the match on a quick note, but couldn’t get close enough to putting the Cougs away for good. Friday’s match, set for a 7:30 p.m. start, will be broadcast live on Fox Sports Net. So far, in two matches tele vised by FSN, Oregon has gone 0-2, but have looked their best, albeit not good enough. The Ducks took Oregon State to four games on Oct. 10, only to see the match slip through their hands. Against Arizona State on Oct. 18, however, the Ducks did not look good in a three game loss. With regional exposure on the line, the Ducks need to have a strong match to impress the rest of the conference. But it won’t be easy against the Cougars. “I still think we’re one of the top 50 programs in the country,” Ferreira said. “Every single team in this confer ence is probably in the top 50, it’s just that the rest of them so far are in the top 35.” Washington State features junior outside hitter La Toya Harris. At 955 career kills, she ranks ninth in the confer ence in active kill leaders. Harris had 13 kills against the Ducks in their first meeting. “We came out and had fun tonight,” Cougar head coach Cindy Fredrick said after Washington State domi nated Oregon earlier this season. “Not playing so uptight and playing much more aggressively than we came out last night (against Oregon State).” The Ducks will have their hands full against the offen sive-minded Cougars. Turn to Volleyball, page 10A VOLLEYBALL : . "..! Adam Amato Emerald Sophomore midfielder Lindsey Werdell(18) heads away a corner kick against Portland on Oct. 3. Ducks aim for history vs. No. 3 UCLA ■ Oregon will try to beat UCLA for the second time in three years and seal a trip to the NCAA Tournament By Peter Hockaday Oregon Daily Emerald In order to make history this season, the Oregon women’s soccer team may need to repeat history. As they head into the second half of their Pacific-10 Conference schedule beginning with UCLA at 3 p.m. today, the Ducks will most like ly need to reach at least .500 in confer ence play to earn their first-ever berth in the NCAA Tournament. Currently, Oregon is 1-3 in the conference, 7-5 overall. That means the Ducks will need three or four wins in their remaining five games to comfortably make the NCAAs. This is where repeating history comes in. The Ducks will face UCLA and Southern California this weekend, and, if history repeats itself, Oregon could knock off both California schools. Two years ago, Oregon upset then No. 20 UCLA at Pape Field in perhaps the biggest win in program history. “We know that it’s possible to win the game,” Oregon senior forward Chalise Baysa said. “It’s just whoever shows up to play.” UCLA has showed up to play this sea son, after a Cinderella run to last season’s NCAA Championship game, where it lost to North Carolina, 2-1. The Bruins have dominated their opponents this season and were undefeated until a loss to No. 2 Santa Clara last week. The immediate history of Oregon and UCLA includes the Ducks’ mira On Tap What Oregon soccer vs. No. 3 UCLA and use When: 3 p.m. today (UCLA); 1 p.m, Sunday (USC) Where: Papo Field cle win two years ago, but it also in cludes the Bruins’ revenge last sea son. On Oct. 15 of last year, Oregon traveled to Los Angeles and was hu miliated by UCLA, 8-0. “We were bitter at ourselves for that loss,” Oregon senior Annie Murphy said. “We want to prove ourselves this year.” USC will provide a different sort of challenge for Oregon. The Trojans are 7 4 this season, and their only loss in Pac Turn to Soccer, page 10A
