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