Sports Editor:
Adam Jude
adamj ude@dailyemerald. com
Assistant Sports Editor:
Jeff Smith
jeffsmith@dailyemerald.com
Oregon Daily Emerald
Best Bet
NFL: Tennessee at Pittsburgh,
6 p.m., ABC
OREGON
24
vs.
WSU
17
I
Oregon’s
timing
is perfect
By Jeff Smith
Oregon Daily Emerald
» * a a a a
Reporter’s
NOTEBOOK
PULLMAN, Wash. — After Wesly
Mallard drilled Cougar receiver Mike
Bush in the corner of the end zone,
popping the ball loose and ending the
game, the Ducks stormed the field
with helmets raised and voices loud.
After Mallard’s hit, the Cougar
fans slowly filed out of Martin Stadi
um with heads aimed downward
amid the constant sideways rain that
never let up throughout the game.
And after Mallard’s hit secured
Oregon’s 24-17 victory Saturday
over Wash
ington State,
the thou
sands of visit
ing Ducks
fans, who just
a week prior
had exited
Autzen Stadium with similar dejec
tion as these Cougar faithful, went
delirious.
One green and yellow clad enthu
siast was heard saying, “I have nev
er seen a game quite like that!”
Ho-hum. Just another day of Ore
gon Ducks football.
Oh sure, this day was unlike any
other. But aren’t they all?
Onterrio Smith has zero carries in
the first quarter, but then finishes
up with an Oregon school record
285 yards on 26 carries.
Maurice Morris penetrates the
Washington State defense in the
first quarter, picking up 76 yards on
11 carries. He winds up with a pal
try 138 yards, but give him a break.
He would have had a chance to
reach the 200-mark, too, if it hadn’t
been for that left hamstring he ag
Turn to Victory, page 16
|l |
i_
Courtesy of the Daily Evergreen
Oregon’s Sarnie Parker (1) runs for yardage after a catch Saturday. Parker and the Ducks toppled previously-undefeated Washington State 24-17 in Pullman.
Ducks pull out a victory in Pullman
■Oregon’s rushing game
leads the Ducks to a win
over previously undefeated
Washington State
By Adam Jude
Oregon Daily Emerald
PULLMAN, Wash. — Just like
that, the Oregon Ducks are back
on top.
Sophomore tailback Onterrio
Smith broke two school records,
and — until the final drive — the
Oregon defense played arguably
its best game of the season Satur
day as the Ducks defeated Wash
ington State 24-17 in front of
34,150 fans at Martin Stadium.
With UCLA, previously ranked
No. 4, falling to Stanford on Satur
day, there are no imdefeated Pacif
ic-10 Conference teams.
“We control our own destiny,”
head coach Mike Bellotti said.
“This whole thing's going to even
out, we just need to make sure
we're in position to hang around
in the end.”
After tallying 145 rush yards in a
losing effort to Stanford last week,
the now ninth-ranked Ducks estab
lished the run early against Wash
ington State and stuck with it.
Smith set a school record with 285
rushing yards, and Maurice Morris
added 138 yards as the Ducks tal
lied 446 yards on the ground, also a
school record.
“It was just one statement:
‘Don't let Stanford beat you twice.’
And we took that to the head,”
said Smith, who scored Oregon's
three touchdowns and totaled a
school-record 343 all-purpose
yards. “We came out here today
and got the ‘W.’”
For most of the game, the Ducks
held the top-rated passer in the
Pac-10, Jason Gesser, and the
Cougar offense in check, allowing
just 142 total yards through two
quarters and 156 through three.
For an offense that was averaging
44 points per game, the 14-3 score
in Oregon's favor after three quar
ters had to be frustrating.
“We are better than Oregon,”
said Gesser, who finished 17-of-37
for 249 yards. “But we didn't play
better on the field today. We
should have.”
Despite being held down for
most of the game, Gesser almost
made it happen in Joey Harrington
like fashion on the last drive of the
game. Down seven with 1:12 to
play, Gesser drove the Cougs from
their own 14 to the Oregon eight
yard-line with 11 seconds remain
ing. But three straight passes into
the end zone fell incomplete, the fi
nal play broken up by Oregon line
backer Wesly Mallard, who led the
team with 17 tackles Saturday.
Turn to Football, page 12
Hamers face foes, place third
at Pac-10 Championship meet
■ Cross country men finish third
at the Pac-10 Championships, beating
No. 13 Arizona and No. 24 Washington,
among other participants
By Chris Cabot
Oregon Daily Emerald
It was a good weekend for the Oregon
men’s cross country squad as the Ducks came
out of the Pacific-10 Championships in
Scottsdale, Ariz., with a third place finish
and raised hopes for a berth in the NCAA
Championships at the end of the season.
No. 2 Stanford ran away with the champi
onship after scoring 27 points, but it was a close
battle for second as No. 19 Arizona State (75
points) squeaked by No. 20 Oregon (78 points).
The Ducks beat two higher-ranked teams,
No. 13 Arizona and No. 24 Washington, and
also took out UCLA, Washington State and
California. The wins against Arizona and
Washington should help the Ducks receive
an at-large bid to the NCAA Championships
if they do not place in the top two at the West
ern Regionals.
The teams competed at an 8,000-meter
course at the Pavilion Lakes Golf Course near
the Arizona State campus in near 90-degree
temperatures.
Oregon’s top runner, jun
ior Jason Hartmann, was a
favorite to win the event but
was hindered by a mid-race
fall that caused him to drop
at one spot. He was running
near the fifth position in the race when he was
tangled up with a Stanford runner. Hartmann
picked himself up and recovered enough time
to finish in sixth place with a time of 24:30.9.
“I put myself in the position to fall, so I
guess I had to deal with the consequences of
falling,” Hartmann said. “But I had to try to
get back up and finish the job I had to do. Af
ter the race I was sore, but during the race I
Turn to Cross country, page 12
FP
COUNTRY
Ducks’ final two home games
end in ‘cruel’ shutout losses
■The Oregon soccer team’s
six seniors go out in a losing
fashion to UCLA and USC
By Peter Hockaday
Oregon Daily Emerald
Oregon soccer head coach Bill Steffen
said Sunday afternoon that soccer is at
times a “cruel” sport.
Soccer was extraordinarily cruel to Stef
fen and the Oregon Ducks this weekend.
Oregon (7-6-1, 1-5 Pac-10) dropped two
Pacific-10 Conference contests at Pape
Field Friday and Sunday. The losses to No.
3 UCLA (14-1, 5-0) and Southern California
(8-4-1, 4-1) were the final home matches for
six Oregon seniors.
The Ducks lost 2-0 to the Bruins Friday,
then dropped a close, at times emotional
contest to the Trojans on Sunday by a final
score of 1-0.
While the Ducks were outscored 3-0 on
the weekend, the players and coaches felt
they outplayed their opponents for the ma
jority of the time they were on the field.
“They played and they battled and they
deserved to win, but unfortunately they
came up short,” Steffen said.
Sunday’s loss to USC
was the closest contest for
Oregon on the weekend.
The Trojans went up early
with a goal on a corner
kick in the 13th minute.
Southern California fresh
man Kelly Blais took the
corner after Oregon goal
keeper Sarah Peters saved a shot over the
crossbar. Blais sent the ball towards Ore
gon’s front post, where sophomore Megan
Abbamonto headed it low past Peters.
The goal lit a fire under the Ducks’ of
fense, which put pressure on the Trojan de
fense for the remainder of the match. Ore
gon’s best chance to score came with 19
Turn to Soccer, page 13