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Sports Editor Peter Hockaday peterhockaday@dailyemerald.com -Oregon Daily Emerald Sports Best bet NFL: Denver at Baltimore 6 p.m., ABC Monday, September 30,2002 L..HH Adam Amato Emerald Oregon sophomore Kelly Baird (20) takes out North Carolina's Sara Randolph Sunday. The Ducks eventually fell to UNC Ducks get Heel-ed by top-ranked UNC Oregon battles with the perennial contender Tar Heels, but the Ducks fall in the end, 3-0 at Pape Field Jesse Thomas Sports Reporter The Oregon women’s soccer team had its work cut out for it as it faced off against No. 1-ranked North Carolina at Pape Field on Sunday in front of a record 1,558 screaming fans. The Tar Heels walked off with a 3-0 win in their first meeting with Oregon since 2000. “It’s the kind of game we’ve got to get better from,” Oregon head coach Bill Steffen said. “Sometimes we got a little bit excited once we got to the attack, and we just have to build off of this.” Oregon (1-5-1) was outplayed by North Carolina (8-0-2) from the start, despite the Ducks’ strong effort on defense. The Tar Heels had a commanding pres ence from the beginning. Their first shot came only four minutes into play. On North Carolina’s second attempt with 34:50 on the clock, sophomore forward Anne Morrell scored from within five feet to put the team on the scoreboard. The Ducks continued to play hard and match North Carolina’s intensity, and momentum swung their way as they pressured the goal with 27 minutes left. Four minutes later, forward Sarah Den ner broke away to give senior Amanda Orand a shot at a header which fell short of the goal for Oregon’s first shot attempt. “We played really hard,” Orand said. “It shows us what level we can play at, and it helps us step up to their level.” North Carolina soon regained control, and goalkeeper Sarah Peters was put to the test as she had two more shots come her way with 20 minutes to go, but didn’t let them pass. Peters had a season-high 10 saves, with nine of them coming in the second half. “She’s the best goalkeeper we’ve seen all year,” North Carolina coach Anson Dorrance said. “She has the potential to play in the WUSA. She’s that good.” The Tar Heels fired off four more shots before Oregon found life again with 14 minutes left in the first half. Forward Va lerie Mayer had a golden opportunity in the 32nd minute but was called offsides. The Ducks seized momentum towards the end of the first half, holding the Turn to Soccer, page 16 Carolina gives Oregon a blueprint for success The Tar Heels humble the Ducks on Sunday, but Oregon leams from the experience Peter Hockaday Sports Editor Dean Smith, the legendary North Carolina basketball coach, once wry ly noted that his school wasn’t a bas ketball school, despite the rich tradi tion surrounding the hoops powerhouse. No, he said, North Carolina is a women’s soccer school. On Sunday, the Oregon Ducks found out why that’s true as they put up a monumental effort and still fell to the Tar Heels, 3-0 at Pape Field. North Carolina has a list of ac complishments longer than a Sarah Peters goal kick, and at times Sun day it felt like the Ducks were play ing a media guide instead of a soc cer team. The Tar Heels have won 17 national championships in this fashion, by intimidating and bullying opponents. But two Oregon coaches spent Sunday staring down the present, not the past. “We love the challenge, we want to coach against the best,” Oregon as sistant coach Keri Sanchez said. Sanchez and head coach Bill Stef fen both have close ties to the soccer powerhouse from Chapel Hill. Sanchez was a standout player for North Carolina from 1991-94, and among other accomplishments scored the winning goals in the Tar Heels’ national championship games in 1992 and 1993. Steffen was an assistant coach at North Carolina, focusing on the de fense and goalkeepers, from 1993-95. “It was more emotional from a standpoint of, ‘What can we do against them?’ ” Steffen said. “We want to know where we stack up against the best team in the coun try.” Steffen’s defense showed North Garolina-esque tendencies in hold ing the Tar Heels to only three goals. But that may have had more to do with Peters, the Oregon goalie who Tar Heel coach Anson Dorrance called “the best goalkeeper we’ve seen all year.” Peters made several leaping saves and showed poise in net. Dorrance said that Steffen’s deft handling of ‘keepers is not some thing he learned at Chapel Hill. “He came in with everything he needed,” Dorrance said, laughing. Dorrance has crafted the most successful college sports program in history — going back to Dean Smith’s comments, North Carolina is known nation-wide for its soccer program — by building a system that Turn to Carolina, page 16 Arizona looms as Ducks begin Pac-10 title defense Despite being 4-0, Oregon seeks consistency in its offense as it opens Pac-10 play Saturday in Arizona Adam Jude Senior Sports Reporter And now the fun begins. After opening the season with four home wins over four non conference teams it was favored to beat, the Oregon football squad begins defense of its Pacific-10 Conference crown Saturday at Arizona. From an outsider’s perspec tive, it’s easy to start matching up the Ducks’ future opponents. UCLA awaits in two weeks for a rematch at the Rose Bowl. No. 20 USC comes to town Oct. 2?6 in what is always an entertaining battle. In November, the Ducks will face Washington State, Washington and Oregon State in consecutive weeks. But Oregon’s calendar appar ently doesn’t read any further than Saturday. “We’re not looking past Ari zona,” said head coach Mike Bel lotti, whose team jumped up a spot Sunday to No. 7 in the ESPN/USA Today coaches’ poll, despite not playing last week. “We’re the defending Pac-10 champions. We gotta go out there and get it,” he said. Getting a third straight confer ence championship (the Ducks shared the title in 2000) won’t be easy. Seven Pac-10 teams were ranked in the top-25 at some point during the preseason. Even California, a team that finished with only one win last year, is among the top teams in the Pac 10. “The Pac-10 is the best confer ence in the nation, there’s no doubt about that,” said Bellotti, who is 37-19 in the Pac-10 in seven seasons. Bellotti has said if a team goes undefeated in the Pac-10, it should be playing for the national championship. “We’re going to run through the Pac-10 — you can quote me on that,” said junior safety Keith Lewis, who sat out with an injury in Oregon’s only loss last year, a 49-42 Stanford victory at Autzen Stadium. The run must start this week in Tucson, where the Joey Harring ton-led Ducks torched the Wild cats for 63 points last season. This season, Arizona finished 3-1 in the preseason, narrowly defeating North Texas 14-9 at home Saturday. The Wildcats lost to Wisconsin 31-10 on Sept. 21. As for Oregon, Bellotti said there’s still much room for im provement. He said he is looking for consistency from his offense, particularly in the passing game. While tailback Onterrio Smith put up Heisman-level numbers in the preseason (467 yards, seven touchdowns), first-year starting quarterback Jason Fife has been shaky at times. Fife’s numbers are impressive: 880 yards passing, and eight touchdowns to one interception in four games. But Bellotti said Ore gon has become a “quick-strike team” with few sustained drives. Bellotti said he expects Fife to Turn to Football, page 14 Adam Amato Emerald Onterrio Smith and the Ducks look towards the Pac-10 season, hoping it provides answers.
