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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Oct. 23, 2002)
Sports Editor Peter Hockaday peterhockaday@dailyemerald.com Wednesday, October 23,2002 Oregon Daily Emerald Sports Best bet MLB World Series: Anaheim at San Francisco 5 p.m., FOX UO comerback spot up for grabs The Ducks are not playing the blame game, but there could be changes made in the secondary Oregon Notes Adam Jude Senior Sports Reporter If this were Major League Baseball and George Steinbrenner owned the team, the Ducks would have acquired a high priced defensive back this week. But there’s no immediate addition that can be made to bolster a defensive sec ondary that was burned for 536 yards by Arizona State’s Andrew Walter in a 45-42 Oregon loss Saturday. “We can’t draft or pull someone off the waiver wire,” Oregon head coach Mike Bellotti said Monday. “We have to go with the kids that got us here. I think they’re good kids, and they’re learning.” That doesn’t mean changes won’t be made. True freshman Aaron Gipson, who, at age 18, has started all seven games for the Ducks this season, will be challenged by a host of other young cor ners this week. True freshman Marques Binns — who replaced Gipson in the fourth quarter against ASU — along with redshirt soph omore Charles Favroth and redshirt freshman Justin Phinisee, will have an opportunity to start against USC. “Just about every corner and every secondary person is involved in that de cision-making process,” Bellotti said. “We need to have a good week of prac tice so that we can improve our under standing of the schemes and execution of technique.” At the earliest, Bellotti said he would name the starting corner Thursday. He said a decision may not be made until game-time Saturday. At the other comer spot, junior Steven Moore said the secondary is ready to for get Arizona State. “We just got to get back to the funda mentals,” the 19-year-old Moore said. “We’re still young. People don’t realize that. We’re going to make some mistakes, but we’re going to get better. I’m learning, (Gipson’s) learning. I’m not worried about it. We’re going to move on.” While Oregon’s pass defense is ranked last in the Pacific-10 Conference, the No. 14 Ducks (6-1 overall, 2-1 Pacific-10 Conference) aren’t using that as an ex cuse for their first loss in 12 games. “You can’t point fingers at our cor ners,” linebacker Kevin Mitchell said. “There’s 11 of us on the field. If you’re pointing fingers at the comers, you don’t know a whole lot about football.” “It’s very easy for people to want to place blame,” Bellotti said. “But in a team game, it falls on the team.” Back to work The focus this week, Bellotti said, is USG. Not Arizona State. Not the Rose Turn to Football, page 6 Jeremy Forrest Emerald The lineup forthe Oregon secondary, including Steven Moore (4), could get shaken up Saturday. ‘Consistent’ Ducks look for win Oregon is getting better as the season goes on but the volleyball team still hasn’t won in the Pac-10 Volleyball Notes Hank Hager Sports Reporter Friday’s match between then-No. 21 Arizona State and Oregon at McArthur Court provided a glimpse of what the future may hold for the Ducks. But for Arizona State, the five-game, come-from-behind victory was a nailbiter — which shouldn’t have lasted be yond three sets. Oregon played at its highest intensity all season but was n’t able to pull off the upset. The Sun Devils, on the other hand, felt they were a bit behind the curve all night. “Oregon is just looking for a glimpse of anything positive,” Arizona State head coach Patti Snyder-Park told the State Press. “We just aren’t passing well at all, and we’re playing not to lose, while they are playing with nothing to lose.” Against Oregon, junior Juliana Esco bar had a double double in kills and digs, while Jodi Smith had 15 kills. However, it was senior Julia Leddy who gets the credit for the win from Snyder-Park. “Thank God for Julia Leddy,” she said. “She was the difference. She’s our senior leader, and she’s been doing it all year for us. Had we not had Julia, that would likely have been a two-game road loss for us.” The Sun Devils have maintained a top position in the Pa cific-10 Conference standings, holding down third place with a 6-3 record in conference play, one win behind Stanford. For Oregon, the loss means a fourth-straight season in which the team has failed to win a Pac-10 match in the first half of conference play. The Ducks’ last win before the Turn to Volleyball, page 6 "Thank God for Julia Leddy. She was the difference. She's our senior leader, and she's been doing it all year for us." Patti Snyder-Park Arizona State head coach Jeremy Forrest Emerald Freshman Jodi Bell has been a strength in the Oregon offense and is eighth in the Pac-10 in assists with 8.81 per game. Cross country men stay fifth in newest poll Oregon’s harrier teams run toward Pac-10 Championships with heart, and to Nationals with determination during a busy season Cross Country Notes Mindi Rice Freelance Sports Reporter With 12 returning starting runners between the Oregon men’s and women’s cross country teams, the Ducks started the season ahead of many other squads. The men finished first at the Sept. 28 Roy Griak invitation al, and jumped from ninth to fifth in the polls. Over the past three weeks, the Ducks have been training and resting for the Nov. 2 Pacific-10 Conference championship meet while keep ing their fifth-place national ranking. The women have been busy this season. Following the Gri ak meet, where they finished eighth as a team, the women raced in the Willamette Invitational on Oct. 5. They finished third in the Division-I team race. Saturday, the women tested out the course for the national meet and placed 18th, finish ing ahead of three nationally-ranked teams. “We’re so much better than we were last year,” women’s head coach Tom Heinonen said. The women were unranked at the end of last season, and this year they are determined to race at the NCAA Champi onship meet. The men seem to have already secured a place at Nationals. The Ducks are the second-ranked team from the West region, with top-ranked Stanford the only regional foe above Oregon in the national poll. Both Oregon teams have runners who have been to the NCAA Championships before, and both are set on going back. Heinonen has announced his retirement for the end of the 2003 track and field season, and his women’s squad wants to earn a trip to Nationals for itself and for him. Turn to Cross Country, page 6
