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