Conference harriers ready for Pac-lOs
The Rac-10 cross country teams
will meet in California on
Saturday for the conference title
Cross Country Notes
Mindi Rice
Freelance Sports Reporter
Cross country is a sport that does
not heavily depend on conference
standings, unlike most other inter
collegiate sports.
Instead, cross country relies on a
team’s finish in the regional cham
pionship meet and which teams
have placed ahead of others in pre
vious contests.
To add another race in which
teams have an opportunity to
place ahead of possible automati
cally qualifying teams, conferences
hold their own championships
each season.
Saturday, nine women’s squads
and eight men’s squads — Oregon
State and USG do not field men’s
squads, while Oregon State also
does not have a women’s team
— will travel to Pasadena, Calif., to
race against their Pacific-10
Conference rivals and attempt to
oust Stanford as the perennial Pac
10 leader. Here is a run-down of
those teams.
Arizona
The Arizona men finished second
in the Arizona State Invitational,
while the women finished fourth.
Both teams placed ahead of ranked
opponents in the Oct. 11 meet.
Many of Arizona’s runners this sea
son are young and need experience
to have a shot for the Pac-10 title.
Arizona State
Host of last year’s Pac-10 Champi
onship meet, the Sun Devil squads
are both nationally-ranked, with the
men’s squad 25th and the women’s
squad 17th. The men’s squad finished
20th at the NCAA Championship
meet last year, while the women fin
ished 23rd in the same meet.
California
The Golden Bears squads strug
gled last year, with both teams fin
ishing last in the Pac-10 Champi
onship meet. This year, both the
men’s and women’s teams return
several veteran runners, and also
pick up a talented crop of freshmen.
Stanford
The Stanford women’s squad has
won the Pac-10 Championship meet
for the past six years, while the men
have taken home the title in five of
the past six seasons. The men’s
squad is ranked first in the nation,
and the women are ranked second.
UCLA
The Bruins’ men’s squad finished
sixth in the Pac-10 Championship
meet last year, while the women finish
fourth and went to the NCAA Champi
onship meet. Last year the women had
a young squad, and this year they re
turn experience and talent. They are
ranked 19th in the nation.
use
Following last year’s seventh-place
finish at the Pac-10 Championships,
the USC women have placed fourth,
fifth and sixth at their regular-season
meets this year. The team is led by
junior Brooke Thomas and senior
Danielle Morrell.
Washington
Both Husky squads placed fifth in
the Pac-10 meet last year, and have
shown strong improvement this
season. The men finished 13th at
the Pre-National meet, while the
women finished 11th. Both teams
are led by upperclassmen, with a
strong contingent of young runners
behind them.
Washington State
The Cougars have a new coach
this season, and have been running
strong in their meets. The women
finished sixth and the men seventh
in last year’s Pac-10 Champi
onships, while each squad had one
individual qualify for the NCAA
Championship meet.
Mindi Rice is a freelance writer
or the Emerald.
Soccer
continued from page 11
The referee declared it as “all
ball” with no foul, and Thayer end
ed up injuring the Wildcat player for
the rest of the game. Thayer looked
to the injury as uplifting for Oregon,
and said it helped to lead the Ducks
to their first Pac-10 win.
“I love hitting people; I just love
the rush of it,” Thayer said. “Just
someone dribbling the ball and be
ing able to smack them and then
look at them on the ground.”
For Mintz, the aggressiveness and
contact in Pacific-10 Conference
soccer is not the worst she has ex
perienced. Mintz played the 2001
season at Connecticut before being
transferred to Oregon this season.
“The East Coast is definitely a
more physical game and the play is
much faster,” Mintz said. “East
Coast is geared a lot more around
weights and strength and power,
versus speed on the West Coast.”
Oregon is an aggressive team and
takes a strong physical approach to
soccer, but the Ducks are small in
size. The Ducks have three players
listed at 5-feet-10, including Thay
er, and 12 players under 5-feet-5.
“Both Robi and Christine are
very smart, and understand the
physicality of their game and their
roles within the game,” Steffen said.
“Are they physical? Yes. And that’s
to be admired because they under
stand that there are physical chal
lenges to the game and they accept
those challenges and they have
done pretty well with them.”
Oregon faces UCLA and USC in
back-to-back matchups this week
end, and physical prowess and ag
gressiveness will be key for the
'7 love hitting people; I
just love the rush of it
Just someone dribbling
the ball and being able
to smack them and
then look at them on
the ground."
Robi Thayer
Oregon defender
Ducks as the two California teams
rank high with strong records.
Fans, fans
and more fans
To all the fans who have support
ed the Oregon women’s soccer team
through thick and thin, you have
another reason to be proud.
Prior to the weekend, Pape Field
had sported the second-highest
home attendance average in the
league. After six games and 4,667
total people, the Ducks were averag
ing 778 people per game .
With the undesirable weather
conditions against Arizona and Ari
zona State, the average dropped to
671 per game. With a total of 5,366
people for eight games, that places
Oregon fourth in the Pac-10 .
The Washington Huskies lead the
league with an average of 1,256 peo
ple per game followed by Stanford at
829 and UCLA is third with 740 to
edge Oregon in attendance.
“It says something about women’s
soccer, especially with how this year
we haven’t had a great year but we
still have tons of support from the
community and that they are be
hind us every single game whether
we win or lose,” Thayer said. “To
look up there and have all these
fans, especially against North Caroli
na, is just amazing.”
Oregon went head-to-head with
top-ranked North Carolina on Sept.
29 at Pape Field, and although they
took a 3-0 loss, 1,588 fans came out
to support the Ducks and broke the
previous attendance record.
“It definitely is a motivation for
us, because while we may get
down on ourselves it helps to know
that fans still come out to see us
play no matter what our record
is,” Mintz said.
Oregon fans will have one more
opportunity in conference play to
come out and support the Ducks.
Oregon’s final home game is Nov. 8
in the home rivalry at Pape Field
with Oregon State.
Contact the sports reporter
atjessethomas@daiIyemerald.com.
2002-03 Oregon
Men's Basketball
YOUR STUDENT GOVERNMENT
Get Involved! 346-3724
Student Ticket Release Dates
Students enrolled for Fall 2002 classes can pick up one ticket for each game at the ticket offices located in the EMU or
at the Len Casanova Center. Student tickets are funded by the ADFC through student incidental fees. In most cases,
tickets are distributed two games at at time. For men's basketball, a total of2,039 tickets per game are
available for UO students. Students must have a current UO student photo ID card to pick up tickets.
Opponents (Game Dates)*
Exh. - Basketball Travelers/EA Sports All Stars (Nov. 6/14)
John Thompson Classic (Nov. 24-25)
Pacific/Portland(Nov. 30/Dec. 4)
Oregon State (Jan. 18)
Florida A&M/Minnesota (Dec. 20/22)
UC-Riverside, Arizona/Arizona State (Dec. 28, Jan. 2/4)
Washington/Washington State (Jan. 23/25)
Stanford/California (Feb. 6/8)
USC/UCLA (Feb. 27/Mar. 1)
*Pac-10 Conference games and dates in BOLD.
Release Dates
Monday, November 4
Tuesday, November 12
Monday, November 18
Friday, December 6
Monday, December 9
Monday, December 16
Monday, January 13
Monday, January 27
Monday, February 17
For more information, contact the Duck Ticket Office at (541) 346-4461 or the ASUQ at (541) 346-3724.