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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Jan. 22, 2004)
Rugby celebrates opening win against Cardinal Oregon’s Club rugby team comes back from a 15-7 Stanford lead to win, 24-18, in Palo Alto on Saturday By Kirsten McEwen Freelance Reporter Any time Oregon beats Stanford, it's worth celebrating. At least that's the Ducks' mentality. On Saturday, Oregon's Club rug by team defeat ed the Cardi nal. After outscoring Stanford 17-3 in the final 40 minutes, Ore gon celebrated a comeback win against one of its toughest opponents. "We were pretty close in skill lev Club Sports el, but their team had a size advan tage," Club rugby coordinator Pete Bayly said. "But we played together as a solid unit to finish off the game." Playing under fair conditions at Stanford's recently completed mil lion-dollar rugby stadium, the game was uneventful for the first 10 min utes until Stanford scored with a penalty kick. Two minutes later, Oregon, coached by Justin Roome, countered Stanford's three points with a try and took a 5-3 lead. Stanford scored two more tries before halftime, and the Ducks found themselves behind at the end of the first 40-minute half by a score of 15-7. Bayly said that although his team was behind at halftime, it was the sec ond half that made the difference. "We started off the second half a little slow," Bayly said. "After the first ten minutes, we picked it up and played solid defense and sound offense." Oregon slowly erased Stanford's lead and allowed the Cardinal to score three points in the second half. With 16 minutes left in the half, Oregon scored the go-ahead point and held the score at 24-18 until the match ended. Forward Noah Evans played a key role in Oregon's 17 second-half points and Mike Estis controlled Oregon's backline all game. Bayly hopes Oregon's win over Stanford will not only help the team gain momentum coming into league play, but that it will put the Ducks on the map. "With this win, we hope to catapult ourselves into a position where a berth in the Sweet 16 Tournament is possible," Bayly said. TROUBLES continued from page 13 Jackson and James Davis came to Eugene. No one in an Oregon uniform has ever defeated the Sun Devils at Wells Fargo Arena. "We've had a couple big leads and kind of blown it a couple times down there," Oregon forward Luke Jackson said. "It's just one of those places. They got the best of us the "You don't attack Ike (Diogu) on defense. Ike's going to get his points. You just need to make sure he doesn't have a monster game, but I think you need to make Ike play defense." Ernie Kent Oregon head coach last three years, but we're going down there trying to get a win and we feel like we can do that." The game is the first of two that will keep the Ducks in Arizona for three days. After taking on the Sun Devils, Oregon will face off against No. 14 Arizona in Tucson on Sunday. When looking back at the season at the end of the year, the road trip through the desert could be a piv otal weekend for Oregon. The Ducks have never swept the Sun Devils and Wildcats on the road during the same trip. Since the Pac-10 added Arizona and Arizona State for the 1978-79 season, Oregon has been swept by the Arizona schools 13 times. The Ducks have split the road swing 12 times. That pinpoints why the upcoming games take on meaning for the Ducks. With two games left in the first half of the conference season after this week, two wins would be vital. Two losses Emerald Arizona State’s Ike Diogu leads the Pac-10 this season with 23.1 points per game. He scored 17 points and grabbed 14 rebounds last season against Oregon. could also be heartbreaking. Should the Ducks sweep in Ari zona, they would be 5-2 in confer ence play and in good position for the California and Stanford visits to Eugene next week. If Oregon splits, it would be 4-3 and presumably in the same position in the conference standings it is now — fourth. In the event the Ducks lose both, it would shift them to 3-4, making the games against the Golden Bears and the Cardinal virtual must-wins. "We know how important each game is and we're definitely going down there to win two games," Jackson said. "We feel like if we keep both these teams off the board and kind of neutralize what they do in transition, as far as pres suring us, I think we feel like we can win two games." Contact the sports editor at hankhager@dailyemerald.com. THOMAS continued from page 13 He wasn't even playing three min utes a game and spent much of last season on the injured list. But Mdn nis was averaging 11.9 points, five as sists per game and playing a consis tent 32.5 minutes on average. The trade helps Cleveland because James doesn't have to worry about playing the point guard spot. Cava liers General Manager Jim Paxson got rid of Miles because of his incon sistency, attitude and the effect that attitude could have had on James. The 6-foot-9 Miles is making $4.1 million in the final year of his con tract and will be a free agent after this season. Mclnnis was making $3.3 million this season. Miles' recent actions should help him fit in well with a Portland team that is in desperate need of a revamp of attitude. Miles, 22, was fined by the Cava liers after missing Monday's prac tice. He says he forgot to set his alarm clock. This is a mistake by the Blazers. Contact the sports reporter at jessethomas@dailyemerald.com. —Sports Ulustratfiri otl campixs I Every Thursday only in the ___ | Oregon Daily Emerald._ The Ducks will participate in their last "friendly" match against Idaho State at Oregon's Southbank Field on Jan. 31. Oregon competes in its First league game Feb. 14 at home against Central Washington. Five other teams — Central Washington, Oregon State, Washington, Wash ington State and Western Washing ton — will compete against Oregon in the Pacific Northwest Rugby Foot ball Union. Oregon practices twice a week at 3:30 p.m. on the turf field by the Student Recreation Center and still welcomes interested students to join the team. "We are always recruiting," Bayly said. "Anyone who wants to come out has the opportunity to do so." Club hockey loses 1-5 Cup In front of a crowd full of stu dents representing Oregon sorori ties and fraternities that turned out for Greek Weekend, Oregon's Club hockey team dropped two more games, putting their record at 0-16-0. The Ducks blew two consecutive two-goal leads in the third period against Washington to lose the 1-5 Cup at Lane County Ice Arena. Both games ended with the Huskies win ning by a score of 3-2. Oregon plays at home this week end at 7:30 on both Friday and Satur day nights against Eastern Washing ton at Lane County Ice Arena. The Ducks will then hit the road for the last time this season on Jan. 29 to play California and Stanford. They will re turn home for their final league games on Feb. 6 and 7 against Central Washington. Kirsten McEwen is a freelance writer for the Emerald. CHALLENGE continued from page 13 different story altogether. Oregon has been in this situation before, however, facing the Wildcats twice last season without the services of Kraayeveld, who sat out 13 games with a staph infection in her right knee. The Ducks know what it takes to stay competitive. "We have to make (Polk) make tough shots," Smith said. "She's going to get her points — I don't think we're going to shut her out — but she's go ing to have to work every minute, every second to get shots. "It's going to be a challenge but I think our players are looking forward to it." Oregon enters the game on a posi tive note after beating Washington State 60-50 Saturday. The win helped the Ducks forget about their 45-point loss to Washington two days earlier and ended a seven-game streak of scoring fewer than 60 points. "It was pretty big for us to come back from the loss (to Washington)," Oregon forward Eleanor Haring said. "It pepped our confidence. It was re ally major for us." If Oregon is going to beat Arizona it will need an offensive boost. Kedzie Gunderson and Carolyn Ganes need to pick up some of the slack, as the scoring average for each has dropped from last season. Andrea Bills has carried the load for most of the year and is the only Duck averaging double figures in scoring (11.9). Brandi Davis has come alive of late, including a 20-point perform ance against the Cougars. Chelsea Wagner and Haring have also provid ed occasional offense. Wagner's ability to play will be a game-time decision after suffering a knee injury against Washington. Oregon leads the all-time series with Arizona 22-14, but has dropped the last five to the Wildcats, including a 96-65 loss in Thcson last season. Contact the sports reporter atjonroetman@dailyenierald.com. SPORTS BRIEFS Diener’s game status remains in question MILWAUKEE — Marquette Uni versity junior Travis Diener was held out of practice on Wednesday, and his availability for the Golden Ea gles' game against DePaul on Satur day is still uncertain. Diener injured his neck in the sec ond half of Marquette's 84-76 loss at Charlotte on Tuesday as he attempt ed to pump-fake 49ers center Calvin Clemmons. Clemmons bit on the fake and came down with both legs on the back of Diener's neck, push ing his head violently toward his chest. He was later carried from the court on a stretcher. Diener was examined at a local hospital, diagnosed with what was termed a hyperflexion, or whiplash, fitted with a neck brace and released. He accompanied his teammates on the Golden Eagles' charter plane to Milwaukee and actually took part in some film study of the game on the way home. Diener was re-evaluated and treated by the Marquette medical staff on Wednes day and is being listed as day-to-day. "All things considered, and having had a chance to see on tape the forceful nature of the collision, we are extremely thankful that Travis is going to be OK," coach Tom Crean said. —Todd Rosiak Milwaukee Journal Sentinel Improved academics needed, officials say MILWAUKEE — More than 2,000 athletic teams in Division I potentially fall short of the NCAA's proposed guidelines on academic performance, an NCAA official said Wednesday. The new proposals, expected to be given final approval in the spring after a two-year effort are part of a larger aca demic reform program for NCAA member schools in Division I. For months, NCAA officials have promoted the reforms as a way of prodding colleges and universities to improve student academic performance. On Wednesday, Todd Petr, the NCAA's managing director of research, said a pi lot study of the new measures indicated that of the 6,138 sports teams in the NCAA more than2,000would fall short of the new academic guidelines. But Todd Turner, the former ath letic director at Vanderbilt Universi ty who chaired a key committee that put together the new rules, said the number was an estimate based on available statistics and didn't neces sarily mean all of the teams would be subject to penalty. The new system essentially ties a team's academic record to its ability to award scholarships, recruit, and perhaps exclude the team from par ticipating in post-season NCAA championships. Specifically, the NCAA is setting up two different ways to measure ac ademic progress. One is called the Graduation Success Rate, which for the first time would include student transfers. It would replace the old graduation rate, which many coaches felt provided an inaccurate picture of graduation rates because it did not include student transfers. — Don Walker Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
