Wins, new competition on docket for UO rugby
The Club women's rugby
team is gearing up for the
start of the league season
By Kirsten McEwen
Freelance Reporter
Simon Fraser University traveled
south from Vancouver, B.C., in search
of competition
and the Oregon
women's Club
rugby team pro
vided just that.
Club
Sports
On Saturday,
the Ducks host
ed a "very experienced Canadian
club team," Club Coordinator Jessie
Oettinger said. Although the game
was just a "friendly" match and no
score was recorded, both sides
looked to take away something pro
ductive from the contest.
Oettinger wanted the game to
serve as a "learning experience" for
the 14 rookies on the Oregon ros
ter. With only 6 returners from last
year's squad, the Ducks had to re
cruit nine players just to field a
full team.
"We recruited heavily in the dorms
and in the (Student Recreation Cen
ter) weight room because we knew we
needed a substantial amount of girls
to even play," Oettinger said.
With more than half of the girls
on the field being new to the sport,
the Ducks invited the Eugene
Housewives — a Eugene-based
women's rugby club that was restart
ed by UO alumni mgby players — to
come out and give Oregon more
depth and experience on the field
against Simon Fraser. The game was
Oregon's last chance to fine-tune its
skills before league play resumes.
In preparation for the upcoming
season, Oregon participated in a fall
league and traveled to Portland a
handful of times to compete in a
number of tournaments hosted by
the Portland Rugby Club. The
Ducks played one regular league
game against Central Washington
and took home their first victory of
the season.
Oregon will compete in the Pacific
Northwest Rugby Football Union in
the Central Pacific Coast Region. Sev
en teams — Central Washington,
Oregon State, Reed, Washington,
Washington State and Western
Washington — will compete against
Oregon for a chance to enter the
Sweet 16 Tournament.
Two years ago, the Ducks went
undefeated in league play and fin
ished 10th in the nation at the Sweet
16 tournament, held in Orlando,
Fla. After graduating 12 players last
year and with a team comprised of
inexperienced players, Oettinger
wants the focus this year to be on
other things besides winning, like
building positive team chemistry
and strong friendships.
"It's a pretty complicated game,"
Oettinger said. "So this year with so
many new people the emphasis is
more on learning all the different
parts of the game and getting to know
each other."
Although teammate Krista Gust
agreed that learning has become a top
priority in both practices and games,
she said the team's goal is still to be
competitive and win games.
"Even though we are young, we
are still aiming to win," Gust said.
"We have a lot of confidence in our
new players getting in there and get
ting it done."
The Ducks will restart league play
on Feb. 7 against Washington in
Portland. Oregon will play a total
of six league games, with their first
home game scheduled on Feb. 21
against Reed at Oregon's South
bank Field.
"This year, the best team in league
will be a surprise," Oettinger said.
"Washington State looks good, Wash
ington has a few good players, OSU
also looks awesome. ... It's going to
be interesting for sure."
The women's rugby team prac
tices twice a week from 5 p.m.-7
p.m. on the turf field by the Student
Recreation Center and it is still ac
tively recruiting players to join
the team.
"We have room for every body on
the field," Oettinger said. "We need
both little bodies and big bodies."
Kirsten McEwen is a freelance
writer for the Emerald.
REBOUNDS
continued from page 5
"I've seen them both, but just like
Ike (Diogu) and Channing (Frye),
the/re the best players on those teams
and you've got to go at them like you
do every day," Platt said.
The honors keep coming
Luke Jackson is left as one of the 30
players listed as candidates for the
John R. Wooden award.
The award, which is given to the
nation's player of the year, was
trimmed by 20 on Monday. Jackson,
who is averaging 22.3 points and 7.4
rebounds per game this season, is on
it for the first time.
He is one of four Pac-10 players still
on the list. Also included is Arizona
State's Diogu, Stanford's Matt Lottich
and Arizona's Andre Iguodala. The
trio ranks first, 13th and 15th, respec
tively, in scoring in the Pac-10.
Also this week, Jackson was named
to the Sporting News's five-member
first-half All-American team. The list
was composed of Jackson, St. Joseph's
Jameer Nelson, Connecticut's Emeka
Okafor, Syracuse's Hakeem Warrick
and Texas Tech's Andre Emmett.
Prognosticators7 previews
There are some in the mainsUeam
media who seem to think the Ducks
might be able to make a run for it
come NCAA Tournament time. Of
course, that's if all the pieces come to
gether at the right time.
"The Ducks have to hang on while
freshman point guard Aaron Brooks
is out with a wrist injury," Sporting
News writer Mike DeCourcy said.
"That could be too much for them.
They just don't have the necessary
spark with Brooks missing from the
lineup. But if they're in the tourna
ment, he'll probably be there. In that
case, they’ll have a versatile enough of
fense to be dangerous."
On Bracketology, run by Joe Lunar
di at ESPN.com, the Ducks are not in
the predicted field of 65. According to
Lunardi's daily rankings, Oregon is
among a number of teams that are on
the bubble when the NCAA Tourna
ment is discussed.
Lunardi did write that the Ducks'
game against Stanford on Saturday is
one of the top games of the week.
"Even great Pac-10 teams some
times lose at Mac Court," he said.
Lunardi has just three Pac-10 teams
— Stanford, Arizona and UCLA — as
his choices to represent the confer
ence in the NCAA Tournament.
Contact the sports editor
at hankhager@dailyemerald.com.
REELING
continued from page 5
working on, but didn't get a chance to
do that in the match.
Coulda, woulda, shoulda
Kearney said if some of his guys
who were expected to win their
respective matches this weekend
would have, Oregon could have come
out with two victories.
"If we win the 125-pound class,
and the 157-pound class, we win
those matches," Kearney said. "Those
are matches we have won in the past."
"Three of those we were supposed
to win (against Cal State-Bakersfield).
And with 157, 165, 174 and
197-pound classes we assured our
selves defeat just by the way we
stepped onto the mat. And when you
do that, how can you be surprised at
the results? Those guys are better than
that, the 157, 165, 174-pound kids
have beaten their guys before."
Meet the parents
Dustin Fisher was able to capture
his third victory of the year in front of
someone special. His mom.
It was the first time Fisher's mom
had the chance to come down to
seem him wrestle since he arrived in
Eugene two years ago.
"We are real pleased with him," Kear
ney said. "The hardest thing in
wrestling is to work as hard as everyone
else and pay a big price and try to put it
all together and not have success that
should come with it. My hat goes off to
him. The courage it takes every time to
step out there... and put out that kind
of effort. It was a good win for him."
Fisher won his match in the 184
pound weight class.
Scott Archer is a freelance
reporter for the Emerald.
TIE
continued from page 5
Californian on Jan. 21. "Alisa was an
active person, and she would want us
to get out there."
California players are honoring
Lewis' memory on their uniforms.
Across each left shoulder strap is a
black strip with pink lettering that
says "AL #31." The patch, which has
pink because it was Lewis' favorite
color, is meant to honor her personal
and athletic achievements.
At a memorial held in Lewis' hon
or Thursday in Haas Pavilion, the
team presented Lewis' parents with an
autographed basketball and a char
coal sketch of Lewis drawn by a
teammate. On behalf of the universi
ty, head coach Caren Horstmeyer pre
sented Lewis' parents with their
daughter's framed jersey.
"As a player she gave every ounce of
effort and her best every day,"
Horstmeyer said at the memorial.
"There is a basketball court in heaven,
and she's on it."
During the memorial, the
California Athletic Department an
nounced the launch of a scholarship
in Lewis' name.
Stanford falls in polls
Despite its loss to USC Sunday,
Stanford remained in the top 10 in
both the Associated Press Top 25 and
the ESPN/USA Today polls. The Car
dinal fell to No. 8 in both polls from a
No. 6 ranking last week.
Pac-10 teams receiving votes but
not ranked in the top 25 in the AP
poll are Arizona and USC. Arizona,
Southern California and Arizona State
all received votes in the ESPN/USA
Today Coaches poll.
Contact the senior sports reporter
at mindirice@dailyemeraid.com.
018096
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