Oregon daily emerald., January 25, 2005, Image 9

Oregon Daily Emerald
Thesday, January 25, 2005
“There are only a couple of
coaches in this league that are
geniuses, and I’m not one. ”
Herman Edwards | Jets head coach
■ In my opinion
CLAYTON JONES
SEVENTH INNING STRETCH
Athletes go
extra mile
in tsunami
relief efforts
With the Oregon men’s basketball team
reeling from being swept at home by the Ari
zona schools and now facing three games on
the road, there are a lot of negative questions
that could be asked, fingers that could
be pointed and accountability that needs to
be claimed.
Not today.
After reading Monday’s copy of the Emer
ald, I forgot about bad shooting, youth and in
experience.
Instead there is kindness, thoughtfulness
and generosity.
Oregon basketball player Matt Short has de
cided, along with wrestler Jeremy McLaugh
lin and volunteer wrestling coach Tony Over
stake, to go to Thailand at the end of the term
to help with tsunami relief efforts. Friend and
University student Ethan Holub will be join
ing them. They leave March 20 and return
April 20.
a s goou 10 see mis.
There is too much in the world of sports
about athletes making fools of themselves
and being selfish. As hard as I laughed when I
saw Randy Moss asking “what’s 10 grand to
me?” and talking about how he’s going to be
paying “straight cash, homey,” in retrospect,
it really wasn’t funny. Moss must be living in
a world where he doesn’t remember when
10 grand did mean something to him.
While professional athletes have given a lot
of money to the relief efforts in Thailand,
there’s something to be said about what these
guys are doing.
It’s easy to give money that might not mean
much to someone in the long run. Formula
One champion Michael Schumacher won’t
miss the $10 million he donated. Schumach
er is second on the 2004 Forbes list of highest
paid athletes making $80 million in 2004, just
behind Tiger Woods.
The San Francisco Giants are auctioning off
a meeting with Barry Bonds during the 2005
season. Fans spent $7,500 this past month to
meet the slugger and Alex Rodriguez.
The Patriots gave playoff tickets to their
Jan. 16 game to whoever donated $1,000 to
tsunami relief efforts through the New Eng
land Patriots Charitable Foundation, with a
limit of 200 offered.
It’s not only the athletes — movie stars,
singers and the everyday Joe have been giv
ing money for the relief effort.
These donations are definitely needed.
While Short and his buddies won’t be do
nating millions, they will be donating some
thing way more valuable: time and effort.
To go to a place with disease and dirty wa
ter to help people who are less fortunate is a
selfless act of generosity.
Short, who hasn’t seen much action this
season on the court, could miss any postsea
son action if, and that is a BIG if, the Ducks
make the tournament. But I hope he doesn’t
think twice about his decision, because the
difference he’ll make in Thailand will be
much bigger than the impact he would
JONES, page 10
■ Club Sports
Varsity lacrosse debuts at Oregon
Early team bonding should help
the Ducks as they prepare for
their first game on Feb. 12
BY BEAU EASTES
DAILY EMERALD FREELANCE REPORTER
Last Thursday, following practice in the
unseasonably warm January weather,
Kate Fleming shot out of the Casanova
Center and darted to the athletic building’s
parking lot.
Waiting in an old, small, maroon sedan
were the freshman midfielder’s teammates.
Six of them. Fleming squeezed in with little
room to spare, and the girls sped off.
Heading into a season full of unknowns,
one thing is for certain: Oregon’s first-ever
women’s lacrosse team is extremely tight-knit.
Head coach Jen Larsen, previously an as
sistant at traditional power North
Carolina, will lead the first Division I
women’s lacrosse team in the Pacific
Northwest. Larsen, who starred at Virginia
in lacrosse and field hockey in the mid-90s,
isn’t bashful about what she expects from her
young squad.
“I want success from the very beginning,”
the first-year coach said. “But success to me
is academics, in the community and every
thing they’re doing in life.”
The Ducks, who started spring practice
Tuesday, kick off their inaugural season
Feb. 12 at 12 p.m. at Pape Field with a league
match against Stanford.
“We’re all focused,” Fleming said. “When
we’re dying in sprints we say, ‘this is
for Stanford.’”
The Ducks will compete in the Mountain
Pacific Sports Federation, a league that in
cludes California, UC Davis, St. Mary’s of
Calif., Denver and Stanford.
Stanford, who finished second in the MPSF
last year behind Cal, is just the first of several
formidable foes for the Ducks. Oregon will battle
North Carolina, Ohio and No. 3 Northwestern
— all on the road.
“I want our team to learn that’s where we
want to be,” Larsen said. “You’re not
going to learn how to be there by sitting in
the stands.”
Like their coach, Larsen’s players welcome
the challenge. “No one expects anything
from us,” Fleming said. “We’ve got nothing
to lose.”
“We’ll come out with everything we’ve
got,” senior goaltender Louisa Dorsch added.
The season, no matter what the win and
loss record reads, is a true source of pride
for Dorsch. The Hagerstown, Md., native
helped resurrect a club sports team
that “wasn’t the best” when she arrived
at Oregon in 2000 and led the Ducks to a
national tournament birth in 2004. Dorsch
was one of a few members of the club team
invited to play on Jensen’s varsity squad,
capping what the senior called “a perfect
lacrosse career. ”
On the field, Dorsch will battle freshman
Allison O’Brien for the starting goalie position,
Erik R. Bishoff | Photographer
Freshmen Jen May (12) and Carrie Bateman (22) battle for position in a fall workout. May and Bateman, two of
nine players from Maryland for the Ducks, look to see significant playing time this year.
with the edge slightly in Dorsch’s favor because
of her previous club experience and maturity.
Offensively, look for junior Emma Thor
borg, another Oregon Lacrosse club veteran,
to provide a spark for the Ducks.
“We expect you to be better than
you were yesterday and be willing
to learn more tomoirow. I hope
that’s the foundation we can
continue to move forward on. ”
Jen Larsen | Lacrosse head coach
“(Emma)’s setting a pace, a tempo, in the
offensive motion,” said Larsen about
the Portland native’s practice habits.
“It’s been our biggest asset for our offense
right now.”
A pair of freshmen midfielders have also
caught the eye of their coach.
“I’ve really been impressed with the consis
tent play of Jen May and Carrie Bateman,”
Larsen said. “(They) just have great lacrosse
knowledge. When we need a spark, we
usually get it from one of them.”
On defense, freshmen Cara Mead and Katie
Tarlow look to see significant playing time.
“Cara’s doing a great job on the defensive
end,” Larsen said. “She’s solid.
“(Tarlow) is improving everyday. She’s en
ergetic, tenacious and just doing a great job.”
Larsen, assisted by Robert Bray, Jr. and Beth
Ames, sees herself responsible for not only
leading a new program on the field, but also
for introducing the traditionally East Coast
sport to the Northwest.
“One of my goals is to educate fans ... and
attract youth to our sport and get them
as much teaching as I can,” Larsen said. “I
want to get knowledge of our sport out to
all ages.”
Case in point: Larsen and her squad held a
free clinic for future lacrosse stars at the
Moshofsky Sports Center this weekend.
Larsen is adamant about laying down a firm
foundation for the Oregon program to grow.
“We expect you to be better than you were
yesterday and be willing to learn more tomor
row,” Larsen said. “I hope that’s the foundation
we can continue to move forward on.”
LACROSSE, page 10
IN BRIEF
Freshman leads Stanford
women to top of Pac-10
Going into the second half of the season,
the Stanford women’s basketball team sits
atop the Pacific-10 Conference.
The Cardinal (17-2 overall, 8-1 Pac-10)
scored a total of 194 points against the Los
Angeles schools last week. It reached the
century mark in points in a 100-75 victory
against UCLA Thursday.
On Saturday, No. 4 Stanford was six points
shy of reaching triple digits once more in a
94-58 effort that ended USC’s seven-game win
ning streak. The Women of Troy (13-5, 7-2)
were stalled at second place in the
Pac-10 standings.
Freshman guard Candice Wiggins earned
her second Pac-10 Player of the Week honor
for Stanford on Monday. The La Jolla, Calif.,
native is third in the conference in scoring,
leading her team’s high offensive output
with 17.4 points per game.
Wiggins played a combined 48 minutes in
last week’s explosive two-game homestand.
She averaged 21 points per game, shooting
60 percent (12 of 20) from the field and
50 percent (5 of 10) from beyond the arc.
She was a captain of the USA Junior
National Team and a McDonald’s All
American in 2004.
Stanford is the only team to reach
100 points against a Pac-10 opponent this
season, something the Cardinal had not
achieved since the 2001-2002 season. Ari
zona State is the only other team to score at
least 100 points in a game this season
(102 against non-conference opponent
Prairie View A&M).
The Cardinal’s only conference loss this
season came against Oregon at McArthur
Court. Its other defeat came one week earlier
at the hands of No. 9 Tennessee.
Stephen Miller