Oregon Daily Emerald
Tuesday, October 18, 2005
“I want to be remembered as a great
player, but I guess it will be as a player
who got angry on a tennis court. ”
Tennis legend John McEnroe, who threw more fits
and rackets than the average 5-year-old.__
■ In my opinion
LUKE ANDREWS
EXCESSIVE CELEBRATION
Saturday
provides
excitement
nationwide
By the end of last weekend’s day of dramatic
college football, one thing was certain: Saturday
was definitely not for the faint of heart.
Culminating with No. 12 UCLA’s comeback
win in overtime against Washington State, Satur
day may go down as one of the most remarkable
days in college football history.
It began with the battle for Paul Bunyan’s ax
between rivals then-No. 23 Wisconsin and No.
22 Minnesota. The Badgers trailed 34-31 with less
than 40 seconds to play, but in a stunning turn of
events, Jonathan Casillas blocked a Minnesota
punt that was recovered by Wisconsin in the end
zone with 30 seconds left, lifting the Badgers to
the eventual 38-34 victory.
The shocking finish was just the start of the
awe and disbelief fans felt across the country.
Seven of Saturday’s games involving then-top-25
teams were decided in overtime or during the last
two minutes of regulation.
Here’s how the day played out.
Michigan scored on the final play with a 10
yard touchdown pass to give the Wolverines a 27
25 victory over previously unbeaten No. 8 Penn
State. It was Michigan’s seventh straight over the
Nittany Lions.
West Virginia, alter trailing 24-7 in tne tourtn
quarter, completed the school’s best comeback in
13 years by stuffing Louisville’s Brian Brohm on
an attempted two-point conversion in the third
overtime to seal a 46-44 thriller over the No. 19
ranked Cardinals.
In similar fashion, No. 14 Boston College ral
lied from a 30-21 deficit with less than three min
utes to play to score two touchdowns — one with
1:18 remaining — to steal a 35-30 victory against
unranked Wake Forest.
Sixth-ranked Alabama kept its perfect sea
son alive after kicking a 31-yard field goal as
time expired to secure a 13-10 win on the road
at Mississippi.
Yet, most of Saturday's dramatics rested on the
final play between top-ranked USC and No. 9
Notre Dame. The Trojans’ 27-game winning
streak was on the line during the final drive in
South Bend, Ind., when, on a fourth-and-nine
play, USC’s Dwayne Jarred hauled in a Matt
Leinart pass for 61 yards to set up the unbeliev
able finish. On the 2-yard line, Leinart adempted
to scramble and dive into the end zone, but the
ball came free and went out of bounds as time
ticked down to 0:00, much to the jubilation of
Irish coach Charlie Weis.
But, as fate would have it, officials granted Pete
Carroll and the TYojans seven more seconds on
the clock, setting up Leinad’s plunge into the end
zone with three seconds left to give the Ttojans
the improbable 34-31 win.
In fact, one of the few games involving a
top-25 team that played out as scripted was
Oregon’s 45-21 thumping of hapless Washing
ton at Autzen Stadium.
But if Saturdays continue to unfold in similarly
astonishing fashion, the demand of oxygen tanks
may increase as the number of fingernails de
crease among college football’s faithful.
landrews @ dailyemerald. com
Nicole Barker | Senior photographer
Heather Madison sets the ball in a match Friday night against Oregon State. The
Ducks were swept in three games and are in search of their first league win.
■ Duck volleyball
Ducks can't find
killer instinct
against Beavers
Oregon cant hold onto late leads in games two and
three, loses fifth straight Civil War match
BY JEFFREY DRANSFELDT
SPORTS REPORTER
CORVALLIS — The match be
tween in-state rivals Oregon and
Oregon State was expected to be
a close, competitive contest.
Oregon State defied this
expectation.
Playing consistently through
out, Oregon State swept Oregon
in three games Friday night and
made an already difficult start to
Pacific-10 Conference play even
worse for the Ducks. Oregon has
lost 22 straight Pac-10 matches,
including its first seven this year,
and the last five matches in the
Civil War rivalry.
Oregon returns home for
matches against Washington and
Washington State Friday and Sat
urday — the first matches at
McArthur Court since Sept. 29-30
against California and Stanford.
Right now, Oregon will take
anything positive after starting
another match slowly. Oregon
head coach Jim Moore and the
players emphasized opening
strong against Oregon State (6-7
overall, 2-5 conference), starting
game one with a 4-1 lead before
Oregon State outplayed the Ducks
(10-8, 0-7) the rest of the way, en
route to a 30-16 win.
"I don’t know if they played hard
er than us, they just seemed like
they wanted it way more than we
did,” junior defensive specialist
Stephanie Alleman said.
Oregon started game two
strong as outside hitter Mira
Djuric pounded the Oregon State
side. The Ducks continued to
match the Beavers point for
point. Then in a span of minutes,
Oregon went from a 24-18 lead to
a 30-24 game two loss.
The same qualities that gave
Oregon a lead — Djuric’s kills,
Erika Bartruff’s strong serving
and Kelly Russell’s kills — disap
peared through mistakes.
“We didn’t pass. We didn’t set.
We didn’t hit, and so they just
scored 12 points in a row,”
Moore said.
Nearly identical to what
happened in game two, Oregon
VOLLEYBALL, page 6
■ Duck soccer
Late goal sends Ducks to another loss
USC's Rosa Anna Tantillo knocks in the
game-winning goal in the 87th minute
BY scan J. ADAMS
SPORTS REPORTER
For the first time this season
the Oregon women’s soccer
team failed to protect an early
lead as it fell to USC 2-1 in heart
breaking fashion Sunday.
The loss marks the fourth
straight for the Ducks, who, de
spite posting eight wins thus far,
are still in search of their first
conference win under first-year
head coach Tara Erickson.
“It was a tough loss for us,”
Erickson said. “Obviously we
were in it and so close, I wanted
a win. We weren’t playing for a
tie, we weren’t packing it in, I
wanted us to have a better re
sult. Anytime you get down to
the wire and give up a goal in
the last minutes it’s hard. They
had chances, we had chances,
we battled hard and it was a
well-fought game. ”
Senior midfielder Caitlin Gam
ble got the Ducks (8-5-1 overall,
0-4-0 conference) on the board
first with a goal scored in the
18th minute. Gamble went un
marked by the USC defense as
she sprinted toward the net and
tapped in a well-placed cross by
Tiffany Smith. Smith’s pass
arched over USC goalkeeper
Veronica Simonton, who could
only watch the ball roll across
the penalty box to Gamble, who
parked it in the left corner. It was
Gamble’s third goal of the sea
son. Smith and Nicole Garbin
were both credited with assists
on the score, which brought the
crowd of 540 at Pape Field to life
who, like the Oregon players,
hunger to see more wins.
“This game was a missed
opportunity,” Gamble said. “But
if anything we showed that
we could really play in this
conference and that we’re ready
to win.”
Junior midfielder Rosa Anna
Tantillo of USC (7-4-1, 1-1-1)
came off the bench in the first
half and drilled home the equal
izer marking her first of two
goals in the game. In the 33rd
minute, Tantillo effortlessly drib
bled the ball unopposed on Ore
gon’s end of the field before fir
ing in a shot from 25 yards out
that banked off the crossbar and
past the outstretched arms of
goalkeeper Jessie Chatfield.
From there the Women of TVoy
rolled up their sleeves on
Kate Horton | Photographer
Oregon’s Nicole Dobrzynski (23) battles for a loose ball Sunday against a USC
defender. The Ducks lost 2-1 to the Trojans.
defense and denied the Ducks a
second goal. Oregon peppered
Simonton and her teammates
with 12 shots. In between the
goal boxes, the opposing mid
fielders waged a physical battle
highlighted by Duck Kate Nel
son, who dueled with Tantillo.
The two glanced off one another
early and often exchanging slide
tackles, but no handshakes.
“We definitely could have
beaten them and that was more
exciting than anything, playing
SOCCER, page 6