Oregon Daily Emerald
Friday, October 28, 2005
“We know about the 11-1 record, and we
would have liked to go 11-0. But we won
enough games, and that’s all that matters.
Chicago White Sox catcher AJ. Pierzynski
on his team’s World Series victory
■ Duck cross country
Oregon
runners are
primed for
postseason
With three major tournaments
coming up, the men and women
look to make their marks
BY KIM GAVIGLIO
FREELANCE REPORTER
After a successful season for the Oregon cross
country team, it’s finally time to bring on the
postseason competition.
The meets that lie ahead for Ducks’ cross
country team in the next month and a half are
going to make the earlier races look like a
warm-up. With the Pacific-10 Championships,
West Regionals and the NCAA Nationals, the
postseason is where the action is for the men
and women of Oregon.
Saturday marks the first meet of the post-sea
son, the Pacific-10 Conference Championship,
hosted by the University of Arizona.
“This isn’t a qualifying meet, but it is still a
championship meet because if we get third or
fourth that means we are third or fourth in the
Pac-10,” said Chris Winter, Oregon’s number two
runner on the men’s team. “This meet is extreme
ly important with our conference. If we have a re
ally good race here then it can build our confi
dence for regionals. ”
The top seven individuals from each race will
claim All Pac-10 First Team honors. With defend
ing champion and top-ranked Stanford compet
ing, earning a top spot will be tough, but Oregon
has a few hopefuls who have the potential to be
top scorers, including Galen Rupp, Winter, Zoe
Nelson and Katie Leary.
Sophomore runner Sarah Pearson said
training this season has been based on devel
oping high endurance and staying in top
shape. Pearson kicked up her running ability
and ran in the second seeded position, behind
Leary, for the Ducks at the Pre-NCAA Invita
tional meet on Oct. 15.
“We have been focusing a lot less on numbers
this season,” Pearson said. “We focus on work
ing hard, and the numbers are going to reflect our
hard work. I love the coaching so much. This
year is so much better for me. Last year was fo
cused on short intervals and lower mileage, but
different things work for different people. ”
The goal for this weekend’s meet is for the No.
22 Oregon women to place third in the meet. The
main competition for the ladies is No. 2 Stanford
and fifth-ranked Arizona State. This season the
women’s team has become nationally ranked for
the first time in five years under first-year head
coach Vin Lananna.
“It has been really exciting to be a part of this
change at Oregon,” Pearson said. “But we’re not
focusing too much on the ranking because it’s not
exactly where we want to be. I think we have the
potential to do great things. We have a lot of tal
ented recruits, and running with them has been
really motivating.”
On the men’s side, competition will be
tight because many of the Pac-10 teams are
evenly matched.
“Stanford and Arizona are top in the nation.
They’re basically the untouchables,” Winter said.
“But Washington and Arizona State are probably
going to be the closest-matched teams for us to
go against. But we’re going to focus on staying as
close together as a pack and talking to one anoth
er, giving each other confidence to pull forward.
“We haven’t been focusing all that much on in
dividual performance but on team performance.
This season has been really great. The dynamic
CROSS COUNTRY, page 10
■ Club men's rugby
Experienced rugby team starts season
The men's team has a new coach and hopes for
continued success after last year's 9-6 campaign
BY JACOB MAY
FREELANCE REPORTER
After finishing the 2004 season
with a team of mostly underclass
men, the men’s club rugby team
compiled a 9-6 record and is opti
mistic going into its season.
With a new coach, Manasi
Latu, and most of the team re
turning with experience, the
team hopes to make it past the
first round of the playoffs, where
it lost to Sacramento State and
Stanford last year.
The team currently has rough
ly 35 members and always fields
two teams of 15 at every game
in order to give every team mem
ber a chance to play.
Key returning players include
team captain and fly-half
Michael Schwartz, lock-backrow
Michael Estis and outside-center
Aaron Loghry.
Despite the athletic ability the
team currently possesses, club co
ordinator Joey Latteri hopes to
bring in new members in order
for the team to be more competi
tive. He emphasized that most
people believe they need to have
experience to play collegiate
rugby, but he said that is not the
case. The first several weeks
of practice are spent on condition
ing and teaching new recruits the
rules and strategies of the game.
“We’re trying to develop our
level of play,” Schwartz said “We
have a tremendous amount of
athletic talent. We just need to
cultivate it and focus it in one
coherent direction.”
As for the team’s outlook to
ward the new season, Schwartz
hopes the club becomes a domi
nant force in its conference, the
Northwest Rugby Football
Union. The conference includes
Pacific-10 Conference schools
Oregon State, Washington,
Washington State.
The club is still holding loose
practices where the number of
participants ranges from 20 to 35.
Latteri explains that there are too
many schedules to work around,
and therefore many members are
unable to come to practice. In that
case, many of the athletes^re re
sponsible for conditioning them
selves. The team is also actively
recruiting and plans a fund-rais
ing campaign in the near future.
The team has already played
its first game, beating the Eugene
Men’s Rugby Club 14-12 on Oct.
15. The club’s next game will
take place at Stanford University
in a tournament that will consist
of 10 other teams. The team is
guaranteed three games there.
They will also host games
against Chico State and Oregon
State on Nov. 12 and 19.
It’s still possible to join the
team, which is always looking
for new members. Practices are
Tuesdays and Thursdays from 2
5 p.m. at Southbank Field next
to the Autzen footbridge. For
more info, the team Web site can
Marcus Larson | For The Emerald
Brendan Hobbs gets some help from his teammates while practicing a line
out retrieval at Tuesday's Rugby Club practice.
be accessed through the Oregon Club Sports home page.
H Duck soccer
Ducks seek first Pac-10 win in Seattle
Tara Erickson returns to her alma mater looking
for the first Ducks win in the 10-game series
BY SCOTTJ. ADAMS
SPORTS REPORTER
Oregon soccer head coach Tara
Erickson last laced up her cleats no
more than a decade ago as a Wash
ington midfielder, but today she
leads the Ducks into Seattle, where
her squad looks for its first confer
ence win of the season against her
alma mater.
Despite the rivalry between
the two schools, Erickson and
her players do not look at this
game as anything more than an
other chance at victory for Ore
gon (8-6-1 overall, 0-5 confer
ence) . The Oregon-Washington
rivalry seems to have a reverse
effect on relations between the
two teams. Many of the players
and coaches for both squads
have shared the same sidelines
and have developed friendships.
“The kids don’t put as much em
phasis on this game as other peo
ple around the program do, which
is a good thing,” Erickson said.
“Our players aren’t putting empha
sis on it. I look at it as just another
game, another chance for a win
and nothing more than what it is.”
Like Erickson, senior forward
Nicole Garbin of Oregon also has
friends at Washington. She played
for the Seattle Sounders last sum
mer alongside some of the Huskies.
However, Garbin has not had a
chance to play against Washington
since her freshman year. Injuries
sidelined her in 2002 and 2004 and
she was required to sit out in 2003
because of a red card she received
in a previous game. The time off
has motivated her even more for
today’s game.
“I made friends with a lot
of them this summer in Seattle,”
Garbin said. “I’m excited to
play with them again. We have
been working hard lately
but need to play a full 90 min
utes. If we did that we’d have a
lot more wins. ”
Today’s game marks the 10th
meeting between the two
schools in a series that hasn’t yet
seen the Ducks defeat the
Huskies. They may have their
best chance to do so today con
sidering the Huskies (0-14-3) are
winless this season.
Washington’s record could easily
be different if its offense became
more productive. The Huskies have
lost 10 games by one goal this year,
and seven of those losses ended
with a score of 1-0.
Oregon senior midfielder
Nicole Barker | Senior photographer
Oregon
midfielder
Kate
Nelson(15)
battles an
Oregon
State
defender on
Oct. 21. The
Ducks fell to
the Beavers
4-2 and will
play at
Washington
tonight at
7 p.m.
Andrea Valadez and the Ducks
have taken note of Washington’s
starting roster, which, like Erick
son’s, features a number of
freshmen and underclassmen. As a
seasoned veteran, Valadez should
have little trouble playing her game
against Washington. She hopes
that she and her teammates can
make big plays in light of the
Huskies’ inexperience.
“It’s definitely a game we can
win,” Valadez said. “We know a
lot about them. They have a lot of
inexperience right now. We can
relate to them. They are starting a
lot of freshmen and hopefully we
can capitalize on that.”
Valadez and fellow senior
Cristan Higa returned to action last
weekend against Oregon State after
a three-game hiatus because of an
injury. Coping with injuries has
been the biggest obstacle this sea
son for the Ducks. Most recently in
jured was junior midfielder Kate
Nelson, who plays a vital role for
Oregon on defense. Nelson is still
recovering from a concussion suf
fered against the Beavers.
Oregon concludes its road trip
this weekend with a match-up
against Washington State on
Sunday. The Cougars have had a
season similar to Oregon’s, with
plenty of inconsistency. Kickoff
against Washington State is
scheduled for noon and action
starts today against the Huskies
at 7 p.m.
sadams@dailyemerald.com