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SPORTS
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THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
1B
WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 31, 2001
Commentary
Brandon
Stinnett
Columnist
sportskansan.com
Soccer player raising cash for cancer
As the Kansas soccer team continues to pile up victories on the field, sophomore midfielder Maggie Mason is trying to make a difference off of it.
Mason is helping to raise money to support cancer research and boost support for Kansas athletics.
She came up with an idea to sell T-shirts at Kansas sporting events, with all proceeds going to the American Cancer Society. The shirts, which will be blue with the words "Feel the Pride" written on them, will cost $5 each.
The Student Athletics Advisory Committee (SAAC), composed of two athletes from each Kansas athletic team, is responsible for developing and implementing the program. Mason, who is a member of the committee, said the first shirts should be available by the Kansas-Iowa State football game Saturday, Nov. 17.
The original plan to sell the shirts at Kansas athletics events hit a snag because the Athletics Department prohibits groups who are not raising money for the department from vending at more than one game per season for each team. That means that the committee, nobly trying to raise money to fight cancer, can sell T-shirts at only one Kansas basketball game and one Kansas football game this year.
Mason said the limit was designed to prevent the Athletics Department from losing money to outside sources. After all, who would buy a $20 T-shirt, when they are available for $5 and support a good cause?
support a good school This obstacle has in no way derailed Mason's enthusiasm. Plans are already in the works to offer the T-shirts to students outside Wesco Hall as they walk to and from class.
Mason said the project was the first step in Kansas athletic programs' effort to become more united with each other and more connected with fans.
"I hope this will start something big," she said.
Mason's commitment to improving Kansas athletics earned her the honor of representing Kansas athletes at last summer's Foundation Leadership Conference in Orlando, Fla. She was chosen by members of the Committee based on a one-page essay she submitted that outlined the goals she had set since coming to Kansas. Among them was increasing student support of athletic programs. She said the T-shirt project was designed to do just that.
Many athletes come to college just to play sports. Others use sports as a means to get an education. Mason, a native of Elmira, Ontario, Canada, goes a step further. She's dedicated to both soccer and her grades, maintaining a 3.85 grade point average, but she also wants to make a difference.
Mason's motto, "Reach for the stars and never look back," tells much about the way she lives. It was advice given to her by a friend back in Canada.
"As an athlete and a person you go through so many struggles," she said. "He told me, 'You have to do what you have to do. If it doesn't work out, at least you tried.'"
Now in Lawrence, more than 20 driv ing hours away from where she grew up, Mason still follows that advice.
One day to the next, she aims high and never stops trying. She is one Kansas athlete worth rooting for.
Stinnett is a Shawnee senior in journalism and psychology.
Jayhawks beat Billikens 3-0
Team heading into Big 12 tournament with 3-win streak
By Ryan Wood Kansan sportswriter
Good things are coming three at a time for the Kansas soccer team.
Junior defender Brianna Valento became the third player this season to score three goals in a game as the Jayhawks defeated St. Louis University 3-0 yesterday for its third shutout in a row.
Senior forward Hilla Rantala provided all three assists, as Kansas improved to 12-5 on the season. The Billikens fell to 8-8-1
"I think we played very well," coach Mark Francis said. "As far as a 90-minute game, that's about as well as we have played."
she contributed three goals in 20 games last year.
Valento headed each of her goals into the net. She had not scored a goal this season, though
She said her ability to win balls in the air stemmed from her will.
"Everybody can get up and win the ball," Valento said. "It takes that extra drive to want to get up there and win it, and I think you have to be really aggressive."
have to be doing strike came in Valento's first strike came in the 27th minute. After Rantala lofted the ball into the crowded box, Valento headed it past Billiken goalkeeper Meghan Burke, breaking the scoreless tie.
Valento completed her hat trick in the 65th minute, again off a Rantala free kick, and again headed into the corner of the net.
The duo was back for more in the 51st minute, when a similar goal off a free kick put the Jayhawks up 2-0.
"And she got all three assists. It was extra special coming from her."
"Before the game, Hilla said to me, 'I feel it for you,'" Valento said.
Valentio joins teammates Natalie Hoogveld and Monica Brothers as the only players to in team history to record a hat trick, or three goals in one game.
The Jayhawks have outscored their opponents 11-0 in the last three games.
With the Big 12 tournament kicking off in one week, Valento said practice was starting to pay off for the team.
"Everything has just been clean," Valento said. "We've been working hard, and it's finally coming together for us."
Kansas plays Missouri at 3 p.m. on Friday in the regular season finale at Super Target Field. The winner will clinch fourth place in the Big 12 standings.
Contact Wood at 864-4858
LAURIESISK/KANSAN
Junior defender Brianna Valento celebrates after completing a hat trick.
Valento's three goals all came on assists from senior forward Hilla Rantala yesterday afternoon at Super Target Field during a 3-0 win over the St. Louis Billikens.
Valento had not scored all season, but put down three headers to pace the Jayhawks.
Football team searching for its identity
By Brent Briggeman Kansan sportswriter
Kansas football coach Terry Allen wants what Oklahoma and Nebraska have.
Those teams have an identity. Allen's doesn't.
Those teams know "That's something that we all strive to do is to be able to have our own identity." Allen said. "That's what successful programs have."
Allen pointed to the Oklahoma defense, a unit that until last weekend had led its team to a 20-game winning streak by making big plays every week.
He also talked about the consistency of the Nebraska running game, which is on pace to lead the nation for the eighth time in the past 12 years.
Kansas has no such identity.
The Jayhawks started the year hoping to make their name through the air. With new offensive coordinator Rip Scherer, they opened up the offense with four receivers and ran the shotgun from the no-huddle.
That identity lasted only a few weeks.
That identity asked Harrison (Hill) and had so many injuries to receivers we had to change it in the middle of the stream and tried to pull the reins on that," Allen said.
Kansas now ranks 87th out of 117 Division I schools in the nation in passing offense.
In the week-four upset against Texas Tech, Kansas looked dominant on the ground. Behind Reggie Duncan's career-high 227 yards, the Jayhawks ran for 288 yards and won 34-51 on the road. The ground success was short-lived, as Kansas has averaged just 78 yards rushing in three losses since winning in Lubbock, Texas.
Kansas now ranks 91st in rushing offense.
Kansas now ranks 54th in the league. For a time, it looked like the defense might be the unit to define Kansas. Under new defensive coordinator Tom Hayes, the defense atoned for several early offensive fumbles against then-No. 2 Oklahoma before tiring late. The following week, the Jayhawks prevented Missouri from getting a first down on their first three possessions as they dominated in the first quarter. The flood gates have opened since then, as Missouri scored 38 points in the final three
SEE IDENTITY PAGE 4B
PHOTO ILLUSTRATION BY CHRIS BURKET/KANSAN
The Kansas football team is struggling to find its identity as it stares down a tough schedule that includes powerhouses Nebraska and Texas.
Wide receiver awaits ruling about redshirt from NCAA
By Jeff Denton Kansan sportswriter
Harrison Hill has been debating for the past eight weeks whether to return next season from injury or play in a couple of November games this year with an untested but improving broken left shoulder blade.
Sitting on a couch yesterday wearing a sleeveless black T-shirt with the words 'Follow Me' on the front, Hill's decision was evident without the words ever coming out of his mouth.
The fifth-year senior wanted to come back and lead the team for a whole season.
a request for another year of eligibility to the NCAA on Friday. He said he would have word in the next 10 days whether the redshirt
The Wichita wide receiver sent
was granted,
but he was
optimistic
that his
career could
be extended.
"It's nothing guar-
teed with
that six-year-
ing," Hill said.
"I could appeal
it if I get
Hill: Applied for medical redshirt
denied, but I think with the case that I have, there would be a
pretty good chance I'll get it, especially after getting hurt my freshman season and sitting out an entire year."
The team's coaching staff and Al Bohl, Kansas athletics director, have encouraged Hill that getting a medical redshirt was possible.
"I haven't had the full opportunity to play all my years like most people have," Hill said.
Hill came to Kansas in the summer of 1997. He was primed to contribute in his true freshman season, but he broke his left ankle while blocking for a teammate in Kansas' second game of the season.
Four years later and 26 catches SEE HILL PAGE 4B
Jayhawks look to end Wildcat domination
By Steve Laurenzo
Kansan sportswriter
The Kansas volleyball team will attempt to beat Kansas State for the first time since 1994 at 7 tonight at the Horejsi Family Athletic Center. Earlier this season, the Wildcats beat the Jayhawks 3-0 on Oct. 3 in Manhattan.
Kansas State has gone 4-3 since that match while Kansas has managed just 2-8.
Kansas (13-11, 3-10) is coming off a pair of losses during the weekend to Texas Tech and Baylor. Kansas State (12-7, 8-5) lost two of its last three matches,
including a loss on Saturday to No. 2 Nebraska.
Like the Jayhawks, the Wildcats were pummed by the Nebraska Cornhuskers at the Nebraska Coliseum in Lincoln, Neb. The Cornhuskers kept Kansas State to a season-low 2.2 percent hitting percentage.
The Cornhuskers dominated the Wildcats in all areas of the match. Nebraska posted 18 more kills, 19 more digs and six more blocks than Kansas State.
Kansas' performance against the 'Huskers was similar. The 'Hawks managed to hit 6.3 percent, but
SEE MATCH PAGE 4B
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