FOOTBALL Despite a 0-2 record Northwestern's offense could give Kansas' defense some problems. PAGE 7A
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SPORTS
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 16, 2004
Kick in the pants:
BY KELLI ROBINETT
krobinett@kansan.com
KANSAN SPORTWRITER
It's been a week of highs and lows for Kansas' women's soccer team.
The team hit an all-time high on Saturday with a road victory against then No. 7 Clemson. Then it hit a season low with their first loss of the year Tuesday at No. 11 Illinois.
"The win on Saturday was a big one, but I think we obviously had a let down against Illinois," Francis said. "I'm not trying to take anything away from them, but we didn't show up to play our best game and consequently lost."
The team's overall focus went from high to low as well, and is one of the main reasons it lost at Illinois, coach Mark Francis said.
Francis said it's hard to know how a team will react to its first loss. Francis
It obviously sucks to lose a game, but it's something we
www.kansan.com
Meghan Miller Senior goalie
called Friday's match-up with Mississippi the most important game of the season.
needed to feel. But we don't want,to feel that way again for a while."
The soccer team doesn't have to travel for the game against Mississippi, and will host a game for the first time in two weeks.
the most important game for us," Francis said. "This is the first loss we've experienced, and it will be interesting to see how we respond. Any time you lose, the next game is very important. You don't want to go on a two-game losing streak."
Francis gave his team the day off yesterday to help recover from the road trip.
The soccer team failed to score a goal for the first time this season Tuesday, but don't look for the team to make any drastic changes in its offensive strategy.
Instead, the team is treating its first loss as a wake-up call, and is making a major attitude adjustment.
"I think it's good that we don't have to wait very long to play our next game," senior goalie Meghan Miller said.
Tomorrow's 5 p.m. home game should be a true indicator of how good the team can play. They will be ready to prove their victory over Clemson was no fluke.
their victory over the team.
"It obviously sucks to lose a game, but it's something we needed to feel." Miller said. "But we don't want to feel that way again for a while. We will bring our A-game on Friday."
Soccer regrouping after first loss
— Edited by Jon Ralston
Kansan file photo
Senior forward Rachel Gillifillan kicks the ball from two St. Louis opponents on Sept. 4. The team will play Mississippi 5 p.m. Friday at SuperTarget Field on West 19th Street.
Tennis team shows potential
New coach, players enthusiastic about upcoming season
BY RAMUL SHARMA
rsharma@kansan.com
KANSAN SPORTSWITTER
As the Kansas women's tennis team prepares for the fall season. Amy Hall-Holt is entering her second year as the team's coach. If her polished demeanor and work ethic are any indication, the Jayhawks are headed for a successful year.
"We are working hard every day as if we're preparing for a national championship." Hall-Holt said.
Hall-Holt is in her eighth year with the Kansas program. She spent six seasons as an assistant before being named coach in the summer of 2003.
coach in the summer of 2008.
Though the Jayhawks struggled last year with a 7-16 record, they enter this season with a team that looks to recapture the success Kansas tennis has known in the past. In Hall-Holt's first year as an assistant, for example, she helped lead Kansas to the Central Regional Championship and an appearance in the round of 16 at the NCAA Championships.
With some young talent coming in and the addition of assistant coach Frank Polito, there is no reason to believe that Kansas won't find success this year.
this year.
Polito, a former assistant at Kansas in 1996, returns as a proven coach. In 2002, Polito was named the
Intercollegiate Tennis Association's Midwest Region Coach of the Year while he was an assistant coach as Ohio State. He has held coaching positions for the tennis teams at the University of Akron and the University of Louisiana at Monroe. A solid motivator and teacher of the game, Polito will be looked upon to provide the energy necessary to propel the jayhawks.
"Frank is an outstanding coach," Hall-Holt said. "He brings with him a great knowledge of the game and tremendous energy."
Two weeks ago marked the first official practice of the fall season. Polito maneuvered between courts and surveyed the players, encouraging their effort.
"It's all about hard work," Polito said. "Salent does not win you matches. You have to work hard."
The coaches have been working the players hard during practices, and the players are responding.
"The whole team is putting in the effort," said junior Christine Skoda. "Coach Polito's presence is certainly felt. He serves as a great motivator."
felt. He serves as a grade teacher. Skoda is in her third year with the squad and will be looked upon to provide the leadership role for a team that lost three seniors Emily Haylock, Courtney Steinbock and Kristen Steinbock—to graduation.
Steinbock — to go on a
Along with Skoda, junior Luiza
Loureiro has potential to do great
things this season.
things this season." "Luiza has put in a lot of time in the offseason with the trainers and has really improved, especially with her footwork," Hall-Holt said.
Freshman Anna Jackson swings at a ball during practice on Sept. 5. Tennis season begins tomorrow, with the Jayhawks competing at the Seahawk Invitational in Wilmington, N.C.
Loureiro, who is listed at 5-foot-8, has good height to compliment her powerful serve.
acquainted with the Hall-Holt coaching philosophy as freshmen last year, benefited from their first year of collegiate
powerful serve. Sophomores Brittany Brown and Ashley Filberth, who were both well
SEE TENNIS ON PAGE 9A
Swimmer's actions, ethnic help lead team
BY NORA KELLAM
nkellam@kansan.com
KANSAN SPORTWRITER
At 6:30 this morning, most University of Kansas students were still tucked away in bed, but not Aly Colver or the rest of the Kansas swimming and diving team.
She was already practicing as she does four times a week in the morning and six times a week in the afternoon.
afterclock.
Colver, a senior
from Holyoke,
Colo., has been
making an impact
for the Jayhawks
since her freshman
up soft spoken in
COLVER
nature, Colver plays a loud role on the team.
Not only is she one of the top performers for the Jayhawks, but her confidence, class and dedication make her a role model to her teammates, said swimming coach Clark Campbell.
Campbell. "Aly is one of those athletes every coach wants on a team — a quite leader who leads with her work ethic," he said. "Every season we have worked on her freestyle technique, and now the stroke is coming together. Aly is poised to have an excellent senior season."
excellent senior school Colver started swimming competitively at age eight and was coached by her mom in high school.
VOL
her mom in high school.
After contemplating many colleges,
she decided a swimming scholarship to
Kansas was an opportunity she could
not pass up.
"Coming from such a small town, I never really knew what a team was like," she said. "There is so much dependency and support from one another."
After growing up in Holyoke, a town of only 2,000 people, the University was a big adjustment for Colver.
another. Working together as a unit is not always easy in a sport that is often individualized, but it is an important aspect for the Jayhawks.
Swimming anywhere from 5,000 to 7,000 yards a day, or three to four miles, it is hard to imagine Colver doing anything but swimming.
doing anything but in a almost perfect grade point average, Colver has been recognized for her academic efforts as well, earning a spot on the inaugural Academic All-Big 12 team her sophomore year and following it up with a repeat performance her junior year.
Editor's Note: Athletes at the University of Kansas are more than wins and statistics — they are real people with opinions on sports, life and love. Each Thursday, Kansan sportswriter Shane Kucera will sit down with a student-athlete and discuss issues beyond the playing field.
SEE SWIMMER ON PAGE7A
Twin dancers best friends, depend on each other
Kansas has its own special set of twins: Erin and Kristen Maxwell, the captains of the Rock Chalk Dance Team, formerly the Crimson Girls. The two are inseparable. Friends say they can't live without each other. They share the same computer, car and room. They joke about each having half a brain, and they finish each other's sentences — so much that it was hard to get in an interview.
Twins. That's all you have to say now and men begin to salivate, thinking of Mary Kate and Ashley Olsen and Coors beer commercials.
SHANE KUCERA
skucera@kansan.com
GOING DEEP
get in an interview. This week the juniors from St. Louis opened up about dance and much more:
Erin: We've been roommates our whole life; we just know that we'll always be best friends. If you can't count on anyone else, you should always be able to count on your family.
Kristen: We talk to our mom at least once a day, usually multiple times a day. We talk to our brother and we talk to our stepdad. We can count the number of times we've been apart on one hand — it's four.
Q: What do you think of the Coors beer advertisements with the twins?
Question: How important is family?
K: We've actually been asked that
before. We've actually got asked questions like, "How long do we have to wait until you're the Coors Light twins?"
until you're the GOAT.
E: When we're at football games we always hear from the student's section:
"and twins!"
Q: Is there much competition between the two of you?
K: Our mom always taught us to be supportive of each other. Like if Erin wins and she's so happy she cries, I'll start crying. There really not that much competition.
much competition.
E: We each get more nervous for the other one to dance. When she goes out to do her solo, I'm a nervous wreck, more than I am before I go out to do my solo. I would rather her do better than me, because it just hurts when the other one doesn't win.
C. Do you think dancing is hard work?
K and J. Yes.
Yes.
Erin and Kristen Maxwell, St. Louis juniors, are the captains of the Rock Chalk Dance team. The twins said that performing at Allen Fieldhouse is exciting and that dancing is underated- "We kick our legs and bend and stretch in ways that I'm sure God never intended anyone to ever do," Kristen said.
K: I think that it's underrated. I'm not taking anything away from football, because I know they get beat up on the
field, but if you think about it, we,kick prised how much pain we're in after our legs and bend and stretch in ways practice and how much stress it is on that I'm sure God never intended any- your body one to ever do.
E: I think people would really be sur-
SEE TWINS ON PAGE 7A
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