Thursday, September 23, 1999
The University Daily Kansan
Section B · Page 3
Women's soccer back in town
Friday's game first at home since Aug.29
By Chris Wristen
sports@kansun.com
Kansas sportswriter
The Jayhawks are returning home, and they would like to bring some fans with them.
After playing on the road for nearly a month, the Kansas women's soccer team returns home tomorrow for its first game at Super Target Field since Aug. 29.
"I'd like to see a lot of people come out," said Coach Mark Francis. "We haven't played here in a while, so I think people should come out to see them. They will definitely see some entertaining soccer this weekend."
Fan attendance is a top priority for the Jayhawks as they bring to the field a completely different
team than they have featured before. The team brings more offensive power, more international players and more energy, all of which they hope will spark fans' interest.
Women's soccer attendance for home games last year
"They will see attacking soccer," Francis said. "We're looking to go forward a lot more than in the past. Especially with Hilla (Rantala) back, they should expect to see more goals."
Kansas also would like to set a new home attendance record this weekend. The current mark of 578 was set October 15, 1995, against Tulsa at the second game ever played on Super Target Field. The highest total at home this season is 300, compared with an attendance average of 604 per game on the road, including nearly 600 at Missouri and a crowd of 1,572 at no Now 13 Georgia last weekend.
"I'd like to see a lot of people there," said junior forward Meghann Haven. "I'd like to see a lot of support. Our program is finally starting to pick up and we need more people to get involved."
Richard Bachman / KANSAN
The team enters tomorrow's 4:30 p.m. game against Drury College with a 3-4 record after knocking off Southwest Missouri State 3-1 on Tuesday. Haven said a good showing by the student body would help the team capture two more victories.
"It'd be a really big boost," Haven said. "It would get us motivated to hear all the cheering."
Francis agreed.
"It's always nice to play in front of a big crowd, especially a home
crowd," Francis said. "[Seeing the stands full] would give us a lot of confidence."
The Jayhawks play Creighton at 2:30 p.m. Sunday.
At tomorrow's game, the KU promotions department will give away mini soccer balls and will halftime contests for fans to participate in. On Sunday, local club soccer teams will be playing at halftime.
-- Edited by Chris Hutchison
Kansas defender Natalie Hoogveld prepares to clear the ball from her area in practice. The team is preparing for the KU Credit Union Jayhawk Invitational this week-end. Photo by Roger Nomer/ KANSAN
Texas Tech struggles with Williams out, criticism of coach
By Michael Rigg
sports@kansan.com
Kansan sportswriter
All is not well for the Texas Tech football team.
In the first game of the season, Heisman Trophy candidate Ricky Williams went down because of a knee sprain. On Saturday, the Red Raiders lost to North Texas 24-21. This week, reports have surfaced that coach Spike Dykes' job could be in jeopardy.
While the local media speculate about the future of his job, Dykes is merely trying to fix a season that has gone terribly wrong.
"All I care about is what happens the rest of the season," Dykes said.
Although the Red Raiders were predicted to finish in the nation's top 20 this season, Texas Tech was slowed down from the starting gate, as it lost to Arizona State 31-13. The loss was followed by a 38-17 win against Louisiana-Lafayette, but the latest round of trouble for Texas Tech
came on Saturday,
when the North
Texas Mean Green
defeated the Red
Raiders for the third
consecutive year.
The loss simply left
Dykes to wonder
what went wrong.
"That is a hard, bitter pill to swallow when you lose a game like that." Dykes said. "That's certainly one of those situations where we got outplayed by a team that we had better players than. And I
shouldn't say that; that's no discredit to them. They did the things they had to do to win."
On paper, however, the Red Raiders shouldn't have lost to North Texas. After all, the Mean Green was coming off of a 52-0 loss against Louisiana State and was a 30-point underdog against Texas Tech.
The loss to North Texas troubles Red Raiders running back Shaud Williams, who is filling in for Ricky Williams until his knee heals.
Dykes said his team's lethargic performance was a huge letdown for the Red Raider fans, who were celebrating the
"I'm pretty upset about the game." Shaud Williams said. "I don't feel we executed like we should have. I mean, we should have won this game. That's the bottom line — no excuses."
Red Raiders' home opener.
"Like I told my guys, my job is to get them ready to play, and obviously we weren't from the very first." Dykes said. "I don't think we looked like we were into this football game from the first play on. And I hate that for the great crowd."
The Red Raiders will have a full two weeks to prepare for their next game, when they take on Texas A&M Oct. 2 in Lubbock, Texas. For Dykes, the two weeks will give his team a chance to solve some of its mistakes and put the loss to North Texas in the past.
"The best thing about an open week is you can get back to fundamentals, and that's what we wanted to focus on." Dykes said.
ter back. Last week, the team learned that Ricky Williams' knee will require surgery, but he is listed as probable for the game against the Aggies, the Texas Tech sports information office said.
The additional week will also give the Red Raiders a chance to get their full ros-
Despite the surgery, Ricky Williams said he would play against Texas A&M.
Along with Ricky Williams' injury, reports have surfaced in Lubbock since the loss to the Mean Green that Dykes will be fired at season's end. After the loss, Red Raider fans flooded the local media stations with calls saying the coach should be fired immediately.
Texas Tech President Donald Haragan said that he would reevaluate Dykes' job status but that review will not come until after the season, according to a report by the Lubbock Avalanche Journal.
Badger coach faces surgery
Edited by Chris Hutchison
The Associated Press
MADISON, Wis. — Barry Alvarez is the kind of coach who needs to move.
A former linebacker at Nebraska, he paces the Wisconsin sideline during Badgers games. He yells; he prods; he gets in players' faces. It's obvious he would rather be on the field, taking care of business himself.
But Alvarez won't be doing much of anything after he undergoes right knee replacement surgery on Oct. 5. He will be confined to his bed for at least four days after the procedure, and he is uncertain when he will be able to return to the sideline.
"It's very hard not to go out there and work with the people that you love," he said, his eyes filling with tears as he spoke Tuesday.
Alvarez has arthritis in the knee, which has very little cartilage left after football and a lifetime of jogging. There is a torn medial collateral ligament, a few bone spurs and at least one cyst, all of which built up over the years.
The problem has caused him severe pain ever since he reinjured the joint while attending an exhibition game in Madison between the Green Bay Packers and the Denver Broncos on Aug. 23. The pain has made sleep nearly impossible the past couple of weeks, he said.
Alvarez, 52, spoke while seated in a wheelchair. He said the surgery will take place at the Mayo
Clinic in Rochester, Minn. The procedure will come three days after the Badgers visit Ohio State and four days before a game at Minnesota, which the coach almost certainly won't attend.
Alvarez, who used crutches and was taken to and from the field on a golf cart in 2:1 Wisconsin's first three games, said he likely will coach Saturday's game against No.4 Michigan and the Ohio State game from the press box. His veteran staff will handle on-field duties.
"I've never been sick a day in my life. I'd never had surgery, I never had a stitch until I came here," said Alvarez, the coach at Wisconsin since 1990.
Doctors have told Alvarez to stay off his right knee and keep it immobilized to reduce swelling.
Alvarez had surgery last spring, but the doctor told him the knee was beyond repair — due, in part, to injuries dating to his days as a linebacker at Nebraska.
On Sept. 4, he said he heard something pop while walking down a ramp at Camp Randall Stadium before the Badgers' game against Murray State. He coached the first half of the game on crutches, left the field at halftime in a golf cart and retreated to the press box for the second half.
Alvarez said he went to the Mayo Clinic this week because the knee was getting worse. In addition, internal bleeding was filling the joint with fluids.
"I got scared," he said. "I didn't have any choice."
The Associated Press
Teams prepare for Columbia rematch
Columbia, Mo. — Prone in the end zone, the prize cradled in his arms, freshman Matt Davison became an instant celebrity two years ago.
The Nebraska wide receiver, still living off his astonishing game-saving, national titles-saving catch against Missouri, returns to the scene
for the first time Saturday night. The memories have been flooding back all week with the No. 6 Cornhuskers and unranked Tigers preparing for the rematch in Columbia, Mo.
"It's not that I want to forget about it," Davison said. "It was a great point in my career, but I have two years left, practically, so hopefully I can do some other things."
No matter what happens, Davison will have a hard time to tapping what occurred Nov. 8, 1997. It was what Missouri coach Larry Smith angrily
referred to as "one stinking play."
With seven seconds to go, Nebraska trailing 38-31 and the ball at the Missouri 12, quarterback Scott Frost threw to wide receiver Shevin Wiggins in the middle of the end zone. Missouri defensive back Harold Piersey got there first, deflecting it into the air. But on his way to the turf, Wiggins kept the球 alive with his foot, and Davison's active diving catch forced overtime and saved the season for the nation's No. 1 team.
Davison caught 32 passes last year as a sophomore. After three games this season, he is the leading receiver with seven catches for 106 yards. Stjill, it's the catch, the catch, the catch.
"I've tried to make other plays and be a big part of the offense, and be a guy who's consistent catching the ball — a guy that can be looked to in clutch situations," Davison said. "But it doesn't seem like anything I do will let me get away from being known as a one-catch guy."
Missouri senior center Rob Riti said: "What I thought I saw was the
ball hitting the ground, and I thought,
'Oh, hooray, we won the game. Then
the official signaled touchdown. It
was a very sad moment. I felt cheated."
For Nebraska coach Frank Solich,
then the offensive coordinator under Tom Osborne, there was only elation. Solich pointed out that the touchdown came after Nebraska.
with no timeouts and 1:02 to go, drove 67 yards behind the passing of Frost to get in position.
"The touchdown? No question in my mind it was executed well," Solich said with a grin. "This was all done with a hurry-up, two-minute style of offense."
At 9.0, the Cornhuskers temporarily dropped to No.3.
"I know that we did learn that to win the national championship, we have to have things go your way," Solich said.
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