WEDNESDAY, MAY 4, 2005
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SOCCER
BY MATT TORNOW
mtornow@kansan.com
KANSAN SPORTSWRIETER
Jayhawks learns from lost game
vel.com
Spring soccer is a time of learning for the Jayhawk soccer team, and it learned a lot from its 2-1 loss to the Blue-Valley All-Stars U-15 boys soccer club last Thursday.
The Jayhawks were down 1-0 early in the game until freshman defender Afton Sauer used a header to put the ball in the goal off of a cross pass from sophomore midfielder Nicole Cauzillo.
The Blue-Valley All-Stars got one past Jayhawk defenders and into the goal, winning the game in the second half.
Coach Mark Francis said the performance in the last game was the best he had seen this spring and that he was happy with how his team played.
"I thought that we played well," he said. "They were fast and controlled the ball well and that is one of the reasons that you play boys' teams, to get used to playing the game at that speed."
speed. Cauzillo agreed that last Thursday's game helped the team play at a higher speed.
teach play a lot.
"Playing boys, our speed of play had to be much faster, and I think last game's performance really showed improvements in that area," Cauzillo said.
that area. This spring exhibition season for the Jayhawks has been about learning about themselves. The squad needs to learn how to continue its winning ways after an 18-5-0 season last year.
"If we keep doing what we did last season we will do great, but we are going to have to learn and play with the new freshmen coming in," Sauer said.
With many seniors graduating after last season, the team has had to learn how to play a new style of play and a new formation. Cauzillo said that the team was learning the new formation well.
"I think last game we finally put all the pieces together," she said. "We are getting comfortable with our new formation, which is important because we will probably play this formation in the fall."
Cauzillo also said she was starting to feel comfortable with her new role on the team as well.
well.
"This spring, I'm getting used to being the only attacking midfielder. Last fall, we played with two attacking midfielders so it's definitely a change," she said.
Another area where the Jayhawks are trying to improve on this spring season is being
Source: Kansas Athletics Department
able to put the ball in the goal when opportunities arise, Sauer said. She said the team had been trying to improve on scoring opportunities and team defense.
The Jayhawks have only one more game to learn more about themselves and work on areas where they need to improve.
"We really have been working on finishing the ball and putting away our chances, but also organization as a team on defense," Sauer said.
The women will wrap up their spring exhibition season against the KCFC U-15 club at 6 p.m. tomorrow at the Jayhawk Soccer Complex.
Edited by John Scheirman
Horse races for winner's circle, cancer
BY RICHARD ROSENBLATT THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Aftet Alex is running for more than glory in the Kentucky Derby. The big bay colt is running to beat cancer, too.
When the starting gate springs open Saturday for the Derby, Afleet Alex will be among the favorites. But he's already a champion off the racetrack. And if he wins, there can be no sweeter story.
story.
Looking for the next Funny Cide or Smarty Jones feel-good story? You're on the right track with Affleet Alex:
♦ The breeder has terminal cancer, but says the horse is helping him survive.
- The Philly-area owners are donating part of Afleet Alex's earnings to Alex's Lemonade Stand, a children's cancer charity.
◆ The horse was hand fed with a beer bottle full of milk at birth, overcame a lung infection two months ago and then won the Arkansas Derby to regain his stature as a top Derby contender with six victories in nine races.
♦ The trainer picked out Afeet Alex at a 2-year-old sale in Maryland for new owners at the bargain price of $75,000.
bargain price or better.
♠ The jockey was fired in favor of a more experienced rider, but will be back for his first Derby.
be back for his homework.
"Just an amazing story, isn't it?" trainer Tim Ritchey said outside his barn at Churchill Downs. "We're just so fortunate to have a horse like this. Everything is just falling into place, plus we have an opportunity to help some that are less fortunate."
less fortunate.
John Silvertand, the 60-year-old breeder who lives in Lake Worth, Fla., said doctors gave him about three months to live
because of colon cancer that had spread to his lungs and liver. It's been 2 1/2 years and counting.
counting.
"The horse keeps me going."
Silvertand said in a telephone interview. "I truly believe he's helping me in my battle."
helping me, a former pilot in Britain's Royal Air Force, plans to drive to the Derby with his wife, Carolyn, and 12-year-old daughter, Lauren. "Have to drive," he said. "Too many Affetex Alex hats to take on the plane."
plane. The hats are just part of the Afleet Alex merchandise also being sold to raise money for Alex's Lemonade Stand for Pediatric Cancer Research. Each hat has a small lemon image on the side, and Afleet Alex's saddle-cloth also will have a lemon image.
Alexandra Scott, the daughter
of Jay and Liz Scott of Wynnewood, Pa., was diagnosed with cancer two days before her first birthday, in 1997. She opened the lemonade stand when she was 4, hoping to raise $1 million for her hospital.
The touching story quickly gained national interest, and donations started pouring in. Alexandra was 8 when she died Aug. 1. Chuck Zacney, managing partner of Cash Is King Stable, owners of Afeet Alex, was so moved by the story that he pledged $30,000 to the charity. Then he e-mailed the Scotts, asking if they'd like to be part of the team, with a portion of Afeet Alex's earnings going to the cancer charity.
cer Charly.
Yesterday morning at Churchill Downs, a breeding season to Afleet Alex's sire, Northern Afleet, was auctioned for $37,000. He is coming to Alex.
Lemonade Stand. The winning bidder was B. Wayne Hughes, who owns two horses trying to beat Alfeet Alex in the Derby, Greeley's Galaxy and Don't Get Mad.
The charity so far has raised more than $1.6 million.
all of it going to Alex's
The lemonade stand opened yesterday on the backstretch, and Liz Scott was in awe of what's been happening.
"It's incredible. It's taken it to a different level for me," she said. "This will be the first year that she's not here, so this was a really important year for me.
important year she
"She loved horses, but she never actually met one. She had pictures of them and she read books. She would think this was really very cool and I'm sure if she was here on Derby day, she'd be all decked out with her hat and her outfit. She was really into that kind of stuff."
Spurs look to end Nuqgets' season
guard Miami clinched.
And they seem to be finally hitting their groove. Especially Tim Duncan, who shook off a poor Game 3 with 39 points and 14 boards in a 126-115 overtime win Monday night in Game 4.
"It was great to see Timmy play like that," Spurs guard Brent Barrett said. "Tim played like the player that everybody fears."
tory tonight.
"We are in control," Spurs guard Manu Ginobili said.
fears. Duncan's re-emergence as the force he's expected to be is particularly troubling for Denver, which hasn't been able to handle his supporting cast, most notably the freewheeling Ginobili.
Ginobili averaged 16 points during the season but has slashed his way through and around the Nuggets to score 24 points a game in the playoffs.
Jim Vertuno/The Associated Press
Bulls rookie wins sixth-man award
SAN ANTONIO — The swagger that carried the Denver Nuggets off the floor after their victory in Game 1 seems like a distant memory. Same with the frustration the San Antonio Spurs felt after their late meltdown in that opening match-up
down in that opening haul Now, after three straight wins in the series, the Spurs can finish off the Nuggets in the first round of the Western Conference playoffs with a victory tonight.
Gordon averaged 15.1 points, 2.6 rebounds and 2.0 assists in just more than 24 minutes this season. He came off the bench in 79 of 82 games this season and helped the Bulls make their first playoff appearance since 1998.
NEW YORK — Chicago guard Ben Gordon won the NBA's Sixth Man of the Year award yesterday, the first rookie to win the award.
The Associated Press