Junction: Gateway to Success
Fhursday • November 3, 1994
Livin’ in a
SportsCenter
Fantasy
NICK
GEORGANDIS
Asst. Sports
Editor
O h, blessed late nights at the
Polo Club Apartments. Fol
lowing a day chockfull of
classes from my 18-hour schedule,
and countless comma splices, mis
spelled names and computer
crashes at the Sports desk, there’s
no better way for me to relax then
to stretch out on the couch, slurp
down some Ben & Jerry’s and let
my eyes drink in a little ESPN. It
doesn’t matter what’s on, ESPN
makes me enjoy it. Golf, ping
pong, lumberjacking, whatever, if
it’s on TCA channel 32, I will
watch it.
Even better than the program
ming, are those commercials for
SportsCenter, the “SportsCenter
Fantasy” series. These are the
ones starring various athletes
from different sports living out
their own athletic dreams. Some
times, as I watch these spots, my
eyelids will droop, and my subcon
scious will transport me to a far
away place called...
Kyle Field.
It’s Wednesday afternoon, and
I’m waiting under the west stands
to do an interview with star Aggie
tailback Leeland McElroy. Then
University of Texas’ special teams
have declared their intentions to
shut LeeMac down on kickoff re
turns this coming Saturday, and I
want a reaction from him. With
me, are my sports amigos, Dave
and Drew. Drew’s doing a piece
on Antonio Armstrong’s vow to
shove Blake Brockermeyer’s hel
met down his throat, while Dave
wants to ask Rodney Thomas if he
ran out of bounds and into the
Mustang bench just to run over a
defender, instead of running
through the 15-yard wide gap at
the SMU one-yard line.
The sports information director
stops Thomas, Armstrong and
even coach Slocum for us as they
makeT-heir way to”the locker
room, but McElroy is nowhere to
be found. While waiting for him, I
move to the circle around Slocum
to see what he’s got to say. Sud
denly, out of the corner of my eye,
I see Leeland trying to slip past
us and out to his car.
“Hey, wait a minute, Leeland!”
the SID cries. Leeland turns to
wards us for a moment, and I can
read the emotion in his glazed
eyes. Leeland has become addict
ed to Bill Walsh College Football
‘95 for Sega Genesis, and will do
anything to get back home and be
gin giving himself the ball 35-40,
hell, even 50 times a game. Lee
land turns away from us, and be
gins to run.
Being a former athlete myself, I
react with the instincts of the
Wile E. Coyote. Suddenly, I’m off
and running after Leeland, rip
ping off my Astros’ cap to cut
down on my wind resistance. Now
Leeland is 5 feet, 11 inches tall,
weighs 200 pounds and is wearing
cleats. I am 6 feet, 7 inches tall,
weigh 225 pounds and am wearing
cowboy boots and blue jeans. It’s
really no contest. When Leeland
is but 15 feet from his car, I am
See Georgandis/Page 8
SPORTS
The Battalion • Page 7
Lady Aggies stake claim as top Texas team
Soccer team beats
SMU 5-2, awaits
post-season invite
Stewart Doreen
The Battalion
The balance of power of women’s soc
cer in Texas has shifted, and Texas A&M,
by virtue of their 5-2 win over Southern
Methodist University, has backed their
claim as the state’s top team.
“This was probably the biggest win
in A&M soccer history, because we beat
a great team, a well-coached, well-orga
nized big-time program,” head coach G.
Guerrieri said. “It can be said that
these girls have worked hard and have
concentrated on what we need to do,
and today was evident that we deserve
to get into the NCAA tournament.”
The Aggies, the South region’s eighth-
ranked team, won their eighth straight
game and closed out their regular season,
running their perfect overall home marks
to 15-0, 8-0 at the Aggie Soccer Complex.
SMU, 10-8-1, started off strong,
keeping the Aggies in their half of the
field for much of the first half. The
Mustangs, however, could not find the
back of the net as the Aggies’ defense
held strong. Sixteen minutes into the
half, the offense finally broke out and
scored when sophomore forward Kris
ten Koop headed the ball over SMU’s
junior goalkeeper, Collin Crowely.
“We knew it was going to be tough
and it was,” senior defender Kristi
Dillinger said. “We really came
through under the pressure.”
The Aggies, 13-2-2, came right back
when freshman forward Bryn Blalack
knocked the ball past Crowley.
Blalack’s one-on-one opportunity fell
into her lap when sophomore forward
Blake Griggs/THE Battalion
Freshman forward Bryn Blalack (left) scores the second goal of the game against SMU goalie Collin Crowley.
Yvette Okler deflected a pass from
Sophomore midfielder Kim Duda right
to the perfectly positioned Blalack.
Coming back from halftime, the Ag
gies’ 2-0 lead did not last long. The
Mustangs came out firing at will at the
A&M goal. Less than three minutes
into the half, freshman forward
Danielle Garrett, the south region’s
fifth ranked scorer, got free in the A&M
zone and from the left wing blasted a
shot past A&M’s sophomore goalkeeper
Sunny McConnell.
The Mustangs, who outshot the Ag
gies 17-11, added another goal when ju
nior midfielder Courtney Linex took her
turn from the left side and beat Mc
Connell tying the score 2-2.
When it seemed like the Aggies
would fold, they came out fighting and
took the lead back minutes later. In the
61st minute, junior midfielder Corie
Hammers took a pass from senior Anna
Whitehead and drove the ball to the left
side of the goal.
“We never really lost our focus,”
Koop said. “We panicked there for a
while, but the team came together. It
fired us up.”
The attack would get worse for the
Mustangs as Kristen Koop scored in the
63rd minute off a breakaway, also beat
ing Crowley to the lower left to make
the score 4-2.
Whitehead put the icing on the
cake with a 12-yard shot off of a cross
from Okler.
The Aggies have two days to cele
brate this victory before going back to
work on the road in Albuquerque, New
Mexico, to play two game this
weekend. The Aggies will play the
University of Montana on Saturday
followed by the University of New
Mexico on Sunday.
“The hardest part we had to over
come was beating SMU,” Koop said.
“Now we have to follow through.”
The Aggies will then await word
to find out if they qualified for the
NCAA tournament.
Aggies’ pride, Longhorns’ season on the line
By Nick Georgandis
The Battalion
With their chances at a perfect season shot and their
Southwest Conference winning streak broken, the Texas
A&M football team is looking forward to this Saturday’s an
nual rumble with the University of Texas for more than the
traditional grudge match reason.
“We’re all a little shell-shocked from what happened last week, “ sophomore
tailback Leeland McElroy said. “We don’t want to experience that feeling
again, and we want to play to our level of competition.”
That feeling came to the Aggies as a direct result of their 21 : 2T Fie wifF
Southern Methodist last weekend at the Alamodome. Despite the bad taste
left in the players’ mouths, senior linebacker Antonio Armstrong warns
that worrying about the past will greatly reduce the Aggies’ chances against
the Longhorns.
“We very seldom don’t come up with
the big play or the big stop, “ Arm
strong said. “But against a team like
Texas, we’ve got to come out swinging
from the ringing of bell one, or else.”
Chief on the minds of Armstrong and
his defensive mates is the adjustment
they will have to make if the Longhorns
opt to platoon quarterbacks Shea
Morenz and James Brown, as they have
in the past few games.
“I don’t like quarterbacks that can
run around a lot, “ Armstrong said.
“You feel like you get back there and
deserve a sack, but he’s running
around everywhere. You have to watch
a passer(like Morenz) deep and you
have to play a type of containment
against guys like Brown.”
Although the Longhorns will throw
many different weapons at A&M in at
tempts to break through against the
Southwest Conference’s best defense,
Armstrong said there is one Texas
player he will be keying in on.
“One guy I really pay attention to is
(guard) Blake Brockermeyer, “ Arm
strong said. “He’s an Aaron Taylor(for-
See A&M/Page 8
Senior linebacker Antonio Armstrong
Hanspard in A&M’s 24-17 victory.
By Drew Diener
The Battalion
The game may net be on Thanksgiving night this season,
but rest assured it’s luster will indeed shine as bright as the
sun over sold-out Memorial Stadium Saturday in Austin.
After suffering a good old-fashioned 33-9 shellacking at
the hands of Texas Tech last weekend in Lubbock, the Long
horns are glad to host this year’s version of their annual clash with long-time ri
val Texas A&M.
“Playing at home is to our advantage,” senior noseguard Thomas Baskin said.
“LasFyearTT couldn’t hear a thing. That (Kyle Field) was ihe loudest stadium"
I’ve ever played in.”
“We expect a sellout crowd, over eighty thousand,” Texas head coach John
Mackovic said. “There is a lot riding on it (the game), because this is the kind of
game players remember for a lifetime.”
With last weekend’s loss to Tech
dropping Texas out of the polls, the
Longhorns need a victory Saturday to
keep their bowl hopes alive. At 5-3 over
all and 2-2 in the Southwest Confer
ence, Texas finds themselves in the
midst of a tight race. A loss will all but
cancel any reservations Texas had for
January 2 in Dallas.
To beat A&M, Texas realizes
they have to shut down the Aggies’
ground attack.
“We’ve got to concentrate and plug
the run,” junior outside linebacker
Robert Reed said. “If we can, we have a
chance of winning, but that’s easier
said than done. You’ve got to put some
leather on them (A&M’s running backs)
to bring them down.”
Texas has had its share of problems
on defense this season, specifically with
stopping the run. Through eight games
this season, opponents have rushed for
1464 yards, an average of 183 per game.
Texas has given up almost identical
numbers through the air.
Mackovic attributes Texas’ defensive
woes to injuries, personnel changes,
and having to lineup with inexperi-
Stew Milne/THE Battalion
pulls down Texas Tech tailback Byron
See Texas/Page 8 •
at
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