■ ■ v v/: " f, ■ * ■; ''a" ■ Ks^rmJtKL e Battalion Sports Page 9 • Friday, October 8, 1999 7th-ranked soccer team hits the road to take on Baylor, Texas Tech JP BEATO/The Battalion ienior midfielder Mandy Davidson (middle) challenges for a ball against the Ohio State iiversity Buckeyes last month. BY REECE FLOOD The Battalion The Texas A&M Soccer Team will con tinue to take part in Big 12 action this week end when they play road games against Baylor University today and Texas Tech Uni versity Sunday. The Aggies (10-2) will travel to Waco tonight for a 7 p.m. game against the de fending Big 12 champion Baylor Bears (8-4). The Bears have a tendency to play the Aggies tough, and due to some past ex periences this game may prove to be quite a show. Two years ago Baylor won the game against the Aggies in Waco on a controver sial call. A Baylor player shot the ball at the Aggie goal, but missed it wide and the ball hit the side of the net. The referee mistakenly thought the ball went inside the net and counted the shot as a goal. A&M eventually lost the game by one goal. Sophomore midfielder Michelle Royal was not at the game two years ago, but she said the team has not forgotten what happened and the controversy is still re membered by some. “With the players that were there, it’s (con troversy) still [on their mind],” Royal said. The controversial call sparked an inci dent that carried over to last years game. “Kind of a fight type thing broke out after the game and it was pretty intense,” Royal said. “Last year they [Baylor] came, here, it was an intense game, a real phys ical type game.” Last year Baylor won 2-0 in College Sta tion which tied the series record at 2-2. The Aggies are hoping to go into Waco and end Baylor’s series winning streak at two, but they know it will be no easy task. “I look at them as an attacking team,” Royal said. Leading the way for Baylor with eight goals on the season is Courtney Saunders. Also this season Baylor, has accumulated 122 shots on goal while limiting oppo nents to only 88 shots on goal as a team. The Aggies will return home Friday night, but leave on Saturday for Lubbock and spend the night there before playing Texas Tech at 1 p.m. on Sunday . A&M’s offense will try to maintain their aggressive level of attacking in or der to take advantage of a Tech defense that has allowed 20 goals in 12 games this season. The Aggies will have to overcome a few injuries on defense in order to be successful this weekend. Senior defender Ashley Fendley and freshman defender Martha Moore are both doubtful to see any playing time this weekend. The Aggies are hitting the road ranked sev enth in the latest NSCAA and Soccer Buzz polls and are ranked 12th in Soccer America. A&M is also ranked seventh in scoring offense with a 3.25 goals-per-game aver age. The defense is ranked 11th a 0.58 goals-per-game average while senior goal keeper Melanie Wilson is 11th in the na tion with a 0.52 goals against average. ggies try to regroup against Bears BY BETH MILLER The Battalion The 1999 football season was sup- ised to showcase the Texas A&M Foot- ill Team’s balanced offense, ranked No. irimaril'®n the nation after the team’s first two n widens imes. But the spotlight has not been stauran'ilnd to the Aggies, as they scored no of- to sola fe sive touchdowns in their third and fo irth games. theywi#Senior running back Dante Hall at- Ibergelliftutes the Aggies’ performance to lack -thernse®enthusiasm anc j heart, ibeling® “[ think if W e play with more heart, ingtel®ore power, more emotion, then the run- :h ingrec«nggame will get more push or we will COnV n8 )ncentrate on w ^° we ^ ave on Passing r the l a Wonassignments,” Hall said. “So I think fe rmer §sj us t about going out and playing with to wHic'Tjjgjg ] ot more fj rej instead of going out ' 0 with this cool attitude like ‘we’re ,ato i 1 ; texasA&M.’ 6 w'Ti wee k teams are 8°i n g to gi ve us )0tan». ^yy/^t, anc j we have to give them our lestfaack, and we didn’t give it our best tispast weekend.” Last weekend the Aggies lost to Texas ’cli University, 21-19, in Lubbock. The ggies compiled 273 yards passing but nly52 yards rushing. They achieved 17 stdowns and completed 20 of 38 pass- Junior placekicker Terence Kitchens Hthe majority of A&M’s points on the aard with four field goals, and sopho- lore cornerback Jay Brooks scored the ggies’ only touchdown on a blocked lint. The Aggies will take on Baylor Uni- ersity Saturday at 1 p.m. at Kyle Field, his weekend’s meeting will be the 6th between A&M and Baylor since ), with the Aggies leading the series 7-29-9. The Bears (1-4, 0-2 in Big 12) broke leir 10-game losing streak and gave oach Kevin Steele his first win at Baylor rtien they beat the University of North Texas, 23-10, last Saturday in Waco. Hall said the Aggies’ problems against Texas Tech were offensive inability in the red zone, lack of focus and the fact Tech’s defensive strategy entailed stacking the line with eight or nine men at a time. “Watching the film, we still, even in the red zone, had missed assignments, and it’s not what someone’s doing — it’s what we’re doing,” he said. “We’re not executing when we get down there. We have to be on the same page and focus even harder when we get in the red zone because teams pick up their defense in side the 20 [yard line]. “It’s not anything special that other teams are doing; it’s what we’re not do ing.” He said the Aggies need to concentrate on winning this weekend’s game rather than trying to iron out the long-term of fensive gliches. “Baylor is 1-3, but their defense has al ways been pretty good,” he said. “I don’t think we can go [into the game] focusing on one aspect of game. We have to go in focusing on winning. First and foremost this weekend, we need to win the game and in the midst of it, try to see what is wrong with the running game.” A&M football coach R.C. Slocum said people often try to pinpoint specific rea sons for mistakes, but there is more than one reason for the errors in the Tech game. “What I am disappointed in is inside the 20 [yard line],” he said. “You’re al ways trying to put your finger on a rea son, and there is usually not one reason. We’ve had some assignment errors, which I attribute to the fact that we’re re placing two guys in our line that left this year. We haven’t functioned well as a unit. It’s been too inconsistent.” He said the running game has suffered from several blows, such as senior run ning back D’Andre “Tiki” Hardeman be ing injured. Slocum said the Tech game was diffi- GUY ROGERS/The Battalion Senior cornerback Jason Webster wraps up Texas Tech University fullback Sammy Morris during Saturday night’s game against the Red Raiders. The Aggies host the Baylor Bears this Saturday at 1 p.m. at Kyle Field. cult because when the Aggies fell behind, he looked at the situation as a whole and decided that the best way to catch up was to concentrate on the passing game. He said he can never remember coach ing two games in a row without an of fensive touchdown. Senior offensive lineman Chris Vallet ta said he is offended by public assump tions that the Aggies 1 :k the necessary talent to run the ball. He said he expects fans to question the situation when a No. 5 team gets beaten by Texas Tech, since the Red Raiders had lost two games beforehand. He said fans watch football to analyze the teams and the games, but he refuses to believe that A&M has a poor running game. “I don’t think it’s that we can’t run,” he said. “I can’t agree with that because as an offensive lineman, that’s my job and our job up front, to open up holes to run. We take it personally when peo ple are saying, ‘they can’t run, so they throw the ball.’ “That’s a pride issue, and we’re not going to swallow that. We can’t.” Harriers host A&M Cross Country Invitational SPORTS IN BRIEF BY BLAINE DIONNE The Battalion Texas A&M University is hosting one of the re- on’s largest cross-country meets today with a total of 1,000 collegiate and high-school runners escending on the Texas A&M Golf Course to compete for two days. The Texas A&M Cross Country Invitational is considered one of the best college meets in the region A&M cross country head coach Dave Hartman said. “This meet is one of the largest in the region as far as number of runners,” Hartman said. There will be a field of 23 schools competing, con sisting of Texas and Louisiana schools, along with Auburn University and Mississippi State University. The Texas A&M Men’s Cross Country team comes into the meet No. 3 in the region, behind the University of Arkansas and the University of Texas. The women currently are ranked sixth, but A&M sophomore runner Melissa Gulli said the rankings were reached in error. “It’s wrong!” Gulli said, joking. “No, the rat ings aren’t really affecting us, I think that’s just paper and they aren’t giving us enough credit, and 1 think we’ll show them on Friday.” While top ranked Arkansas will not be compet ing this weekend, the Longhorns are, and Hartman said the challenge to run against Texas and the 22 other schools is one the team is looking forward to. “This is a quality meet with some very good teams competing,” Hartman said. “The competi tion on both sides will be tough, but I’m really ex cited to host a meet like this.” The women’s and men’s teams are enjoying their nice starts to the 1999 season. Impressive finishes in their opening meet in Seattle two weeks ago at the Sundodger Invitational have the team confident about the season. “It was a good way to start the season,”' Hartman said. “But we didn’t run a great race, so we know we are going to drastically im prove as the year goes on.” WOOLSEY FILE PHOTO/The Battalion The Texas A&M Cross Country teams will host the Texas A&M Cross Country Invitational Saturday. The women’s race starts at 6 p.m. with the men starting 10 minutes later. A win by the Aggies this weekend would ac complish something no other A&M cross country team has done. Since the inception of the Aggie Invitational in 1988, the Aggie Harriers have nev er won their home meet. With the talent in place on this year’s squad, senior Carl Stewart said he hopes that trend will come to an end this year. “It’s really the first time we’ve had a