Image provided by: Texas A&M University
About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 15, 1999)
ilion Sports Page 7 • Friday, October 15,1999 . 13 Aggies set to take on Jayhawks BY AL LAZARUS The Battalion son’s game against the Universi- s was supposed to be a warmup xas A&M Football Team — a ;et ready for the following week’s the University of Nebraska. ! the Aggies needed a late-fourth ■yard drive to score a touchdown Lawrence, Kan., with a 24-21 win. fete a road game against a rejuve- iversity of Oklahoma squad loom- ] 1.23, excuse A&M for having only |on its mind — Kansas. f >ies (4-1, 1-1 Big 12) and Jay- ,0-2 Big 12) will square off Sat- :30 a.m. at Kyle Field. Isy to look ahead,” offensive line- J Valletta said. “But you can’t do a [team because that’s what loses for ybu. ” Imost learned that the hard way nsas last year. After jumping out [ead in the first quarter, the Aggies to three points over the next 50 |f play. ayhawks, meanwhile, slowly way on offense until running back bush scored from the A&M 1 -yard ( eKansas a 21-17 lead. Aggies responded, and running ite Hall’s three-yard touchdown ;playing;j ^ the impressive 75-yard drive, ice and:) pach R.C. Slocum said last year’s Ishould benefit the Aggies as they >r Kansas. helps us — that is was a close year,” Slocum said. “We kept ap- unny ya ■al. sons tfe mostici s of maul ■rson wi ionshipi novie ai of its so illis are one of tk, t perforri other ait able one! ; a write whytld be soi len oftaabe taking control of it, but we just it done. ” 3gies defeated Baylor University, Saturday without the services of injured his back lifting weights, ling back D’Andre “Tiki” Harde- was out with a groin injury. Both is questionable to play against KU. iffensive coordinator Steve Kragth- the Aggies’ game plan for Satur- jiotbe affected by injuries. Jegoing to design a game plan that whacks can run,” he said. “We’ve MmWa'l backup players -” ^ ' : , eii the Bears repeatedly kept eight or fenders close to the line to stop the Ag- me, A&M responded in the sec- Ibysuccessfully airing the ball out. wipe said he expects the Aggies JP BEATO/The Battalion A&M junior safety Michael Jameson drags down a Baylor University receiver in last Saturday’s 45-13 win over the Bears. A&M hosts Kansas tomorrow at 11:30 a.m. at Kyle Field. attMcCi ccer looks to bounce back against Florida State, Colorado will see more of the same from the Jay- hawks Saturday. “Like we’ve said all along, we want to be able to run the football,” he said. “But they’re more of an eight- or nine-man front team.” The Jayhawks are coming off a 50-9 thrashing at the hands of rival Kansas State University, but A&M quarterback Randy McCown said despite the lopsided loss — and three other KU blowout losses this sea son — the Aggies will treat Kansas like any other opponent. “We don’t pay any attention to who we’re playing,” he said. “We just treat every team like the Super Bowl champions.” Despite losing to Texas Tech University in their first conference gamb, the Aggies are in good position in the Big 12 South after last weekend, when the only teams who had been undefeated in conference play. Tech and OU, lost. Now every team has one loss except for Baylor, which is 0-3 in Big 12 action. Slocum said the Aggies’ early conference loss does not leave much room for error. “We’re in the race right now, and we’ve got one strike against us already,” he said. “It’s a week-to-week thing, and you either go forward or backward every week.” JP BEATO/The Battalion Bn midfielder Jessica Martin tries to elude a defender against ite University Sept. 12 at the Aggie Soccer Complex. BY REECE FLOOD The Battalion The Texas A&M Soccer Team will try to re bound from last weekend’s losses when the University of Colorado and Florida State Uni versity come to town. The Aggies (10-4) will take on Colorado tonight at 7:00 at the Aggie Soccer Complex. A&M currently is in third place in the Big 12 standings with a conference record of 4-3. Col orado (10-5) trails the Aggies with a 3-3 confer ence record. Last weekend’s 1-0 losses to Baylor Univer sity and Texas Tech University are putting the Aggies in a difficult position for the game against Colorado. A&M assistant soccer coach Phil Stephenson said he wants A&M to prove that last weekend was a fluke and it will not happen again this year. “We’ve got to make a statement to everybody in the country that’s watching to say it [last weekend] was an anomaly,’’Stephenson said. “It wasn’t the usual A&M. It was a down week end, and that [was] our one for the season.” It might be difficult for the Aggies to return to their early season form, but senior midfield er Mandy Davidson said she thinks the Aggies will be able to respond to the challenge for tonight’s game. “We’re expecting a tough game,” she said. “Having come off of two losses we know that teams are going to think that we’re more vul nerable, but at the same time I think it’s going to make us stronger. “I think that they are going to think that we’ve lost it and that they’re going to beat us, but I think they’re in for a big surprise.” After tonight’s game, the Aggies will return to action on Sunday night at 7 against Florida State. A&M will face a good passing team in the Seminoles. Florida State is a team that likes to dominate the ball with possession. A&M junior midfielder Heather Wiebe said that playing a nonconference opponent like FSU is important for the Aggies. “We’ve got to play teams from all over — not just in our conference — if we want to win a na tional championship, which is our goal,” she said. Stephenson said although this is a noncon ference game, the team will be ready to play hard and leave the field with a win. “We’re looking at a national picture; we have to win,” he said. “It doesn’t matter who it is. Our intensity in practice this week has shown that whoever steps on the field is going to have a real hard time.” Entering last weekend, A&M was ranked sev enth in both the NSCAA and Soccer Buzz polls, but the pair of losses dropped the Aggies to 21st and 19th, respectively. Davidson said this weekend is very impor tant for the Aggies. “I think it’s a ‘make-or-break our season’ kind of weekend,” she said. “We need to come out and win.” IkM swimming teams highly anticipate upcoming season mope to continue success after top ten that NCAA Championships last year BY JASON LINCOLN The Battalion s A&M’s Mens Swimming Tit last season by breaking top ten at the NCAA Cham- s. A&M will have an even 11 to fill this season as they equal last year’s perfor- >f a sudden we are a pow- program in the country,”- vimming coach Mel Nash ’sexciting coming into this : we will have our work cut us to stay that way. ” ie swimmers have real- itlhe challenge to maintain jram at top level with take work and even more will, team has taken on a new program that is helping to n the team beyond the rig- tepool. A&M will also hen na squad of swimmers who Ted the entire summer, a the Aggies. season’s been great,” senior tlorrow said. “There is a de- ation in practice to make ; es carry over into the sea- he guys are having fun yet still developing a strong intensity.” The individual members of A&M’s team feel they have all the capabilities that made them such a success last season and have added some new threats. There is a much bigger sense of team for the Aggies than any focus on individuals. “There has been a lot of changes this year,” Morrow said. “We feel we can accomplish all of our goals but it is going to have to be a total team thing.” Relays continue to be a strong focus for the A&M men who are so focused on a total team perfor mance that they often set personal bests during the events. “Relay’s get us psyched up,” Morrow said. “It has a tendency to be our strong point because each one of us is determined not to let our teammates down.” A problem area that A&M will have to try and solve is the specu lated loss of three All-American swimmers who might red-shirting what would have been their final season. The reason for the red-shirt season would be in anticipation for see Men’s on Page 8. Women wanting to build winning tradition under new head coach Steve Bultman FILE PHOTO/The Battalion The Texas A&M Men’s and Women’s Swimming Teams begin competition Friday with an intrasquad meet at the Student Recreation Center Natatorium. FILE PHOTO/The Battalion BY JASON LINCOLN The Battalion This season the Texas A&M Women’s Swimming Team has new look. A new coach, a large squad and an attitude characterize what the Aggies hope will be a win ning combination. Steve Bultman came from an as sistants position at Georgia with vi sions of having a program of his own that he could mold into what he hopes will be one that follows the winning traditions of many oth er Aggie sports. In the early period of the season Bultman has set the tone for A&M’s season with hard practices and gru eling workouts that A&M hopes will translate into success as they head into the competitive season. “Steve is a great coach with a lot of new innovative ideas,” senior Monica Stroman said. “He works us hard, but in the long run it will be well worth it. “He’s a drill sergeant, but he’s making us better swimmers. We love it.” The team has been responding to Bultman’s philosophy of hard work coming before talent. “I’ve been real pleased with how they’ve bought in with what I’m asking them to do,” Bultman said. “I think we have some talent. We just need to improve and we could surprise some people. There definitely is some talent here to work with.” The team has grown during the off-season from a small collegiate squad at 14 members to one with the depth to compete in every event. With 25 swimmers, the squad feels that it will be able to utilize the depth to build on the point scoring and allow individuals to specialize in their best events in addition to the added relay ability. The growth is largely due to walk-ons and transfers that Bult man hopes to shape into a power ful A&M squad. With the added numbers on the team, the Aggies have turned to a diverse group of seniors to provide leadership to a young team, that is hoping to start a winning tradition. With four swimmers and a diver re turning as seniors, the Aggies have see Women’s on Page 8.