Sports
Page 7
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- Ulk " Texas A&M wide receiver Greg Porter makes a 22-yard catch at the Oklahoma State 2-yard line. Fullback Ja'Mar Toombs scored one play later
Amq K gj ve a&m its final points in a narrow 21 -16 win in Stillwater. .
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Aggies escape Cowboy nightmare
Controversial out-of-bounds call seals 21-16 A&M win in final minute
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577LLWATER. Okla. — Although thd Okla-
oma State Cowboys had not beaten the No. 24
exasA&M football team since 1988 when Bar-
ly Sanders roamed the backfield in Stillwater,
last few trips to Oklahoma have not been
pleasant.
| Everyone remembers the 51 -6 debacle against
p Oklahoma Sooners last year, but according to
A&M coach R.C. Slocum, the Ags’ last trip to
OSU was no picnic, either.
“They always play us hard here,” Slocum said.
[Today was no different.”
Saturday’s excursion to A&M’s neighbor to the
trth was no different, as A&M had to survive a
Ist-play touchdown scare that left senior offen
sive lineman Chris Valletta with this to say: “I'm
?lad I don’t ever have to come back to Oklahoma
lain.”
| A&M quarterback Mark Farris added that he
(famed to get on the plane immediately before the
Ifs had a chance to change the score.
I What set up OSU’s (2-6 overall, 0-5 confer-
nce) opportunity for the big win was the fact that
[was able to stay with the Aggies (7-2, 5-1) until
le fourth quarter, something the Cowboys were
liable to do in their five previous losses.
A&M had plenty of chances to go up on the
'Pokes in the first half, entering Cowboy territory
five times in the first two quarters, but came away
with only seven points.
The Aggies' lone first-half score came when
Farris hooked up with receiver Robert Ferguson
for a 40-yard bomb to put the Aggies up, 7-0, with
9:50 left in the half.
OSU quickly answered with a score of its own
on the next drive. After driving 64 yards on 10
plays, Cowboy quarterback Aso Pogi punched it
in from 4 yards out to send the teams into the lock
er room with the score knotted at 7.
Coming out for the second half proved to be
a more successful venture for the Aggie offense,
as it took eight plays and 3:17 to drive 80 yards,
capping off the scoring drive with a 10-yard
Richard Whitaker rush to regain the lead for the
Aggies, 14-7.
OSU responded on its next drive by marching
to the A&M 25-yard line before being stopped by
the Aggie defense. OSU kicker Seth Condley
booted the 42-yarder to pull the ’Pokes within 4.
A&M looked to take control of the game on its
next possession. Driving 77 yards in 11 plays and
eating 5:03 off the clock, the A&M offense ex
tended its lead to 11 points 6n a Ja’Mar Toombs 2-
yard run.
On the Aggies’ next drive, perhaps the most
damaging injury of the season struck.
On first-and-lO from the OSU 43, Ferguson
caught a Farris pass for a 19-yard gain and was
tackled out of bounds. As he fell, Ferguson se
verely sprained his knee and was shoved into the
kicker’s net, cutting his hand. Ferguson did not re
turn to the game, and his status for next weekend’s
Oklahoma game is unknown.
The Cowboys did not mount another scoring
threat until the fourth quarter, when their special
teams unit hit pay dirt.
After the Wrecking Crew shut down OSU’s
first drive of the fourth quarter, A&M punt return
er Chris Taylor unwisely fielded the punt inside the
A&M 5, giving the Aggies their worst field posi
tion of the day.
The offense was unable to bring out the ball,
and on the Cody Scales punt, OSU’s Gabe Find-
say returned the 47-yard boot for a touchdown.
The ’Pokes’ two-point conversion attempt failed,
leaving the score at 21 -16.
The punt return was the first for a touchdown
against A&M since Sanders did it in Stillwater
in 1988.
The Ags were unable to do anything with the
See Close Call on Page 10.
’Huskers hand Ags
familiar ending in
Big 12 tourney
By Brian Ruff
The Battalion
SAN ANTONIO — The second-
seeded Texas A&M women’s soccer
team came up one game short of
claiming its second Big 12 soccer ti
tle Saturday night. The No. 1 Ne
braska Cornhuskers handed the Ag
gies a 4-1 loss in front of 2,000-plus
fans at the Blossom Athletic Com
plex in San Antonio.
The Aggies and Cornhuskers have
had a long history of matchups in the
Big 12 tournament since the confer
ence began in 1996.
In the first year of
the tournament, the
Aggies were de
feated in overtime
by the ’Buskers in
the championship
game. A&M got re
venge the follow-
guerrieri ing year, as it beat
Nebraska in ’97
and took the Big 12 title.
Nebraska took a win over the Ag
gies in 1998, defeating them 3-2 in
triple overtime in the semifinal
matchup. The ’ Buskers have found
their way into the Big 12 title game
every year since the conference was
begun.
Nebraska also ended the Aggies’
season in the NCAA tournament in
1998 and 1999.
The Aggies looked to take an ear
ly lead just two minutes into the
game, when Beather Ragsdale re
ceived a pass from the left side of
the penalty box and blasted the ball
over the head of Nebraska goal
keeper Karina LeBlanc. The shot hit
the crossbar and found its way into
the net.
Unfortunately for the Aggies,
the linesman cut short the A&M
celebration, calling Ragsdale off
side before the shot. The call was a
major momentum-breaker for the
Aggies.
Nebraska applied heavy pressure
to the Aggie defense, forcing goal
keeper Esther Thompson to make a
number of tough saves, including
robbing a Ibose ball from a Nebras
ka would-be goal scorer 15 minutes
into the half.
Luck seemed to be on the Ag
gies’ side when a Nebraska forward
found open field and faced Thomp
son. Thompson moved to cut down
the angle on the shot, and the Ne
braska player laid the ball past the
outstretched Thompson, but the shot
struck the left post and rolled past
the back line.
A&M’s luck struck again one
minute later, after Thompson was
unable to handle a Cornhusker shot,
leaving a wide-open goal for a Ne
braska player. Defender Amber
Reynolds played hero, sliding
through the ball and taking out the
•1st Round:
Bye
T.B.A.
1 p.rn.
•2nd Round:
*• - v; :
November 12
' . .
r Aggie Soccer Complex
'
Postseason notables:
^ Sixth straight appearance in tourney
11999 Results: Advanced to ’Sweet 16’ |
RUBEN DELUNA/Thh Battalion
Cornhusker player in the process.
The Aggies’ luck soon ran out, as
Nebraska midfielder Christy Barms
took a shot from the right side of the
box and beat Thompson, high and
inside the left corner, with 11 min
utes left in the half. The goal gave
the ’ Buskers a l -0 lead.
Nebraska increased its lead to 2-
0 with two minutes left in the half.
Cornhusker midfielder Becky Pre
ston moved on an Aggie defender,
leaving a wide-open path to the net.
Thompson got a hand on the shot,
but Meghan Anderson finished the
scoring chance with a shot that beat
the recovering A&M goalkeeper.
Nebraska led 2-0 at the break.
A&M looked to claw; its way
back into the game when midfield
er Juli Coin took a shot from the
middle of the penalty.box that found
its way past the leaping Nebraska
goalkeeper. The Cornhusker lead
was cut to 2-1. Forward Kristin
Strutz tallied the assist.
2000 Big 12 Tournament Offen
sive MVP Christine Latham sealed
the Nebraska win with a breakaway
goal five minutes after Coin’s goal.
Nebraska forward Paige Phillips
added another insurance goal with
13 minutes left in regulation.
“We were beaten on moments,”
See Big 12 on Page 10.
Margin of victory is not a benchmark for future
This week Texas A&M will take
on the very best teams college
sports has to offer, and they
get to do it at home.
Here's what's on tap in the
biggest week for 2000 Aggie
Athletics to date.
MON DAY
Women’s Tennis All day
■ Hosts ITA Southwest Regional
Location: Varsity Tennis Center
T he Aggies have
never enjoyed
crossing the
Red River. There is
something about
playing in Oklahoma
that always gets to
Texas A&M.
Saturday’s narrow
21-16 win over Oklahoma State that
was decided by inches and a referee’s
judgment in favor of A&M did not help
the impression.
“We need to get on out of Oklahoma
and I don’t care how we do it,” line
backer Jason Glenn said after the win.
In a game that, by all rights, should
have been over Ln the third quarter
when A&M racked up 197 yards and
two touchdowns, it was not decided
until Marcellus Rivers landed just out
of the end zone on a fourth-and-10 at
tempt from the 15-yard line with just
37 seconds remaining in the game.
The play was so close it could have
been called in either direction, but in
college football, there are no second
looks via instant replay. A&M can only
be relieved.
But the Aggies insist the result is not
a red flag that signals trouble next week
when A&M plays the No. 1 team in the
nation, a team that also happens to be
from Oklahoma.
Oklahoma State was not even ranked
and has just a pair of wins this season.
OU has eight.
“We’re all about winning football
games, so we’ll take this one,” said
quarterback Mark Farris. “The Big 12
Conference is a tough conference and
it’s always hard to win on the road.”
Unlike A&M’s last win over a team
with just two wins, Baylor, the Aggies
were more pleased with the win than
upset at nearly letting it slip away.
A lot factored into the different post
game attitude, not to mention that OSU
was a much better team. To A&M’s credit,
it put up one of its biggest offensive per
formances to date against a Cowboy team
that was fired up by mmors of the future
dismissal of coach Bob Simmons.
The game was not inspiring, but then,
neither was 1998’s near-win at Kansas.
The next week, A&M returned to Kyle
Field to upset No. 2 Nebraska.
“We got a free lesson never to let any
other team get the momentum,” said of
fensive linemen Chris Valletta. “We’re
just happy. We’re real excited about this
OU game, and I’m glad we don’t have
to come back to Oklahoma state for it.”
This time, its south of the Red River,
where A&M reigns supreme against
ranked opponents that enter Kyle Field.
But will boundaries be enough to im
prove the Aggies’ effectiveness and
keep the same result in the win column.
PATRIC SCHNEIDER/Thk Battalion
Wide receiver Robert Ferguson had a
record day before leaving with an injury.
Soccer receives
sixth straight bid
in NCAA tourney
The No. 9 Texas A&M (17-6)
soccer team received its sixth
consecutive bid into the NCAA
tournament field of 48 teams
Sunday night.
A&M received a bye past the
first round, scheduled for
Wednesday.
The Aggies will meet the win
ner of Marquette and Wright
State Sunday at 1 p.m. at the
Aggie Soccer Complex.
The Aggies lost to Nebraska
in the finals of the Big 12 Cham
pionship game on Sunday, clear
ing the way for Nebraska to claim
the fourth seed in the tourney.
With the positioning, A&M
will not have to face the
’Huskers again unless the Ag
gies advance to the finals.
Sports in Brief
Knee injury cuts
short Ferguson’s
big day at OSU
Robert Ferguson was on
pace for a record day Saturday.
The Texas A&M standout post
ed a personal best 11 catches
for 119 yards before leaving the
game with a knee injury.
A&M trainer Karl Kapchins-
ki reported after the game that
the injury was a knee sprain.
The injury came as Ferguson
was pushed out of bounds on a
19-yard reception, when the col
lided with the practice field goal
net, cutting open his hand and
injuring his knee.
“It felt like I got rolled up
on,” Ferguson said. “I don’t
know about next week’s game.
I’ll do whatever the trainers tell
me to do so I can be ready for
next week.”
Archery sweeps
titles in Invite
The Texas A&M archery team
swept the team titles at its host
meet, the Aggie Invitational, this
weekend.
The Aggies finished with six
of the top seven spots in com
pound competition and nine of
the top 10 places in Olympic
bow, including each of the top
eight.