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Sports
The Battalion
Page 1B • Thursday, November 7, 2002
Soccer team begins run in Big 12 Tournament
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By Troy Miller
THE BATTALION
The No. 3 Texas A&M women’s soc
cer team (15-3-1, 9-0-1) is looking to
defend its 2001 Tournament title and its
regular season championship this
week in San Antonio at the Big 12
Championship Tournament. The last
time the Aggies won a regular season
was in 1997, when they went on to
win their first-ever tournament crown.
The 2002 season has been full of ups
d downs. The Aggies have a 14-game
unbeaten streak, which is a team record
for consecutive games without a loss.
The streak started after dropping three
matches in a row, which is the team
record for most consecutive losses.
With the Aggies 2-1 win against No.
5Texas Friday, giving them the regular
season title, the Aggies secured the first
end of the Big 12 Championship dou
ble-dip. Now that the first goal has
been met, the Aggies are moving on to
the next step in their quest.
“We’re reassessing our goals for the
rest of the way,” said head coach G.
Guerrieri. “We consider (the Big 12
Tournament) to be a season unto itself.”
The Aggies enter the tournament as
the number one seed by virtue of their
first place finish in the regular season.
They begin by facing off against the
eighth-seeded Oklahoma State Cowgirls
who are making their program’s first
Big 12 Tournament appearance.
The Cowgirls are coming off a 3-2
win against archrival Oklahoma. OSU
sophomore Jeni Jackson scored a hat
trick, or three goals, in the last six min
utes to overcome a 2-0 deficit and give
the Cowgirls their first Big 12
Tournament birth.
“(OSU) is going to be a hungry
team,” said Big 12 Offensive Player of
the Week Emma Smith. “It’s going to
be a good game for us to go in and play
first. It’ll be a good hard game.”
Smith has picked up her game as she
has scored six goals in the last six
games and is on a current six-game
point streak. Coupled with sophomore
Linsey Woodard, whose 13 goals lead
the Big 12, the Aggie offense is running
on all cylinders.
“(Our midfielders) have been unbe
lievable at getting behind people and
sending in crosses,” Smith said.
Freshman Kati Jo Spisak, the Big 12
Newcomer of the Week and First-Team
All-Big 12 selection, has continued to
improve her aggressiveness in the net.
Spisak made six saves against Texas,
including a save on a penalty shot.
The rest of the defense, anchored by
First-Team All-Big 12 selection Jessica
Martin, has forced opponents away
from their strategies.
“All over the field everybody,
throughout the season, has stepped up,”
said senior midfielder Heather
Ragsdale. “As a team we have started
to play a lot better overall.”
The competition in the Big 12
Tournament should be fierce. Texas,
the No. 2 seed, did not lose a game
until it faced the Aggies. No. 3
Nebraska won the Big 12 Tournament
in 1996, 1998, 1999, and 2000 and No.
4 Missouri has netted 13.9 percent of
its shots.
“We should be nothing but confi
dent,” Guerrieri said. “The players
should have experienced the satisfac
tion of what hard work brings, and
they’ve worked hard.”
The Aggies begin play at 1 1 a.m. on
Thursday against Oklahoma State at
Blossom Field in San Antonio. The
winner of that game will take on the
winner of Missouri vs. Colorado in
Friday’s semifinal.
JOHN C. LIVAS • THE BATTALION
A&M sophomore Linsey Woodard battles for the ball against Texas last week.
Texas baseball team given probation for coach’s violations
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I feel like I’m speaking for all
mothers. I want to say to my
daughter and to every daughter
who ever felt pressured to abort by
her mother. I’m sorry. I had no
right to ask that of you.
I had no right to insist that you
choose between your love for your
baby and your love for me or your
father. I honestly thought it would
help to save the future we always
wanted for you. I never imagined
how it could affect you forever.
Can you ever forgive me?
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^ 111 sorry.
to have your child and
I’m sorry for not
having been there
for you. I was
afraid, confused.... ? •*'
I’ve never forgotten you or our baby.
Speaking for all the men who skipped out
on the women who trusted us, urged an abor
tion, or simply didn’t fight hard enough for
our relationships with both you and our chil
dren, I’m sorry.
I’ll always be sorry.
I want to tell my boyfriend, whose baby I
aborted. I’m sorry.
I did it without even telling you,
except afterwards...just to make you feel
the same hurt I was feeling.
For myself, and all of us women who have used our abortions
to dump on men. I’m sorry. We were just so confused, frightened,
and hurting.
I was prejudiced. I just
assumed that having a baby,
in your situation, wds auto
matically a bad thing. I
encouraged or went along
with the abortion because it
was easier than helping you
to find a better solution.
As a medical procedure, abortion is easy
to do. The alternative—helping people to
welcome a child into the world—is hard.
That takes time and commitment.
It was easier for me just to offer you an
abortion—cheap love. I’m sorry.
What you really wanted was help. I took
the easy way out.
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Ration.”
I’m sorry that I encouraged you to abort. I know I
made it sound so easy.
What I didn’t tell you was that I had buried my
own pain about abortion. I wanted to convince myself,
as much as you, that my abortion wasn’t so bad.
Worse, in encouraging you to abort, and seeing
you abort, I was somehow hoping that your abortion
would make me feel a little bet
ter. After all, I liked you, and if
you also had an abortion, then
somehow that was proof that I
could still be likable too.
As you can tell, I was really
messed up.
I’m sorry.
I’m sorry for all the times I was insensitive.
I’m sorry for the times I did not speak on abortion when I had a chance to shape your future choices.
I’m also sorry for the times when I did speak on abortion without emphasizing God’s love for you, and
my love for you.
Instead, I only said how wrong it was—piercing your soul with words of blame—when what you really
needed was a gentle word, a reminder that we all make mistakes. We all fall short.
But our God is so loving that if we run to Him when we fall. He will always tend to our wounds and
make us whole again. This is what I knew. This is what I wanted to share with you. But so often, the words
never came out right. I m sorry.
Allow me to speak for every minister of every denomination who has ever failed you: I’m sorry. Every
minister of God tries to faithfully preach both God’s law and His mercy. But so often we end up preaching more of one than the
other, and the message becomes unbalanced.
Please, forgive us our failings, just as God will surely forgive you yours.
JAY
ANd Heali