Sports
Aggies set aside sorrow for annual showdcnv
Slocum says team has obligation to play hard
By Kevin Espenlaub
THE BATTALION
Days after tragically losing one of
its own. the Texas A&M football
team will travel to Austin to take on
the University of Texas Longhorns in
the annual contest between the state’s
biggest schools.
The death of freshman defensive
lineman Brandon Fails, 18, on
Monday has put a damper Friday’s
game, which is one of the nation’s
most heated rivalries.
“Today is an example of the
inescapability of the realities of life
that we all have to deal with,” said
A&M head coach R.C. Slocum after
announcing Fails’ death to the media
on Monday. “Everybody’s hurting
and we just have to try to help them
get through it.”
Fails died in his dorm room
Monday morning, and as a result, the
University of Texas canceled its annu
al Hex Rally that was scheduled for
that evening.
The event had taken place official
ly since 1986, only being canceled
once before after the 1999 Aggie
Bonfire Collapse.
Unofficially, the event began in
1941 as a way of cursing the Aggies,
whom the Longhorns had lost 18 con
secutive times to.
“In respect to (Fails’) family, it
would be wrong for us to be celebrat
ing with people before the game,” said
Texas head coach Mack Brown in
response to the cancellation.
The game will take place Friday at
1 1 a.m. at Darrell K. Royal-Texas
Memorial Stadium.
The teams will be squaring off for
the 109th time and the series is the
fourth longest in Division IA college
F* red icfiio ns
28 - 24 Texas
Kevin Espenlaub
" Emotional Aggies fall short in fourth
quarter."
Dallas Shipp
34 - 10 Texas
" This score worked tor OU, maybe it will work
for t.u."
True Brown
34-21 Texas
" t.u. offense wears down the Ulrecking
Crew."
RUBEN I)t l.UNA • THE BATTALION'
football. The teams first played each
other in 1894.
For A&M, the game will be the most
important of the season, but the
Longhorns also have a heated rivalry
with the University of Oklahoma, which
they lost 35-24 earlier this season.
“There is not as much anger in (the
A&M-UT) game in my estimation."
Brown said. “It’s a different rivalry
because so many families are split
between these two schools. 1 also
think that the Bonfire tragedy changed
this rivalry.”
The Aggies (6-5, 3-4 Big 12) will
enter the contest after losing to
Missouri 33-27 in their last home
game of the season on Nov. 16.
Freshman quarterback Reggie
McNeal started the game before injur
ing his ankle, making way for sopho
more Dustin Long to lead the team
back from a 14-point first half deficit
before throwing an interception in the
second overtime period and handing
the Tigers the victory.
“Reggie has great speed for a quar
terback and Dustin is a guy we
recruited who can scramble and run
the quarterback draw too.” Brown
said. “They run the same offense, so
there will be no change in our defense
either way. We’re planning on Reggie
playing some."
The loss added more pressure on
Slocum, whose job had been in ques
tion and a source for rumors in the
past few weeks.
“It’s really what you do all the
time,” Slocum said in response to
what the game means to him person
ally. “The outcome of a football game
doesn’t determine my life and it won’t
this week. (Fails’ death) is the big
JOHN C. LIYAS*THEWn
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Sophomore quarterback Dustin Long looks downfield for a touchdown against fa ton 229-
Long will look to improve his career of 2.314 yards in the Texas game Friday.
thing for me right now, and how his
family is dealing w ith the situation."
Texas (9-2. 5-2 Big 12) is coming off
a tough loss tt> Texas Tech in a game that
officially knocked the Longhorns out of
the Big 12 Championship.
“We were disappointed in our loss
to Tech, but we haven’t lost back-to-
back games since 1999.” Brown said.
“Our guys have shown great intestinal
fortitude in fighting back after a loss.”
The Longhorns have an 18-game
home winning streak, the third longest
current streak in NCAA football.
2000 Horn
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$15,650. :
Soccer team faces North Carolina in Elite Eight
A&M hopes second meeting goes better
1998 Toyc
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mgs between the schools.
The Aggies' last win was in
Kyle Field in an emotional game fob
ing the 1999 Aggie Bonfire dpi
that k i I led 12 and injured 27 Aggies
“Whatever we do. we're gett
ready to play this game," Slocum sail
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as best prepared for the game as»;
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By Troy Miller
THE BATTALION
d?n Sept. 13, the Texas A&M women’s soccer
team lost to the then No. 1 University of North
Carolina Tar Heels, 4-1. Since then, the Aggies
have reeled off 18 wins in their past 20 games.
When the Aggies and Tar Heels meet for the sec
ond time this season, a Final Four berth will be
on the line.
“That was a game (Sept. 13) where we learned
some difficult leasons about ourselves,” said A&M
head coach G. Guerrieri. “The players were chal
lenged to step up their level of play, to step up
their level of committment and after that game is
when we went off on our 16-game unbeaten
streak.”
The second-seeded Tar Heels own 16 nation
al championships as well as 20 Final Four
appearances. The Aggies are making their sec
ond trip to the Elite Eight and are looking for
their first Final Four.
“It helps knowing the Carolina players are
human,” Guerrieri said. “We’ll go into Chapel
Hill not playing against Mia Hamm and Christine
Lilly and the ghosts of Carolina past. We’ll be
going in against a team we have already played
once this season.”
The Tar Heels are currently riding a 12-game
unbeaten streak into their match against A&M. To
reach the NCAA Quarterfinals, North Carolina
had to come back to beat the Univeristy of
Tennessee.
After being down 1-0, Carolina rallied to score
three goals and win, 3-1.
“Carolina is Carolina,” said Tennessee head
coach Angela Kelly. “They wear teams down.”
The Aggies have won two squeakers to reach
their second consecutive Elite Eight. After domi
nating Northwestern State 8-0 in the first round,
the Aggies have prevailed in two straight penalty
kick shootouts. Freshman goalkeeper Kati Jo
Spisak has come up big to advance the Aggies.
“Her most special skill is to learn from situa
tions,” Guerrieri said. “She has gotten better at so
many things. The strength and conditioning train
ing as well as our goalkeeper sessions has made
her a very agile and explosive keeper.
“She’s always had great talent, but now, add that
dimension to it as well as her confidence and you
got someone who could be the best in the country.”
Spisak saved three penalty kicks to seal a win
over Southern Methodist University in the second
round. She then saved three more in a shootout to
beat UCLA in the round of 16.
“I guess 1 was in the zone,” Spisak said. “I was
just having fun out there.”
Now, the Aggies will go from the West Coast to
the East Coast looking for the elusive Final Four
berth that will finally earn them the respect they
have been looking for.
ALISSA HOLL1MON • THE BATTALION
Texas A&M freshman midfielder Becky Olson looks to
pass downfield against SMU last Sunday.
“At the beginning of the year against UNC we
were missing a couple of players,” Spisak said.
“Now we have everybody. I think we’re ready
and we want it bad.”
The Aggies will attempt to reach the Final
Four against North Carolina Friday in Chapel
Hill at 2 p.m.
SPORTS IN BRItf
Tech safety Aycockdw^
of assault charges byM
LUBBOCK, Texas (AP) - Texas Tech^
safety Ryan Aycock has been dearedocn
nal charges stemming from a fight asP
an agreement with the Lubboc
District Attorney's Office. „
The agreement requires Aycock to^Jj
hours of community service, P a Y^ ,
Lubbock Boys and Girls Club, aWamh
alcohol and pay an unspecified r , ,
Francisco Ortiz Jr., the other participa
May 26 fight. U
"Charges were dropped,
speaks for itself," Aycocks . 9 ,
Aycock, said in Tuesday's editions (
Lubbock Avalanche-Journal.
Aycock turned himself in f° r 9r ^
16. He claimed he was ^ g ^Qj-
threatened by Ortiz at B,ea ^ h f lj /^edlie
Ortiz, 29, claimed Aycock
either with a punch or bottl ^ 5 rt 00 rest p
understanding he's to receiv ^ fajr c0 #
"I think the outcome is ' jj
ing it was his first offense, .^0#
than likely, I will be following up wU
bly a civil suit, some sort 0 ^ .^5^
Aycock, a junior, is the Re a |,]
leading tackier this year,
games for the team this sea ^ t an( j
He was available for c reV j 0 us!i
declined comment on the matter prev
f Brazos Be
! for A&M
| weekend,
end get-a'
lions call
[696-0091.
BUSIh
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