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THE BATTALIol
Sports
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Page 5 • Friday, September 19, 2003
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By Dallas Shipp
THE BATTALION
BLACKSBURG, Va.—The
only thing scaring Virginia Tech
heading into Thursday after
noon was Hurricane Isabel, but
Texas A&M gave the Hokies
another frightful thought as the
fourth quarter began Thursday
night. But by night’s end, both
scares proved to have a lot of
bark but not much bite.
Isabel faded fast and the
Hokies held on in the fourth
quarter for a 35-19 win over the
Aggies.
“I was proud of our guys,”
A&M Coach Dennis
Franchione said. “We're not
going to take any moral victo
ries out of this but we need to
keep abreast of the positives and
there are a lot of them that we
can rally around.”
The Hokies (3-0) jumped out
in front early with a 7-0 lead but
the No. 20 Aggies dominated
the first half in every category
but the scoreboard. A&M (2-1)
out-rushed the Hokies 112-71
and out-passed them 104-38,
holding the ball for 19:59.
The Aggies pulled within
two before the half on a 12-play,
98-yard drive. It was the longest
drive since 1999 when the
Aggies drove 99 yards on two
plays against Tulsa.
Heading into the locker room
at halftime the Aggies looked
primed and ready to make a run
at the upset.
But the second half was a
different story.
Virginia Tech coach Frank
Beamer told reporters after the
game he wasn’t concerned about
his team coming out on top.
“I told them we’re a team
that gets better as the game goes
along and tonight was going to
be a test for us,” he said.
The Aggies had -10 yards
rushing after halftime and threw
for just 66 yards, thanks in large
part to a blitzing scheme the
Hokies used in the second half.
"They threw more blitzes at
us and were just trying to keep
pressure on us,” McNeal said.
“They had a good scheme.”
Even with the blitzes and the
mistakes by the Aggies, they
had a breath of life as the fourth
quarter began.
On the second play of the
quarter, the Aggies scored on a
15-yard touchdown pass from
McNeal to senior wide out Tim
Van Zant, to get within 2,21-19.
But it wasn’t enough as the
Hokies scored touchdowns on
each of their next two posses
sions. Junior running back
Kevin Jones finished with
three touchdowns.
Jones' 188 rushing yards
solidify VA Tech victory
John C. Livas • THE BATTALION
Virginia Tech's Kevin Jones darts through a line of A&M defenders.
McNeal finished the game
with 133 yards and a touch
down through the air and led
the team with 47 yards on the
ground. But it wasn’t his num
bers that garnered praise from
Franchione.
“I thought Reggie McNeal
grew out there tonight in a lot
of ways,” Franchione said.
“We all think of Reggie as
somewhat more experience
than he probably is. If you
went back and looked at
Randall last year and watch
him play this year I think that’s
exactly where we want
(Reggie) to be.”
By True Brown
THE BATTALION
BLACKSBURG, Va. - Hurricane
Isabel was no problem for the Texas
A&M football team. Virginia Tech
running back Kevin Jones was.
Jones, led by an unflinching
offensive line, powered his way to a
career-high 188 yards and three
touchdowns Thursday night to help
the No. 8 Hokies to a 35-19 win over
the No. 20 Aggies.
A&M’s undennanned defense
allowed Jones to tally 6.3 yards per
carry, including 130 yards in the sec
ond half.
“They lit a fire under his butt at
halftime,” A&M defensive back
Jaxson Appel said.
“(A&M’s defense) was really get
ting tired,” Jones said. “We were
hammering them. Our offensive line
was all over them.”
Jones, who took a back seat last
season to running back Lee Suggs,
gave Virginia Tech coach Frank
Beamer exactly what he wanted.
“A real plus for us is that the
offense wasn't a one-dimensional
thing,” Beamer said. “When you
get Kevin hot, you need to keep
running him. He can make a lot of
people miss.”
A&M closed Virginia Tech’s lead
to two points twice, and both times
the Hokies’ offense responded with
touchdown drives.
Leading 14-12 to start the third
quarter, the Hokie offense needed
just six plays to produce a 76-yard
touchdown drive. Jones rushed four
times on the drive for 43 yards, the
last two of which came on a touch
down run.
“(That drive) was important,”
Randall said. “We talked about that
when we went into the locker room
that we needed to score. When we
came out, we ran the ball success
fully. So we decided to keep run
ning the ball and maybe throw a
pass in here or there. We moved the
ball well.”
After the Aggies closed Virginia
Tech’s lead to 21-19 early in the
fourth quarter, Jones continued to
provide a spark for the Hokies.
Jones led the Hokies to a team
total of 273 rushing yards, while
A&M had just 102 (including -10 in
the second half)- Jones did not have
a negative carry all night.
“Jones is a good tailback,” said
A&M coach Dennis Franchione.
“Their offensive line did a good job.
We got out of position and got side
ways and missed a tackle or two, and
lost a little leverage.”
Soccer team heads into tourney emphasizing defense
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By Troy Miller
THE BATTALION
Texas A&M’s soccer team has a goal
it wants to keep for the entire season:
don’t let anyone score more than once
per game. To keep that goal would
guarantee a favorable result in every
game it plays and a solid season.
So far this year the No. 4 Aggies (4-
1) have been up to the challenge, losing
just once to No. 1 North Carolina, 1-0
in overtime.
“I think when you lose a game to a
team that you weren't favored to beat,
it’s not as difficult a situation,” said
A&M coach G. Guerrieri. “If you lose
to a team you're supposed to beat 1
think the reaction will be completely
different.”
Usually a loss to the women's soccer
version of the New York Yankees is
acceptable, especially after taking them
into overtime, but not for the Aggies.
The team is trying to develop a power
house of its own.
“1 think we just try to stress the posi
tives,” said senior midfielder Kristen
Strutz. “We did take (North Carolina)
into overtime, but we can't be satisfied
with that. I just think we keep trying to
reinforce the good things that came out
of that game.”
So far, the Aggies have posted blank
slates in two of their games, while
allowing only one goal in the other
three. In their 2-1 overtime win over
South Carolina, the Guerrieri’s Aggies
were able to come back after being
down a goal. Allowing no more than
one goal a game will keep the Aggies
in striking distance in every match.
"It's one thing to say that we want to
be more competitive," Guerrieri said.
"Well, that can't be measured. The play
ers are very good about identifying ways
to achieve those goals."
The schedule doesn't get any easier
as A&M (4-1) travels to Dallas to take
part in the Mi Cocina College Soccer
Cup on Southern Methodist
University’s campus and face Oregon
and Colorado College.
Oregon (5-0) is off to the best start
in school history after allowing just
four goals in its first five games. The
Ducks are also in the PAC-10 confer
ence, which is one of the toughest con
ferences in all of soccer.
Colorado College (3-1-1) is also off
to a great start, giving up just five goals
this season.
"(Oregon) has won all their games
and they’re pretty organized," Guerrieri
said. "Getting a chance to play them
before our conference is something
that we're really looking forward to."
With this being the last weekend
before the Aggies head into Big 12
conference play, two wins would
regain the momentum A&M had before
losing to the Tar Heels.
“It was a loss (to North Carolina),
but we're going to learn a lot from it,"
said junior forward Emma Smith. "We
know that when it comes down to it we
have the heart."
The Aggies will first take on Oregon
Friday night at 5 p.m. before meeting
Colorado College at 2:30 p.m. on Sunday
at SMU's Westcott Field in Dallas.
Sharon Aeschbach • THE BATTALION
Junior Emily DeWoody and the A&M defense have allowed only one goal in the Aggies'
first five games this season. The Aggies will face the University of Oregon this Friday.
Aggies get up and running
By Kyle Davoust
THE BATTALION
A160
1160
It’s Monday morning at 6 a.m. The sun is just
creeping over the horizon. Most college students
still have a few hours before they hit the snooze
button for the first time.
But this is not the case for Jonathan Lewis,
Jamie Geissler and the rest of Texas A&M’s men
and women’s cross country teams. They have
decided to beat the Texas heat by dedicating their
mornings - even Saturdays and Sundays - to
training for the upcoming season.
In a given week, members of the cross coun
try team run anywhere from 60 to 100 miles
each.
“The training is real intense,” said Geissler, a
freshman who recently finished first in the
women’s three-mile race at the Aggie Alumni
Challenge. “I’m used to running this much, but
the intensity is so much greater than it was in
high school.”
This intense training will start paying off
Saturday when the Aggies host the 2003 Texas
A&M Invitational.
“We should win the meet on Saturday,” said
senior Jonathan Lewis. “Last year we ran our B
squad. Our A squad is competing this year, so we
should definitely win.”
The men’s team, which received an at-large
bid to the NCAA Championships last season,
returns six of its seven members. Coach Dave
Hartman is optimistic about his team’s chances.
“We have three potential All-Americans in
Jonathan Lewis, Andrew Cook and Tommy
Bonn, who should help us achieve our goal of a
top 15 finish,” Hartman said.
Hartman said this year could see the strongest
men’s cross country team A&M has ever fielded.
With talented runners such as Lewis and Cook,
Hartman has good reason to feel this way. They
were the Aggies’ top two runners in every race
last fall, and shared Big 12 Male Runner of the
Week honors after impressive performances at
The University of Washington's Sundodger
Invitational.
“Our depth and experience
should help us compete against
some of the stronger Big XII
teams such as Colorado and
Texas,” Lewis said. “We might
not have the front runners that a
team like Colorado has, but we
are very strong throughout.”
While the men’s team boasts
an experienced squad, the women’s team will
count on its freshmen, particularly early in the
season.
Geissler shrugs off what some might conceive
as early pressure.
“I really don’t think about it,” Geissler said.
“I’m just an inexperienced freshman, so I’ll just
go out and I’ll run my race.”
Fellow freshman Katie Hummel added, “I
seem to always race better under pressure, so it
really doesn’t bother me.”
Despite the health concerns, Hartman still
feels good about his women’s team.
“We might take some punches early in the
year,” he said. “But I feel that if we can just work
on getting healthy, then we’ll have a real chance
to finish strong.”
Braves clinch 12th straight title
LEWIS
By Paul Newberry
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
ATLANTA — Once again, the Atlanta Braves
didn’t get a chance to celebrate together.
The Braves clinched their 12th straight division
championship Thursday, winning the NL East
when the Philadelphia Phillies rallied for a 5-4 vic
tory over the Florida Marlins.
The players had hoped for a chance to win the
division on the field after beating Montreal, 14-4,
on Wednesday. But the Braves had an off day, and
second-place Florida was mathematically elimi
nated from the division race with its loss to the
Phillies.
“It’s always great to be able to celebrate togeth
er,” 19-game winner Russ Ortiz said in a telephone
interview from his home. “I wouldn’t say it’s dis
appointing, but this isn’t how you would want to
do it if you had a choice.”
Ortiz learned of the division championship by
checking the Internet. Last year, the Braves won
the East in similar fashion, clinching on an off day
after missing a chance to win it on the field.
The Marlins hold a half-game lead over
Philadelphia in the wild-card race. Florida opens a
four-game series in Atlanta on Friday.
“I know the guys, because it happened this way
last year, wanted to get an opportunity to cele
brate,” said Ortiz, who’s in his first season with the
Braves. “It’s important to share that part of the
game with each other.”
But that’s a minor complaint after the Braves
extended their record for consecutive first-place
finishes. The streak that began in 1991 when
Atlanta won the NL West and capped a worst-to-
first season by reaching the World Series for the
first time since 1958.
No other team in professional sports has won
more than nine straight division titles.
Ortiz said manager Bobby Cox “deserves a ton
of credit. He’s the big reason why guys love to play
here and why his teams keeping winning.”
The Braves moved to the NL East in 1994 and
trailed the Montreal Expos by six games when the
strike stopped the season in August.
In 1995, Atlanta won the division by 21 games
over the New York Mets, then beat the Cleveland
Indians in the World Series.
That’s the only Series title during the run. The
Braves lost to the wild-card to the San Francisco
Giants in the first round of the playoffs last season.
This year, the Braves seemed primed to falter
after losing a pair of 18-game winners: Tom
Glavine signed with the Mets and Kevin Millwood
was traded to Philadelphia in a cost-cutting move.
When Montreal swept a three-game series at
Turner Field to open the season, some fans grum
bled. But the Braves quickly recovered — they
have been above .500 since April 20 and have been
all alone atop the division standings since May 2.
While the pitching slumped without Glavine
and Millwood, the offense more than picked up the
slack. The Braves have 226 homers — an Atlanta
record — and four players with at least 100 RBIs.
“We understood after some games were under
our belt that we may have to win differently this
year,” Ortiz said. “That was it. We just accepted it
and won anyway.”
The Braves still have some issues to address in
the final nine games of the regular season.
They hold a one-game lead over San Francisco
for best record in the league, which could deter
mine home-field advantage in the NL champi
onship series. Also, the Braves are anxious for the
return of closer John Smoltz, on the disabled list
with a sore elbow.