By James Zwilling skiff staff The TCU men's soccer team defeated the University of Texas-Dallas, 2-1, in overtime at the TCU Soccer Complex Tuesday in their first win of the season. Players and coaches said the team knew it needed a victory after losing their last two games. "All this week we have been playing with more intensity," freshman forward Dustin Sitar said. "We came out knowing that we had to win." Intensity led the team to a total of seven shots in the first half, compared to only four by the UT-D Comets who entered the match-up with a 2-1-1 record. Junior midfielder Matt Groves scored the first goal for the Horned Frogs off an assist by fellow sophomore midfielder Josh Rife with 28:50 left in the first period. Groves said he was happy with his team's performance. "We worked on a few attacking methods this week," he said. "I felt we looked better, and we were playing better." The Horned Frog offense managed to control the ball for the rest of the half, holding the Comets to a 1-0 deficit. TCU continued to dominate the ball in the second period, but failed to convert on 11 shots. The Comets only offensive attempt came with 17 minutes left to play when forward Yi Cheng's shot on goal hit the post. However, UT-D recovered immediately with a goal by midfielder Ngoc Vo, to tie the game at one. The Horned Frogs were unable to recover from the goal in the remaining minutes of the period, ending regulation play tied at one. Head coach David Rubinson said the team is still adjusting to new players and transfer students. "In a lot of ways we are still a new team," Rubinson said. "We need to find our personality and find out what this team is all about." After a five minute break, the Horned Frogs headed into the 15-minute sudden death overtime with confidence. "We had to win because we need confidence heading into the Butler and Indiana games," Rife said. The Horned Frogs entered the period with the added experience of already having played two overtime games this season but still felt the added pressure. "You have to make sure everyone is focused and on the same page," Rife said. Focus paid off for the team when freshmen forward Matt Lopez scored only 1:49 into the overtime ending the game 2-1. Lopez and Sitar were two of four freshmen who played in Tuesday's game including forward Ryan Parsley who started the game and defender Todd Bates. "We have a lot of new players, and I think we are doing pretty well incorporating them," Sitar said. Rubinson said he was happy with the team's performance and believes a rested team contributed to Tuesday's victory. "We came out more relaxed," he said. "Last Wednesday's game (against St. Mary's) may have been poor scheduling on my part." The Horned Frogs fell to St. Mary's (San Antonio) University 5-3 after only a two-day break following the Rocky Rococo University of Wisconsin Soccer Classic. The Horned Frogs compete against Butler University and the University of Indiana this weekend in the Nike-Snicker SoccerFest. "We can't afford to overlook anybody," Rubinson said. "We are going there to win games."
James Zwilling
By Steven Baker staff reporter Three TCU football players will trade in their shoulder pads for track spikes this season. Wide receivers LaTarence Dunbar and Terran Williams, both redshirt freshman last year, and Bruce Galbert, a true freshman, were originally signed as football players, but all three could add more speed to the track and field team this season. "One of my biggest goals was to run track and play football to stay in physical shape and mental shape, because track and field helps you stay focused," Dunbar said. Dunbar holds the school record in the 110-meter high hurdles with 13.82 and was 1999 Western Athletic Conference champion in the same event. He said head football coach Dennis Franchione and track and field head coach Monte Stratton decided he could continue his track and field career at TCU if he performed well on the football field and in academics. Dunbar said last season he did not practice with the track team much or run in many track meets because of football spring training. However, track does give him an advantage over the football players, because he remains strong through conditioning, he said. "Football comes first, because that is what I'm here for," he said. "But in my spare time I run track." Stratton said these two sport athletes are on football scholarships first. The athletes need permission from Franchione before they can run track, he said. "We are kind of out of the loop," he said. "But if they are recruiting a football player, for whom track and field is also important, then of course we get in there and sell the heck out of track and field." Stratton said the track team was able to expand their program this year with the addition of the Lowdon Track and Field Complex and by hiring new assistant coach Sam Hume. Hume will coach the jumpers and men's hurdles. "People that come from football are speed-type guys," Stratton said. "Speed event persons are what make excellent track athletes. They are explosive, strong and fast with a good work ethic." This speed will help TCU in events like the hurdles and 4x4 relay. Dunbar was a part of the 1999 WAC champion 4x4 relays, while Terran Williams participated in the 200-meter dash. Stratton said Williams has a great opportunity to really add to the track team this year. "He has outstanding speed and is a sprinter in his own right," he said. Bruce Galbert, who will run the 400-meter hurdles, said so far football has been more demanding than track. "In football there is a lot of offense to take in as a freshman," he said. "I just take it week by week. The main part of hurdling is flexibility and speed work." Dunbar said he does not distinguish between his roles in football and track and field. "In both of them it's teamwork," he said. "If I don't do my part on the relay, then we lose. If I don't do my part on preparing for the upcoming football games, we lose."
Steven Baker
By Paul Freelend Skiff staff While the "Ramblin' Wreck" is most commonly associated with Georgia Tech's athletic teams, the same phrase could easily have described the TCU volleyball team going into last weekend's Hampton Inn Jayhawk Classic. TCU claimed second place in the tournament with a 2-1 record and a head-to-head tiebreaker against the Kansas Jayhawks who had an identical record. The Auburn Tigers won the tournament with a 3-0 record while the Chicago State Cougars took fourth with an 0-4 mark. The Volley Frogs were coming off a week of competition that saw them play seven matches in a span of eight days and the Frogs, according to head coach Sandy Troudt, were just starting to run out of steam. "After our match against Baylor, the team was just exhausted," Troudt said. "We could see the fatigue starting to set in, and the girls were missing their Thursday and Friday classes again, it's just not natural." TCU had one day of travel before meeting up with Auburn in the opening game of the Jayhawk Classic. Prior to the match, the Volley Frogs' coaching staff tried a new approach to ensuring their team would be psyched up for the match. "We were very concerned about how upbeat and excited the team would be coming into the Auburn match," Troudt said. "We made a highlight film with all of the good plays from this far in the season to get the girls going. "So instead of just sitting there and grading tape like we normally do, the girls got to see themselves doing positive things rather than getting their play picked apart by the coaches." The Volley Frogs took the positive momentum from their preparations and used it to take them to a 15-12 win in the first game of the match. TCU hit a .344 for the game, committing only three errors on 32 attacks. Auburn came back to win the second game 15-2, capping the set with an eight-point run after attaining a 7-2 advantage. The Tigers used their height advantage to the fullest extent in the final game of the match, getting most of their 15 total team blocks in that frame. "Auburn's just got some big, big kids, they definitely towered over us," Troudt said. "We don't have a small squad by any means but their girls are big and stocky versus our girls being tall and lanky." In their second match, the Volley Frogs met up with another Big 12 team, Kansas. The Jayhawks tallied .500 hitting percentage on the way to a 15-5 first game win. Troudt said she had her team prepared for just such an occurrence. "Kansas came out awfully hot, and I told the girls that they just had to roll with it and wait for Kansas to have an emotional dip." Troudt's advice paid off as the Jayhawks finally cooled off halfway through the second game and that allowed TCU to rally from a 13-9 deficit and take the final six points to even the match. Pape led the Volley Frog attack with seven kills in that game. At the start of the third game, TCU jumped out to a 6-1 lead but saw the Jayhawks turn the momentum and spark a 14-3 run to take the game 15-9. "You could just feel the air rush out of the gym after the second game," Troudt said. "In the third game, Kansas just kind of pushed away from us at the end." The Volley Frogs and Jayhawks went point-for-point in game four but this time TCU was able to hang on and force a fifth and deciding game, winning 15-10. After fighting to a 3-3 draw in the rally-scoring game, Pape served on 10 straight TCU points with blocking assistance from Lynch, Hayes and junior outside hitter Amy Atamaczuk. "We knew that Kansas was upset about going into a fifth set with a team that was 1-6," Troudt said. "We, on the other hand, were real excited. We also knew that their middles were getting real tired so we tried to exploit that and make them run more." Pape led the TCU attack with 21 kills while Lynch led the Volley Frogs' defensive effort with seven blocks. TCU wrapped up its stay in Kansas with a matchup against Chicago State, that would produce some record-setting numbers. "Chicago State is one of those programs that are Division I in both classification and schedule but just don't have the funding or the resources to be in Division I," Troudt said. "They could be a whole lot better but for some reason or another they just aren't." The Volley Frogs swept Chicago State 15-2, 15-5 and 15-5 in a match that lasted 46 minutes. Both the length of the match and the 12 allowed points were record lows for the TCU program. "We came out of the match with most of our goals attained," Troudt said.
Paul Freelend |
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