Women go 1-1 in WAC
Frogs’ soccer team loses to Tulsa, defeats UTEP
Although women’s head soccer coach David Rubinson is pleased with his team’s 1-1 start in conference play this past weekend, he still thinks there is something missing.
“The second game was our best performance all year long,” Rubinson said. “We were certainly very competitive, but we are still searching for our identity. When there is five minutes left in a game, and we are looking for a goal, we need to find out who is going to step up and take the responsibility.
“We needed a good performance, and Sunday’s victory really jump-started us.”
On Friday, the team lost 2-0 to Tulsa, but freshman goalkeeper Shannon Wagner said the team was not going to let Friday’s game affect Sunday’s effort.
“We were a little nervous going into the game Friday,” Wagner said. “We had a meeting before Sunday’s match up and wrote down our team goals and decided if we were going to play, we were going to play for each other.
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Erin Munger/STAFF REPORTER
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“We knew we had the talent, we just had to make it happen.”
The team rebounded from Friday’s performance by beating Texas-El
Paso 3-0 Sunday. They managed 27 shots against UTEP compared to 11 shots
against Tulsa. The win evened the Frogs’ overall record at 6-6-1.
“In the first half of the second game, our players started from the
back line and passed around the other team like they weren’t even
there and got a shot on goal,” Wagner said. “The victory gave
us great momentum, and we really clicked as a team.”
In the UTEP victory, Wagner recorded eight saves and notched her fourth shutout of the year. Wagner also lowered her goals against average to 1.66.
Sophomore forward Sherry Dick scored her fifth goal against UTEP in the 44th minute of play. With her one assist, Dick is also leading the team with 11 points and 60 shots.
“Although we were not totally dominated by Tulsa, we made some big mistakes,” Dick said. “Sunday’s win was a big one for us. We had been struggling previously to this game, but we got a huge confidence booster with the victory.”
The Frogs’ next game will be on the road against No. 18 Southern Methodist Sunday. To play well against SMU, Rubinson said the team must finish their shots.
“Out of the 11 shots we took against Tulsa, only one of them was on target,” Rubinson said. “Sunday’s game was better because we got 13 of our 27 shots on target, but finishing our shots is the main skill we need to fix.
“In practice, we are not only trying to maintain Sunday’s level of play, we are simulating the pressure we will be under against SMU.”
The Frogs have six games left in their 2000 season. Five are conference games and two will be played at home.
“We are further along then we were on Friday,” Rubinson said. “We are our own worst enemies right now because we realize that we can play with a lot of teams and there isn’t a game on our schedule that we can’t win. But if we don’t step up, we know we will lose.
“Our success just depends on which of our teams shows up to play.”
Kelly Morris
k.l.morris@student.tcu.edu
Franchione questions Navy’s defensive tactics
By Chad Carie
staff reporter
Despite Saturday’s lackluster performance, head coach Dennis Franchione said Tuesday he wasn’t dissatisfied with how the game went.
“We were always in control of the game,” he said. “One of our pregame goals was to not let their offense control the ball and the clock.”
The Navy defense focused its entire gameplan around stopping senior tailback LaDainian Tomlinson. He was held to a season-low 121 yards, but Franchione said everyone needs to be realistic about Tomlinson’s abilities.
“We can’t expect to see him get 200-plus yards every game,”
Franchione said. “If you think about it, he was just one big play
away from getting 180 or 190 yards. All he missed was that one good run.”
Of course, all the while the Midshipmen were shadowing Tomlinson, TCU
was scoring points via the passing game.
“You begin to wonder if Navy played to win a football game, or to just stop (Tomlinson),” Franchione said.
TCU moves up in rankings
With the Saturday’s shutout win, TCU moved up four spots in the ESPN/USA Today Coaches Poll and two spots in The Associated Press poll. The Horned Frogs got more help in polls when Northwestern knocked off its second top-15 team this season. The Wildcats have beaten Wisconsin and Michigan State in successive weeks and are now ranked No. 22 in The Associated Press poll.
The ranking is the Frogs’ highest since Nov. 14, 1984 when they were ranked No. 12 by The Associated Press.
Franchione said the play of Northwestern is somewhat surprising and can do nothing but help TCU down the road. The Frogs defeated the Wildcats 41-14 on Sept. 16.
Schedule change for TV
The game between TCU and Hawaii, which was originally scheduled for 6:05 p.m. Saturday, has been moved to 11 a.m. Saturday. FOX SportsNet picked up the game, and will televise it regionally.
Defense improves with Bayer
Junior linebacker Chad Bayer leads the TCU defense with 39 tackles through
four games this season.
Franchione said he’s seen a difference in Bayer’s play from
last season.
“(Bayer) has shown marked improvements in terms of his confidence,” he said. “He just seems more comfortable with each play which has shown in his ability to react and make reads.”
Chad Carie