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Rough MVC baffles Frogs By Danny Horne The TCU men’s soccer team plays just one season in the Missouri Valley Conference before moving to Conference USA next fall. Assistant men’s soccer coach Blake Amos said he couldn’t be happier with the fact the Frogs will spend just this season in the MVC. “Soccer in this conference isn’t the technical soccer that
we’re used to playing,” Amos said. “In the (Western Athletic
Conference), we were playing that technical game, the more possession-oriented
game.” “It’s more like playing football,” Johnson said of the MVC. “Western Kentucky is a team full of big, strong athletes who play a real physical style. We just weren’t ready for that.” With the move to C-USA forthcoming, Amos has yet to make a judgment about the style of play. “I just know they play a quality game over there,” Amos said. “At the beginning of next season, it’s going to be a lot like this season. We don’t know much about anyone.” Amos’ opinions about the MVC took more of a turn toward the negative after the Frogs lost two 1-0 contests Friday at Western Kentucky and Sunday at Evansville. Against Western Kentucky, TCU was outshot 20-6 and had just four shots on goal. The story was much of the same against Evansville. The Aces outshot TCU 18-7 and the Horned Frogs managed just two shots on goal. Johnson said the team has done well at possessing the ball, but has done nothing with its scoring opportunities. “Anyone can play with you, if you don’t score,” Johnson said. “The games from this weekend have really backed us into a corner. We really need to get two of the next three games if not all three to get us back to good position in the conference.” The two losses from the weekend come off the heels of a win against Southwest Missouri State which was ranked No. 11 at the time. Johnson said the weekend was typical of how the team has played much of the season. “It’s a huge disappointment to win a big game like that against Southwest Missouri, and then to follow that with two losses against teams we feel we should have beaten,” Johnson said. “We seem to get up differently for certain games, but in any case it still comes down to scoring.” TCU has fallen below .500 at 6-7, 2-4 in MVC. Western Kentucky and Evansville are a combined 8-15-2. Danny Horne
Frogs cross country splits to run in 3 meets Women finish 2nd; Njubi, Mwangi compete in Amesar By Ram Luthra The TCU cross country teams covered a lot of ground Saturday as the two squads split to compete in three different competitions. The women’s team competed in the Ninth Annual Chile Pepper Cross Country Festival. The men’s squad was split up during the weekend. Most of the team competed in College Station at the Texas A&M Invitational, while two of TCU’s top runners, Eliud Njubi and Herbert Mwangi, competed at the 28th Memorial Cross Country Pre-National Meet in Ames, Iowa. The women’s team finished the competition second overall by tallying 71 points, only 28 points short of the nation’s No. 12 team, Arkansas. TCU placed four individual runners in the top 20. “We ran pretty well and the team closed many gaps against the other runners,” head cross country coach Dan Waters said. “It was a hard race, and everyone ran harder and on a higher level.” Junior Glady’s Keitany continued to lead the Frogs. She finished third in the 6,000-meter race in 20:57, 32 seconds behind champion Lilli Kleinmann of Arkansas. Keitany captured the title in each of the other three races she had competed in this season. “She competed fine throughout the race,” Waters said. “She ran against probably two of the best runners in the nation. She ran out of gas toward the end, but on the whole, it was a great race for her.” Junior Robin Schacht followed close behind Keitany in the 6,000-meter race. Schacht finished fifth in a time of 21:14. She has consistently finished as the No. 2 runner for TCU throughout the season. The Frogs also received strong performances from junior Katie Singleton and freshman Allie Koons. Singleton finished 14th (22:14) and Koons placed 20th (22:33). “(Koons) has done a great job this year,” Waters said. “The races she has run in this year are, by far, longer distances than she ran in high school. Overall, her maturity level is above her (freshman classification), which helps her focus on other things.” Competing apart from most of his teammates, Njubi finished 13th in the 10,000-meter race 13th (31:19.3). Mwangi finished close behind, placing 15th (31:24.4). “(They) displayed that they can run well against great competition, but they will be better,” Waters said. “It was a long race, and they both got some great experience for the Championships in November.” The Pre-National Meet is a preview of the national competition at the NCAA Cross Country Championships, in Ames on Nov. 20. The remainder of the men’s team ran at the Texas A&M Invitational on Saturday. The Horned Frogs featured individual runners in the five-mile race, but did not participate in the team competitions. “All of the guys ran tough on a long course which they had run on three consecutive weekends, and they were all feeling the effects of it,” Waters said. The cross-country team is off this week, and Waters said they will use the time off to rest and prepare for the Western Athletic Conference Championships in Tulsa, Okla. “We ran in three different meets, and the main objectives for each meet was different,” Waters said. “The goal for the women was to compete on a high level and run together. For the guys, we wanted to get another race under our belt at the Texas A&M meet while Eliud and Herbert gave us a chance to get to know the course in Ames.” Ram Luthra
Volley Frogs defeat Rice, UTEP Team climbs from fifth to third place in WAC after its victories By Colleen Casey Head volleyball coach Sandy Troudt sees something in her team, but said she wants to see more of it. That something is all-around improvement. Troudt saw her team improve to 12-9 overall after last weekend’s two Western Athletic Conference victories against Texas-El Paso and Rice. The Volley Frogs bumped themselves up from fifth to third place in the WAC standings. Last Friday’s match against UTEP started slowly for TCU, which
Troudt said has become a recent pattern. TCU was able to win the back-and-forth point battle during the second game, taking it 15-13. TCU couldn’t maintain its comeback, and started the third game slowly once again. The Frogs were down 10-0, and UTEP didn’t allow TCU to break its tough offensive attack. UTEP took the third game 15-6. “We had to put the third game behind us,” sophomore outside hitter Jennifer Cuca said. “We knew we could still take the next two games.” TCU was able to push game four into overtime after trailing early. The comeback effort turned out to be the turning point and resulted in a 19-17 win. “I think we were fortunate to play really well during 2 1/2 games (of the UTEP match), with the fourth game definitely included as one of those,” Troudt said. “We were all just thrilled with the recovery effort we made as a team.” After such inspired play in fourth game, the Frogs were able to overcome UTEP’s tough play and win the fifth game 15-12. Assistant coach Chris Rudiger said she saw all the work the team made controlling their mental focus pay off during the UTEP match. This mental boost carried into the next day during the match against Rice where TCU played another five games. Troudt said TCU owes the win over the Owls to its defense, and in particular, to its blocking, which is ranked 19th in the country. The Frogs totaled 23 blocks on the night, breaking the single-game record of 19 blocks. Three TCU players recorded double-doubles on the night, including Cuca, senior outside hitter Amy Atamanczuk, and junior setter Marci King. The Volley Frogs got a triple-double from junior setter Lindsay Hayes. King, who had 19 kills and 10 digs, said she believed the team had its best effort because of how they collectively got top performances from several players. “Individually we all picked up on our own best games,” King said. “After that we all just clicked together.” Colleen Casey
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