By James Zwilling Skiff staff The men's soccer team's season-ending losses to Fresno State and San Jose State last weekend ended Western Athletic Conference play after four years in the conference. Fresno shut out the Horned Frogs 3-0 in the final meeting of the teams. "We weren't mentally prepared for the game," junior midfielder Charlie Schulz said. "We were on vacation that day, we weren't playing soccer."
Adam Maurer scored Fresno's final goal of the game off a penalty kick in the 61st minute. After a day of rest, the team fell 2-1 Sunday against San Jose State in the final game of the season. Schulz said Friday's loss affected the players confidence heading into Sunday's game. "Anytime you lose 3-0 its very disheartening," he said. "It definitely takes the wind out of your sails." Junior forward Nic Finn scored the lone score of the game for the Horned Frogs in the 33rd minute after San Jose took a 2-0 lead in the 26th minute. The team failed to recover from the goals ending conference play with a 3-7 conference record. The physical game for the Horned Frogs included six yellow card fouls and the ejections of coach David Rubinson and sophomore midfielder Josh Rife. Despite a season record of 8-10-1, Schulz said the record doesn't reflect the team's progress. "The record doesn't show everything we've accomplished this season," he said. "We beat the defending National Champions; we beat No. 11 ranked SMU; we are better than an 8-10-1 team." Schulz said the team, who is losing only one senior, midfielder Tyler Krueger, is looking forward to the returning squad. "I think everyone realized that we all have one more year," Schulz said. "We've come a long way since the beginning of this season, but because everyone is returning, it's like we are only half way there." Schulz said the team will learn from this season. "As a whole, this season was a good learning experience," he said. "If you are able to learn from your losses they can be good for a team, but if you can't learn from them, they are pointless."
James Zwilling
By Matt Stiver staff reporter When men's head basketball coach Billy Tubbs arrived on campus in 1994, he brought with him an aggressive style of defense. That style has played a role in three post-season berths during his tenure. TCU players said they find Tubbs' style of defense enjoyable. Junior guard Estell Laster said Tubbs has a unique description of defense, and it was one of the reasons why he chose TCU. "Coach Tubbs likes to define defense as all-out energy, hustle and getting wired up," Laster said. "It's structured, but at the same time he likes you to play relentless. Not careless, but get out in the passing lanes and try to make things happen. The defensive end is really where his focus is." During the Frogs' 101-66 exhibition victory over Athlete's First Friday night, the Tubbs style of defense took center stage. Just how much it can dominate a game became clear. Leading by seven points with 15:48 to play, the Frogs pulled away from Athlete's First with a 21-2 run in the second half. Their defensive play did not let Athlete's First get within 20 points again. Tubbs said Athlete's First gave the Frogs a look their defense will see throughout the rest of the season. If they want to be successful, Tubbs said, the Frogs' defense must continue to adapt as it did Friday. "I thought this is more what we're going to see (the rest of the season) as far as people setting screens and it being a physical game," Tubbs said. "Their guards were at least as quick, if not quicker, than we were. That's like what we're going to see (at the Top of the World Tournament) in Alaska with some good tough players who are going to bang you, set tough screens and things of that sort." Though the Frogs led the entire game, Athlete's First managed to hang around through the first half. TCU stepped up on defense in the second. "I don't know if we wore them down a little bit, but we definitely played better defense," Tubbs said. "Our defenses were working better, and they didn't shoot the ball nearly as well." Athlete's First shot 52 percent from the field in the first half. The Frogs held them to 32 percent in the second half. Laster said the Frogs switched their defensive schemes and got positive results. "The first half we went with just a man-to-man defense, and they kind of adjusted to it," Laster said. "In the second half, we mixed it up and hit them with a few zones, and I don't think they were ready for that. That gave us a margin and they never recovered." In addition to their man-to-man, full-court press and half-court trap pressure defensive sets, the Frogs will mix in zones (1-3-1 and 2-3) to keep opponents off-guard. Tubbs said the Frogs changed up their defense in order to shut down Athlete's First after half-time. "It looked like we were going to get (our lead) pushed out, but we never could really get control of the game," Tubbs said. "(Guard Chad) Wilkerson got 17 on us pretty quick and he had four the rest of the way. He was really keeping them in the game, and when we shut their best scorer down, that certainly helped us." Tubbs said the Frogs could be able to play better defense than last year. "We got a little more depth on this team and that should allow us to play a lot harder for 40 minutes," he said.
Matt Stiver
By Joel Anderson staff reporter One of Dennis Franchione's first acts as TCU's new football coach was to take his charges out for a mandatory evening of bowling at a local alley. Less than two years later, "bowling" is becoming a yearly event for the Horned Frogs. With two games remaining on the schedule, the Horned Frogs are in an intense Western Athletic Conference scramble for bowl game appearances. TCU victories over the final two opponents, Texas-El Paso and Southern Methodist, virtually assure the Horned Frogs of a bowl invitation. One win, and things become iffy. No wins, and its good luck next year.
Several officials affiliated with the Mobile Alabama Bowl, in particular, are hoping the Horned Frogs don't have a lapse in the coming weeks. "If TCU wins its remaining games, there's no doubt that we would consider them for our game," said Bud Ratliff, general manager of the Mobile Alabama Bowl. "TCU is a well-known football school around the country, and we would love to have them come here to play." Complicating matters is a possible three-way conference tie between Hawaii, Fresno State and TCU. Fresno State (7-4, 4-2 in WAC) and Hawaii (7-3, 5-2) have already qualified for bowl consideration. Fresno State is expected to be selected by the Las Vegas Bowl, which has the first pick of bowl-eligible WAC teams. Hawaii will probably end up in one the Hawaii bowls, the Oahu or Aloha, both to be played Dec. 25 in Honolulu. "Until Las Vegas makes their pick, everybody has to wait in line," said WAC commissioner Karl Benson. "Right now this is all speculation because no bowl invitations have been extended yet, and the season isn't finished." The Mobile Alabama Bowl, which is scheduled for Dec. 22, will pit the second picks from Conference USA and the WAC. TCU is the only remaining team from the WAC that could finish the season with the mandatory six wins over Division 1-A opponents. East Carolina, Louisville and Southern Mississippi are the prospective teams from C-USA. Texas-El Paso's conference win over Rice last weekend actually helped the Horned Frogs, because the loss dropped the Owls to 5-6, which left them ineligible for postseason play. SMU (3-5, 2-2) could finish its season with six wins, but it wouldn't have enough victories over Division 1-A opponents to qualify for bowl consideration. There is an exception that allows a school to use one victory over a Division 1-AA school every four years, but that school must average at least 60 scholarships a team over the course of four years. Therefore, SMU's victory over Cal State-Northridge, which doesn't average 60 scholarships, wouldn't be sufficient for the Mustangs to make a bowl appearance even if they win their final two games. Franchione said the current conference confusion wasn't surprising at all, at least to him. "I'm the prophet," Franchione said. "Remember at the beginning of the season when I said the conference champion could have two losses? Nobody else said that." And two years ago, nobody would have thought "bowling" would become an annual event in Fort Worth. Except Franchione.
Notes: · Junior defensive end Aaron Schobel woke up Tuesday morning, went to class, went to practice and finished the day a half sack closer to Royal West's career sack record of 22. A sack credited to senior defensive lineman Kyle Williams during Saturday's contest against North Texas should have been shared between Williams and Schobel. Schobel now has 21.5 career sacks and seven this season. · TCU's defense, currently ranked 12th in the country, won't be receiving any congratulatory postcards from preseason Heisman Trophy candidate Trung Canidate from Arizona. Canidate rushed for only 56 yards against the Frogs - effectively ruining his chances for the ultimate college postseason honor - but has compiled nine straight 100 yard games since then. · In Saturday's game against North Texas, junior strong safety Cody Slinkard tripled his career sack production. Of course, he entered the contest with only one sack. · While junior LaDainian Tomlinson is steadfast in his pursuit of Kenneth Davis' 1984 single season rushing record of 1,611 yards, the eyes of history were intently observing TCU's latest star tailback. Davis was one of the press box spectators at Saturday's homecoming game. The former NFL star is probably starting to feel more secure about his mark. With only two games remaining, Tomlinson needs to average 146 yards a game to break the record. Tomlinson now averages 146.6 yards a game, good for fourth in the nation. · During Tuesday's practice, Tomlinson ran through drills with a noticeable limp. After spraining his ankle against Hawaii three weeks ago, Tomlinson slightly reinjured his left ankle in Saturday's game. He expected to be full speed come game time. · TCU's other explosive offensive weapon, sophomore wide receiver LaTarence Dunbar, was wearing a protective boot on his right ankle. He sprained his ankle in the first half against North Texas, but returned to play briefly in the second half. Ross T. Bailey, TCU's head trainer, listed Dunbar's status as questionable for Saturday's game.
Joel Anderson |
Fresno State's Danny Risch scored the first goal of the
game in the 42nd minute followed by another goal scored by Hugo Alcara
in the 46th minute. 
"Focus is important for our guys, but I don't think
there's any danger of the players looking past this game," Franchione
said. | The TCU Daily Skiff © 1998, 1999 Credits |