Sports
Coach’s softball jersey
will be retired Sunday
By Trevor Parks
Staff Reporter
Nebraska softball assistant coach Lori Sippel
wondered why her sister didn’t tell her she was
coming to Lincoln.
Then after talking with
Coach Rhonda Revelle,
Sippel found out why.
Revelle said Nebraska
was going to retire Sippel’s
No. 16jersey Sunday when
the Comhuskers play host
to Missouri.
Sippel said she had tried
to get her sister, Shelley
' ... cole, to come to Lincoln
Sippel for a iong time and was
surprised when Revelle told her why she was
cm her way.
“Rhonda knew before everybody that she
was coming in to see my jersey get retired, but
I had no idea,” Sippel said. “I looked at Rhonda
strange, and when I found out they were going
to retire my jersey, I got pretty emotional.”
For Sippel the award may have been a long
time in coming.
Sippel’s success came when she pitched for
the Huskers from 1985-88. She became an
assistant coach in 1990.
During her playing career, she had 73 wins,
838 strikeouts, 39 shutouts, 13 saves, 80 com
plete games, 10 no-hitters and a 0.54 ERA.
Sippel holds 10 season and career pitching
records for the Huskers.
In her four years, Nebraska competed in the
College World Series during three of those
years.
She also pitched the only perfect game in
Nebraska history with a 2-0 win over Drake in
1986.
Sippel’s playing career has been prolonged
by playing for the Canadian National team.
In 1994, she helped the National team finish
fourth at the World Tournament to earn a berth
in the 1996 Olympics.
Sippel said if she stayed healthy, she would
be the probable starting pitcher for the team.
“It’s a thrill because any athlete has dreamt
ofcompeting in the Olympics someday,” Sippel
said. “When you’re growing up, you didn’t
know if they had softball in the Olympics so
when you get one shot at it, it is a dream come
true.”
For now, Sippel has her sights set on this
weekend.
That whole weekend could be pretty emo
tional not only for Sippel, but for the rest of the
Huskers.
It will be the final home game for Nebraska’s
two seniors, Amy Offenbacker and Saundra
Brown. Sippel said having those two end their
career with wins over the Tigers would be the
perfect ending to a perfect day.
Sippel said she had tried not to think about
the final home games of the season.
“It is also our last game at home, so it will
be pretty emotional,” Sippel said. “I will enjoy
it a lot more if our team wins two games.”
Beck signs new contract
but says she’s not thrilled
By Jeff Griesch
Senior Reporter
Nebraska women’s basketball coach An
gela Beck has signed a new three-year contract
___ for the 1995-96 season.
Beck, whose career record
at Nebraska is 153-109,
agreed to a 563,000 annual
sal ary with a possibility of
a $1,600 bonus based on
every 500-person increase
in average attendance.
The Huskers averaged
1,610 people at the Bob
R . Devaney Sports Center last
becK season and a regular-sea
son attendance of 1,529 in 1993-94.
Beck’s new contract is retroactive to last
season, so she will have two more years re
maining on this contract.
Her 1993-94 salary was $50,650.
Beck led Nebraska to its best season ever in
1992-93. The Huskers went 23-8, finished
second during the Big Eight regular season and
conference tournament. Nebraska also reached
the second round of the NCAA Tournament.
She also led the Huskers to a Big Eight
regular-season championship in 1987-88.
Although she signed, Beck said she dis
agreed with the basic structure of her contract.
“I signed the contract, but I don’t agree with
the methodology,” Beck said. “I don’t believe
my performance as a basketball coach should
be judged on our attendance.
“But Bill Byrne’s my boss, and it is his
philosophy to get people in the gate, so I guess
I have to go along with what he says. I don’t
really like it, but I’m not going to sit here and
complain about it. I am just going to have to go
out and win more games next year, and I think
we’re going to do that.”
Scott BruhrVDN
Nebraska’s Tara Herbrik heads the ball as Minnesota’s Merritt Davis
defends during the Huskers’ spring soccer game Saturday.
Women’s soccer coach pleased
with spring practices, schedule
By Todd Walkenhorst
Staff Reporter
The Nebraska soccer team concluded its
first spring practices last weekend, and
Coach John Walker likes the change of
pace.
“For the first time we’ve been able to
work on long-term development,” Walker
said, and it’s the first time we’ve been able
to work in an unpressured situation.”
Walker said that last year — his team’s
inaugural season — his team had only two
weeks to prepare for the season. This year’s
spring practices are allowing the team to
work on some basics.
“We worked entirely on attacking and
See WALKER on 13
A year-end compilation ofHusker sports milestones
Eight months ago, the Nebraska
football team waltzed into East
Rutherford, N.J., and kicked the tar
out of West Virginia, thus setting
into motion the string of events that
will go down in Nebraska sports
history.
In the last year, we have
witnessed crushing defeats,
incredible victories, disappointing
moments and fabulous milestones.
It would be impossible to list them
all. But here’s an attempt to pick
out a few of the highlights and a
few of the lowlights.
Any year in review cannot begin
to exist without documenting die
run of the Comhusker football
team, so let’s start with August 28.
It was a warm summer afternoon
in New Jersey. Two national
powers were set to battle, kicking
off the new college football season.
The game, which was anything but
a battle, was history early in the
first half. Nebraska fans suddenly
grew optimistic over die team’s
title hopes. 31-0 Nebraska.
September 6: The birth of
Nebraska soccer. Call it gender
equity. Call it a great moment for
Husker sports. Nebraska loses 3-1
to Creighton in its premier contest.
September 27: The entire state
of Nebraska learns of quarterback
Tommie Frazier’s blood clot. Mass
depression follows. Grown men
cannot sleep. People quit their jobs.
Tom Osborne stays calm. “This is
the most disturbing quarterback
situation I’ve ever had,” Osborne
admits.
October 8: With a three-game
sweep of Oklahoma, the Nebraska
volleyball team sets a school record
by opening the season with 15
straight wins. The early-season
streak is only a sign of things to
come. The Huskers win 31 con
secutive matches before going
down.
October 29: A day that could not
be left out of any year in review.
No. 3 Nebraska trounces second
ranked Colorado 24-7 before the
200th consecutive sellout at
Memorial Stadium. Brook c
Beninger leads the way. The
Mitch Sherman
Huskers leap over Penn State to
take over the No. 1 spot in the
polls, where they remain for the
rest of the year.
November 25 and 26: The
Nebraska football and volleyball
teams each win the Big Eight title
in convincing fashion. Tommie
Frazier returns to the Husker
sidelines, wearing jersey No. 17.
Let the quarterback controversy
begin. Husker fans moan in unison
when it is announced Nebraska will
play Miami in the Hurricanes*
home stadium on Jan. 1.
December 10: The 31-0 Husker
volleyball team is shredded by
Penn State before a raucous NU :
Coliseum crowd. In the process,
Nebraska is denied a trip to Austin
and the Final Four.
December 31: The men’s
basketball team improves to 11-1
after a 108-71 win over Appala
chian State. This proves to be the
high moment of the season.
Jan. 1: Nebraska fans invade the
Orange Bowl, outcheering the
Miami fans and celebrating well
into the night after Nebraska’s 24
17 win over Miami clinches the
school’s first national title in 23
years. In perhaps the most memo
rable sight of the year, signs made
by Husker fans outnumber Miami
made signs at least 30 to l.
February 25: The Husker
basketball team hits rock bottom,
losing to Colorado by six points at
home. The Buffs had previously
lost 99 of their last 101 Big Eight
road games. “We just didn’t play
well, and I can’t tell you why,”
Nebraska coach Danny Nee says.
March 4: The women’s basket
ball team loses 77-67 to Oklahoma
in the first round of the Big Eight
Tournament in Salina, Kan. The
13-14 Huskers, who were deci
mated all year by injuries, look to
next year, when a great recruiting
class could pay immediate divi
dends.
March 5: A great day for the
Husker wrestlers. Nebraska wins its
second Big Eight title in the last
three years at the NU Coliseum.
Steve Baer, Temoer Terry, Jason
Kraft and Tolly Thompson capture
conference championships.
March 21: Penn State mercifully
puts an end to the men’s basketball
season. The Nittany Lions, not
exactly a basketball powerhouse,
whip the Huskers 65-59 at the Bob
Devaney Sports Center.
April 8: Three weeks after
beating Washington 35-15, the
Nebraska baseball (yes, baseball)
team loses 37-18 to Oklahoma
State in Stillwater, Okla. Pitching
anyone? Wait ‘til next year.
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