Image provided by: University of Nebraska-Lincoln Libraries, Lincoln, NE
About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (April 25, 1997)
Blackshirts seek sensational end Red-White Game will showcase young defenders and an inconsistent offense. By Mitch Sherman Senior Reporter Raided by the NFL less than a week ago, the Nebraska defense continues its quick rebuild ing project Saturday at Memorial Stadium, hop ing to steal the thunder from an experienced of fense in the 49th annual Red-White Game. Although they return just three starters from last season’s powerful unit, the Blackshirts hold an advantage over the Nebraska offense through 14 practices this spring. Grant Wistrom, Jason Peter and Ralph Brown direct the young wrecking crew as the entire Comhusker squad showcases its speed and strength before a crowd of fans expected to reach 30,000 Saturday at 12:30 p.m. “I’ve enjoyed this spring more than any of the other springs I’ve been through,” said Wistrom, a returning first-team All America rush end. “We know what we have to get done, and there’s not a sense of ursencv because everything’s just gone right.” The No. 1 defense and the No. 2 offense combine to form the White Team, and Wistrom the No. 1 offense and the No. 2 defense wear red jerseys. Coach Tom Osborne said the top units will square off against each other for about 70 percent of the scrim mage. “I don’t know if people ought to come in here expecting 100 points to be scored,” Osborne said. “We won’t be able to run up and down the field, but it will be very competitive. I appreciate the fact that our fans are interested, and the more game-like we can make it, the bet ter it is for us.” Injuries to many top-unit players have ham pered the offense this month. I-back DeAngelo Evans hasrft played the entire spring because of a groin injury, and injuries to Josh Heskew, Aaron Taylor, Eric Anderson, Jeff Clausen, Adam Julch, Brandt Wade and Justin Ferrell have prevented the offensive line from gelling. Most of the bruised and battered Huskers plan to scrimmage Saturday, Osborne said, but offensive consistency requires more repetition than execution on defense. The lack of produc tion is reflected in quarterback Scott Frost’s sta tistics. He has struggled at times in the three major scrimmages this spring, completing seven of 20 passes for 150 yards with no touchdowns and one interception. “I think this spring could have gone better,” Frost said, “but we feel comfortable with the people we’ve got coming back. Our whole of fense has to step up and be more aggressive.” Part of the offensive problems stem from the unexpected maturity of the young defenders. De spite losing seven starters — and possibly eight Please see GAME on 9 Football ^ NU on roll as it enters home stand By Mike Kluck Senior Reporter A seven-game winning streak has given the Nebraska softball team mo mentum. Maintaining that momentum is what the Comhuskers (24-18 overall and 8-4 in the Big 12 Conference) hope to do when they play four games at home this weekend. NU swept Iowa State 11-3 in six innings and 8-4 Thursday in Ames, Iowa. The first game was a continua tion of a rain out from earlier this sea son when the Huskers were leading 8 0 in the bottom of the second inning. Now, NU returns home for four games this weekend with doublehead ers against No. 8 Oklahoma on Satur day and No. 19 Oklahoma State on Sun day. Games on both days begin at noon at the NU Softball Complex. “We need to sustain consistency,” NU Coach Rhonda Revelle said. “We just don’t want to start doubting our selves now that we’ve got it rolling.” Nebraska didn’t show any doubts against the Cyclones as NU pounded out 20 hits in the two games. iu luc iusi game, muc uiucreni Huskers recorded hits, including Rachel Dunham and Jenny Smith, who both knocked home runs. Smith’s homer was her ninth of the season, ty ing her for the fifth most in a season. Also in the first game, freshman Jennifer Lizama had a perfect game at the plate, going 4-for-4 and scoring two runs. She continued her hitting in the second game, going 2-for-3, both hits home runs. Revelle said she is happy the Husker bats, which had been quiet through most of the season, are start ing to come around. While Nebraska’s hitting is com ing around, its pitching is still solid. Junior Christie McCoy held the Cy clones to five hits in the first game, while freshman pitcher Jenny Voss picked up the win in the second game. Voss (20 13) didn’t give up an earned run and held ISU to two hits as she pitched her 28th complete game of the season. She is one game shy from tying the single-season record for most com plete games at NU. Her 20 wins this season puts her in a sixth-place tie with Lori Sippel for most wins in a season. “This is our last home weekend,” Revelle said. “It’s a big weekend. Right now, it’s nice to be playing.” NU faces stiff challenge The Under-20 team is the best squad the Huskers have faced under Walker. By Vince D’Adamo Staff Reporter If the Nebraska soccer team were to be accused of anything, ducking a challenge would not be a likely candidate. For evidence, look no further than two hard-fought road victo ries over 1996 Final Four teams — Santa Clara and Notre Dame — this spring. Now the Comhuskers, who lost 1 -0 to defending NCAA Champion North Carolina in Chapel Hill, N.C., last Friday, are 2-1-2 head ing into their final contest of the spring. Saturday night’s game at 7 against the U.S. Under-20 National A LI_d-d. o_n_ ivaiii at uiv rkuiAm kjpui w plex will test just how far the Husk ers have come this spring. The Under-20 team is com posed of 17 players, mainly from the best college soccer programs in the United States. Only two players on the roster are in high school. One of those is Millard North star Kelly Lindsey who will play soccer at Notre Dame next season. In its college tour this spring, the Under-20 team is 4-0 with wins over Clemson (1-0), North Caro lina (2-1), Duke (4-1) and UNC Greensboro (4-0). The match against NU is the final college tuneup before the team takes a month off for training camp in San Diego. They resume competition in May and end their season Au gust 3-8 at the Nordic Cup in Demark. NU Coach John Walker is no stranger to coaching at the inter national level. Walker has served as an assistant coach on the Cana ' dian National and the Canadian Under-20 National Team. “I think it’s exciting,” Walker said. “They’re the best team we’ve played all year and in the history of our program. They have a lot of future Olympians. So there’s no margin for error. Defensively, we’ll have to be at our best” Walker said he hopes the match Matt Miller/DN KRISTEN GAY dribbles the ball upfleld against midfielder Cheryl Hanson during Nil’s practice Wednesday. The Huskers close out the spring season against the II.S. Under-20 team Saturday night. will be a combination of a win as well as a measuring stick of the Huskers’ progress. “We don’t just want to see where we stack up because, re ally, you’re still out to win,” Walker said. “But at the same time you don’t want to say, 'win, win, win, win, win,’ and not work on the things you need to work on.” This game has special signifi cance for two Huskers. Defender Heather Brown and striker Isabelle Momeau, who b6th played on the Canadian National team in 1996, said playing top-level competition will help the team. “I still get to wear the red and white,” Momeau joked. “It will be interesting to see what our level is next to them. When you play with a national team, you don’t know as much about the players you play with.” Strikers Jenny Benson and Lindsay Eddleman are no strang ers to the Under-20 squad. Boll attended the U.S. Under-20 train ing camp in January, and Benson ,, has played in all four games the team has played so far. Benson said the Huskers worked on running a more crisp offense during Wednesday’s prac tice. ‘We’ve been working on try ing to penetrate the ball more,” Soccer is. MriraMum dhIT NU returns home to face Cowboys By David Wilson Staff Reporter Despite losing six straight games . on the jpj&Kq No. 14 Oklahoma and top-ranked ^Ttfxas Tech, the Nebraska baseball team returns to Lincoln today with a slim hope of qualifying for the Big 12 Conference Tournament. The Comhuskers (22-28 overall and 4-17 in the Big 12) will play host to No. 15 Oklahoma State (35-12 and 17-7) in a three-game series beginning tonight at 7 at Buck Beltzer Field. “We’re trying to stay optimistic as far as the season goes,” NU freshman third baseman Ken Harvey said. “If we can put some wins together and a few teams lose some games, we’re right back in it.” With nine games remaining in its conference schedule, Nebraska ranks second to last in the league and is \5Vi games behind top-ranked Texas Tech (40-5 and 20-4), which has already clinched a spot in the league tourna ment. Only the top six teams from the con ference will qualify for the Big 12 Tour nament May 15-18 in Oklahoma City. The Huskers are 6V2 games behind sixth place Kansas (28-18 and 12-12). NU was weary when it returned Thursday, Harvey said, but the team came back with a positive attitude en tenng me nnai stretch or me season. “I guess we just came away know ing that we played two tough teams and we played hard,” Harvey said. “Being on the road pretty much sucks. Being at home will help us out a lot. Tm not saying that’s the reason that we lost, but it’s just really hard playing on die road — especially for me.I’ ve never done this before.” The freshman from Los Angeles has seen action in 25 games this sea son and is batting .321. Ten of his 18 hits have gone for extra bases — in cluding two home runs. Against die Cowboys, Harvey said NU needs to continue to produce offen sively. Harvey said he felt that the Husk ers out-hit the Red Raiders in Lubbock, Texas, on Tuesday and Wednesday. In the final two games of the se ries, NU thumped 26 hits to Tech’s 27. But the Huskers knocked seven extra base hits to the Red Raiders’ six. Nebraska will play Creighton at 7 p.m. at Rosenblatt Stadium in Omaha on Tuesday before returning home to play host to Texas May 2-4.