Strong NU golfers
could dominate invite
By Sam McKewon
Staff-Reporter
A repeat title could be in the
cards for the Nebraska men’s golf
team as it begins its fall season today
at the Falcon/Cross Creek
Invitational in Colorado Springs,
Colo.
The Comhuskers won the title
last year and hope to have the same
type of performance this year w hen
they tee off today at 9 a.m.
“We’re going to be right up there,
contending for the title,” Nebraska
coach Larry Romjue said. “We feel
like we have the kind of team where
we can put some things together
right now.”
The team, which Romjue said
might be his best ever, contains a
mixture of returning players and
newcomers.
Juniors Steve Friesen and Josh
Madden return after having success
ful fall and spring campaigns last
year. Madden finished third at the
Big 12 Tournament and was consid
ered one of the best in the confer
ence, and Friesen won two tourna
ments in the fall, while playing solid
in the spring. v
Romjue said he feels comfort
able starting the team with two of his
best players from last year.
“They both have a lot of talent
and they have been playing pretty
well so far this summer,” he said.
“I’ve got confidence in both of their
playing skills and their consistency.
Josh is a guy that is right up there
among the best in the Big 12 and
Steve struggled a bit last spring, but
he’s still a big performer for us. ”
Joining the team again will be
junior Ryan Nietfeldt, who was an
all Big-Eight performer a§ a sopho
more before taking last year off.
Another player back in the mold
is junior Jamie Rogers, who took a
year off to go back to his homeland
of Australia. Rogers won the team
qualifier and figures to be the top
player for the Huskers this year.
Rogers will be one of the
favorites to win in Colorado Springs
this weekend, Romjue said.
“A lot of people won’t know him,
but Jamie’s as good as anyone is
going to be there,” Romjue said. “If
anyone finishes ahead of him,
they’re probably going to win the
tournament.”
The fifth spot goes to another
Australian, sophomore Peter Smith,
who finished in the top five at the
qualifier and will be playing in his
first tournament.
Smith has the tools to make
some noise in his first chance at col
legiate tournament golf, Romjue
said.
“He didn’t play as well as we
thought he would last year, but now
he seems to be hitting the ball like we
knew he could,” he said. “We’ll see
how well he responds to a pressure
situation, but I think he’ll do okay.”
Romjue said while he considers
NU a team that can hit the ball long
and straight, the most impressive
aspect of the 1997 Huskers is the
short game.
“We have a lot of good putters,
and that’s good so early in the sea
son,” he said. “You start getting a few
putts to fall, and that eliminates some
of the mistakes you make over the
course of the round.”
Komjue said the mam competi
tion in Colorado Springs will be the
University of California and
Colorado State.
For Nebraska to win, Romjue
said, it’s going to be important to stay
consistent.
“We’ve got all the talent to com
pete with just about every team,” he
said. “We just can’t allow ourselves
to make too many mistakes.”
Sandy Summers/DN
NEBRASKA SOPHOMORE NIKKI HENK, left, receives the bail as teammate Denise Koziol dives to assist during last
weekend^ First Bank Invite. The Huskers will try to win their second tournament of the season when they play host
to the Arby’s Classic today and Saturday at the NU Coliseum.
NU aims to refine game
AKHY7p from page 9
routinely seen court time for NU as
Pettit attempts to decide a set rotation.
During the first two weeks of the
season, outside hitters Denise Koziol
and Mandy Monson have become
almost interchangeable, Pettit said, and
middle blockers Megan Korver, Tonia
Tauke, and Katie Jahnke have shuffled
in and out of matches.
“We are still in the process of
deciding what people we need to have
on the court,” Pettit said. “One thing
we know is that we’d like to have Katie
Jahnke on the court in some manner,
and Koziol and Monson are basically
sharing a position.” ^
players is on the court, Pettit said, fun
damental errors have plagued the
Huskers in their five-game matches.
NU has committed 142 attack errors
this season, a number that concerns
Arty's Classic
Manual StfaMa
Date Teams Time
SepL12 Tennessee vs. Ohio St. Spin.
Nebraska vs. Oral Roberts 7:30 p.m.
Sept. 13 Nebraska vs. Tennessee 10:30 a.m.
Oral Roberts vs. Ohio St. 1 p.m.
Tennessee vs. Oral ftoberts 5:30 p.m.
Ohio St. vs. Nebraska 7:30 p.m.
Pettit.
“Attack errors are bringing oppo
nents iigkti?ack into close matches,”
Pettit said “We need to have more
variety in our offense, and we need to
make better decisions.”
Korver predicts that the Huskers
will improve offensively this weekend.
The confidence and consistency NU
gained from winning two five-game
matches shook! become apparent '
weekend, site said.
“We have experience in the crunch
now,” Korver said. “From now on, we
should be able to close the game when
we have the chance.”
Texas A&M prepared
to meet rival Huskers
SOCCER from page 9
Nebraska goalkeeper Rebecca
Hornbacher, who has a 0.57 goals
against average, starts against
Aggies’ goalie Melanie Wilson, who
has compiled a 0.67 GAA.
Also at midfield, two All
Americans will face off: Nebraska’s
Kari Uppinghouse and A&M’s Bryn
Blalack.
Uppinghouse has two goals and
one assist so far this season, while
Blalack scored 69 points last season
and leads three of A&M’s four offen
sive categories. But Blalack is listed
as questionable for the Aggies game
against Iowa State on Friday and may
not play against the Huskers.
Blalack is recovering from a cut in
the head sustained in a game against
Kansas, which required 12 stitches.
Walker said that with or without
Blalack, his team will have a big chal
lenge with its conference rivals.
“The fact that they and we are the
only two teams from the conference
to make the NCAA tournament
makes it a rivalry,” Walker said.
“There is not any bad blood.”
One area the Huskers have been
focusing on is offensive pressure and
attacking. Last weekend, NU had lit
tle trouble lighting up the scoreboard,
scoring seven goals in two games
against Colorado and Vanderbilt.
Sophomore Lindsay Eddleman,
who scored one goal last weekend,
said it was important for the offense
to set the tone against Texas A&M.'
N
said. “Their crowd will be behind
them. We need, to forget about that
and take them on.”
Walker said although the Huskers
are looking forward to their game
with A&M, NU can’t afford to over
look Texas. Last season, Nebraska
beat the Longhorns 1-0 in Lincoln.
The Longhorns have limped to a
1 -2 start so far this season. They were
upset by Missouri in the conference
opener and lost 2-1 to No. 24
Stanford. Texas came back to post a
3-2 victory over Kansas. Texas has
only scored five goals in its last five
games and does not have a goalkeep
er with below a 2.00 GAA.
“It will set the tone for the entire
weekend,” Eddleman said. “There is
no looking past them.”
The Longhorns have used two
goalkeepers this season. Sophomore
Cami Vamadore started Texas’s first
two games but allowed six goals in
180 minutes. Senior Jaime Strong
picked up the win against the
Jayhawks, allowing just two goals.
“Texas has been up and down,”
Walker said. “From a talent stand
point they are in the crop of the Big
12. They have given us a tough game
every time we have played them”
Walker said this road trip will pro
vide a huge test. If the Huskers can
survive this weekend without a loss,
they have an eight-game home stand
starting next weekend.
“This will be the toughest road
trip of the season because of the qual
ity of both teams,” Walker said. “We
UCF will challenge Huskers
UCF from page 9
Knights’ record can be deceiving.
Central Florida lost its season
opener to Mississippi 24-23 in over
time, then last week the Golden
Knights lost 33-31 to South Carolina.
Offensively, Nebraska comes into
the Central Florida game with a full sta
ble of backs returning from injury. I
backs Dan Alexander and Jay Sims
have returned from knee injuries while
sophomore Ben Kingston and fresh
man Willie Miller return to strengthen
a depleted fullback spot.
“Our backfield position, which
was so depleted, will be much better,”
Osborne said.
NU will suffer from the loss of
senior wingback Sean Wieting and
freshman John Gibson, two of the bet
ter wide receivers on the team.
“Wieting’s and Gibson’s injuries
hurt us because they hit us at the same
spot,” Osborne said, “and that has taken
away what was a pretty deep position.”
Injuries aside, the best action fans
should see at Memorial Stadium will
be Culpepper trying to lead the Knights
down the field against the Blackshirts.
Wistrom said the way to stop him is
to have the entire defense work togeth
er as a team.
“It always helps out when your
DBs can buy you some time and let
your pass rush develop a little more,”
Wistrom said. “When we have our first
team defense on the field, I think it’s
tough to find a better one in the nation.”
Football Starters aa
Nebraska Starters IQjJP'*
Poe. No. Name Ht Wt Yr. HL WL Yr.
S£ : :.& Keww,Cheatham .7;, , 6-4 205 Jr.
LT 73 Fred Pollack 6-4 305 Sr.
LG 67 ArionTfeyfer •""< 6-1 305 Sr.
C 59 Josh Heskew 6-3 280 Jr.
RG 64 JbRZalechka 6-2 290 Sr.
RT 70 Eric Anderson 6-4 305 Sr.
TE 90 Tan Carpenter 6*3 250 Sr.
QB 7 Scott Frost 6-3 220 Sr.
i FB ■ ^ 45 Joel Makovicka . -.: 5-11 : 235 Jr.
IB 30 Ahman Green 6-0 215 Jr.
m S Shevin Wiggins 5-11 190 Jr.
PK 35 Kris Brown 5-10 205 Jr.
Central Heriia Starters
“ot. no. Name hl wl Yr.
* 18 Mark Nonstop i * 5-11 156 Jr.
1 Siaha Burley 65 175 Jr.
a Joey Hubbard 6-3 245 Jr.
_ 24 Mike Grant 5-10 185 Jr.
FB 49 Kendrick Moore 00 230 Sr.
^ 8 Paunte Culpepper 6-4 235 Jr.
m 70 ComaKOnen . 64 280 Jr.
71 Marcus Jenkins 64 275 Jr.
70 CMeLorenlt ' 64 380 Fr.
67 Ray Gould 6-3 290 Sr.
75 Freddy ',■■■'■