I--1
Antone Oseka
Officiating
crew shafts
Kentucky
Through wind and the rain,
through good defense and superb
goaltending, Kentucky couldn’t
put the ball in the goal Sunday
against the Nebraska soccer team.
But it wasn’t the weather or the
Huskers that bothered Kentucky
coach Warren Lipka. It was the
officiating.
“A blind man could see this
wasn’t a great day for officiating,”
Lipka said.
Warren, a blind man can’t see
anything, I hate to point that out.
And the Wildcats weren’t going to
win the game anyway. NU goal
keeper Rebecca Hornbacher is too
good, and Kentucky didn’t have
enough power to sneak one past
her. But I do agree. The officiating
was pretty bad at times.
There were times when a call
obviously went one way - but not
the other - during similar situa
tions. In fact, Lipka said after the
game he would like to evaluate the
officials, as is the practice in the
Southeast Conference.
Nebraska coach John Walker
didn’t see any major problems with
the officiating.
“It certainly wasn’t an issue in
who won the game,” Walker said.
“There were a few individual calls
he was upset about.”
And that’s true.
But an official’s presence
should never be felt outside of
enforcing the rules. An official
should never become a point of
controversy throughout the game.
He or she should never enrage a
coach to the point where the coach
needs to make his feelings known
in an outburst similar to those seen
in professional baseball.
Lipka was so upset that he was
yelling at an official through most
of the second half. He told the ref
eree, when he was in earshot, that
he was “the worst official I’ve seen
all year, and I’ve seen some bad
ones.”
The point wasn’t that Kentucky
was cheated out of a victory, Lipka
said several times that Nebraska
was the superior team. The point is
that an official’s job is to call a fair
game for both teams.
That didn’t happen Sunday at
the Abbott Sports Complex.
Though soccer is an objective
sport to call, there was a lack of
fairness in this game.
“I thought it was absolutely
ridiculous,” Lipka said.
Oseka is a senior news-edito
rial major and a Daily
Nebraskan senior reporter.
Injuries leave NU in a bind
Oxley may ditch redshirt
to fill in for hurt Krondak
By Shannon Heffelfinger
Assignment Reporter
The Nebraska volleyball team
slipped a notch on the college volley
ball ladder last Wednesday after suffer
ing a five-game loss to No. 19
Colorado.
A three-game loss to uhranked
Oklahoma two days later transformed
the small slide into the early begin
nings of a downward dive and the
Huskers’ first losing streak since 1993.
The Cornhuskers sustained back
to-back losses for the first time in four
years last week, ending a 41-match
homecourt winning streak and closing
the door on a 22-year string of league
wins at home. With the losses, NU fell
four places to No. 9 in the USA
Today/AVpA Top 25.
Husker coach Terry Pettit places
most of the blame for the losses on
injuries to key players and primary
passers Jaime Krondak and Renee
Saunders. Pettit said he hopes to see
Saunders return in four weeks but
remains uncertain about Krondak.
With a full week to adjust to the
loss of the two players, Pettit expects
NU to move forward over the next few
weeks and reclaim its previous spot on
the national scene.
“They’re young kids, and they’re
not used to losing,” Pettit said. “So
there may have been some confusion
about why they lost.
“As a coach, I can identify physi
cally that we didn’t have a certain play
er on the court, and that’s why they lost.
They maybe don’t understand that and
blame themselves for things that aren’t
their fault. I think it’s our job as a
coaching staff to try and put that in per
spective for them.”
Krondak - a junior outside hitter
suffering from back spasms - can no
longer play the full rotation, requiring
Pettit to make some adjustments.
Krondak leads the Huskers in service
aces, digs per game and total digs. The
6-foot graduate of Lincoln East ranks
third for Nebraska in total kills with
144.
Saunders averaged 1.61 kills per
game before a foot injury sidelined her.
To counteract the loss of the two
players in the back row, Pettit has
experimented with several different
lineups, allowing middle blockers
Megan Korver and Katie Jahnke, and
outside hitters Denise Koziol and Kim
Behrends opportunities for increased
time in the back row.
Pettit is also considering bringing
freshman Angie OxlqyTwhom the
coach called the most fundamentally
sound freshman ever at Nebraska, out
of her redshirt season.
But the quick adjustments have
failed to make a large impact, Pettit
said.
“We’re a team that has always been
built around specialization,” Pettit said.
“We highlight the things our players do
well and disguise the things they don’t.
Krondak passes 60 percent of our balls,
and she does that exceptionally well.
“As a coach, IVe made the decision
to go ahead and work on a system
assuming Jaime’s not going to be a part
of it. We’ve got to go. We can’t sit
around for three or four weeks and find
Please £ee INJURIES on 8
"V
Wiltz, Warren shine
as nose tackle duo
BySamMcKewon
Staff Reporter
Some call it the anchor of the
defensive line.
Nebraska defensive coordinator
Charlie McBride likens the nose tackle
position on the Comhusker defense to
a “meat grinder.”
Two of NU’s lesser-known defend
ers, sophomore Steve Warren and
junior Jason Wiltz, man that position
for the Huskers (5-0 and 2-0) who take
on Texas Tech (3-2 and 2-0) Saturday
at Memorial Stadium at 12:30 p.m.
“Warren and Wiltz have both done
a good job this season even though a
lot of people don’t see it,” McBride
said. “They have both played with dis
cipline and haven’t been a weakness
for us.”
Warren started the first game of the
year against Akron at the nose tackle
before falling to second-string because
of back problems. Wiltz, who had been
learning the nose tackle and defensive
tackle positions at the same time, then
started in Warren’s place. Warren
returned to see extended playing time
Saturday against Baylor.
In replacing Jeff Ogard and Scott
Saltsman, Wiltz and Warren have been
solid in the middle this season. Wiltz
has nine tackles on the season, includ
ing four for losses and one sack. His
fumble recovery against Baylor set up
Nebraska’s second touchdown. Warren
has been almost as forceful in limited
ji _mm
Wiltz Warren
action, with seven tackles and two
pass breakups.
Wiltz said he and Warren battle
through friendly competition for play
ing time and together have made an
effective combination this season in
the trenches.
“We’re both pretty happy with how
the defense is right now,” Wiltz said.
“We’re tough against the run and the
pass rush is strong, too.”
The responsibilities of the nose
tackle differs somewhat from the rest
of the Husker front four. The nose tack
le’s primary responsibility is to stop the
run, and much of that is accomplished
in keeping the opposing offensive line
men off the Husker linebackers.
Wiltz, who played defensive tackle
in high school, said playing the nose
tackle position is an exercise in disci
pline and toughness.
“You don’t have as much freedom
as some of the other guys on the defen
sive line,” Wiltz said. “The first thing
you have to do is keep the guards and
center off the linebackers so they can
Please see NOSE on 8;
r: liar '
Ryan Soderlin/DN
TONIA TAUKE (No. 22) and Mandy Monson jump to block an Oklahoma attack
Friday in Norman, Okla. The Huskers lost the match in three games, their
second straight defeat, and face matches at Texas and Texas A&M this
weekend.
Hornbaeher, defenders
form impenetrable wall ;
—
By Jay Saunders
Assignment Reporter
Coaches have often said that
defense wins championships, but
for the No. 10 Nebraska soccer
team, defense has been more than
just the key to success.
It’s been the Cornhuskers’ sta
bilizing force.
NU coach John Walker said the
Huskers (12-2 overall and 6-2 in
the Big 12 Conference) have
played excellent “team defense”
this season. For the season the
Huskers have allowed just five
goals, and no opponent has scored
more than one goal in a game.
Senior goalkeeper Rebecca
Hornbacher has allowed four of
those goals, ranking her second
nationally and first in the Big 12
with a 0.33 goals-against average.
Hornbacher also has nine
shutouts, eight of which came dur
ing NU’s eight-game monthlong
homestand. The senior from
Ralston said the shutouts and her
goals-against average, aren’t
important statistics.
“We don’t look at the num
bers,” Hornbacher said. “The fact
that we are getting the shutouts
does really well for the confidence
of the team. Working hard defen
sively is really paying dividends.”
Even though Hombacher’s sta
tistics are impressive, the entire
Husker defense has been stifling
fcfc
The fact that we
are getting the
shutouts does well
for the confidence
of the team.
Rebecca Hornbacher
NU goalkeeper
opponents. In the past eight games,
NU allowed 15 shots on goal, com
pared to the 98 shots the Huskers
have posted against their oppo
nents. In the first four games of the
homestand, Nebraska did not allow
a corner kick.
“If somehow they get through,
our job is to not let them get a shot
or a cross and keep pressure off the
keeper,” senior defender Stephanie
Vacek said.
Vacek and fellow NU defend
ers Tanya Franck and Sharolta
Nonen, along with Hornbacher,
serve as the last line of defense for
the fftikkers. But Walker said his
defensive scheme requires contri
butions from more than four play
ers.
Although defense start in the
Please see SOCCER on 8