Matt Miller/DN
NU’S JENNY BENSON celebrates after her goal iced the game against 10th-ranked Minnesota Sunday at the Abbott
Sports Complex. In a game dominated by wind and cold, the Huskers rallied from a 1-0 halftime deficit to win 3
1.
Wind at its back,
NU blasts Gophers
By Darren Ivy
Staff Reporter
It was a tale of two halves Sunday
afternoon at the Abbott Sports
Complex.
In the first half, the No. 10
Minnesota soccer team had a 35 mph
wind at its back and took a 1 -0 lead. In
the second half, No. 7 Nebraska got its
turn with wind and scored three goals
to claim a 3-1 win, its 12th straight,
before 502.
“I don’t think I have ever had a
game where I was satisfied just being
down 1-0 at halftime,” said Nebraska
Coach John Walker, whose club ended
the regular season with a 16-2 record.
UM won the toss and took the
wind because its coach, Sue
Montagne, said there was a chance the
wind could change or die down. But
that wasn’t the case Sunday. The wind
blew so hard out of the north at times
that the corner flags flew parallel to
the cold ground.
Despite having the wind, UM only
managed three shots on goal in the
first half. Nicole Lee made one of
those count when she beat NU goalie
Rebecca Hornbacher at the 35:24
mark.
Hornbacher said the wind affected
her judgment in the first half.
“I didn’t know when I could come
out and when I couldn’t,” Hornbacher
said.
The Gophers nearly scored a sec
ond goal in the first half off a comer
kick, but NU defender Sharolta
Nonen got her body in front of the
ball, and Hornbacher was able to
punch it away.
Hornbacher said Nonen’s play was
big because it meant UM was only
ahead 1-0 at halftime. Hornbacher
said she knew her teammates would
score goals in the second half.
NU outshot the Gophers 19-12 for
the game, but most of the Husker
shots came in the second half.
Walker said he eliminated the
sweeper position, bringing Stephanie
Vacek past the midfield area in the
second half to provide more attackers.
The move paid off as sophomore
striker Lindsay Eddleman scored the
game-tying goal at the 55:30 mark
after Becky Hogan’s shot had car
omed off the goalpost.
Seventeen minutes later, Kim
Engesser scored her third game-win
ning goal of the year off a Nonen
assist.
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the coffin with a breakaway goal at
84:04. She said her goal put an end to
any UM comeback ideas.
“ I think each goal sunk their
hopes a little more,” Benson said, t
Before the game, NU’s five
seniors, Hornbacher, Kari
Uppinghouse, Tanya Franck, Vacek
and Lynne Officer were honored. NU
will almost certainly play host to at
least one more home game in the
NCAA Tournament.
Benson said it was emotional
because the some of the seniors had
been with the program from its begin
ning four years ago.
Although the pre-game ceremony
was emotional, Hornbacher said, the
team knew it couldn’t let it get the best
of them.
“We tried to channel the energy to
accomplish what we needed to,” she
said.
On Friday, Nebraska plays either
Iowa State or Baylor in the semifinals
of the Big 12 Conference Tournament
in San Antonio, Texas.
Husker cross country squads
please Dirksen at Big 12 meet
■ Cleophas Boor
finshes second to pace
the Nebraska men.
By Sarah Dose
Staff Reporter
The Nebraska men’s and women’s
cross country teams put everything
together at the right time for
Saturday’s Big 12 Championships in
Stillwater, Okla., but still left room
for improvement.
The Nebraska women finished in
second place with 92 points behind
Colorado, which scored a meet-low
23 points.
“We certainly did about all we
could do at the meet,” Nebraska
Coach Jay Dirksen said. “Going into
it, I thought we had a better chance
for third, but they ran with a lot of
heart. It was a good team effort.
Hopefully, we can do that at districts.”
Freshman Amy Wiseman fin
ished sixth with a time of 17 minutes,
56 seconds, just 27 seconds behind
first-placer Erin Windier of Missouri.
Other Husker runners included
Jaime Pauli (17th), Nora Shepherd
(18th), Kate Centerwall (23rd),
Melinda Mohr (32nd), Deb Osteen
(41st) and Liz Biehl (66th).
“The women, as a team, have a
good chance to make it to the NCAA
championships, but it’s not a gimme,”
Dirksen said. “At districts, we’re
going to have to run offensively to
win, and they should make it based
on what they’ve been doing lately.
But nothing’s for certain.”
Colorado also won the men’s title
with a meet-low 32 points. Nebraska
finished fourth with 99, just 13 points
behind second-place Iowa State and
eight points behind third-place
Oklahoma State.
“The men really had a fabulous
performance. We were hoping the
guys would run well because they
have been all year,” Dirksen said.
“We just put everything together at
the right time.”
Senior All-American Cleophas
Boor paced the Huskers with a time
of 24:16 for second place behind
Colorado’s Adam Goucher at 23:25.
Freshman Jeroen Broekzitter fin
ished sixth in 24:43.
Rounding out the Huskers’ scor
ing were Aaron Johnson (22nd),
Marcus Witter (33rd) and Lou
Petricca (40th).
“Boor just had a fabulous race,”
Dirksen said. “Broekzitter might
have gone out too hard at first, but to
get sixth as a freshman is incredible.
Since we’re going into the district
meet in a couple of weeks, this is
what we like to see.”
The Huskers will return to action
on Nov. 15 in Ames, Iowa, for the
NCAA District 5 Championships.
Dirksen said he hopes for both Boor
and Broekzitter to make NCAA
Championships as individuals if the
team doesn’t compete.
“We have to avoid injury and
sickness and we’ll compete well at
districts,” Dirksen said. “But you
never know what might happen. You
can’t discount anything if you have a
good day.”
Huskers bounce back
to hammer Oklahoma
Reitsma leads way with 30 kills
By Andrew Strnad
Staff Reporter
The roller coaster ride continues for
the Nebraska volleyball team.
The 1 lth-ranked Huskers (16-6
overall and 7-4 in the Big 12
Conference), who lost in three games
Wednesday to Colorado, bounced back
Saturday night to defeat the Sooners 16
14,15-9,15-13 before 4,309 fans at the
NU Coliseum.
Nebraska avenged a three-game
defeat to OU on Oct. 10, thanks to the
performance of All-America outside
hitter Lisa Reitsma.
Reitsma hammered a Nebraska
three-game record 30 kills, including
her 30th on match point in the third
game, which electrified the crowd.
The senior from Sanborn, Iowa,
also recorded her highest hitting per
centage of the year, a sizzling .529.
“I thought I was playing well, but I
didn’t think about 30 kills,” Reitsma said.
Reitsma started the match with 12
kills in the first game, when NU had to
battle back after trailing 11-8.
Sparking the Huskers comeback in
the first game was sophomore middle
blocker Tonia Tauke.
Tauke entered the match early in the
first game and neutralized one of the
Sooners’ biggest threats in Patrice
Arrington. Oklahoma fell to 13-10 and
7-5.
“Coach told me to go out there and
make a statement.” Tauke said.
“Arrington likes to hit middle, and I
camped on her, and I don’t think she hit
middle very much after that.”
In the second game, NU never
trailed and after being deadlocked at 8
8, the Huskers rolled to a 15-9 victory.
Sooner Coach Miles Pabst was
impressed with the Huskers’ play and
disappointed in OU’s inability to slow
Reitsma.
“I really wanted to win that first one,
because there might be some self doubt
in (Nebraska), but we didn’t do a good
job blocking to start with.” Pabst said.
Reitsma said the Huskers, losers of
four of their last seven, never did have
any self-doubt during the match. The
key to the win was the level of enthusi
asm on the court, she said.
“We weren’t thinking about any
thing except winning,” Reitsma said.
“We were more confident. We had a lot
more energy out there, and the crowd
actually had a lot to do with that”
Junior Jaime Krondak missed her
second straight match with a back
injury and will receive a second epider
mal shot this week.
