Mike Kluck
Sanderford
j brings fun
to Huskers
I
The billboard workers can take
today off.
There will be no changing of the
, billboard on East Cornhusker
j Highway that welcomes visitors to
4 Lincoln with a picture of Nebraska
• Women’s Basketball Coach Paul
i Sanderford holding a basketball,
f Under the picture, the sign reads,
“Paul Sanderford. Undefeated at
j Nebraska.”
With Sunday s 74-66 over No. 11
t Alabama, Sanderford and the
IHuskers remained undefeated in the
coach’s first season at the helm.
But why is he still undefeated,
|| especially after Nebraska made
| Alabama the highest-ranked team
* ever to lose at the Bob Devaney
f Sports Center on Sunday?
Is it the coach or the players?
Maybe ft’sarcombmahon'of b€th.4 ’ *■
It’s the coach who has instilled a
new attitude among the players.
“Most of the reason why it’s dif
ferent this year is that every time we
do something wrong, coach doesn’t
take us out,” sophomore guard
Nicole Kubik said. “Even if we do
come out of the game, he tells us
1 what we did wrong. When we come
out of the game, we know what we
did wrong, and we know how to cor
rect it and everything.”
But it is also the coach who has
made sure fun is still one of the top
objectives of the game, while
remaining gutty, gritty and deter
mined to win.
After Friday’s win over Miami
(Ohio), Sanderford said, it was fun to
watch the kids play with smiles on
their faces.
in Sunday s win, Sandertord said,
he enjoyed being a part of the emo
tional excitement after the game,
especially from the seniors.
That fun has turned into confi
dence for the players. In the third
quarter, after Alabama had regained
the lead 47-44, senior Jami Kubik hit
a 3-pointer with 12:28 remaining in
the half.
“She better take that or she’s
coming out,” Sanderford said.
“That’s a senior. Seniors make those
plays. I have to believe as a coach that
she can make those plays or she
shouldn’t be on the floor.”
With the victory, Sanderford will
now match wits against his former
assistant and face his former team as
the Huskers take on Western
Kentucky, Thursday night in Storrs,
Conn.
“I don’t really want to think about
it, and I’m not going to talk about it
- today,” Sanderford said. “I’m going
to go take my wife to dinner, and at 8
o’clock tomorrow morning I’ll find
out who we are going to play.”
Sunday night Sanderford rested,
but today it’s back to work as the bill
board workers take the day off.
Kluck is a journalism graduate
student and the Daily Nebraskan
sports editor.
Nil rolls past Michigan
By Darren Ivy
Staff Reporter
For the second straight year, the
Nebraska soccer team sent home a
Big Ten school in the first round of the
NCAA Tournament.
Last year, NU defeated Minnesota
3-2 in four overtimes. Sunday the
Huskers (18-3) had an easier time,
rolling to a 5-1 victory over Michigan
(18-4-1) at the Abbott Sports
Complex before a crowd of 668.
Nebraska Coach John Walker said
NU’s game with Minnesota and the
play in the rest of the NCAA
Tournament last year helped the nine
'■ returning players with Sunday’s game.
“I think a factor was our experi
ence in this type of environment in the
NCAA Tournament,” Walker said. “I
think Michigan is a very talented
team, but I think the first time in the
tournament can sometimes be a tough
thing to deal with psychologically.”
Walker said NU needed to get
ahead of Michigan early.
To get more strikers, NU eliminat
ed its sweeper and played man-to-man
defense on Michigan’s three strikers.
“I thought Sharolta Nonen, Tanya
Franck and Stephanie Vacek were out
standing as far as individual defend
ing,” Walker said. “That was crucial.”
Big 12-leading goal scorer Kim
- Engess£r afwFstnket LihdSay Eddleman
were crucial to the Huskers offense.
Engesser ran her season goal total
to 26 with three against the
Wolverines. Eddleman, who was held
out of practice all week to nurse an
ankle injury she suffered in the Big 12
Tourmanent championship game,
added two goals and one assist.
NU led 2-0 at halftime after scor
ing two goals against the wind.
“When we scored the first one it
was a great start, but the second one
was the most decisive,” Walker said.
Even though MU was down 2-0,
Michigan Coach Debbie Belkin said she
didn’t think ho- team was out of the game.
But the beginning of second half
hurt Michigan.
“We didn’t start out strong and got a lit
tle bit complacent,” Belkin said. “Then
Nebraska’s physical play took over.”
NU came out strong the whole game, a
big change from a week ago when the
Huskers lost 3-1 to Texas A&M.
us
,v* "*. Matt Miller/DN
SOPHOMORE AMY WALSH shields the ball from a Michigan defender. The Huskers won their first NCAA Tournament
game 5-1 Sunday at the Abbott Sports Complex and play Notre Dame next Sunday in South Bend, Ind.
“It wasnight-and-day difference,”
Walter said “I think biggest difference was
that we competed at much higher level ”
Eddleman said the A&M game
took a lot out of the Huskers, but they
wanted to prove they were back.
“We needed to come out and put Our
foot down and say whatever happened in
Texas happened and start playing like we
used to,” Eddleman said.
NU will play No. 2 Notre Dame
Sunday in South Bend, Ind. The Fighting
Irish beat Cincinnati 7-1 on Sunday.
Michigan lost to Notre Dame 5-0
earlier this year, but UM players and
coach said the Huskers and Irish play
different of styles of soccer.
“We play a different style than
Nebraska,” said Debbie Flaherty, who
scored Michigan’s lone goal, “and we also
play a different style than Notre Dame.”
Nebraska players said they will
not be intimidated by Notre Dame, the
defending national runner-up.
New NU era
begins with
upset of Tide
By Sam McKewon
Staff Reporter
The Nebraska women’s basketball team need
ed exactly two games to establish a name for itself
nationally in the Paul Sanderford era. V
The Huskers upset No. 11 Alabama 74-66
Sunday night in the second round of the Preseason
Women’s National Invitation Tournament before
1,804 at the Bob Devaney SpoTts Center. NU
moved to 2-0 as it defeated the highest ranked
team at home in its history.
“It feels great to have a win like this,” senior
forward Anna DeForge said. “That was a very
Please see UPSET on 11
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■
Matt Miller/DN
BROOKE SCHWARTZ, left, and Amy Russo cele
brate as their teammates ice a 74-66 upset of No.
11 Alabama at the Bob Devauey Sports Center
Sunday night.
NU women
place second
at districts
By Sam McKewon
Staff Reporter
With two of its top three runners at
less than 100 percent, the Nebraska
women’s cross country got the unex
pected help it needed in qualifying for
the NCAA Championships on
Saturday.
Freshman Kate Centerwall, sopho
more Melinda Mohr and freshman Deb
Osteen all had their highest finishes of
the year in pacing NU to second place
behind Miskniri at the NCAA Midwest
Regional Championships in Ames,
Iowa. The finish was good enough to
earn the Huskers a berth in the NCAA
Championships, Nov. 24 in Greenville,
Please see SECOND on 11