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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (July 23, 1998)
Summer injuries plague Husker soccer squad By Darren Ivy Co-editor Nebraska Soccer Coach John Walker was probably glad Kim Engesser wasn’t playing any soccer this weekend. Engesser’s two roommates, Jenny Benson and Lindsay Eddleman both suffered serious injuries this past weekend in two separate Denver Diamonds club soccer games. Benson, who played with the Under 20 National team this summer and is a two-time All-Big 12 Conference player, tore the anterior cruciate ligament in her right leg Sunday in Chicago. Eddleman, also a two-time All-Big 12 player and a second-team All-American last year, broke the fifth metatarsal bone in her right foot Friday in Columbus, Ohio. “It’s not been a good day,” Walker said. “They’re two of the top players in the confer ence. Lindsay is an All-American, and Jenny isn’t far off in that category. It’s bad enough los ing one, but to lose both is a major blow.” Eddleman, the Husker’s second all-time leading scorer, had surgery on her foot Tuesday. “I’m very disappointed,” Eddleman said. “But I should be back by the first one or two games. That’s why I did surgery so soon.” Benson will undergo surgery today. Neither Benson nor Eddleman thought their injuries were as serious as they turned out to be. Walking into the South Stadium training room Monday, Eddleman thought she had just sprained ligaments in her ankle and Benson did n’t think she had torn her ACL. But by the afternoon, they had the bad news. Benson called her parents, Mike and Sharon, right away. Sharon Benson flew in Wednesday to be with her daughter for the surgery. “We were devastated,” said Sharon Benson. “It was a heartbreaker. She had this happen to her in her left leg four years ago. But she will get through it because she’s a tough cookie.” Eddleman said she was dribbling the ball and got shoved down from behind. When she fell, she broke her foot. She said it was painful but she walked around on it all day Sunday. And it was from the sidelines that she saw her roommate go down. “We’ve been together this whole thing,” Eddleman said. “It still really hasn’t set in yet.” The loss has set in with Walker. “A whole set of ideas have flown through my head,” Walker said. “I don’t know exactly what is going to happen and I’m not quite sure who will play where. Obviously this is a huge loss.” Eddleman said some of her teammates have stopped by or called her. “People just can’tbelieve it,” Eddleman said. Fellow junior Isabelle Morneau was in Canada playing with the Canadian National Team when she heard the news. “It’s very disappointing,” said Morneau when told about the injuries Monday. “I was thinking how bad it’s going to be for them. We are going to have to deal with it. My goal is to try to stay healthy the rest of the summer.” Huskers boost Canadian team By Darren Ivy Co-editor Nebraska junior soccer player Isabelle Momeau has spent more time traveling and sleeping in hotel and residence hall rooms this summer than in her own home. But it isn’t because she is having a fight with her parents, Claude Morneau and Raymonde Desmarais. It’s because she is dedicating her sum mer to practicing and playing with the young, upstart Canadian National Team. “I haven’t been home too much,” Morneau said. “I knew this summer and next year would be busy with World Cup qualifying. But (my family) understands and are very supportive.” Beginning in June, the Canadian National Team, including NU players Momeau, Karina LeBlanc and Amy Walsh, began practicing for the Confederation of North, Central American and Caribbean Association Football, tjie World Cup quali fying tournament that will take place at the end of August in Canada. After a 5-4 setback to the Adidas All Stars and a 1-1 tie with the United States Under 20 National Team ^n exhibition games in July, the team opened internation al play Sunday against China, the silver medalists at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics. Losing just 2-1 Sunday to the Chinese gave many Canadian soccer fans a bright «— If I could, I would play both. But the national team is my first goal overall. It has to come Isabelle Morneau NU soccer player outlook for this year’s team, Morneau said. “People who watched the game against China said ‘this could be the best national team ever,’” said Morneau, who is making her fourth appearance on the national team. Morneau said the team is much more fit, which allows them to spend more time improving technical skills rather than get • S ting in shape. She credits this to a new atti tude and some “young blood” on the team. There are six players on the team who are 20 years old or younger, including Walsh and LeBlanc. Momeau said the team was taking each tournament step by step. “Our first goal is to get ready for CON CACAF,” Momeau said. “We want to qual ify for World Cup. Then we can worry about the Olympics.” To qualify for the World Cup, Canada needs to win the nine-team tournament or finish second and then beat Argentina later in the year. One of the downfalls for the Comhuskers is that in August, Momeau, Walsh and LeBlanc will miss a Nebraska game or two to play in CONCACAF. “If I could, I would play both,” Momeau said. “But the national team is my first goal overall. It has to come first.” But NU Coach John Walker said the good outweighs the bad. “They are playing against some of the best teams in the world,” said Walker, an assistant coach for the Canadian National Team. “You couldn’t ask for anything bet ter.” Bulls to announce hiring of Floyd today CHICAGO (AP)—The Chicago Bulls are calling Michael Jordan’s bluff, hiring the coach he said he wouldn’t play for Tim Floyd. The next move is up to Jordan. Floyd will be introduced as the Bulls’ new coach Thursday, a source close to the organiza tion told The Associated Press, speaking on con dition of anonymity. Floyd arrived in Chicago on Wednesday morning, a few hours after resigning at Iowa State. "I really can’t comment any further right now,” Floyd said. The Bulls also refused to con firm Floyd’s hiring. Iowa State athletic director Gene Smith said Floyd was leaving "to pursue another opportu nity with the Chicago Bulls.” Asked if Floyd would be the coach, Smith said: "You’re going to have to ask the Chicago Bulls about that” As the Bulls’ coach-in-waiting the past two years, Floyd’s hiring hardly comes as a surprise. But Jordan^ dislike ofFloyd is no secret either, he said just last week that he wouldn’t play for him. "I don’t know Tim. I don’t have anything against Tim Floyd,” Jordan said July 16. ' To(play for him) is like starting all over again, and that’s what I don’t want to do. He may want to do that, but I don’t ' 'I don’t condemn him. I don’t condemn (the Bulls) for hiring him,” Jordan added.' 'But I just don’t feel that I want to start with someone who doesn’t realty know me and doesn’t know die way I play the game of basketball.” Jordan won’t make an official announce ment about his future until the NBA lockout aids, and Floyd’s hiring won’t change that, said David Falk, Jordan’s agent The NBA lockout bars die Bulls — and their new coach — from having any direct contact with Jordan. I Jordan was playing golf at a country club in suburban Chicago on Wednesday and did not react publicly to news of Floyd’s hiring. "Michael needs to take his time to see how all of the pieces M into place,” Falk said A Fishing buddy of general manager Jerry Krause, Floyd was the top candidate to replace Phil Jackson long before Jackson left. That alone was enough to earn die scorn of Jordan, who derisively calls him' 'Pink,” as in the rock group Pink Floyd. Jordan made it clear he didn’t want to play for anyone but Jackson. But relations between Jackson and the Bulls’ management were strained, at best, and Jackson announced his res ignation a week after Chicago won its sixth NBA tide in eight years. "I think he needs to step back from all die events of the season and all the political events surrounding the team and decide what he wants to do,” Falk said of Jordan. "He’s earned the right after what he’s brought to the team and the city and the game of basketball to do whatever brings him joy and satisfaction.” The Bulls also interviewed NBA assistants Scott Skiles, Ron Rothstein, Paul Silas and Rick Carlisle, but die job was thought to be Flpydh to turn down. Though he has no NBA coaching experience, the 44-year-old has a solid track record on the college level. Iowa State’s 12-18 record last year was his first losing season in 12 years as a head coach. Floyd is 243-130 overall with five NCAA tournament appearances. He was 81-47 in his four years at Iowa State ami was runner-up for die APIs national coach of the year in 1995-96, when the Cyclones finished 24-9, despite losing four starters. "I think it would be a shock to anyone close to the scoie had Tim Floyd not been hired,” Falk said. "This was a decision that was made a year ago.” What will happen to the rest of the Bulls’ staff isn’t clear. Krause told Frank Hamblen and two other assistants that whether they stay on or not will be up to the new coach. There were reports Floyd was having cold feet over accepting the Bulls job, possibly because of Jordan’s insistence that he’d rather retire than play for Floyd. If Jordan does retire, Floyd will have the unenviable position ofbeing characterized—fairly or unfairly—as the man who drove perhaps die game’s greatest player into retirement Other players also have a decision to make. Of Chicago’s 12-man playoff roster, nine are free agents. Scottie Pippen, who’s long felt undervalued and underappreciated by the Bulls, said repeatedly during the season that he’d play somewhere else when he became a free agent this summer. Dennis Rodman called the possi bility of hiring Floyd' 'a joke.” Floyd played three years at Louisiana Tech and served as a student assistant coach his senior year. His first head coaching job was at Idaho, where he served for two seasons with a 35-25 record. He had a 127-58 mark in six seasons at the University of New Orleans, where his team reached the NCAA tournament in 1991 and 1993. He accepted the Iowa State job in spring 1994, only to call a news conference at New Orleans to announce he was staying. He later changed his mind again, taking die job at Iowa State in May 1994. ..
