A&M coach: Aggies need perfection for NU
By Sam McKewon
Senior editor „
Ih order to beat Nebraska on
Saturday, Texas A&M will need perfec
tion.
At least that’s
how Aggies’
Coach R.C.
Slocum sees it
In his 10th sea
son at A&M,
Slocum figures his
team will have to
play a “perfect
game” if it is going
to upset the No. 2
Slocum Comhuskers in a
2:30 pjn. game at Kyle Field in College
Station, Texas.
“We have to play an error-free, flaw
less game,” Slocum said. “We have to
play at the absolute peak of our ability
on both sides of the ball.”
It might help if the Comhuskers (5
0 overall and 1-0 in the Big 12
Conference) don’t play up to their abili
ty. Slocum said he hoped NU will make
its share of mistakes.
“If Nebraska goes out and plays as
well as they can,” Slocum said, “they’ve
demonstrated when they’re rolling,
nobody has beat them.
“We know it’s a steep hill we’re try
ing to climb.”
Ironically, Slocum said he saw a
Nebraska team “going through the
motions” in a 24-17 win over Oklahoma
State. The teal Nebraska team, Slocum
said, was the one that beat then-No. 8
Washington 55-7 Sept. 26.
For that reason, A&M doesn’t plan
to take too much stock in the OSU game
film. The No. 18 Aggies (4-1 and 1-0)
run a different defense (3-4), and their
pro-style offense differs from the ball
control game plan OSU employed last
weekend.
Slocum said A&M is concerned
with how to attack die Huskers’ defense.
The coach compared NU’s Blackshirts
to Florida State’s defense, a unit that
“thoroughly dominated” the Aggies in a
23-14 win at the Kickoff Classic earlier
this season.
“Nebraska is very similar to Florida
State in scheme and in overall athletic
ability,” Slocum said. “That concerns
me a great deal.”
So does Nebraska’s offense. Slocum
said the Huskers would be the first
physical offense the Aggies had played
this season. In last year’s Big 12
Championship game, NU racked up
536 total yards, including 335 yards
rushing.
Slocum said that game sits in the
back of his mind when approaching
NU’s offense. Complicating matters is
A&M’s uncertainty as to which quarter
back will start for NU, whether it be
Bobby Newcombe, Eric Crouch or
Monte Christo.
Whoever leads the attack, Slocum
said he expects the usual amount of
smash-mouth football.
“I don’t see huge changes in their
offense based on the quarterback,”
Slocum said. “We do expect to see
Newcombe in the game, so that’s who
we’re preparing for. I’ll be surprised if
he doesn’t play.”
A&M’s offense features a quarter
back question of its own. Randy
McCown took the starting spot from
Branndon Stewart after a 24-21 win
over Kansas last week. Slocum said
McCown will get the start, with Stewart
seeing time if needed.
If the Aggies can win, Slocum said,
it would elevate the program into an
elite status. Only three team have beaten
NU in the last 67 games.
‘Tor anybody to beat Nebraska, it’s
gonna be a big deal,” Slocum said. “It’d
be a monumental thing because, basi
cally, nobody does it”
NU’s Engesser to battle former team
transfer
leads team
in scoring
By Darren Ivy
Staffwriter
-v
Kim Engesser didn’t want to leave
Portland two years ago.
She liked her soccer teammates.
She liked her friends and the campus.
But she didn’t like playing limited
minutes as a defender.
So she chose to transfer to
Nebraska in 1997, a decision Engesser
said was hard to make. When she told
her teammates she «was going to trans
fer, Engesser cried. So did some of her
Portland teammates.
“Everyone there kept asking me to
stay, but they wanted me to be happy,”
Engesser said. “(My sophomore sea
son) was disappointing. I didn’t really
feel I was contributing, not like I had
as a freshman.”
As a freshman forward, she started
21 of the 22 games for the NCAA run
ner-up Pilots, scoring 23 points on
nine goals and five assists. Her statis
tics earned her honorable mention All
West Coast Conference honors.
During her sophomore season she
disappeared from the Pilot lineup,
starting only two games - one against
Nebraska in the NCAA quarterfinals
- and finishing the season with just
four points on one goal and two
assists.
“I never really found out why
exactly (Coach Clive Charles) made
the change,” Engesser said
When Charles was asked about his
decision to make Engesser a defender,
he didn’t want to comment.
“It’s done, finished and over with,”
Charles said. “That was three years
ago. We always wish our players
would stay, but we weren’t going to
stop her from transferring. She felt she
wasn’t getting enough playing time.”
As a sophomore, Engesser
exchanged e-mail with Nebraska mid
fielder Jenny Benson, a club soccer
teammate from Huntington Beach,
Calif. In those exchanges, the idea of
Engesser transferring to Nebraska was
brought up, Benson said.
“She knew we really liked it here,”
Benson said. “I told her this was a
great place, and she would play where
she belonged to play. All of us here
knew what kind of player she was. We
kept saying, ‘(Portland’s) crazy.
I
They’re crazy.’”
After the season, Engesser talked
with the Portland coaches and learned
she would be a defender for her final
two years. She asked and received a
release from her scholarship.
Engesser took a visit to Nebraska
on Feb. 21 and signed two days later.
On Friday, Engesser will play Portland
for the first time since she transferred.
“I don’t have any hard feelings,”
Engesser said. “I’m happy with my
decision.”
Nebraska was the good place to
transfer, her mother, Jan Engesser,
said.
“She didn’t know anybody at
Portland when she went there,” Jan
Engesser said. “She didn’t want to go
somewhere else and go through that
again. She knew Jenny and Sandy
(Smith) at Nebraska and really didn’t
look anywhere else.”
Engesser knew a couple people at
NU, but she still had concerns.
“I was kind of taking a risk,
because I didn’t know how I would fit
in,” Engesser said.
She fit in well. Last season, her
first with the Huskers, Engesser
scored 26 goals and recorded 55
points. Those marks ranked her first
and 13* nationally.
This production was more than
NU Coach John Walker had expected.
“I realistically thought if we could
get 10-15 goals (from her), it would be
great,” Walker said.
In the first 10 games this year,
Engesser has already scored a nation
leading 14 goals. She scored in eight
consecutive games, an NU record,
before having the streak broken Friday
against Texas A&M.
Jan Engesser said Kim has always
had a knack for scoring. Jan coached
Kim’s club team for nine years and
went to all of her high school games.
During her four years at Ocean
View High School, Engesser scored
101 goals and added 51 assists, both
school career records.
Engesser has been rewriting the
record books at Nebraska as well.
She already holds records for most
goals (4) and points (8) in a game and
most goals (26) and points (55) in a
season.
Two more goals are all Engesser
needs to break Kari Uppinghouse’s
NU all-time goals scored record of 42.
Walker said Engesser’s scoring
consistency is what makes her special.
“Scoring goals in soccer is not
easy, so it’s a pretty important consis
tent feat to have,” Walker said.
i Being a senior, Engesser has more
responsibilities this season.
“Last year, I was new and kind of
hesitant,” Engesser said. “This year,
I’ve tried to be more of a leader. I’ve
triedto be more vocal.”
She probably will be really vocal
Friday as she takes on her former
Portland teammates and coach for the
first time since transferring.
“I feel I kind of have something to
prove,” Engesser said.
tt
Last year, I was new and kind of hesitant.
This year, I’ve tried to be more of a
leader. I’ve tried to be more vocal.”
Kim Engesser
NU midfielder
Mattt Miller/DN
SENIOR STRIKER KIM ENGESSER leads the nation in goals with 14 this season. She made an immediate impact
at NU when she transferred last season from Portland, the Hunkers’ opponent Friday.
Linebacker
set to play
‘important’
NU game
By Andrew Strnad
Staff writer
For four years, Texas A&M line
backer Dat Nguyen has been the heart
and soul of the Aggie defense.
The 6-foot-1
inch senior from
Rockport, Texas,
has established
himself as one of
the premier line
backers in all of
college football.
Aggie fans
will look once
again to Nguyen
Nguyen to provide another
big game performance this weekend
against No. 2 Nebraska.
The No. 18 Aggies got a look at
Nebraska during last year’s Big 12
Championship game in San Antonio,
with the Huskers winning 54-15.
This season Texas A&M (4-1 over
all and 1-0 in the Big 12 Conference)
enters the game as an 18-point under
dog, but this year’s meeting will be the
first time the Comhuskers make the trip
to College Station, Texas, and Kyle
Field.
“It’s very important to us,” Nguyen
said. “Nebraska has proved to be one of
the elite teams in the country, and the
opportunity to play than is a once-in-a
lifetime chance.”
In the Big 12 Championship last
season, Nguyen answered every chal
lenge against NU, piling up 16 tackles
while causing and recovering a fumble.
The Huskers rolled over Texas
A&M’s defense for 536 total yards in
54-15 win. However, the Huskers were
very impressed with Nguyen.
“He’s all over the field,” Husker
fullback Joel Makovicka said. “There’s
no question that he’s one of the best
linebackers in the country.”
The Butkus Award candidate has 22
games in which he has had at least 10
tackles and ranks near the top of every
career tackle category at Texas A&M.
Nguyen, who likes to downplay his
individual abilities, said playing
Nebraska is why he likes toplay foot
ball.
“I’m here to win games with niy
friends and teammates and to have fun,”
Nguyen said. “That’s all I’m hoe for.”
Please see NGUYEN on 10