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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 21, 2000)
< l Soccer player to remain inactive after freak accident ■ Saunders was injured in the Aug. 10th accident while playing video games after morning practice with her teammates. BYJAMKSUHR Nebraska soccer player Kori Saunders’ future remains unclear after returning home from the hospi tal last week. Saunders was injured Aug. 10 after a glass and wooden table she was sit ting on collapsed, causing an eight inch shard of glass to pierce her back. The piece of glass cut her ureter and chipped a vertebrae, narrowly miss ing several vital organs. The sophomore from Overland Park, Kan., will be resting at home with her mother for the next week, and she must remain inactive for the next six weeks. Despite the reqiored inactivity, it has yet to be determined whether Saunders will redshirt this season. “We don’t know,” Coach John Walker said. “We’ll wait to see. She’s ordered to bed rest now, so she’s a long way from doing anything.” IWo weeks ago, it was uncertain whether she would ever play soccer again. After morning practice on Aug. 10, many players from the team gathered at teammates Brooke Jones’ and Paige Phillips’ apartment to play Super Mario Bros, video game before afternoon practice. “We were trying to kill some time,” Jones said. “Anything but sleep.” To see the television better, Saunders took a seat on the coffee table in front of the television. A few moments later, the table broke, crashing to the ground, shattering the glass top. “At first, we all kind of laughed, and Kori did too,” Phillips said. “We didn’t realize anything was wrong until she hit the ground and screamed.” After her deafening scream, Saunders reached behind her and pulled out the knife-like slab of glass. Quickly, Phillips and teammate Christine Latham rushed to Saunders’ side rolling her onto her stomach and applied gauze to the gash. “Until I saw the wound, until I saw it. That was when we realized we had to call 911,” Phillips said. “At first we all kind of laughted, and Kori did too. We ddint' realize anything was wrong until she hit the ground and screamed.” Paige PhiUipe teammate It appears Saunders has escaped serious long-term damage. The piece of glass missed all her main arteries, her kidney and her spinal cord, which could have left her paralyzed. Saunders will meet with doctors during the first week of September to determine when she can resume physical activity. Phillips said Saunders was aiming for a return to the playing Held this season. "Of course she is,” Phillips said."She’s a really strong person. She’ll do whatever she has to do to get back.” While Walker remains optimistic, he said the seriousness of the injury means the team will prepare for the season without her. "She certainly will be an impact player here,” Walker said. "We’ll have to see if it’s this fall or not” Weather dampens scrimmage BY JOSHUA CAMENaND Nebraska’s first scrimmage of the fall brought both full contact and adverse weather to the players for the first time this season. The Cornhuskers scrim maged for nearly two hours before about 20 fans at Memorial Stadium on Saturday. While the rain lasted for the majority of the scrim mage and kept most fans away, it did give the players a good chance to practice hanging on to the ball. And the players showed that more practice will be needed. "We had some quarterback exchange problems with some of the younger guys,” Coach Frank Solich said. "You are never pleased with that, but it was not an easy day for them with the weather, and it was the first scrimmage for diem.” The quarterbacks also struggled in the air, completing just six of 17 passes for 117 yards. Starting quarterback Eric Crouch completed one of four attempts, a 38-yarder to Matt Davison, while backup lammal Lord hit on three of nine passes for 52 yards. "The rain, which was com ing down pretty hard from the start, probably took us out of a lot of the passing game,” Solich said. But for the most part, Nil's running game looked sharp. Thunder Collins led all rushers with 56 yards on nine carries with two touchdowns - mosdy against lower defenses. DeAntae Grixby, Dahrran Diedrick and Dan Alexander all rushed for over 50 yards in helping the offenses combine for447 yards in 108 plays. "The power game, at times, Please see WEATHER on 14 SCOTT MCOUK/DN Husker sophomore 1-Back Dahnan Diedrick scrambles away from the NU defense during Saturday* scrimmage. Buffs optimistic despite schedule BY SAMUEL MCKEWON In Colorado’s difficult transi tion last year, new coach Gary Barnett didn’t have time to worry about his team’s dicey 2000 schedule. He didn’t even have time to see it It wasn’t until late into the Buffaloes’ season that Barnett even glanced at the opening six game slate - Colorado State in Denver, at Southern California, Washington, at Texas A&M, Kansas State and at Texas - and saw his team might be out of the conference title hunt before Halloween. And things were looking so positive for CU, which roused from its long Rick Neuheisel sleep to win four of its last six games and nearly bop Nebraska off its lofty perch. Even with that 33-30 overtime loss to the Comhuskers, the Buffs finished 7-5 and pounded Boston College 62-28 in the Insightcom Bowl. Now, it’s quite possible Colorado is better as a team in 2000, but because of the sched ule, may again struggle in the early going. But Barnett, whose stint at Northwestern proved him capa ble of slaying non-conference dragons like Notre Dame, won’t make excuses. “This is the type of non-con ference schedule you’d like to have,” he said at the Big 12 Media Days in late July. ”1 believe in playing a tough non conference schedule to be fair to players and fans.” It's the first three conference games, against three top 20 teams, that Barnett takes umbrage to, saying if “the con ference wants us to do well, then it has to take into account what they’re stacking us up against right away in the conference.” But that’s all the complain ing Barnett will da He refiised to concede the Big 12 North race to Nebraska and Kansas State. Big XII Preview ""Colorado Buffaloes 4ft Preseason RanlcM V 1999:7*3 (5-1 MfBtJii in ftiv§s§9Bi) 4ft Offensive Starters Returning:# Vr Defensive Starters Returning:# W Prognosis: B«fb an baCtaktatsdnMais MELANIE FALK/DN Midway through last season, with a 3-3 record, Barnett said his team had the awakening, and the team’s attitude has shifted to his liking. He has a salty, quick defense, led by preseason All-Big 12 pick Jashon Sykes at linebacker. He has a solid corps of receivers. He has the "it” player of the 2000 recruiting class in running back Marcus Houston, who has local sports columnists calling for him to start in game one. Now, if Barnett only had a quarterback. In fall drills, three have emerged - junior college transfer Bobby Pesavento, soph omore Zac Colvin and true freshman Craig Ochs from Boulder. Pesavento, "a guy you wouldn’t even know is in the room,” Barnett said, has the lead but Colvin and Ochs are hanging. All three have performed well in scrimmages, leading the coach to call it “a heckuva quar terback battle” last Friday. CU teammates don’t seem worried. “We’re confident with who ever,” tight end Daniel Graham said. “The attitude is there right now.” Attitude is a key word around Buffs’ camp, something Please sec BUFFS on 14 NU tabbed Big 12 champion ■ Huskers dominate all con ference selections and are picked to edge Kansas State and defeat Texas in the title game. BY SAMUEL MCKEWON_ It was a meaty debate. Pros, cons. Deep schedule analysis. A comparison of scores against common opponents. Everything a decision between Nebraska and Kansas State for the Big 12 North Champion should entail. Except that meaty debate was over Texas A&M or Oklahoma State for fourth place in the South Division. Such is the case with a typical sports writer clan more interested in getting the minute detail right than remembering the big pic ture. Maybe because the big pic ture seems pretty easy - the North title comes down to a NU KSU tilt in November, while Ttexas is the favorite in the South, with Oklahoma in second. We think Colorado, Kansas and Texas Tech will join the above four as bowl participants. In the vaunted battle for fourth in the South, OSU beat A&M. But neither will be bowl-bound. As our Big 12 Offensive Player of the Year, the Cornhuskers’ Eric Crouch is a dependable pick, while UT’s Casey Hampton edges out NU’s Carlos Polk for best defensive player. Not surprisingly, Nebraska (seven) and Texas (five), along with Kansas State (six), domi nate the All Big-12 selection list It’s quite possible that NU could have staked a claim at every spot on the offensive line. We tabbed three for good meas ure. And while Crouch is the obvious choice at quarterback with Major Applewhite embroiled in a battle with Chris Simms, many teams in the con ference possess a talented sig nal-caller. Besides Crouch, Applewhite and Simms, all upper crust col lege quarterbacks, there's Oklahoma’s Josh Heupel, Oklahoma State’s Tony Lindsay, Kansas' Dylen Smith and Iowa State’s Sage Rosenfels all return Not surprisingly, Nebraska, Kansas State and Texas dom inated the All-Big 12 picks. It’s quite possi ble that NU could have staked a claim at every spot on the offensive line. ing to start another year. As our Newcomer-of-the Year selection suggests, Ell Roberson of Kansas State should be a household quarter back name by the end of the year. Conversely, there’s slim pickings at running back, where UT’s Hodges Mitchell and Texas Tech's Ricky Williams prevail for now, but may not emerge as the best. The horde of Husker backs loom, as do newcomers Josh Scobey of Kansas State and Freshman-of-the-Year predic- s tion Marcus Houston at * -- i Please seee PICKS on 15 \ i Offense Quarterback Eric Crouch (Jr.), Nel iraska Running Back Hodges Mitchell (Sr.) Texas Ricky Williams (Sr.),T ixas Tech Wide Receiver _ Javon Green (Sr.), Col wado QuincyMorgan (Sr.), Kansas St Russ Hochstein (Sr.), Nebraska Toniu Fonoti (So.),N< braska Dominic Raiola (Jr.), I lebraska Randall Cummins (Si), Kansas St Leonard Davis (Sr.),T ixas Punter Dan Hadenfeldt (Sr.), Nebraska All-Purpose David Allen (Sr.), Kar sas St Defense Defensive Tackle_ Casey Hampton (Sr.), Texas Shaun^Rogers(Sr.),T< xas Justin Smith (Jr.), Mis touri Kyle Vanden Bosch (! ,r.), Nebraska line Backer___ Jashon Sykes (Jr.),Cc Prado Rocky Calmus (Sr.),0 dahoma Carlos Polk (Sr.), Nebiaska Defensive Back Dyshod Carter (Sr.), f ansas St Jarrod Cooper (Sr.), K insas St Kevin Curtis (Jr.),Tex, sTech Carl Nesmith (Sr.), Ka isas Freshman of the Yea ^ Marcus Houston (RB .Colorado \ Ell Roberson (QB), Ka rtsas St S Offensive Player of tl ie Year l Eric Crouch (QB), Nel iraska i Defensive Player of t teYear S Casev HamDton (DT Texas NU soccer standouts help Canada shut out the Huskers ■ Husker starters Latham and LeBlanc split time between the two teams in the exhibition at Abbott Sports Complex. EBQM STAFE.BEPQBTS-— The Nebraska women’s soccer team truly beat them selves in a 3-0 exhibition loss to the Canadian National Team Aug. 16. Cornhusker sophomore forward Christine Latham scored two goals for the Canadians while splitting time between the two teams. Current Husker goalkeeper Karina LeBlanc also started for the Canadians, beginning the shutout of the Huskers. An Abbott Sports Complex crowd of 1,583 witnessed the current Comhuskers play weU - while wearing the jerseys of the Canadian team. Latham played two periods for Canada and one for Nebraska, while LeBlanc played the first period for Canada and/the last two for Nebraska. Both Latham and LeBlanc, as well as sophomore defend er Breanna Boyd, are members of the Canadian National Team and are starters for Nebraska. Former Husker standouts Isabelle Morneau, Sharolta None and Amy Walsh also play on the Canadian team. Latham scored her first goal at 10:02 to give Canada a quick 1-0 lead. Canadian forward Charmaine Hopper added a goal ten minutes later. Latham added a second period goal for the Canadians to cap the scoring. Despite having both LeBlanc and Latham for the final period and outshooting the Canadians 7-6 during that time, Nebraska was unable to get into the scoring column. The Canadian team out shot Nebraska 18-11 in the contest. Nebraska opens regular season play on Friday, Aug. 25 at the University of Minnesota before hosting Arkansas-Little Rock in the home opener two days later.