Sports Weekend
Daily Nebraskan Friday, September 22,2000 Page 10
Becky Preston
and Meghan
Anderson are
fourth and first
respectively in
scoring in the
Big 12
Conference for
the undefeated
Nebraska soccer
team. Preston
and Anderson
have been play
ing soccer
together since
high school at
Omaha Burke
and grew up on
the same block.
MikeWarren/DN
Long-time friends find connection on soccer field
BY MATTHEW HANSEN
Meghan Anderson and Becky
Preston were always two of the best
soccer players and two of the best
friends around.
They started on Sahler Street, three
doors apart. Between the sleepovers
and hide-and-seek, they used to kick
the soccer ball around. Even then, few
were better. Then, no two kids had
more fun.
A decade later, the sleepovers and
the long talks about boys and parents
and life have ended. Preston and
Anderson are no longer inseparable
best buds. In fact, “we are like night and
day,” Anderson said.
Except on the soccer field. There,
the Nebraska juniors are frozen in
time, connected by the soccer ball they
have always shared.
Sure, the long-time west Omaha
neighbors now compete on a wide
scope. Anderson, a midfielder for the
Nebraska Comhuskers, leads the Big
12 Conference in scoring. Preston, an
NU forward, is fourth.
But, as Preston or Anderson drib
ble down the field, eluding defenders,
the other is open, and both know it.
One delivers the ball. The other scores.
They hug. Just like in the old days.
“I could close my eyes, and I know
where she’d be on the field,” Anderson
said. “I know everything about her out
there, and she knows everything about
n
me.
J It has always been this way. While
life pulls them apart, soccer brings
them together. For a brief moment,
they are 8-year-olds, kicking the ball
around, laughing.
*«*
Becky Preston’s family moved into
the neighborhood in 1988, just down
the street from the Andersons. It wasn’t
long before the families’ two daughters
discovered each other and how much
■
-■ .
fun they could have.
Anderson went over to the
Prestons’ house nearly every night The
duo played basketball with their five
older brothers. Elementary school,
what Preston termed "stupid little
clubs,” listening to music, watching
movies - the two Sahler Street rugrats
did everything together.
Even then, though, they were dif
ferent.
"Meghan was always so competi
tive,” Preston said. “She didn’t want to
lose at basketball, absolutely any
thing.”
But the common bond of Sahler
Street and of childhood kept them
together.
“It almost doesn’t matter at that age
(if you’re different),” Anderson said.
“We sure never thought about it. We
just ran around and had fun.”
Then it was on to Morton Junior
High School and the beginning of
y Anderson’s and Preston’s soccer domi
nance.
“I mean, we didn’t really have very
much competition,’’ said Preston, halt
ingly, as if she didn’t want to offend
Omaha’s other former junior-high
players. “I don’t think we lost a game in
junior high. I’m not sure. But we were
pretty awesome.”
Omaha Burke High School saw the
teammates continue to dominate on
soccer fields. But high school, with its
tendency for cliques, also pulled the
childhood friends further apart.
While they remained friendly and
still lived three doors apart, Preston
and Anderson rarely saw one another
outside of soccer.
‘“Becky was kind of in one crowd,
and I kind of hung out with the other
crowd,” Anderson said. “I don’t mean
this in a bad way at all, but she was kind
of with the cheerleader crowd, and I
was kind of with the everybody-else
crowd, or maybe the jock crowd. I don’t
know.
“She was into soccer, but other
things, too, like student council. I was
pretty much just into sports.”
The two Burke soccer stars weren’t
even close on the field. Anderson, a
midfielder, directed the offense and
scored most of the goals, while Preston
led the defense, using her speed to
keep other teams from scoring.
Anderson got most of the glory. She
played on the U.S. Under-17 National
Team in 1997 and was named the
Gatorade Nebraska Player of the Year
as a senior.
Preston, though, may have had a
larger impact on the team’s reaching
the state semifinals in 1998, according
to NU Soccer Coach John Walker.
"She was just so quick, so they put
her back there on defense,” Walker
said. "They looked weak back there,
but she was able to cover the holes they
had. She was playing there because
that’s where the team needed her.”
While Walker said it was a no
brainer to recruit both Burke stand
outs, it took a visit from Preston to reas
sure him she had a definite future in
soccer.
“She came to our camp and
showed us some things on offense that
were impressive,”
he said. “It was stuff
we hadn’t seen “It almost
from her in high rfnpcn’t
l|f f M v/WW I I i
school because she
played so much matter at
defense.” fhaf age (if
Both eventual- ,
ly committed to YOU re
nu, although they different).
didn’t know the rw
other was going to. sure
In fact, Preston never
said the first time thnnnht
she knew that , .
Anderson was about it. We
going to NU was ;ust mn
when she picked , ,
up the newspaper around and
and saw a story ft^d fun. ”
about Anderson.
“I got excited .
then because I Meghan
knew how good Anderson
she was, and I real- NU soccer mid
ized that we would_fielder
get the chance to
play more soccer together,” Preston
said. #
As freshmen at NU, their paths
continued to go in opposite directions.
On the soccer field Anderson was a
freshman sensation, earning second
Please see FRIENDS on page 9
NU coaches
won't look
past Iowa
BY JOHN GASKINS_
For a second at the Nebraska football press con
ference Tuesday, it seemed as though steam was
going to start coming from the head of first-year
defensive coordinator Craig Bohl.
He was asked the same sort of question many
Husker coaches are asked when six-touchdown
favorite NU (2-0) gets ready for sad-sack teams like 0
3 Iowa. The game kicks off Saturday at 2:30 p.m. at
Memorial Stadium.
Bohl was
asked what heGamedaV
expects out of his ^
defensit/eunit- Nebraska )
which he said has
plenty of room for ComhuskeTS VS
XXfi”uwo jowa Hawkeyej;
'2:30 p.». 8 Memoria
that has tallied a ^tadiuttt )
whopping average ^ N
of 14 points and TV: ABC ( KETV 7,
282 total yards a KLKN 8 )
game this year. Radio: Pinnacle Spc
Those marks I Network ( KLIN 140C
leave Iowa 98th in —----'
scoring offense and 89th in total offense out of 114
Division I teams. Iowa will go up against a Blackshirt
unit ranked 13th and fifth nationally in those same
defensive categories.
So what, Bohl was asked, does he expect?
A sub-200-yard clampdown? A shutout? A wood
shed beating? The first implementation of the mercy
rule in college football?
Bohl, like most NU coaches, gave the trademark,
diplomatic coach-speak reply, complete with eye
brows pointed south and a dash of dander.
“Our expectations are to improve this week,” he
said.
“We expect a physical, hard-fought game inside
from their line. We need to be more explosive on
defense and hope to put more pressure on the quar
terback.”
Well, yes. Nebraska could use a little more heat to
put on opposing quarterbacks and runningbacks.
Thanks to rapid-fire San Jose State tailback
Deonce Whitaker’s 147 yards and Notre Dame quar
terback Amaz Battle’s 107 yards, the Blackshirts are
ranked an unfamiliar 99th in rushing defense.
Another staggering NU statistic: two sacks in two
games.
But Iowa is Iowa, and its offense moves with the
speed of a dump truck, driven by traditional drop
back quarterback Scott Mullen.
“Battle was certainly more dangerous running the
ball than throwing,” Bohl said. “Mullen is not as
mobile, so we expect to put more pressure up front on
him. We’re looking forward to it.”
Nebraska Coach Frank Solich was not hasty to
jump to any conclusions either, calling ever^game
“dangerous” and Iowa “way better” than its 0-3
record.
Like Bohl, Solich said NU is not overlooking the
Hawkeyes, but the game will be used to fine-tune
problem spots like the pass-rush, the offense’s pass
ing game and a special-teams unit that rolled over for
Notre Dame.
Still, NU coaches and players can’t avoid this:
NU’s power ranking is No. 1. Iowa can easily be con
sidered one of the worst teams in the nation.
Nebraska has won 14ofit’slast 15games. Iowa has
lost 15 of its last 16. Nebraska is first nationally in rush
ing offense. Iowa is 72nc*.
Nebraska beat Notre Dame on the road. Iowa lost
to Western Michigan at home.
Will somebody acknowledge the mismatch on
paper, please?
Please see IOWA on page 9
NU ombudsman was 1968 gold medalist
■Charles Greene, the former
judicial affairs director,also
won an Olympic bronze medal.
BY JAMIE SUHR
When Charles Greene reflects
on his winding a gold medal and
a bronze medal at the 1968
Summer Olympics, he admits it
wasn’t his feet carrying him to the
top of the podium.
It was Greene’s confidence,
bordering on cockiness, that
pushed him to become the
fastest man on the planet.
“Sprinters are thorough
breds,” Greene said. “We’re tem
peramental and have huge egos.
We have to believe in ourselves.”
Going into the 1968 Olympics
at Mexico City, Greene believed
the U.S. Track and Field Team
had the makings of something
special.
"We knew going in that we
were great,” Greene said. “You
can’t forget greatness.”
The 1968 team is widely
regarded as one of the best teams
in Olympic history.
On that team, Greene ran the
first leg of the gold-medal win
ning 4-by- 100-meter relay. He
also won bronze in the 100-meter
dash.
“People say I got lucky,”
j
NateWagner/DN
1968 Olympian Charles Greene holds the gold medal (left) he won for running the first leg of the 4-by-1 OO-meter race and a photo
(middle) of his running the 100-meter race that earned him the bronze medal (right) at the Mexico Gty Olympics. Greene is the
University of Nebraska-Lincoln student ombudsman.
Greene said. “Baloney. 1 was sup
posed to get one. I worked for
four years for it."
And now Greene has the
medals in a case hanging on his
t
wall. He used to let his children
take them to class for show-and
tell.
“The medals aren’t worth
anything,” Greene said. "It’s only
a symbol of how good I was that
day that year, in that decade. It
doesn’t say I lived in Selleck (Hall)
Please see SPRINTER on page 9
OU looks to rebound
against No. 1 Huskers
BY BRIAN CHRISTOPHERSON
The Sooner Schooner is wob
bling into Lincoln this Saturday
with a broken wheel and a
banged-up axle.
The Oklahoma volleyball
team’s bruised ego stems from a
three-game spanking at the
hands of Texas A&M on
Wednesday night.
The Sooners now stand at 6-3
on the season, with a 2-1 confer
ence mark, as they head into the
NU Coliseum for Saturday’s 7
p.m. showdown with Nebraska.
“I don’t know their team well
enough to know how they’re
going to respond to that type of
loss,” Nebraska Coach John Cook
said. “We just need to worry
about what we have to do to get
better as a team.”
It doesn’t seem that Nebraska
would have many worries on its
mind after Wednesday’s sweep of
Kansas, which moved the No. 1
Cornhuskers’ record to 10-0 over
all and 3-0 in conference play.
But Cook went to the tape
and plucked out a few flaws his
team can still improve on.
“Today, I showed the team
videotape of that Kansas game
and all the balls that we let drop
on our side,” Cook said. “Even
though we won, we have to be
better than that.”
Cook said NU will now turn
its focus to trying to stop
Oklahoma outside hitter Cathy
Cook this Saturday.
The Oklahoma senior led her
team with 18 kills in a losing
effort against the Aggies.
“Beyond her, they’re really a
pretty balanced team,” Cook
said.
Senior right-side hitter Angie
Oxley said Nebraska should be
ready come Saturday, no matter
what level of competition OU
provides.
“We challenge ourselves to
get better, and we motivate our
selves,” Oxley said.
Oxley said this team has a
good trait of going for the jugular.
She doesn’t mind at all that
this year’s team has yet to be
involved in a tough conference
tussle, even sweeping usual pow
erhouse Texas.
“I do miss playing those
tough matches sometimes, but
when we win in three games and
play as well as we can, our team
will take that.”
