Canadian pipeline helps NU soccer remain at the top
PIPELINE from page 10
Translation: Canada likes
sports. The U.S. likes sports, too,
with a whole extra load of blood,
sweat, tears and dough attached
to it
And so the match made in
Lincoln, which has helped pro
duce the current No. 3 team in the
country and a program that isn’t
going to fade into the cornfields
anytime soon, is a case of supply
and demand with a twist.
There’s a supply of good
Canadian soccer players itching
to play in the States. But John
Walker, a native Canadian him
self, had to create the demand.
The Maple Leaf Pipeline
Imitation isn’t just flattery, but
the beeline to success in athletics.
Can’t beat 'em, small fry? Join ’em.
And in April 1994 (and pretty
much all die years before and all
the years since) the standard in
college soccer was North
Carolina. To join them in an
attempt to beat them meant
recruiting the same players.
It wasn’t a battle Walker could
win or even wage with the new
born Huskers. Instead, he had two
specific recruiting in-roads to
explore: the state of Nebraska,
which Walker said improved its
talent all the time and would place
four Huskers on the team next
year.
Then there’s the entire nation
of Canada, where he served as a
staff coach for the Canadian
Soccer Association and continues
to serve as an assistant for the
Canadian National Team.
Walker went a step below the
national team to a yourijger group
of hungry, willing players to jump
country and build at Nebraska.
Normally that type of wide
scale recruiting is cosdy, with air
fare and travel and scouting hours
poured in - a risky proposition for
a program in its first year. But
Walker already knew whom the
best Canadian players were. No
need for scouting reports on play
ers he’d scouted himself.
And there was little risk
involved, because regardless of
record, the Canadian players were
facing better opponents in the
States and getting treated better to
doit
“I don’t know; you don’t even
look at Canada for college sports,”
NU goalie and Maple Ridge,
British Columbia, native Karina
LeBlanc said. “I never did.”
Word spread for players that
wanted a better shake in soccer:
Walker’s got something going in
the States. In recent years, Husker
players would reach out to mem
bers of the Canadian Under-20
National Team, of which Walker
was also a coach.
“There’s six or seven
Canadians here,” Walker said. “It
doesn’t take a genius to see it’s a
good situation - good place to
play in, high performance, com
petitive environment.”
In Latham’s case, Walker
attended Christmas and summer
camps. She heard more about the
program through LeBlanc and
junior Shannon Tanaka, also of
Calgary. Walker offered a scholar
ship; Latham accepted. Deal
closed.
“I really didn’t think about or
look at any other schools,” she
said. “Everybody knew it was such
a good program.”
The coach, who dislikes the
term “savior” as his role for pluck
ing these women out of Canada,
nonetheless recognized a need for
these players to get better experi
ence, which in turn would make
the national team a larger force
internationally.
In fact, several Nebraska play
ers double as members of the
Canadian National Team, includ
ing LeBlanc, who had hoped to be
lounging around the Athletic
Village of the 2000 Sydney
Olympics, had the team qualified
for the Games last summer.
Needing to finish in the top
seven of the qualifiers (as host
Australia was automatically invit
ed), Canada failed, leaving
LeBlanc stateside instead of an
Olympic participant
“It’s very frustrating to watch it
on TV,” said LeBlanc, who was
quite sure the 2000 Canada team,
after tying the United States, could
have been in the running for a
medal, “especially when you know
we could’ve gone in there and
given an effort. The two teams that
are in the final (U.S. and Norway)
are both teams we played close.”
Canada’s loss has been
Nebraska’s gain. Walker isn’t sure
where NU would be without
LeBlanc or Latham, another
Canadian National standout. He’s
accepted the dual nature of their
college eligibility getting passed
over for international competition
like the 2000 Olympics.
It’s all part of the package deal
that won’t become a problem
again until Athens in 2004. Rather,
Walker's challenge in the next four
years will be keeping a secret to
himself that’s nearly impossible to
hold.
Southern Invasion
Quick-strike success like
Nebraska’s has price: When you
beat them, they join you. The
Huskers may have started the
trend of recruiting Canadians. It’s
hard to say if they’ll continue to
comer the market
The talent has to continue to
flow, Walker said, as he’s not inter
ested in recruiting Canadians just
to recruit them. Additionally,
Nebraska has reached a level of
success where it can battle for
recruits who would have auto
matically punched their tickets for
UNC otherwise.
But the more likely scenario is
other teams will jump the band
wagon. Connecticut, a team NU
defeated earlier this season, had a
Canadian player, Walker said.
Portland signed one of the top
players out of Canada away from
Nebraska.
“There’s people who under
stand that there’s good players in
The transition from Canada to here is a pretty
easy one. Especially when you’re surrounded by
other Canadians.”
Karina LeBlanc
Nebraska goaltender
Canada,” Walker said.
More importantly, Walker
said, the differences between U.S.
and Canadian players were little
to none. Only rarely, as in the case
of NU freshman and French
speaking Quebec native Marie
Claude Henri, is language a barri
er.
Neither Latham nor LeBlanc
mentioned any Canadian cliques
on the team. If anything, their
nationalities boil into the Husker
Athletic Department’s pot of for
eign-bom players, which is heavi
ly mixed in other sports.
“Same music, same language,
same food,” Walker said of Canada
and the U.S. "People tend to focus
on differences, that these players
are, you know, Canadian. But,
there really isn’t a cultural adjust
ment”
LeBlanc concurred.
“The transition from Canada
to here is a pretty easy one,” she
said. "Especially when you’re sur
rounded by other Canadians.”
Mizzou, Kansas pose challenge to NU
DN File Photo
Nebraska's Becky Preston and the NU soccer team hits the road to
battle Missouri and Kansas in a pair of Big12 matchups this
weekend.
BY GABRIEL STOVALL
The rankings seem to tell a person all
one would need to know about the third
ranked Nebraska soccer team this season.
But Coach John Walker insists the
Cornhuskers have much more to learn
about themselves before they can talk
about the Final Four or a national champi
onship.
He is hoping his team’s first two confer
ence road games of the season will be good
learning experiences.
“So far, we’ve played a pretty good sea
son,” Walker said. “But all of our conference
games, especially the road ones, are going
to be challenging. I believe we’ll know a lot
more about our team after this weekend.”
Friday, the Huskers go to Columbia to
tangle with the Missouri Tigers (6-4,2-0) in
a 4 p.m. contest. Sunday, the Huskers go up
against the Kansas Jayhawks.
While the Tigers may not look so fero
cious on paper, Coach Walker knows beat
ing the Tigers at home will be no small feat
“Traditionally, Mizzou is one of the
toughest teams in the conference,” said
Walker, who has been head coach since the
program began in 1994.
For that reason, Walker said he and his
team were not looking past the Missouri
squad.
The Tigers come into Friday's game rid
ing high after a 1-0 victory at Oklahoma last
Sunday.
They boast one of the best players in the
nation in senior forward Nikki Thole.
Thole, who was a 1999 All-American
selection, is also a finalist for the 2000
Harmon Award. The award is soccer’s
equivalent to football’s Heisman Trophy
With such opposing talent on the field,
Husker star goalkeeper Karina LeBlanc said
it won’t be hard to stay focused.
“We’re going to have to come prepared
and ready to play,” said the senior, who is
also a finalist for this season’s Harmon.
“If we don’t come ready to play against
Missouri or Kansas, we run the risk of get
ting upset.”
Walker said the Jayhawks (5-7,1-1) will
pose a formidable challenge to the Huskers
in their Sunday contest in Lawrence, Kan.
“They’re the most improved team in the
conference,” Walker said.
“The thing that makes them dangerous
is that they are balanced. No one player
stands out”
KU is also coming off a win. The
Jayhawks won their first conference game
of the season in a 1-0 decision at Oklahoma
State.
Tough Texas A&M
next volleyball test
BY BRIAN CHR1ST0PHERS0N
Put the word Texas in a
school’s name, and the
Nebraska volleyball team will
take notice.
NU always expects a little
more attitude, confidence and
talent to stand on the other side
of the net when schools from
the deep south are involved.
“There’s always good teams
down there in Texas,” junior
middle blocker Jenny Kropp
said. “They have down years,
but Texas A&M is always fairly
good."
And as coincidence would
have it, the Aggies just happen
to be next on the Big Red’s hit
list.
On Saturday, the NU
Coliseum will host the duel
between No. 22 Texas A&M and
the top-ranked Cornhuskers,
who are 12-0 overall, and an
untested 5-0 in conference play.
A&M has a little swagger in
its step too, coming in with an 8
3 mark, sitting at 3-1 in the con
ference after being bit early in
conference play by Missouri.
Since then, the Tigers have
won four straight matches, with
notable wins over Kansas,
Oklahoma and Colorado.
"They’re a really balanced
team. They have people hitting
for a good attack percentage
down their lineup, and they’ve
played a tough schedule,”
Nebraska Coach John Cook
* said.
That tough schedule
includes a four-game, hard
fought match on the road with
the current No. 2 team in the
country, Hawaii.
The Aggies balance also
concerns Cook.
“There’s always good
teams down there in
Texas. They have
down years, but
Texas A&M is always
fairly good."
Jenny Kropp
NU middle blocker
In A&M’s last outing against
Texas-Pan America, two true
freshmen led the team in kills,
with outside hitter Beth Skypala
and middle blocker Carol Price
scoring 10 and seven kills,
respectively.
Meanwhile, NU continues
to look dominant coming off a
sweep of Colorado in Boulder in
a match that left Cook pleased
with his team.
Last Saturday, Nebraska
cruised at home against
Oklahoma and freely substitut
ed throughout.
Cook said this match might
not allow for the same subbing
strategy.
“We would have to get in a
position to put other people in,”
Cook said.
“But we are going into this
match expecting it to be tough.”
Cook also has not bought
into the hype about being unde
feated and No. 1.
“We aren't concerned about
that right now,” Cook said. “If we
play to our maximum level and
win all our matches, that’s great.
“If we lose a match or two
along the way but played to our
maximum level, that’s good.”
Three years,four plays: All memorable
PLAYS from page 10
boy of the Mike and Ralph Brown
led secondary as a true freshman
the season before - the little rook
ie who got picked on.
As he got more playing time in
season No. 2, his challenges got
steeper as teams threw away from
the All-American Browns and
toward him even more.
In just the third game of the
season, Craver had to cover dan
gerous Golden Eagle receivers
Todd Pinkston and Sherrod
Gideon and played so fervently, he
got cramped up and exhausted.
That didn’t stop him from tip
ping a pass Julius Jackson inter
cepted to score the go-ahead
touchdown with 8:26 left, then
intercepting another pass soon
after.
Somehow, down 20-13, with
under two minutes left and with
Memorial Stadium on its heels,
Southern Miss, drove all the way to
the red zone and dared to chal
lenge the whipping boy again.
Quarterback Jeff Kelly threw the
ball toward the end zone, in
Pinkston’s direction, and Craver
was right there.
“I remember Mike (Brown)
telling me, ‘You better be ready;
they’re gonna go deep because it
was a blitz,’ ” Craver said.
“So we expected the ball to
come down real quick, which it
did, and I just stuck my hands out
and caught it
“I was in a zone, and once I
caught the ball, I was on the
ground and being tackled. I
remember big, old linemen jump
ing on me, and that’s when I got
back to reality and felt the crowd.”
Turns out that Craver did get
whipped on the play, but not like
plays before. He dislocated his
shoulder.
Oh well. The pain was healed
by the knowledge he had arrived.
The whipping boy had just won
the game for the Huskers.
"I was on cloud nine ... I
reisers prepared for Kansas invitational
FROM STAFF REPORTS
The fresh faces of the
Nebraska Cross Country team will
have a chance to shine Friday at
: ■ • = Emporia State Invitational in
_::..n>oria, Kan.
The team will send its
younger, less experienced run
ners to compete, as the rest of the
remember Mike crown coming
up to me after the play and telling
me I was ‘the next,’ meaning the
next great thing. It made me feel
real good. I hoped it was a sign of
things to come.”
It was.
Jeremy Slechta • sack on
Notre Dame QB Arnaz Battle in
overtime, 2000.
It’s funny how one play can
make you so much more popular.
Mild-mannered Slechta under
stands why people recognize him
more now, but it feels kind of odd.
Slechta, a junior defensive
tackle with plenty of experience,
had earned his spurs with coach
es, players and knowledgeable
fans as part of NU’s punishing ’99
D-line that helped the Blackshirts
mount the nation’s fourth-best
defense.
But he wasn’t a household
name and had made few plays of
memory until one big sack in
South Bend.
After regulation ended in a 21 -
21 tie, Nebraska won the toss, forc
ing the Irish to score first from the
25-yard line.
After Notre Dame got to the
eight-yard-line, it faced third and
goal from the five. Battle scram
bled left, and Slechta gave chase.
“I knew it was just me and
Battle. I had been watching him all
day make guys miss on our team.
He did it to me earlier.
“I remember coming out
there, and it was just me and him.
You block everything out. My
attention was just on me and him,
and I’m watching him, and as
many people as there were there, I
didn’t hear one voice coming from
the stands.
“After you tackle him, and you
realize what you did, you stand up
and everything comes back, and
all of a sudden you can hear every
body yelling again. I was just so
excited, and I just stood up.
“I’m not one of those guys that
has my signature celebration
move, but I just remember getting
team will prepare for the Murray
Keatinge Invitational in Orono,
Maine, Oct. 7, said Coach Jay
Dirksen.
Dirksen said he would send
six runners - two men and four
women.
Sophomore Phillip Davis and
freshman Paul Wilson will com
pete for the men, while senior
7 was one of the last ones to leave the field.
Everyone stormed the field, and I kind of just
walked out there with Loren and Kyle and tried
to grasp what happened.
Jeremy Slechta
NU defensive tackle
up off the field, and I took both of
my hands and basically slapped
the side of my helmet - both
hands, one on each side, because I
was so excited. I just jumped up.”
The sack went for a five-yard
loss and forced Irish kicker Nick
Setta to boot a 29-yard-field goal.
That stand was good enough to
allow Eric Crouch to score a
touchdown and win the game,
making Slechta’s sack enormous,
and he knew it
“I was one of the last ones to
leave the field. Everyone stormed
the field, and I kind of just walked
out there with Loren (Kaiser) and
Kyle (Vanden Bosch) and tried to
grasp what happened. I was in the
stage where I knew what hap
pened, but really it didn’t sink in
yet, so I was still trying to sit on
that field and let that feeling last as
long as I could.”
But Slechta got a whole differ
ent post-game feeling once he left
the locker room and was unchar
acteristically hounded by media.
“It was a lot different that way.
Everybody was asking, ‘Is this the
biggest play you’ve made to date?’
You know, I had to say yes, and it
was, and everything has just kind
of... it’s weird howl can make one
play like that, and now everybody
wants to talk to me.”
Eric Crouch - touchdown in
overtime vs. Notre Dame, 2000.
Driving toward the north end •
zone - the same end zone that
Touchdown Jesus lords over, with
the ND student section roaring,
“Kill, kill, kill,” Crouch was his sig
nature cool self. Though the
ghosts of Notre Dame past had
Deb Osteen, sophomores Christy
Linnell and Melissa Drozda, and
freshman Hillary Laird will suit up
for the women.
Dirksen said he thought the
runners would fare well in
Friday’s race, especially because
junior colleges and smaller
schools make up most of the
competition.
carried the Irish into overtime,
they didn’t haunt Crouch.
After a gritty third-and-nine
pass to Tracey Wistrom for a first
down and a Dan Alexander run to
the eight-yard-line, Solich called a
favorite NU goal-to-go play: for
Crouch to call his own number.
“When the play came in, I was
like, okay, time to win, time to get
this game over with. I was thinking
the play’s been working the whole
game.
“Dan (Alexander) did such a
great job of blocking on that play,
and I saw the end zone and tried to
beat two guys, and just got a cou
ple feet in there.
“Everything happened so fast
Afterward, the official didn’t signal
touchdown for a little while. It was
kind of strange in that regard. I
knew I scored, I knew the game
was over with, so I kind of walked
off, and then I saw everyone run
ning toward me.
“I remember Coach (Turner)
Gill being one of the first people to
congratulate me, but everything
was kind of blurry. All of a sudden,
there’s ten cameras around me
and people asking me questions
and people jumping on me. There
was just so much going on.
“It was just amazing the way it
ended up,” Crouch told the Daily
Nebraskan after he spoke tp'the
national media.“It was amazing
the feeling I had. It was a feeling of
greatness, a feeling that you
accomplished something that
maybe not a lot of people think
you would have... and in front of a
national broadcast with all our
fans there. It means so much more
than I ever thought it would have.”
The team continues to up its
miles in training, and Dirksen
said his runners would peak in
late October.
“Right now we’re concerned
about making improvements,” he
said.
The women’s 5,000-meter
race will begin at 5 p.m. with the
men’s 8,000-meter race to follow.