SportsThursday
Huskers wake up at halftime to beat KU
Nebraska advances to second round of Big 12 tournament
BY JAMIE SUHR
The Nebraska soccer team
shook off some rust from the
first half to beat Kansas 4-0 in
the first round of the Big 12
Conference Tournament.
The Cornhuskers were pro
pelled by two goals from for
ward Christine Latham to break
open an empty half time score.
“We weren’t prepared to
play,” Latham said.
“(In the second half) we
started doing things we knew we
cuuiu uu. we
seemed tired in
the first half.
We weren’t
playing with
our usual
intensity.”
Fueled by
Latham, the
H u s k e r s
poured four
goals in the
second half
against the
Jayhawks as
the Huskers
used Kansas
goalkeeper
Sarah
Gonzalez’s
aggressiveness
against Lath
am.
NU mid
fielder Meghan
Anderson sent
a long pass
leaving
Latham one
- on-one with
the goalie.
Gonzalez and Latham both
tackled for the ball, but the for
ward came up with it and scored
in the open net.
Latham said her second goal
was a “weird kind of thing.”
“The goalkeeper came out to
grab it, and kind of flicked it,”
Latham said.
"It was meant to be a pass,
but it kind of hit the ground and
71 was
meant to
be a
pass, but
it kind of
hit the
ground
and just
spun in. /
turned
my head
to the
right and
saw it
barely go
in.”
Christine
Latham
NU forward
Please see KANSAS on 11
Mike Warren/DN
Jenny Benson dribbles around Lindsay Homer in the first half of the first round of the Big 12 tournament. Benson had two assists in the game as the
Huskers defeated Kansas 4-0.
LeBlanc snubbed
by Big 12's 1st team
BY JAMIE SUHR
D BreannaBoyd /
D Jenny Benson
MF Meghan Anderson
F Christine Latham
While four Nebraska soccer players made the Big
12 all-conference team, one omission -goalkeeper
Karina LeBlanc -could raise questions among Husker
faithful.
The senior was
left off the first
team despite her
11.5 shutouts and
0.32 goal-against
average, both con
ference bests.
Baylor's Dawn All-Conferenca
Greathouse, who
led the Big 12 with
6.9 saves per game,
was on the first
team. LeBlanc,
with 2.6 saves a
The following
Nebraska
players have
been selected
for first and
second Big 12
game, was on
second team.
the i
Rpnnnri Team
Comhusker G Karina LeBlanc
forward Christine MF Kori Saunders
Latham, who was D Christina Gluck
named first-team F Kelly Rheem
all-conference,
said she was shocked to see LeBlanc s name on the
second team. '•
"It was very upsetting for us and to her,” Latham
said. “She’s an excellent goalkeeper, and anyone can
say what they want, but she's a first-team keeper. That
was bad on (the conference’s) part"
While LeBlanc not being named to the first team
came as a surprise to players and coaches, Latham
was named Player of the Year as expected. The sopho
more led the conference with 20 goals and 47 points.
“It's a great honor,” Latham said. “There are alot of
good players in conference, but I knew I led the league
in points.”
Joining Latham on the first-team was two-thirds
of NU’s starting defense: Breanna Boyd and Jenny
Benson. The other one-third, Christine Gluck, was
named to the second-team. It was die fourth-straight
year Benson was selected to the first-team.
Meghan Anderson joined Benson for the second
straight season. The midfielder was third in the con
ference with 13 assists.
Kori Saunders was named along with Kelly
Rheem on the second team, but Saunders’ selection
was a bit more surprising.
The sophomore sat out the Huskers’ first 10
games after a glass and wooden table she was sitting
on collapsed and sent a shard of glass through her
ureter, which connects the kidney to the bladder.
Saunders started just nine games, tallying two
goals and five assists. Rheem found her way on the
team in a more traditional way. The junior led the
league with 15 assists and was also honored last sea
son.
Former Husker moves past injury
■Uhlir becomes a Husker
undregrad coach after a
career-ending neck injury.
BY JOSHUA CAMENZIND
Identity had never been a
problem for Tyrone Uhlir.
Whenever somebody asked,
he answered without hesitation:
He was a football player. Had been
all his life.
After starring at Battle Creek
High School, Uhlir walked on to
Nebraska as a linebacker. But he
eventually latched on at fullback,
grasping
the offense
with an
ease not
many play
ers can.
Before
ne couia
blink, Uhlir Uhlir
was sitting
at No. 2 on the depth chart last
season as a sophomore. When
Willie Miller sprained his ankle,
Uhlir got the starting nod against
Iowa State.
He helped NU rush for 439
yards in a 49-14 win over Cyclones.
Uhlir was looking at a bright future
plowing holes for Husker I-backs.
"He was a guy that really went
after things,” Miller said.
"He had himself in position to
see a lot of playing time at full
back,” NU Running Backs Coach
Dave Gillespie said.
But something was wrong.
During his college career,
Uhlir would often go home after
practice with pain shooting down
his neck - a result of a rigorous
workout at full speed. Hie coaches
told him to avoid contact, but that
just wasn't Uhlir's style.
He played through the pain
until he could not longer bear it on
the final day of 2000 spring prac
tice. Team doctors ran Uhlir
through some tests.
One day after the Spring Red
White Game, Uhlir was given the
news - he would never play foot
ball again. His involvement with
NU from that point forward would
have to be as an undergraduate
coach, holding a clipboard
instead of a pigskin.
“I didn’t believe them at first,”
Uhlir said. “I couldn’t compre
hend that I was done playing foot
ball I had done it all my life.”
Uhlir calls it one of those
"lucky to be alive situations.”
When he was 16, Uhlir rolled
his Isuzu Rodeo driving 90 mph.
He was thrown out
The accident was part of a
troubled past that Uhlir had out
grown but not outrun. Doctors
discovered the neck injury that
ended Uhlir’s career was a direct
result of that crash in the Rodeo.
It earned Uhlir a charge of
driving while intoxicated to go
with three minor in possession
charges, a criminal mischief
charge and a disturbing the peace
charge - all occurring in that same
school year.
Before his senior year in high
school, Uhlir was making bad
choices and going nowhere fast
“There were a lot of expecta
tions that people had of me;” said
Uhlir, who had two older brothers,
Troy and Todd, play for the
Huskers. “I tried to do my best to
live up to them, and sometimes
the pressure got to me. That is
where my drinking problems
came in.
“It is evident that was a big
part of my life with all the charges
that were brought against me,” he
said.
Uhlir had accumulated a 1.8
grade point average in his first
three years of high school.
Succeeding in school was one of
the farthest things from his mind.
His release from that was to “go
out and get crazy.”
Uhlir was still a promising
player in a town that loves the
pigskin. He had been invited to
camps and was being contacted
by coaches his sophomore year.
But once his trouble with the
law began, the phone stopped
ringing.
Uhlir’s dreams of playing col
lege football were fading.
So in his senior season, Uhlir
shaped up and promptly earned
straight As to raise his GPA to 2.3
for his high school career.
Despite his newfound success
in the classroom, Uhlir still had a
ways to go to reach his goal of
playing college football.
He contacted NU Coach Dan
Young, and the man in charge of
walk-ons told Uhlir that he would
have a chance to tryout die follow
ing spring if he got his grades up
and stayed out of trouble.
“He had a good work ethic
about things and wanted to play
here bad,” Young said.
Uhlir decided to follow in his
brother's footsteps, moving to
Lincoln two weeks after gradua
tion and attending summer
school to remove his academic
deficiencies. He sat out the 1997
season
Former high school teammate
and Husker offensive linemen
Dave Volk said Uhlir didn’t waste
time.
“After the car wreck, he really
straightened himself out,” Volk
said. “Everybody knew he was
always a smart kid, and he proved
that his senior year. That really
says a lot about him.
“That first year (at NU), he
worked his tail off by himself, and
he was doing everything he
could.”
Uhlir made the team, but he
weighed only 190 pounds, and
doubts about the future still lin
gered in the back of his mind.
“I didn’t know if I could do it,”
Uhlir said. "My brothers and par
ents believed in me, and I made
the team, but I was worried about
getting cut"
Those worries would soon go
away as he moved to offense his
second season and bulked up to
245 pounds.
With the help of his brothers,
along with current fullbacks Billy
Legate and Ben Kingston, Uhlir
learned NU’s system fast and thor
oughly.
Through all of this, Uhlir
stayed out of trouble. His life had
'That first year (at
NU), he worked his
tail off by himself,
and he was doing
everything he could ”
Dave Volk
Husker offensive linemen
purpose.
***
When the neck injury was dis
covered, Uhlir could have possibly
played out his final two years of
eligibility.
On the other hand, the injury
could have killed him had he been
hit in just the right spot Uhlir said
he was willing to take that risk.
“If they would let me, I would
play," he said.
But they won't, which desig
nated Uhlir to sideline duty. Now
as an undergraduate coach, he
helps with scout team work. On
game days, he assists Young with
keeping track of players who are
available for certain units.
"It’s a different experience,”
Uhlir said. "I think I have been
handling it well. But I still miss not
being out there on Saturdays and
actually participating.”
He isn’t interested in further
ing his football coaching career
beyond next season. He’s angling
toward a life as a professional bass
fisherman.
So with no interest in doing
what he is doing past next season,
it might seem Uhlir is hanging on
by the last thread.
But Volk said a transition peri
od is necessary.
“You can't be as involved in
football for your entire life as he
was and have it suddenly be
done,” Volk said. “He is still around
all these people who care about
him and have been here for so
long?”
And if he had to take the ride
all over again, he wouldn’t change
a thing. “I had fun,” said Uhlir. “A
lot of people can’t say that”
Homecoming victories
a Husker tradition
■The last time NUIosta
game during the celebratory
week was in 1968.
BY GABRIEL STOVALL
For the 31 years, one thing
has been a constant for the
Nebraska football team —
homecoming success.
And with this year’s game
coming on the heels of a
.Cornhusker meltdown at
Oklahoma, Coach Frank Solich
hopes the pattern of homecom
ing dominance won’t be broken
Saturday against Kansas.
“I didn’t really know that it
had been that long, (since NU
lost)” Solich said. "But I hope
that trend can continue this
week.”
Overall, Nebraska is 66-19-4
in homecoming game since
1911. The last time a team
added a blemish to NU’s record
on homecoming was in 1968
when Kansas State blanked the
Huskers 12-0.
Since that game, Nebraska
has been on homecoming tear,
defeating teams by an average
score of 40-11. Most teams that
have visited Lincoln during
homecoming week have rarely
been considered among the
nation’s elite.
In those 31 games, Husker
homecoming opponents sport a
mediocre .516 combined win
ning percentage, and 13 of the
teams have come into Lincoln
with losing records.
High profile games have
come, however, during home
coming week.
In the 1992 contest, the
Huskers gave an eighth-ranked
Colorado team an awakened
nightmare as NU thumped the
Buffaloes 52-7 on Halloween
night.
Two years later, CU, ranked
second in the nation and armed
“We’re excited to play
especially after last
week. We’re at home.
Our team loves to
play at home. And
since it’s going to be
homecoming we’re
real excited about
playing Kansas. ”
Ross Hochstein
senior offensive guard
with 1994 Heisman Itophy win
ner Rashaan Salaam, were beat
en 24-7 by a third-ranked
Husker team led by former
back-up quarterback Brook
Berringer. That victory placed
NU in position to win its third
national title that year.
Despite the domination,
Solich said his team will focus
more on the opponent at hand
them on the occasion.
“I don’t think our players are
players that respond differently
to things like that," Solich said.
“I think it’s great that we’ve
had that many wins (on home
coming), but Saturday's game
will be hard fought and we’re
going to concentrate on bounc
ing back and winning this
week.”
While the Huskers appear to
be focused on performing well -
homecoming or not - senior
offensive guard Ross Hochstein
is not downplaying the effect a
homecoming crowd could have
on his team.
“We’re excited to play espe
cially after last week,’’ Hochstein
said.
“We’re at home. Our team
loves to play at home. And since
it's going to be homecoming
we’re real excited about playing
Kansas.”