Newspapers / University of North Carolina … / Sept. 2, 2004, edition 1 / Page 4
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SPORTS BRIEFS BY Sarah Ingle Staff Reporter NBA ■ Prosecutors in the Kobe Bryant case dropped the charge of sexual assault against the NBA su perstar after the alleged victim de cided not to testify and refused to participate in the trial. Bryants trial had been days away from opening arguments when District Judge Terry Ruckreigle threw out the charges with the 20-year-old alleged victims’ parents watching. The womans’ attorney said she has been through an extremely difFicult time and court mistakes, including the release of her name and medical history, disturbed her. Bryant said he had consensual sex with the alleged victim during a June vistit to a Vail, Colo, resort. If Bryant were convicted he would have faced four years to life in prison or 20 years to life on probation. ■ Gilbert Arenas of the Wash ington Wizards received a one-game suspension on Aug. 27 for not maintaining the proper registration for a handgun in 2003. ■ The Dallas Mavericks signed Erick Dampier to a seven-year, $73 million contract on Aug. 24. Dampier played in 74 games last season for the Golden State War- riots averaging 12.3 points and 12 rebounds a game. NCAA ■ The University of Connecticut assistant men’s basketball coach, Clyde Vaughan, resigned on Aug. 25 after being arrested in a prosti tution sting. Vaughn resigned after state officials found out he was ar rested two other times on similar charges. Vaughan reached a settle ment on Aug. 30 and will perform 10 days of community service and undergo counseling. ■ David Bell, a forward at La Salle University in Philadelphia, has transferred to East Carolina Univer sity. Bell, who played forward for the past two seasons, will sit out this .sea.son and will begin playing with the team in 2005. ■ Cincinnati Bearcats coach Bob Huggins returned to work on Aug. 27 after being suspended for a drunk driving conviction following a June 8 arrest. NHL ■ The Phoenix Coyotes traded center Daymond Langkow to the Calgary Flames for left winger Oleg Saprykin and defenseman Denis Gauthier. The Coyotes also signed free agent Petr Nedved to a three- year contract. MLB ■ New York Yankees starting pitcher ELsteban Loaiza lost his spot in the Yankees pitching rotation and will start working out of the bullpen. ■ On Sept. 4 the San Diego Pa dres will retire Tony Gwynn’s num ber, 19. 1 he Hall-of-Famcr Gwynn is one of 25 men to reach 3,000 career hits. ■ Following two homeruns in the same game against the Atlanta Braves, Barry Bonds is only four away from 700. Bonds would be come only the third player in Ma jor League Baseball history to reach the milestone and would need only 55 more to tie Hank Aaron. NFL ® Buffalo Bill’s starting safety Lawyet Milloy broke his right arm in a preseason exhibition game against the Indianapolis Colts on Aug. 28. The injury took place when Milloy stripped the ball from Indianapolis Colts receiver Brandon Stokley. ■ Atlanta Falcons quarterback Michael Vick missed the Falcons preseason game against the Cincin nati Bengals on Aug. 28 due to tightness in his right hamstring. The Blue Banner Sports September 2,2004 Bulldogs faced tough competition at home ANGIE FESPERMAN/staff photographer Midfielder Cameron Allison shown with the ball played in 18 games last season. BY Amber Saint Clair Staff Reporter Despite a 2-2 tie with Tusculum College in an exhibition match on Aug. 21, the UNCA men’s soccer team remains confident for the upcoming season. “It was a solid starting performance. We’re a good group, and I think we proved that we’re not going to keel over for anybody, said Ben Betsalel, former Bulldog goalkeeper and the current assistant coach. The Bulldogs scored their first goal of the preseason game when forward Jordan Holthouser scored off of a pass within the first 15 minutes. Tusculum soon tied the match 1-1 until Bulldog midfielder Greg Yelverton scored off of a rebound. Tusculum scored again to even the match 2-2, and the teams remained tied for the first half. Neither team scored in the second half of the game, despite going into double over time. The Bulldogs took a total of 18 shots during the match, outshooting the Pioneers by four. “Going forward we did very well. We were busy, we were aggressive, we were creative, [and] we had a number of full chances,” said Head Coach Steve Cornish. “Defensively we were still finding our way. We got better as the game went on, which is the mark of a good team, the mark of progress.” Center midfielder Adam Schwartz also felt pleased with the team’s performance and the result of the game. “Going in we knew they were a good team. They’ve got quality players all over the field, a lot of fast kids up top and we knew it was going to be tough,” said Schwartz, an undeclared second year player. “They came in thinking that they were just going to run the show and handle us easily, but anytime teams come to UNCA, we give them a tough time,” he said. “It was good because we saw some prob lems and we fixed them throughout tj, match,” said Betsalel. “It wasn’t going tolj| perfect from the beginning, and we kne, that. That being said, I was definitely proj,; of the way they played.” Many of the players worked hard over t]. past few months to improve their abiliti^ but the exhibition match gave them tl, chance to come together and see how wei they play as a team. The team concentrate on trying a variety of plays and holding ontt the ball. “It’s a bit frustrating that we couldn’t a few more preseason games to see when we’re at,” said Schwartz. “We’ve been work ing really hard for the past two weeks and lot of us have been training over the sun mer, but this is the first time we’ve been oa on the field as a full 11.” With 11 new players on this season’s ros ter, both the coaches and the players are look ing forward to coming together as a team and improving overall performance. “1 think that with the most successlii teams that win, it’s more of a team effort There’s not one or two outstanding playcn that take over the game; it’s everybody to gether,” said Schwartz. “If we can all getoi the same page—and I think we’re on the right track right now—we’ll be successful' Returning players have great personality They are dedicated and they are hard-work ing, according to Cornish. “We do have a lot of talent going for ward,” said Betsalel. “We’ve got a lot of cre ative players. We have a quite dynamic at tack.” The Bulldogs played well in general last year, although they need to improve their consistency in order to face the competidon according to Cornish. “I think (last season) led us to be more prepared this year. So far we’re a lot better a this time this year than last year,” said Job Chapuis, senior left defender. See 'Dogs on page 5 ‘Dogs grab win in exhibition BY Michael Davis Staff Reporter The UNCA women’s soccer team controlled the ball and kept the Lady Hawks on the defensive to Win 3-0 on Aug. 19. UNCA hosted the Smokey Mountain Soccer Club at Greenwood Field in an exhibition game for the second match of the season. Emily Langill scored the first and winning goal in the opening min utes of the game which set the of fense pace for the Bulldogs. The Bulldogs took nearly a dozen shots on goal during each of the 45 minute halves. “1 think we will do well. It’s hard to say this early in the year, you know expectations every year are always very high,” said Head Coach Michele Cornish. The Bulldogs placed fourth in the 2004 Big South Conference pre season poll. “I honestly don’t pay any atten tion to the poll, because when we were placed dead last, we won the championship my second year here,” said Cornish. Due to graduating seniors and in juries, the team has a total of five large holes that it must fill by young kids, according to Cornish. “We lost real mainstays, Kelsey Dawson who was a striker and Bailey Schultz who was a wide back,” said Cornish. “In addition to that, we have already had a loss of Kate Bar- row, who is a center mid-field player. She blew her knee out against Mars Hill, she’s done.” Ashleigh Carter, who hurt het ankle over the summer, won’t be back until October, according to Cornish. “Erin Graham, who was a center mid-fielder recruit from Greensboro who did her knee in her high school season, and she won’t be back until January,” said Cornish. “Those are three people who I had thought were going to start for us.” Acknowledging the early losses. COURTESY OF MIKE GORE Junior defender Emily Langill was named Second Team All- Conference and to the All-Tournament team last season. Cornish looked to the rest of the team to step up, “That’s a tough thing to overcome, but with very deliberate explanations of how we try to otganize the team on the field [to the freshmen], and reinforce that with the returning players again, things will turn around,” said Cor nish. The Bulldog’s attention is focused on the Big South Conference games. Outside the conference season, those are important games because they help us develop, they help us get stronger, we have scheduled some fairly good teams, but those are not my primary concern,” said Cornish. Keeping our minds on the tour nament, positioning in the confer ence is important in the first round, according to Cornish. “It determines who you are go ing to play, so if you are sitting at the bottom, you are going to play the top team, you want to be some where closer to the top,” she said. “We could potentially be the hard est team, who knows, our conference is so even, until mid October you dont really get a feel for what other teams are capable of” “There is a lot more to college athletics than going out to practice and playing a game,” said Cornish. Coaching is a multi-tasking job and requires accurate information to make winning decisions. Coaches network with other coaches to get a scouting report for the capabilities of non-conference opponents on the schedule, according to Cornish. Taping and reviewing practices is part of applying technology to the game, according to Cornish. “I would like to tape more prac tices because I think that that would be really valuable, but on our field where we have to film from is at one end of the field, and it is not really very conducive to getting good foot age,” she said. UNCA resurfaced Greenwood field this year and a new scoreboard replaced the nearly twelve-year-old one. The new sod that has been put down has one section that is not growing in well. I don t want to be real negative, but it leaves a lot to be desired, it really needs a lot of work,” said Cor nish. “It’s one of those fields that when teams come here to play they don’t necessarily want to come back to play here because it’s really bumpy.” Cornish did not hesitate to add, “Lots of positive things though, we have a brand new locker room out there ... I’m really excited to have it, its really nice, it’s freed up a lot of space for other athletes.” The Olympic Games MATT BEAVER Copy Editor For two weeks millions of people watched and listened as the best athletes the world has to offer went head to head for Olympic gold. So what did I take away from The Games of the XXVIII Olympiad? Michael Phelps may be the greatest swimmer of all time. In Athens he breezed to six gold medals, but only five if you count the relay in which he gra ciously gave his spot to rival Ian Crocker. Having already beaten Crocker in the 100m butterfly, he wanted his teammate to re turn home with a gold medal and in giving away his spot Phelps further enhanced his legacy as one of the top athletes in the world. Phelps, who just turned 19, may be even better when he re turns to the 2008 Olympics in Beijing and Spitz’s record along with several world records may be in danger. Along with his eight medals Phelps will also be on the cover of Wheaties in the coming months. Another Olympic star, Carly Patterson, will also appear on the cover of Wheaties. Patterson, a 16-year-old from Texas, shocke;d the world when she won the all- around gold medal in women’s gymnastics and became the first individual US Olympic cham pion since Mary Lou Retton in 1984. In winning gold she beat out 25-year-oId Russian superstar Svetlana Khorkina and placed herself as one of the greatest gymnast of all time. Even though I am not a big' gymnastics fan it is hard not to pull for someone like Patterson. As she struggled throughout the team competition, ruining any chance for her teammates to win gold, you knew that at some point something good had to happen. Hopefully for America Patterson will be back in 2008 to defend her Olympic gold. Unfortunately, not everyone in Athens had the success of Patterson and Phelps. The US men’s basketball team brought home the bronze medal and 1 am sure most Americans view it as a failure. The truth though is wt should be happy that they medaled at all. The athletes that we sent to Athens did their best and we should applaud them fa their efforts. They went out each and every game playing for th“ country and giving everything they had, it just wasn’t enough The blame for not bringing home a gold medal should ht placed on several individualsi notably Shaquille O’Neal, Kevin Garnett, and Tracy McGrady. There are countless other rea sons we lost too, such as, half oni players should still be in college' we put the team together W® weeks before their first gamjj and the style of basketba played. Team USA had no how to play international styj basketball and even their athlene ability could not save them- So what is the solution to th* USA basketball woes? We neei a national team just like ever) other country in the world. Lastly, Paul Hamm wou you please just give your gol medal back already? Everyon* in the world knows that you ^ not deserve to win the gold- bj| yet you and your Michael Jac son voice have decided to tnn what is not rightfully yours.
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