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Show MONDAY, OCTOBER 29, 2007 . Sports Looking to conference play Ben Webster Sports editor There is only one undefeated football team in the Mountain West Conference right now, but the BYU Cougars took a week off from conference play to face Eastern Washington. After giving out a 42-7 drubbing to the Eagles, the Cougars can focus on winning the conference now. Although the Cougars routed Eastern Washington, they learned from their sometimes-sloppy play. "I didn't think our offense executed like they are capable of tonight," BYU Head Coach Bronco Mendenhall said, "It gives a great chance to add a different sense of urgency." The Cougars played San Diego State this weekend and play Colorado State to finish an easier part of this season's schedule. While the defense only gave up a touchdown and intercepted three Eagles passes, including Corby Hodgkiss's 39-yard touchdown return on the Eagles's first possession of the game, the offense showed weaknesses against the lesser foe. Quarterback Max Hall struggled going 15-for-30 with a touchdown and an interception, while freshman Harvey Unga was relied on heavily. The Cougars need to continue improving to get through the conference undefeated for the second time. "I'm not very patient and I will have a sense of urgency to see improved play. I'm glad we are winning in the mean time, and that we're undefeated in conference. But what I know has to happen is that we have to improve our level of play," Mendenhall said. Hall added, "Obviously we have a lot of things we need to go back and look at-a lot of things that we can correct and fix, but I think our football team is getting better every week." BYU has a few things going in its favor besides being the only undefeated team. Both teams right behind BYU in the standings, Air Force and New Mexico, have lost to BYU. Having three of the last four games at home is also a benefit as the Cougars go into the final month of the season. On the flip side, the Cougars three toughest games could be their three final games against TCU, at Wyoming and the rivalry game against'Utah. The Cougars took the time and paid Eastern Washington to come, but it's winning the conference that is their goal. "Right now we get back to conference and we can focus in on that," Hall said. THE COLLEGE TIMES B 9 Making headlines NBA WOMEN'S SOCCER NFL U.S. Women's soccer doesn't moke Preseason is over and the games that uees were members of the San Diego Ckar- headlines very often, nor docs any soccer in count begin Oct. 30 in the NBA. As always, gera. Running back LaDainian Tomlinson this country, but after the team's World Cup off-season moves should make people watch and quarterback Phillip Rivers were among semi-final loss 4-0 to Brazil, starting goal- another year. the 40 members of the organization evacu- keeper Hope Solo addressed her displeasure ated form their homes last week. with coach Greg Ryan. Among the San Diego Countyfireevac- The team also cancelled practices and Kevin Garnet is out of Minnesota and part of Boston's three-headed monster. Kobe Ryan benched Solo before the game Bryant is disgruntled in L.A. and the San An- and she said she would have made some of tonio Spurs skated through the summer un- facilities in Tempc, Ariz. The team's field, the saves and went off on Ryan's poor deci- noticed as usual. They make their mark when Qualcomm Stadium, was used as an evacu- sion. Now Ryan is oul of a job after the icam it counts 3nd avoid controversy. ation center. took third in World cup. moved practice to the Arizona Cardinals Sports briefs MEN'S GOLF WOMEN'S BASKETBALL VOLLEYBALL Utah Valley rolled to a 30-14, 30-23. Utah Valley women's basketball head 30-11 sweep at Texas-Pan American last coach Cathy Nixon was honored for her sto- weekend to win its fourth straight match. ried collegiate playing career last weekend The Wolverines (16-6) have now won 11 when she was enshrined into the BYU Ath- out of 12; Terin Ledall's 11 kills and 26 digs letic Hall of Fame. from AHyce Wilson led the Wolverines. Utah Valley junior Nick Ncal shot a final round 73 (+1) to finish+4 overall tied for 21st at the Santa Clara Invitational at Silver Creek Goll'Course in San Jose, Calif. The WoKerincs finished 13th overall after shnoiiny ;i icam score of 301, matching Mondj\'s first round total, two shots behind Loyola College and 2! shots in front of Idaho State. Nixon played at BYU from 1985-88 Wilson, who had 36 dig3 in Thursday's and ranks fifth on the all-lime scoring list win over Boise State, averaged 8.9 digs per with 1,771 career points. The American game in two matches this week. Utah Valley Women Sports Federation named her an Ail- improved to 2-0 on the season against UTPA American two times. (9-16) and 6-0 against fellow Division 1 in- It's the second straight week Neal has led the Wolverines, after finishing ninth at last week's Bill Cullum Invitational. At Utah Valley, Nixon is entering her dependent schools. JeffGibson finished in 35th place at +7, while Nick Nelson (+15), Andrew Nelson (+16) and Ashlon Casper (+21) round out the Wolverine golfer's scores. 13th season at the helm of the women's basketball program. The Wolverines had a busy week with matches against Utah (Tuesday) at Utah During her time in Orem she led ihe State (Thursday) and Idaho State (Saturday) team to 231 career wins and through the last week. school's transition from a junior college to Portland, who started the day eight shots back of leader Oklahoma, took home the team title by one shot over host Santa Clara. an NCAA Division 1 program. This week the Wolverines face in-state opponent Weber State on Tuesday and then The Wolverines open the regular season return home for another in-state game and a on Nov. 9, against Mesa State before hosting rematch against Utah State on Thursday. Cal Slate Fullcnon on November 10th. The Cal State Northridge's Nick Dclio won medallist honors by six strokes, shooting 13under overall at the 54-hole event. Wolverines return 11 letter-winners and four starters from last season's team. Sports schedule Sports on Campus ;Noy. l Men's Basketball ; : : .; -Exhibition against Mesa State, 5 p.m. Nov. 1 Women's volleyball ;Nov. 2 Women's Basketball . ' ' • '-: Against Utah State, 7 p.m 'Exhibition against Eastern Oregon, 7 p.m. in Shurian Activity Center Best sports on TV NBA KpBTM^i^ p.m. o n KJZZ Oct. 30 Houston at L.A. Lakers 8:30 p.m. on TNT Npy.2 8:30p.m.on ESPN L^A. Lakers at Phoenix • •" College football Nov. 3 No. 8 Arizona State at No. 10 Oregon 4:45 p.m. check listings NFL Nov. 3 Nesto England at Indianapolis ^ ' 2:15 p.m. on CBS COLUMN from B8 Mark A. Phtlbrick/ BYU Athletics BYU's Corby Hodgklss (right) breaks up a pass earlier this season against Arizona. Hodgkiss returned an interception for a touchdown against Eastern Washington in the first quarter. SOCCER from B8 Utah Valley 5 Delaware State 1 A day after Utah Valley (4-H-2, 4-1) thumped NJIT, another weak opponent rolled into Orem and the Wolverines set a school record with 49 shots. The Wolverines blasted 47 shots EQUINE HELP WANTED Looking for help with exercising and grooming horse for 1 hour, twice daily in the A.M. and P.M. location: Provo experience with horses necessary contact: (801) 362-4024 against Delaware State in 2005. Delaware State managed two shots in the game and its goal was on its own goal. Schneider scored two goals for Utah Valley and Clough, Lauren Bluth and Sara Walker also scored. The win secured Utah Valley the No. 2 seed in the United Soccer Conference tournament. The Wolverines play their final regular season match on the road against Eastern Washington before return home to play host for the USC tournament Nov. 8 to Nov. 11. Josh Olsen saw backup minutes behind Chris Bailey last season as point guard. This year, will he be able run the offense and take command? Richard Troyer also contributed from the bench in 2006-07. Can he play a bigger role for the team? Coach Dick Hunsaker is a defense-minded coach, so you know he is asking whether or not his team, as a team, can prevent opponents from scoring. And of course, what role will the newcomers play? Women's coach Cathy Nixon has many of her key players a season ago returning for another year, but that doesn*t mean all the answers are in. Robyn Fairbanks won't be a question, she's been solid for two years, but who will step up and become the Stockton to this Malone? Sandy Marvin is one option, and she did last year, in several games. At point guard, will she continue to be able to lead the offense when she wants to score? Julie McMurray stepped up in a few games down the stretch after being broken in, early her freshman season. Will she continue to improve as a scorer and defender for Utah Valley? Asumi Nakayama played her first year of basketball in the United States and found out that she fits right in. She passed up plenty of open shots last year. Can she get a little selfish to help her team? Supporting players Hollie Beaman and Rebekah Peterson played consistent minutes, but not always consistent last year. Can the two be involved early and often during both games and the season? Every season there is plenty of questions to be asked and plenty that go unanswered, or badly answered. The exhibition games won't answer every question the teams have, but it will give some insight to what is to come the rest of the year. File photo/ College Times Junior Josh Olsen (4) looking for the short jumper last season. Olsen could have an expanded role for the team this year. HOCKEY from B8 termine the winner but both teams skated off the ice disappointed with the outcome. "When it came down to it, we were pretty disappointed with the tie and feel like we left a lot on the table," Martin said. In the Daily Universe, BYU*s Nate Herrington said, "We stopped doing our systems and then we stopped following our game plan. We are unhappy with the tie and thought that we should have won that one." Utah Valley Head Coach Matt Beaudry was also dis- appointed with the tie, but snared some optimism, "The good part is that it's early in the season, and when we have games like this, we learn things about ourselves that we don't want to have happen later in the season." Added team captain Eric Bowman, "I know that we could have played a lot better than we did. We played down to their level. We have a lot of time until the next BYU game, so the tie will sit in our minds for a while. We're going to come out fired the next game and hopefully we can just bury them." The teams meet Feb. 29, but for now, the UVSC and BYU hockey rivalry is at a stalemate. |