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Show Page 5 The Signpost Wednesday, October 26,2005 Sports Editor: Jeremy Tyler Sports Phone: 626-7983 Men's soccer heads to nationals By M. Jared Wilhelmsen asst. sports editor | The Signpost Weber State University men's soccer team won five games in two days Friday and Saturday in St. George, Utah, which gives the Wildcats an automatic place at the National Intramural Recreational Sports Association National Championship Nov. 16-19 in Tuscaloosa, Ala. The Weber State soccer team has been playing some exciting soccer lately, getting ready for their championship tournament in St. George. The Wildcats had all their players healthy, which helped assure their victory. "The team played really well," said Ryan Taylor, WSU soccer head coach. "We played five games and had four shutouts in the tournament." Weber State headed down to St. George for the two-day, eight-team tournament on Friday and Saturday hoping to play well and finish with the tournament win. The tournament was set up into two brackets: Weber State would play the University of Utah, Southern Utah University and Salt Lake Community College. The top two teams in the bracket would advance to take on the top two teams in the opposite bracket. Weber State's first game was up against in-state rival University of Utah. The Wildcats dominated them in their first game, taking a 3-1 lead before the Utes struggled back, scoring two unanswered goals in the final two minutes of the game. The game ended in a 3-3 tie. "I made a coaching mistake; I put in some younger players so 1 could rest my starters and they couldn't get it done," Taylor said. With the tie, Weber State had to win its next two games to go into the semifinals and get a chance to go to nationals. In Weber State's second game, the Wildcats dominated SUU and easily defeated them by a score of 5-0. Weber State's next opponent was SLCC. The Wildcats played another great game, but were unable to get a goal on the board. The Weber State defense stepped up big and kept the Bruins scoreless, which finished the game with a 0-0 tie. Weber State was able to get to the semifinals as a second seed. In the semifinals, the Wildcats would have to face Utah Valley State College. UVSC has been Weber State's biggest opponent and rival. There has been a lot of bad blood between Weber State and UVSC. Weber State hit bottom this See Nationals page 8 '""' ''^M^^^ MEGAN CARDON | THf SJCSFOi'T WSU soccer player Matt Garica tries to steal the ball from a University of Utah player earlier this season. That win, along with the wins during the St. George tournament guaranteed the 'Cats a place in the National Intramural Recreational Sports Association National Championship Nov. 16-19 in Tuscaloosa, Ala. Wildcats put late freeze on Sooners By )on McBride senior sports reporter The Signpost Screaming fans at the Weber County Ice Sheet witnessed some intense Division 1 hockey Friday and Saturday when the Oklahoma University Sooners were in town. Weber State University came in to the weekend matches with a perfect record, killing Utah State University in their opener and winning two games in Tempe, Ariz., last weekend against an always competitive Arizona State team. The Sooners came into town ranked 20th in the division to face the eighth ranked Wildcats. But Oklahoma gave the 'Cats just about all they could handle coming away with a 2-2 tie Friday. The Sooners were cruising to a win Saturday when Weber State came from behind, tying and then winning the game in the final minute. Eric Slaughter and Mark Demmer had the goals for Weber State on Friday. Freshman goaliendcr Kyle Cover was "clutch between the pipes" - he kept key shots from being scored - and picked up 27 saves. In spite of the win, WSU head hockey coach Joe Pfleegor said he was not impressed with his team's effort. "I don't think the boys worked as hard as they should've - the boys know that," Pfleegor said. "The bottom line is that we have all kinds of skill, but if we don't work hard that skill doesn't mean anything." Defenseman Aaron Dufford agreed with the coach and said they needed to be better in Saturday's game. "Tommorrow we gotta come out with more intensity and See Freeze page 8 'Cat selected as Player of the Week By Rob Brenneman correspondent | The Signpost Washington University. Assisting McFarland s crucial goal in the Montana game was Rochel.e The Weber State University Hoover, a senior midfielder. The goal women's soccer team put the wasn't scored until the 30th minute. pressure on Montana last Sunday, McFarland, a native of Hooper, said pulling a close 1 -0 victory in she spoke with Hoover before the Missoula, Mont, and Wildcat game about how they needed to get Linsey McFarland scored the game- together and work on scoring some winning goal. goals. The Big Sky Conference "It's nice that it worked out that announced McFarland as one way," McFarland said. "Having of the "Players of the Week" for Rochelle as my assist was great. It matches played the week of Oct. 20 felt good to score, because I have - 23. McFarland and Sacramento really struggled lately with scoring, State University's Katie McCoy were and it was even better that it was the selected as co-offensive players game-winning goal." of the week. The defensive player McFarland's goal makes it of the week is WSU goaltender her eighth of the season and her Kandice Golar. fifth game-winning goal of the McFarland, a junior forward, year. McFarland tied the WSU also assisted in the game-winning record for game-winning goals goal Thursday against Eastern in a season. She proved once again how important she is to the team. WSU midfielder Tai Swallow said she was proud to see the team stepup and play strong against Montana. "Montana is a physical team so we had to play physical as well," Swallow said. "We had a lot of opportunities to score that we missed out on, so it stayed close the entire game." The Wildcats improve to 10-4-1 overall for the season and 3-1-0 in the Big Sky. Montana falls to 3-12-1 overall and 1-4 in the conference. The 'Cats play two more games this week, both at home. Northern Arizona University comes to town on Thursday, and a tough Sacramento State team plays WSU Saturday morning. You can leave a message for reporter Rob Brenneman by calling 626-7983. Former basketball great dies in car crash in Italy Former Weber State University basketball great Willie Sojourner, 58, died Thursday in Rieti, Italy in singlecar accident. Sojourner played for WSU from 196871 setting many records during his career with the Wildcats. He is the Wildcats' fourthleading all-time scorer with 1,563 points, even though he only played three seasons with the Wildcats. That record was the Big Sky record at the time. Sojourner averaged 21.2 points per game during the 1969-70 season, 18.8 points per game during the 1968-69. He is the school's all-time rebound leader with 1,143 boards. This was also a Big Sky record, Sojourner is still ranked second in rebounds and is first in his career with a rebounding average of 14.1 per game. His 25 rebounds against West Texas State still stands as ihe school record. Sojourner was inducted into the Wildcat Hall of Fame in 1990. While Sojourner was playing with the 'Cats, they swept three straight Big Sky Conference titles and earned three trips to the National Collegiate Athletic Association. W After leaving WSU, Sojourner was drafted into the National Basketball Association by the Chicago Bulls in 1971. He decided to play in the American Basketball Association and played with the Virginia Squires and alongside one of his close friends, Julius "Dr. J" Erving. Sojourner was even the best man at Erving's wedding. After four seasons in the souRcr: BRAD LARSEN ABA Soiourner played professional basketball in Rieti, Italy for six seasons. During that time, the team reached the semifinals of the Lega A playoffs. Sojourner recently relumed to Italy last month after accepting a two-year offer to coach a professional team in Rieti. Authorities speculate that Sojourner fell asleep at the wheel of his BMW while traveling h o m e after having dinner with some friends. |