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Show Wednesday, October 1,2008 SPORTS THE SIGNPOST / / •/. • t -y •. 't f-J. rJ II y.y. / '•/- Tough start for tennis team / / T V / l \ ' Y' / / Injuries, bad weather plague Wildcats in opening tourney ByloshCottle correspondent I The Signpost HILE P H O T O BY M A T T C L A S S | l i l t SIGNPOST Weber State University goaltender Kyle Gover scrambles to cover a loose puck in a game earlier this season. Gover stopped 55 of 56 shots last Friday to power the Wildcats to their first win of the season, on the road, 3-1 over San Jose State University. 'Cats shut down Spartans WSU wins tough games in first road series of season By Jon McBride sports editor I The Signpost The Weber State University Hockey Team rebounded after a tough opening weekend at home to sweep a road series with San Jose State University last weekend, winning 3-1 and 5-4 in overtime. "It's a huge, huge win for our team," said Weber State University Head Coach Steve Soto. "It boosts the team morale. Practice is going to be a lot better from here on out. Guys finally came together and just kept staying positive and working all the way through the game." The Wildcats headed into Friday night's game knowing it would be a tough one, facing a big team known to physically punish its opponents. SJSU also professes to have "the loudest barn in the west." Considering this was the Spartans' season opener, the arena was expected to be even louder. SJSU came out flying in the game and threw every puck possible at the net, outshooting WSU 56-26 according to. the SJSU statisticians. WSU goaltender Kyle Gover turned out to key the WSU victory, turning away all but one of the Spartans' shots. "I think the weekend before just kind of made me mad," said Gover, who let in 13 goals in two games against Utah State University two weekends ago. "I obviously wanted to play better. I don't think they had 56 shots though, maybe more like 40. But the shots were a lot lower quality. They did have some good chances, but for the most part they were outside shots. All I had to do was be in position. They weren't back-door or breakaway opportunites like the week before. It's not that I played that much better, it's just that the team started to play a lot better defensively." Soto said that even with his team's improved defensive play, Gover was still a major reason for the Wildcats' success. "The goal that went in on him was actually pretty lucky," Soto said. "It was kind of a fluke goal, "it's a huge, huge win for our team. It boosts the team morale. Practice is going to be a lot better from here on out. Guys finally came together and just kept staying positive and working all the way through the game." - Steve Soto, WSU head coach so it was pretty much a shutout for him as far as I'm concerned." The Wildcat offense netted three goals from Dave Lorenzon, Dane Ludolph and Chris Cotsillis Friday night. Ludolph's goal in the second period turned out to be the game winner. The Wildcats later found out that the See Shut Down page 7 Ritchie earns honor for stellar play in goa Wildcat goalkeeper makes key saves at key moments to propel WSU to overtime victory on road By Gentry Reinhart asst. sports editor I The Signpost For Weber State University senior goalkeeper Rebecca Ritchie, being in harm's way is nothing new, and during a game against the University of California, Irvine on Friday, Sept. 19, Ritchie paid a price for her fearlessness in the form of a concussion. "It was a shot that hit a rut," Ritchie said. "It came up and hit me in the face, and I thought I was OK. 1 was clear for five or 10 minutes, then I just remember feeling like I didn't know where I was. Then I guess some of the players pulled me off. I don't remember any of that." Ritchie missed the rest of the game and didn't play in the following Sunday's loss to California State University, Bakersfield. Ritchie was administered a concussion test the day after getting hit and once again the Monday after returning home. After Monday's test she was cleared to return to practice. "The doctor said he couldn't believe it," Ritchie said. "When I took the test on Monday I had improved in all the different areas, and I wasn't having headaches or anything, so he cleared me." She came back to the field poised to take the Big Sky Conference Defensive Player of the Week Award. Ritchie and the rest of the team traveled to Oregon last weekend to face two PAC-10 teams in the form of Oregon State University and the University of Oregon. See Ritchie page 7 FILE PHOTO BY MATT CLASS | THE SIGNPOST Weber State University goalkeeper Rebecca Ritchie makes a save in a game last season at the PE Playfield. Ritchie, after getting concussed two weekends ago, came back last weekend to lead the Wildcats to a key overtime victory over Oregon State University, earning her the Big Sky Conference Defensive Player of the Week award. With one tournament in Wyoming and one at Brigham Young University, the Wildcats had a tough start to their fall season. The Wyoming tournament started off with bad luck as the weather was not working in the players' favor. With rain delays and long waits, the 'Cats had a hard time getting into any rhythm at the Cowgirl Invitational in Laramie, Wyo. However, Head Coach Jonas Ehrlin said he was happy with some of the play he saw. "Overall, the freshmen played really well for their first college tournament," he said. WSU freshman Brittiny Moore was up in her third set when she hurt her knee and had to pull out of the match. Lori Gallup, another WSU freshman, had a hard-fought match against a Colorado State University junior, winning 3-6, 7-6, 10-4. Greyce Farias, a WSU junior, said the tournament gave the women "good practice matches to start the year for both freshmen and juniors." "It is hard to evaluate this early," Ehrlin said. "We didn't get as many matches as we wanted with the weather being bad." With no time to take a break, the 'Cats headed down to Provo for a tournament at BYU the following weekend. Ehrlin said he was excited to see improvement in the doubles play in the second tournament. "Keya [Jenkins] and Brittiny [Moore] almost beat the fourth-seeded doubles team," Ehrlin said. "They had four match points, but just couldn't convert." . This is one of the toughest tournaments the 'Cats will play in this season, so again, it was hard to evaluate. "We had some good wins against Utah State," Ehrlin said with a smile. "They're one of our biggest rivals, so it's nice to get some wins over them early in the season." With a couple more tournaments in their fall season, Ehrlin said he hopes to get everyone healthy. He said he is excited to see where the rest of this season goes and get a little hint on how the spring season will fare. "We have a better team than last year," he said. "Players have come in with a clean slate. They don't know what happened last season, and they don't know what happened years ago. They are just focused on this year. Our main goal is to qualify for conference." Zach Rideout, a volunteer assistant coach, agreed with Ehrlin. "Overall, we have a much better team," Rideout said. "I'm really excited to see what happens. There is so much potential with this group." However, the whole season is still in question. "Will the returners step See Tennis page 7 |