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Show Friday, November j, 199s 8 - The Daily Utah Chronicle Sports WAC Weekend Vital Ute Summa's Penalty Kick Punishes 'Pokes . u. pikers reason i-- or . JAMES EDWARD Chronicle Assistant Sports Editor RICK VAZQUEZ Chronicle Sports Writer I t's never a good sign when a trip to Laramie, Wyo., is intended to make you feel better. Nevertheless, the Utah women's volleyball team will take a lovely little trip to the land of dump trucks, spittoons, Elvis and UFO sightroad trip ings as the second stop of an absolutely critical two-da- y tonight and Saturday. They face WAC rivals Colorado State and Wyoming. . "Bom (Wyoming and Colorado State) arc playing really well right now," said Utah head coach Beth Latmicre. This is going to be a tough road trip for us." As far as an NCAA tournament berth is concerned, the Utes are in an unenviable position. Fallowing a devastating loss to Weber State 5-- 3 on Tuesday night, it is essential for the Utes (12-1WAC) to maintain a high conference ranking. They are currently in third, only a half game behind Colorado State. While on the surface the Blockin' Utes may not be in too bad shape, the news gets substantially worse. candidate Brenda Barton was forced out of the Weber State match early on Tuesday, aggravating a stress fracture she had sustained earlier in the year. "It hurts, but I'm going to give it a try over the weekend," Barton said. Launiere is not as optimistic "Her injury is getting pretty bad," Launiere said. "She definitely can't play all the time, and we don't know how much further she can go this season." Faced with the prospect of not having her best player on the court for a significant amount of time, Utah will have to depend on other performers to pick up the slack. "Everybody has to be ready for this weekend, regardless (of Brenda's condition)," Launiere said. "We have to play our best volleyball of the season if we're going to win these matches." 1, All-WA- sec "Volley" on page 10 SAN DIEGO, Calif- .- When the University of Utah soccer team left for the Western Athletic Conference Championships, it had hopes of facing No. 1 seed San Diego State at 2:30 p.m. Thursday. Instead the Utes found themselves fighting for their lives against winless Wyoming at 9:30 in the morning. Fortunately, Utah was able to breathe a sigh of relief when Ute freshman Theresa Summa scored on a controversial penalty kick in the 78th minute giving the Utes the victory. The penalty kick was awarded to Utah after forward Jacki Doman was taken down in the box on a breakaway. The call received boos and cheers from the crowd. But mostly it resulted in an irate Wyoming assistant coach who received a red card for his profanity. While the Cowgirls were obviously disappointed in the call, Doman felt me referee made the right decision. "I thought it was a good call," Doman said. "She definitely took me down." Utah head coach Amy agreed with Doman, saying, "I would be complaining also, but it was a call he needed to 1-- 0 Freeman-Winslo- make." Chronicle Photo Cathy Unford That take down resulted in Summa's second penalty kick goal of the season. While the Utes were celebrating their goal late in the second half, Summa was breathing a sigh of relief that her shot went in. "I always look right and go left," said Summa. "But this time it didn't go left." However, Wyoming keeper Bobbie Mack dove right, and Summa's shot went up and untouched, straight through the mid- dle. The Utes had numerous shots on goal during the match that decided fifth place in the tournament Utah outshot Wyoming by a margin, but were unable to knock any past Mack for the majority of the match. The Cowgirl's best scoring opportunity came three minutes 21-- 3 - Utes Face Another Must-Wi- n - :t:-- - A penalty kick by Theresa Summa, shown here in action earlier this year, gave the U. a 0 win over Wyoming. 1-- after Utah took the lead. Wyoming's Lynzy Bromley beat the defense and fired a shot at Ute keeper Tawni Martineau, but Martineau was there to make her third save of the game. With her three saves, die freshman goalie recorded her fourth shutout of the season. Even though the Utes recorded their seventh win of die season, you could see the disgust on their faces for their poor showing against Wyoming as they walked off the field. "We won by die skin of our teeth," Summa said. "But it was legit." sec ''Soccer' on page II . Game Against Cowboys ' .1 JAMES JARDINE iiiiiiiPliHiiiiiiiiiB 'mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm t 1 ' Chronicle Sports Editor - SALT LAKE CITY (AP) John Stockton feinted left, drove right and then from deep in the key snapped a At first glance, the Utes and the Cowboys are running on parallel roads. Both boast running backs capable of picking up more ground than a truck- load of Parks & Recreation workers on mcthamphctamines: The Utes (54, 4--2 in the WAC) have the leading candidate for WAC Freshman of the ear in Chris Fuamatu-Ma'afal- a (6.8 yards per pass out to a teammate on the perimeter for a long jumper. It's a play the NBA's e assist leader has executed thousands of times. This time, though,' Jersey Net Chris Morris was on the all-tim- -- ex-Ne- w receiving end. At Morris easily got a clear look at the basket despite tight defense and drilled the " carry). in the WAC) The Cowboys (34, Len who Sexton, possess averages 92.2 yards per game. Likewise, both are questionable for Saturday's meeting in Laramie due to ankle injuries. Both Utah and Wyoming have dangerous, gutsy riflemen at quarterback who never met a risky pass they didn't like: Utah's Mike Fouts has thrown 16 touchdowns and 11 interceptions. Wyoming's Josh Wallwork has connected for 15 touchdowns and has been picked off 10 times. Both have scrappy defenses and jumper. 3 Although the venue was a team scrimmage, Utah coach Jerry Sloan i " flashy receivers. But with only a pair of conference Utes have something losses, the - Wyoming can only dream about a shot at winning the WAC tide. This is another game we have to win," says Utah coach Ron McBride. "Our players understand what is at stake and whalnccds to be done. They have their own agenda." list is shutting At the top of the down junior receiver Marcus Harris. The WACs finest receiver statistically, Harris has reeled in 55 passes for 936 nine of them for TDs for an yards 133.7 yards per game. of average While Harris and his fellow 'Pokes may not be on the path to postseason play, the trail they've seen isn't pretty. Last year The Cowboys were hogticd to-d-o - - Jazz's Timeless Duo Still Making Sweet Music For Utah Fans QmoNKUhmoJtffBcckitmnd No Doubts Fouts: Against Utah State on Saturday, Utah quarterback Mike Fouts broke a three-gam- e streak of throwing at least one interception. Fouts will lead the Utes against the Cowboys in Laramie tomorrow. by a relcndcss Ute squad, 41-- 7 in Rice Stadium. That memory, while not as inspiring as a possible bowl invitation, is motivation enough. "Nobody beat us as badly as Utah did last year," said Cowboy coach Joe Tiller. "That was a very long night. Hopefully we can play a better game at home than wc did there last year." This season the advantage goes to Wyoming since the game is in Laramie, according to McBride and the oddsmakcrs who list the Cowboys as three-poin- t favorites. "Laramie is a hard place to play for some reason," McBride said. "It's kind of a'givc and take thing because they " ' -- " im "Wtn on pagt H- - WAC STANDINGS BYU AirForcc SDSU UTAH Colo. St W L 4 4 5 6 3 6 1 ' 3 2 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 2 4 .2 5 3 5 4 2 3 T ; 0. N.Mcxico FrcsnoSt W L T 2 4 3 0 0 0 1 4 3 4 3 4 Hawaii 1 3' UTEP 3 0 4 4 7 Wyoming . 4 3 1 1 Saturday's Games: Utah at Wyoming, noon Tulsa at BYU UTEP at Colorado State . New Mexico at SDSU Fresno State at Hawaii 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 hopes Jazz fans see that combination a lot this season. Indeed, he's counting on it, starting Morris in place of Jeff Hornacck for Friday's regular season opener in Seattle. "He gives us a lot of things. He's a longer guy, and I see the possibility of him helping us rebound better, with his bigger body," the coach says. Last season, the Jazz ranked 20th out of 27 teams in rebounding. "He also gives us the opportunity to bringJeff off the bench, at least for right now. (Hornacek) doesn't have to bang and be beat up to death to start, and I think that will help his game a bit," Sloan adds. At 32, Hornacek, three years older and 4 inches shorter than Morris, isn't brimming with enthusiasm for the role change. He started 81 games for Utah last season, when the Jazz finished with the NBA's second-bes- t record only to draw repeat (60-22- ), in the first champion Houston ' round. ' . "It's always. tough when you're used to starting, but my concern was how the rotation was at the end of see "Jux" on page II |
