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Show Hi Page 13 Sept. 5, 2007 1 I • t • • 'l —~i ••••] Soccer splits in Texas road trip Tbuc/zBase BySETH R. HAWKINS editor in chief The state of Texas has not been nice to the Utah State soccer team, but the Aggies came away from a weekend trek to Texas with a 1-1 record, making USU's all-time record against teams from the Lone Star State 1-8. The lone win came Friday, Aug. 31, against Texas State University in San Marcos, Texas, where the Aggies took down the Bobcats 1-0. USU's victory improves its season opener record on the road to 3-8. USU vs. TCU Sunday afternoon the Ags The Aggies' meeting with the next took on Texas Christian University in Fort Worth, Texas, Horned Frogs marked a homecoming of sorts for USU senior but couldn't keep the momenmidfielder Shannon Ross, a tum from the Texas State game and fell 3-1 to the — ^ _ _ ^ _ _ _ _ ^ ^ _ native of Fort Worth, Texas. Horned Frogs. Ross took two "This early shots in the game in this season but couldn't land you're looking either in a tough for growth," game that was USU Head Coach largely domiHeather Cairns nated by TCU. said of the weekend matches. The early moments of the "You never like to lose, but it game went well for the Aggies, will be good when you learn as they chalked up a point in from it. This team is good at the sixth minute of play. Senior learning. They want to get back forward Dana Peart took a feed and redeem themselves. TCU 3 USU I from junior midfielder Lacey Christenson about 30 yards out. Charging forward, Peart found an open shot and nailed the ball to the corner for the score, giving the Ags an early 1-0 advantage. "The TCU game we started pretty well," Cairns said. "We were attacking pretty well. Dana got the ball and turned 30 yards out. She made a nice little dribbling run to make herself open for a shot and then really just ripped. She just hit a great shot." Peart's goal marked her 12th career goal, placing her at No. 5 on the USU career goal charts. The momentum that followed the score was short-lived as TCU received a penalty kick opportunity in the 11th minute of play after junior goalkeeper Ali Griffin committed a foul. The Horned Frogs capitalized on the open shot and evened the score at one. "We were never the same team after that point," Cairns said. "We really lost our commitment to attack. We lost our commitment to stick to the game plan. We never settled down long enough to create \ See SOCCER, page 14 Ag spikers take one of three matches Almost there... Nielson named to all-tourney team for second-straight time By G. CHRISTOPHER TERRY staff writer A L I TAYLOR (881) A N D APRIL ROWLAND (878) of the USU cross country team close in on the finish line during Saturday's Utah State Open at the American West Heritage Center.The Aggie men placed second and the women were fourth. USU's Seth Wold took first in the eight-kilomenter event TYLER LARSON photo Utah State volleyball went 1-2 in Bozeman, Mont., over the weekend, taking third place in the Holiday Inn Classic hosted by Montana State. In the first round Friday, USU lost in three games to Texas A&M, 30-17, 30-23, 30-23. The other Aggies rocked USU hard in the first game, hitting a sizzling .708 while holding USU to .120. In the next two games, Texas A&M was unable to continue its incredible hitting percentage, falling to .278 in the second game and .163 in the third. It hardly mattered as USU was held to .049 hitting percentage in the second game and .077 in the third. "We're playing against really good teams," USU Head Coach Grayson DuBose said. "Texas A&M is fourth in their conference, and it's a good conference. Washington State plays in the PAG10, probably the best conference. We didn't expect our hitting percentages to be stellar. We do need to make fewer errors. That's the biggest thing that stands out in my mind." Junior outside hitter Melissa Osterloh had 12 kills to lead USU, and sophomore outside hitter Jessalyne Payne led on defense with nine digs. Sarah Ammerman led Texas A&M with 12 kills, hitting .550 on the match. Texas A&M finished with an overall hitting percentage of .330 compared to .076 for Utah State. A&M also dominated the categories of digs, 40-34; aces, 7-2; and blocks, 5-3. In the second match of the tournament, it was USU's turn to dominate. Osterloh led the way against Montana State with 20 kills, four blocks and 10 digs as Utah State swept the hosts, 30-22, 30-27, 30-28. Senior hitter Amanda Nielson also played well against the Bobcats with 11 kills, two service aces, three digs and two block assists. Commenting on Osterloh and Nielson, DuBose said, "They're hitting the ball hard and in bounds. That's what you need from those positions." USU out-hit Montana State in the match, .141 to .084, and in the third and decisive game, held the Bobcats to .047 hitting percentage. Utah State led in service aces, 5-3, and team blocks, 10-8, while Montana State led in digs with 45 to USU's 39. The third match, against Washington State, ended in another sweep with USU on the losing end. The Cougars won 30-26, 30-23, 30-23 to drop the Aggies to a 2-4 season record. Hitting errors were the culprit in this loss, as USU committed 23 errors in the second and third games while WSU had only 11 errors in the same period. "We thought we could have come out of (the tournament) 2-1," DuBose said. "We thought we had a shot against Washington State. At times we were kind of even with them, neck-and-neck, and then we would give up a couple of errors. That's our inexperience shining through. We need to get better under stress." Nielson led USU with 18 kills and seven digs against the Cougars, LI See SPIKERS, page 14 'Life lessons' have come from walking on for Leslie By DAVID BAKER assistant sports editor ; UTAH STATESMAN: Who's your favorite running back, either past or present? LESUE: My favorite running back would be Barry Sanders. ' Definitely Barry Sanders. He's a good runner. I wish he would have stayed in the league for a couple years longer. . US: Who do you pattern your game after? ; LESUE: That's interesting, since I was a receiver but now I'm running back. To be honest, Terrell Davis is a running back that really read his reads real well and exploded through the hole. And I think he ran really strong, and I like to be a lot like Terrell Davis. US: What are your strengths as a back? LESUE: Definitely making the reads. I trust my linemen. And laterally, side-to-side quickness, and being able to explode through the hole. US: Weaknesses? LESUE: My weakness has always been - even though I consider myself a pretty strong guy for my size and a fast guy - 1 would say when I get out in the field and open it up, just not getting shoestring tackled. US: What lessons did you learn from being a walk-on? LESUE: Life lessons. I learned a lot of them. It was a humbling experience. I learned to do what I was told. 1 learned how to be part of team, not just to be an individual. 1 learned to do whatever the team needs first. And that's how I got where I am now. US: How important is versatility to your game? LESUE: It's everything. It means everything, especially with my size and speed. Being able to go out of the backfield and catch the ball can spread the defense out a lot. It also helps avoiding big hits. US: Who's the hardest hitter on the Aggie defense? LESUE: Can there be more than one? To be honest, there's too many to list one. There really is. We have a defense that flies around and a lot of people that can hit, and hit hard. I would have to say that one of the very first times in the spring, it was probably one of the first times I ran the ball in the spring, Devon Hall smacked me and gave me a pretty good stinger down the right side of my arm. US: What's the perfect Aaron Lesue performance? LESUE: The obvious answer would be to win, no matter what the stats are. I'd like to have that game where you have the all-around game - rushing, USU TAILBACK AARON receiving and returning kicks. LESUE Is a starter this year for the USU football team after walkSince I'm on the kickoff return Ing on In 2006. He scored one of [ I See LESUE, page 14 USU's two touchdowns vs UNLV. NOELLE BERIAGE photo Ag women holding tryouts USU's women's basketball program will be conducting walk-on tryouts on Monday, Sept. 10 in HPER Gym 213 from 6:30-8:30 p.m. Only full-time students who are between their freshman and junior years (according to NCAA eligibility time clock) and who have played high school varsity basketball will be allowed to try out. USU in search of scout team The USU women's basketball program is looking for additional male scout team members. Scout team players are a very important and integral part of the program. Scout team members' responsibilities during the year consist of playing against current student-athletes in most practices both on weekdays and weekends during the season, with practices running from 12-3 p.m. The season IVCSt and ings WAC Football Boise Stale Fresno State Hawaii Louisiana Tech New Mexico State Idaho Nevada San Jose State Utah State WAC o-o 0-0 0-0 0-0 0-0 0-0 0-0 0-0 0-0 OVERALL 1-0 1-0 1-0 1-0 1-0 0-1 0-1 0-1 0-1 RECENT RESULTS SATURDAY SEPTEMBER 1 Nebraska 52, Nevada 10. Louisiana Tech 28, Central Arkansas 7. Hawaii 63, Northern Colorado 6. Fresno State 24, Sacramento State 3. Arizona State 45, San Jose State USC 38, Idaho 10 WAC Women's Volleyball New Mexico State San Jose State Louisiana Tech Boise State Hawaii Nevada Utah State Fresno State Idaho WAC 0-0 0-0 0-0 0-0 0-0 0-0 0-0 0-0 0-0 OVERALL 5-1 4-2 4-4 3-3 3-3 2-2 2-4 1-5 1-6 RECENT RESULTS SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 1 Washington State def. Utah State 3-0 (30-26,30-23, 30-23). MLB Standings American League East Division W 83 76 70 59 57 Boston New York Toronto Baltimore Tampa Bay L Pet GB 55 .601 62 .551 7 67.511 121/2 77 .434 23 81 .413 26 Central Division Cleveland Detroit Minnesota Kansas City Chicago 79 58.577 73 64.533 69 69 .500 62 75 .453 58 79 .423 6 101/2 17 21 West Division Los Angeles Seattle Oakland Texas 81 74 68 63 56.591 • 62 .544 6 1/ 71 .489 14 74.460 18 National League New York Philadelphia Atlanta Washington Florida 77 60.562 72 65 .526 70 68 .507 61 77.442 60 78.435 5 71/2 161/2 171/2 70 66.515 69 68.504 67 67.500 62 76.449 62 76 .449 60 77 .438 1 1/2 2 9 9 101/2 Central Division Chicago Milwaukee St. Louis Cincinnati Houston Pittsburgh West Division San Diego Arizona Los Angeles Colorado San Francisco 76 61 .555 76 63 .547 72 65.526 71 66.518 5 62 76.449 141/2 |
