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Show Gameday Preview TouchBase 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. USU W I D E RECEIVER/KICK RETURNER K E V I N R O B I N S O N is tripped up by UNLV defenders after nearly taking a kick return to the end zone in USU's 23-16 loss last Thursday.The Aggies take on Mountain West Conference opponent No. 2 Saturday as they travel to Laraime.Wyo. to battle the Wyoming Cowboys. NOF.i i£ BERLAGE photo Ags to tangle with 'boys Meet the Challenge By DAVID BAKER assistant sports editor It may seem like deja vu all over again for the Aggies - another week, another Mountain West Conference opponent. At least a few things are sure to be different this time around. The venue. Utah State will be traveling to Laramie, Wyo., to take on the University of Wyoming Cowboys. The day and time. The game will be a Saturday afternoon affair, with kickoff at noon on Sept. 8. The outcome? There are never any guarantees that will be different. And the momentum Wyoming carries into this weekend's game, after easily handling the University of Virginia 23-3 in the Cowboys' home opener, could make it even more difficult for the Aggies to avoid that feeling of deja vu. "(The Cowboys) were real impressive against Virginia," Head Coach Brent Guy said. "They're a typical Wyoming team. They played really hard on defense, they played real tough. They've got a high-tempo offense. I think more than anything they capitalized on their opportunities and scored points." The Cowboy defense looked very solid, holding Virginia to only five first downs and 110 total yards on offense, including a measly seven yards on the ground. No one should be surprised, though. Wyoming's defense was ranked ninth in the nation in total defense last year and is No. 2 after game one of the 2007 cam- 1 USU (0-1) K1L • ©WYOMING 11-01 Brent Guy (3rd year) Joe Glenn {5th year) Sat., Sept. 8, War Memorial Stadium, noon USU notes USU hasn'l won in September since 2005. OB Leon Jackson III • was 13-of-19 passing vs. UNLV. WR/KR Kevin Robinson lead the WAC and is fourth nationally in allpurpose yards with 275. UW notes The Cowboys rolled over Virginia lasl week at home, 23-3, holding the Cavs to seven yards rushing. Wyoming has won its past lour contests al home. Sophomore QB Karslen Sween collected 253 yards passing. Though the Cowboys beat the Aggies last year, 387, USU trailed by three late In the third quarter. paign. For Utah State to avoid a performance like the one Virginia turned in, Guy said they have to pick up blitzes, establish a running game and try to control the ball on offense with a balanced attack. "If we can run the ball, obviously, better than Virginia did, we'll have a better chance of throwing the football too," he said. Aggie senior wide receiver Kevin Robinson said the key for the Aggie offense is execution. "If we run our plays and execute them, we can play with anyone," he said. Making that task difficult will be the Cowboys' 3-4 defense, which is lead by a strong, experienced linebacking corps and features senior corners Michael Medina and Julius Stinson lurking in the secondary. Stinson is coming off a two-interception game against Virginia. Robinson is excited about the challenge of facing Medina and Stinson. "They've got some good corners. We've got good receivers. So it should be a good match-up," he said. Wyoming's offense also turned in a good performance last week. They racked up 471 total yards, with 218 of those coming from the Cowboys' ground attack. In the backfield, Wyoming uses a thunder-and-lightning approach, with VVynel Seldon - a 214-pound junior - providing the thunder to 182-pound junior Devin Moore's lightning. Along with sophomore quarterback Karsten Sween, the Cowboys' offense was able to control the ball for 40 minutes and run 88 plays to Virginia's 46. Stopping the running game and Wyoming's ability to control the ball will be important for the Aggie defense, Guy said. That won't be accomplished by any smoke and mirrors, though. Junior linebacker Jake Hutton said the Aggies won't do anything different, just focus on wrapping up and eliminating the big plays that plagued the defense in the second half against the University of Nevada-Las Vegas. After that less-than-perfect second half in last \M See TANGLE, page 9 Utah boosts turkey hunting permits SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — Pleased with the turkey population, Utah is more than doubling the number of hunting permits for spring 2008. The Utah Wildlife Board approved the change Thursday. The number wasraised to 7,706, spokesman Mark Hadley said. AggzeSchedules Football SATURDAY SEPT. 8 Utah State @ Wyoming, Noon Volleyball FRIDAY/SATURDAY SEPT. 7-8 Utah State @ Cal Tournament Soccer FRIDAY SEPT. 7 Utah State @ U.C. Irvine (in Ariz.) SUNDAY SEPT. 9 Utah State @ Northern Arizona ML/Standings American League East Division W L Pet 84 56 .600 78 62 .557 7168.511 60 78 .435 58 82.414 Boston New York Toronto Baltimore Tampa Bay GB 6 121/2 23 26 Central Division Ag soccer hoping loss helps get win USU looking to improve attacking, defense at NAU tournament BySETH R.HAWKINS editor in chief Sometimes it takes a loss to learn how to win. USU soccer Head Coach Heather Cairns said she hopes her team learned their lesson after receiving a 3-1 beating at the hands of Texas Christian University, a team Cairns said the Aggies could have beat last Sunday in Fort Worth, Texas. This weekend USU will travel south to Arizona to compete in the La Quinta Inn and Suites High Altitude Classic, a tournament hosted by Northern Arizona University. The Aggies will first take on UC Irvine Friday at 5 p.m., followed by a Sunday match against NAU at 3 TCU loss. "It wasn't a particular p.m. player. We weren't doing things "Both (UC Irvine and NAU) we were supposed to do." are going to be a lot like TCU, so In preparing for the tournait's going to be a good test to see ment this weekend, Cairns said if we learned something against her team has worked on improvTCU," Cairns said. ing the attack and sharpening the defense. ' . ' In the TCU match, the Aggies took an / '' "We early lead don't want Volleyball p I aying In Cal. to focus of fa goal by LI tourney, page I I senior foron defense ward Pana / so much," Peart. Five minutes later, the she said. "We want to focus on Horned Frogs capitalized off-a. ^ the attack. If we Can play in an penalty kick to tie the game. TCU 'attacking style, we'll have to would go on to score two more defendl&s-,. so that's kind of our times as they penetrated the game plan, to r/e the aggresAggie defense and took advansor, to set the tone oTthe game, tage of confusion in the attack. instead of letting the game come to us and defend a lor." "We had some letdowns in UC Irvine is a familiar oppoour systems," Cairns said of the m nent as the Aggies squared off against them while in the Big West Conference. USU's track record against the Anteaters is not so hot, as the Ags have gone 1-7-1, losing seven straight matches from 1996-2002. This year the Anteaters return seven starters but were picked to finish ninth in the Big West coach's poll. Thus far in the season, UC Irvine has a 1-1 record, dropping a 3-0 match to Western Athletic Conference competitor Fresno State and beating Cal State Bakersfield 3-0, Sunday. "I think California schools tend to be very technical," Cairns said of her expectations of UC Irvine. "They tend to be big and strong, so I would expect that." Cleveland Detroit Minnesota Kansas City Chicago On Sunday the Aggies will face the NAU Lumberjacks, their fourth game of five on the road. NAU comes off a 7-0 massacre over Lamar, tying a 1997 school record. Six of the seven goals were scored in the first half, setting a new school record. The Lumberjacks were picked to finish third in the Big Sky Conference. "They're a good Big Sky team," Cairns said. "They'll probably be pretty direct, pretty big and physical. We need to play our game, possess the ball and spread the field. The key is going to be sticking to our game plan." USU will be led in the 4-3-3 attack by Peart, who is tied for first in the WAC for goals scored and goals scored per game. [1 See SOCCER, page 9 . 81 58 .583 74 65 .532 69 71.493 62 77 .446 59 80 .424 7 121/2 19 22 8257 .590 74 64 .536 69 72 .489 65 74 .468 71/2 14 17 West Division Los Angeles Seattle Oakland Taxas National League New York Philadelphia Atlanta Washington Florida 78 61.561 73 66 .525 7169.507 63 77 ,450 60 80 .429 5 71/2 151/2 18 1/2 71 67 .514 71 68 .511 68 68.500 63 77 .450 62 78 .443 61 78 .439 1/2 2 9 10 101/2 Central Division Chicago Milwaukee St. Louis Cincinnati Houston Pillsburgh West Division Arizona San Diego Los Angeles Colorado San Francisco 78 63.553 76 63 .547 1 73 66 .525 4 72 67 .518 5 63 77 ,450 141/2 |