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Show StatesmanSports Wednesday, Oct. 7, 2009 Page 9 Hockey loses two of three By G. Christopher Terry assistant sports editor CSU 6, USU 2 The Colorado State Rams gave the Aggies a rude reception in their first out-of-state road game of the year. Barely 10 minutes into the game, USU captain Kent Arsenault was checked into the boards and knocked out of the game with a concussion, seperated shoulder and a bloody, lacerated eye. In the second period, Arsenault’s linemate, Brendan MacDonald, was butt-ended in the ribs and also left the game. Dan Cornelius, who took the loss on his record as starting goalie, said Colorado State played a very disciplined, physical brand of hockey which gave the Aggies trouble. “They do play a very physical style,” Cornelius said. “CSU, once you get the puck they’re hitting you. A lot of the hits are dirty hits. They hit with their hands and elbows and sticks, whatever they can.” Jeremy Martin and Kyle Soder each scored for USU, which led 2-1 in the second period before falling a part due to penalties. “We came out pretty hard, it’s just right after Arsenault went down the team started to take stupid penalties and that’s what got us in trouble,” wing Jeff Sanders said. “They worked harder and they took advantage of the power plays they got.” Receiving credit for assists in the game were defensemen Maciej Malicik and Mackenzie York, along with forwards MacDonald and Tyler Mistelbacher. “It was tough going from playing weaker teams to going to play the top end of the league, and CSU’s always up there,” said assistant captain Dave Wyman. USU 4, UNC 2 With an entire line – Mistelbacher, MacDonald and Arsenault – sitting out this game with various injuries, it would have been a fine time for the Aggies to pull their heads into their shells and eat a loss, playing against a Northern Colorado squad, which returned most of its players from a team that went to nationals last year. Instead, USU rallied behind starting goaltender Greg Finatti and came together for a great road win. USU’s orange line of Wyman, Sanders and Bill Gouthro was responsible for all four of USU’s goals, with Sanders bagging a hat-trick and Wyman popping the remaining goal in. “I love playing with those two guys,” Sanders UsU’s Dave Wyman, 27, battles with a BYU player during a game earlier in the season. The Aggies lost to Colorado and Colorado State and defeated Northern Colorado on their recent three-game road trip. tyler larson photo said. “Our line did pretty well in that game.” Wyman praised the effort of his teammates. “We were short this weekend,” he said. “Everyone was hitting, even guys who don’t normally hit. Everyone was going into the corners. There was no complaints about the effort this weekend.” Though it was another highly penalized affair, which Wyman said was due to Colorado schools having four officials at the games as opposed to the three USU is used to, Wyman said Finatti and the Aggie defense killed off penalties all game and then took advantage of the opportunities they got in the offensive zone. “We played a really good team game for 60 minutes,” Wyman said. “Greg Finatti played really well and we played well in front of him.” CU 5, USU 3 The Colorado Buffaloes jumped out to a 4-0 lead on USU in the final game of the road trip, resulting in Finatti being pulled from goal in favor of Cornelius, but neither goalie could prevent USU from falling to another team that went to Nationals last year. Playing without Arsenault once again, USU could not dig its way out of the hole it went in early in the game, in part due to penalties once again. “We’re letting the refs take over the game and we’re not playing our game,” Sanders said. “We get one call and then our whole team starts to focus on how bad the refs are.” MacDonald, who was pressed into service despite his injury, led the Aggies with two goals while Wyman bagged another. “First off, (the Colorado teams) are a lot more defensive than the Utah teams,” MacDonald said. “Now that we’ve played them once we have a taste of the caliber of hockey we’ll have to play.” Matt Hamilton led USU with two assists, and Mistelbacher had another helper as USU’s record against last year’s nationals squads – Weber State, CU, CSU, UNC – fell to 2-2. Although USU returns to Utah banged up and feeling the effects of three physical games, Wyman said he prefers the physical style. “It’s fun hockey, it’s the kind of game you want to play,” Wyman said. “I personally love a physical game. It’s difficult to go from a game where you’re physically so much stronger than your opponent and you can get away with a lot more, to a fast physical game like the best teams in the league play.” Wyman said this is a good time for the injury bug to hit his team, given the upcoming schedule, which starts with a Saturday night home date against Metro State. “In hindsight it’s a good time for it to hit because we’ve got a weaker schedule for the next two weeks,” he said. “Better now than in November.” Although the Aggies are disappointed to lose two games, Wyman, MacDonald and Sanders said they think the team has learned from its rough weekend in Colorado and will be much more competitive in its two return trips later this season. “I think it was a great learning weekend for us to gauge where we’re at,” Wyman said. “That CU game I feel we let it through our hands. That’s a team I think we can beat.” – graham.terry@aggiemail.usu.edu Women’s Rugby Lady Aggies struggle offensivley, lose third straight game By TYLER HUSKINSON staff writer The Lady Aggies suffered another loss Saturday, this time against the Provo Steelers, 22-8. USU head coach Dennis Kohler said the game went OK in every way except for the final score. “I don’t really feel that the score was reflective of the quality of play I know is hiding inside of our women,” Kohler said. USU found itself down 17-8 at the end of the first half and was never able to catch up. The Aggie scores came courtesy of a try from scrum half Jessie Trina and a penalty kick from fly half Shannon Woolley. The team has been working on better tackling and less hesitation on defense the past couple of weeks in practice said Kohler, and there has been great improvement. There is still room for more improvement, however. “Two of the Steelers’ tries, however, were scored with long breakaways,” Kohler said. “This is indicative of the fact that we are missing multiple tackles.” Even with the needed improvement, there were still a few notable performances. “Meghan Pehrson at fullback was a defensive black hole under the high ball. It was nice on Saturday to not have to worry about defending the deep kick,” Kohler said. He also said that co-captain, strong side Section F: USU ready for WAC -continued from page 8 that Saturday’s meeting with USU is likely the most winnable of its remaining games, and this Utah State team is an improved version of the squad that took the red Aggies to the woodshed last year with a 47-2 blowout in the season finale at Romney Stadium. It’s safe to say that anything but a win Saturday would be a disappointment for USU. While the Aggies’ defense has struggled this year, they haven’t exactly been playing cupcake competition. As of right now, USU’s schedule ranks as the No. 18 toughest schedule in the nation. New Mexico State’s biggest weakness has been its offense, which ranks No. 116 in the country, despite having a strength of schedule that currently stands at No. 110. NMSU’s best offensive output of the season so far was only slightly better than USU’s worst showing over its first four games. Ideally for the Aggies, they can take control of this game early and get themselves tuned up for the next two weeks when they host Nevada and Louisiana Tech on back-to-back weekends. A 1-0 start to WAC play is the expectation right now. A 3-0 start to WAC play and a top three finish could be in order. Stay tuned. It’s a whole new season now. Matt Sonnenberg is a junior majoring in print journalism. Matt is an avid fan of Aggie athletics and can be found on the front row of every home football and basketball game. He can also be reached at matt.sonn@ aggiemail.usu.edu. wing forward, Tabitha Morin has put out excellent performances as of late. “I know Mo (Morin) is going to play well because she is on the field,” Kohler said. “It really is that consistent.” To add insult to the recent slump, injuries are taking their toll. Prop “Tippy” Gourley veteran number eight Kelsey Mattson, and lock Katie Martin were out due to injury on Saturday. Ashlee Clark, freshman prop, who registered the most solid hit of the day, performed well in Gourley’s place, and Vanessa AvilaEsparza played at number eight and had no trouble leading the pack. Freshman utility forward Karen Nielson came in at lock. Kohler said USU was fortunate to have Lyndsey Jackman, wing forward, back and fit from an injury that kept her out last week. “Lyndsey put in a solid performance in the scrum at hooker, and a great game as usual in the open field and around the breakdown,” he said. Next week the Aggies have a bye and Kohler said the Ags will be working on pace on contact in practice. The following week the Aggies travel to Ogden to help return women’s rugby to Weber State. The trip may include a live scrimmage with anyone interested in playing women’s rugby. – ty.d.hus@aggiemail.usu.edu |