OCR Text |
Show StateSManSpOrtS Monday, Dec. 6, 2010 Page 9 Bucked: Aggies end season with loss continuedfrom page 8 AGGIE FORWARD JAY MCFADDEN led the scoring charge for Utah State this past weekend as the team went 3-I over four games, including a win over No. I ranked Colorado State, putting the Aggies in position to take over the top spot in the rankings. BRANDEN FONDA photo Hockey knocks off No. 1 ranked Rams at Colorado tournament By LANDON HEMSLEY staff writer Utah State Hockey went 3-1 over the weekend on the road in Colorado, defeating the No. 1 regionally-ranked Rams of Colorado State on the road for the second time this year. The Aggies played Northern Arizona University on Thursday, losing 6-3. USU then bounced back and beat CSU on their home ice 6-4, following up the monumental win with victories against Texas A&M University 5-2 on Saturday and Northern Colorado 6-3, on Sunday night. USU is currently campaigning for the No. 1 ranking in the American Collegiate Hockey Association's D-2 Western region. If the Aggies end in the spring with the No. 1 rank, they will earn an automatic bid to the national tournament without having to play in the regional tournament. It is probable that after this weekend USU will overtake CSU and hold the No. 1 ranking heading into Christmas break, as USU defeated the No. 1 Rams on the road and CSU lost twice at home. Thursday: USU 3, NAU 6 Utah State started its road trip poorly in the Aggies' first meeting against the Lumberjacks of NAU this season. Aggie head coach Jon Eccles said the Lumberjacks' energy put USU on the defensive early, and the momentum never really swung back the Aggies' way. "I can't put a finger on it," he said. "They had nothing to lose for the game so they basically laid it all on the line, and we basically didn't show up:' USU was awful defensively. Six different Lumberjacks struck gold on USU goaltender Cody Palmer. Eccles said the blame for USU's lack of defensive prowess cannot be placed on any line, group, individual or player. He said the team was responsible for this one. Despite the loss, Eccles said the campaign for No. 1 was not over. "At times losses are good for us," Eccles said. "It all depends on how we rebound from this loss and what we learn from it and how we come to play tomorrow." Friday: USU 6, CSU 4 If motivation was what USU was seeking in a loss, they certainly found it Friday night in the game against CSU. "What can I say?" Eccles said. We beat CSU twice this year on their home ice. The team as a whole stepped up. They played with a sense of urgency. They played like a championship team. They just brought it. Everyone brought it." Eccles said his team responded very well after the previous night's setback. "It happened to us when we lost to San Jose," he said. "We came back and blew out Eastern. You never want to lose, but if you can learn from it, then it's good." Perhaps the most remarkable aspect of this win was the fact that USU had to play without three of their top players. Defenders Jeremy Martin and Jeff Sanders were bedridden with the flu, and winger Brendan MacDonald of Canada was cutting through governmental red tape at the U.S.Canada border. Additionally, Kent Arsenault and Billy Gouthro were suffering from the flu, but still played. Eccles said USU was able to pull this win out on the road in a hostile environment because of an excellent Aggie team effort, particularly on the part of the goaltender Dan Cornelius and USU's most recent scoring sensation, Jay McFadden. "Dan (Cornelius) stood on his head," Eccles said. This is his second win against CSU in enemy territory. He played awesome. Also, Jay McFadden has been scoring out-of-control. People haven't been able to stop him." With this win in the rear-view mirror, the Aggies all but took control of the western region of ACHA D2 hockey. "This win should give us the opportunity to move into first," Eccles said. "If we take care of business the rest of this year, then we should be ranked No. 1." Saturday: USU 5, Texas A&M 2 Take care of business is exactly what Utah State proceeded to do against the maroon Aggies of Texas A&M. McFadden had another brilliant night, scoring two more goals and one more assist to bring his weekend total to six. "Awesome," Eccles said of McFadden's play. "Jay brings it every night. He actually gets upset when he doesn't get much ice time. He wants to get in there and create havoc. I was proud of him because he stepped up and carried us through tough times." USU defeated the Texan Aggies without Matt Hamilton, who suffered a shoulder injury in the CSU game, and Martin and Sanders, who were both still out with the flu. McFadden stepped in brilliantly and filled their shots. Eccles said USU controlled the game pretty much throughout, but were hindered because of poor ice conditions. He said the Aggies compensated for the ice with hard work and skilled passing. With the win, USU only needed to down the Bears of Northern Colorado to finish the weekend and return home 3-1. Sunday: USU 6, UNC 3 Down the Bears is exactly what the Aggies did on Sunday night, once again in poor ice conditions. "For a speed team like us, the poor ice hurt us a little," Eccles said of his team in the win. "But we pretty much controlled the game all three periods." Eccles said the Aggies played slightly less disciplined on Sunday night, as USU was forced to kill a five-minute power play and compensate for the poor ice with harder work and faster passing. But the inferior competition was no match for USU's skill and determination. This weekend was not only a showcase for Jay McFadden, but was also a breakout weekend for freshman forward Chase Allington of Wasilla, Alaska. In the win against Northern Colorado, Allington scored two goals against UNC, bringing his week total to four goals and one assist. Eccles said Allington has filled a role left open by injuries quite nicely. USU's Cody Palmer also redeemed himself from a lackluster performance against NAU. Palmer had one assist in the UNC victory, and Eccles said he played much more alertly and attentively while communicating better in this win. Next Up: Utah The Aggies are now 25-4 after their road trip and will return to Logan to play their final home game of the fall semester this Friday against the University of Utah. The puck drops at 7 p.m. — la.hem@aggiemail.usu.edu Yes, it sold that FAST on www.a-bay-usu.com (that's what thousands of eyes can do for you! Register today!) While the USU offense may have cut the lead to eight in the first quarter, the Aggie defense was hard pressed to slow down the high flying Bronco offense for much of the afternoon. Following Williams' touchdown, Moore efficiently moved the Boise offense down the field in eight plays, again connecting with tight end Kyle Efaw for a touchdown. Moore finished the day a mistake-free 24-of34 while throwing for 237 yards and three scores. For the junior quarterback, who is expected to be one of the finalists for the Heisman trophy when they are announced Monday, the win goes a long way to showing skeptics that Boise State's loss to Nevada was an anomaly. "(This game) was all about rebounding coming off a bad loss," Moore said. "We had to prove we can keep this thing rolling. We can't be down forever. It was just an opportunity to rebound and play some good football." Boise State's defense, fresh off its worst performance of the season against the Wolf Pack, rebounded as well, overwhelming the USU offense line and causing Aggie quarterback Borel to run for his life in the pocket. The Aggies failed to move the ball effectively against the first string Bronco defense, and only managed 30 yards in the second quarter against the swarming Bronco defense. "We can't protect," Andersen said. "When you can't protect, any quarterback in the country can't throw the football. If you can't protect, you have no chance of throwing the ball down the field." Andersen called Boise's defense "tremendous" and also pointed to USU's inability to convert consistently on third downs as a reason for falling behind early. The Aggies converted only five of 16 third down attempts. "We fought, continued to battle, but we didn't execute on third down on offense. We didn't execute on third down on defense good enough," he said. The win was the final WAC game the Broncos will play before moving on to the MWC next season. And while teams like Utah State likely won't miss what has become a near certain loss when playing Boise State every year, the Broncos will miss their conference success. Boise State departs the conference with a 75-5 record against WAC foes, including a perfect 40-0 against WAC teams on the `smurf turf' of Bronco stadium. — adam.nettina@aggiemail.usu.edu Spiked: Volleyball falls in first round continuedfrom page 8 They like being around each other, they enjoy each other's company, and they are very supportive of each other. We were able to accomplish the most wonderful sense of team." After their incredible WAC tournament performance, the Utah State Aggies took that sense of team to the NCAA tournament, where they were pitted against PAC-10 champs California, who finished the season with a 253 record and No. 4 national ranking. "We wanted to do those things that we do well," said coach DuBose when asked about his game plan. "We wanted to be able to serve really tough and to block well. One of the things we always concentrate on is taking care of our side, making sure that we're doing the right thing on our side of the net, and that gives us our best opportunity to compete." The Aggies, though, came out in the first set a little flat and a little outmatched. After tying the set at 6-6, Cal used a 7-2 run to push their lead as they went on to the 25-15 set win. The second set was even worse for USU as they went down 8-1 early and never recovered as the Golden Bears cruised to a 25-11 win. "One of the things they did very well is they served a lot tougher than I thought they were going to," said DuBose. "That limited our offensive opportunities because we were not in system as much as we would have liked to have been." After the halftime break, the Aggies came out with some fire. In the third set, Utah State fought back, forcing six ties in the set, but it was not enough to stop Cal as they went on another 8-1 run to give them a 20-13 lead and propel them to a five-point win. The Aggies had trouble throughout the match offensively, struggling to penetrate a tough Golden Bears defense. For the match, USU hit a season low .060 (26-19-117), while allowing Cal to hit .342 (49-11-111). Cal also recorded 21 more digs and six more blocks than Utah State which was too much for the Aggies to overcome. "There's a reason they're the PAC-10 champs," DuBose said. "It's not like that's a piece of cake conference. They were good at what they did and they executed at a really high level and we didn't." One difference leading up to the tournament for the Aggies was the amount of time they had between matches. After winning the WAC championship on Nov. 24, USU had almost a week and a half to prepare for the tournament. Such a long break can sometimes kill a team's momentum, but DuBose said that was not the case. "I didn't feel like the break affected our momentum," DuBose said. "I thought it was a benefit to us. We gave the players a couple days off and I thought that was a real benefit physically for us. Having those days off really allowed those girls to come back into the practice gym rejuvenated." The Aggies' accomplishments this season are about more than just a great team who worked together, and DuBose is very appreciative of the support of all the Aggie fans that have helped make this season so memorable. "I really appreciate the support of the students," DuBose said. "They made playing in the Spectrum a wonderful experience for our kids, and a not-so-comfortable experience for the opposing team. They really gave us a home court advantage." — mark.israelsen@aggiemail.usu.edu PSC Seminar Series Fall 2010 •• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • "The Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education Program: Developing Alternatives for Agriculture" UtahStateU niversity DEPARTMENT OF PLANTS, SOILS, & CLIMATE presented by Rob Hedberg National Director, USDA-NIFA-SARE Monday, December 6, 2010 3:30 — 4:30 pm Eccles Conference Center, Rooms 201/203 Rob Hedberg was appointed USDA-NIFA National Program Leader for Sustainable Agriculture in November 2010 after serving in an interim capacity since January 2009. In this role he also serves as the National Director of the Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education program (SARE) which operates across the nation through four independent regional programs. Hedberg has worked at USDA-NIFA (National Institute of Food and Agriculture) since 2005, focusing on science policy, legislative and inter-governmental affairs. In these roles, he worked closely with Congress and other federal agencies on issues related to agricultural science and led USDA's participation in negotiations on the Research Title of the 2008 Farm Bill. Prior to working at USDA, Hedberg served in the policy arena for Congress and scientific organizations. He served on the staff of the U.S. Senate Agriculture Committee as an American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) Fellow and as Director of Science Policy for the National and Regional Weed Science Societies. Hedberg gained practical public and private sector field experience in a variety of leadership roles in agricultural business, research and education. These include serving as the Director of Agronomic Business for a regional farm cooperative, owning and operating a crop consulting and research firm and serving as a regional agronomy Extension agent for the University of Vermont. After growing up on a small farm in Michigan, Hedberg pursued degrees in agriculture, receiving a Bachelor's degree in Crop and Soil Science from Michigan State University and a Master's degree in Plant Science from the University of New Hampshire. He subsequently earned a Certificate of Graduate Studies in Management and Administration at Harvard University. Sponsored by the Western SARE Center http . //wsare usu edu • Sustainable Agriculture Research A FdLICAti on • • • |