Kevin Fiorenzo & Amy Frizzell 'orts Editors On Deck Behrend Athletic Events Saturday Women's Basketball Winter Classic Consolation Game Championship Game 3 p.m. Men's Basketball @ Fredonia 8 p.m. Monday, Dec. 29 Men's Basketball vs. Skidmore @ Daytona Beach 3 p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 30 Men's Basketball vs. Hartwick @ Daytona Beach 2 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 3 Men's Basketball vs. Mt. Aloysius 3 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 7 Women's Basketball vs. Hiram— -7 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 10 Women's Basketball vs. Penn State Altoona Men's Basketball vs. Penn State Altoona Monday, Jan. 12 Women's Basketball @ Thiel 7 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 14 Women's Basketball @ Lake Erie 6 p.m. Men's Basketball @ Lake Erie 8 p.m. Friday, Jan. 16 Men's and Women's Swimming & Diving @ Edinboro 1 p.m. 1 p.m 2 p.m 4 p.m Hockey team hits hard against Edinboro; falls short by one by Amy Hiles staff writer This past Sunday the men's hockey team skated away with a close loss to Edinboro University. The first period started off with 11 shots on junior goalie Jonathon Stull. Freshman Josh Grumski scored the first goal 10 minutes into the game, assisted by junior Fred Busse and senior Justin Taylor. Throughout the first period, Behrend only had one penalty, two minutes for elbowing. The second period proved to be not as successful as the first but Behrend managed to score one goal. Freshman DJ Craven provided the goal with 13:09 left in the period. Overall there were 11 shots on goal, four total minutes for roughing penalities and two for elbowing. Going into the second intermission the Lions trailed by two with a score of 4-2. In the third period Behrend pulled together in a last-ditch effort to try to win the game. At the 11:10 mark, sophomore Joe Persang, unassisted, put one in Edinboro's net, bringing the Lions up to 3-4. Eventually, Edinboro came back with another goal around the 5-minute mark. With 3:32 left in the game they scored their sixth and final goal putting Behrend down 6-3. With 40 seconds of play left in the game, senior James Wyble scored another goal for Behrend pulling the score up 6-4. After Wyble's goal, Behrend pulled their goalie to put another attacker out. This caused some World No. 2 wfthdraws from upcoming Summer Olympics For most professional athletes, the opportunity to compete for your country in the Olympics is the opportunity of a lifetime and wouldn't be turned down for anything. Tell that to Belgian tennis star Kim Clijsters. Clijsters, the No. 2 tennis player in the world, made headlines in the sports world " this week when she opted out of competing in the 2004 Summer Olympics because she would not be allowed to wear her clothing sponsor, Fila. Instead t h Kevin Fiorenzo Olympict )10 rI •• effilE" team is • • being sponsored by Adidas. For Clijsters, it seems loyalty to her sponsor and the almighty dollar is more important than playing for her country. "I want to remain loyal to the people with whom I have closed a contract," said Clijsters. "They were the only ones interested in me two years ago." That's real nice that Clijsters wants to show loyalty and solidarity, but isn't it for the wrong group? Shouldn't Clijsters be showing loyalty to her country above her clothing sponsor? She can wear her Fila outfits to every other tournament she plays in, but the chance to play in the Olympics comes only once every four years. Obviously, this is a serious blow for the Belgian Olympic team. As well as being ranked No. 2 in singles, Clijsters is the No. 1 doubles player in the world. She also reached the finals of two grand slams this year and just won the end of the year WTA Tour championship in November. That means that an excellent shot at two medals for Belgium may have just gone down the drain. The Sigma Delta Alumni Association of Tau Kappa Epsilon would like to re•cognize the newly inducted Alpha —Eta Class: SPORTS Friday, December 12, 2003 Sunday against Edinboro, scoring three goals, two of which were in the last minute of the game. of Fila, Justin Adam Miller Joseph Charles Van tension not onl, because Behrend was down by two goals, but also because of what happened in last week's game against Penn State West, when West got an empty net goal on Behrend within the last 20 seconds. The men must have started skating even harder because only 18 seconds later, senior Michael Fritts scored an unassisted goal with only 22 seconds of play left in the final period. Despite the fighting efforts from the Lions, the game ended with an unfortunate loss to Edinboro, 6-5. The only restitution for Belgium is that world No.l singles player Justine Henin-Hardenne will definitely be competing in Athens because her clothing sponsor is already Adidas. Lucky for the Belgians. What I can't understand is how an athlete could turn down the chance to compete in the Olympics because of clothes. Clijsters can honor her contract with Fila every other tournament, so why couldn't she and Fila have found a way for her to compete? I suppose we should have seen something like this happening. Athletes not competing in events because of sponsorship issues are nothing new. The most notable case of this was in the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona. Several members of the gold-medal winning U.S. basketball team, including Michael Jordan, were under contract to Nike, but the team's sponsor was Reebok. The players took care of this by simply draping an American flag over the Reebok symbol during the trophy ceremony. Making Clijsters' decision even stranger is that Adidas and the Belgian Olympic Committee made a big concession by saying that Clijsters could wear Fila throughout the tennis event, but if she won a medal she would have to wear Adidas at the trophy presentation. Possibly Clijsters has other motives for not playing, though. The entire pot for the Olympics tennis event is only $170,000. That same week there will be another tournament in Cincinnati that will surely have a payout several times that amount. Add in the fact that Clijsters could get a hefty appearance fee at another tournament that she won't get for the Olympics, and it appears that greed may have clouded Clijsters' judgment. Professional tennis players already have a bad image as greedy and self-involved athletes. While this is mostly an unfair generalization for the most part, a highly visible player like Kim Clijsters isn't doing her sport, or her country for that matter, any Jason Michael Nestr Congratulations and good luck. k Christopher Joseph Pecora Ryan Alexander Rodemoyer The Behrend Beacon There were two roughing penalties and one tripping penalty during the third period with only five shots on goal. The Behrend men's club hockey team did not just come out with a loss, it came out with a close loss. It was an extremely good game on Behrend's part because Edinboro University is, in fact, the no. I ranked team, record-wise, in College Hockey East. "It was a hard loss," said Taylor, "We definitely put up a good fight at the end." Behrend's goalie, Stull, faced a total of 27 shots with 21 saves. Behrend had 18 shots on Edinboro throughout the game Behrend's next game will not be until the beginning of next year. After the semester break, Behrend will match up against University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown at the Planet Ice on Jan. 11. "When we play UPJ, if we want to win, we just really need to play like we did at the end of the Edinboro game" said Taylor. "We've had a drastic change in practices right before our last break" said Wyble, "The practices are going better and the coach is running like a completely different practice and we are working on different drills. The practices have definitely been more productive and everyone is working together." Behrend will continue practicing, even over the break, so the players will be ready for the game against UPJ when they return. File over the 2004 Summer Olympics. favors by choosing money over loyalty to her country Most professional tennis players are willing to make themselves accessible to the public and endear themselves, but others, like Clijsters, would rather stay home and count their money. Since the Summer Olympics in Athens don't begin until next August, there is still a chance that Clijsters, Fila and the Belgian Olympic Committee could reach some sort of agreement in the next eight months. Hopefully, she will play because if not, she is risking alienating herself from her sport, her fans and her country. Page
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