Page 8 — LION’S EYE — September 18, 1996 ® SPORTS ®@ PSU Talent Kills Doubts By Margie Henry There are many former doubters who would be quick to agree with USC head coach, John Robinson, when he said, “This is a Penn State team with talent.” From their entrance into the season, Penn State has already proven to be an underestimated team out to earn respect. To the astonishment of most critics, Penn State opened up their season with a much deserved win and overcame the University of Southern California, the defending Rose Bowl champs, to win the Kickoff Classic 24- 7: Knowing that tradition has led past winners of the Classic to the championship, sixty-nine year old PSU head coach, Joe Paterno, was more than happy to get his thirty-first season off to a successful start. One of the defense’s key talents this year is that they play both the matchup zone and the zone pass defense exceptionally. Offensively, the Lions are holding their own, especially with the help of Curtis Enis who is perhaps one of the most valuable additions to the team this year. Enis, a 6-1, 230 - pound tailback from Union City, Ohio, is a converted linebacker with running talent and broke records in the opening game with the most rushing yards in the fourteen year history of the Kickoff Classic. He will definitely be a force to ~ help carry the offense. As senior tackle Brandon Noble said before the Lions even opened up their season, “We have a chance to come out and prove ourselves early in the season, when everyone is watching,” and with two wins and no losses so far, that’s just what they did. Obviously, this year’s Nittany Lions not only have a “will” behind their “way”, back them up as well. All U Day Sat. Oct.19th IOWA AT Beaver Stadium Students $13 Others $26 See Raquel Arredondo Rm 138 Commons Deadline Sept. 30 they have the talent Ag : First row: A. Kong, H. Mehl, C. Rudai, T. Forbes, A. Scherff, Coach Bill McCourt, R. Ballick, R. Navickas, A. Turner. Second row: T. Mirabile, M. Doolittle, J. Barclay, Photo by Greg Jurkowski E. Langan, C. Hudson. Delco’s Aces Are Set To Match The Very Best: “Love” Those Opponents! By Amy Winnemore “Last year was a learning process, but now we know what it takes to be a champion, and we plan to teach that to the freshmen,” says Tom “Hollywood” Forbes, a returning sophomore and spokesperson for the Penn State Tennis Team. Following a 6-2 record last year, the team, led by new head coach Bill McCourt, has high hopes of making the play-offs again this season. The team’s top singles players include Jean Barclay, Mary Doolittle, Chris Rudai, 3nd Howard Mehls. “This year we hope to have more team-oriented goals,” says sophomore Randy Navickas, one of the teams top players. The Tennis teams next match will be away at Penn State Hazelton on Saturday September 21. Members of the team include freshman Chris Rudai, Howard Mehl, Anthony Turner, Dave Hobeick, Alan Kong, Ron Ballick, Jean Barclay, Kristen Hudson, Aaron Langan, and Lisa Kinchella. Returning sophomores are Andy Scherff, Mary Doolitte, Toni Mirabile, Randy Navickas, and Tom Forbes. Fresh Faces, Fresh Records By Margie Henry “The 1996 Penn State soccer team is kicking their season off to a fresh start. So far this season, the Lions have participated in the tournament and have played one league game against Williamson Trade School. Although the Lions have experienced only losses so far, they are having fun and gaining college level experience. The team is dominated by freshmen this year, but looks strong, nevertheless, because of the many experienced freshmen players. Furthermore, the Lions plan to be an intimidating team with 63" freshman Carl Erickson and 62" freshman defender Sean Poole in goal. Defender Seth Brunner, forwards Jeff Elliot and Mark Quinlin, and midfielder Abdikarim Nur are the only returning sophomores to this year’s team. As the new head coach, Mike Clark is hoping to end this year’s season with a better record than last year and maybe even see a glimpse of the playoffs. Last year’s team ended their season with a record of 1-14-1, but remained optimistic about the next year’s team. The Lions hope to live up to last year's expectations and are anticipating victories in their games ahead. Look for the Lions on teh soccer field today as they take on PSU Hazleton at 4 pm. GOLIONS! Ryan Mattei steps up to bat against Luzerne CCC knocking in the first run of the season. Delco and Luzerne split the doubleheader 3-1, 5-6. Photo by Greg Jurkowski Delco Baseball Steps Back Up To The Plate With Hopes Of Catching The Championship This Year By Nick Fittipaldi This year’s 1996 baseball team hopes to have another stellar season after last year’s championship year. Last year the team won the Eastern Division of The Commonwealth Campus Athletic Conference with an impressive record and hope to improve on that this year. First year coach Adam Winters along with assistant coach Bill Johnson wants to see the team of 19 players be even better than last year’s team. “We have a pretty good nucleus with the sophomores coming back and the freshmen coming in”, said coach Winters. The new players will give . the team the punch that they have lost from last year’s team. Out of the 19 players on the team nine are sophomores and ten are freshmen, so there is an even amount of experience and enthusiasm. The sophomores returning and their positions are: Jason Mills pitcher, Michael Guille 2nd base, Michael Pralle 3rd base, Jim Pervical right field, Robert Mann short stop, Chris Hamalak center field and pitcher, Kevin Dorrian catcher, Tom Dwyer out field and pitcher, Dave Shaffer pitcher, and Jeff Scalli left field Since this is Coach Winter's first year he said, “I really don’t know the level of competition, but we will hold our own and do the job.” The team plays eight games, which are all double header events before the playoffs start on October 1. The team opened up the season September 7 against Luzerene CCC and September 8 against PSU Mont Alto and hopes to have a bigger turn out of fans than the past years because of the teams recent success. The team won their first game by the score of 4-1 over Luzerene CCC but lost to PSU Mont Alto 6-5. Despite the loss the team is still in good spirits and hope to keep on winning. The team has high aspirations for the rest of the season and hope to rush the diamond and bring home another championship.
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