Playoffs can end hooters' frustrations Penn •State's soccer teams have written a long-lasting success stork that 'few teams on the collegiate level can equal. For the past seven seasons, the Lion booters have participated in the NCAA post-season playoff tournament a feat achieved only by St. Louis, a perennial contender for the national title. .. Yet, it seems safe to say that the Lions 'have experienced a measure of frustration, at least in the last three 'years. In each of the past three seasons, Penn State has been knocked out of the playoffs in the first round. In 1974, the Lions outshot Bucknell by an incredible margin of 56-6 but lost 1-0. In 1975, Philadelphia Textile edged State, 4-3. And again last season, Textile beat the Lions. •,*: That frustration could very well end ',this year. 7 . , This year's team, once again coached by Walt Bahr, just might be the finest Penn State has fielded since the un .iiefeated teams of the World War II era. It certainly has some impressive ,records to its credit most wins in a ,season, most goals scored, fewest goals given up and most shutouts. , Bahr has done a masterful job of ',coaching his squad a quick, explosive, ,well-balanced, tight-marking team if :ever there was one. "I think this is the most balanced team I've had at Penn State," Bahr said, his ,eyes scanning the poster-covered wall of his office in Rec Hall. "It's lived up to all -my expectations. It's a good team. If we win a couple more games, it will be a great team." Rick Pinsattuiso lol 4 Weber A speedy, high-scoring front line, a hard-working midfield, and a tight marking, experienced defense have all contributed to the. Lions' 12-2 regular season mark. Last year, Penn State had good speed in its front line with Rich Reice and Jim Stamatis. The addition of freshman Ray Patrick, a walk-on from Trinidad, .has given the Lions great speed. Stamatis has been providing the bulk of the scoring punch. The sophomore tallied 18 goals and added five assists to lead the team in scoring during the regular season. _ Not enough can be said about Reice, a second-team All-American last season and a sure bet for at least the same honor again this year. The senior winger ended his regular-season career as the third highest scorer in Penn State history and is no doubt one of the best to ever don the blue and white soccer uniform: ' "Itichie has played outstanding at Venn State," Bahr said. "He has qualities that you just can't teach quick acceleration and change of direction." At midfield, Herb Menhardt, Kevin Costello, Ken McDonald and Bob ;Ehrlich have given Bahr a large dose of confidence. "They're good, solid midfielders," I3ahr said. "They're hard-working players who give an honest 90 minutes of play, plus they are all offensive threats. And those kids aren't afraid to make contact." A tight-marking, fundamentally-sound defense composed of Bill Klauberg, Matt Bahr, Dave Lloyd and Sal Bommarito has frustrated nearly every opponent this season. But the real steadying influence has been provided by Lloyd, who sat out last season with a broken leg. "He's not a spectacular player," Bahr said. "Half of the people who come and watch the games wouldn't know Dave is ►n there. But he's done an excellent job. He deserves a lot of credit for the suc cess of the team." And who could forget about goalies Dan Gallagher and Jeff Helmer, whO have combined for a school record nine 'shutouts? There's something special about Bahr's players beyond their obvious talents they're very close. - "They like one another and pal around 'in the off-season," Bahr said. "I don't sense any problems with any player on the team. It's a well-adjusted team. "'They have confidence and aren't second-guessing me or each other. They 'feel they can go out and compete with anybody." The Lions will get the chance to prove it in the next week as the playoffs get 'underway. Bids for the four playoff berths in the eastern region come out later today and Penn State is virtually Ilssured of holding on to, its No. 1 'position. Speculation is that the Lions will host Penn at Jeffrey Field early next week. "Our kids are really anxious to get into the playoffs," Bahr said. "I won't have to do much to have them prepared mentally " Don't sell the Lion booters short. Talent, confidence, solid coaching and a home field advantage can take a team pretty far. - Maybe as far as the NCAA finals in California. Who knows? Collegian. s-,J,*.:,:•:.*':,...•:'.--',.s the daily Everything looks to be up in the air as Pitt tries to block Syracuse's Dave Jacob's field goal. Pitt's chances in the d; h g e Collegian scoreboard National Hockey League WALES CONFERENCE Norris Division %V L T Pts 7 4 3 17 7 4 2 16 5 4 2 12 3 8 1 7 2 8 1 5 Adams Division 8 2 1 17 6 2 2 14 5 6 1 11 4 5 3 11 Montreal Los Angeles Detroit Pittsburgh Washington Buffalo Toronto Cleveland CAMPBELL CONFERENCE Patrick Division 8 2 1 • 17 6 4 3 15 4 3 5 13 5 7 1 11 Smythe Division 2 5 15 3 3 11 8 0 10 6 2 8 10 2 4 Philadelphia NY islanders Atlanta NY Rangers Chicago Colorado Minnesota Vancouver St. Louis Monday's 'Results Minnesota 5. Montreal 3 Late game not included Yesterday's Games Los Angeles 5, Washington I Vancouver at Colorado Today's Gaines Buffalo at NY Rangers Cleveland at Pittsburgh Toronto at Atlanta Washington at Detroit Minnesota at Chicago Vancouver at St. Louis Intramural scores VOLLEYBALL Northampton 15-3, 15-12; Bradford def DORMITORY Poplar def. Bethlehem 15-4, 15-7 Aliquippa 15-6, 15-7; Behrend def. INDEPENDENT Altoona 4-15, 15-7, 15-11; Freedom def. A.P. Aces 15-9, 15-9 Panther disks fool volleyballers; Lady Lions lose in straight sets By RICII TABIN ... Daily Collegian Sports Writer Although the Penn State women's volleyball team has already received a bid to the Eastern regionals, regular season matches still remain on the schedule. Coach Tom Tait had hoped last night's contest against Pitt at Rec Hall could be a warmup for the playoffs. Instead, the Lady Lions were burned in straight sets, 10-15, 6-15, 10-15, and lost the best-of-five match to the highly-rated Pantherettes. On Pitt's victory, Tait said there was "no doubt about it." "We started the match well, but then we let them run their offense and gave them points," he said. "We have to run our own ballgame if we're going to win." Zisk first agent ARLINGTON, Texas ( AP) The Texas Rangers, who openly had courted baseball free agent Larry Hisle, an nounced yesterday they had wooed Richie Zisk of the Chicago White Sox into signing a long-term contract at a reported $250,000 per year. Rangers owner Brad Corbett, whose team had been investigated by Com missioner Bowie Kuhn for alleged tampering with Hisle while the Min nesota player still was negotiating with the Twins, said Zisk was the man he always wanted. "I'm pleased to be playing for Texas," Zisk said through his agent, Jerry Kapstein. "They are an outstanding team with great fans. I'm going to do my best to put a world championship pen nant over the ball park in Arlington." 'y . '4 1. 0 , • to NATIONAL BASKETBALL ASSOCIATION EASTERN CONFERENCE Atlantic Division W L 6 3 4 4 4 5 • 1 7 1 7 Central Division New York, Philadelphia Buffalo New Jersey Boston 7 1 .875 7 3 . .700 6 3 .667 5 4 .556 5 6 .455 3 4 .429 WESTERN CONFERENCE • Midwest Division 7 4 5 4 6 5 • 4 '4 5 6 3 5 Pacific Division 7 1 6 5 4 5 4 6 2 10 Atlanta Cleveland New Orleans Houston San Antonio Washington Chieigo Milwaukee Denver Detroit Kansas City Indiana Portland Golden State Phoenix Los Angeles Seattle ' Yesterday's Games New York 123, San Antonio 117 Chicago 117, Houston 104 Denver 111, Milwaukee 101 Kansas City at Portland, n Today's Gam es San Antonio at Boston New York at Buffalo New Jersey at Philadelphia Houston at Detroit New Orleans at Denver • Indiana at Golden St. As in their first meeting earlier this year, Pitt's size advantage once again ended up dominating the front line pldy. But the match didn't start out that way. In the first game, Penn State jumped to an early 2-0 lead by containing the Pantherettes' top spiker, Ingrid Mueller, with alert blocks and digs. But Pitt's size advantage soon became obvious as the Lady Lions began an ticipating spikes and left themselves open to soft hits and dinks, which eventually cost them the opening game. The second set was almost a repeat off the first, except that Penn State failed to shut down Mueller as effectively this time around. Pitt never relinquished its lead in winning the game, 15-6. "I think that we dug too much but, we The Rangers had drafted Lyman Bostock, Zisk, Hisle and .pitcher Doc Medich in the re-entry draft last week after Corbett said that Kuhn's office had indicated to him that there would be reprisals if the Rangers picked Hisle. Corbett drafted Hisle in the fifth round, then announced he was offering him a 10-year contract at an estimated $3 million. Then yesterday, he said he had signed Zisk, "our No. 1 man all along. We just didn't want to broadcast it." Corbett said that in Zisk the Rangers were getting the long-ball hitting player that might make the difference between their second-place finish in the American League West last season and the pennant. "With the addition of a slugger of his bowl bid race are also up in the air, but things should fall into place come Nov. 19. Pct. .667 .500 .444 .125 .125 875 545 444 400 167 Hot Dogs def in bag if •-• • • • I am sure he ( Zisk) got a take-it or-leave-it offer that was probably exhorbitant," Seghi said. Fa .abK p it" " '"- U'Lzy ^i ' 4`' e s , k ; A , ; f oirV,t 'C;); O'Brien moves to cut violence NEW YORK ( AP) In an effort to reduce violence in the National Basketball Association, Commissioner Larry O'Brien announced yesterday the formation of a study group involving players, coaches, management and the league office "The group will study the rules and the conduct of our game," O'Brien said in a statement. "It will review the potential that exists for illegal physical conduct and fighting and consider, what can be done to reduce such incidents. "Violence in professional basketball is a rare occurrence in comparison to some other sports, but in my view, any violence is too much violence." Foster National League MVP NEW YORK (AP) Cincinnati's George Foster, who hit more home runs than any National League player in 12 years, was named the NL's Most Valuable Player for 1977 yesterday, edging Philadelphia slugger Greg Luzinski. Foster, the good-field, all-hit slugger of the Reds, received 15 of a possible 24 first-place votes and 291 points in balloting by members of the Baseball Writers Association of America. Luzinski, whose powerful bat carried the Phillies to the NL East title, was awarded the other nine first-place votes and wound up with 255 points. Outfielder Dave Parker of Pittsburgh finished third with 56 points, followed by were working for a good hit," said a disappointed Cindy Pruner, one of Penn State's key players. "They have a good spiking team and that's what we were looking for. That's why we didn't play very good defense, we couldn't read them on their dinks." In the third set after falling behind 3-9, the Lady Lions battled back to a 10-10 tie but again made mental errors and lost, winding up a frustrating night. "We started out well, but we didn't play well individually, so we didn't play well as a team," Pruner said. "We're not giving up on the season," said a determined Tait. "If they're going to beat us at regionals, they're going to have to earn their points." stature, Texas becomes a strong possibility to win the Western Division championship, the American League pennant and the World Series. With the exception of Steve Garvey, of the Los Angeles Dodgers, he is the most con sistent right-handed hitter in baseball," said Corbett. Zisk, 28, batted .290, with six triples, 17 doubles, 30 home runs and 100 runs batted in for Chicago last season. He previously played for Pittsburgh. Phil Seghi, general manager of the Cleveland Indians who had drafted Zisk as their No. 1 choice, said he was disappointed his team did not get a chancd to negotiate Bowl `-t=~~'t 1 ;.' continues; favored over Pitt By Christopher C. Hopl, Editor of the Pitt News For The Daily Collegian PITTSBURGH The bowls won't even be allowed to hint of an official invitation to college football teams for another ten days, but then a supposed rule against meaningful • public statements is neither applicable nor of concern to the demands of writers, so a two-week speculation Season promises to provide a great deal of amusement to many football followers. But the current bowl outlook, which has Pitt looking to be out of a major bowl bid, won't be a cause of amusement to those associated with the Pitt football program. Already, the Orange, Cotton, and Sugar pairings have been decided in newspapers from Pittsburgh to New Orleans and San Francisco. And Pitt does not receive one of the three major bowl berths available to the in- dependents in any of the rumors. That's untortunate for Jackie Sherrill, possessor of a fine football team with one blemish too many on its record the team Sherrill hopes he can convince bowl selection committees to wait for. A week's wait would be fine with Sherrill, but not with , the selection committees. "It's a panic," a bowl spokesman said. "It's going to come down to a six-hour period that will begin at 3 p.m. next Saturday. And those six hours will he pure panic. No one's going to wait. They can't afford to. " That panic will force the bowls to gamble Nov. 19 on games that will continue until Dec. 3. According to the most widely circulated and reliable rumors, here's what Pitt fans can look forward to ( or fear) Nov. 19. The Cotton Bowl, searching for a national championship game and aware that no one has the draw of the Irish, will bet that Notre Dame can defeat Miami of Florida Dec. 3. The Sugar Bowl, which would like to see how a Big Ten team can do in New Orleans and Alabama coach Bear Bryant, who is scared of the un- outfielder Reggie Smith of the NL champions, the Los Angeles Dodgers, 112 points, Philadelphia pitcher Steve Carlton, 100, and first baseman Steve Garvey of Los Angeles, 98. Foster, nicknamed "The Launcher" by his manager, Sparky Anderson, was the most dangerous hitter in the league. He slugged 52 homers, drove in 149 runs and scored 124 runs all league highs for 1977. He also batted .320, fourth in the NL. "I'd be lying if I said I wasn't sur prised," said Foster, adding he's been worried about publicity surrounding Luzinski, the man he considered his chief competitor for the award. Foster said he decided he'd go for ' " • 414,111",.' Wednesday, November 9, 1977-9 Analysis Penn State's Nancy McLaughlin (12) rises up to block a spike attempt by a Pitt player in last night's volleyball match at Rec Hall. bid banter predictable, explosive Eastern teams, will select a big, slow Big Ten runnerup. The Orange Bowl, which has professed a preference for Notre Dame, will in stead take Penn State over Pitt because of the Lion's better record and slightly more difficult schedule. And, in a striking example of two things can change in twelve months, Pitt, which last year had every bowl more than twelve inches in diameter begging, will take a Gator Bowl Invitation and then wrestle with second, guessers who will note that Pitt got $250,000 for moving the Penn State ganic but lost a chance at the Orange's $1 million in the process. All this speculation is based on the assumption that Penn State, Notre Dame, and the Big Ten runnerup will not lose this week. Notre Dame, playing Clemson, will have the toughest assignment. One way Pitt could have a chance for a major bowl appearance would come through a Nov. 19 package deal among Pitt, Penn State and a couple of bowls. According to this theory, it would be agreed that the winner of the Nov. 26 game at Pitt Stadium would accept an Orange Bowl bid and the loser would go to a lesser bowl almost surely the Gator. "I think Pittsburgh would go for that in a minute," Laferty said, perhaps tipping his influential hand toward Penn State. "But the schools would have to agree to that." "If Penn State were crazy enough to go for that they wouldn't be where they are today," an official from another bowl said, who understandably asked not to be identified. "And even then, it wouldn't be able to be discussed until the deadline and no major bowl is going to balance its year on such a shaky proposal. There wouldn't be enough time to work it out." Each of the big bowls is not willing to chance offending any school still having the same basic list of one "wanted" teams-. _ .• "We keep them aware of our in terests," one bowl spokesman said, "because we have past, present, and future relations to consider." more runs this year after the Reds lost the batting talent of Tony Perez. "With Tony gone, it was up to Jonny Bench and Ito hit for power." The 28-year-old outfielder became only the fifth National Leaguer to hit more than 50 homers. Luzinski, the bull-strong outfielder of the Phillies, also had a super season. He slammed 39 homers, drove in 130 runs and batted .309. Sluggers filled eight of the first 10 positions, with only Carlton and Chicago relief ace Bruce Sutter (No. 7) spoiling the hitters' domination. Ron Cey of Los Angeles, Ted Simmons of St. Louis and Mike Schmidt of Philadelphia rounded out the top 10 finishers. EMA -~+~ .... Lions .... . , . . „.„.. 4,...,. , $ l . = Photo by Dan Polack
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