The daily collegian. (University Park, Pa.) 1940-current, March 01, 1996, Image 8

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    8 The Daily Collegian
A brief look at the world of sports
NBA
Orlando 114, New Jersey 98
Indiana 94, Golden State 85
Cleveland 95, Milwaukee 86
Houston 109, Philadelphia 95
San Antonio 120, Toronto 95
Dallas 137, Denver 120
L.A. Clippers 122, Sacramento 110
NHL
Washington 2, Florida 2, tie
Detroit 5, NY Islanders 1
Chicago 4, Colorado 3
Calgary 7, Pittsburgh 3
St. Louis at Vancouver, late
PSU
Today
Women's gymnastics
PSU at Shanico Inn-Vitational, Cor
valis, Ore.
Men's volleyball
PSU at Hall of Fame Classic, Spring
field, Mass.
Tomorrow
Baseball
PSU at Santa Clara
Men's basketball
PSU at Minnesota
Women's basketball
PSU at Big Ten quarterfinals, Indi
anapolis
Fencing
PSU at Mid-Atlantic/ South region
als, Teaneck, N.J.
Softball
PSU at Florida Atlantic Tournament,
Tampa, Fla.
Men's tennis
PSU at Ohio State
Men's track and field
PSU at IC4A Championship, Boston
Women's track and field
PSU at ECAC Championship,
Boston
Men's volleyball
PSU at Hall of Fame Classic, Spring
field, Mass.
Sunday
Baseball
PSU at Santa Clara
Women's basketball
PSU at Big Ten semifinals, Indi
anapolis
Fencing
PSI; at Mid-Atlantic/South regionals,
Teaneck, N.J.
Softball
PSU at Florida Atlantic tournament,
Tampa, Fla.
Men's track and field
PSU at IC4A championship, Boston
Women's track and field
PSU at ECAC championship,
Boston
'l7 4 `P , lt."'W;. A
nb r e
Jets sign O'Donnell
to $25 million pact
HEMPSTEAD, N.Y. The
man who took Pittsburgh within
a drive of winning the Super
Bowl is now with the team with
the NFL's worst record.
Neil O'Donnell made it official
yesterday. He took $25 million
over five years, including a $7
million signing bonus, from the
New York Jets, returning to the
area where he grew up rather
than staying with the team he
nearly led to a championship.
He joins a team that has spent
the first fortnight of free agency
in an aggressive style.
The Jets, 3-13 last season,
enticed O'Donnell by signing
tackles Jumbo Elliott and David
Williams to shore up an awful
offensive line. They are likely to
take wide receiver Keyshawn
Johnson of Southern Cal with the
first pick in the draft to augment
a receiving corps whose leader
was Wayne Chrebet.
QuOle - viiiihe day
"They said it was a
business decision, what
ever. I don't think anybody
would imagine releasing
an All-Pro with the capa
bilities of Natrone Means."
Sean Holley
Means' agent on the Chargers'
decision to release the running
back to free up salary cap room to
sign linebacker Marco Coleman
Compiled from Collegian staff and
wire reports.
Icersi championship hopes die
By FRANK FERRIOLA
Collegian Sports Writer
This was to be the season the Icers brought
the national championship home to Happy Val
ley. It was their destiny to wreak havoc on the
rest of the American Collegiate Hockey Associ
ation and prove they were the best.
Last night the dream came to an abrupt end.
The No. 2 Icers were upset by No. 6 lowa
State by the score of 6-3 and because of the loss,
Penn State can get no farther than the consola
tion game on Saturday.
"I don't want it to end like this for the
seniors," said Icer coach Joe Battista. "Things
didn't bounce our way. It was a very sloppy
game on our part."
The game didn't start out sloppy for the
Icers, as they outshot the Cyclones 19-9 in a
scoreless first period. Then lowa State came
out of the locker room with a head of steam.
The Cyclones netted their first goal just one
Big Mack
keeps up
big attack
By CHRISTINE L MILLER
Collegian Sports Writer
Appearance gets a high ranking
on Katina Mack's list of priorities.
Whether she is penetrating
defenses for the Lady Lion basket
ball team or attending graduate
classes on campus, the fifth-year
swingwoman cares about putting
her best face forward. And hairdo.
During her tenure on the colle
giate courts, Mack has been notori
ous for having twenty something
different styles atop her head. And
she knows fans will remember her
for that, especially because the
announcer at the Michigan State
home game reminded them. But
Mack also wants to be known for
other sides of her personality,
specifically that she is the "Kat
woman," a title of hers that graced
promotional posters two years ago.
"I'll be remembered as the
aggressive player, very intense,"
she said. "I was just the person
who likes to smile and be happy."
Mack will have a chance to rein
force these perceptions of herself
this weekend as she and her team
mates enter Butler University's
Hinkle Fieldhouse in Indianapolis
for the women's basketball Big Ten
tournament. Penn State, armed
with the conference's second seed,
can relax tonight.
"Since we have a bye the first
day," she said "Now we can sit
back and watch everyone else
lose." They will play at 6 p.m. today
against seven-seed Northwestern
or ten-seed Michigan. The semifi
nals will be 4 p.m. Sunday and the
title game is 7 p.m. Monday.
Mack has not always been able to
look well and play well at the same
time. She has had a list of injuries
almost a mile long over her Penn
State career. The kidney stones,
the stress fractures and certainly
the concussions. Doctors' orders
have forced her to sit the bench a
bit each year. Perhaps that's where
she developed a knack for coach-
Fencers,
Carin Wolf, left, fences Sibyl Goldstein, right, during the Penn State Invitational earlier this season. Wolf, a
senior at Penn State, plans on making one more trip to the NCAA finals.
S Ports
minute and fifteen seconds into the second peri
od. Two minutes later, they scored again build
ing a 2-0 lead over the Icers.
Icer forward Brent Brower cut the lead to
one when he put home a shorthanded goal at the
7:00 mark of the period. lowa State made sure
they got the lead back to two goals before the
end of the period by scoring with just :57 sec
onds remaining.
In the third period, the game escaped Penn
State. Icer defenseman P.J. Amodeo scored to
cut the deficit back to one goal, but then the
Cyclones answered with three straight goals
one into an empty net. Amodeo added his sec
ond goal with just 1:03 left in the game, but it
was already too late for a comeback.
Battista said there were two major problems
with the way the Icers played the game.
First, he said the defense was not as strong as
it was during the game on Wednesday, and sec
ond, the Icers took too many penalties. lowa
State received ten power play opportunities
Fifth-year senior Katina Mack drives past Michigan State's Jamie
Wesley last week. Mack's playing time may be coming to an end soon,
but her impact will remain.
ing. Since graduating in January ment," Morse said. As her last year
with a bachelor's in recreation and at Penn State winds down, she has
park management, she's been tak- more games to strut her stuff on
ing a few exercise and sports sci- the court and observe plays while
ence classes, including a coaching taking a breather on the bench.
course taught by Mike Morse. After winning the regular season
"Even people like Katina, they've game at Ohio State, she thinks the
never sat back and had to schedule team has enough momentum to
the practices and order equip- create havoc in Indianapolis.
Wolf hungry to defend regional title
while the Icers only received five chances
"They didn't score any power play goals, but
the problem was that they kept us from using
our depth to our advantage," Battista said. "It
wasn't a lack of effort, it was mental mistakes.
You can't take ten penalties in a game this cru
cial and win."
The players of the game were lowa State's
goaltender Kyle Geiger, who stopped 29 of 32
shots, and forward Sean Weaver who scored
two goals for the Cyclones.
Notes:
■ No. 3 Arizona defeated No. 7 Arizona State
by a score of 4-3, and No. 4 Eastern Michigan
beat No. 8 Delaware, 6-3.
■ The winner today between No. 1 Ohio Uni
versity and Eastern Michigan will face off
against lowa State in the championship tomor
row night.
■ The Icers will play Arizona at 4 p.m. today
and a win will clinch them a spot in the consola
tion game tomorrow afternoon.
Grapplers ready
for Big Ten run
By TIM HYLAND
Collegian Sports Writer
When the Penn State wrestling
team walks into Michigan State's
Breslin Center on March 9 for the
Big Ten wrestling championships,
it knows that rankings, season
records and reputation mean noth
ing. All that matters when the
teams of the Big Ten battle for
supremacy is how they perform
that day.
"Right now is the time to focus
and let everyone else worry about
you," Lions coach John Fritz said.
"This is crunch time the exciting
time of the year."
Fritz has reason to be excited, as
his Lions will have their strongest
possible lineup in East Lansing,
Mich., featuring three No. 1-ranked
wrestlers in 126-pounder Sanshiro
Abe, 142-pounder John Hughes and
150-pounder Russ Hughes. Also
providing scoring punch for the
Lions will be 134-pounder Biff Wal
izer, 158-pounder John Lange and
167-pounder Matt Hardy.
Purdue coach Jesse Reyes,
whose Boilermakers enter Big
Tens as the lowest ranked Big Ten
school at No. 24, believes that the
Lions could make a big impact now
that they are again wrestling at full
strength.
"They are a much better team
than No. 12," Reyes said, adding
that with individuals like Abe and
the Hughes brothers, Penn State
would be right near the top of the
standings when the tournament
concludes.
But even with their lineup
packed with ranked wrestlers, the
Lions will have their work cut out
for them. All 11 of the Big Ten
member schools are ranked in the
top 25, and eight are in the top 13.
Of the 10 weight classes, seven of
the top ranked wrestlers are from
the Big Ten.
The lowa Hawkeyes, who will be
looking to pick up their 23rd
straight Big Ten title, equal the
Lions with three top-ranked
wrestlers, and the Minnesota Gold-
By DON WAGNER
Collegian Sports Writer
About three years ago Penn State
senior fencer Carin Wolf had
reached a dead end in her fencing
career. At that time she was a
member of the Ohio State Universi
ty fencing team and she had
reached a "plateau", in her words.
She wasn't going backward but
more importantly she wasn't going
forward, she was miserable.
But just as Wolf was ready to
quit and throw away 12 years of
hard work and dedication her fami
ly told her to consider transferring.
So after much consideration Wolf
settled on Penn State for both its
high academic standards as well as
it reputation for a strong fencing
program.
"Penn State had everything I
wanted," she said. "It had great
academics as well as a strong fenc
ing program and great coaches."
Now as a member of the Penn
State fencing team Wolf will try to
help her teammates take the first
step in defending their NCAA title
at the Mid-Atlantic/South Regionals
in New Jersey on Saturday. For the
Lions and Wolf the goal will be to
qualify the maximum number of
10 fencers. Trying to qualify along
with Wolf will be her foil team
mates Colleen Bruen, Sibyl Gold
stein, Claire Jackson and Olga Kali
novskaya who will be making the
trip. Also going to New Jersey will
Friday, March 1, 1996
R J. Amodeo
Icer defenseman
en Gophers have one in heavy
weight Billy Pierce.
Abe will be hoping to pick up his
third Big Ten championship at 126,
but if he wishes to do so, he'll have
to knock off lowa's No. 2 Jeff
McGinness, who beat Abe in last
year's tournament to take the title.
Whereas Abe is top-ranked in Ama
teur Wrestling News poll, McGin
ness owns the top spot in the Big
Ten coaches poll. Also providing
competition for Abe will be Wis
consin's Eric Jetton and North
western's Scott Schatzman.
"I think you have to say that Abe
and McGinness are the two that
stand out the most," Fritz said.
John Hughes looks to defend his
1995 Big Ten 142-pound title, and
like Abe, Hughes' competition will
be from a Hawkeye, No. 2 Bill
Zadick. Hughes knocked off Zadick
in last year's final, 6-4 in overtime.
Indiana's No. 3 Roger Chandler
could also make an impact.
Russ Hughes will be looking to
pick up his first Big Ten title, and
only Indiana's No. 5 Andy Trevino
looks to be a contender to stop him
from doing so.
"If I don't win it's because of my
own stupidity and because I didn't
do something right," Hughes said.
But Fritz believes that for his
team to have a good tournament
showing, it will take more than out
standing performances from his
top-ranked guys.
"We just can't have a few guys
wrestling well," Fritz said. "We're
going to need a couple of surprises.
Some guys are going to have to
wrestle above and beyond what
they have in the past, and what bet
ter time is there to do that?"
Two possible surprises for the
Lions could be Lange and Walizer.
Walizer finished a strong freshman
campaign with a record of 26-12,
including a team-leading eight
pins.
The favorite in his weight class
is yet another Hawkeye, Mark
Ironside, but Purdue's Frank Lac
cone and Northwestern's Tony Par
iano also will be tough.
be the women's epee team of Kim
Allen, Wendy Hall, Gena Hender
son, Mary Frances Kmetz and Polo
Wagner.
On the men's side traveling for
the Lions will be the men's foil
team of Tobias Darnstadt, Nik
Lezhava, Dave Lidow, and Wes
Waldron. In sabre Scott Howard,
Jason Levin, Serge Lilov and Brian
Walther will all compete. And in
men's epee Jeff Feinblatt, Dean
Jacobberger, Tom Peng and Jon
Walheim will round out the Penn
State regional contingent.
This year the regional competi
tion will have a different look
because there will be only an indi
vidual competition and only 120
fencers will qualify for NCAAs as
opposed to the 130 that qualified
last year. This is something that
Lion head coach Emmanuil
Kaidanov said doesn't really play
to the Lions strength as a team.
Other teams that Kaidanov said
may challenge the Lions include
Rutgers, Penn, Princeton, Duke,
The University of North Carolina-
Chapel Hill, Haverford, Temple
and Farleigh Dickinson (women
only).
As for Wolf her main goal is one
last trip to NCAAs and if she main
tains her focus it is a goal she
believes she can achieve, she said.
"Fencing is such a big part of my
life it is almost like a business to
me," she said. "I need to go in there
and take care of business."