Novotny, Makipaa anchor booters' defense By GEOFF DODD Collegian Staff Writer The first thing one notices when talking to Penn State men's soccer defenders Blake Novotny and Jorma Makipaa is the overwhelm ing pride each shares for his posi tion. The next thing one notices, how- the offense, steady play in the ever, is their insatiable desire to backfield is crucial to success up score goals like teammates Jon front. McClay and Ricardo Villar Penn State defender Jorman Makipaa eyes the ball earlier this season Gorman travels 'home' to defeat James Madison By GEOFF DODD Collegian Staff Writer For many of the younger Nit tany Lions on the Penn State men's soccer team, Saturday's game against James Madison at Eastern Lebanon County (ELCO) High School in Myer stown was played in foreign ter ritory. But for Lion coach Barry Gorman, it was sort of a home coming. Several years before he became Penn State's head coach, Gorman was busy lead ing a group of young players at ELCO to several of the finest seasons in school history. From 1978-1984, he coached the boy's soccer team, winning the state championship in 1979 with for mer Lion Larry Miller and com ing close in 1981 with former Lion Dave Zartman. "I think '79 was a great team," Gorman said. "But 'Bl, in my personal, humble opinion, was better. There were some great, great kids on that team." The 1979 team finished with a record of 24-1, while the 'Bl squad played to a 23-2 mark. Overall, Gorman led the Raiders to a 130-33-3 record in his seven years. Current Indi ana coaching legend Jerry Yea gley also hails from the area, so Myerstown certainly is no stranger to the turning out great soccer minds. Kirk Keppley, a Myerstown local and current ELCO assis tant coach, played for Gorman as a defender at ELCO in 1983- 84 and went on to play for Eliza bethtown at the collegiate level. Today, the Raiders still have a tradition of men's soccer excellence and Keppley is quick to credit Gorman for taking You mean it's not Friday yet! Despite the lack of notoriety the two receive, they are perfectly sat isfied with their roles on the team as protectors rather than attackers. They understand that mistakes on the defensive side often cost the team dearly in terms of opposing goals. And since opposing goals can lower the confidence and vigor of "In our defense, you have to be Collegian Photo/Andrea Kohler ....„ , Oh. . arallik Courtesy of Penn State Barry Gorman Penn State coach massive strides in improving it. "He had a lot of knowledge," Keppley said. "Everyone I knew who was playing for him, regardless of whether they liked him, liked to play for him. He pushed us to bring out our maximum potential all of the time. It was always a good pro gram here, but he did a lot for it." Gorman left to pursue a coaching job at Davis & Elkins College in West Virginia. He remained there for just one sea son before taking over as assis tant coach at Penn State in 1986. He was named head coach in 1988. Despite his roots, which stretch back to Belfast, North ern Ireland, Gorman feels ELCO and Myerstown are as much his home as anywhere else. "You can take the man out of the country," Gorman said, "but you can't take the country out of the man." * t FOB 124 years -Z -* * of * * * Sisterhood * * * * headstrong," Novotny, a junior, said. "One can't lose his head, because on our team, if you are on defense and you screw up once per game out of 10 chances, you are the goat." Novotny is a red-headed, outspo ken Michigan native who values his success in the classroom as much as, and possibly even more than, his success on the soccer field. After graduating from Troy High School in 1995, he came to Penn State to play soccer and pursue a degree in art, which as he says is very unusual for an athlete. "Basically, everyone who plays here, when they were younger, used to play center-mid," Novotny said. "But then we all move out to our different positions when we get to college." Sometimes, however, it seems as if Novotny's childhood history of scoring goals never left him, as he has developed a habit of scoring at least one goal each season under coach Barry Gorman. In the past two seasons he has scored four goals, including a game-winner against Wisconsin last year in the first round of the Big Ten Tourna ment. Makipaa, a freshman with expe rience beyond his years, comes from a slightly different back ground. The 22-year-old hails from Lahti, Finland. His involvement in Finnish club teams honed his skills as a defender, making him one of Hoosiers, Lions lead Big Ten into tournament By GEOFF DODD Collegian Staff Writer Variation among the elite often is difficult to achieve in a conference with only six teams, and this past Big Ten men's soccer season reaf firmed that concept. With the regular season coming to a conclusion last week, it is safe to say there were no real surprises in the league. As expected, Indiana reigned in the top spot once again, while Penn State and Ohio State remained a step behind the mighty Hoosiers. The rest of the confer ence, consisting of Michigan State, Northwestern and Wisconsin, struggled to keep pace with the other three, each finishing tied for last place. Here is a recap of each team's season. Indiana (16-2, 5-0 Big Ten) Once again, the Hoosiers and liv ing-legend coach Jerry Yeagley proved they are the ones to beat in the Big Ten as well as the rest of the nation. After stints at the top of both the Soccer America and National Soccer Coaches Associa tion of America polls earlier in the season, Indiana has maintained its status as one of the elite, with its only blemishes coming Sept. 12 against No. 8 Southern Methodist and Nov. 1 against No. 3 UCLA. Big Ten teams provided little chal lenge, as the Hoosiers finished with an unblemished conference record for their fifth Big Ten regu lar season championship since 1991. Since joining the league that same year, the Hoosiers have gone a remarkable 34-4-2. Led by juniors Aleksey Korol, Dema Kovalenko and Yuri Lavrinenko, the Hoosiers already have their sights set on the NCAA Tournament and a possible final four appearance. Penn State (12-4-2, 4-1) In an impressive performance by Indiana in Bloomington, Ind. a young squad led by lone senior "We set out to win a game, and Jon McClay and sophomore Ricar- we did," assistant coach Mike Kirk do Villar, the Nittany Lions fin- land said. "It's more than we've ished second in the conference, done before, and that's a step in the their only Big Ten loss coming in right direction. We don't have overtime against Indiana Oct. 2at scholarships for soccer, so that's a Fleetwood High School in Reading. big step for us." BOOTS SUB SHOP Free Delivery! 234-4148 Any 14" Sub Small Chips 32 oz. Fountain Coke, Nestea, Cherry Coke, Sprite, Et Diet Coke the most composed players on Gor man's squad. Unlike Novotny, who is capable of bringing offensive prowess to the backfield, Makipaa's game is rooted solely in defense, as he never played "center-mid." "When I was younger, I played goalie," Makipaa said. "But I guess I wasn't too good at that, so they took me out of the goal. I was a bit bigger back then, so they kept me back." Novotny added that "big kids," or "only the kids who could learn head balls," usually are kept in the back field, so Makipaa's experience was n't too uncommon among young soccer players. Because of his experience at top levels of competition, an older, wiser Makipaa has given Gorman unparalleled leadership. "(Blake and Jorma) have been very valuable," Gorman said. "Jorma has come in with a lot of maturity and steel to our defense, and a lot of experience." While Makipaa and Novotny have been mainstays on defense, they also have shared time with junior Rick Brubaker and fresh man Chris Stout. Recently against James Madison, however, Stout was moved up front in more of an attacking position because of his quickness and ability to adapt to either a defensive or forward posi tion. Gorman is quick to point out that Stout is ready for that rcle, Although outplayed in many areas, the Lions showed promise and com posure against the older, more experienced Hoosiers and will look to possibly avenge that loss in the upcoming Big Ten Tournament. Early season losses to William & Mary and American, however, cou pled with last week's loss to Hartwick, have jeopardized the Lions' chances of receiving an NCAA berth without a Big Ten Tournament title. "We're delighted with what our kids have done this year," Gorman said. "We believe they are far ahead of what we expected. At the same token, we're not satisfied with that. We think they can get better. We want them to be hungry, and we want them to play for more." Ohio State (7-8-3, 3-2) For the Buckeyes, a solid Big Ten performance was tainted by troubling losses outside the confer ence early in the season, all but eliminating them from any possi bility of NCAA Tournament play. Early Big Ten victories over weak er Northwestern, Michigan State and Wisconsin squads established them as competitors, but losses to Indiana and Penn State doomed the Buckeyes to mediocrity. Only an unlikely Big Ten title would allow them to continue their average sea son. Northwestern (8-10-1, 1-4) Although they shared the base ment with Michigan State and Wis consin, the Wildcats showed much promise this season. Despite not having any scholarship athletes, they managed to post a respectable record both in and out of the con ference. The highlight of their sea son was a 2-1 victory over Wiscon sin Oct. 25, but they almost topped that a week earlier, nearly tying Penn State defender Blake Novotny guards an Ohio State player earlier this season. despite being just a freshman. For now, both Novotny and "At the moment, we are using Makipaa are content with staying Chris there because we've had a out of the limelight. If Gorman couple of injuries and some of our decides to use Stout in a defensive other freshmen are not ready for role, however, Novotny and that role," Gorman said. "He'll Makipaa might just get a chance to probably be molded for defense." quench that offensive desire. Michigan State (7-11, 1-4) you look at our record," Baum said. A season of optimism soon "But we played Penn State well, turned tragic for the Spartans, as and we challenged Indiana up until an early season five-game winning the end.- streak was nullified by a five-game Wisconsin (3-14-1, 1-4) losing streak, bringing to an end It is much easier to point out the any hopes coach Joe Baum had for few positives in Wisconsin's dismal making Michigan State's presence campaign than its many negatives. felt. After posting a 3-1 victory Its lone victories came against over Northwestern Sept. 5. which Evansville, Drake and Michigan began the winning streak, the Spar- State, with a scoreless tie against tans suffered a whirlwind of losses. Marquette Oct. 22. The Badgers' They went 2-10 following the season was punctuated by a month streak, 0-4 in the Big Ten. long, nine-game losing streak from "It was a little disappointing if Sept. 20 to Oct. 18. Penn State sophomore Ricardo Villar guards the ball earlier this season. Villar and the Lions will play in the Big Ten Tournament this weekend EARTHLY TREASURES 349 Mill St. Ext., Howard, PA A STORE OFFERING QUALITY MINERAL & FOSSIL SPECIMENS, GIFTS, COLLECTIBLES, JEWELRY, DECORATIVE MINERALS Usual Hours BLACK HILLS GOLD JEWELRY, CHRISTMAS Wed., Thurs., Fri. 1 to spm / DECORATIONS, DREAMSICI FS, HANDMADE CRAFTS, ROCK TUMBLERS & SUPPLIES, ROUGH Saturday 12 to spm ROCK, ROCK HAMMERS, GEMSTONE CARVINGS & MORE ROCKS & MINERALS FOR INFORMATION OR DIRECTIONS CALL: ARE OUR 625-2013 or PASSION TOLL FREE = 888-252-8489 ~~~~~. ON :=1 Collegian File Photo ammimmowimii . . I MARTEN I \OTS ED DISCONTINUED PAIRS I RES 11/22/98 I
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers