12 I FRIDAY, SEPT. 10, 2010
Women's soccer eyes weekend turnaround
Sarah Finnegan !Collegian
Maddy Evans (18) dribbles the
ball down the field against Virginia.
Forwards offer
different looks
By Andrew Robinson
COLLEGIAN STAFF WRITER
Corey Hertzog is proven, dynamic, unpre
dictable and a flat-out goal scorer.
But he's not the only forward the Penn
State men's soccer team has turned to this
season. The junior has meshed his talents
with the other forwards so far this season,
and is quickly building chemistry with the
whole unit.
"He's been doing well, he's definitely the
leader up there," senior midfielder and co
captain Drew Cost said. "When he's in, it's
something for other guys to work hard and
match his work rate and his intensity and his
runs. He's been awesome with them trying to
push the other guys to be as good as he is."
Last year, Hertzog played most of his min
utes alongside Jason Yeisley, now in the MLS
and senior Treavor Gelsinger. This year,
Hertzog combined with freshman Jordan
Tyler and sophomores Daniel Burnham and
Rafael Faria while Gelsinger is serving a sus
pension for off-field conduct this summer.
Each forward has a unique skill set that
helps Hertzog in different ways. Gelsinger
and Tyler are big, physical players who can
keep possession, while Faria has a wide
array of technical skills and Burnham is a
high-energy player in Hertzog's mold.
"You adapt when they come in and they
know their roles," Hertzog said. "Usually I
just hang up high and they play their roles
underneath."
The results are there as well. Hertzog
leads the team with three goals in two
games, while Faria has one goal and Tyler is
second on the team with seven shots.
Gelsinger, a senior, led the team with six
goals in 2008 and Burnham scored 28 goals
last fall for Treasure Valley Community
College in Ontario, Oregon.
Hertzog already leads the team in shots
with 11 and Penn State coach Bob Warming
said he'll never stop the junior from shooting.
"Corey's terrific around the goal and I'm
never going to criticize him for shooting,"
Warming said. "The kid can shoot anytime he
feels the need or urge and even more often."
Warming added he wants Hertzog to work
A classic
By Andrew J. Cassavell
THE goal line stand. The
first Sugar Bowl in the
Superdome. Bear vs.
Joe Pa. All are a
part of Alabama-
Penn State lore
It's tradition,
it's history, it's
what makes col
lege football.
But, please, for
give the players if
they don't care. MY OPINION
All week
they've heard
questions about the defending
champion No. 1 Crimson Tide.
They've heard the legends of the
'7os and 'Bos. They've been grilled
as about how much Joe Paterno
has told them in practice about
the good old days.
It's time they put on the pads
and play for themselves. They've
earned the right by putting up
Tradition oozing from Penn State/Alabama contest, even before kickoff
By Stephen Hennessey
EXF'ECTATIONS for Penn
State's football team are
always high, just like they
are at any school
with a football
program with as
rich a history as
Penn State's
In my four
years as a stu
dent in Happy
Valley, though, I
cannot recall a
game when fans
had as little optimism as they do
for this year's road contest
against the No. 1-ranked
Alabama, the defending national
champion.
MY OPINION
By Andrew Robinson
COLLEGIAN STAFF WRITER
Nothing about it seems positive
Fly across the country, play a
solid team Friday night, then take
on the No. 4 team in the country
Sunday afternoon all while try
ing to rebound from a three-game
losing streak
Yet, the Penn State women's
soccer team thinks this weekend's
trip to the Portland Invitational in
Oregon will help turn their season
around.
"Our expectation is just for us to
perform at a better level," Penn
State coach Erica Walsh said. "We
showed some good video
[Wednesday] of things we need to
be doing better and for them to put
that into play and just get rid of
some of the foolish mistakes and
play better soccer."
The Nittany Lions play the
University of Washington at 7:30
Friday night, then will meet No. 4
Portland at 4:30 Sunday afternoon.
Washington is off to a 3-1-1 start
Ryan Ulsh/Collegian
Corey Hertzog tries to get the ball behind the
goalie at a men's soccer game at Jeffrey Field
last year. Penn State beat Hoftra 5-1.
on keeping the ball . and using his teammates
more when he gets the ball in the midfield.
Hertzog has been working on playing with his
strike partners and Warming said if the jun
ior can hold the ball in the midfield as the
team comes out of the back, it will involve
more players in the attack
Without Gelsinger, Hertzog is the most
experienced forward and has taken more of a
leadership role with younger forwards.
"They look up to me as a sort of, I don't
want to say role model, but something like
that," Hertzog said. "They just try to mimic
what I do."
Hertzog credited the strong play in the
midfield for playing him good balls he's
turned into chances.
At the same time, the players around
Hertzog are impressed with the way the jun
ior has learned to change his game based on
which forward he's partnered with.
"Corey's a guy who can easily adapt to
anyone," Braga said. "He plays well with
everyone. It's just easy for him and anyone
that plays with him up top is going to have an
easy day because he does a great job up
there."
game awaits Saturday, even
with all the useless contextualiza
tion for the last six months.
For fans, context is what drives
sports. Otherwise the 2004 World
Series was just a boring sweep,
and Kobe Bryant's title in June
wasn't to pull within one of
Jordan, it was just title No. 5.
But do any of us seriously think
the players are playing to get
Paterno his revenge one more
time after he wasn't able to beat
Bear Bryant in four tries?
Shouldn't they be focusing on
explosive running back Trent
Richardson and still undefeated
quarterback Greg McElroy
instead?
When the game ends, histori
ans will rush to make sense of it
If Tama rolls, it becomes, "Are
they on the verge of running the
table and being one of the best
teams ever?" If Penn State
shocks the Tide, it will be, "The
true freshman quarterback beat
ing Goliath in one of the great
It's odd to hear the winningest
Division I college football coach
say his team is outmanned this
week, but that's exactly how Joe
Paterno described his inexperi
enced team in his weekly press
conference.
Maybe it was a way to pump up
his Lions before Lhey make their
way down to Tuscaloosa for their
primetime showdown, beginning
with ESPN's College Game Dag.
Maybe he felt the Lions weren't
practicing up to his standards to
begin this pivotal week
Either way, it's really nobody's
business to question Paterno
he's been watching football
longer than anybody could possi
bly calculate.
This is a historical battle, pit-
SPORTS
and is coming off its own cross
country trip to Boston, while
Portland is 6-0-0 and is giving up
only 0.33 goals per game.
During their three-game slide
that dropped them out of the rank
ings, the Lions have been incon
sistent, but the team has spent the
last week trying to eliminate this
season's shortcomings, which
include lapses in intensity,
reliance on long passes and slow
starts to halves.
Preparing to face Penn State,
Washington coach Lesle
Gallimore hasn't taken the Lions'
1-3-1 record into consideration.
With the caliber of Penn State's
schedule, Gallimore said teams
can't assume the Lions are having
a down year.
"They've been tested obviously,
the opponents they play are no
pansies," Gallimore said. "It's a
young team Penn State has, but
it's a talented team and with soc
cer it takes time to get things
clicking."
Containing Penn State's speed
To e-mail reporter: adrso79@psu.edu
upsets in Penn State history"
No matter who wins Saturday
night there will be an overreac
tion. There will probably even be
one from the writer of this col
umn. It's in my job description.
For three hours on Saturday,
let's shove all that to the side and
enjoy what we have.
We have a battle of two top-25
teams in what might be the best
nonconference game of the sea
son.
We have a poised freshman
quarterback going into a night
game in SEC country, where the
Big ten is still looking to earn
some respect.
We have Alabama's three-deep
running game (yes, even without
Ingram) going against Penn
State's eight-deep defensive line
and five-deep linebacking corps.
Not bad for a week two
matchup, huh?
So much has been made of the
history between the two sides,
brig two programs with rich histo
ry. The historical 1979 Sugar
Bowl, a 14-7 'Barna win, was
capped by a goal line stand that
ESPN named the No. 2 most
painful outcome in college foot
ball history. Despite the painful
loss, Paterno fought through the
crowd on the field to shake Bear
Bryant's hand. Penn State fans
will still argue Matt Suhey scored
on third down.
This battle still means a lot for
Penn State.
Paterno is in his 45th year as
head coach and is approaching
the 400 win mark Nobody knows
for sure how long JoePa will
coach, so Penn State fans should
consider ourselves lucky we're
able to watch Paterno trot onto
will be a key for both teams this
weekend, but Gallimore said her
focus is on letting her team play to
its strengths.
The Huskies coach said if she
focused on shutting down specific
Penn State players, the other play
ers would just step up and beat
her team.
All week, the Penn State players
have talked about how excited
they are for this weekend and the
chance to turn their fortunes
around. Sophomore midfielder
Maddy Evans said it's a great
opportunity and the team is lucky
to have it.
"Especially with where we are
right now, it's what we need,"
Evans said
"I think people are excited for
the challenge and it's a great
chance for us to come back and
show whowe really are and make
up for some things. Hopefully this
weekend will be when we do final
ly click"
Portland coach Garrett Smith
said Penn State's struggles aren't
Cross country gears up for
Saturday Invitational meet
By Zack Feldman
COLLEGIAN STAFF WRITER
Few members of Penn State's cross
country team put any stock in the
national rankings
The women's team
began its season ranked
No. 24 in the United
States Track and Field
and Cross Country
Coaches Association
rankings, less than a
year after concluding its
season with a No. 11
ranking and a trip to the
NCAA national championship,
The ranking is lower than members of
the team are used to. The women are
now ranked third in the Big Ten, even
while the team earned a Big Ten cham
pionship last year.
But both head coach Beth Alford-
Sullivan and assistant coach John
Gondak said preseason rankings are an
inaccurate measure of what a team's
future success might be since they can
not take into account new components
to the team.
"Preseason rankings are based on
what happened last year, because no
teams have opened up yet and nobody
really knows who has what, who is
healthy and who isn't," Gondak said.
"[The rankings are] a guesstimate of
where people think the teams could end
up. I think we have a heck of a team on
the women's side, and we have room to
go forward in the rankings from there."
And while the USTFCCCA tries to
order teams as it sees fit, sophomore
Brooklyne Bidder said the strong class
of newcomers lets the team collectively
ignore its ranking when preparing for
and running a race.
"We have girls like Maura [Ryan] who
just came from soccer. She's a fifth-year,
but she'll be helping the team. She
placed seventh last week We're expect
ing a lot from her," Ridder said..
"And it's hard to point out the fresh
without proper context
but given what we've got this
weekend, can't we just enjoy the
game before we rush to add it to
the Alabama and Penn State his
tory books?
There's a reason most profes
sional sports wait five years to
vote on }fall of Famers: Enjoy it
now, make sense of it later.
Five years from now, who
knows where these players will
be? Most won't still be playing
football. Why should they care
who played five years ago or who
will be playing five years from
now.
Let them worry about the cur
rent week, which has the chance
to be the biggest game many of
them will ever play in.
Even Paterno understands
what most of the media doesn't
"A year from now, they stick my
picture up, everybody's going to
say, Who's the long-nosed guy?"
said Paterno, who refused to talk
about Bryant at his Tuesday
the field for another year. Still,
questions linger that have Nittany
Lion fans concerned about
Saturday.
True freshman Rob Bolden will
also trot into a road environment
for the first time, which greatly
contributes to these lower expec
tations. Bolden had a strong,
crisp pass in his first start, but
how will he fare wtwn he's being
pressured by a dangerous
defense?
I grew up with winning teams. I
grew up watching the winningest
college basketball program
(University of Kentucky) and the
most successful Major League
Baseball franchise (N.Y. Yankees)
win multiple championships.
Penn State football fans also
men, there's such a big group of them.
Our team is so interchangable, I think
that's What makes us great. Any week,
someone could be having a great day"
The men's team is unranked in the
preseason for the second-consecutive
year.
Gondak said he believes a first meet
as successful as the Dolan Duals was in
Lock Haven is the first step toward a
push into the top-30 if runners continue
progressing.
"I think we have a talented enough
team. By the end of the year, when
everybody is running at the level we
hope they can run at, we can be a team
that is a factor in the rankings," Gondak
said.
"They went to Lock Haven and
showed something important; In cross
country, it's not necessarily about hav
ing a fast time. It's about competing and
racing other people. And they accom
plished that at Lock Haven."
Taking their new rankings into the
Harry Groves Spiked Shoe Invitational
at 10 a.m. Saturday, Penn State's run
ners are looking to make an impact at
home at the Blue-White golf course.
With returning sophomore Nicole
Lord, who sat out the season opener at
Lock Haven, Gondak said he expects a
full roster on the course Saturday.
Ridder, who finished third in Penn
State's sweep of Lock Haven, said she is
not expecting the same type of results
Saturday. Instead, the team is expecting
to give highly-ranked rivals a run for
first-place in front of its home crowd.
"There's going to be better competi
tion this weekend. [No. 11] Georgetown
and [No. 7] Princeton are coming, and
the plan is to try to stay together as a
group for the first half of the race,"
Ridder said.
"From then on, we're just going to see
how much we have left. We just want to
get out there and have our pack near the
top."
THE DAILY COLLEGIAN
uncommon at this time of the year
for any team and he, like
Gallimore, is paying no attention
to the Lions' record. Smith said at
this point in the season, coaches
can't plan around opponents and
it's all about how teams finish the
season that matters.
Regardless, he is still expecting
a tough game with the Lions and
he sees Penn State turning its sea
son around.
The Lions have won 12-straight
Big Ten titles and Smith said
there's too much history and tal
ent stemming from State College
to expect anything less.
"Unfortunately they're on a
three-game slide but I don't think
that's indicative of where they're
going to wind up this season,"
Smith said. "That's a team we
expect to be in the playoffs, a team
that's going to win games and
probably win the conference and a
team you never take lightly by any
means."
To e-mail reporter: adrso79@psmedu
To e-mail reporter: zefsoos@psu.edu
press conference to avoid taking
attention away from the current
players.
"And they stick Bryant up there
with that hat and they'll say, 'Who
would wear a funny hat like that
these days?' "
Yes, you should get chills when
Paterno brings his team into a
stadium with "Bryant" in the
name, 27 years after the great
coach passed away, and on what
would be his 97th birthday. It
means you're a college football
fan, and it means you have a
pulse.
But Bear and Joe won't be put
ting on any pads this weekend.
Those who are shouldn't get any
chills aside from those stemming
directly from this game.
To them, Bear is just a grum
bling man in a funny hat, anyway.
Andrew J. Cassavell is a senior majoring
in journalism and is a Collegian football
writer. His e-mail is ajcs23B@psu.edu
are accustomed to winning. In the
past two seasons, the Lions have
gone 22-4. National championship
games eluded fans in 2005 and
2008, so there may be a certain
envy of the Crimson Tide for win
ning the title last year.
It would be sweet revenge for
Paterno and Co., especially to
avenge the '79 loss, to defeat
Saban and the Tide in front of a
national audience this weekend.
After all, the Tide are 0-5 in
home games when Game Day
sets up shop in Tuscaloosa.
Those are odds even Paterno
might take.
Stephen Hennessey is a senior majoring
in journalism and is the Collegian sports
editor. His e-mail is slhso37@psu.er