I THURSDAY, OCT. 7, 2010 • . • • ding continues triad ,. Loy tradition, or risk being the target program she admired for years houses aw; IFF WRITER of some playful razzing within the growing up in State College. Rose. family, with two of "I looked at a bunch of different "We got which school to her brothers places, and Penn State was just that time," :yball, Maggie attending differ- it the best opportunity," Harding his family, "1 .entially picking ent schools. 7 7. said. a family, folio . But for the cur- ' . "I grew up here watching them that." rent Nittany Lion - play. When I had the opportunity The clef WOMEN'S player, the choice ', to play here, I couldn't turn it father said VOLLEYBALL was easy. 4 0 A down." . enjoyed bei Harding. a .. "0 . . Harding's father, Jeff, said his wife, Lori INATI By Ryan COLLEGIAN STA When choosing attend for voile; Harding was essf which part of her family she want ed to side with. With both par ents and many relatives being freshman defen- family became interested in the Penn State alumni, she had to sive specialist, is Lions' women's volleyball pro choose whether to continue the a part of the Penn State volleyball grain when they lived a couple Corey Hertzog (11) runs down a ball during the Lions rain-soaked, 1-0 victory against Villanova Wednseday night at Jeffrey Field Lions post shutout, top Cost broke the game open, draw ing first blood on the Wildcats. To the misfor- One goal was all it took tune of Villanova, In front of soaked crowd on a Penn State mid- By Mike Still COLLEGIAN STAFF WRITER soggy Jeffrey Field, the Penn fielder Macken- State men's soc- zie Arment's __ cer team defeat- ___ through ball actually beat me to it but he didn't ed Villanova, 1-0 MEN'S deflected off a clear it, and I got in, saw the keep on Wednesday SOCCER defender and fell ' er coming out, and just slipped it night. After a fairly feet. Villanova Cost's goal proved to be the uneventful first 19 minutes of the Without hesita- only offense the Lions would need game, senior midfielder Drew tion, Cost ripped a shot from the all night, as the Villanova offense Team relying on youth By Audrey Snyder COLLEGIAN STAFF WRITER Through five games, safety Nick Sukay doesn't have any rave reviews to give the Penn State defense. the FOOTBALL State Calling Penn age" and saying the unit "hasn't done anything spectacular," helped Sukay conclude if he were to give the defense a letter grade, it would be a C. Maddy Evans dribbles the ball NHL Philadelphia at Pittsburgh 7 p.m., Versus Q: Who was the last pitcher to throw a no-hitter during the postseason? Wednesday's Answer. Derek Lowe last started a playoff game in Game 4 of the 2008 NLCS while playing for the Los Angeles Dodgers. Harding Penn State But the junior isn't hitting the panic button just yet. With the Nittany Lions relying on several young players to con tribute to a defense that's given up 54 first-half points, the unit contin ues to try different players while it looks for its identity. So far, the Lions haven't been able to master the transition of plugging in three new starting line backers and filling the void left by first-round draft pick Jared Odrick, but Sukay insists all is not lost. See YOUTH. Page 10. Midfielder catching up in new position By Andrew Robinson COLLEGIAN STAFF WRITER Maddy Evans has always been a non-stop runner. But this season the sophomore had to teach her c!lf be put self to, as si it, "be lazy" WOMEN'S Evans has SOCCER emerged as the Penn State women's soccer team's main hold ing midfielder and has been adjusting to the stationary playing style. Instead of letting the change Reporters make MLB picks With Major League Baseball's playoffs now in full swing, some of the Collegian sports staff made predictions as to who they think will come away with a World Series victory. Not surprisingly, the Phillies are a popu lar pick among the reporters. But there are a few surprises. While the New York Yankees and Tampa Bay Rays are the most popular picks in the American League, there are a few Texas Rangers and Minnesota Twins fans. The AL seems to be the more open race. To see all of the World Series predictions check out the MAKE PLAYS Blog on the Collegian website, psucollegian.com left side of the 18-yard box, past an outstretched Wildcat keeper Chris Bresnahan, and inside the right post to give the Lions a 1-0 lead. "Mackenzie played a great ball through," Cost said. "The guy Khaki Fortt (11) makes a tackle in a game against Temple affect her play, Evans has used the move to help improve her game. "Maddy's going to play wherev er she's told it will help the team," Nittany Lion coach Erica Walsh said. "She's a very team-oriented player and we've taken some of her attributes and we've asked her to sit in that role and play a very specific role and she's done well to listen and take on board every thing we're asking her to do." The holding midfield position is a key link between the defense and the attackers. Aside from making tackles and winning balls Enter the Pick 'Em contest Want to prove you're at least better than Collegian Sports Copy Desk Chief Bill Landis at picking NFL games? Well that's not very hard. All you have to do is have a .500 record. But first you must win the chance to pick Each week the Collegian selects one member of the Penn State student body to take part in the Collegian Pick 'Em. Selected students compete against a panel of Collegian staff members and Penn State notables. Last week's student contestant, Kevn Anderson, went 10-4. As a whole, the stu dents have put up a 37-25 record. To be this week's student contestant, send the answer to today's trivia question to Sports Chief Paul Casella, his e-mail address is plcso32@psuLedu. tion ay from coach Russ to know them during Jeff said of Rose and `and started, kind of as lowing volleyball after !fensive specialist's I Harding especially ing close to Rose's an All-American vol leyball player for the Lions from 1982-84 and considered her a See HARDING, Page 10. 'Nova struggled throughout the 90 nine ty minutes. Failing to ever get any real chances going, the Wildcats mus tered only eight shots on the night. In addition to the dismal num ber of shots, the Penn State defense played Villanova's over aggressiveness to its advantage, drawing seven offsides calls from the Wildcats. "That statistic shows how See SHUTOUT, Page 10. Daniel Bott/Collegian in front of the back line, the hold ing midfielder has the responsibil ity to distribute the ball upfield and at times switch the attack Evans has shown she has the defensive part down, making sev eral chase-down tackles over the last few games. But playing faster and sending out quicker passes is something she is still working on, but also an area she has seen improvement. "You really don't have much time back there, but you're also expected to control the tempo of the game," Evans said. THE DAILY COLLEGIAN Men crack top 25 By Zack Feldman COLLEGIAN STAFF WRITER After last week's Notre Dame invitational, the Penn State men's cross country runners knew they had achieved some thing signifi- cant. MEN'S CROSS The team, unranked at COUNRY the time, defeated No. 5 Alabama, No. 14 Villanova and No. 17 Arizona State en route to a fifth-place finish at the invita tional meet, thanks to a sev- enth-place finish McNally and a 13th place finish Dawson The runners earned their way Alford-Sullivan back into the United States Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association national rankings for the first time in two years, jump ing right to No. 23. The ranking is the team's highest since the 2000 season, and only time the team has been in the top-30 since the 2008 sea son. Senior runner Ryan Foster said the team doesn't put much thought into rankings, but acknowledged rankings are a way for the team to stay motivat ed at times. "It's a nice little morale boost for the team. To be ranked is pretty cool and to be ranked that high is something we feel pretty good about," Foster said. "It's not something we put emphasis on too much because it's just someone else's opinion, not a reflection of how things are going to end up." Coach Beth Alford-Sullivan compared this team to the 2008 men's squad, which earned its way to the NCAA national cham pionships. "We had a great team in 'OB. We were 25th in the nation at the national championships, fourth in the conference, second in the region, but the unfortunate thing about that was five of them were seniors," Alford-Sullivan said. "Kyle and Vince were freshman. So last year we kind of had to have a rebuilding year. So we've known internally we're good, and we've known we're a top-20 team." Alford-Sullivan said the team's ability has been clear since 2008, but the team's progress had been limited to "fighting and chipping away" until the Notre Dame meet. "This year, we opened up somewhat modestly. There See MEN, Page 10. "It doesn't mean if we slow it down to play slow, but making sure you're playing quickly while controlling the tempo and really just connecting those easy five yard passes, 10-yard passes, noth ing too big." One thing the sophomore has learned is she doesn't have to try to make a big play, because as long as she plays within her position she can impact the game. Walsh said she thinks Evans' passing has improved greatly from last year, but she wants the midfielder See EVANS, Page 10. Doc's no-no sets the tone Roy Halladay wasted no time getting this year's MLB postseason off on the right foot. Doc twirled a one-walk no-hitter agaist the Cincinatti Reds in Game 1 of the NLCS Wednesday night and set the stage for what should be another exciting October of baseball. In his first postseason appearance, Halladay made a statement to the rest of the league that he and the Philadelphia Phillies mean business. Expect the Reds and the other six teams competing this postseason to answer the call. Nobody is going to back down this October and Halladay's gem should be the first of many memorable moments.
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