SPORTS
THE DAILY COLLEGIAN
Members of the Penn State women's volleyball team celebrate a point in a match earlier this season against Michigan State at Rec Hall
Rec Hall to host tough matches
By Jake Kaplan
COLLEGIAN STAFF WRITER
There are no weekends off in Big Ten volleyball.
And for the No. 9 Nittany Lions, this weekend is cer
tainly no exception.
On a two-match losing streak for the
first time since 2002, Penn State (13-4,
3-3 Big Ten) hosts No. 19 Minnesota
(14-4, 4-2) at 7 tonight at Rec Hall and
lowa (6-9, 1-5) at 7 Saturday night. To
avoid losing three consecutive matches and snapping
their 82-match home-winning streak, the Lions know
they have to bring their 'A game against the Golden
Gophers.
The Gophers contend for a Big Ten championship
every season. Minnesota has finished in the top three of
the Big Ten for each of the last eight seasons and made
it all the way to the Final Four before losing to Texas
last year
"They've got great arms," Penn State coach Russ
Rose said. "If you've got size and good arms and good
setting and a good libero, you have all the makings of a
good team. I think they're playing well."
This season, all four of Minnesota's losses have come
against ranked opponents with three of them going to
five sets. Their only Big Ten losses came against No. 15
See HALL, Page 16.
Game sends statement
By Andrew Robinson
COLLEGIAN STAFF WRITER
Wednesday night, the Penn State men's
soccer team sent a message to the rest of the
country
It stood toe-to-toe with the
best team for 107 minutes
and it isn't going anywhere.
Despite falling to No. 1
Akron, 2-1, in two overtimes
on a controversial foul call, the Nittany Lions
can take plenty from the game. All week, the
team looked at the game as a measuring
stick and Wednesday's performance showed
just how far the Lions come this season.
Women's soccer to face different challenges
By Andrew Robinson
COLLEGIAN STAFF WRITER
Friday night, the Penn State
women's soccer team will face a
team that does the same exact
thing every year
and will try to ---
press plenty of
players forward.
Sunday after
noon, the Nittany
Lions will go up against the com
plete opposite, a team that will
load up on the defensive end.
After two weeks on the road, the
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Texas vs New York (AL)
8 p.m., TBS
TRIVIA
Q: Who did the Philadelphia Phiffies
use as mascots before the creating the
Phillie Phanatic in 1978?
Thursday's Answer. Russ Nixon man
aged the Atlanta Braves for three season
prior to the hiring of Bobby Cox in 19990.
Team hopes to follow trend
In this year's ultra-competitive Big Ten
women's volleyball conference, nothing is a given.
Seven weeks into the season and the league
has already seen the seven-time defending
conference champions, Penn State, fall to back
to-back unranked opponents (Purdue and
Indiana).
A perpetual sub-. 500 squad, Northwestern, has
emerged as a legitimate title contender, as it cur
rently trails first place Michigan by only a half
game.
"Once the sting of the loss wears off we'll
be able to look back at this and really be able
to extract the good points," defender Brian
Fbrgue said. "I think we sent a very clear
message to the rest of the country. We're
contenders and we're not going to back
down."
Against the Zips, Penn State didn't play
tentatively. Instead, they pressed early and
their aggressiveness was rewarded by a fifth
minute goal.
Fbrgue said he didn't think Akron expect
ed the type of game the Lions played, but
Penn State has played the same way every
game this year. From the forwards to the
See STATEMENT, Page 16.
Lions return to Jeffrey Field to
face Minnesota and Wisconsin.
While their opponents play differ
ent styles, the
Lions nonconfer
ence schedule
helped give them
an idea what to
expect.
"That's why you
play the out of
conference sched
ule," Penn State Walsh
coach Erica Walsh
said. "You try to play different
kinds of teams and prepare them
QUICK HITS
Arenas suffers real injury
Washington Wizards guard Gilbert
Arenas left his first home game since being
suspended for bringing guns to the Verizon
Center last season with a strained right
groin.
Arenas didn't start Thursday night's pre
season game against the Milwaukee Bucks,
two days after faking a knee injury to miss
a home game. He left after playing three
minutes in the first quarter.
Arenas didn't attempt a shot, but had
three steals, a rebound, an assist and a
blocked shot. He teamed with John Wall on
some neat passes.
Arenas entered with 7:05 to play in the
first quarter to tepid applause.
By Emily Kaplan
COLLEGIAN STAFF WRITER
And of the current top three teams in the
See TREND, Page 16.
If you go
Women's Volleyball vs Minnesota
When: 7 p.m. Friday
Where: Rec Hall
for opponents like Minnesota
who's going to present one chal
lenge and Wisconsin that presents
a completely different one."
Penn State will take on the
Golden Gophers at 7 p.m. tonight
and will have to contend with the
three-defender set Minnesota
plays with. With a small back line,
it allows Minnesota to play a larg
er midfield and Walsh said that
will be the biggest challenge.
lb counter the numbers in the
midfield, Walsh said Penn State
may keep the ball along its back
line more and press its outside
Kelley KtneCollegian
Blair Brown (9) goes for a kill in
a match against Michigan earlier
this season at Rec Hall. The Lions
are back home this weekend.
Kelley King/Collegian
Penn State goalie Brendan Birmingham (yellow) makes a save against Akron.
backs, Bri Hovington and Jackie
Molinda, into the attack. Senior
co-captain Megan Monroig said
pressing up on attack and using
effective counters will be key to
breaking down Minnesota's for
mation.
"Our defense definitely has to
be on their toes and the midfield
getting back to help our defense is
going to be huge for us," Monroig
said.
"To break them down, it's get
ting our numbers forward against
their three-back A quick counter
can really do well for us because
Vikes deny running up score
Coach Brad Childress says the
Minnesota Vikings were not trying to run
up the score late in last season's 34-3 play
off victory over the Dallas Cowboys.
Brett Favre threw a touchdown pass to
Visanthe Shiancoe with less than 2 minutes
to play in the game for the final margin. The
play prompted Dallas linebacker Keith
Brooking to confront Childress on the side
line and call it "disgusting and classless,"
accusing the Vikings of running up the
score.
"People can do what they want," coach
Wade Phillips said on Wednesday. "It's not
what I would've done."
The Vikings led 27-3 late in the game
when they had a fourth-and-3 at the
Cowboys 11. Favre found a wide open
Shiancoe for his fourth touchdown.
Kelly Rootes-Murdy/Collegian
'UR THOUGHTS
Arenas victim of Karma
Gilbert Arenas got a little taste of his
own medicine Thursday night.
A day after being fined for faking a knee
injury to avoid playing a home game,
Arenas suffered an injury to his groin and
was forced to leave the Washington
Wizards game against the Milwaukee
Bucks in the first quarter.
No stranger to controversy, Arenas' lat
est stunt was a sign of disrespect to his
teammates, his coaches and Wizards fans.
Luckily for all of us, fate decided to get
Arenas back This isn't hoping that his
injury is serious, but that maybe he'll wake
up and realize it's time to shut up and start
playing basketball.
FRIDAY, Ocr. 15, 2010 I 11
Jeers
hoping
for
revenge
By Anthony Barton
COLLEGIAN STAFF WRITER
Icers sophomore defenseman
Rich O'Brien remembers the
disappointing end to last season.
He remembers being on the
bench, a helpless spectator as
Central Oklahoma's Jonathon
Cannizzo skated
by Id ended
iy am
the leers' sea-
unassisted goal
in overtime of
their ACHA
national quar
terfinal game.
Back-to-back
games tonight
and Saturday
mark the first
matchups
between the two
teams since, as the Icers (3-0)
take on the Bronchos (3-6) at the
Greenberg Ice Pavilion.
When the puck drops at 9
tonight for the first game, junior
forward and assistant captain
Paul Daley said he knows what
the Icers want to do to the team
they've had circled since the
schedule came out.
"We want to bury them,"
Daley said. "We want to let them
know that last season, the loss
was a fluke and show them how
good we really are."
Senior forward and captain
Marek Polidor said not capitaliz
ing on their 40 shots in last sea
son's game proved to be the
downfall of the leers.
"We had a ton of chances in
the game last season, but we
only had one goal," Polidor said.
See REVENGE, Page 16.
If you go
Icers vs. Central Oklahoma
When: 9 p.m. Friday
Where: Ice Pavilion
they put so many people in the
box."
Minnesota has outscored its
opponents by a 29-8 margin on the
season, but Sunday's opponent
Wisconsin is the polar opposite.
The Badgers, who sit second in
the conference, have given up just
five goals, but have only scored
nine and come into the game with
a 6-3-4 record overall.
Earlier this season, the Lions
faced a Dartmouth team that
packed its defense and left Jeffrey
Field with a 1-0 victory. Because
See CHALLENGES, Page 16.
C -