102 items found for your search. If no results were found please broaden your search.
(02/10/06 5:29am)
When IU steps on the mat Friday for senior night to face No. 8 Penn State, the No. 16 Hoosiers will also be up against history. The Hoosiers have never beaten Penn State. The two schools have faced each other seven times in dual meets, with Penn State's 20-19 win in 1999 the closest the Hoosiers have ever come to topping the Nittany Lions.\n"I'm not really focused on the history of whatever's happened in the past," IU coach Duane Goldman said. "I'm more focusing on the task in hand."\nStill, for some Hoosiers, the lack of success against Penn State is in the back of their minds. Senior Brady Richardson said he's looking forward to making up for last year's 21-12 loss at University Park.\n"Last year we really thought we could beat them," Richardson said. "We didn't wrestle well on the whole, and it was kind of lopsided. So I'm hoping to really avenge that."\nBoth the Hoosiers and the Nittany Lions have a 2-3 record on the Big Ten season, and the Hoosiers enter the dual meet trying to snap a three-meet loosing streak.\n"We need to pick it up and we know we can win," said Richardson, who's ranked No. 9. "The guys are beatable and we can all do it. We just got to get out there and do it. The mood hasn't changed to where it's going to affect us. We're just hoping everybody can just step it up."\nMuch like last weekend's meet against No. 1 Minnesota, the Hoosiers will be facing ranked wrestlers in nearly every weight class, as nine of 10 Nittany Lions are ranked in the top 20 -- including five in the top 10. \n"Everybody you wrestle in the Big Ten is pretty much ranked," said sophomore Brandon Becker. "It's just one more match I got to win. You got to go to every match looking like that. If you worry 'Oh he's ranked this and that' you're not going to get anywhere."\nBecker will be facing No. 13 Nathan Galloway, who is 10-10 and has nine losses against ranked opponents. Becker, who is ranked No. 8, is hoping to make it 10. Becker is also looking to bounce back from a tough 7-6 loss to No. 4 C.P. Schlatter last weekend against Minnesota, his third straight match and loss against a ranked wrestler.\nIn addition to Becker and Richardson, IU also has senior Joe Dubuque and freshman Andrae Hernandez -- ranked No. 1 and No. 18, respectively -- each trying to make history of their own. Both Dubuque and Hernandez are 5-0 in the Big Ten. Since 1950, only three Hoosiers have finished complete Big Ten undefeated seasons, with the last being Victor Sveda in 1999. Last season Pat DeGain finished 5-0 in the Big Ten but didn't start in all eight of the Hoosiers' Big Ten matches.\nDubuque is also trying to defend a national championship and protect a 17-0 undefeated regular season. If Dubuque, who has rattled off a 24-match winning streak, finishes the regular season unbeaten and goes on to win his second straight national championship, he would become the third Hoosier in the history of the program to go through an entire season without a loss. He would also be the first since 1939, when Chris Traicoff completed the feat.
(02/03/06 5:14am)
After suffering its first two losses of the season last weekend, the IU wrestling team hopes that this weekend it will find its way back into the win column. To do that it will need to get by Minnesota -- the No. 1 team in the nation. \nThe No. 15 Hoosiers (11-2, 2-2 Big Ten) will travel to Minneapolis to face the Golden Gophers (16-0, 4-0 Big Ten) on Sunday.\n"We have to be prepared," IU coach Duane Goldman said about facing the nation's No. 1 ranked team. "It's going to be an extremely tough match up there. It's their senior day, they're ranked first and they're undefeated this year. It's going to be a big challenge for us."\nThe Gophers are undefeated despite the fact that they have faced No. 6 Central Michigan twice and beat No. 2 Oklahoma State 21-14, handing the Cowboys -- who were No. 1 at the time -- their first loss in 30 dual meets.\nThe Gophers have been able to get eight of their 10 starters ranked thus far in the season. This includes two Gophers who are ranked No. 1 -- Cole Konrad, who was an NCAA finalist last year in the heavyweight division and Dustin Schlatter, who is on top of the 149-pound division despite being a true freshman.\nThe only two IU wrestlers who won't face ranked opponents are the Hoosiers' senior captains, Joe Dubuque and Brady Richardson. Goldman said he hopes that his younger wrestlers will be able to gain from this experience.\n"We need to take each match individually," the coach said. "Each guy obviously wants to win, and a win would be important as far as their Big Ten seeding, and possibly their national seeding."\nThe Hoosiers also have ranked wrestlers of their own. No. 1 Dubuque, No. 9 Richardson and sophomore Brandon Becker, who is No. 8, have been ranked since the beginning of the season. This week, freshman Andrae Hernandez joined the trio and will make his debut as the No. 18 grappler in the 133-pound division, thanks in part to a 6-2 record against ranked opponents. Hernandez said that his success against ranked foes has been a result of being ready for each opponent.\n"I think just preparing well before, going over technique with the coaches and watching some tapes, and just getting advice from wrestlers like (Dubuque) and (Richardson)," he said.\nHernandez will have a chance this weekend to take down another ranked opponent. He will face No. 3 Mack Reiter.\nRichardson said that the team isn't intimidated by all of the ranked opponents it will face this weekend.\n"It really doesn't matter who's ranked, because they can beat anybody," Richardson said about the younger wrestlers. "You just have to get out there and put it on the line. Like (Goldman) always says 'Why not beat the top guy?'"\nRichardson said he feels that while he and Dubuque can help them prepare for their matches, the bulk of it is up to the wrestlers themselves.\n"I know they are physically prepared," he said, "but mentally they got to do it on their own. It's not something you can teach or tell them"
(01/30/06 5:41am)
With No. 3 Illinois and No. 7 Iowa coming into Bloomington during the weekend, the IU wrestling team knew it was going to face some tough wrestlers. The No. 15 Hoosiers hoped to exploit some of the individual match-ups, but in the end those match-ups caused their first two losses of the season.\nThe Hoosiers began the weekend falling to the Illini 26-6 Friday, then dropped their match against the Hawkeyes Sunday 30-12. In both dual meets, the Hoosiers took early advantages with wins by senior Joe Dubuque.\nThe No. 1-ranked Dubuque started the Hoosiers (11-2, 2-2 Big Ten) off in the right direction with a 4-0 decision over No. 3 Kyle Ott in a rematch of last year's NCAA Finals, which Dubuque won.\n"I had a really good week of preparation for Ott," Dubuque said, "I was real confident. I just went out and really stuck to the plan and came out victorious."\nDubuque again started the Hoosiers off against Iowa with a 15-6 major decision over Lucas Magnani to improve his record on the season to 16-0, extending his winning streak to 23 straight.\nIn the Illinois meet, freshman Andrae Hernandez followed Dubuque with a 4-0 win over Gabe Flores, avenging a 3-1 loss in the Missouri Open. The decision gave IU a 6-0 lead, but that would be the last match of the night the Hoosiers would win. Luck never seemed to bounce in the Hoosiers' direction, as three of the last eight matches were decided by one point, and a fourth went into overtime.\nAgainst Iowa, Hernandez posed an 11-0 major decision against No. 21 Daniel Dennis to give IU an 8-0 lead, but once again luck just wouldn't side with the Hoosiers.\nSenior Nick Spatola was pinned by No. 15 Alex Tsirtsis, followed by junior Matt Cooper's disqualification for an illegal hold. The Hawkeyes took over the lead, 12-8.\nEven when the Hoosiers showed signs of life, crucial mistakes kept them from capitalizing. Against No. 4 Mark Perry, IU sophomore Marc Bennett had a 5-4 lead and tried to score another two points on a takedown. When Bennett wasn't able to complete the takedown, he tried to finish the match without allowing Perry to score. But Perry saw an opportunity and turned the tables, pinning \nBennett.\n"I thought I'd just hang there, kill some time," Bennett said. "That's where I messed up. I just hung around there and he slapped me with a move that he's kind of known for."\nEven though he was disappointed with the results from the weekend, IU coach Duane Goldman said he realized the quality of the teams that IU faced.\n"Obviously we want a better result from these matches, but they're all top-10 teams," the coach said. "It's not like they're patsies. We've beaten everyone who's ranked behind us and now we're trying to climb the ladder."\nThe Hoosiers attempt to continue that climb Sunday when they travel to Minneapolis to take on No. 1 Minnesota.
(01/27/06 5:04am)
As the IU wrestling team enters its practice facility everyday, a quote on the wall stares down at them, reminding the members of the need to work hard.\n"Unless you have prepared and deserve to emerge victorious, do not expect to win or be disappointed when you lose," the saying reads.\nFinding someone who knows the origin of this quote is a difficult task.\n"I think it was Dan Gable," guessed senior Joe Dubuque, referring to the legendary Olympic wrestler.\n"It's been up there as long as I've been here," said the team's head trainer, Kip Smith. \nHe suggested IU's own head coach Duane Goldman. He was correct. \n"It's a Goldman original," the coach said.\nIt's not hard to find other signs in the room that display the value the team places on hard work. Above pictures of past IU NCAA Champions and All-Americans are the words "Work Develops Champions." The wall across from that reads "There is no substitute for hard work." \nThe team is hoping its dedication to hard work will pay off this weekend as the No. 15 Hoosiers (11-0, 2-0 Big Ten) play host to two top 10 teams this weekend in Bloomington. Friday night the team faces No. 3 Illinois (5-0, 1-0 Big Ten) and then it will meet No. 7 Iowa (7-4, 1-1 Big Ten) Sunday.\n"This is by far the toughest weekend so far this year," Goldman said. "We have some other tough weekends coming up, but as far as two teams in the same weekend, this is probably our biggest test."\nBoth Iowa and Illinois bring in ranked wrestlers. In the 149-pound division the Hawkeyes bring in No. 2-ranked Ty Eustice, who had been ranked No. 1 in that division until he suffered a loss last weekend. Facing Eustice for the Hoosiers will be junior Matt Cooper, who was injured last weekend but was still able to wrestle in IU's 24-13 win over Purdue. Goldman said he is now healthy and will be ready for this weekend.\nPerhaps the toughest individual test of the weekend will be for sophomore Brandon Becker, who is ranked No. 6 in the 157-pound division. Against Illinois, Becker will be matched against No. 1 Alex Tirapelle who had the No. 1 seed entering last season's NCAA Tournament. In the Iowa match, Becker will face No. 8 Joe Johnston, who was the runner-up in the NCAAs. Becker said he hopes to use this weekend to improve his ranking.\n"Whenever you wrestle someone who's ranked ahead of you, it's a chance to move up, get some good Big Ten wins in, and helps your seeding for the end of the year," Becker said.\nBut the most intriguing match-up of the weekend might be Dubuque's match against the Illini's Kyle Ott. In last year's NCAA finals, Dubuque defeated Ott 2-0.\n"I know he's going to be fired up," the No. 1-ranked Dubuque said. "He's going to try to get some revenge for the NCAA finals. He's probably been looking forward to this match since last March."\nDubuque is 14-0 on the season and is trying to extend his 21-match winning streak. He is also trying to even up the series against No. 3 Ott, who currently owns a 2-1 advantage over Dubuque.\n"It's a pretty big rivalry," said Dubuque, who earned his 100th career victory Sunday against Purdue. "We're both returning All-Americans. We're both the top lightweights. It's always a good match when we wrestle"
(01/27/06 5:02am)
Redshirt freshman Andrae Hernandez has been a reliable starter for the IU wrestling team in the 133-pound division this season, jumping out to a 21-5 record, including a 9-2 record in dual competition. His backup, freshman Angel Escobedo, is a familiar face to him.\nThat's because they're cousins. \nBut the Hoosier family ties don't end there. Their cousin, Jose Escobedo, is also a redshirt freshman for the No. 15 Hoosiers, backing up defending national champion Joe Dubuque in the 125-pound division. All three cousins also wrestled together at Griffith High School in Griffith, Ind.\nThe family ties to wrestling also extend beyond IU. They have another cousin, Daniel Bedoy, who is a sophomore wrestler at Purdue University. On top of that, Hernandez's brother, Rene, was a Purdue wrestler who graduated last year. Despite the strong ties that the family had with IU's in-state rival, coach Duane Goldman was able to convince the cousins to wrestle for his program. Hernandez was the first to break the family tradition, and his cousins followed suit.\n"I decided when I came on my visit," Hernandez said. "That was a real big change, not going to Purdue and coming here, but it was probably the best decision."\nSoon after Hernandez committed to IU, Jose followed him, but his decision wasn't based solely on his cousin's.\n"That was part of it because we kind of wanted to stay together," Escobedo said. "But I was also looking at what fit me best, so I decided to come here."\nWhen it came time for Angel to choose a school one year later, he already had the list narrowed down to IU and Purdue, since he had a lot of family at both schools. He picked IU.\n"I chose Indiana because I wanted to come here for the business school, and also because I wanted to be close to my family," he said.\nGoldman said he was certainly glad that he was able to get all three of them to choose his program over Purdue's.\n"There was a time that it looked like Andrae might end up there," Goldman said. "But we continued to recruit him and we wanted him and needed him and it all worked out well. We're thrilled to have him. The fact that Jose and Angel have decided to come here as well is equally great."\nGoldman said that he likes the fact that each one makes sure that the others work hard.\n"They all challenge each other to get better," the coach said. "There's a lot of friendly rivalry between them. It's good because it keeps them all competitive."\nBut the competitiveness between them doesn't stop once they step off the mat. \n"We're a pretty competitive family," Hernandez said. "When everyone gets together, they talk about what they've done and what their accomplishments are. But, I mean, now it's just what school is better: Indiana or Purdue."\nWhen they do brag about individual accomplishments, it's Angel who wins. He compiled a 174-1 overall record when he wrestled for Griffith, where he was a four-time state champion. But that doesn't mean his cousins are empty-handed when it comes to accomplishments. Hernandez was a two-time state champion, and Jose was a 2004 state champion. \nAll three of the cousins have freshman eligibility and Angel will redshirt this season, so they will all be around the program for a few more years, which is just fine with Goldman.\n"It helps you sleep a little better at night knowing that you have kids like that for the future of your program," he said.\nWhile Hernandez is the only starter for the team this season, the other two cousins also hope to get a chance to wrestle more next season. \n"Hopefully next year," Jose said about his chance to start for the Hoosiers. "I can't complain though because I'm behind the national champ."\nAngel said that his mentors this year will help him in the future.\n"I'm just trying to learn as much as I can, grasp onto everything I can learn from my cousin, Andrae, cause he's wrestling now, and also Joey (Dubuque) because he's the national champ so he has experience," Angel said.\nBut most of all, the cousins want to make sure they leave their family name on the program.\n"I want everyone in my family to do well," Hernandez said. "Next year, hopefully (Jose) will step in to start and Angel also. I'd just like our family name to be well-known both here at Indiana and throughout the country"
(01/23/06 5:55am)
Heavyweight matches usually stay close and rarely earn bonus points. But, then again, they are usually at the end of the dual meets. So when sophomore heavyweight Dave Herman started out the day for the No. 15 Hoosiers by posting a four-point major decision, it set the tone for IU's 31-7 victory over Ohio State Friday night at University Gym. \nThe Hoosiers also beat Purdue in West Lafayette Sunday 24-13 to start out the Big Ten season with a 2-0 record and an 11-0 record overall.\n"It really started us off on the right foot," IU coach Duane Goldman said about Herman's win. "If he had a shaky match, that could have made it real difficult."\nFor the rest of the match, it seemed that everything was going the Hoosiers' way. Following Herman's match, senior Joe Dubuque posted a five-point technical fall to give IU a 9-0 lead. He followed his Friday performance up by earning his 100th career victory in a 10-3 decision over Brandon Tucker in the Purdue match. The win gave the defending national champion a 14-0 record on the season and extended his winning streak to 21 straight matches.\nThe Hoosiers extended their early lead against the Buckeyes due to freshman Andrae Hernandez's sudden victory decision over the Buckeyes' Reece Humphrey. During that match, both Humphrey and Hernandez needed to take injury timeouts, but both were able to finish the match. Humphrey went down early, clutching his shoulder, and Hernandez suffered a leg cramp a couple of minutes later. Hernandez said his cramp was the result of trying to maintain weight for this weekend's matches.\n"This week I let my weight get out of control," he said. "But I wrestled tough, I stayed with it and I got the win in overtime."\nThe Buckeyes narrowed the lead to 12-7, taking the 141-pound and 149-pound matches, two weight classes Goldman knew Ohio State was strong in.\n"We want to win every match if we can but they have some real strong weights," he said. "We knew that 133, 141, 149 on up through there, even 157, they're ranked all through those weights, so that's a lot of the power in their lineup and so we knew we had to weather the storm in there."\nBut the rally was never enough for the Buckeyes to seriously rattle the Hoosiers' confidence built up by the early lead. Sophomore Brandon Becker halted the Buckeyes' momentum by posting a 16-3 major decision over Steven Sommer to give the Hoosiers a 16-7 lead. Becker, ranked No. 7, said that he wanted to get more than just a three-point decision out of the match.\n"Late in the match I was up a bit and I wanted to get the (technical fall)," Becker said. "I fell one point short but I still did alright. But more importantly, I wrestled well."\nThe Hoosiers continued to win matches, and when sophomore Marc Bennett posted a fall six minutes and 12 seconds into his match, the 25-7 lead was enough that the Hoosiers had clinched the win with two matches left.\nMomentum continued for the Hoosiers as sophomore Justin Curran earned two escape points in the final 15 seconds to win his match 5-4.\n"I thought I was wrestling well the whole match," Curran said. "He just kind of caught me off guard, but I wasn't going out that way."\nSenior Brady Richardson finished the meet with a 12-5 decision.\nThe Hoosiers continue their Big Ten season with a match Friday against No. 3 Illinois, the first of six straight matches the Hoosiers will face ranked opponents.
(01/20/06 5:21am)
Michigan football coach Lloyd Carr once compared an upcoming football season to climbing Mt. Everest. If Carr thinks that's tough, he must never have looked at a Big Ten wrestling schedule.\nThe IU wrestling team starts a climb of its own this weekend as it begins its conference slate with Ohio State Friday night and Purdue Sunday afternoon. \nIf national rankings are the gold standard for team strength, the Big Ten has to be one of the toughest conferences in the nation. Exactly half of the top 10 positions are filled out by Big Ten teams, including Minnesota — the No 1-ranked team in the country.\n"It's no slouch schedule," said senior Joe Dubuque. "You got eight dual meets and it's probably going to be the eight hardest dual meets of the year."\nCoach Duane Goldman said all team members realize they need to be ready for every match.\n"It's a huge challenge," Goldman said about the schedule. "Virtually every team we wrestle is ranked, and most of them, to be honest, are ranked ahead of us."\nPurdue (8-3) and Ohio State (3-5) are the only teams in the Big Ten not ranked in the top 25. Still, Goldman asserts that both of these teams will make for a tough start to the brutal schedule.\n"The thing with this team is we're not able to take anybody lightly," he said. "We have to be prepared to go to war every time we step on the mat."\nThe Buckeyes have had some trouble with injuries this season, but Goldman said that it looks like they are healthy just in time for the Big Ten Season. Ohio State has one ranked wrestler, Jeff Jaggers, No. 14 in the 149-pound division.\nThe Hoosiers don't need any extra motivation to prepare for the Purdue match. \n"I don't like Purdue," Dubuque said, "and I guarantee they don't like us. It's a rivalry, everybody gets pumped up a little bit more for that dual meet. I think we're going to go out and I think we're really going to set a statement up at Purdue. I think we're really going to give it to them."\nDubuque, who is ranked No. 1 and is the defending national champion in the 125-pound weight class, is looking to extend his winning streak of 19 straight matches. He currently holds a 12-0 record for the season. \nPurdue has a number of ranked wrestlers in its program, including Chris Fleeger, the No. 6 wrestler in the 133-pound division. Redshirt freshman Andrae Hernandez will represent the Hoosiers at 133 pounds, and the match might be a little more personal than usual to him. Hernandez personally knows Fleeger and many other Boilermaker wrestlers. His brother Rene wrestled there before graduating last season, one of many factors that Hernandez said gets him even more excited to face the Boilermakers.\n"I know Fleeger pretty well," he said. "And just that he's ranked high gives me an opportunity to wrestle some good competition and try to get up in the rankings. With him being from Purdue and me being from IU, I mean, that's always big hype."\nThe Hoosiers match against Ohio State will be at 7 p.m. Friday, at University Gym. The match at Purdue will take place at 2 p.m. Sunday.
(01/17/06 6:33am)
With a Big Ten conference that features nine top-25 teams and five in the top 10, the IU wrestling team knew it had to make the most of its non-conference schedule in preparation for the Big Ten season. \nConsider the mission accomplished.\nThe No. 15 Hoosiers went 4-0 in this weekend's Virginia Duals, winning the championship and taking a 9-0 dual record into the conference season.\nIU coach Duane Goldman said while this weekend's duals won't do anything to help the team's Big Ten record, he still feels that it will give team members confidence heading into the tough road ahead.\n"It should bolster the whole team feel -- the reliability on each other, the ability to trust each other," Goldman said. "It's important for them to believe in each other that everyone is going to contribute."\nThe Hoosiers started out the 16-team tournament Friday by disposing of Virginia Tech 40-13 and followed with a 42-1 win over Bloomsburg University. The Hoosiers continued their success Saturday with a 29-11 victory over University of Tennessee-Chattanooga in the semifinals, setting up a showdown with No. 25 University of Pennsylvania in the finals.\nThe Hoosiers started out the finals with senior Joe Dubuque beating Penn's Mike Silengo with a 12-10 sudden victory. The win was the fourth of the tournament for No. 1-ranked Dubuque, who kept his undefeated season going, improving to 12-0. The defending national champion also extended his winning streak to 19 straight, dating back to last year's Big Ten Championships.\nAfter Dubuque's win, the Hoosiers struggled, dropping four of their next five matches, falling to a 15-6 deficit. In the 184-pound division, sophomore Justin Curran took a 3-2 decision to narrow Penn's lead to 15-9 with just two matches to go. The 197-pound match featured sophomore Brady Richardson against Jack Sullivan. Going into the match, Richardson said he knew it was a match he needed to dominate in order to give his team a chance. But it was an opportunity he embraced. \n"Most times, heavyweight matches are close," Richardson said. "So if we were going to win, we were only going to get three points. I knew I needed bonus points, and the guys were telling me they needed me and the pressure was on me. I kind of like that though. It usually makes me wrestle better."\nThe No. 6-ranked Richardson came through by posting a fall against the Quakers' Sullivan just a little more than one minute into the match, earning enough bonus points for the Hoosiers to leave the championship down to the heavyweight match. After a 3-2 victory by sophomore Dave Herman against Penn's Paul Velekie, the Hoosiers took the win with a final score of 18-15.\nGoldman said he was pleased with the way Curran, Richardson and Herman all picked up the slack for the Hoosiers.\n"Some of our reliable studs faltered in that match," Goldman said, "and some of our less well-known athletes had to pick up the slack and they really rose to the occasion and did a great job."\nThe Hoosiers kick off the Big Ten season Friday night against Ohio State at home at University Gym.
(01/13/06 5:09am)
As the IU wrestling team prepared for practice Wednesday afternoon, its last one before this weekend's Virginia Duals in Norfolk, Va., coach Duane Goldman gathered his team and stressed the need for a focused practice. \nGoldman wasn't just using cliché coach's appeals - he knows the No. 15 Hoosiers will need to be prepared to face a slew of good teams this weekend. \n"It's really a very even field," he said. "All 16 teams there, including ourselves, are actually fairly evenly matched. Every team in the field is good."\nThe 5-0 Hoosiers have earned a No. 1 seed for the tournament, but Goldman said he doesn't see that as a particular advantage.\n"A seed is just a number," he said, "and I think we're deserving of that seed right now as according to last year's nationals. We (have) got to show up and wrestle, and when you're the No. 1 seed, that puts a big target on yourself as well. So I know those other teams will be gunning for us -- we're not going to sneak up on anybody."\nGoldman also said how the Hoosiers respond to the seed will say a lot about his team.\n"If we want to continue to improve as a team, and wrestle as a top team we need to learn to wrestle when we're favored to win," Goldman said. "It sounds simple, but sometimes that takes getting used to as well."\nThe team tournament is in a different format than the other tournaments that IU has competed in this season. Redshirt freshman Andrae Hernandez said he feels this format will be an advantage for the Hoosiers.\n"If someone wins, it's going to feed off to another wrestler," he said. "I think this will help us a lot."\nGoldman agreed the team tournament format is good for the Hoosiers, as they have had success with it in previous seasons, including last year's NCAA Tournament where the Hoosiers finished in ninth place. Despite that success, the coach says his team still has work to do.\n"I think we still need to improve our strength as a dual-meet team," Goldman said. "I think this gives us the opportunity to do just that, to come together as a team, to show our strength and for each individual to step up on their own and contribute."\nThe Hoosiers will kick off the 16-team tournament with a first-round dual meet against Virginia Tech at 9 a.m. Friday. If the Hoosiers get past the Hokies, they will go on to face the winner of the Bloomsburg University-Old Dominion dual. The semifinals and finals will follow Saturday. \nThe Virginia Duals is the last tune up for the Hoosiers before they begin their Big Ten season Jan. 20 against Ohio State, a team IU could face in the Virginia Duals if all the right pieces fall into place. \nThe Hoosiers said the quality of teams will help them prepare to compete in a tough Big Ten conference, which features nine top-25 teams, including No. 2 Minnesota, No. 4 Illinois, No. 5 Michigan, No. 6 Iowa, and No. 10 Penn State. \nSenior captain Brady Richardson, who is ranked No. 6 in the 197-pound division, said he hopes the team can find some success in this weekend's tournament to carry over into the Big Ten season.\n"Hopefully we'll win the Virginia Duals and hopefully that will give some of the younger guys, and the team as a whole, a lot of confidence going into the season," Richardson said.
(12/12/05 6:42am)
IU wrestlers combined for individual records of 18-2 in Saturday's Hoosier Duals at Assembly Hall to help IU to a 36-3 victory over Eastern Illinois University and a 37-3 win over Gardner Webb University. The duals were the first for the No. 16 Hoosiers.\nIU coach Duane Goldman was happy with his team's effort, which came off of a bye week.\n"We wrestled well, obviously you want to win every match," he said. "Gardner Webb and Eastern Illinois came out ready to wrestle. It was a good challenge for our guys after a week off and I think it should help us out in upcoming competitions."\nWhile the Hoosiers dominated the event as a team, a number of the individual match-ups came down to the final period, including a pair of sudden victory wins by sophomore Justin Curran and junior Matt Cooper.\nRedshirt freshman Andrae Hernandez was another wrestler who pulled out a hard fought victory, holding off a late push in the final 30 seconds of the match by Brendan Couture of Gardner Webb to come away with a 5-4 decision.\n"I really didn't prepare for that match too well this weekend," said No. 20-ranked Hernandez. "I was cutting weight, so going into that match I was a little tired. Towards the end I was dancing around just trying to avoid getting taken down."\nIn his second match, Hernandez left no room for question, taking a 23-6 technical fall win over EIU's Tony Metzger to improve his individual record to 10-2. Hernandez said he felt more energized for that match and was able to wrestle better.\n"My body adjusted to my weight," he said. "The coaches wanted me to wrestle hard that last match and I just wanted to show them I could do it, so I went out hard and wrestled hard."\nAnother Hoosier who came away with a win at the last second was sophomore Dave Herman, who led 3-2 in his match with EIU's Daniel Perez before he scored a two-point takedown with seven seconds left to seal a 5-2 decision.\n"I was pleased to see them win those close matches," Goldman said. "When it comes down to those types of situations, a lot of times it's just a gut check. I was glad that we came through and showed the intensity and drive to win those."\nWhile many Hoosiers won close decisions, sophomore Max Dean made a statement with two impressive wins. In his first match, Dean took a 22-9 major decision, and followed that by pinning Gardner Webb's Dave Pelsang five minutes into the match. Dean credited his two wins to help from his teammates.\n"I'm just really happy with all of our work," said Dean, who improved to a 7-3 record. "It's not just me but all my teammates pushing me paid off in those two victories."\nSenior Joe Dubuque and sophomore Brandon Becker both kept undefeated seasons going. No. 1-ranked Dubuque pinned Gardner Webb's Cortney Roberts 2:54 into the match and scored a forfeit win against EIU to improve to 6-0. No 4 Becker (5-0) started out with a 6-0 decision and then disposed of EIU's Tyler Williams by pinning him just 32 seconds into the match.\nThe Hoosiers will compete in a couple of events during winter break, starting with the FITE Duals in Park Forest, Ill., Sunday, and then they travel to Evanston, Ill., to compete in the Midlands Dec. 29 and 30.
(12/09/05 6:06am)
A week off usually lets a team rest up and get physically healthy. In the case of the IU wrestling team, it also helps to keep the mood loose in the locker room.\nBefore a practice earlier this week, coach Duane Goldman found out that Cumberland University, one of the teams set to come to this weekend's Hoosier Duals, was not planning to come after all. \n"Is there any way that we can force Cumberland to come?" joked one of the student managers.\nEven though the Bulldogs, ranked No. 13 among National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics teams, are not making it to Bloomington this weekend, the No. 16 Hoosiers will still play host to the 3-5 Gardner-Webb University and Eastern Illinois University in the Hoosier Duals. The Duals will be the first match of the season for both the Hoosiers and Panthers and will take place at 10 a.m. Saturday in Assembly Hall.\nThe week off came at an opportune time for the Hoosiers, who didn't send any wrestlers to last weekend's University of Northern Iowa Open. This weekend they will have a full line-up for Duals.\n"We had some injuries and some guys we needed to get healthy," Goldman said about the week off. "It was an opportunity for us to get healthy both physically and mentally and address some situations, so it was productive."\nSenior Brady Richardson said while the week off was a much-needed break, he is ready to get back on the mat.\n"Personally I needed (the week off) a lot, because I had a few injuries here and there," Richardson said. "It was a long week really. It seems like you don't have much to work for so I'm glad that we're competing again."\nAfter first- and second-place finishes in the Hoosiers' first two tournaments of the season, Richardson holds a 9-2 individual record and is ranked No. 8 in the 197-pound division. He said the second place finish in the Nov. 26 Mat Town Invitational left some room for improvement. \n"You want to build for first places all the time," he said. "You've just got to learn from your mistakes and go from there. If you lose, as long as you learn something from it, it's OK."\nThe Duals will be the first time the Hoosiers compete in Bloomington this season.\n"It's always an important meet, especially to get the crowd involved to get them out there and see us wrestling and see us competing," senior defending national champion Joe Dubuque said. "But I think it's going to be more important because we're wrestling in Assembly Hall and it's our first home meet since last year when we had probably our best year in a long time."\nDubuque enters the Duals with a 4-0 record following a first place finish at Mat Town, an effort that helped him retain his No. 1 ranking in the 125-pound division.\n"We try to focus more on our guys and what we're doing as opposed to our opponents," he said. "I think in this situation, we're trying to get the most of our athletes individually in their efforts. As the season goes on, we'll look more at specific match-ups, but right now our big concern is to make sure the guys we put on the mat are wrestling to the best of their ability."\nThe Hoosier Duals is the first of a stretch of duals for IU during winter break before starting the Big Ten season Jan. 20 against Ohio State.
(12/02/05 2:33pm)
On Nov. 27, IU placed 13 wrestlers at the Mat Town Invitational. For the University of Northern Iowa Open this Sunday, the No. 16 Hoosiers already know they will not have as many grapplers place. That is because IU is using this weekend to rest up and will not be sending as many wrestlers to compete. \nIU coach Duane Goldman said the Hoosiers will not be sending any of their regular starters to the Open, but rather will send a few backups to represent the team.\n"We're mainly using this weekend to heal some of our starters, and we'll send some of our less experienced athletes up there to gain some experience," Goldman said.\nThe break comes at a good time for the Hoosiers who finished first at the Mat Town Invitational but not completely unscathed.\n"We've had a couple of good weeks of competition, but we're banged up a little bit," Goldman said. "So we need to get in a good week of training and get healthy again. Over the next couple of weeks, we have six dual meets coming up so we need to be healthy for that."\nGoldman also hopes he can use the week off to address a couple of things the Hoosiers can do to improve for their upcoming meets, including the Hoosiers Duals Dec. 10.\n"What we took out of the Mat Town was that we had a lot of guys be able to get in there and find some success," he said. "But by the same token it definitely provided a lot of situations for us to improve upon both as a team and individually, so we want to use this week to focus on those and then prepare for our dual meet"
(11/16/05 11:54pm)
After a successful season, many teams use the offseason to rebuild and repeat the success they had the previous season. \nThe IU wrestling team, which finished ninth in last season's NCAA tournament is different. Rather than rebuilding, it has renovated its team in an attempt to finish stronger and has earned a No. 10 preseason ranking.\n"We have good talent back and some good young talent coming in," IU coach Duane Goldman said.\nThe Hoosiers open their season Sunday in the Missouri Open, where they will face some of the elite teams in the nation including Illinois, the University of Missouri and the University of Oklahoma. IU had strong showings at both the Eastern Michigan Open Nov. 5 and the Michigan State Open this weekend, but both matches were unattached and won't go on the official record.\nOne of the key returners for the Hoosier grapplers is senior Joe Dubuque, back to defend his national title in the 125-pound division. Dubuque is also looking to become the fourth Hoosier to earn three-time All-American honors. The senior realizes those he wrestles against will be looking to take him down, but this is a position he enjoys being in.\n"I've had an 'X' on my back my whole wrestling career," Dubuque said. "I love that guys are working hard just to beat me, and that makes me work harder, just knowing that guys are thinking about me."\nIn addition to Dubuque, the Hoosiers have three other seniors on their roster, including 197-pound Brady Richardson, a two-time national qualifier, 149-pound Isaac Knable, another national qualifier last season and Nick Spatola who will compete for a starting spot in the 141-pound division.\nThe seniors will lead a young Hoosier squad that makes up a top 10 recruiting class.\nGoldman said he thinks that the seniors, specifically captains Richardson and Dubuque, will be able to lead the freshmen and show them the ropes of wrestling at the collegiate level. \n"They're both hard workers with great attitudes," he said. "And I think they should be ready to lead the team."\nMost of the freshmen will be redshirted because of the Hoosiers' depth, but Goldman is confident some of last season's redshirt freshmen will be able to compete as Hoosiers for the first time.\n"They have talent. They'll be in the lineup this year," he said. "We'll wait to see how they mature and how they contribute to the team."\nThese young Hoosiers will have somebody that had success in their position to look up to. Sophomore Brandon Becker will return to the 157-pound division after finishing fifth in NCAA tournament and becoming an All-American as a freshman.\n"They're not necessarily looking up to me but what I did as a freshman," Becker said. "Maybe they can do it their freshman year too; they don't have to wait to get older to get All-American, just get it out of their way freshman year and look for a national title."\nBecker feels the leadership of the captains will also be something for the freshmen to look up to.\n"Dubuque is a national champion; that's huge," Becker said. "He did it his junior year, so anyone can do it if they put in the hard work. Brady Richardson has an amazing work ethic; the guy never stops. Everybody has their own little niche, and he's a really good leader."\nThe Hoosiers had a total of five national qualifiers last year, but Goldman said he hopes even more of his grapplers will be there this year.\n"If they're wearing an IU singlet, they need to be at that level," Goldman said.
(10/20/05 4:45am)
Unless you have spent the last week in a cave, you've probably seen a replay or at least heard about it.\nOf course, I am talking about the non-out call on the White Sox's A.J. Pierzynski's strikeout in Game 2 of the American League Championship Series. Plays like this are why we need instant replay in baseball. \nAnd when I say we need, I mean starting next season. It is obviously too late to change the rule for the World Series, but after a call that might have cost the Angels the pennant, one would think Major League Baseball will have no choice but review its instant replay policy.\nI know a few of you are saying, "but the White Sox won the last three games, so it is a non-issue." I'm not knocking anything Chicago has accomplished in the ALCS, or the whole season for that matter, but let's just say for a moment Pierzynski is called out. And the Angels end up winning Game 2. They are up in the series 2-0 heading back to Los Angeles. Momentum would make it difficult for the White Sox to rebound from a deficit like that. But then again, anything is possible after the 2004 ALCS.\nSpeaking of the Red Sox-Yankees series, I would have thought baseball would have at least looked into introducing replay after what happened in Game 6 of last year's ALCS. If you remember, the umps had to hold a conference to get the correct call on two separate occasions during the game. \nThe first one gave the Red Sox's Mark Bellhorn, who until that point I had given the well- deserved nickname "Bellhorn the Rally Killer," a three-run home run in the fourth. \nThe second one took place in the eighth inning when A-Rod slapped the ball out of Bronson Arroyo's hand. Both of these times the umpires ended up making the correct call, but what if they hadn't?\nIt would have added another chapter to the misery of Red Sox nation, the Curse of the Bambino would still exist and every time the Red Sox and Yankees met on Fox, Tim McCarver would continue to name drop the Bambino every chance he got. I would have thought this would have been enough to make MLB push for instant replay. Apparently I was wrong.\nBaseball purists' biggest argument seems to be that baseball has never had instant replay, so why have it now? That's the same argument used by those against the National Football League introducing instant replay a few years ago and I think for the most part, people will agree it hasn't hurt football. \nWe need to understand that umpires are human and will make mistakes. For the most part, umpires will make the correct call, but instant replay is to make sure somebody doesn't lose an important game on a call they should have gotten. \nMany times it takes big game controversy for a league to change its stance on something like replay. Game 2 of the ALCS provided that. Now hopefully baseball will learn from it.
(04/13/05 5:10am)
On a spring evening, a number of IU students arrive at Woodlawn Field and begin tossing a Frisbee around. They appear to be at ease with each other, laughing as they toss the disc. Calamity Jane, IU's women's club ultimate team, is getting ready to start practice.\nThe team will compete in the Central Plains Sectionals this weekend at Purdue. Although most of the other sectionals determine who moves on to regionals, there are so few teams in the Central Plains sectionals that everyone from that sectional will be able to move on to the Great Lakes Regional Tournament May 7 and 8 at Ohio State. However, senior captain Kelli Whall said it is still important to do well this weekend so the team can get a good seed for regionals, where it will be missing its seniors for the first day because of graduation.\nIf the team finishes in the top two of the Great Lakes Regional, it will go on to play in the Ultimate Players Association College Championship in Corvallis, Ore., from May 27 through May 29.\nFreshman Juliette McNamara feels the team has a good shot at success in the nationals, she said.\n"We're a really strong team, and I think we can accomplish what we want," she said.\nThe team reached the nationals three seasons ago but has fallen in the regionals both seasons since. Graduate student Mary Graham said the team is hungry to get back.\n"I think we have a really great opportunity," she said. "Everybody wants it so bad, mostly because we can see our potential, and it's really good."\nAside from competing against other schools' club teams, Calamity Jane also participates in many fund-raising and community service activities that include parking cars for basketball and football games, selling flying discs and working with the Boys and Girls Club of Bloomington. Senior Emily Neumann, who is also a captain, said the team is an A club sport and must participate in a certain number of activities to keep that status.\nFor the most part, Calamity Jane is run by the captains, Neumann and Whall. Calamity Jane had a coach for a while, but she moved to Indianapolis a few years ago.\n"She still talks to us every once in a while and helps us out," Neumann said. "But pretty much me and (Whall) run the practices." \nThere is a callout for the team each fall, and everyone can play. \nMembers of the team became involved in the sport in a variety of ways. \nNeumann started playing ultimate Frisbee when she was in high school.\n"I went to a small, liberal school, and the men had a Frisbee team," she said. "I wanted to play either club ultimate or lacrosse, and the lacrosse boys wouldn't let me play. So I started playing Frisbee with the boys my freshman year in high school. The ladies that did come out, we all started a team."\nNeumann was able to convince Whall, who lived on her floor freshman year, to come out as well. Whall said she had never heard of the sport and would not have thought about coming out for the team if it weren't for Neumann.\nMcNamara became involved through the Residential Programs and Services sports fair this year. She signed up for several activities, but Calamity Jane was one of the only ones to respond to her. Much like Whall, she never expected to get involved in ultimate Frisbee. She ran cross-country in high school and expected to join a running club.\nGraham played separately from the team one day on Woodlawn Field, where the team practices, and was spotted by Neumann, who convinced her to play for Calamity Jane. Graham said she is glad she came out for the team.\n"Everyone is so cohesive because everyone has such a great time," she said.\nMcNamara agrees.\n"It's really laid back, it's a really good atmosphere," she said. "Everyone's really friendly. This sport's just really fun, and you get to meet a lot of new people."\nNeumann said playing with this group of girls is a lot of fun.\n"We have a great group of girls," Neumann said. "We have fun when we're winning, and we have fun when we're losing -- obviously more fun when we're winning. But it's a great group of girls, and everyone is friends outside the team."\n-- Contact Staff Writer John \nWustrow at jwustrow@indiana.edu.
(04/08/05 5:37am)
Calamity Jane, the IU women's ultimate frisbee club team, will play host to the Wild Women of the Midwest tournament this weekend. The tournament will start 10 a.m. Saturday and continue at 9:30 a.m. Sunday at Evan Williams Field on the corner of 10th Street and the 45/46 Bypass and at North Fee Lane Fields at 17th Street and Fee Lane. \nEight teams will compete in a round-robin tournament with two pools of four teams Saturday. In addition to Calamity Jane, teams from Michigan State, Purdue, Northwestern, Hope (Mich.), Michigan, University of Chicago and St. Louis University will take part in the tourney. Each team will play the teams in its pool once in addition to one cross-over game. For Sunday's games, a bracket will be set up based on the results from Saturday's games, and then the quarterfinals, semifinals and finals will be played.\nThe team likes its chances for the tournament. Senior captain Emily Neumann thinks many of the new players are starting to step up.\n"We had a rebuilding year last year so we got a lot of new rookies, and now they know what they're doing" she said.\nSenior Kelli Whall, who is also a captain, said while the Janes will play some tough games, she thinks they will do alright.\n"There's going to be a lot of tough competition with some of the teams coming this weekend." Whall said "But I think we will finish at least in the top three."\nTeam member freshman Juiliette McNamara agrees with Whall.\n"We have a lot of really good players and we've been practicing really hard," she said. "The competition's going to be really hard, but I think we'll do well. I think there will be a lot of good games."\nThe Wild Women of the Midwest tournament will be the first time that Calamity Jane plays at home. Graduate student Mary Graham said she hopes that the home team advantage will work in helping the Janes have a successful tournament. \n"We always have to travel like five plus hours away," Graham said. "Since it will be here and there will be so many people here to cheer us on, I think it will be really, really exciting for us."\nThe tournament will be Calamity Jane's last tune-up before the team gets ready for April 16.\n-- Contact Staff Writer John \nWustrow at jwustrow@indiana.edu.
(03/11/05 5:58am)
The NCAA Basketball Tournament Bracket will be announced Sunday, and teams across the country will be crossing their fingers. \nMillions of Americans submitting their brackets into various pools will inevitably follow this Monday. \nBut one problem IU students might face when setting up these pools with their friends is that the tournament starts during spring break. Because many people go away during break, collecting their friends' brackets might prove difficult for IU students. However two IU students, Nick Barfell and Bobby Ullery found their own answer to this problem with the Web site www.buildabracket.com, which is part of their business, Ullery/Barfell LLC.\nSenior Barfell and junior Ullery created the site based on the popularity of the tournament both at IU and across the nation.\n"I just knew it was something college kids liked," Barfell said. "I just wanted to give a fun free game for kids. I came up with the idea, and Bobby had some experience with Web sites, so I asked him. We went from there, and now we're a business."\nBoth Ullery and Barfell have participated in NCAA bracket pools, Ullery said, which prompted them to start the Web site.\n"We had participated in some hand-written brackets in the past with 10 or 12 people," he said. "We decided it would be a good idea to make a Web site to do the same thing but on a bigger scale."\nAlthough they started the site at IU, Barfell said that so far the site has had people join from all across the United States as well as from more than 40 different countries.\nWhile people can set up their pools with their friends on the site, they can also win prizes competing with other entrants. Prizes include iPods, Mini Macs and possibly March Madness tickets.\nUllery said BuildABracket has features other sites might not offer.\n"First, the one-click selection is easy to use," he said. "Second, you can customize your own bracket background and print it out; not many sites will let you do it. Third, we will not spam you; a lot of Web sites will collect your info and you'll get 80,000 junk e-mails."\nBuildABracket also takes a new approach to giving out points. Points are still given out for correct picks ranging from 20 points for a correct first-round pick to 4,860 for correctly picking the national champion. In addition to getting the points for correctly picking the winner of the games, users also get five bonus points for referring a friend to the site, and five more if the friend signs up. They also get one point for clicking on the ads and 100 points if they sign up or buy what is being advertised.\nThe bonus points are meant to help pay for the site and the prizes, Barfell said.\n"We give points for a right pick," he said. "Since it's a free site, the way we pay for the prizes is the advertisers. It's not a substantial amount of points, it's based mostly on the picks but (the advertisements) might help."\nAnother aspect of www.buildabracket.com that makes it different from other sites is its charity auction. Barfell and Ullery contacted about 40 different schools to see if they would be willing to donate anything. They were about to abandon the auction part of the site when former IU basketball player and current Iowa coach Steve Alford donated a signed basketball.\nBarfell and Ullery use a variety of different ways to advertise their site that include Google, word of mouth and www.thefacebook.com. Barfell said that they estimate they will reach 500,000 people and from that hope 5,000 join this year. \nAs for their business Barfell and Ullery have big dreams in continuing to expand from just the NCAA bracket.\n"Right now, it's just the bracket, but it could branch out to other things," Barfell said. "Definitely the NCAA every year, move to golf events, basically anything you can put a bracket on, really, like NASCAR events, NBA finals or baseball games."\nUllery said that while the site currently focuses on sports, the two founders hope to branch out into other aspects of computer programing.\n"We are going to expand into as many sports as we can," Ullery said. "Many sports don't have brackets so were just brainstorming what we can do. We're going to try to expand to software and Web site development. We're just trying innovate things and upgrade. We're not trying to reinvent the wheel."\n-- Contact Staff Writer John Wustrow at jwustrow@indiana.edu.
(03/07/05 5:42am)
The IU club hockey team ended its run for the team's first-ever national championship with a 3-2 loss to host Oakland University Friday night. The team finished 1-2 in a round-robin tournament in the American Collegiate Hockey Association Div. II National Championship in Rochester, Mich. last weekend, failing to qualify for the semifinals round.\nThe team started the tournament with an 11-6 loss to Utah State in the first game but bounced back with an 8-7 win over Siena, winning on a Peter Johnson goal 7:27 into overtime. Junior forward Reed Schafer said the first two games were much different than the third game, which was against Oakland.\n"We were able to score a lot of goals in the first two games," he said. "But the power play really didn't have a lot of chances to capitalize (in the Oakland game). I think we relied on our offense a lot this last year."\nSchafer said he felt the high scores in the Utah State and Siena were not typical for the IU team.\n"In our first two games we weren't as committed to defense as we normally have been," he said.\nThe loss to Oakland ended a season that saw the Hoosiers finish with a regular season record of 21-8-2, including a 12-2 run to enter Nationals and earn a No. 1 seed in the southeast region.\nThe ACHA Div. II nationals were divided into sections and decided by round-robin elimination. Oakland won IU's section and eventually lost in the national championship to Michigan State.\nEven though the team didn't reach its goal of winning nationals, it still was able to take away some positives from the season.\n"I think everyone was pretty happy with how we did throughout the season," said Schafer, who had three assists in the tournament, all in the Utah State game. "I think we peaked a couple weeks too early in terms of how we did second semester. Things didn't go our way in nationals starting with the first game, but I'm happy with the progress we made throughout the season. We meshed really well."\nFreshman forward Dan Karlander agreed.\n"We obviously didn't accomplish what we wanted to in the tournament, but overall (the season) was defiantly a success," he said.\nBecause of the team's youth, the team feels it will be able to build up its experience from the tournament this year and use it in years to come.\n"Experience is a big factor," Karlander said. "There were not too many people who were playing (in nationals) for their first time, but we have a lot of people coming back."\nSchafer said the fact that much of the team's core will be kept intact is important in the team improving on its performance for next year.\n"We're going to put our team together for next year," he said. "It looks like it's going to be the same type of team, with a few changes in terms of guys leaving the team and the possibility of getting some new guys. It's very positive for our progress towards next year and it lets us know we have a good chance (of going to nationals) next year, and not doing the same thing we did this year."\n-- Contact Staff Writer John Wustrow at jwustrow@indiana.edu.
(03/01/05 4:41am)
The seniors on the IU club hockey team played their last home game Friday night, but their careers are not over yet. The 21-8-2 team leaves today for the American Collegiate Hockey Association DII Nationals in Rochester, Mich.\nThe team is a No. 1 seed in the southeast region and will face Siena, Utah State, and host school and defending national champion Oakland in a round-robin first round tournament. If they win their bracket, they will move onto the semifinals Saturday morning. The championship game will be played later that evening.\nThis year marks the 12th time ever and the 11th straight year that the team has made it to nationals, something the team hopes will help them. The team has been to the championship game three times, in 1995, 1998 and 2000, but has never come away with the title.\n"I think it helps a lot," said IU coach Richard Holdeman of the team's experience at nationals. "This particular group of guys is fairly young. But it does help, as a staff we've been there a lot of times, so we know what's going on, so we kind of know what the routine is."\nThe team has been on a hot streak since January, going 11-2 since the semester started. However, they lost a 4-3 overtime game to Michigan in the first round of the Great Midwest Hockey League tournament in Ann Arbor, Mich. Although the loss was disappointing, Holdeman said the team still found hope in it.\n"Of the top five teams in the league, all of the games were decided by one goal, and three of them were in overtime," Holdeman said. "Obviously we didn't come out on top there, so we know there will be at least four teams at nationals that did better than us (at GMHLs). I think the thing we realize, though, is that those are the top teams in the nation, and we're not far off."\nThe team bounced back this weekend by sweeping Kentucky, including a 5-2 win Friday night in a game filled with penalties for Senior Night at Frank Southern Ice Arena. Even though the team was successful in this game, they still want to try to cut back on the number of penalties in the national tournament.\n"We like to play physical but not get sucked into all this bush-league play (the Kentucky team) brought to the rink," sophomore forward Matt Henderson said. "We're more of a finesse team, and if we stay out of the box, there's no one that can beat us."\nRavensberg stresses the importance of playing a clean game.\n"We need to stay out of the (penalty) box," senior forward David Ravensberg said. "When you play a man-down or you play four-on-four, the opportunities become less because less people play. We're a good five-on-five team, we like to roll the lines, so when you take that away, we kind of take the advantage of being a deep team and shorten the bench."\nOverall, Holdeman likes the team's chances with his group of players. Dan Karlander is only a freshman but is second on the team in goal scoring.\n"He's had a great first year, and he's a great two-way player," Holdeman said of Karlander's performance this year. "He also plays good defense in the zone, too, as a forward. He's just a real smart player, and we've been really happy with him."\nThe Hoosiers also have received a lot of help from junior forward Reed Schafer, who won the regular season GMHL scoring title with 27 points in 12 GMHL games.\n"He's obviously the driving force in our production," Holdeman said. "There have been some games that we really needed a goal, and he came through with one, so we depend heavily on him."\nHoldeman likes that although Schafer has stepped up all season, the Hoosiers have been getting support from many different places. Seven different Hoosiers racked up 20 points or more during the course of the regular season.\n"As the year's gone on, we've started spreading out our scoring more, which has taken the pressure off (Schafer)," Holdeman said. "When you come into a game and you're the leading scorer, you know the other team will be keying you, but we got more guys scoring now, so they can't just shut down one guy."\nThe team also will enter the tournament with two goaltenders who will be able to step up: Jim Hugill and Brian McCormick, who are both sophomores.\n"You can't make it through a tournament that long and not use more then one guy," Holdeman said. "We're just going to have to see what we think is best at the time on which guy to play when."\nOne of the toughest games in the first round for the Hoosiers will be against host school Oakland 7:30 p.m. Friday. The team hopes to control the home crowd, and this is something the Hoosiers think they will be able to do.\n"They'll definitely have a home-crowd advantage," Henderson said. "But it's a big rivalry. No matter what, we'll come to play, so I don't think we'll have a problem with their fans."\nRavensberg agrees it's a winnable game.\n"I don't think we're an underdog by any means," he said. "But our backs are against the ropes, and we'll need a lot of character to persevere through a game like that."\nHoldeman said the team just needs to play their game when they face Oakland.\n"Last time we played them, we tied them, and we beat them," Holdeman said of the Hoosier's two games against Oakland in November. "It was two really high-scoring games, but when you score a lot of goals on the other team, you really take their fans out of it."\nHoldeman also felt that although it is important for the Hoosiers to get goals onto the board, they need to focus on keeping the puck out of their own net.\n"We're averaging between five and six goals a game," he said. "If we can play good defense and keep the score down, I think we'll have a good shot."\nJunior defenseman Bill Ravensberg, who is David Ravensberg's cousin, agrees. \n"If we play hard, we should be able to win it," he said. "That's what it all comes down to: just working as we can."\n-- Contact Staff Writer John Wustrow at jwustrow@indiana.edu.
(02/23/05 6:25am)
For the most part, fishing is a recreational activity that rarely involves too much competition. Once in a while, however, competitive fishing teams will sprout up. IU has its own bass fishing club that competes against other schools in the area and in the Big Ten.\nThe club started at IU in 1987, and IU was the first school in the country to have a college bass fishing club, said Club President Kipp Bolin.\n"From what I've heard, it was just a bunch of people that got together and liked to fish," Bolin said. "They got together and formed a club and would just go fishing together."\nAfter a couple of years, one of the members of the club transferred to Purdue University and founded his own bass fishing club there.\nToday, the IU club has about 30 people. The number has declined since two years ago when Bolin was a freshman, when he said about 50 people participated.\nBolin blames the decrease on a "lack of knowledge about the club," he said.\nThe group has a few competitions with other schools in the next couple of months. One of its biggest events will be against Purdue for the Minnow Bucket, for which both schools compete every year. The Minnow Bucket will take place March 25-27 on Raccoon Lake, north of Indianapolis. Bolin is optimistic about the club's chances of beating this year after its showing in last fall's Big Ten Classic.\n"We got third place at the Big Ten," Bolin said. "For the Minnow Bucket, we'll hopefully win and get the bucket from Purdue."\nAnother competition takes place the first weekend of April against Wabash College, Ball State, Tri State and Purdue.\nThe competitions last for eight hours and are split into four-hour segments. Each boat will have two fishers from different teams. For the first four hours, one person will fish at the front of the boat, where the fish haven't been disturbed, while the other fishes at the back of the boat, where the fish might have been scared away by the boat's movement. After four hours, the two fishermen switch positions. At the end of the eight hours the team with the most collective weight of fish wins.\nThe club's current home lake is Lake Monroe, but Bolin said he is looking for a new lake. One possibility is Lake Patoka, which is by Jasper, Ind.\n"The fishing (on Patoka) is a lot better these days," he said.\nIn addition to fishing in competitions, the club is also involved in both community service and fund raising efforts. One way members help with Lake Monroe is a roadside cleanup of State Route 446 by the lake. Members of the club have also volunteered at the Bloomington Recreation & Sports center, teaching children fishing safety and helping with casting competitions there. They will also fund raise for the club at the Indianapolis Boat, Sport, and Travel Show, which runs through Sunday. In addition, Bolin said the club works to recruit sponsors, who donate money and fishing equipment. \nBolin said the club is not all work. He said the competitions are a lot of fun. \n"A lot of it's just hanging out and having a good time," he said.\nBolin is hopeful to get more people into the club. The club fee is $15 per semester, and members should get involved and stay as active as possible so that they can earn points to compete in the tournaments. Anyone interested can contact Bolin at kijbolin@indiana.edu.\n-- Contact Staff Writer John Wustrow at jwustrow@indiana.edu.
