Sept. 7, 2004
Fast Starts
A number of our fall teams have gotten off to fast starts. The field hockey team, under first-year head coach Kelly McCollum, is 4-0. The team is playing exciting, high-scoring field hockey and could be on track for a high seed when we host the Big Ten Field Hockey Championship this fall. The team is also playing on a new surface this year, as we replaced the old Astroturf this summer.
The men's soccer team is 2-1 and won our North Shore Classic this past weekend. The team beat the College of Charleston 4-0 to win the tournament in a tiebreaker. Sophomore Gerardo Alvarez, last year's Big Ten Freshman of the Year, was named the MVP of the Classic. The team is much more experienced than in previous years, and seems poised to have a strong season.
The volleyball team also is off to a 2-1 start, although the weekend was quite a bit different than originally planned. We were scheduled to play in a tournament at the University of Florida last weekend. By mid-week, though, it became clear that the tournament would have to be canceled due to Hurricane Frances. Rather than not playing any games on opening weekend, teams in the tournament began talking about other sites for the tournament. On Thursday, we informed the other teams that we would be willing to host the tournament, and within 48 hours, the first match of the tournament was held in Welsh-Ryan Arena. Everyone in the athletic department who worked on this tournament deserves special credit for putting on such a fine tournament on such short notice. Despite starting three freshmen, our team won their first two matches, and gave number four-ranked Florida all they could handle in the final match of the tournament.
Although our football team lost a heartbreaker to TCU, the team showed a lot of promise. I thought the team showed a lot of character and heart in coming back. It was also very encouraging to see us pass the ball so well. I was particularly pleased for Brett Basanez, who looked a lot like Brett Favre against TCU. Brett took a lot of heat for our struggles in the passing game last year, and it was great to see him get off to such a fast start. He was named Big Ten Offensive Player of the Week for his performance. He set a school record for most yards passing in a game. Our receivers were also very impressive, especially Jonathan Fields and Mark Philmore.
Football Home Games
The football team has important home games the next two weekends. There are still good tickets available, and I encourage all of our fans to come out and support our team. This year, for the first time, we are offering end zone seats at half price--$15 for the Arizona State and Kansas games--a great opportunity to bring the entire family to the game. At the Arizona State game, we will dedicate the Otto Graham Wildcat Honor Roll. We will also have a special ceremony to honor former Arizona State player and war hero Pat Tillman on the third anniversary of the September 11th tragedy. Although the Big Ten has instituted instant replay on an experimental basis at home games this year, no replay will be used at either the Arizona State or Kansas games, because Arizona State decided not to allow replay and because the Kansas game will not be televised.
Voigts Coach of the Year
At the annual Benchwarmer Dinner in late August, head women's tennis coach Claire Pollard was named the first winner of the athletic department's Bob Voigts Coach of the Year Award. This is a very significant honor for Claire, as the award is determined by a vote of all the head coaches in the Department. Claire led her team to its sixth consecutive Big Ten championship and an appearance in the NCAA's round of 16 last year. Congratulations, Claire, on this well-deserved honor.