SPORTS
- Inside the Huddle
- Volleyball falls in two conference losses Lori Bero
- Men's basketball has high hopes for returnees Ryan Clarke
- Men's soccer has 'most disappointing loss' Brett Morgan
- Alumni run home Kaelena Incinelli
Inside the Huddle
 James Leslie Sophomore, Education |
 Chris Price Junior, Civil Engineering |
 Will Merriam Sophomore, Accounting |
 Ross Brooks Senior, English |
| Question 1: With the rankings in flux this season, who is the best team in college football? | |||
| Although The Ohio State is undefeated and ranked No. 1, they aren't the top team. Either Kentucky, South Carolina or LSU because their conference is tough. | I would have to say Florida. They have a strong, Heisman caliber quarterback in Tim Tebow. | The University of South Florida. They have been the most consistent team, and their offense pulls them through in tough situations. | University of South Carolina is the best. If UF isn't No. 1, then the old ball coach certainly is. GO COCKS! |
| Question 2: Will the Jaguars finally seize the AFC South Monday night? | |||
| I think it will be a really good game. It will be close, but as long as the Jaguar defense shows up, I think Jacksonville will pull it out. | I think the Jaguars will beat the Colts. They have a strong defense that will be the difference. | I see us coming out strong. I think we use the same game plan from last year, where we controlled the game on the ground with Drew and kept Manning off the field. | Yes. After Peyton Manning throws for three touchdowns, they will seize, suffer a heart attack, and their hopes of a championship will die with them on the field. |
| Question 3: How improbable is the Colorado Rockies' run to the World Series? | |||
| I've been rooting hard for them, and if you consider the run the Detroit Tigers made recently, I kind of started to expect it. | Growing up a big Colorado Rockies fan, I've really been excited about their run. Some fans may have doubted them, but I always kept the faith. | It is definitely a nice run. It's new and refreshing to see new teams make an impact. | What's more improbable is people caring about the World Series 20 years from now. Seriously, it's not a sport if you can't run and chew tobacco at the same time. |
| Question 4: What is it going to take to beat the New England Patriots? | |||
| Somebody is probably going to have to break Randy Moss' leg or Tom Brady's arm. | It is going to take a team with a really strong defense, because their receivers look unstoppable right now. | To stop them, a team has to have a great pass rush to disrupt Brady. | It will take a balanced offense. Coaches will need to attack both by land and sea, and keep an eye peeled for Paul Revere. |
Volleyball falls in two conference losses
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Marshay Greenlee takes a backcourt hit in game against Lipscomb University Oct. 12. The Ospreys lost to Lipscomb and Belmont University. |
A 3-0 loss to Lipscomb University Oct. 12 and a 3-1 loss to Belmont University Oct. 13 summed up the weekend for the University of North Florida volleyball team.
Game three against Belmont ended with 15 ties and six lead changes to give UNF (4-18, 1-7 A-Sun) its one win over Belmont.
UNF recorded 13 errors in game two and hit -.051 to give away their early lead. Belmont then went on an 11-3 streak to take them game out of the Osprey's reach.
In game three, UNF turned a 20-15 Belmont lead into a 20-20 tie. The game continued to be neck-and-neck until it was tied at 34.
Freshmen middle blockers Marshay Greenlee and Kaley Read blocked a Belmont attack to bring the Ospreys to a 35-34 lead. Senior opposite hitter Claire Yonutas scored the game-winning point with an ace.
In the 23-30, 21-30, 34-36, 22-30 loss to Belmont, Read set a new season high with 16 kills. Read also accumulated three service aces and four blocks.
"We played a really good game," Yonutas said. "We fought really hard, but just couldn't get critical plays our way. We're playing a lot better. Every weekend we seem to improve in something."
Eleven kills and 18 digs gave senior outside hitter Maegan Weisert her 37th career double-double and fourth of the season.
UNF, led by junior middle blocker Bary Rasmussen with five blocks, also had its highest block total in eight games during the match against Belmont.
"Our defense was the best part of play tonight," Yonutas said. "We played a really scrappy game today."
Despite two late leads, UNF came out 21-30, 23-30, 25-30 against Lipscomb.
Rasmussen led UNF against Lipscomb with nine kills and a .353 hitting percentage. Weisert led the defense with 20 digs.
However, the Ospreys could not match up to Lipscomb, which had four players with double-digit kills.
"We want to improve on intensity," Yonutas said. "We seemed to let down at points, and that's when other teams took off and we couldn't catch up sometimes."
The Ospreys will play non-conference Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University in the UNF Arena Oct.17 at 7 p.m.
Contact Lori Bero at sports@unfspinnaker.com -- PERMALINK -- TOP OF PAGE
Men's basketball has high hopes for returnees
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Chris Timberlake (top) and James Grimball (bottom) compete against Stetson in 2007. They will return for the 2007-08 season. |
Three seniors - James Grimball, Chris Timberlake and Gallo Cham - were ushered into the spotlight a year ago by surprise. Now it's their time to lead.
Cham missed most of last year due to academic suspension. Can he make it back onto the floor?
Grimball's bio was in the center of the team's media guide last year, and through the last 19 games of the 2006 campaign, that's exactly where he was on the court: the center of attention. The six-foot-eight-inch Grimball averaged 13 points and nine rebounds over that span. Prior to that, Grimball had recorded just one career double-double over his three-year career, which saw the Jacksonville native twice injured in his sophomore and junior seasons, where he suffered a hand stress fracture and a season-ending knee injury, respectively.
Weighing 215 pounds, Grimball is the team's biggest and most legitimate post threat. With the three freshman forwards still learning and competing for the other front-court position, look for Grimball to once again be the center of attention down low for the Ospreys.
In a conference that has had an embarrassment of riches at guard through the years, Chris Timberlake is one of the A-Sun's biggest diamonds in this season's class. One of the premier players at his position in the conference, Timberlake, a native of Miami, has made a truly remarkable adjustment from the easygoing level of Division II to the rough-and-tumble ranks of Division I.
The 6-footer has established a knack for finding the basket. He needs just five more three-pointers to become the school's all-time leader and is just the sixth player in school history to score 800 points (he has 886).
With 29 games left in his storied career, Timberlake's final act will need to be his best if he wants to lead his team to the turnaround that they have been working so hard for.
Cham is human, and just like the rest of us, he is imperfect. Last season, Cham's humanity was affirmed when he was sidelined for the final 19 games of the season after academic issues forced the hand of Matt Kilcullen to wave goodbye to his starting power forward and his former leading rebounder. But even after the 19 games and seven months that Cham had to sit and stew over his suspension, there is still trouble getting him back onto the floor.
The leaping power forward from Gambia, West Africa, missed the team's trip to Canada because his travel visa didn't arrive in time, and he is in the midst of an indefinite leave of absence from individual workout and strength drills for "personal reasons."
With an uncertain status, a lot of missed time, and a heated four-way competition for a piece of a 40-minute game clock, is Cham about to be rendered irrelevant? We will see.
Two players that know what it takes to win at the Division I level are transfers Tom Hammonds and Stan Januska.
With the makings of a professional, Hammonds will finally return to the court after his mandatory one-year suspension and instantly provide a major upgrade to the Ospreys as a swingman, meaning he can play both shooting guard and small forward. The versatile 6-foot-4-inch 200-pounder out of Montrose High School - where he played alongside Kevin Durant - played his first two years of college ball at Eastern Carolina University.
A new coach and lack of playing time ushered the Freshman All-conference USA performer to the beaches of North Florida. A practice dummy no more, Hammonds feels he's up to the challenge of returning to the court as a key member of the Ospreys run-and-shoot attack.
"You don't realize how good something is until it's gone," Hammonds said. "I'm looking forward to it."
Last year, the Ospreys had a penchant for missing the basket, as evidenced by ranking 335th out of 336 Division I schools in points per game and scoring less than 60 points 21 times in a 29-game schedule. This year, however, figures change, as the shooting guard position will receive another significant upgrade as Stan Januska comes into the fold.
Standing an athletic 6 feet 6 inches, Januska shot 34 percent from behind the arc in his freshman season for the Golden Eagles.
Januska puts another double-figure gun in the Osprey back court, but he'll be absent until December due to a stress fracture during pre-season action.
Kilcullen is optimistic, however, about the sophomore's chances of making a full and speedy recovery, so look for the transfer to make an impact once the conference slate begins.
Contact Ryan Clarke at sports@unfspinnaker.com -- PERMALINK -- TOP OF PAGE
Men's soccer has 'most disappointing loss'
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The Ospreys move toward the goal against Stetson University Oct. 12. |
A double-overtime loss Oct. 12 coupled with a one-goal defeat Oct. 14 left the University of North Florida men's soccer team shutout for the weekend.
The Ospreys (4-7-0, 3-3-0 A-Sun) entered the matches tied for first in the Atlantic Sun Conference, but a goal in the 103rd minute by Stetson University and an early goal by Florida Gulf Coast University were enough as UNF was unable to generate a score.
Stetson out shot UNF 17-13, and put in the decisive goal in double overtime after UNF couldn't capitalize on multiple opportunities.
Osprey head coach Ray Bunch felt a break against the Hatters could have made this a distinctly different weekend for his team.
"The ball bounced their way," Bunch said. "I feel that Stetson is the class of our conference, and I was very proud of our effort and performance."
Coming off that defeat, Bunch felt his team endured a hangover they could not afford against FGCU.
"That was the most disappointing loss we have had since I've been here," Bunch said. "We came out completely flat in the first half and we should have been down three or four goals."
UNF gave up one goal to FGCU in the first-half.
In the second half, the Ospreys took seven shots on goal, but could not put any in the net.
"We just need to be more
clinical in front of the goal," Bunch said.
Freshman goalkeeper Andrew Calise had 10 saves total in the two games, and gave up his second and third goals in A-Sun play this season. Calise, who is unexpectedly playing after UNF lost their top two keepers, has responded with four shutouts and a 1.33 goals against average, along with ranking third in the conference in saves per game.
"That is quite a bit of pressure for a freshman to handle," Bunch said.
UNF's next game is against rival Jacksonville University, Oct.17.
Contact Brett Morgan at sports@unfspinnaker.com -- PERMALINK -- TOP OF PAGE
Alumni run home
Alumni show spirit of game is still in them
Whether in corporate work or pursuing a career as a professional athlete, the experience of being a University of North Florida baseball player helps in all walks of life, according to UNF alumni.
A few baseball alumni shared where life has taken them Oct. 14 as they returned to Harmon Stadium to pick up their bats and challenge the resident Osprey team to
a game.
Robert McNeal, a former UNF pitcher, who is no longer playing baseball because of an arm injury that required surgery and brought the end of his career, expressed his appreciation for what the game has done for him.
Currently, McNeal is doing financial consulting in Atlanta. However, McNeal believes baseball still has an impact on
his life.
"I think baseball is pretty helpful for life," he said. "It helps you know how to handle situations and overcome boundaries, because baseball is a game of failure. A hitter who hits .300 is failing seven times out of 10."
Some alumni like McNeal have moved out of competitive baseball, but others like Jeremy Papelbon, are still very much involved in baseball.
Papelbon was drafted out of college and into the minors with the Chicago Cubs.
Playing in the minors is a full-time job, Papelbon said.
"I'm just playing minor league baseball for the Cubs, and that takes up most of my time," Papelbon said. "During the season, I'm up every day playing baseball,
practicing, running and all that good stuff. We spend about eight hours at the field
a day."
His experience at UNF directly helps Papelbon with his full-time job, he said.
"UNF helped me prepare for the minor leagues because Coach [Dusty] Rhodes liked to see his players progress, and that's what a lot of guys do," he said.
In the last couple years, other UNF graduates such as Jared Incinelli, Jake Dixon, John Hodach, Ty Pryor, Jonathan Papelbon and others have also been brought to the minors through their performances at UNF.
More athletes however, have graduated and used the lessons learned from Osprey baseball in the jobs their degrees have earned them.
Even though life has taken them in different directions, both McNeal and Papelbon, along with others, enjoyed returning to UNF to play again on their home field, they said.
"It's great being back," Papelbon said.
McNeal enjoyed seeing all the guys he used to play with the most, he said.
"It's good just to be back and hang out with the guys you haven't seen in a while and see what everybody's doing and where they're at," McNeal said.
The final score of the game was 14-3 with the Ospreys taking the win.
The alumnus said they could not put up points in the first few innings, but eventually put some runs on the board.
Even though the alumni lost, they have taken a lot away from their experiences with UNF baseball, they said.
Contact Kaelena Incinelli at sports@unfspinnaker.com -- PERMALINK -- TOP OF PAGE