Pointers face River Falls; golfers third at WIAC tourney By DON FRIDAY Special to The Gazette Not that it was needed, but a red flag went up in the UW-Stevens Point football camp this week. Homecoming opponent UW-River Falls, 0-3 going into action at UW-Stout last week, put it all together in destroying the Blue Devils, 47-0. Just a week earlier, the Pointers were extended to the limit before pulling out a 24-20 Spud Bowl victory over Stout. The unbeaten Pointers, who are 2-0 in the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference and 4-0 overall, have always had their hands full against the Falcons, who have won the last four meetings, all of which were decided by 10 or fewer points. Kickoff for the annual Hall of Fame contest is slated for 1 p.m. at Goerke Field (Radio Station WIZD, 99.9-FM). Regarded as a prime WIAC title contender with a strong returning nucleus from a team which shared the 1998 crown with UW-SP, Eau Claire and Whitewater, River Falls lost its first three games, two against strong NCAA Division 2 opponents, before being upset at home by La Crosse in their conference opener. Against Stout, however, the Falcons were on top of their game, amassing 398 yards rushing out of their potent wishbone offense and limiting the aerial-minded Blue Devils to 175 yards of total offense. All of the scoring took place in the game's first three quarters. The Pointers, who remained No. 11 this week in the NCAA Division 3 rankings, needed a strong second half performance last week to pull away from stubborn UW-Oshkosh, 22-3, at Titan Stadium. After being held to a 3-3 halftime deadlock, UW-SP took control of the contest, mainly because of a dominating performance by a pro-sized offensive line which enabled running backs Wally Schmitt, Todd Goodman and Lance Gast to control the ball on the ground. The defensive unit was equally impressive, limiting the Titans to 213 total yards, about 60 of which came in a final drive when the issue was no longer in doubt. The Pointers scored on a 38-yard field goal by Jason Steuck in the first quarter, an 18-yard strike from Ryan Aulenbacher to wideout Chad Valentyne in the third period and a two-yard run by Schmitt and a three-yard burst by Tim Rabas, both in the fourth quarter. The UW-SP offense generated 321 yards against the much-improved Oshkosh defense, including 202 on the ground. Aulenbacher, under great pressure from the Titans' blitzing tactics in the first half, completed 8 of 12 second half aerials to wind up with 119 yards. Significantly, the Pointers turned the ball over just once and led in time of possession, 36:28 to 23:32. Player of the week honors went to Kimberly freshman Valentyne on offense, Neenah senior end Mark Fetzer on defense and Fort Atkinson junior Bobby Jonas on special teams. Valentyne had three receptions for 45 yards, including what turned out to be the game winner. Fetzer earned the award for the second time in three weeks after recording four tackles, three solos, in leading a unit which limited UW-O to minus seven yards on the ground in the second half and 71 yards for the game. He also blocked a punt to set up the Pointers' final touchdown. Jonas continued his season long pattern of excelling as the team's long snapper. Golf The Pointers had to settle for a third place finish in the two-day WIAC Tournament held at the Stevens Point Country Club. UW-Whitewater captured championship honors with a 36-hole 715 total, followed by Eau Claire at 718, UW-SP at 732 and Oshkosh at 737. The Pointers' second day total of 361 led the four schools. Leading the Pointers was Chippewa Falls junior Kathryn Carlson who finished fifth in the medalist race with a 176 total (92-84). Nicki Toeppe of Whitewater won the medal with a 169 total (86-83). Other UW-SP scores included a 181 by Rachel Sime (90-91), 187 by Jenny Roder (94-93) and 195 by Brenda Mason (101-94). Retiring UW-SP coach Scott Frazier, who had headed the program since its inception several years ago, shared coach of the year honors with Whitewater's Pat Miller. Pointer senior Kelly Schroeder was named recipient of the Judy Kruckman WIAC Scholar Athlete Award. Soccer A four-match winning streak has moved the Pointers up to No. 20 in the latest NCAA Division 3 poll. Now 5-0 in the WIAC and 9-1 overall, UW-SP whipped conference rivals Eau Claire, 2-0, and previously unbeaten River Falls, 7-1, in action last week. The Pointers are also ranked third in the latest Central Region poll. Defending national champion Macalester (Minn.), which lost to UW-SP, 4-1, last month is ranked fourth in the nation and first in this week's regional poll. Earning player of the week honors for UW-SP were senior forward Laura Gissibl of Brookfield (East) on offense and junior defender Jennifer Schmit of Hartford on defense. Gissibl scored on a penalty kick against Eau Claire and added a goal and assist against River Falls. Schmit keyed the shutout win over the Blugolds and helped shut down two high-scoring forwards against the Falcons. The Pointers face a key battle at 1 p.m. on Saturday, taking on 3-0 WIAC rival La Crosse at the UW-SP Soccer Bowl. UW-SP stays at home on Sunday, meeting St. Norbert in non-conference action, also at 1 p.m. Men's Cross Country Following a 20th place showing in the NCAA Division I Notre Dame Invitational last week, the Pointers dropped to eighth in this week's Division 3 national poll. The Pointers, who were fourth among Division 3 teams entered in the South Bend, Ind. meet, trailed only top-ranked North Central (Ill.), No. 4 Heidelberg (Ohio) and No. 7 Calvin (Mich.). The WIAC is well represented in the national poll with La Crosse at No. 2, Whitewater No. 3 and Eau Claire No. 11. Rhinelander junior Jesse Drake led the Pointers at Notre Dame, placing 40th with a time of 24:57. The strong showing earned Drake WIAC runner of the week honors for the second time in three weeks. Among Division 3 runners, Drake was fourth. There were 23 schools competing, including 13 Division 1 teams. Women's Cross Country The Pointers, who were among schools receiving votes in this week's national poll, finished sixth among seven schools at the UW-Eau Claire Invitational over the weekend. Green Bay (Notre Dame) freshman Cathy Szymanski led UW-SP with a ninth place finish in 22:32, a personal best. It marked the fourth straight week that Szymanski set a personal record and represented an improvement of 2:25 over her first outing of the season. Tennis Impressive outings against River Falls and Stout enabled Oregon senior Tammy Byrne to earn WIAC doubles player of the week honors for the second straight week. Byrne shared the award with teammate Jennifer Oelke, a junior from Sheboygan (North). The tandem played together for the first time this season at No. 1 doubles and posted 8-3 victories against both the Falcons and Blue Devils. It was the first match at No. 1 for Byrne and second for Oelke. Byrne is now 5-0 overall this season while teamed up with Oelke. Pointer singles player of the week honors went to Portage junior Jennifer Derse who helped UW-SP defeat River Falls and Stout by winning her matches in straight sets. Volleyball Denmark sophomore outside hitter Chrissy Klipstine was named WIAC player of the week after posting seven kills in 11 attempts for a .636 percentage in the Pointers' loss to No. 11 ranked UW-Whitewater. She had no hitting errors and two digs.