The NCAA News - Briefly in the News

November 17, 1997

They say that timing is everything, so here's a high-five to the women's soccer team at Northwestern State University.

The Demons had a rough go of it in their inaugural season last year, losing all 19 of their starts. The regular season this year wasn't much better as Northwestern State struggled to an 0-16-3 record.

But the Demons saved their best for last.

Competing in the Southland Conference tournament, Northwestern State shocked No. 1-seeded Stephen F. Austin University, 1-0, on November 7 and followed that up the next day with a 2-0 victory over Southeastern Louisiana University for the league title.

The Southland Conference is not one of the 17 conferences to qualify automatically or participate in a play-in for the Division I Women's Soccer Championship, so the win represented the end of the season for the Demons, who were outscored, 101-11, during the regular season this year.

Goalkeeper Wendy Woodham, who had 10 saves in the final, was named the tournament's most valuable player.

QB joins select company

Missouri Southern State College quarterback Brad Cornelsen stands alone among NCAA Division II football players.

According to the Missouri Southern State sports information director Joe Moore, Cornelsen recently became the first Division II athlete to rush for 2,000 yards and pass for 4,000 during his career. He passed for 122 yards and ran for another 52 against Southwest Baptist University November 8 to bring his career totals to 4,101 yards passing and 2,014 rushing.

The feat has been accomplished only eight times in Division I, and the list of those who have done it contains some impressive names: Steve McNair, Alcorn State University; Brian Mitchell, University of Southwestern Louisiana; Bill Vergantino, University of Delaware; Tracy Ham, Georgia Southern University; Ricky Foggie, University of Minnesota, Twin Cities; John Bond, Mississippi State University; Major Harris, West Virginia University; and Prince McJunkins, Wichita State University.

Cornelsen also could be in line for a 1,000/1,000 year for rushing and passing -- a rare feat in any division.

Family that stays together

The Clark family is making the most of the opportunity to compete in college athletics this year.

Three Clark siblings (Adam in football, Brooke in field hockey and Todd in golf) are contributing members to athletics teams at Worcester Polytechnic Institute this year.

Adam, the oldest, is a graduate student who never played football in high school, competing instead in baseball and soccer. He also played baseball as an undergraduate at Worcester Polytechnic.

"I'd tell anyone they should go out for sports in college," he said. "But the sports have to be secondary to the academics. Combining school work and sports in college is tough. You have to learn to budget your time."

--Compiled by David Pickle

Division II notes

Facilities: The University of Denver named its new ice arena for Joy Burns, a prominent Denver business and civic leader who contributed $1.5 million toward the cost of a sports and wellness complex currently under construction at the school. The Joy Burns Arena is the first facility to open in the Ritchie Sports & Wellness Center. It will provide a home for the university's extensive community ice programs -- which feature youth and adult hockey leagues, learn-to-play hockey classes, special Olympic programs, figure-skating instruction, public skating sessions and tournaments involving thousands of Denver-area residents -- and also will be home ice for the university's men's ice hockey team. The university is a Division II institution that sponsors ice hockey in Division I.

Sports sponsorship: The University of Northern Colorado will add women's softball to its athletics program for the 1999 season. The school previously sponsored the sport from 1959 to 1984, and saw its teams finish as high as second nationally in the Association of Intercollegiate Athletics for Women during the late 1970s and early 1980s.

The University of Tampa will add women's soccer for the 1998 season. The university received a $50,000 gift from an anonymous donor for purposes of beginning the program. It is the second new women's sport at the university since 1996, when the school began a women's rowing program.

Mankato State University will add women's ice hockey for the 1998-99 season. The school noted that Minnesota made girls' ice hockey a championship sport at the high-school level two years ago and that 82 high-school teams are competing in the state this year. The university now sponsors 11 sports for women.

Wayne State College (Nebraska) added women's soccer as a varsity sport this fall. The team, which previously competed at the club level, became the eighth women's sport at the school and 15th sport overall.

Milestones: Patty Dowdell, Texas Woman's University, 100 victories in women's volleyball.

--Compiled by Jack L. Copeland