UW Gazette, October 29, 1997 by Tony Martins athletics and recreational services It was an upset loss to York in week three of the CIAU season that began a two-game slide for the Warriors football team. And now that they've battled back for a second place OUA finish and the right to host a conference semi-final, guess who's coming to dinner? That's right: the Warriors intend to put York on their collective fork this Saturday at University Stadium. Game time is 1 p.m. Payback will be an issue but will undoubtedly take a back seat to a bigger concern: there's a Vanier Cup title available not too far down the road. Last season the Warriors won their first-ever playoff game over Laurier in an OUA semi-final before falling to Guelph in the Ontario championship game. Buoyed by that experience, the Warriors clearly intend to take it further this time around. Should Waterloo beat York, they'll play the winner of the other semi-final involving Western (1st overall) and Guelph (4th overall) the following Saturday. The Warriors earned the right to host a semi-final with a convincing 27-0 win over the previously #4 ranked Guelph Gryphons on Saturday at University Stadium. Waterloo used a balanced attack and a suffocating defence that forced seven turnovers to dominate a Guelph team that is now backing into the playoffs after two straight defeats. Tailback Jarrett Smith ran for 95 yards to set a single- season OUA rushing record. Smith, who was given a Warrior Athlete of the Week honourable mention, totalled 1,275 yards over the regular season, eclipsing Tim Tindale's previous mark of 1,208. Tindale is a Western grad now playing for the NFL Buffalo Bills. Encouraging for the Warriors was Ryan Wilkinson's good day in the air. The UW quarterback looked sharp in completing five of 11 passing attempts for 48 yards. The swarming Warrior defence, meanwhile, held Guelph's smooth-throwing Nathan Body to just 195 yards in the passing column and picked him off twice. The Guelph ground game was nowhere to be found. They totalled just 42 rushing yards. Arek Bigos kicked five field goals for UW, including a 45-yard effort. Tickets for Saturday's big game are priced at $7 for adults and $5 for students. Advance tickets are available from Wednesday to Friday at the University Stadium box office (9 a.m. to 4 p.m.) or at the UW athletics office in the PAC (8:30 to 4:30). Athletes of the Week Amy Adair, Athena field hockey A third-year science student, Adair led UW to a strong second-place finish at the OUA championships in Nepean this weekend. Adair played tremendous two-way hockey as Waterloo defeated Carleton and Western by 2-0 scores before falling 1- 0 to Toronto in the finals. Adair was named an OUA all-star and will be named a first-team All-Canadian for the third straight year later this week. Sheldon Zimmerman, Warrior squash In his first squash sectional at the university level, Zimmerman won all of his matches on the weekend, propelling UW to a second-place finish in the west sectional. A first- year engineering student from Toronto, Zimmerman played as UW's #2 seed and defeated counterparts from Brock (3-0), McMaster (3-0) and Western (3-2). Honourable Mention: Jarrett Smith, Warrior football. Smith ran for 95 yards in the Waterloo win over Guelph on Saturday, setting a new single-season OUA rushing record in the process. Smith finished the regular season with 1,275 yards, eclipsing the previous high of 1,208 set by Western Ontario's Tim Tindale in 1991. Varsity Cross-country The Warriors placed 7th and the Athenas were a disappointing 13th overall at the OUA championship races Saturday in Windsor. Leading the way for the Warriors was Jeff Wilson, 33rd overall in 33:28. The other four scoring runners for UW were Phil Dempsey (38th in 33:39), Stephen Drew (46th in 33:56), Alastair Lawrence (47th in 33:57) and John Lofranco (48th in 34:04). On the Athena side, Lynn Coon ran a fine race and placed 27 overall in 18:58. Unfortunately her teammates were further behind: Ellen Schappert (66th in 20:14), Ame-Lia Tamburrini (67th in 20:15), Blanka Sharma (68th in 20:24) and Shauna Ellis (73rd in 20:35). The men's team title went to Windsor, while Guelph prevailed on the women's side. Both UW varsity cross country teams are young and should return intact for next season. Athena basketball The Athenas used some dynamite defence to hold the Carleton Ravens to just eight second-half points in a 64-32 exhibition victory on Sunday at Laurier. Spurred by Jodi Hawley's 17 points and Jacalyn White's 16, the Athenas led 30-24 at half-time but easily pulled away in the second half for the blow-out win. This weekend the Athenas travel to Sudbury for the Laurentian tournament. Warrior basketball In their first action against CIAU opponents, the Warriors fell to Carleton and beat the host Gee-Gees at a tournament in Ottawa this weekend. On Friday night Dan Schipper scored 19 and Mano Watsa 16, but UW dropped the game 94-84 to the Ravens. Mark Eys contributed 10 rebounds in the loss. On Saturday in the consolation final, the Warriors got 24 points from tournament all-star Mano Watsa and 14 from Derek Maat as they beat the Gee-Gees 75-67. Mike Stroeder and Dan Schipper each had 10 rebounds in the game. The Warriors host the York Yeomen tonight at 7:30 p.m. in the PAC in an exhibition warm-up for the Naismith Classic, slated for November 7-9. Athena field hockey The Athenas fell just short of recapturing the Ontario championship glory they enjoyed in 1995-96, but fell 1-0 to Toronto in the OUA finals on Sunday in Nepean. Toronto scored in the 6th minute off a penalty corner, but Waterloo recovered and out-played U of T for much of the half. In the second half much of the play took place in the mid-field and neither team could find the net. Coach Sharon Creelman said the Athenas played well enough to win and noted that the shots-on-goal tally was even. The loss, however, ended the Athenas' season as they did not receive a wildcard bid to the CIAU championships. The Athenas advanced to the finals with strong 2-0 defeats of both Carleton and Western on Friday and Saturday. OUA second-team all-star Joanne Fernandes has a goal in each of those games. The team's leading performer was three-time All- Canadian Amy Adair, who was named Athena Athlete of the Week for her dominant two-way hockey. Bernice Willemse was named an OUA first-team all-star, while Sara Crieghton was named to the second team. Warrior hockey The Warriors began their regular season with a 3-2 overtime win at Ryerson and a 3-3 draw at Brock on Saturday. On Thursday in Toronto, UW scored with five seconds left in the overtime period to record the win. At Brock, Dave Pfohl's power play goal at 12:08 of the third period evened the affair at 3-3. Overtime went scoreless. Brock had taken a 3-2 lead when Dan Bassi scored at 6:05 on a penalty shot. Mike Devereaux and Greg Fullerton also scored for UW. Warrior rugby The dominant Warriors survived a scare in the OUA Division II semi-final against RMC on Saturday. The score was 0-0 at half-time as RMC was hanging tough, but UW opened it up in the second half and won 27-0 to advance to this Saturday's OUA final versus Carleton. The final is slated for 1 p.m. at Columbia Fields. Against RMC UW's top scorer was Dale Finlay who recorded two tries and a convert. Varsity swimming Both Warriors and Athenas came up short in a tri-meet against Laurentian and McMaster in Sudbury on Friday. The Warriors dropped dual contests with Laurentian, 212 to 119, and McMaster, 232 to 119, while the Athenas fell 207.5 to 204.5 to the Voyageurs and 250 to 84 to the Marauders. Key performers for the Warriors included Anthony Tham, who was second in the 100 and 200 freestyle, and Alan Lee, who placed second in the 50 breaststroke, third in the 100 breaststroke and fourth in the 200 breaststroke. Athena top performers included Val Walker, who swept the 50, 100 and 200 breaststroke events, Jen Pells, who finished second in the 100 fly, and Courtney Mitchell, who placed third in the 100 and 200 backstroke events. This Friday the swim teams are at the WLU tri-meet. Warrior volleyball The biggest volleyball event in the PAC in 1997 begins Friday when the Overkill Warrior Classic gets underway. The five-team event will feature three squads ranked in the CIAU top 10: the Sherbrooke Vert et Or, the Dalhousie Tigers and the Manitoba Bisons. The Warriors and the York Yeomen round out a powerful field. Matches are slated for 10 a.m., noon, 2:30, 5:00 and 7 p.m. on Friday and Saturday, while the bronze and gold medal games go at 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. respectively on Sunday. The Warriors are slowly returning to full health and hope for a strong showing at the Classic. Waterloo plays 7 p.m. feature matches on both Friday (versus Manitoba) and Saturday (versus Dalhousie). Tickets are $7 for a two- or three-match session or $15 for a tournament pass.