North Texas Daily (Denton, Tex.), Vol. 98, No. 21, Ed. 1 Thursday, September 29, 2011 Page: 5 of 8
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Thursday, September 29,2011
Sports
Page 5
Sean Gorman, Sports Editor
seangorman@my.unt.edu
reshman goalie embraces leadership role
Bobby Lewis
Senior StaffWriter
With 11 minutes left in the
Mean Green women's soccer
team's victory over Middle
Tennessee on Saturday, freshman
goalkeeper Jackie Kerestine did
what USA Today called one of
the "Hardest 10 Things To Do In
Sports" for the first time in her
UNT career.
In the llthgamewiththeMean
Green, she stopped a penalty kick
from junior midfielder Whitney
Jorgenson to preserve the second
shutout of her UNT career.
"I was really nervous because
it's just really hard to judge which
side they're going to kick to,"
Kerestine said. "They can kick
to the side netting or the corners,
so it's justreally hard to tell which
way they're going to go."
The poise Kerestine showed
is why UNT head coach John
Hedlund said she has performed
like an upperclassman for the
Mean Green halfway through
her first season.
A key part of the freshman's
success is her height. Kerestine
stands at 6-feet-l-inch, making
her the tallest soccer player in the
Sun Belt Conference and the third
tallest female athlete at UNT.
"She comes out on the field,
and the other team looks at her
like, 'Holy smokes,' you know,"
said Matt Montayne, UNT's goal-
keeper coach. "You put her in that
t
Photo by Corrisa Jackson/Staff Writer
Goalie Jackie Kerestine ranks fourth in the Sun Belt Conference with an average of 1.17 goals allowed. The history freshman from Colleyville has started 10 of the
11 games she's played this semester, and at 6-feet-1 -inch, she is both the tallest female soccer player in the Sun Belt Conference.
goal, and it's a real big advan-
tage, her being as tall as she is.
She spreads her arms, and she's
already taking up half the goal."
Early connections
Kerestine was born in Euless
with connections to UNT dating
backfour decades before she ever
stepped on campus.
Her parents met at UNT and
her father, Paul Kerestine, played
nose tackle for the Mean Green
football team in the late 1970s.
"Well, I played a long, long time
ago, so I don't really think that
had anything to do with her deci-
sion to go to North Texas," he said.
"But we just let Jackie make her
own decisions when it came to
that and she chose [UNT]."
Kerestine said she chose UNT
because of her family's connec-
tions with the university and
Denton and so her parents could
watch her play.
However, another UNT
connection makes it seem like
Kerestine was almost destined
to come to UNT.
At Colleyville Heritage High
School, Kerestine took over the
goalkeeper's job in 2009, even-
tually leading the team to 19
straight shutouts as a senior.
When Kerestine was a
freshman, the job belonged
to Mandy Hall, who became
UNT's all-time leader in shut-
outs and saves before grad-
uating after last season.
Kerestine is once again being
relied on to fill the void Hall
left with the Mean Green.
"My biggest thing is that I
definitely want to win confer-
ence," Kerestine said. "I just
want to take this program to
a whole new level."
UNT and beyond
Off the field, the history buff
is majoring in the subject and
wants to teach it after gradu-
ation, but for now, her role is
being a young leader for a 7-3-1
UNT team.
"It's a lot of pressure because
you have to take on a lot of
responsibility" she said. "It's
up to you to tell your defenders
where to go and things like that,
so it's a lot to deal with."
As many UNT opponents
have found out this season, it's
a role she's embraced.
"Jackie really is a sweet kid,"
Paul Kerestine said. "But she's
like a different person when
she's on the soccer field. It's
like some kind of switch goes
off and things change."
ross-country teams to face national powers
Austin Schubert
Staff Writer
The men's and women's cross-
country teams will travel to
Stillwater, Okla., for Saturday's
75th annual Cowboy Jamboree,
America's oldest cross-country
meet.
Facing a field including men's
defending national champion
Oklahoma State and perennial
power Oklahoma, UNT will
compete in its largest meet this
season.
Head coach Sam Burroughs
said the competiton could involve
up to 15 teams.
The men and women will step
into uncharted territory at the
Jamboree as they each add 2km
to their races, increasing to 8km
and 6km respectively.
"The first two meets of the
season were basically preseason
competitions, but this one will
actually count," Burroughs said.
"We've been preparing for the
longer distances, but you have
to wait until the races to see the
effect of the training."
In addition to the increased
distance, the Jamboree course
will include rolling hills and other
obstacles.
"You start out the race going
uphill and then have to run on
loose wood chippings, but I think
the hill repeats we've worked on
all season long have prepared
us for this race," senior Michael
Sandoval said.
The men hope to rebound from
"Our increased
training should
translate over
into our races."
— Michael Sandoval
Cross-country senior
a mediocre performance at the
Baylor Invitational, in which
they finished fourth out of five
teams.
With the return of top runner
sophomore Matt Russ and
In the Baylor Invitational on Sept. 17,
five UNT runners all finished within a
span of just 26 seconds.
increased training mileage,
Sandoval said he believes the
eight men competing will show
much improvement.
"Our increased training should
translate over into our races, but
we have to race smart," Sandoval
said. "I think our guys learned
from going out too fast last meet
and will control their adrenaline
at the start this time."
On the women's side, senior
Sara Dietz will compete in her
first meet of the season at the
Jamboree. After earning All-Sun
Belt honors last season, Dietz said
she is more prepared to compete
than ever before.
"For a long time, I considered
myself middle distance instead
of long distance, but coach
Burroughs has helped me get in
excellent cross-country shape,"
Dietz said. "This will help me
mentally when I feel tired."
Along with Dietz, eight
others look to build off their
first meet and make up for this
week's absence of top runner
senior Ingrid Mollenkopf at the
Jamboree. Mollenkopf, who
will miss the meet to take a test
Saturday.
"Everyone on the team is happy
where we are, but it's clear that
each of them wants to be thebest
on the team," Dietz said. "None
of them are satisfied."
Photo by Andrew Williams / Staff Photographer
Sophomore Matt Russ is doused with a sponge from a physical trainer after he
ran the North Texas Metroplex Opener on Sept. 1. Russ was the first U NT athlete
to finish the course.
aulitics: Win over Hoosiers North Texas Daily
offered glimpse of teams future
Phone 940-565-2851 • Fax 940-565-4659 • Email dailyads@unt.edu
www.ntdaily.com
Opinion
Paul Bottoni
Senior StaffWriter
In recent years at Fouts Field,
there was many a game where
more energy could be found
at a Kenny G concert. The
same could not be said about
the first two games at Apogee
Stadium.
In games against Houston
and Indiana, the Apogee crowd
energy resembled a true college
atmosphere. The two games
provided a glimpse into what
the new UNT tradition could
be in its full potential.
A combined attendance of
49,256 filled Apogee for the
Houston and Indiana games.
It was the largest two-game
attendance figure in UNT
history, surpassing the old
record of 48,708 in 2000 when
the Mean Green played Baylor
and Samford.
That number is, perhaps,
Paul Button i
padded by attendees showing
up to experience the new flag-
ship of UNT football-Apogee-
but students also came in droves
and made themselves heard.
In both games, Houston and
Indiana committed false starts
and burned timeouts because of
the crowd noise.
A rowdy, earsplitting crowd
is what shapes a team's home
field advantage. Apogee was
designed to amplify noise, so
students and fans alike: Make
noise.
For all the progress that was
made, there was one glaring
ssue.
Understandably, fans
thirsting for a victory sometimes
let their emotions get the better
of themselves. Such was the case
following UNT's 24-21 victory
over the Indiana Hoosiers on
Saturday.
Once the final whistle
sounded and the Mean Green
secured its first win since Nov.
13,2010, a good number of fans
- mainly students - rushed the
field in celebration.
This move was a fan code
violation. If the win had been
against a ranked opponent, by
all means storm the field, but
not for defeating a 1-2 unranked
Hoosiers team that nearly beat
the Mean Green after rallying
with 21 fourth-quarter points.
The next UNT home game is
against Sun Belt Conference foe
Florida Atlantic on Oct. 8. Fans
need to continue the tradition
started in the first two home
games. This is not only a new
era for Mean Green football, but
also for UNT fandom.
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Pherigo, Josh. North Texas Daily (Denton, Tex.), Vol. 98, No. 21, Ed. 1 Thursday, September 29, 2011, newspaper, September 29, 2011; Denton, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth209175/m1/5/: accessed March 28, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting UNT Libraries Special Collections.