Volleyball drops third straight
Jennifer Tavlian | Sports Editor

After defeating Eastern New Mexico on Friday at the Lone Star Conference Crossover Tournament, the Zias  exacted revenge Monday night on MSU’s court.
This is the Lady Indians’ third straight loss as they fell to ENMU 30-27, 30-27. 20-30. 30-22.
Abbi Meyer led MSU with 13 kills.
Kate Pence and Rachel Gilmore had 12 and 11 kills respectively.
Whitney Johansen finished with 45 set assists.
Margie Goble led the Zias with 43 set assists and Anna Bellum earned a math-high 15 kills.
The Lady Indians’ one win in the LSC Crossover Tournament was followed by losses to Texas A&M-Kingsville and West Texas A&M.
The Javelinas of Kingsville won 30-24, 30-22, 30-27 and West Texas A&M took a 29-31, 30-21, 30-22, 30-16 victory.
Johansen had 37 set assists against West Texas and Melissa Minus led MSU with 13 kills.
Meyer and Gilmore finished with 10 kills each.
The 8-11 Lady Indians open conference play on Thursday at 7 p.m. when they host Texas Women’s University.


Men split weekend matches
Jennifer Tavlian | Sports Editor

For the last two seasons, the Indians have met Incarnate Word in soccer's regional final.
On Friday night, the Crusaders had MSU's number as they won 2-1.
The first half found both teams scoreless until Jimmy Krueger scored on a header tossed in by Chris Pickle in the 62nd minute.
Less than two minutes later, Incarnate Word evened the score at 1-1 when Matt Peterson assisted a Terry Alvino goal.
The score would remain tied until Monday Atigo kicked in the game-winner with 19 seconds left.
The No. 1-ranked Crusaders advanced to 7-0-1 overall and 6-0-1 in conference play with the win.

MSU 5, St. Mary's 0
The Indians rebounded from the loss to Incarnate Word by shutting out St. Mary's on Sunday, their sixth shutout of the season.
MSU spread the scoring around, allowing five players to score.
Jimmy Krueger scored in the 27th minute off an assist by Chad Rakstraw, giving him his fourth goal of the season.
Just three minutes later, Greg Daley scored on a penalty kick.
The second half featured goals by Ricardo Box, Daniel Brown and Kyle Kmiec.
The Indians improve to 6-2 overall and 5-2 in the Southwest Soccer Conference and will host Colorado Springs at 7 p.m. on Friday.

Offense Responsible for Wins
David Roach | Staff Reporter

I have a hard time believing the whole idea of, “Defense wins championships.”
Any gamer who has a true passion for sports, like myself, undoubtedly owns or has played a demo of Madden NFL 2005 and heard Ray Lewis utter that very phrase in the opening sequence of the game.
On the contrary, though, it is the offense putting points on the board about 99.9 percent of the time in order that the team can win championships.
Unless team A’s defense, in football for instance, scores on a fumble or interception return and holds team B to less points than A’s defense scored, and A’s offense does not score enough points to make any sort of difference in the outcome of the contest, it is impossible for the defense to win a championship or any game for that matter. I mean, come on, a championship is a game too – just a more important one.
For example, a baseball team’s bullpen may be pitching a shutout, but that team will not win until its offense scores a run.
A soccer game will either end in a tie or when someone scores the final goal in a shoot-out, and the same applies to hockey.
A basketball team may not have allowed the opposing team to score, but at some point someone has to make a bucket if the team wants to win … and so on, and so on, and so on.
It is not the defense’s job to win – period. I think any coach would be foolhardy to rely solely on his or her defense to win a game. Sure, as in the extremely rare instance I mentioned earlier, the defense might be able to squeak out a few on its own accord.
However, that team certainly will not win any championships, because it would be lucky to even get the opportunity.
No. It is the defense’s job to defend. It is the defense’s job to give the offense the chance to do its job and score, so the entire team can win.
Let’s talk about the football games our beloved Indians have played so far, for example.
They have lost just one game, and it was clearly because our offense could not get the job done. Heck, our ‘D’ was awesome, but it was forced to spend the majority of the ballgame on the field and eventually wore out.
The Indian defense has done a tremendous job this season without question, but the wins have come when the offense has done its job as well.
A great defense sure makes the offense’s job easier and can save a game. But, with all due respect to the Pro Bowl linebacker, his Ravens will go nowhere if they can’t put points on the board.
Defense does not win championships – but a good one certainly helps out a lot, though. 


Indians Pummel Rams 41-13
Jennifer Tavlian | Sports editor