St. Louis Post-Dispatch from St. Louis, Missouri • Page 12

sportsextra 30 Sept. 26, 1985 ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH Cathie Burnes Running topper UMSL's Ruth Harker Shuts Door On Goals tadium lun i By Cathie Burnes Of the Post-Dispatch Staff fter playing a year at halfback, Ruth Harker was shifted to goalie by her soccer coaches. reasons for the move, as Harker recalled eight years after the fact, were a bit unusual. "The coaches thought I was crazy," said Harker, a chuckle in her voice.

"So they decided I should be a goalie." A goalkeeper's lot can try a woman's soul. You can be little more than a spectator for 89 minutes, but for one odd bounce, those 60 remaining seconds can be sheer torture. "You go through a lot," said Harker. "You're working hard, then all of a sudden you give up a goal. You've got to pick yourself up, and say that your teammates are going to get it back." The high school coaches who thought Harker had the right temperament for the goalkeeper's job knew what they were doing.

Harker, a senior keeper for the University of Missouri at St. Louis soccer team, is completing a stellar career in dazzling fashion. Earlier this season, she had a streak where she did not allow a goal for 500 minutes, a stretch that included a 1-0 victory over national power Colorado College. "I've had longer streaks," said Harker. "I had seven straight shutouts when I was a freshman but I don't think the competition was as strong as what we've had.

To shut out Colorado College was quite an achievement for me." For her career, the numbers read like this: 55 games, 41 goals allowed, 31'2 shutouts. The half-shutout came Sunday, when coach Ken Hudson pulled her at halftime of the Riverwomen's 9-0 rout of Lindenwood. "Ruth Harker is definitely All-America caliber," said Hudson. "I get comments from other coaches that they think she's one of the best around." Hudson first saw Harker playing for a local amateur team after her senior year at Parkway North. "I saw there was talent," Hudson recalled, "but Ruth decided that she wanted to sit out a year and work.

After that, she decided she wanted to come to school." It could not have worked out better. It was the second season for the budding UMSL program and Hudson had lost both goalkeepers from his first campaign. "I had to get on her because she was the only goalie we had," said Hudson. "But she worked. She made some saves that season that I didn't believe, particularly against North Carolina (a 1-0 UMSL victory) that kept us in the NCAA tourney.

She saved that game for us." For that 1982 season, Harker allowed just 9 goals in 19 games and had 12 shutouts. She did not approach those figures the next two seasons, in part because she was hampered by injuries; in part because she did not have the supporting cast she now has; in part because she and Hudson had their differences. When 1985 bids adieu, Harker will remember it as a very good year. Her Soccerdome team advanced to the United States Soccer Federation finals. She was invited to play in the National Sports Festival, where she made a strong enough impression that she was named to the women's national team.

"We were one of the scrappier teams at the festival," said Harker. "Some of the other teams had players from Central Florida and North Carolina, who are better known. So I was kind of surprised." Hudson wasn't. "She seems to know exactly where the ball's going to be shot," said Hudson. "She has great anticipation.

She's not going to be beat on a rebound. "Because she's so tall (5-feet-10), teams aren't going to beat her high. In previous years, teams have detected a weak side. There isn't one this year." Harker's condition has played a major role. In previous seasons, she would come to fall practice banged up.

It might be a bruised shoulder or a bad leg. Regardless, it would hold her back. Not this year. "She has no pain," said Hudson. "She worked on weights constantly in the offseason and you can see where it has really helped her.

She is much stronger. It has worked so well that we're going to put our other goalies on a weight program in the offseason." Weight work used to be a form of castor oil for Harker, necessary but not terribly pleasant. No more. "I'm doing body-building now," said Harker. "It's not a chore anymore.

I can lift and lift and lift now. It's an outlet for me. It used to be that I could be in an evil mood all day and I'd try to hold it in during practice. Now, I can lift weights right before practice and I'm a lot more relaxed." But not so relaxed that it affects her pregame preparation. "I always get nervous before games," said Harker.

"I used to be that way only before big games and I think that was my downfall. Now, before every game, I picture how I'm going to play, how I'm going to react. Every save is the most important one. I just try to work one minute to the next." The visualization process has been effective. Harker has allowed just four goals this season, all coming in a loss to California-Santa Barbara.

"There was only one that we could fault her on," said Hudson. "She stayed on the line when she could have come out. But she didn't have a chance on the others. "I couldn't ask for anything more from her." If Harker were a male, scouts from every Major Indoor Soccer League team would be flocking to the UMSL Soccer Stadium. But there is no women's professional league.

"It bothers me," said Harker. "But I have gotten so much out of the women's program. It's given me the chance to travel, to meet other people. There's so much you can get from sports, such as learning to deal with other people. There's so much that you can use the rest of your life.

"It bothers me that I can't be a pro, but maybe I wouldn't like it so much if it were my job." ('Ruth Harker (above) is definitely All-America caliber. I get com-merits from other coaches that they think she's one of the best around." KEN HUDSON UMSL women's soccer coach One Of Local favorites Tom Eckelman has discovered that one of the most difficult tasks for him as a race director is to predict a turnout. The St. Louis Marathon had grown nicely every year through 1983 and Eckelman thought that 1,500 would take to the 26-mile 385-yard course last November. Instead of 1,500, 1,100 showed up.

The dropoff in the marathon was part of a trend; smaller fields were the rule rather than the exception in 1984. "A marathon is something you really have to commit yourself to," said Eckelman. "You can't decide at the last minute to just enter a marathon." The reasons for the dropoff? Greater competition for the road-racers' dollar was one explanation. There were opportunities to compete in races sponsored by everyone from the lifers at the Menard Penitentiary to the lovers of fine acting at the Repertory Theatre in Webster Groves. "It may have been that the same people were spread out over more races," said Eckelman, "but I don't think as many people were competing." As he prepared for the seventh annual Bud Light Stadium Run on Sunday, Eckelman wasn't sure what numbers to expect.

With the VP Fair and St Patrick's runs, the Stadium Run has been one of the area's greatest running hits. Yet in 1984, there was a dropoff in that event. When 3,100 signed up, Eckelman was delighted. "That's only 25 short of the best we've had," said Eckelman, former president of the St. Louis Track Club.

"Part of the interest stems from the Cardinals, I think. But older people, women and kids really love it because it gives them a chance to win. I think it is my favorite event of the year." The Cardinals did play a major role, of course. The Cardinals gave general-admission tickets for that day's game to participants. This season, with the Cardinals in a heated drive for the National League Eastern Division title, a baseball ticket is a wonderful perk indeed.

And the runners were treated to perhaps the Redbirds' most dramatic victory of the season. The charm of this event, though, is that the winner is more likely to be a 50-year-old man than a 25-year-old. Handicaps are given to all entrants based on their age and sex. Younger male runners are handicapped by that format and at times have expressed their displeasure. "We base the handicap on national standards," said Eckelman.

"And I think some of the runners are disappointed because they find out they're not as good as they think they should be." There will be those who argue that a world-class runner such as Marty Cooksey who won the event doesn't need any help. "But with 3,100 runners," said Eckelman, "we can't do it on a case-by-case basis." Footnotes: The McDonnell Douglas team of St. Louis took a second and two thirds in the LA Beer Corporate Classic national championship run last weekend in Sarasota, Fla. McDonnell's team of Wendy Halamicek, Stephanie Pisa and Jan Lewenczuk took second in the women's division, a point behind University of California-Berkeley. Halamicek was second overall.

In the men's division, Chevron of San Francisco finished first, followed by Digital Equipment from Boston and McDonnell Douglas. Chase Valkenburg led McDonnell Douglas with a fourth-place finish. IBM of San Francisco won the masters division. Oriyn Skrien of McDonnell Douglas was fifth. The St.

Louis Track Club is sponsoring a 2-mile cross-country run at 9 a.m. Oct. 6 in Jefferson Barracks Park. Signs at the north gate will direct runners to the starting line. The fifth annual Octoberfest 4-mile run and 1-mile fun run will take place at 9 a.m.

Oct. 20 at the Hermann (Mo.) City Park. Hermann is located 85 miles west of St. Louis. Entry fee Is $6 before Monday (Sept.

30) and $7 thereafter. There will be race-day registration. For information, write: Kathy Baumstark, R.R. 2, Box 189C, Hermann, Mo. 65041.

"She has her Ideas and I have mine," said Hudson. "Sometimes, I've had to sit her down and she didn't like it. Heck, if I hadn't, she probably would have had 45 shutouts by now. But she understands." Understand, the numbers weren't that awful. In 30 games, she allowed 28 goals and had 15 shutouts.

And toward the end of the 1984 season Harker began showing outstanding form again. Hudson saw that and decided to make Harker a captain for the 1985 campaign. "We wanted to get her mentally ready," said Hudson, "and she's done it." "It lifted my confidence," said Harker. "People began to look at me not only as a goalkeeper but as a leader. I think you have to have some leadership characteristics to be a goalie anyway, but I think my teammates are looking at me more for support both on and off the field.

"It's just another good thing that has happened to me this year." MSG. Women's Soccer On Steady Course 1 i Kathleen tfa, Nelson 2 I Women's gfcX Sports "I'd take them (in ballhandling) over the men's team. They can hold their own." KEN HUDSON UMSL women's soccer coach I eferences nautical are irresistible when deal-. ing with a team nicknamed the Riverwomen land coached by a couple of folks named tion. But so were other programs across the country.

By 1984, the number of colleges offering women's soccer had surpassed 200. Yet the NCAA was slow to recognize the growth. Division II and III schools are ranked together in one poll, conducted for the NCAA by coaches who are on the advisory board of the Intercollegiate Soccer Association of America. Because UMSL is a Division II school, its No. 12 ranking is all the more impressive.

Meanwhile, things were moving ahead on the home front. "I'd get 30 letters a year from all over the country," Hudson said. "Women were inquiring about our program." But at the same time, schools from across the country began to raid SL Louis-area high schools. Hudson decided that the time had come to "beat the bushes." So be and his assistant coach, sister-in-law Pat Hudson, began to pay calls on area high schools in 1983. "We started looking for speed and ballhandling," Hudson said.

The transition, however, wasn't smooth. Members of last year's team agreed that personality conflicts led to a 12-4 season, disappointing by UMSL standards because the team failed on two counts: to capture the title In the National College Budweiser Tournament and to qualify for postseason play. Both were firsts. "There was no support for each other," said senior back Leslie Mirth, a graduate of Hazelwood East But this season. "There's enthusiasm.

We pull for each other," said sophomore forward Cathy Roche, who attended Rosary. Even when the women have individual workouts to do, Roche said, they are done with a smile. "It's up to us to do our running," she said. "This year, we'll go out on our own. Everybody wants to do it" Hudson set two goals for the season.

The first that the team would earn a postseason berth. The Riverwomen are off to a 5-1 start. "Other teams here have been more controlled than this one," Hudson said. "These girls are hungrier, even if they don't have the skill." He added that their strength was in their ballhandling. "I'd take them over the men's team.

The women can hold their own." The second goal to regain the title in the National College Tournament scheduled for this weekend at UMSL Four first-round matches are scheduled to begin at 2 p.m. Friday. The 12th-ranked Riverwomen expect their toughest competition to come from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, ranked 13th. Madison earned first place in the tournament last year. "We've got something to prove," Hudson said.

"We want that title back bad." The Riverwomen should be on a steady course for the next few years. Of the 23 players on the roster, 18 are freshmen or sophomores. "We're going along well now, and we should be set for the next few seasons," he said. And the NCAA is taking some steps forward albeit tiny ones. Next season, the ISAA will release two weekly women's polls, one for Divisions I and II, the other for Division III.

"It's taking them some time," Hudson said, "but as long as the competition keeps getting better, they can't turn their backs on us." Hudson. Suffice it to say that for the last five years, the course of women's soccer at the University of Missouri at St. Louis and other colleges across the nation has been steady with or without the help of the National Collegiate Athletic Association. The growth of the Riverwomen under coach Ken Hudson reflects the growth of college women's soccer across the nation, although the NCAA has been at least a step behind in recognition of the sport UMSL began its women's soccer program on the club level in 1980. Hudson, who had played soccer for the Rivermen and was coaching the women's field hockey team, decided to pull double duty and coach the soccer club.

"The sport was so popular on the high school level that we decided it was time to join the big leagues," said Hudson. After the success the club enjoyed in 1980. UMSL decided to disband the field hockey program and replace it with soccer. At that time, only 90 colleges and universities had a women's soccer team, and 75 percent of those schools were east of the Mississippi. With little competition for the area's talent, Hudson did no recruiting.

It didn't hurt him. The Riverwomen reached the semifinals of national postseason tournaments in each of their first three seasons. The program was attracting a lot of national atten Sports Letters mess up a game. Baseball Is played one-on-one. If one player is high on cocaine, the whole game is affected.

Frankly, I would rather watch my cat play with a ball of yarn than go to Busch Stadium and surmise which players are straight and which are in that "small minority" of Junkies. Dick Greenblatt Creve Coeur This year was no exception. The final was played on Saturday, as is customary. There was no mention of it at all in Sunday's paper, and only the barest mention in Monday's, where the name of the winner and the score was buried in the story on the men's final; and it was an upset too, since Martina Navratilova had been heavily favored to win. I am well aware of what sportswriters think of tennis, but may I remind them there are a lot of fans out here, and we pay exactly the same price for a paper as the baseball and football fanatics.

And speaking of baseball, for weeks In advance you bombarded us with columns and features telling us Pete Rose was about to break Ty Cobb's record; but after all the hype, it turns out Cobb's record is still better than Rose's, considerably better. Phooey! Mary Ellen Davis SL Louis John Sonderegger's sports comment "A Dad's Dream That Went From Fame To Shame," should be required reading for everyone. That's how good I think it is. Despite the baseball strikes (which I cannot tolerate) and the drug problem (which I consider shameful and disgraceful), I strongly feel that baseball is the greatest game ever invented. And I have 50 years worth of memories as proof.

It is through my display of baseball mementos that I hope to convey to my visitors how tremendous baseball and the Cardinals are, and to show that my love affair with Cardinals baseball comes from the heart not through the nose. Suzanne "Sam Hawkins Hannibal, Me. Why did John Sonderegger have to write that article about Keith Hernandez? Everyone knows about It so why keep harping on what be has done? I know the father wouldn't like the article, so why? Why did you find it necessary to write the tear-jerker? D.CIay SL Louis SATURDAY YMCA of Greater St. Louis Run to the Arch 3.2-, 6.5- and 10-mile runs and 3.2-mile walk. Registration has closed.

SATURDAY Paragon's Run For The Olympics 5-mile run, 8 a.m., Westgate Centre, outside T.G.I. Friday's, 12398 Olive Boulevard, Creve Coeur. Entry fee is $5 before Sept. 26, $6 thereafter. For information, call (314) 878-1660.

SUNDAY The Parkmoor run, 8 a.m., Parkmoor Restaurant, Clayton Road and Big Bend Boulevard. Entry fee is $5 through Saturday, $7 through Sept. 28. There will be no race-day registration. For information, call 434-9577.

OCT. 5 Kirkwood Greentree 2-mile and 5-mile runs, 8 a.m., Kirkwood Recreation Center, Geyer Road. Entries are $5 or $15 for a family. Entries will close at 9 p.m. Oct.

4. For information, call 822-5855. OCT. 6 Wolfpack Soccer Club Oktoberfest 10.000-meter runs, 8 a.m., McKinley School Mall. 1701 N.

Second Street. St. Charles. Entries are $6 if received by next Wednesday. $7 race day.

For information, call Don Hall at 279-1204 or Al Stuhl-satz at 928-4802. OCT. 6 Lutheran Medical Center School of Nursing 3.000-meter scholarship run, 9:30 a.m., Ohio and Potomac Streets. Entries are $5 and must be received by Oct. 5.

There will be no race-day registration. For information, call 577-5850. OCT. 6 St. Louis Track Club 2-mile cross-country run.

9 a.m., Jefferson Barracks Park. Signs at the north gate will direct runners. There will be a $1 fee race day. Fornformation, call 544-0323. OCT.

12 Stroh's Run For Liberty II. 8 a.m.. The Many in Forest Park. Entry fee is $8 if postmarked by Wednesday. $11 thereafter.

There will be late registration from noon to 7 p.m. Oct. 11 at the St Louis Track Club. 661 1 Clayton Road. Suite 200.

or from 6:30 to 7:30 a.m. on race day at The Muny. For information, call 862-SLTC or 727-SLTC. OCT. 12 Ferguson-Florissant School District 5.000-and 8.000-meter runs, and 1-mile walk.

8:30 a.m.. Administration Center, 1005 Waterford Drive. Florissant Entry fee is $5 or persons may enter by collecting $10 in pledges. For information, call 831 -4411. If you would like your run Included in the Running Calendar, write or cal Cathie Burnes at the Poat-Dispatch, 900 North Tucker Boulevard, St Louis, Mo, 622-7597.

The Hernandez Columns I religiously read every one of Kevin Horrigan's columns and I feel like an authority when I say his Keith Hernandez column on Sept 11 was the best ever. He put in words so well what every one of the disillusioned (and former) Hernandez fans felt all along. I never fretted over his departure because I knew Whltey had some hidden reason to release the best first baseman in baseball. Now we know the truth. There is nothing worse than a million-dollar-a-year crybaby.

To Mr. Hernandez I say, it was fun while It lasted. I guess an apology is too much to ask for. On Oct 1 I'll be at Busch Stadium and I hope the rest of the filled house will Join me in booing the New York Mets third-place hitter. Tim Huskey SL LpuIi I consider Kevin Horrigan's sports comments on Keith Hernandez in poor taste.

Don't tell me that Keith has let St Louis down. He has done for St Louis what MusiaL Gibson and Brock have done given us good baseball He did not ask to leave St Louis. Don't tell me he was traded because of drugs. Others on the team were not traded for that reason. You may hate him in SL Louis but boy, do they love him In New York.

Have any Cardinals given us 23 game-winning bits? How far ahead would we be? Thurmood Cooper CUrttvllIe, Me. Roster Fan I hope others are sending you words of appreciation for the regular publication of Cardinalopponent football rosters. I make good use of the rosters, and I know others do also. Two weeks ago I did a lazy, unscientific survey of the left-field bleacher fans and concluded that between one of three and one of four fans were using the Post-Dispatch clip. I think that Is good.

And I think your general sports coverage Is excellent Day after day, I'd describe it as being "big league." Oliver Wagner De Peres Send letters to Sports Letters, co Sports Department SL Louis Post-Dispatch, NO North Tucker Boulevard, SL Louis, Mo. IJ1IL All letters must be signed and Include a return address and telephone number for verification. The Post-Dispatch reserves the right to edit letters for clarity and length. Comments pertaining to the Post-Dispatch sports section should be directed to Executive Sports Editor Bob Pastin or Associate Executive Sports Editor Gary Clark la writing or by telephone Tennis Anyone? Small Minority? Cardinals management has made the statement that only a "small minority" of the players have been Involved with drugs. Their pallid attempt to preserve baseball's Image and Integrity and keep the fans buying tickets makes me nauseated.

It takes less than "small minority" to I wonder if the Old Sport would explain why the women's finals of the VS. Open tennis tournament always gets such short shrift in the sports pages. And I do mean always. 4.