The Belles hope to turn the tide and claim victory against MIAA foe Trine Tuesday after a week-long losing streak.

Saint Mary’s (3-11) has lost five straight matches with its last win Sept. 18 at the Manchester Invitational tournament, and recently suffered a 3-0 loss to Alma on Friday and a 3-1 loss to Adrian on Saturday.

The Thunder (6-11) have extra motivation to come out victorious as they lost their last conference match to Adrian on Sept. 21. Nevertheless, Belles coach Toni Kuschel remains focused on what her squad needs to do to win.

“We are focused on what we need to do as a team on our side of the net to be successful,” Kuschel said.

Kuschel said she hopes for her team to play a well-rounded match, especially on defense and serving, two areas in which the Belles have fallen short often this season. Saint Mary’s had a critical seven service errors and five blocking errors in their loss to Adrian and three to Alma’s zero in Friday night’s loss. The Belles were also outmatched in the service ace category by both opponents this weekend.

“We will need to serve tough so they will have a harder time running a fast offense. We will also need to be successful putting runs together on defense,” Kuschel said. “We have struggled with that the last three matches.”

The Belles will also strive to edge Trine on Wednesday in the non-statistical and more intangible aspects of the match.

“We need to find our offensive rhythm and we need to start to make more good decisions with the ball,” Kuschel said. “We know that we did not communicate well this past week and we know that we did not play to our full potential. If we find our focus and have fun playing together there is no doubt that the rest of our season can be a successful one.”

Saint Mary’s will travel to Angola, Ind., to take on Trine tonight at 7 p.m.

This season the Irish bring a large group of fresh faces to their lineup, as freshmen make up half of the eight-woman team. Among them is freshman and Mishawaka native JoHanna Manningham, who began her career at age 10 and has not put down the racket since.

“I grew to love the sport because it was a fun pastime yet it also provided a competitive outlet as well,” Manningham said.

Throughout her high school career at Penn, she served as a role model both on and off the court, taking AP courses, holding a GPA over 4.0 and holding the position of No. 1 singles player at her high school since her freshman year. She remembers the highlight of her career there as her state run sophomore year when she made it to quarterfinals.

“That was probably my most memorable moment,” she said.

She hoped to attend U. Notre Dame for years, but was unsure if her game was up to par with the University’s competitive team.

“Playing in college was always on the table; I never thought about not playing,” Manningham said. “I was looking at Navy, Toledo, IPFW and Wheaton College, but I chose ND because it provided the best educational opportunities. I knew if I came here I would be part of a ‘family’ after I graduated.”

Now that her dream has come true, she’s ready to run with it. Manningham’s first test will come this weekend at Notre Dame’s Eck Classic, the first meet of the fall season.

“This tournament will be different because in high school there was a difference in the level of play between area schools. Here everyone will be good,” she said.

But Manningham does not plan to let the new level of competition bring her down.

“I plan to bride the gap by stepping up to the plate and not having the fear of losing, only the desire to win,” she said.

Looking to coaches and fellow teammates is made easy with such a small, close-knit team who provide good resources in the early stages of the season.

“We all get along so well and it made the transition into college very easy. I wouldn’t ask for it to be any other way,” Manningham said.

Two tournaments into the season and the Irish are still searching for their first win after another second place finish Tuesday. After a close runner-up finish at the College of Charleston Invitational, U. Notre Dame entered the Fighting Irish Golf Classic at the Warren Golf Course this week looking to defend last year’s first place but finished runner-up to No. 15 Iowa.

Irish coach Jim Kubinski acknowledged the frustration, but said he was still impressed with his team’s effort.

“That’s two seconds in a row where we either had the lead or a share of the lead,” Kubinski said. “The guys are doing well to put themselves in good positions to win, so I’m happy about that.”

Notre Dame remained tied with the Hawkeyes after the first two rounds, but Iowa was too much for the Irish down the stretch, firing a 286 final round to finish with a 13-over 853 for the tournament.

Notre Dame shot a 292 third round to finish with 19-over-par.

“I would say that we played OK, but they played really well,” Kubinski said of the Hawkeyes. “They won their first tournament by a wide margin. They outplayed us and they deserved to win.”

Despite the finish, Irish fans can draw encouragement from the play of junior golfer Tom Usher, who finished in a tie for first in last year’s Big East Finals but struggled at the College of Charleston invitational. On the Warren Course, he fired a two-over-par 212, good enough to tie for seventh place in the individual standings.

“I was pleased to see Tom back,” Kubinski said. “We expect his scores to count just about every time.”

The Irish count on the contributions of Usher throughout the season, along with fellow juniors Max Scodro and Chris Walker and freshman Niall Platt.

“We need those three juniors,” Kubinski said. “Along with Niall, those four guys are our cornerstone.”

The fifth scoring member of the Notre Dame squad at the Fighting Irish Golf Classic was senior Connor Alan-Lee. Left out of the starting lineup at Notre Dame’s first tournament, Alan-Lee shot a 15-over-par 225 for three rounds.

“I couldn’t have been more pleased,” Kubinski said of the senior’s performance. “I was very proud. At no point did he quit battling.”

Next up for Notre Dame is the Firestone Invitational in Akron, Ohio at the Firestone Country Club on Oct. 11-12.

As usual, the Irish will enter expecting to compete for a win, and coach Kubinski believes Tuesday’s finish will only add to the team’s desire to win.

“This finish is extra motivation. They’d like to go tee it up at Firestone tomorrow,” he said.

Bridgeview, Ill., will be the neutral site of a grudge match Wednesday night as the Irish look to exact their revenge on Northwestern U. The Wildcats have knocked the Irish out of the NCAA Championships in two consecutive seasons, although U. Notre Dame leads the series 12-3-1.

“Northwestern have had our number,” Irish coach Bobby Clark said. “They’ve knocked us out in the second round of the NCAA’s two years in a row. That’s really all you need to say. They’re well-coached and they play good soccer. Clearly, they’re a team that has a lot of credibility both in the Midwest and nationally.”

The clash between the Irish (3-2-2) and the Wildcats (3-4-0) will be played under the bright lights of Toyota Park, home to the Chicago Fire of Major League Soccer. Clark said that the neutral site game between Midwest powers will act as a showcase to alumni and fans in the Chicago area.

“We thought a nice answer for this game would be to play on a neutral ground,” Clark said. “It’ll give our alumni and our fans in the Chicago area a chance to come out and see the team. We hope for a nice turnout. There’ll definitely also be a lot of Northwestern fans at the game.”

The Irish are coming off of a 1-0 weekend victory against No. 18 St. John’s at Alumni Stadium in which the Irish found the offensive rhythm they had been seeking in recent contests.

“We had nine shots on target and we outshot them 18 to seven I think,” Clark said. “There were a lot of positives from that game. The only negative is that we didn’t score more goals, but you’ve got to credit the St. John’s goalkeeper who made three great saves.”

Clark emphasized that in order to preserve their form on the offensive end of the field, the Irish need to believe in their preparation rather than focusing on the goal drought against Michigan and Michigan State Sept. 17 and 19.

“I don’t think we’ve ever really played poorly in a game, with the exception of Michigan State where we came out flat,” Clark said. “We’ve got to continue to play well. We’re not really doing anything different offensively, we just have to believe in the way we do things.”

The Irish will look to build off the St. John’s win as action gets underway against the Wildcats in Chicago on Wednesday at 7 p.m.

With the announcement earlier in the week that the Irish will play Wake Forest next season to complete the 2011 slate of opponents, talks of U. Notre Dame’s scheduling practices have, as they do every year, begun. And, with the team’s 1-3 start against three tough Big 10 teams and a strong Pac 10 contender, some want to question whether this type of schedule gives the Irish the best chance to win.

Brian Kelly isn’t one of those people.

“It will be a strength having a schedule like this moving forward,” the Irish coach said at his Tuesday press conference. “I think with our spring and summer preparation, coming into the year [in the future] we’re going to be further ahead when we play tough competition right out of the gates. Maybe it’s not showing right now, new offense, new defense, new special teams. At times we’ve been sporadic.

“But I’m still not in favor of throwing [Football Championship Series] teams in there. I still feel like we should be playing the kind of schedule we’re playing, and I think it’s going to pay off for us.”

Don’t knock on Wood

While sophomore running back Cierre Wood hasn’t been able to duplicate the explosiveness he displayed in the opener against Purdue, Kelly said he and his staff still love his potential.

“We’re still really high on Cierre Wood,” Kelly said after releasing a depth chart that listed senior Robert Hughes, not Wood, as the No. 2 running back. “This is not ‘let’s push Cierre to the side.’ He’s a young kid now. … This guy’s got four games and everybody wants to throw the poor kid under the bus. I think he’s going to be a really, really good player. He just needs time.”

Kelly did address the elevation of Hughes, who saw his first game action against Stanford and made two catches for 43 yards.

“On of the things that Robert can do and utilize against [Boston College Saturday] is he’s a big, strong, physical kid and he may be able to help us a little bit in pass protection,” Kelly said.

One other depth chart note: freshman wide receiver Bennett Jackson, who has made five special teams tackles through four games, is now listed as an “or” at the kick return slot, which has been a relative disappointment thus far.

“Bennett Jackson is somebody that’s doing a great job in all the other areas of special teams,” Kelly said. “So we want to obviously try to get the ball in his hands as well.”

Night test

Saturday’s game against Boston College will be Notre Dame’s second night game on the road this season, as the Irish kicked off their loss to Michigan State at 8 p.m. two weeks ago. Having already experienced a night game on the road in a tough environment should help the Irish against the Eagles, Kelly said.

“Our last time on the road, I thought our kids handled the emotions of the game, the atmosphere, very well,” Kelly said. “We expect to do the same thing. We want to make a couple more plays than we did against Michigan State, in terms of the last time being on the road.”

Just as the Irish haven’t changed their general approach to a road night game, Kelly said his team has maintained the same sort of attitude in its preparation after three straight losses.

“There is no difference in where we are from this week to last week, other than we’re all wanting to win a football game. Everybody has got the same feeling,” he said. “Look, I coach and I teach. That’s what I do. And I’m going to coach and I’m going to teach motivated student-athletes. If you’re not motivated to be coached or taught, how am I going to teach you?

“So our guys understand what that means, and they’ll come to practice ready to win and ready to be coached and taught.”

Coach Pat Fitzgerald is getting tired of talking about Northwestern U.’s running back situation.

“I’m looking forward to the day when you move on to something else,” Fitzgerald told the media at practice Tuesday.

Unfortunately for Fitzgerald, until the Wildcats finally prove they can run the ball, plenty of questions linger about the backfield.

“I’m not going to talk about who I’m going to play and when I’m going to play them and where I’m going to play them,” Fitzgerald said. “We’re going to play all of our running backs. How does that sound?”

While Fitzgerald may be ready to change the topic, the running back situation is once again in the spotlight for NU after Fitzgerald altered the depth chart.

Listed in the first team running back spot are both junior Jacob Schmidt and redshirt freshman Mike Trumpy. Sophomore Arby Fields and senior Stephen Simmons share the second team position. Past depth charts listed Fields and Simmons as sharing the first string and Schmidt as the second stringer. Trumpy was not even on the depth chart.

Trumpy’s rise onto and to the top of the chart comes after he ran 12 times for 54 yards on Saturday in NU’s 30-25 win over Central Michigan.

“(Trumpy) stepped up when he got his chance and he ran hard,” junior quarterback Dan Persa said.

For Trumpy, who saw action earlier in the season when NU had games well in hand, the game against Central Michigan was his first opportunity in competitive play.

“Mike ran with an attitude,” Fitzgerald said. “He ran hard and was decisive.”

Fitzgerald said that some of the runs that were most impressive were plays in which Trumpy only picked up a yard or two.

“Those were his most productive runs because we didn’t set ourselves behind the chains and there’s a big difference between second-and-12 and second-and-8,” Fitzgerald said. “Those four yards are huge in whether or not we can be successful.”

Fitzgerald said plays where Trumpy gained a few yards against Central Michigan had gone for losses in previous weeks, although he did not specify another running back.

In practice Tuesday, Trumpy and Schmidt split time with the first team offense and occasionally both played when the Cats practiced dual running back formations. For Trumpy, this week has been his most extensive time with the first team in practice.

“I did get some reps (before this week), but not a significant amount,” Trumpy said. “I just had to continue to be ready and just stay focused and keep working.”

With four running backs on the depth chart and Fitzgerald’s stated commitment to play them all, there is certainly competition for carries.

“We’re all competitive people, competitive athletes and we want to be that guy to be on the field making the plays,” Schmidt said.

While Trumpy took a redshirt last year, Schmidt is used to a crowded competition to be the number one back, though he said this year’s is different from last year’s contest.

“It definitely seemed to be more specialized last year,” Schmidt said. “Third down was kind of my down. We had Arby (Fields) and Scottie (Concannon) on first and second. This year, it’s more who’s doing well that day, who’s seeing the holes, who’s making the plays.”

When the Cats travel to Minnesota this Saturday, it will be a golden opportunity for one – or several – of the backs to step up and take the starting job. In a 34-23 loss to Northern Illinois last week, the Golden Gophers gave up 304 rushing yards, including 223 yards on 15 carries to Northern Illinois running back Chad Spann.

“We’re excited. (Spann) proved that they can be run on,” Schmidt said. “That’s our goal. To come out Saturday and shove it down their throat.”

There was never any need to hype the Northwestern U. – Notre Dame matchup.

Facing one of its fiercest Midwest rivals in the midst of an uncharacteristically rough start to its season, senior forward Matt Eliason said that NU is keenly aware of the season-changing potential of the game.

So perhaps it’s fitting that when the Wildcats take the field against the Fighting Irish Wednesday night, the stadium as well as the stakes will loom a bit larger. For the first time in program history, NU will play a regular season match at Toyota Park, home of the Chicago Fire of Major League Soccer.

“This game was always going to be important to us,” Eliason said. “One game can change an entire season so playing it at that stadium against a team like Notre Dame is going to make it even more of a pressure situation, but also just a great opportunity.”

NU (3-4) may be a stranger to the venue, but it is certainly no stranger to high pressure matches against Notre Dame (3-2-2). The two teams have faced off 17 times, with Fighting Irish winning 12 of those contests. But NU has seized the most important games recently, knocking Notre Dame out of the second round of the NCAA tournament for the past two years. This game will mark the first time that NU and Notre Dame will face off in the regular season since 2000.

Coach Tim Lenahan said it will be good practice for a potential NCAA tournament appearance, where they would likely face the Fighting Irish in regional rounds.

“Notre Dame is the more established program obviously,” Lenahan said. “But we’ve really begun to close the gap over the past couple of years.”

The gap may be more imposing this year than ever before, with NU starting one of its youngest lineups in program history. Last Sunday’s matchup against a veteran-powered No. 11 Michigan State saw NU playing timidly at the opening of the game and conceding its second own goal in as many games.

Senior defender and captain Cody Stanley said that the slow start to the season has been surprising, especially for a senior class not accustomed to losing this early on.

“It’s definitely strange for us to be losing at this point in the season,” Stanley said. “But as seniors we’ve got to be responsible for helping the team, and particularly the younger guys, to turn that around. This game will really test that.”

If NU is going to pass the test it will need a bit more luck up top. The Cats have gone scoreless in their past two games, and Eliason has found the back of the net just once this season on a penalty kick that cemented him as NU’s all-time leading goal scorer.

“Obviously it’s frustrating not to be scoring as much as I would like,” Eliason said after NU’s loss to Michigan State on Sunday. “But I can’t let that get to me. Sometimes it’s also about setting other people up if I am not getting the goals.”

Junior forward Oliver Kupe has been NU’s best hope up front. Kupe has pitched in a team-leading three goals this season and has provided a much needed distraction against defenses that double-team Eliason.

Kupe got his first big offensive break against Notre Dame in the second round of the NCAA tournament in 2008. The then-freshman scored two goals, the first in his collegiate career, to lift the Cats over the Fighting Irish 2-1.

Whether it’s Kupe or a younger player, Lenahan said the Cats will need someone to step up and do what has proven elusive in the past two games: finish.

“It does come down to making plays,” Lenahan said. “The last few years we have been able to do that against Notre Dame. This year we are going to need to do that again.”

The Evanston Police Department received the 2010 Community Policing Award from the International Association of Chiefs of Police, according to an IACP news release last week.

As one of four winners in categories distinguished by population size, the EPD is an example of “community policing at its best,” the news release noted.

This is the first time EPD has been selected for the award since the accolade’s creation in 1998, said Todd Miller, the director of IACP’s Community Policing Committee.

“We don’t give out an award just to give an award,” Miller said, adding that no agency serving populations between 100,001 and 250,000 residents met IACP’s expectations for quality.

Miller explained that the award recognizes law enforcement agencies in 140 member countries for exemplary interpretation of community policing, a philosophy that encourages departments to solve problems through partnerships in the area. In two rounds, a total of 37 judges examined the involvement of the entire agency, the relationships developed in the community, the quality of planning, the initiatives taken and the transportability of one agency’s experiences to another organization facing similar problems.

Miller said EPD impressed judges with two programs. The first, crime prevention through environmental design, required EPD members to ask citizens what in their neighborhoods was fostering crime, and resulted in a significant decrease in illegal activity. The second program, the Safer Neighborhood Area Project, focused on improving crime rates on the 1900 block of Jackson Avenue. In 2007, that block generated 1,200 calls for police attention, but Miller said that by working to rebuild trust with citizens, EPD saw a 70% drop in crime.

The EPD will be honored at a private reception for the winners, finalists and specially recognized departments on Oct. 24 and at IACP’s Annual Conference Banquet in Orlando on Oct. 27.

“It’s a great reflection on the Evanston Police Department and the community. It shows the value of partnerships,” Miller said. “Evanston should be proud of their agency.”

Morgan Marlborough added another achievement to her growing list of accolades.

After scoring three goals on just five shots this past weekend, Marlborough was named Big 12 Offensive Player of the Week. The award is Marlborough’s fourth conference award in her career, and the third time this year that an NU player has won a Big 12 weekly award.

Marlborough took the award after giving her team a victory Friday against Texas. Trailing 1-0, the sophomore forward netted two goals in under three minutes to give her team the win. She followed that up by scoring the only goal in the team’s 2-1 loss at the hands of No. 6 Texas A&’M.

So far this year, the Lee’s Summit, Mo., native leads the Big 12 in scoring, while ranking third nationally with ten goals.

Add that to her 21 goals last season, and Marlborough ranks seventh all-time for NU in just her second season with the Huskers.

She will look to continue her success this weekend as Nebraska travels to Baylor and Texas Tech for a pair of crucial conference contests.

U. Nebraska-Lincoln intramural and recreation sports are in full swing this semester, and for medical staff on campus this means it’s concussion season.

Although there is no particular sport that consistently produces more head injuries than others, the importance of education on the issue is stressed for all. Ignoring concussions and their symptoms can be detrimental to health, leading to complications such as loss of memory, mental health issues, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, ALS – or as it’s more commonly known, Lou Gehrig’s disease – and even death.

There isn’t much the University Health Center can do to protect students from cranial collisions, but they can educate students on the proper procedures when one occurs. The health center is conducting a project with the Campus Recreation Center’s Injury Prevention and Care program, said Dr. James Guest, director of the health center.

“There were only 13 concussions in the last year, with three related to sports, reported at the health center,” Guest said. “This new study is meant to delve into the specifics of these injuries.”

The injury prevention center and UHC are working together to come up with new procedures for clinical management of head injuries.

“You’re going full speed and things are going to happen,” said Jay Thomas, a senior majoring in criminology.

Thomas has had three concussions in the last two years. He played starting guard for the Benedictine College football team in Atchinson, Kan.

“One game I was pulling for a block when I met up with an all-conference line-backer and we had head-to-head contact,” Thomas said.

The collision knocked the two out cold, forcing Thomas to sit out of all football activities for two weeks. But head injuries can be more dangerous than that.

According to an article on ESPN.com, “detailed examination of the brain of a Penn (University of Pennsylvania) football player who died from suicide showed he had the same disease caused by hard hits … (The player) was in the early stages of chronic traumatic encephalopathy, or CTE, a disease that has been linked to depression and impulse control, primarily among NFL players.”

Rugby, lacrosse, soccer, flag football, basketball or most any contact sport include the danger of receiving a concussion. The Injury Prevention and Care program sees a concussion once a week.

The Injury Prevention and Care program assists students who get hurt in Campus Recreation programs and facilities.

“For every one concussion that is reported here, there is one that will probably go unreported,” said Michael Obermeier, injury prevention and care coordinator at the health center.

All times of the year can have high reports of head injuries, said Robin Whisman, assistant director of injury prevention and care. Fall and spring are busy but winter is also just as busy, because it’s cold out and people come inside to play.

Typical head injury evaluations at the injury center look at four major aspects: memory, concentration, neurological function and balance. Let it be noted that tests for a concussion are strikingly similar to those used by police officers to determine if someone is driving drunk.

From those tests the injury center can determine whether the student is suffering from a concussion. Specific guidelines are followed to determine when a player can return to activities. If conditions are severe, the center will advise the injured person to seek professional treatment.

Under no circumstances can the player return to play within a week because a second impact concussion may occur, which could result in death. This is something both the Injury Prevention

Care program and the health center are trying to prevent as much as possible. With any symptoms persisting more than 24 hours, reference to a doctor is recommended. Another recommendation is that the student doesn’t go to bed right away and that a friend be designated to watch the concussed individual.

Next Saturday, Oct. 2, officials from the two centers will speak about what they have found in their studies and possibly change both of their protocol for treating concussions.

“Different people exhibit different symptoms,” Whisman said. “Concussions are very subjective and that is why it’s necessary to investigate any kind of head injury.”