ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, September 19, 1996 TAG: 9609190039
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-4 EDITION: METRO
TYPE: IN THE REGION
SOURCE: FROM STAFF REPORTS
Virginia Tech star forward Ace Custis suffered a lateral sprain of the left knee in a conditioning drill Tuesday and will be sidelined for about a month.
Tech basketball trainer Jimmy Lawrence said examinations Wednesday did not reveal serious damage, but further tests are scheduled. Lawrence said Custis should be ready when practice begins Oct.15.
Custis missed the entire 1992-93 season when he underwent surgery to repair ligament damage in the same knee. Custis led the Hokies with 13.4 points and 9.5 rebounds per game last season.
In other college sports news in the region:
*The Virginia men's soccer team outshot Virginia Tech 17-10 and downed the Hokies 3-0 in Blacksburg. Mike Slivinski, Ben Olsen and Ryan Borst each scored for the Cavaliers (4-0-2). Tech fell to 3-3.
Tech goalie John Sexton made five saves and Virginia goalies Yuri Sagatov and Brock Yetso each recorded two.
*Sophomore forward Karin Treese scored four goals and had one assist as Washington and Lee's women's soccer team beat Hollins 6-0 in Lexington. Cindy Wood made 10 saves for Hollins (2-1).
Treese's four goals and nine points in a single game tied school records for both set last season by teammate Caroline Keen against Mary Baldwin College.
*The Roanoke College women's soccer team rode the outstanding play of senior midfielder Lisa Franzino to a 4-0 home victory over Lynchburg. Franzino had a season-high seven points, scoring three goals and assisting on another for the Maroons (4-2 overall, 2-0 ODAC).
Her three goals placed her eighth on the Roanoke career list, while her assist moved her into a three-way tie for third on the career list with alumnae Allison Mock and Anne Holmes.
*No.18 UNC Greensboro came from behind on two goals by Danica Baker to down Radford in a women's soccer game in Radford. Megan Brooks got the Highlanders (0-4 overall, 0-2 Big South) ahead 2-1 with a goal in the 19th minute.
*James Madison's field hockey team scored three goals in the second half to down Radford 5-4 at Dedmon Center Field. Elizabeth Michinard scored two goals in the first half for the Highlanders (4-3), giving her seven goals in the past three matches.
*Mark Grissom scored the only goal as Randolph-Macon (3-0) defeated Ferrum (1-3) in a men's soccer game in Ashland.
GOLF Senior Shootout
returns to Hot Springs
Nine of the top 11 money winners on the 1996 Senior PGA Tour will be in the 10-man field for the $500,000 Merrill Lynch Senior Shootout Championship, scheduled Oct. 1 at The Homestead in Hot Springs.
The field was completed Wednesday for the return of the nine-hole event for a second year to the famed Cascades course. The one-day competition, in which one golfer is eliminated on each hole, begins at 11 a.m. The champion takes home $130,000.
The top five money winners in the Senior Tour - Hale Irwin, Isao Aoki, Bob Murphy, Jim Colbert and John Bland - will compete. Other players and their rankings are defending Shootout champ Dave Stockton (7), Walter Morgan (9), Jay Sigel (10), Hot Springs resident J.C. Snead (11) and Dale Douglass (42). Douglass is in the field as the top winner in the weekly Shootout series this year.
There is no admission charge to the public, although nearby parking is $10 per car, with free shuttle service to the Cascades course.
The event will be taped by ESPN, with a two-hour show aired on Christmas at 4 p.m. For information on the Shootout, the public may call (800) 838-1766, extension 1.
*Fieldale's Keith Decker will gun for a record fourth VSGA State Mid-Amateur Championship this weekend at Augustine Golf Club in Stafford.
Decker captured the title last year by one stroke over Scott Inman of Springfield. Decker also won in 1990 and '91.
Decker, who hasn't played competitively since winning the AMF-Signet Open in July, will be facing some of the state's finest 30-and-over players, including 1985 victor Tom McKnight of Galax.
The 54-hole medal-play tournament runs Friday through Sunday on the two-year-old layout that measures 6,641 yards.
ETC. Hicks' injury
merely a sprain
Lord Botetourt's Sarah Hicks, the girls' basketball Player of the Year in Timesland for 1995-96, will miss at least one game with a severely sprained right ankle suffered Tuesday night in a game against William Byrd.
Hicks continued to play and finished with her season low of 12 points as Cavaliers lost for the first time this season, 54-39. Hicks will miss the Blacksburg game tonight and is on crutches. An examination revealed no broken bones.
Botetourt, ranked No.1 in Timesland also has another starter, Katrina Elliott, hobbling. Elliott suffered a hyperextension of the left knee against Byrd, but is expected to play at Blacksburg.
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