Page 8-Wednesday; November 15; 1978-The Michigan Daily
A field hockey story: once just
a club sp
BY BOB EMORY
The Grand Trunk box car train slides
noisily by in the background, almost
drowning out the referees' whistles at
times. The girls, in their knee-length
plaid skirts, fervently chase a white
ball around the green expanse of Ferry
Field, their screams piercing the silen-
ce like the shattering of fine china.
To the thirty or so fans scattered
along the sidelines, the game moves by
swiftly because the two 35-minute
halves are running time but play itself
moves as if in slow motion. The field is
huge and the ball small, making it seem
like it takes forever to get from one end
to the other.
SOME FANS, who are brave enough
to sit on the bleachers, must constantly
be alert, lest they get stung by one of
the swarming yellow'jackets that are
attracted to the pungent odor of orange
slices the players use for quick energy.
. "This is a weird game," says one
spectator who has a friend on the
visiting team.
And maybe that is the most accurate
description of women's field hockey; a
game that is a little like soccer but
more like ice hockey. The positions and
number of players (11) are the same as
in soccer, but the players use sticks (as
in hockey) that best 'resemble thick
walking canes held upside down. The
white enamel ball they smack around is
small (three-inch diameter), heavy
(five and a half ounces) and hard (as a
rock).
CONSEQUENTLY, it doesn't move
all that smoothly onreal grass. Often
players will swing and miss it com-
pletely, other times barely nickingmthe
ball as it usually goes no more than
three feet and once in a while, someone
gets a hold of the ball and sends it
sailing about 60 m.p.h. right at an ex-
posed kneecap or shin.
At Michigan, field hockey is a varsity
sport and has been for six seasons, but
that doesn't mean the players and
coaches always take the game
seriously. If one comes to the game late
t, now set for glory
and would like to know the score, it is Ocker says is the most talented player
best not to ask one of the players on the she's ever coached, said after a game,
sidelines. They rarely know, always "My job is easy, all I do is wait at mid-
busy chatting, watching the train creep field until the ball comes my way and
by or the baseball team practicing, or then we go down and try to score."
just warming up. The Michigan team, otherwise known
During a game, it is not uncommon to as the Burger Chef Queens for their
see one of the referees come over to the much frequenting of such establish-
Wolverine head coach, Phyllis Ocker, ments while on road trips, has just
and tell her what her players are doing completed its most successful season
ever. And things look even better for
next year, as only one player graduates
from this year's team.
ONE WOULD think that this would
make an already enjoyable game even
more so, since Michigan has a chance
to win all the marbles next year. But
not necessarily as Ocker says, "I'm
very happy that we've done well, but in
a way, we've lost something from when
we were just a club sport years ago.
Back then, everybody knew everybody
else and it was all informal and
definitely for fun," she reflected. "But
now, it's the attitude, 'you hate your
opponent' and winning becomes the
most important thing."
"Don't get me wrong," she con-
tinued, "It's nice to win, and I would
never deny the girls the opportunity to
be as good as they can be, but
something is lost from those old club
sport days."
So the game is changing here at
wrong and what they could be doing to Michigan. One has to wonder, is it for
maybe improve and win the game. Can better or worse?
anyone imagine what would happen if
one of the zebras came over to Bo
Schembechler and told him to run the
ball up the middle because the Purdue
defense is keying on the option?
PERHAPS THIS is too critical an ap- B a m a n
proach to a game that has nowhere to
go after the college competition is over.
1980 will be the first time the game is By STAN BRADBURY
played by women in the Olympics, but Under the Southeastern Conferet
no Wolverines have indicated an in- appearance" rule, the Georgia Bulldo
terest. inside track over Alabama to the SEC's1
The game is played for fun and season's Sugar Bowl..
probably everyone of the women would If both the Bulldogs and the Crimson Ti
readily admit that. As Mary Callam, season with unblemished conference r
the team's leading scorer and who rule will enable Georgia to go to this
Reach or the sky Daily Photo by ALAN
Alan Hardy hits the offensive boards for Michigan in a game last year against Purdue. This year Hardy is being pressed
by freshman Thad Garner for his starting forward position. The Blue cagers open their season Monday night at Crisler
Arena with an exhibition game against the University of Windsor.
CO-LEADERS DO NOT MEET
nay lose to Georgia
nce's "last
gs have the
berth in this
ide finish the
ecords, this
bowl since
have won three SEC championships and in all those
seasons the title came down to their last battle with
Auburn.
Georgia has been led through this season by the
SEC's leading rusher, Willie McClendon, who has
1191 yards in 236 carries through nine games. Jeff
Pyburn has done well at the Bulldog QB spot, hitting
57 of 102 for 687 yards and six TD's with only two in-
terceptions.
Southeastern Conference
711
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Alabama went to the New Orleans event last season.
Both teams are presently 5-0 in the SEC and they will
not meet in the regular season.
Georgia is the surprise team of the season in the
South. In preseason polls they were predicted to
finish in the bottom half of the SEC but the Bulldogs
have had an excellent season with an 8-1 record.
Alabama, also 8-1 this year, holds down the third
ranking in the nation. Georgia currently ranks eighth
nationally.
Coach Vince Dooley of Georgia remarked of his last
remaining SEC game with Auburn, "I anticipate it as
being a real tossup ballgame. Our defense has got to
be ready to stop one of the best running teams in the
league.
Auburn plays a key role in their remaining two
games as they play not only Georgia, but also
Alabama. If, by some chance, the 6-3 (3-1 in con-
ference play) Tigers win both of these crucial con-
tests, Auburn would represent the SEC in the Sugar
Bowl.
Since Dooley came to Georgia in 1964 the Bulldogs
Alabama........
Georgia ...........
Auburn ...........
LSU ...........
Kentucky.........
Florida. .,....
Mississippi.....
Miss. St............
Tennessee......
Vanderbilt . ,.... .
Confernee
W L T PsOP
5 0 0 170 81
5 0 0 138 68
3 1 0 91 48
3 2 0 112 84
2 2 0 93 57
2 3 0 12088
1 3 0 63106
1 3 0 48 96
0 3 0 48 93
o 5 0 57219.
W
9
8
6
6
4
3
4
5
2
:l
All Games
L T PtsOP
1 0 297145
1 0 217112
3 0 200135
2 0 186112
4 1 163142
5 0 189147
5 0 137192
4 0 209164
5 1 140163
8 '0 108350
Crimson Tide.
This is the third year of the SEC's contract with the
Sugar Bowl to send the season champion to the New
Year's Eve event.
The only other SEC team in the running for a bowl
bid would be the LSU Bengals with running back
Charles Alexander.
Louisiana State is 6-2 with their only losses coning
at the hands of Georgia and Alabama. They would
appear headed for third place if Auburn loses their
last two tough games.
Kentucky (4-4-1) is experiencing an average
season after giving Alabama a run for the title last
season. The Wildcats have fallen prey to a difficult
schedule including Penn State, Maryland, LSU, and
Georgia.
The talented Florida Gators (3-5) are having
problems again this season under coach Doug
Dickey. Mississippi (4-5) is struggling through their
first rebuilding year under Steve Sloan.
Mississippi State (5-4) is above water overall but
has a poor 1-3 showing in conference action.
Also rebuilding is Tennessee (2-5-1) under the
direction of Johnny Majors. Majors is attempting to
revise the Volunteers in the same method he used to
take Pittsburgh to the national championship two
years ago.
The lowly Vanderbilt Commodores (1-8) have been
working their way through another in a long string of
terrible seasons which forced coach Fred Pancoast to
resign at the end of this season.
Tony Nathan leads Bear.Bryant's Crimson Tide on
the ground this year with 752 yards but the strength of
this year's team has been the play of quarterback
Jeff Rutledge who has thrown for ten touchdowns and
over 900 yards.
If Alabama does not go to the Sugar Bowl,- there
will certainly be many other bowl invitations for the
w
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POLLS
Penn State jumped on top of the college football world this week despite a
mediocre performance last Saturday against North Carolina State. The Nittany
Lions secured the first position in both the AP and the UPI polls thanks to
Nebraska's upset of Oklahoma. It's a novelty for coach Joe Paterno since his
teams, perhaps unjustly, have never been ranked number one before.
Nebraska moved into the second spot in both polls on the strength of their vic-
tory while Oklahoma dropped to number four. Alabama remained third in both
polls as Southern Cal and Houston notched the fifth and sixth spots, respectively.
Michigan is still stuck in seventh while Georgia, Texas, and Notre Dame round
out the top ten.
AP
UPI,
1. Penn State (35)
2. Nebraska (6)
3. Alabama (4)
(tie) DAILY LIBELS
4. Oklahoma
5. Southern Cal (1)
6. Houston
7. MICHIGAN
8. Georgia
9. Texas,
10. Notre Dame
11. Maryland
12. Clemson
13. Arkansas
14. UCLA
15. Purdue
16. Michigan State
17. LSU
18. Pittsburgh
19. Ohio State
20. Georgia Tech
10-0-0
9-1-0
9-1-0
9-1-0
9-1-0
8-1-0
8-1-0
8-1-0
8-1-01
6-2-0
7-2-0.
9-1-0
8-1-0
6-2-0
8-2-0
7-1-1
6-3-0
6-2-0
7-2-0
6-2-1
7-2-0
1,296
1,209
1,203
1,203
1,092
1,071
975
965
803
733
662
640
555
461
414
406
337
295
251
142
141
1. Penn State (32)
2. Nebraska (5)
3. Alabama (2)
(tie) DAILY LIBELS
4. Oklahoma
5. Southern Cal
6. Houston
7. MICHIGAN
8. Georgia
9. Texas
10. Notre Dame
11. Maryland
12. Clemson
13. Arkansas
14. LSU
15. UCLA
16. Purdue
17. Ohio State
18. Pittsburgh
19. Georgia Tech
20. (tie) Stanford
20. (tie) Iowa State
10-0
9-1
9-1
(2) 9-4
9-1
8-1
8-1
8-1
8-1
6-2
7-2
9-1
8-1.
6-2
6-2
8-2
7-1-1
6-2-1
7-2
7-2
6-4
7-3
575
520
518
518
444
425
398
357
288
201
184
172
147
112
57
50
31
'29
21
11
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