Sports Monday Trivia
Before the Pittsburgh
Pirates clinched the NL Ea
crown for the second
straight year yesterday,
what was the last team to
win consecutive NL East
titles? (For the ans
ist
Inside Sports Monday
'M' Sports Calendar 2
AP Top 25 Results 2
Griddes 2
'M' Athlete of the Week 2
Q&A 3
Sheran My Thoughts 3
Field Hockey Preview 4
Volleyball Preview 5
Cross Country 6
Men's Golf 8
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turn to the bottom of page 2)
The Michigan Daily -Sports Monday
September 23, 1991
.Stickers
be-Deviled.
by No.12
Duke, 2-0
by Tim Spolar
Daily Sports Writer
The Michigan field hockey team
had a good game plan for Saturday's
game against Duke. Unfortunately,
it was never able to use it.
Coming off a 1-0 victory over
Central Michigan, the 14th-ranked
Wolverines focused on the necessity
of accurate shooting when preparing
'9 throughout the week for their trip
to Durham, N.C. Michigan knew
that it could not afford to squander
many opportunities when plaving
Spikers
overcome
Huskies
for title
by Ryan Herrington
Daily Sports Writer
The Michigan volleyball team
continued its impressive start to the
season, rallying from one game be-
hind and a 2-8 deficit in the second
game to defeat Northern Illinois, 5-
15, 15-12, 15-12, 15-10 Saturday. The
victory improved Michigan's record
to 8-2 and allowed the Wolverines
to take the title in the Michigan
Volleyball Classic.
Michigan was led by sophomore
outside hitter Michelle Horrigan
against the No. 12 Blue Devils on
their home turf.
"Capitalizing on our penalty
corners (the best scoring opportu-
nity in field hockey) will be critical
to our success," Wolverine head
coach Patti Smith noted last week.
However, Duke never gave the
Wolverines much of a chance to dis-
play the progress of their marks-
manship. The Blue Devils held
Michigan to a mere six shots, shut-
ting out the Wolverines, 2-0. The
shutout was the fourth of the season
for Duke.
Conversely, the Blue Devils
ripped 31 shots at the beleaguered
Michigan goaltenders. The Wolver-
ines used two netminders in the
match, starter Nicole Hoover and
first-year player Stacy Daly, each of
whom allowed only one goal.
Hoover recorded 12 saves, while
Daly chipped in with nine.
The Wolverines, 3-2 on the sea-
son, have only lost to teams ranked
above them in the NCAA Field
Hockey Coaches Association poll.
Their other loss came at the hands of
the 11th-ranked New Hampshire
Wildcats. In spite of this, she
Wolverines' ranked status may be
jeopardized by the shutout. Michi-
gan has not' been ranked in the
weekly Top 20 since squeaking in at
No. 20 Oct. 16,1990.
The Wolverines are ranked third
in the Midwest region, behind
perennial powerhouses Iowa (4-0)
and Northwestern (3-2). All three
are members of the Midwest Colle-
giate Field Hockey Conference.
Michigan battled No. 7 Virginia
in Charlottesville, Va., yesterday.
Results remained unavailable at
press time.
Wolverine Des-i
by Jeff Sheran
Daily Football Writer
Desmond Howard's job
description is longer than most
college football players'. He
catches passes, runs with the ball,
returns punts and kickoffs, and
blocks for running backs.
Howard performs these tasks
well - so well that he was
named all-America by just about
everyone who bestows such
honors. But Howard has earned
more. He's earned the honor of
being America's player: the
player who adorns the most
prestigious magazines' covers; the
player whose name presides over
all others' in the quest for the
Heisman Trophy; the player who
has awed a nation of television
viewers in his first two games.
Howard has earned this status
by accomplishing a feat not on his
already-lengthy job description:
he excites fans.
Traditionally, Michigan fans
cheered only when the
Wolverines' fullback barreled
over a clump of outstretched
linemen, capping a lengthy ball-
control, and inevitably boring,
drive.
Now, fans find Howard's
presence on the field enough
Howard draws attention
with athletics, knowledge
reason to cheer. The 5-foot-9, 176-
pound junior generates so much
electricity among onlooking
crowds, they remain charged
between big plays.
Howard has given the
Wolverines something they have
lacked for most of their 112-year
team history - the potential to
score at any time from anywhere
on the field, on both offense and
special teams.
He has scored six of
Michigan's seven offensive
touchdowns this season - five
receiving, one rushing, and one on
a kickoff return. The last of those
scores came on the play that made
the nation gasp: the 25-yard,
fourth-and-inches bomb Howard
impossibly rescued from the
chalkline at the back of the Notre
Dame endzone.
It was a play he enjoyed. "I
heard the silence of the crowd,
then the roar," he said during the
postgame press conference. "It
was like music to my ears."
Howard's big-play mentality
radiated throughout the mob of
dazzled reporters. One of them
asked why he caught this pass, yet
allowed an earlier bomb to
tumble out of his outstretched
fingers.
"It wasn't fourth-and-one," he
replied.
That's part of what makes
Howard so special to Michigan.
He doesn't just hit the jumper; he
hits it at the buzzer. He doesn't
just hit the home run; he hits it in
the bottom of the ninth.
And he doesn't just make a
spectacular touchdown grab; he
does it on fourth down in the
fourth quarter against Notre
Dame.
That play, coupled with a 29-
yard reverse that left Irish
cornerback Rod Smith looking for
a clue, propelled Howard to the
top of the Heisman ballot, and to
the cover of Sports Illustrated.
But most notably, they propelled
No. 3 Michigan to 2-0.
"Words can't really describe
some of the things he's done for
us," said offensive tackle Greg
Skrepenak, Michigan's other
tiny
representative on the Playboy all-
America team. "He's a threat
wherever he is on the field; he
gives us an extra dimension that
Michigan teams haven't had."
Though his teammates are
often quick to laud him, Howard
has earned the praise of a very
important, and very reluctant,
individual - Michigan coach
Gary Moeller.
After his team's victory over
Notre Dame, Moeller said, "I
think today this country knows
that this is one great, I mean great,
football player."
Moeller explained his
reluctance in commending
Howard. "I've talked to Desmond
about this and I said, 'You know, I
can't lie to people, and I really
think you are playing extremely
well right now and I'm going to
tell people that,"' he said. "'But
you also understand that the
minute I tell people that, I'm
really doing you a disfavor
because you are supposed to get
soft on me."'
But to Moeller's relief,
Howard has handled his successes
favorably.
"I realize that week in and
week out, I have to keep proving
See HOWARD, Page 7
who had 23 kills, including three
for points, in the second-game
comeback. Her efforts on the week-
end earned her most valuable player
honors.
"She (Horrigan) has been play-
ing this well all season," coach
Peggy Bradley-Doppes said. "It's
tough because every team we're
playing puts their two best blockers
on her. I think she has done a good
job of not getting frustrated. It's a
compliment to her."
Michigan qualified for the
championship match by defeating
Marquette (2-10 overall), 15-1, 15-
11, 15-4, Friday and Georgia State
(2-4), 15-2, 15-3, 15-6, Saturday
morning.
Even with these impressive vic-
tories, the Wolverines started ten-
tatively against Northern Illinois
(11-3). Michigan's defense was
caught out of position on a number
of occasions in the first game, al-
lowing the Huskies to score five
points on tips over Michigan block-
ers at the net.
"Northern Illinois is a more of-
fensive-oriented team," Bradley-
Doppes said. "They came out very
aggressive from the start of the
match."
Michigan adjusted its defense in
game two, rotating three positions
in order to get better matchups on
defense and allow Horrigan to have
a better block.
"The rotation made a big, big
difference," Bradley-Doppes said.
"(The new) defense took away the
tip. The kids did a real good job of
changing."
Even with the change, Michigan
found itself behind, 4-9, and, 7-12, in
See VOLLEYBALL, Page 6
Record low round
. can't power linksters
Students flock to Union
for 'M' hockey tickets
by Dan Linna
The Michigan women's golf
team failed to hold its first-round
lead in the 24th Spartan Invitational
as the Wolverines' 945 total placed
them ninth in the 18-team field..
Michigan battled a one-hour
frost delay and 27-degree tempera-
tures as it scorched the Forest Akers
East Golf Course with a school-
record 304 Saturday morning. Tricia
Good led the charge with a 73 as the
team held first place by a two-
stroke margin over Illinois State
and eventual champion Northern
Illinois.
After posting a 316 in round
two, the Wolverines were still in
striking distance at fourth place.
They were fifteen strokes off the
* lead held by Northern Illinois,
postponed for thirty minutes yes-
terday because of rain and high
winds. When play resumed, the team
came back to the clubhouse with a
disappointing 325 as Bigler led the
way with a 78.
"We, as a team, have never had
three great rounds," Erica Zonder
said. "Our first round was great, but
then we put too much pressure on
ourselves. We aren't consistent. We
will get better. We might have two
good rounds next week and then
three the week after."
While the Wolverines were fal-
tering, Northern Illinois was on its
way to a course-record 902. The
Huskies never looked back at
Michigan after the close first round.
"I think we were surprised,"
Wolverine coach Sue LeClair said.
by Ken Sugiura
Daily Hockey Writer
Normally, long lines of students
at the beginning of the term mean
one thing: CRISP. However, Friday
morning, a line more than 800
strong in the Union waited for
something other than registration
into Economics 201.
A record-setting demand met the
Athletic Ticket Office's sale of re-
served seating ice hockey season
tickets. Students gobbled up the
batch of 1000 tickets in just over
three hours, easily surpassing the
previous student sales mark of 275
season tickets set last season.
"We were amazed. We were
faced with something we never ex-
pected," assistant ticket manager
Brian Klemz said. "We figured we
might sell 500 today and get to
was going to be a huge line in the
morning, so the early bird catches
the early worm," Jodzis said.
Unfortunately, the late bird
wasn't so lucky. The long line cre-
ated waits of over four hours for
students, many of whom arrived
well in advance of the 10 a.m. open-
ing.
The unprecedented demand for
seats comes in response to the suc-
cess of last season's team. Michigan
finished second in the Central Col-
legiate Hockey Association and re-
ceived a bid to the NCAA tourna-
ment, where they advanced to the
second round.
In addition to welcoming back
several members of last season's
squad, coach Red Berenson has a tal-
ented class of rookies, the sum of
which adds nn to an excited student
i :.