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 wer, ' v£ ' ?.t'% L":' 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 :.