The Mchan Daify -Wednesday, ocmber6,1993-9 BRETT FORREST Forrest Fires DOUGLAS KANTERIDaty he Michigan women's soccer team will try to increase its current winning streak to a school-record 11 games when it takes on Schoolcraft this afternoon. The Wolverines play again tomorrow when they host Eastern Michigan. S1 :Women s soccer goesa for reodsra By BRIAN OBERMILLER FOR THE DAILY The Michigan women's soccer Seam ison the vergeof breaking aclub 9°record. With a win today at Schoolcraft Junior College, the Wol- verines will have won 11 consecutive games for the first time ever. When the battle begins at 3 p.m., Michigan will be attempting to im- prove its record to 13-1. However, senior Carrie Taylor says the team's focus is not on the record. "The game at hand is our first consideration," Taylor said. "We tied Schoolcraft last year 1-1,even though we dominated the game." One area ofconcern for the Michi- -pan squad is its inability to put a game away after it takes a lead. This afternoon's contest could test the Wolverines in this area. The Wolverines have a solid core of offensive standouts. Seniors Lisa Ashton, Alicia Stewart and freshman Nicola Amster lead the team in goals with nine apiece. Senior Karen Jones trails the front-runners by one. Defensively, the Wolverines have been equally impressive. The team has consistently stifled opposing of- fenses, although it sometimes fails to preserve shutout opportunities. "We are now entering a critical part of the season," Taylor said. "The team is practicing harder in prepara- tion for the Midwest tournament. As a result, fatigue seems to set in faster. But increased conditioning will in- sure that the team will be in top con- dition in November." Schoolcraft comes into the con- test with a deceiving 2-3-3 record. It is currently No.9 in thej unior college poll and last weekend in St. Louis, the team battled to a tie with St. Louis Merrimac Junior College. Merrimac, beaten by the Wolverines, 1-0, earlier in the season, is currently the top- rankedjunior college team in the coun- try. "We typically don't scout four- year schools," SchoolcraftcoachNick O'Sche said. "I plan to play a lot of people, and our back-up goalie will be starting. "As of late, we've been playing better. These games give us a chance to tune up for our first playoff oppo- nent, the Central College of Kansas." Last night the National Hockey League dropped the puck to start its 77th season. The crack sports staff at the Daily engaged in deep research and discovered something pretty wild about the new year. Don't tell anybody, but there are now more NHL teams residing in the states of Florida and California than in the provinces of Ontario and Quebec. That's not all we unearthed. There is a team called ... don't laugh now ... the Mighty Ducks. HA! Sorry, I couldn't help it. On top of that, somebody in the NHL's Toronto office thought it would be neat-o to borrow a few names from that other winter sport. They tossed all of the out- dated, meaningless monikers such as Patrick and Adams, Campbell and Smythe. Who were these fellas anyway, the forefathers of the NHL? Soon, the league may even slash and burn the Hart, Norris and Vezina trophies in favor of the Poulan Weed Eater Most Valuable Player, Sharps Best Defenseman, and Depends Top Goaltender Awards. Even though the sport's best league is in the midst of a grand transformation - good or bad - some consistency remains in the hierarchy of the NHL. After all, the Habs did win the Cup last year, and you can't get more consistent than that. This is how the teams will finish in session No. 77. Bank on it. Western Conference Central Division 1. DETRorr Ra WINGs -The Wings made a critical move in tapping Scotty Bowman, the winningest coach in NHL history. Bowman just may be the catalyst the team needs to rid itself of the playoff doldrums. Detroit has too much talent not to succeed under this helmsman. 2. CmcAGo BLACK HAwKs - OK, the Hawks got swept by St. Louis in last year's playoff first round. It won't happen again. Eddie Belfour is all smiles with his new contract and Jeremy Roenick is too fervent a competitor to let the memories of the playoff disappointment subside. 3. WINNIPEG JETs - Is Teemu Selanne a flash in the pan? We'll see. New forwards Paul Ysebaert and Nelson Emerson will give coach John Paddock more weapons as the Jets improve. 4. ToRONTO MAPLE LEAFS - Last year's playoffs were a fluke for this team. The Leafs - aside from All- World Doug Gilmour - are too old and slow to succeed in the 1994 version of the NHL. 5. ST. Louis BLuES - The addition of high-scoring backliner Phil Housley will undoubtedly compliment the Golden Brett's lamplighting abilities. However, beyond Housley and Jeff Brown, the 'D' is weak. 6. DALLAs STARS - Yeehaw! Dallas finally gets an NHL franchise after being denied by the league in the past few expansion decisions. Even though the Stars are not an expansion team,they may look like it at times this year. Pacific Division 1. VANCOUvER CANucKs - Pavel Bure will be huge once again. He can dangle like no player this side of the Pens' Jaromir Jagr. Kirk McLean is oh-so-solid between the pipes. 2. CALGARY FLAMEs - The Flames look primed to rebound from the playoff defeat at the hands of "The Great One" and the Kings. Look for Gary Roberts to have another exceptional season. 3. Los ANGELES KINGS - The Kings were fairly fortunate to get as far as they did last spring. The Wayner will be unreal again, but that usually is not enough for this club. 4. EDMONTON OILERs -Owner Peter Pocklington often seems to be fighting too many office wars. Perhaps if he gave coach Ted Green a few more quality players, the Oilers could actually make an impact. 5. SAN JOSE SHARKS - Maybe they can leave the memories of the last'two years at the Cow Palace as Penguins, Wings to vie for Cup they move into their new digs. This team cannot get much worse. Pat Falloon should be a big player in his third year and former Michigan defenseman Jeff Norton will come close to leading the team in scoring. 6. ANAmi DUCKs -Mighty Ducks of Anaheim? Forget it. Even if Hobey Baker winner Paul Kariya plays for the team, they will finish last. Playoff Champion-- DETRorr RED WINGS Eastern Conference Atlantic Division 1. PmLADELpA FLYERS - This is the first year of the rest of the Flyers' life. They feel most of the pieces are in place for a resurgence back to prominence. Eric Lindros will be a god, Mark Recchi just a demigod, and Tommy Soderstrom a faithful servant in the 4' x 6". 2. NEw YORK RANGERS - With a new slave-driver, ah I mean coach, in Mike Keenan, Mark Messier will have close to a career year. He scored nearly 100 points last season and will not let a team with this much talent lose as many games as it did a year ago. 3. NEW YORK ISLANDERs - Sure, Hextall is with the team. And sure Pierre Turgeon is one of the game's most skilled players. However, the Isles just don't have what it takes. Give them a few more seasons. 4. WAsH wmNON CAwrAis - Strong defense here, led by Al Iafrate and Cale Johansson. The Caps added some toughness to their lineup and should be pretty competitive. 5. NEw JERSEY DEvn s - The Devils are headed in the wrong direction. When Claude Lemieux is your team's best player, you have a problem. 6. TAMPA BAY LIGNirmNo - After averaging nearly a trade an hour as the Rangers' GM in the mid-' 80s, Phil Esposito has put together the best of the five expansion franchises. The Lightning will beat some good teams this year - and may even be one, too. 7. FLORIDA PANTHERS - Once they get rid of the ugliest uniforms in professional sports, we'll talk. Bobby Clarke is GM of his third team, but this time can start from scratch. Remember, his teams have been to the Cup finals three times. Hiring Roger Neilson as coach was his first move - and a quality decision. Northeast Division 1. PITrSBURGH PENGUINS -Mario, Jaromir, Kevin, Rick, Ron, Tom. This team will not falter - for a few more years. Just like the Wings, they have way too much talent. 2. QUEBEc NORDIQUEs - Stephan Fiset will be the man now that he knows he has the No. 1 job. Owen Nolan, Mats Sundin and Joe Sakic will do the rest. Petr Forsberg would be rookie-of-the-year if he had not opted to play in Lillehammer. 3. BOSTON BRUINS - Time will tell if Jon Casey can be a solid netminding replacement for Andy Moog. If he can't be, Adam Oates and Joe Juneau should cook enough biscuits in the opposition's nets to make up for it. 4. MONTREAL CANADIENS - Les Habitants don't have it this season. Patrick Roy and the team's defense will probably always be in the top five in goals against. But Paul DiPietro just is not a great player. 5. BUFFALO SABRES - Alexander Mogilny should be unreal again - if his leg heals from the hideous playoff break. The defense looks to give aging-goalie Grant Fuhr little support. That spells trouble. 6. HARTFORD WHALERS - This team should be in good shape in a couple of seasons. This year, though, the defense looks porous and there will be a lack of goal scoring. 7. OTTAWA SENATORS - If Alexandre Daigle is everything people say he is, they may finish with 20 wins. Bob Kudelski will be a huge power play goal scorer. Playoff Champion - PIrrSBURGH PENGUINS Stanley Cup Champion - PITTSBURGH PENGUINS HE SPORTING VEws Reverse the call - bring back the replay "aft: W y TIM SMITH FOR THE DAILY When is instant replay going to ,be reinstated into the NFL? I have struggled through one and a quarter seasons of football wnwithout replay, and I can't take it .any longer. I've seen enough blown calls to make my head spin and enough 1rclueless referees to make me switch .the channel to Speedweek. Granted, vreferees are not perfect, but some of etheir calls are outrageous! Replay 4must be reinstated. Fans' concern with replay is that 2it takes the officials too long to make a call, but this could be amended with stricter time limits. If the time issue is such a problem for everyone, there should be a limit on the number of replays a team can have over the course of a game. Give each team one replay per half, so like a time-out, they have to use it wisely. A team will not use its replay on a debatable two yard completion/incompletion call. When watching a game on TV, I can instantly tell whether or not the call was correct. I assume that the replay officials have the same capability. Right now, the NFL owners should be holding their collective breath. Any week, an incorrect call could drastically alter the year for a team, and the season would be labeled tainted. What will happen when a call in the Super Bowl is blatantly wrong - like Redskins wide receiver Art Monk's apparent touchdown against Buffalo in Super Bowl XXVI that was reversed by instant replay - and is the deciding factor in the biggest game of the year? Will the fans be leaving the stadium saying, "I'm so glad we got to leave the game five minutes early because there was no instant replay." Obviously not! The fans will be leaving the stadium saying the game was a farce and a joke. Where have you gone instant renlav... .Vater polo looks to qualify for Big Ten Championships Offense stymied as men's soccer ties Ferris State, 0-0 By CHARLIE BREITROSE QAILY SPORTS WRITER Michigan's club water polo team has enjoyed success in the past, win- ning three straight Big Ten and Mid- west championships. This year, the Woverines hope to take their play to the next level. This is the first year of the Na- tional Collegiate Club Championship, and Michigan is looking toqualify for the tournament this weekend in Co- lumbus. Ohio State is hosting the second half of the Big Ten Qualifying Tour- nament, which is a bit of a misnomer because the two weekends merely Jdetermine the seedings for the Big Ten championships. A first-place fin- ish in the Big Tens would give Michi- gan a berth in the club champion- ships. Last weekend, the Wolverines (6- 0-1 Big Ten, 7-3-1 overall), along with Michigan State, Purdue, Indiana and Ohio State, played the first half of the Big Ten qualifiers, held in East Lansing. Michigan came out with three wins and a tie. The 10-10 tie with Michigan State was especially painful for Michigan, according to Wolverine Drew Hansz. "I was pretty disappointed with Michigan has two key attributes towinning -speed and depth. Coach Scott Russell's biggest concern was his defense. However, last weekend's performance was very encouraging. "The biggest thing that I was pleased with was our improvement on defense, specifically with our goaltending," Russell said. "Michael Roeder had 37 saves in three games. All three were very competitive games. "We had been giving up almost 13 goals a game. This past weekend we cut that almost in half." Hansz felt a change in tactics ac- counted for the improvement. "When we came down on defense we were putting the press on," he said. "Before it was always a sluff defense. (We were) sluffing off apoor offensive player to help in the middle. But we didn't do that this time. We pressed out everywhere and everyone tried real hard, so it worked out pretty well." Speed is a key in water polo, and co-captain Ben Ewy feels that no one in the conference can keep up with the Wolverines' speed. "There are many guys on the team who swam for Michigan," Ewy said, "and there are guys on the team that By SCOTT BURTON DAILY SPORTS WRITER Expecting to dominate last night's match with Ferris State, Michigan men's soccercoach Steve Bums didn't plan on taking much of an involved approach to the game. Burns simply hoped that his team would take charge of the game on its own, in much the same manner as last year's 8-1 rout. Unfortunately, the Wolverines didn't live up to Burns' expectations, playing the overmatched Bulldogs to a 0-0 tie. "This was kind of an experiment for me to see if they could let them- selves get into the game emotionally without me being on the sidelines - without being a cheerleader, being a more focal kind of coach," Burnssaid. "But there just wasn't a union be- tween the guys on the bench cheering and the guys on the field. Once you getdown andonce theother team gets intoit, itshard to change that pace and momentum:" Both teams had several good chances to score in the game. In the firsthalf, aFerrisState shotrebounded off goaltender Andy Germak into the outer crest of the goalpost before Michigan could clear the ball. In the second half, the Wolverines barraged the Bulldogs with several tough shots, including a shot by cap- tain Brian Rosewarne thatcaromedof the sidebar. "A 0-0 tie is not a good result for any soccer team especially when we were hoping to come in and score some goals and put them away early," Burns said. "We had numerous chances, and it was a decent game more in the secondhalf and in the end of the first half." Despite the disappointing out- come, Burns hopes that if good things can come from losses, great things will come from this tie. "It was a bit of a setback because the season had been going very well," Burns said. "But I think this will bring us stronger together as a team. I think our freshman and our upper- classman, our starters and our second and third teams are really going to come together quite a bit more. It's going to help us build for the Big Ten Club Tournament." IiIFSTFOM V&NOS I lbLDIESI l .. .... .....