Field Hockey vs. Central Michigan Tonight, 7:30 p.. Oosterbaan Fleldhouse Football vs. Illinois Saturday, 3:30 p.m., (ABC) Michigan Stadium r Freshmen *golfers key team to solid finish By JOSH KARP FOR THE DAILY Prior to the Lady Badger Invita- tional, if you gave, the women's golf team achoice to go swing its golf clubs or to end its season early and catch up on its studies, the Wolverines may have chosen the latter. However after finsishing fourth out of nine in the fall season's final meet, the squad can't wait for the spring season to begin. "We just played extremely well," Michigan coach Kathy Teichert said. "I was very excited, very happy and very proud of those girls.What a thrill to end on such a fantastic note.' After playing three tournaments in which the Wolverines finished no higher than eighth, their fourth place score of 948 is just what the doctor ordered. Just ask freshman Ashley Williams,whotiedfor18thplacecard- ing a 239. "We are a lot more confident going *into the spring season," Williams said. "We all practiced really hard and just went out there with a positive attitude. Williams said that Teichert had confidence in what the team could ac- complish if it played up to its capabil- ity. "She told us to go out there and think positive," Williams said. "She said she had alotof faith in us and she *lnew we could do it. We proved her right that we could." Freshman Wendy Westfall, who paced the group with a236and tied for 12th place overall, said the teamhad to play better. 'The only thing we could have done was to improve and we went out there with nothing to lose," Westfall said. "I think ittook some of the pressure offof us. It was the first time that we felt as a team that we didn't let coach down." Teichert couldn't have been more pleased with the outing of her fresh- men. "They both did excellent jobs," Teichert said. "You can't ask for more outof those two freshmen." Teichert is looking forward to the spring season with a feeling that the team could stir up some major noise in the conference. "We have the potential and ability tocompete with these Big Ten schools," Teichert said. Wisconsinled the slatewitha921 followed by Michigan State's 922. Minnesotaendedatthird with a935,13 strokes ahead of Michigan. "I think we can be atleastin the top five in every tournament if we play well together as a team," Westfall said. "This is the first time that we did this." 0 Hopefully for Wolverine fans, it won't be the last. Moelier h By ANDY DE KORTE DAILY FOOTBALL WRITER Monday morning quarterbacking + is not nearly as much fun following a winning weekend - except for Gary Moeller.r Fans have little to complain about and fewer "what ifs?" to debate. Simi- larly, Moeller faced fewer criticisms and had the opportunity to respond to; his personal critics and the team's naysayers after Michigan beat Penn ' State, 21-13.l Moeller had come under fire for; his team's sluggish performance in + big games. The Nittany Lions were1 the first top 10 team the Wolverines had beaten since Notre Dame in his second season as coach in 1991. + Despite overcoming a superior foe, Moeller's refusal to crow spoke vol-; umes about what the victory meant for his team. as bright "We needed to prove to ourselves, as well as everybody else, that we could still play football," Moeller said. "We're not out of the woods at all yet. If we had lost, then we'd be way back there somewhere. But we're going to see some good teams the rest of the way." The offensive line has been tar- geted all year. Its play against Penn State was encouraging for Moeller. The ball control exhibited in the second half helped keep the defense fresh. In spite of improvement, Moeller fully expects the line to continue to be even better. "The line was playing well before the Iowa game, and then they levelled off," Moeller said. "I thought that we dipped against Michigan State. We're getting better now. And we'll keep getting better, but it's hard." The return of Marc Milia at center Monday helped calm the line. In addition, tackle Trezelle Jenkins played one of his best games of the season, coming against Tyoka Jackson, one of Penn State's most ferocious rushers. The line's blcoking helped Tyrone Wheatley add to his legacy. With his 192 rushing yards Saturday the junior tailback shared Big 10 co- offensive player of the week honors with Ohio State's Joey Galloway. INJURY UPDAE: The prognosis for Michigan's linebacking corps did the unthinkable Saturday -it worsened. Bobby Powers, Steve Morrison's re- placement atinside linebacker is doubt- ful for Saturday's game against Illi- nois with an internal stomach injury. Morrison is still questionable for areturn to the physical rigors his posi- tion entails. True freshman Mike VanderBeek may have an opportunity to start against the Illini. DOUGLAS KANTER/Da Linebacker Shawn Collins will be under extra pressure next week as fellow linebacker Bobby Powers will be sidelined with a stomach injury. 'M' stickers try to find way back on to winning track By BRENT McINTOSH DAILY SPORTS WRITER On a collision course - but with very different outlooks. That's where Patti Smith andCristy Freese are. Smith, Michigan's field hockey coach, is looking to restore one of the nation's top programs to victory road. Freese, her counterpart at Central Michigan, is simply looking to keep her team out of the street so it isn't run over by the Wolverines. Atrdropping two disappointing Big Ten contests this weekend, Ohio State, 2-1 (OT) and Iowa, 3-0, the Wolverines(8-4,1-4Big Ten)arelook- ing to return to their winning ways and move up the national rankings by de- feating the Chippewas at 7:30 tonight in Oosterbaan Fieldhouse. Ranked No. 13 before its weekend losses, Michi- gan must vault into the top twelve teams in the nation to qualify for post- season play." If the Wolverines can't top Central (2-11, 0-8 MAC), there is little chance that the Wolverines willbe among those top twelve squads.'The Chippewas have only scored six goals this season, have losttenstraightandhavebeenoutscored 11-0 in their last six contests. Rather, Freese has not prepared her team for tonight's match with the task of beating Michigan in mind; rather, she is looking to play a team game and learn from the contest. "We've not had a very successful season," Freese said. "We're not con- cerned with Michigan. Our focus needs tobeon how weplay, and wewantto get some young players time." Central's roster sports eight fresh- men, and Freese said that was the sign ofarebuilding year,especially with the weaknesses among the Chippewa's seniors. "Our seniors need to step forward," she said. "We have three seniors that start-JenLitchfield, Kris Helwerand Marti Winkler - and they need to be scoring, and they're not." While she's specifically aiming for Michigan, Freese has a pretty good conceptof what her team will be facing tonight. "Michigan puts a lot of people into their offense," she said. "It's not ateam that you can focus on just one player." And while that's true, she did say Central would put some emphasis on stopping "those twins," referring to Wolverine seniors Kalli and LeliHose. The Wolverine offense, despite earning so much respect from Freese, is a major concern of Smith. That of- fensemanagedonly one goal thisweek- end, and that came on a penalty stroke. The offense barely had a chance to gain any momentum in the two con- tests, because the team spentmostof its time on the defensive end of the field. However, Smith said that the Chippewas will present the opportu- nity for the Wolverines to get their offense up and running again. "We want to get back on the win- ning track," she said."We need towork on improving with Central -we need to be offensive." The Chip offense has a tendency to "clumparoundthe ball,"Smith said, so the focus for the Wolverines will be on quick passing to circumvent the CMU defensive clutter. But while they may be passing around the Chippewas, the Wolverines will also be looking to run them over. FIELD HOCKEY NOTEBOOK By RYAN WHITE and BRENT McINTOSH DAILY SPORTS WRITERS Kristy Gleason is on fire. Not literally, but the Iowa senior is hot and other teams just can't stop her. As last year's Big Ten Player of the Year, Gleason comes into games as a marked woman. She comes away from games, though, as the hated conquerer. Entering last weekend, Gleasonwas averaging 4.08 points pergame, amark that makes even her 1992 Big Ten- leading 2.11 ppg look paltry. Contrast that number with the fact that Gleason has scored 38 more points herself than Michigan's next opponent, Central Michigan. Sherene Smith isMichigan's leading scorer with nine points - a very respectable .75 points per game. Players are awarded two points for a goal and one for an assist. So opponents devote one or two, or sometimes even three, of their players to the task of stopping Gleason. It's not even close to easy - she scored once on Michigan, with a nifty flip over goalie Nicole Hoover. That lone score was more than two points below her season average though. Senior Kalli Hose was the Wolver- ine assigned to Gleason, and despite the goal, assistantcoach MeriDembrow was pleased with Hose's performance. "The last couple games Kalli has totally neutralized her,"Dembrow said. "Now Kalli's trying to defend her and also play offense." And how does Gleason feel about Hose and other opponents covering her constantly? "They had a girl marking me the whole game, and so a lot of the game I was just moving without the ball," Gleason said. "My job is to distribute the ball, but I can't do that if I don't have it. "That's very frustrating, but you learn to deal with it - with four years here, I'm the old lady on the block, so the opponents see my tape and know Iowa's Gleason lights up conference opponents my style. I have to try to change my while Harris was in for Hoover. habits during each week." DIVING EFFORT: There were times IN-STATERS?: Of the 17 players on last weekend when Oosterbaan the Hawkeye roster, not one is from Fieldhouse resembled Canham Nata- Iowa and only two are even from the torium, as Michigan players were div- state's side of the Mississippi. ing all over the field after loose balls on Michigan's roster touts one local, Ann both ends of the field. "It was a really Arbor'sown ShereneSmith; Ohio State good team effort," forward Sherene has three in-staters. Central Michigan, Smith said. tonight's opponent has two locals, in- INJURIES: Goaltender Rachael cluding Ann Arbor native Kim Fuller. Geistardt was lost for the season last POWER PLAY: With 4:15 left in the weekwhenshehyperextendedherknee Ohio State game and the Wolverines in practice. The injury will require re- down 1-0,headcoachPattiSmithcalled constructive surgery on her anterior Michigan's version of a power play. In cruciate ligament as soon as the knee is a move similar to ice hockey, Smith strong enough. I pulled goaltender Nicole Hoover and Forward Jennifer Lupinski, who replaced herwith defender SelenaHar- broke her leg against St. Louis, will be ris. Though Harris wasn't in on the in a cast another week before she be- play, Michigan's lone goal was scored gins rehabilitation. Men 's soccer gains strength from defeat Men's water polo conquers home waters By ANA FERNANDEZ FOR THE DAILY Last weekend Michigan hosted the Invitational Water Polo Tournament, *proving to be as predatory as sharks. The Wolverines devoured the compe- tition, besting all five of their oppo- nents - Michigan State (7-5), Notre Dame (13-1), Ohio State (9-5), North- western (9-7) and Eastern Michigan (10-8). "It was great for the team to have a tournament at home in mid-season," coach Scott Russell said. "It was a nice .break."! Sophomore Jason Cunningham thought this tournament was very im- portant, especially the fact that the Wol- verines conquered three of their Big Ten rivals. "We got to play very competitive teams and three out of the five games we played were very close," Cunningham said. "It was good to see thatinaclose game weareable tocome from behind and win it." This was a great weekend for Cunningham. He and co-captain Drew Hansz scored seven goals each. Hansz was also the leader in assists with 10. Freshman Lewis Lambert had a good weekend as well, leading all scorers with 14 goals. Despite the scoring standouts, there is nodoubtin Russell's mind that the star of the tournament was goalie Michael Roeder and his 39 blocks in 4 games. "Michael was just amazing," Russell said. "It is very hard to show the achievements of a goalie on a stat sheet, but there was no doubt that MichaelRoeder was themostoutstand- ing player this weekend." This tournament gave the Wolver- ines the opportunity to get revenge on Ohio State afterhaving lostto the Buck- eyeslast weekendinColumbus. Russell felt the pool size was definitely an advantage during this game. "We had total control over them because our pool is larger," Russell said. Michigan is currently the top Big Ten team and is ranked third among club teams in the nation after Yale and Cornell. The team is now look- ing forward to the National Colle- giate Club Championships that will take place in early November in Buffalo, New York. There the Wol- verines will have the opportunity to play against these teams and other top teams from the East. Also in November, Michigan will host the Big Ten Championship. "We are very optimistic about the Big Ten Championship," Russell said. "'This weekend was great because I got to see what players can handle the 30 meter pool in both our team and in the others." By SCOTT BURTON DAILY SPORTS WRITER A moral victory doesn't showup in the standings but it can be more posi- tive to a team than an actual win. Such is the case with the Michigan men's soccer team's 3-0 loss to Divi- sion II powerhouse Oakland Univer- sity Saturday. Although the defeat dropped the Wolverines record to 54- 4, the game served to reinforce the notion that Michigan is getting closer to its peak level. "After the game we talked and ev- eryone is real positive with what's go- ing on," Wolverine coach Steve Burns said. "This is kind of a benchmark for us in gauging where we arein terms of our play. I was real pleased with our effort. We matched their style and in- tensity." In contrast to previous games againstOakland, Michiganplayed com- petitively for the whole game without going to pieces. "It always seems like we play one good half against them and then the other half there is a mental breakdown and we fall apart," Burns said. "This game we put two halves together of good soccer and we had a definite presence out there on the field. I think we did a good job ofrepresenting Michi- gan soccer in the game." Oakland is known for its aggres- siveness and intensity, and indeed the game was marked by extremely physi- cal play. But the Wolverines were well prepared for what Oakland was dish- ing out. "(In practice) Iflet the guys run hard and foul each other and hack each other and pull jerseys and throw elbows," Burns said. "This was what we had to be used to to play Oakland. It's some- thing that makes us a little tougher as individuals on the team. I think for the most part we matched them." Michigan wasn't able to match Oakland's ability to capitalize on scoring opportunities. In the first half, Oakland knocked in several "ugly goals" by striking balls within the 18-yard zone. However, Michi- gan, notwithstanding a second-half goal nullified by an offsides viola- tion, did not have such luck. "The 18-yard box is a real criti- cal area in soccer," Burns said. "Your team has to be the kind that gets down and dirty and somehow gets the ball in the net. Oakland is the kind of team that does that. Those are the kind of teams that win. We're getting real close to doing that." But Michigan did come up big in another aspect of the game. Goalie Piercarlo Romano's save of a direct penalty shot in the second half kept Oakland from getting too far ahead. "A good 75 to 80 percent of the time a shooter should make those kicks," Burns said. "But Piercarlo made a great save on a real good shot." Lacrosse opens fall season with win over Spartans,,17-9 By DOUG STEVENS FOR THE DAILY The Michigan men's lacrosse team opened its fall season on the right foot with a 17-9 triumph over rival Michi- gan State in a muddy affair Saturday at Mitchell Field. The first half of the game was rather slow for the Wolverines as they clung to an 8-7 lead over a Spartan squad which showedup with only 12players. However, afterhalftime, Michigan was able to wear down its tiring opponents and cruise to the eight goal victory. "In the firsthalf, we weren't doing the fundamentals well," midfielder Paul Dreyer said. "But in the second half, we did the little things well, which put us over the top." Traditionally, the fall season in lacrosse is simply used to prepare for the spring season, when the bulk of the games are played. This year is no different for the Wolverines. "We feel less concerned aboutwin- ning and more about developing and keeping our skills sharp for the spring," midfielder John Kolakowski ex- plained. However, as attackman Steve Simich added, "It's always good to beat State." On an individual basis, many Michi- gan players put on impressive perfor- mances. The offensive attack was spurred by the fine play of Simich who had 7 points (4 goals-3 assists) along with Dreyer (2-3), Tony DiGiovanni (4 -2) and Kolakowski (2 goals). On defense, Ben Hohmuth provided the Wolverines with solid play. "He put the defense together really well," Kolakowski added. This Sunday, thelacrosse team will play their first ever intrasquad alumni game at 2:00 on Palmer Field before preparing for a competitive, 16 team tournament in West Virginia the fol- lowing weekend. I I nn ei I fln i..r.nr San rarI.. I