a What is Gary Moeller's coaching ecord in Ilinois-Michigan games? (Answer, page 2) AP Top 25 Athlete of the Week ' Cross Country Q&A Bach's Score Football Volleyball Women's Swimming Hockey Soccer 2 2 2 3 3 4-5 6 6 7 8 io chog this time around for Blue Morrison iominates defens ively C HAMPAIGN - Steve Morrison has been vindicated. Michigan's senior inside linebacker, questioned and forgotten #r much of last year, has exacted his revenge on the hell hound of self- doubt. In Saturday's game, when he could have been overshadowed by Illinois' capable quartet of linebackers, Morrison registered a dozen tackles and recovered a fumble at the Michigan 14-yard line. Morrison, Michigan's defensive captain, was clearly the dominant player on the Wolverines' side of the ball. His performance BRER merited a BR~l~selection as FORREST ABC's Player of Forrest the Game. =,res"He's a catalyst for their defense. He's the kind of linebacker that motivates his team," Illinois offensive coordinator Greg Landry said. "They really missed him last year."~ In perhaps the understatement of the year, Landry hit on one of Michigan's foremost problems uring the sad season of 1993. 'orrison broke a bone in his foot during the summer, broke it again in practice the week after the Notre Dame game and then aggravated the injury against Wisconsin. In all, he missed seven games. Injured and either sitting on the bench or playing hurt, he personified the team's sullen attitude during its 4 season. "Last year was frustrating because I wasn't playing," Morrison said. "It's a difficult thing when you're watching from the sidelines." Rarely had Morrison watched a game from the bench, after enjoying a brilliant prep career at Bitmingham Brother Rice. The state's top-rated prospect at his position in 1989, Morrison was expected to be the next eat Wolverine linebacker. I Not only was he counted upon to complement then-All-America linebacker Brick Anderson, but also step into the breach when Anderson graduated. The legacy of Anderson, who won the Butkus Award as the nation's top collegiate linebacker in 1991, is undoubtedly a difficult one shake. But now Morrison, who punctuated his complete comeback with double-digit tackle outings against Penn State and Iowa, is a finalist for this year's Butkus Award himself. Saturday Morrison refused to let up. Spearheading a defensive attack that allowed the Illini just 40 yards on the ground, he constantly came up th key stops.d On second-and-one from its own 34 with less than five minutes gone in the fourth quarter, Illinois ran Robert Holcombe up the middle to secure a vital first down. Michigan's Remy Hamilton had missed a field goal attempt just two plays earlier and the Illini, down by 12 points, had the game's momentum jtheir favor. 4 At the snap of the ball, Morrison knifed through the line to his right, cut back to his left and wrapped up Holcombe for a one-yard loss. The Ansuing play ended in an incompletion, and Michigan regained aossession of the hall. It isn't pretty, but 'M' finally beats Illinois By CHAD A. SAFRAN Daily Football Writer CHAMPAIGN-Beauty is said to be in the eye of the beholder. Saturday's game between No. I I Michigan and Illinois was not very good-looking. For the Wolverines, the prettiest thing was the result - a 19-14 win over the Fighting Illini before 72,677 at Memo- rial Stadium. How ugly was the game ? Michigan (3- Big Ten,5-2 overall) did not score an offensive touchdown against Illi- nois (2-2, 4-3), relying on its special teams to provide the points, and still pulled out a victory. That one touchdown was arguably the best looking part of the game, at least if you were wearing a winged helmet. Amani Toomer's 72-yard punt re- turn, the Wolverines' first since Der- rick Alexander busted one for a score in the Hall of Fame Bowl last Jan. 1. helped Michigan extend a shaky 9-7 halftime lead less than three minutes into the third quarter. The junior wide receiver fielded the punt at the Michigan 28 a couple of yards from the sideline. After almost dropping the football while fielding the kick, Toomer traversed the field, re- ceiving a key block from Woody Hankins, which Illinois (2-2,4-3) coach Lou Tepper and his players insisted should have been called a clipping pen- alty. "There were two clips," said Illi- nois linebacker Dana Howard, who registered a game-high 20 tackles. "We were the only people who were watch- ing the game." However, no violation was whistled and Toomer made his way up the far sideline. One Illini defender nearly grabbed hold of his jersey but Toomer eluded the effort and sped to the end zone. See ILLINOIS, Page 4 JOSH KOLEVZON /Daily who came into the game averaging just 2.2 Amani Toomer returns a punt for a touchdown against Illinois. Toomer, yards per return, scored Michigan's only touchdown of the game. Hockey salvages plit eond otte 4i last-second )"q, score By DARREN EVERSON Daily Hockey Writer Facing aquality opponent like Colo- rado College was supposed to provide the Michigan hockey team with a good and honest look at itself. After almost 120 minutes of hockey last weekend, the Wolverines could not have liked what they saw. They saw an image reflecting a porous defense, suspect goaltending and, very nearly, an 0-2 record. However, a last-second power-play goal from Jason Botterill in Saturday's contest lifted Michigan to a 5-4 win over the Tigers. The victory also gave the Wolverines a split in the weekend set after they dropped the opener, 7-4. "Our two men up on the point there, (Brendan) Morrison and (Mike) Legg kept putting the puck down in the cor- ners forus," Botterill said. "I wasjustin front of the net, and (Morrison) sent a beautiful pass right down to me. My back was to the net so Ijust spun around and shot the puck, and the next thing I know-jubilation. It wasjust anunbe- lievable feeling." The line of Warren Luhning, Kevin Hilton and Botterill accounted for that goal and two other power-play goals Saturday. Although Botterill said Luhning adjusted well to playing in place of the injured Mike Knuble, those two weren't the only reason for Michigan's success with a man ad- vantage. "The thing that affected us was we didn't have our captain out there on defense," said Colorado College Bob LuciaofdefensemanKentFearns."He's the guy that would be out there running our power play from the point and kill- ing penalties, so we missed him." Fearns, sidelined by a groin injury, may have been missed from a defensive standpoint, but the Tigers certainly didn't suffer from a lack of offense. Colorado College clawed back from a 3-0 first-period deficit thanks to its con- tinued physical play. In the third period, after a short- handed goal by right wing Tim Sweezo, Tiger center Stewart Bodtker tied the game at four, pushing the puck past Michigan goalie Marty Turco after an intense scramble in front of the net. At that point, the Wolverines seized com- mand of the game, controlling the ac- tion until Botterill's score. After working so hard to come back, losing with just one second on the clock left a sour taste in the mouth of center R.J. Enga. "We definitely would have liked to at least taken the game into overtime," he said. "It's the luck of the thumb switch, because the guy could have started the clock a second too late." The Wolverines had more trouble containing the Tiger attack in Friday's game. Colorado College pinned Michigan in its own end for much of the first two periods, amassing 25 shots to the Wolverines' 17 and tak- ing a 4-3 lead into the final period. The Tigers' early dominance kept Michigan goalie Al Loges busy. "A lot of things caught me off guard at first," Loges said. "Just right off the bat there's a two-on-one and then a breakaway, just one after another. It was like a pinball gallery in there." The amount of action might have worn on the Michigan netminder a bit. Tiger right wing Peter Geronazzo, with two Wolverines draped over him, flipped a one-armed shot past Loges to put Colorado College up by two. And while Michigan dominated play See TIGERS, Page 7 MARK FRIEDMAN/Daily John Madden and the Michigan hockey team were nearly swept by Colorado College this weekend. Only Jason Botterill's goal with :01 on the clock save the Wolverines from an 0-2 start. Field hockey sips against ranked foes By JENNIFER DUBERSTEIN Dai. Sports Writer Going into the weekend, the Michi- gan field hockey team had high hopes of beating two of the top-ranked teams in the country, No. 14 Iowa and No. I Northwestern. But as the weekend passed, the high hopes of the No. 20 Wolverines were crushed by two dis- appointing losses. On Friday night, Michigan (3-5 Big Ten, 8-10 overall) lost to Iowa (4- 3 Big Ten, 8-6 overall), 2-3, at Oosterbaan Field House in double overtime. Kristen Holmes of Iowa scored the first goal of the game in the second half inside the circle. Three minutes later, freshman Julie Flachs retaliated for Michigan. Then Michi- gan junior Aaleya Koreishi netted the second goal, putting the Wolverines up 2-1. The Hawkeyes scored with five minutes left to tie the game. The deciding goal came in the second overtime when the referees awarded Iowa a penalty corner. Iowa's Ann Pare put the ball in the Michigan net. "You live and die by a (penalty) stroke," Michigan forward Gia Biagi said. "And they don't really show how a team plays. The Michigan-Iowa match was close not only in score, but in the numbers. Michigan took 17 shots, compared to Iowa's 19. Michigan goalie Rachel Geisthardt had 10 saves; Iowa goalie Jessica Krochmal had 13. Michigan also received nine penalty corners and Iowa had 11. "It was a well-fought game," sopho- more Meredith Franden said. "It was a grudge match that just didn't go our way." Sophomore Bree Derr agreed. "We had nothing to be ashamed of (against Iowa)," Derr said. "It was a dog fight, and unfortunately, we didn't win." After Friday's close game, Michi- gan had to prepare for another tough match against Northwestern (7-1 Big Ten, 12-2-1 overall). The Wildcats downed the Wolverines 6-0 at Oosterbaan, in front of a crowd of 347. See FIELD HOCKEY, Page 6 The Undergraduate 'M' Club is changing the image of student-athletes By MICHAEL ROSENBERG Daily Sports Editor ettle down, class, while we play verybody's favorite game: You're and thrombotic stroke. The reason is that a gene that codes for the alpha-2-adrenergic receptor is polymorphic." Some nutshell, huh? president of the Undergraduate 'M' Club Advisory Council (UMCAC). The club is designed to improve the image of student- athletes, act as a support group, and speak out instructors." Over the course of a few months last spring, an unusual number of people associated with the Michigan athletic department got into legal I