The Michigan Daily - Thursday, November 3, 1994 - 11
Women 's soccer faces stiff competition at first Big Tens
By TIM SMITH
Daily Sports Writer
For the first-year Michigan
women's soccer team, the honeymoon
is over.
. The Wolverines (1-6 Big Ten, 10-
6-1 overall) have had an impressive
rookie season, but as they prepare for
this weekend's Big Ten Tournament in
Madison, they must pickup their game
anotch and start playing like veterans.
Standing in the way of Michigan in
its Big Ten title quest, however, will be
many more experienced teams who
have gotten the best of the Wolverines
in their inaugural season.
Michigan posted a 1-6 record
*against its Big Ten foes this season
including some close losses to some of
the conference powerhouses.
The Wolverines were competitive
in every game, with the largest losing
margin only being two goals in early
season games againstIndianaand Ohio
State.
More recently, Michigan lost back-
to-back 1-0 games to conference pow-
*ers Michigan State and Penn State with
the Spartan loss coming in double-
overtime.
It will be fellow first-year team
Penn State, though, who the Wolver-
ines must defeat in the first round on
Friday before they can entertain seri-
ous thoughts of taking home the con-
ference crown.
"We play Penn State first and I'm
really hoping we can knock them off,"
Michigan coach Debbie Belkin said.
"We lost to them earlier this season but
we didn't play that well.
"I think we're definitely capable of
(beating them)."
Penn State has posted a 14-4 record
for the season including a 5-2 mark in
the Big Ten. Forwards Rachel Hoffman
and Lauren Olmstead lead the Nittany
Lions with 36 and 21 points respec-
tively.
Lady Lion goalkeeper Robin Van
Praag has been exceptional in the nets
posting a 0.90 goals against average
while making 104 saves.
Even though Michigan is playing
the mighty Nittany Lions, freshman
forward Ruth Poulin feels the team
would have been ready forany matchup.
"We're playing Penn State, but I
think we would have been pumped for
any game," Poulin said. "When we
played (the Big Ten) teams before,
they were real close matches but we
weren't able to pull out the victories.
"But now we have a second chance
to get the win."
Michigan's confidence has risen
after a weekend tournament in Austin,
Texas in which they swept lesser foes
Arizona and Nebraska by a combined
score of 8-1. This weekend, however,
the Wolverines will play the role of
David instead of Goliath.
"I feel we're in a good position
because we're the underdogs," Poulin
said. "So other teams won't be expect-
ing as much from us so that will give us
the edge."
Poulin and fellow freshmen Deb
Flaherty and Kim Phillips have lead
the young Wolverine team this season
with 15, 15, and 16 points respectively.
Goalie Jory Welchans has also been
impressive on the year with a 1.09
goals against average to go a long with
her 66 saves.
While Belkin is not about to make
any guarantees about her talented young
squad, she is still confident of the
team's chances.
"I would takeon anybody in the Big
Ten because we've played them all
pretty close," Belkin said. "I can't pre-
dict (that we will win), because our
conference has been so crazy. Differ-
ent people have beat different people
so it's hard to tell who's going to win."
Michigan has had trouble with its Big Ten foes this year. The Wolverines look for a change this weekend.
Yzerman, Gilmour should see
Swiss time during NHL lockout
DETROIT (AP) - Detroit Red
Wings captain Steve Yzerman and
Toronto Maple Leafs captain Doug
Gilmour appear to be headed for a
Swiss league as the NHL labor dispute
continues to block the start of play.
Gilmour and Yzerman, both repre-
sented by agent Larry Kelly, would
join an exodus of players from the
Kelly didn't immediately return a
telephone call Wednesday to his Ot-
tawa office. But Gilmour said Kelly
was seeking to place Yzerman with the
Bern team in the 10-member Swiss A
league.
Gilmour said he has agreed to play
for the Swiss Lugano team.
Yzerman plans to leave soon for
Europe, unidentified Red Wings team
*members told the Detroit Free Press for
a story Wednesday.
Yzerman, 29, is recovering from
spinal surgery June21 to repair a disc.
Detroit team physician David Collon
said Yzerman is ready to resume play.
"He shouldn't be at any greater risk
than anyone," Collon said. "The sur-
gery went well. His neck has come
.along very nicely."
The surgeon, Dr. Robert Watkins,
leared Yzerman to play, Collon said.
The Swiss league allows teams
to import four players a season.
Gilmour reportedly will receive
$3,000 a week, plus free housing
and use of a car. Yzerman's deal
reportedly would be similar, The
Detroit News said.
Gilmour took the deal to remain
active during the NHL lockout, Kelly
told the Toronto Sun.
"It's not aquestion of money," he
said. "It's anew experience. He'd rather
be playing in the NHL, but atthispoint,
he just wants to play."
Other Red Wings headed for inter-
BIG TEN
Continued from page 9
ranks second nationally in opponent
scoring, fourth in total cefense, an(
17th in rushing defense. Linebackers
Simeon Rice and Dana Howard, both
finalists for the Butkus Award, are ex-
cellent against both the run and pass.
Rice leads the league in sacks and
tackles for loss. Illinois has limited its
opponents to an average of 10.6 points
a game - tops in the league. Defense
makes up for what the offense lacks.
Minnesota's shocker in Madison
will not occur again.
The Gophers lack sufficient fire-
power, as they rank near the bottom of
the league in most of the offensive and
defensive categories. Their offense will
not be able to handle the defensive
swarm of Rice, Howard and company.
Illinois wins, 27-17.
Michigan State (2-3, 3-5) vs.
Northwestern (2-3,3-4-1)
The clock is ticking faster and faster
on Spartan coach George Perles' ca-
reer. He temporarily slowed the clock
this week when his Spartans snowed
tenacity in coming from behind to beat
Indiana.
Northwestern has had one of its
best seasons in years. The Wildcats
have received a consistent effort
from running back Dennis Lundy,
who is seventh in the conference in
rushing.
Michigan State has come very short
of the "outstanding season" mandated
by President Peter McPherson.
The Spartans have seesawed back
and forth between quarterbacks and
have had poor performances in big
games. Michigan State is still the better
team, but this will be close. Michigan
State wins, 17-14.
Read
Daily
Sports
Steve Yzerman (above) and Doug Gilmour (below) may play in Europe soon.
national play include Sergei Fedorov
returning to his native Russia and
Nicklas Lidstrom joining the Elite
League in his native Sweden.
Detroit coach Scotty Bowman said
he understands the players' desire to
play during the lockout.
"It's a personal decision each one
has to make," Bowman said. "I'm
sure that those guys are taking a big
risk. But the people taking the biggest
risk is our team, and we have nothing to
do about it."
So far, the NHL officially has can-
celed only four games per team. It is
expected to trim at least 10more games
from the original 84-game schedule
sometime this week.
Commissioner Gary Bettman and
union head Bob Goodenow have met
only twice in three weeks. No progress
was reported after the most recent meet-
ing in Washington on Monday, and no
more talks are scheduled.
Water polo wants revenge in Big Tens
,10 By DANIELLE RUMORE
Daily Sports Writer
The men's club water polo team
(15-7) will travel to Northwestern this
weekend for the Big Ten Champion-
ships. The tournament will begin to-
morrow and will end with the cham-
pionship game Sunday.
Michigan enters the championship
with revenge in mind. The Wolver-
ines were Big Ten champions in 1991
*and 1992, but had to settle for third
place last year after a semifinal loss to
Michigan State.
"We are definitely looking for-
ward to playing them again," eight-
year Michigan coach Scott Russell
said. "It will be like a grudge match."
The Wolverines had hopes of beat-
ing Michigan State from the begin-
ning of the 1994 season. However,
the Spartans traveled to Ann Arbor
and captured a win over the Wolver-
ines in their home pool .
"We were really down at the be-
ginning of the season," senior driver
Mark Lefkow said. "We were up
10-5 in that game and they went on
to win 11-10 in the fourth quarter.
We are definitely looking for re-
venge."
Though Michigan has beaten the
Spartans three times since the loss,
the team is concerned with a victory
over its arch-rival where it matters -
in the Big Ten Championships.
The Wolverines are led by sopho-
more hole set (center) Louis Lambert
along with sophomore driver Jason
Cunningham, first-year grad student
and driver Brian Constanza, Lefkow
and senior goalie Michael Roeder.
Michigan attributes much of its
success to Roeder, who is the starting
goaltender for the second straight year.
"He is the backbone of our team,"
Russell said. "We win a lot of our
games with defense - he's the key."
The top-seeded Wolverines will
battle Wisconsin tomorrow, then face
Ohio State and Illinois Saturday.
Michigan hopes for three straight vic-
tories and a spot in the championship
match Sunday.
"If we win all the games, we'll be
onto the finals." Lefkow said.
Maybe it will be an instate final.
.Warriors swap Owens for Miami's Seikaly
Oh
OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) - The
Golden State Warriors acquired center
Rony Seikaly from the Miami Heatfor
forward Billy Owens and one other
player in a trade Wednesday,just two
we simply could not pass on the op-
portunity to acquire an established
center like Rony Seikaly," Nelson
said.
As a rookie, Owens was dealt to the
'We simply could not
pass on the
opportunity to acquire
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