Scoreboard MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL PLAYOFFS NATIONAL HOCKEY LEAGUE Atlanta 14, ST. LOUIS 0 Boston 5, VANCOUVER 4 NY RANGERS 5, Calgary 4 NATIONAL FOOTBALL LEAGUE Edmonton at Phoenix, inc. San Francisco at Green Bay, inc. HOME TEAM IN CAPS Tuesday October 15, 1996 12, Blue defenders sustain injunes, may miss action By Barry Solenberger Daily Sports Editor The Michigan football team's defensive unit is one of the nation's best. But much of it could be on the sideline when the 13th-ranked Wolverines face Indiana on Saturday at Michigan Stadium. The foot-injury gods have cast a spell on Michigan. Defenders Sam Sword, Jarrett Irons, Glen Steele and Will Carr all have sustained various foot injuries over the past couple of weeks, and all are questionable for this weekend's game. "These kids are so big and so fast," Michigan coach Lloyd Carr said. "There's a lot of stress on small bones. It's one of the modern-day football problems." The injuries to Irons, Sword and Swett present Carr with the biggest problems, because the trio makes up 75 percent of Michigan's best inside linebackers. This means increased roles for Eric Mayes and Dhani Jones at the inside spot. The injury woes could spell trou- ble for the Wolverines against Indiana running back Alex Smith. Through six games, Smith has gained 769 yards rushing, good enough for ninth-place nationally. "I look at (Indiana) as an extreme- ly dangerous team," Carr said. "I think Alex is a tough, hard-nosed guy."~ Still, injuries or no injuries, Carr is not about to use health as an excuse for the Northwestern loss or for any other poor performances. "There was no excuse in the fourth quarter (against Northwestern) for not executing," Carr said. "Our defense was on the field for 29 plays in the first half. That's a vaca- tion. Getting tired was no excuse." The Wildcats outgained the Wolverines, 172-28, during the fourth quarter of their 17-16 upset victory. ANES IS IN: The Wolverines' week off gave Carr a chance to look at some of the younger players, and freshman fullback John Anes is one of those likely to see more action this weekend. Anes was impressive against UClA, on Sept. 28, gaining 84 yards on 17 carries. He will take some carries away fror@ Michigan's top two backs - Clarence Williams and Chris Howard - against Indiana. Carr wasn't exactly disappointed. with the play of Williams and Howard against the Wildcats, but neither back broke any long runs, and Howard had a crucial fumble in the fourth quarter. "I'm going to find out if a bigger guy like Anes can make a difference, Carr said. "He'll be at fullback, and at times he'll be our one-back." NORTHWESTERN HANGOVER: Carr's, largest problem during the past week perhaps has been motivating his team., The week off gave the Wolverines extra time to think about losing to the Wildcats for the second straight year. The loss, coupled with Ohio State's- early dominance this season, make a Michigan trip to the Rose Bow] appear unlikely. "I think the difficult thing of an open week after a loss is that you're See INJURIES, Page 13 JOE WESTRATE/Daily Michigan's offense had occasional problems holding onto the bail In the first few games. Now, the defense has some of its own problems. Four Michigan defenders have sustained various foot injuries and may not play against Indiana. x 'M' stickers drop two,. prepare for Chippewas ... Nanooks' icer faces paralysis * a By James Goldstein Daily Sports Writer By Richard Shin Daily Sports Writer The way the season has gone so far for the Michigan field hockey team, it might be a good bet that the Wolverines will win their next two matches against Central Michigan today at 4 p.m. and Michigan State on Oct. 20. It isn't because the matches are against pushovers - the Chippewas and the IIth- ranked Spartans are hardly cream puffs - but rather, because of what the Wolverines have done the past four weeks. In the past eight matches, the Wolverines have managed to alternate two-match winning and losing streaks. Following a pair of impressive victories over Michigan State and New Hampshire at home, the Wolverines (1-4 Big Ten, 5-6 over- all) hit the road and dropped matches against conference foes Iowa and Northwestern this past weekend. PThe unusual streak is not a product of an ancient curse or a paranormal phenomena but, lately, a lack of consistent performance from the Wolverines. "We need to be consistent in how we play," senior attacker Michelle Smulders said. "We know we can play well. We just have to figure out how to trigger it." Against No. 2 Iowa (5-0, 12-1), the Wolverines played well but were unable to gener- ate any goals and lost, 6-1. Michigan was outshot, 21-9, but had solid scoring chances. "We had scoring opportunities against Iowa, but we didn't capitalize on them," junior attacker Julie Flachs said. "We worked on that" Iowa took a quick 3-0 lead before Michigan got on the board with a goal by Smulders with a little over seven minutes left to cut the deficit to two goals. The Hawkeyes put the game away with three unanswered goals, however, and shut Michigan out in the second half. Against No. 12 Northwestern (2-3, 7-6), the Wolverines took a 2-1 lead behind a pair of goals from Smulders, who scored on both her chances in the first half. But Michigan's offense stalled again, and the Wolverines again gave up three unanswered goals en route to a 4-2 defeat. Overall, the Wildcats outshot the Wolverines, 21-11, and outcornered them, 12- 4. Smulders' three-goal weekend gives her five on the season, good enough for second behind attacker Julie Flachs' seven for the Wolverines. In the long histories of the two series, Michigan is 2-27-0 against the Wildcats and has never beaten the Hawkeyes in 30 meetings. The Wolverines have one more chance to improve the records against both teams this season. Today's match against Central Michigan gives the Wolverines a chance to work on their See STICKERS, Page 14 Mark Drygas said he has never been prouder of his son. "I've been proud of my son many different times through, out the years, but I've never been more proud of him than right now" he said. His son, Alaska-Fairbanks defenseman Erik Drygas, is ii intensive care at Fairbanks Memorial Hospital after being pari tially paralyzed in a freak accident in practice last Monday. * Drygas is recovering from surgery that removed bone frag- ments and repaired damage to his vertebrae. The 20-year-old sophomore, who is a native of Fairbanks; Alaska, injured the fifth cervical vertebra of his neck. A few hours into practice, he crashed head-first into the boards while going after a puck in the corner of Carlson Center during a drill. Drygas was participating in a power-play drill when two of his teammates skated toward him from the corners. It is unclear exactly how the collision occurred, but Drygas crosse sticks with a player, tried to make a quick move to escape th jam and fell forward. He went down on his knees and hit the top of his head into the upper boards. He never lost consciousness but was in a lot of pain and said he couldn't feel anything below his chest. Drygas was rushed to Fairbanks Memorial Hospital, where X-rays showed the vertebra was broken in several pieces. There was a lot of swelling in his neck, so the doctors decided to wait until the swelling died down instead of performing immediate surgery. Doctors opted to perform the surgery on Wednesday, and the operation took over six hours. "The operation went extremely well," Alaska-Fairbank spokesperson Scott Roselius said. "(The physicians) are very happy. There were no complications as far as the operation. Surgeons removed bone fragments from the injured verte- bra and grafted bone from Drygas' hip to help stabilize the See DRYGAS, Page 14 FILE PHOTO/Daily Michigan midfield/defenderSandra Cabrera and the rest of the Wolverines take on Central Michigan today at 4 p.m. at Ocker Field. 11 McKinsey&Company MBA RECRUITING Please meet with us to discuss case interview techniques and to hear a presentation about our Firm. Case Interview Workshop Tuesday, October 22, 1996 4:30 p.m. - Hale Auditorium s kx Firm Presentation and Reception TAT.1 r - 1" anl{.- ' 2 1QQ9 I .: -.. -.t. to/a...t.JAI!....... ADC c4L i3