4F - The Michigan Daily - New Student Edition - September 3, 1996 Field hockey looks to rebuild By Will MeCahill Daily Sports Writer Just as the 1995 season gave the Michigan field hockey team something brand new to look forward to - a pristine field - so will the 1996 campaign present the Wolverines with a novelty. This season, though, the squad will have a new coach. After guiding Michigan to a fourth-place Big Ten finish, head coach Patti Smith resigned after seven years at the helm. The Wolverines set a 4-6 Big Ten mark, 12-9 overall. Michigan started the season with a journey to the East Coast. Sept. 8 marked Michigan's debut on its home turf, the newly christened Phyllis Ocker Field. The Wolverines showed few signs of having played indoors for five previous seasons as they edged the Fighting Blue Hens of Delaware, 2-1. After a 2-1 loss to Syracuse, the Wolverines reeled off five straight wins entering conference play. The Wolverines capped off the streak by handing rival Michigan State a 4-2 defeat. With the squad's record even in the conference at 1-1, Michi- gan traveled to Evanston to take on Big Ten powerhouse North- western. With the score deadlocked at zero and less than a sec- ond left in the second overtime, attacker and co-captain Aaleya Koreishi poked in the game-winner to sink the Wildcats. The victory pushed the Wolverines to a No. 8 national rank- ing, equaling Michigan's highest showing in the poll. The Wolverines again did themselves proud at Ocker Field on Oct. 8. With the field's namesake among the spectators, and on the day the field was dedicated, Michigan spanked arch- rival Ohio State, 3-0. It was mostly downhill for the Wolverines from there, howev- er. The Wolverines' ultimate defeat in the conference tournament came at the hands of a least likely opponent - the Buckeyes. Entering the 1996 season, the Wolverines will have to deal with some key losses. Gone will be attacker Sherene Smith and Koreishi, as well as goaltender Rachael Geisthardt and the other captain, defender Jennifer Lupinski. Senior attacker Michelle Smulders and sophomore attacker Julie Flachs will anchor the attack, while the keys to defense should be held by senior Bree Derr. Two key additions will be netminder Kati Oakes and midfielder Erica Widder. // 11rII N """ft 1/ ANN ARBOR - 11 "Illoo op, ww" KRISTEN SCHAEFER/Dagy Bill Lacure (front) tries to break an opponent's hold this season. The Michigan wrestling team had five All-Americans, Including Lacure, and finished ninth In the nation.This year, four of the All-Americans return to anchor the squad. Wrestlers finish strong at NCAAs, prepare for future eY0n0w BACK TO SCHOOL SALE! 112 off all carpet remnants By Will McCahill Daily Sports Writer Every team begins its season with the goal of improving on its last campaign. For the Michigan wrestling team, the goal was no different, and the results upon which it was aiming to improve were manageable, to say the least. The 1994-95 squad finished fifth in the Big Ten - traditionally the nation's strongest conference - but finished the season with a disappointing No. 22 fin- ish at the NCAA championships. In the 1995-96 season, coach Dale Bahr set out to bring his team back into the top 10, and had to do so without the benefit of much senior leadership. By the time the Big Ten season got under way, the Wolverines had already lost one of two senior regulars, 158- pound co-captain Jake Young, to injury. The other senior captain, 177-pounder Jesse Rawls Jr., led a team made up almost exclusively of freshmen and sophomores into the Big Ten. After a loss to ninth-ranked Penn State, Michigan - then ranked No. 17 - faced eighth-ranked Illinois. The Wolverines, on the road, pulled the upset behind strong performances from -- "AOKSONFa CARM~ supj- two sophomores. At 158 pounds, Jeff Catrabone pinned defending NCAA champion Earnest Benion to keep Michi- gan in the match, and heavyweight Airron Richardson recorded a 4-3 decision in the final match to seal the victory. After tying Northwestern and losing to Michigan State in front of a packed house at Cliff Keen Arena - a record 2,200 spectators took in the match - the Wolverines embarked on a six-match winning streak. "I've n Home victories over No. 23 vPurdue, No. 18 had fii Ohio State, No. I1 Wis- consin and No. 9 Indiana, Amend combined with a road win over No. 7 Minnesota, ( y) powered the Wolverines to a 6-2-1 conference record years. and a No. 12 ranking heading into the confer- ence tournament. Wrest Michigan entered the Big Ten tournament look- ing to have the maximum number of wrestlers qualify for NCAA berths. Although the Wolverines did not fare as well as Bahr would have liked in the team standings - the squad placed sev- enth - six Michigan wrestlers battled their ways into the NCAAs. Redshirt freshman 118-pounder Chris Viola finished fifth, while sophomore Brandon Howe placed sixth at 126. Sophomore Bill Lacure turned in a 7 Ci is t fourth-place performance, while Catra- bone's second-place finish qualified' him easily. .09 Rawls and Richardson also qualified. Despite the mediocre showing at Big Tens, the Wolverines traveled to the Twin.' Cities hoping to break into the top 10. The top eight in each class claimed All- American honors, and five of the six' Wolverine qualifiers garnered the title. Lacure paced the Pever Wolverines with a fourth- place finish, a mar l. equalled by Rawls anW Richardson. :an S jin Catrabone, who entered' with a No. 3 national rank- ing, suffered a broken fi-' ger that held him to a sev- enth-place showing. Howe aeBahrfinished a surprising' Dale B eighth. ling coach The individual perfot- mances propelled Michi- gan to a ninth-place overao finish, to Bahr's delight. "I've never had five All-Americans in the 18 years I've been (at Michigan)" Bahr said. Bahr said the outlook is good for the Wolverines in the coming season, based" on the success of the younger wrestlers. "When you consider out of those five All-Americans, four of them are just sophomores, then we have a great future. ahead of us." 6885 Jackson Rd. 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