The Michigan Daily - SPORTSMonday - September 15, 1997 - 3B ,S tickers sweep weekend competition Friday's overtime struggle aids Sunday's success as Michigan rolls to 7-0 victory 8y David Stern F the Daily - . Following a 7-0 blowout over * >;uthwest Missouri State on Sunday, K-yhigan field hockey coach Marcia *ankratz couldn't help but be excit- 'This team is head and shoulders above where (it was) last year at this .. time in the season," Pankratz said. After struggling offensively to win 3-2 over Kent State in overtime Jiday, Michigan came back with a vengeance Sunday afternoon to trounce Southwest Missouri. Southwest Missouri, which at '9mes had as many as eight freshmen n the field, was no match for the overall team speed and talent of the more experienced Wolverines, who outshot Southwest Missouri, 42-2. Led by senior midfielder Julie Flachs, who had three goals in each game, the Wolverines improved their season record to 5-1. Michigan also received goals from Lindsay Babbitt, Meredith Weinstein, Loveita Wilkinson and Jocelyn LaFace. Babbitt started off the scoring at 28:29 of the first half when she took a centering pass from Jeanne Shin and maneuvered her way around the goalie for an easy tap-in goal. Weinstein followed Babbitt at 10:47 by stickhandling her way down the field, blowing past defenders, and slamming a hard shot to the back of the cage. Then Flachs took control of the game. Flachs recorded a natural hat trick with her first goal coming off a penalty corner from Johnson and Widder at 5:17 to make the score 3- 0. Flachs followed that with another goal on a corner, and then capped off her day with a third goal at 5:34 of the second half. She weaved between several defenders before slapping a back- hand shot past the goaltender. Wilkinson and Laface finished off the scoring for the Wolverines. "This team is head and shoulders above where (it was) last year at this time" - Marcia Pankratz Michigan field hockey coach "This was a really big game for us," Flachs said. "After Friday's game, we came out on fire today, which allowed us to give valuable playing time to our younger players." Though not heavily tested, the Wolverines again got a solid perfor- mance in goal by Amy Helber, who recorded the shutout. The team's confidence has picked up tremendously since its sweep on the West Coast, and that improve- ment is starting to show in its play. After winning a tough, who- wants-it-more battle with Kent State on Friday, and in blowout fashion on Sunday, the Wolverines look like they are ready for the upcoming Big Ten schedule. They also look like they might be ready to make some noise nationally. "Perennial East Coast powers don't always give the Midwest schools the respect that they deserve," Pankratz said. If Michigan continues the improvement it has shown early in the season, schools around the coun- try will be in for a tougher match than they have been against past Wolverine teams. Michigan's next game will be Wednesday at Ball State. The confer- ence season begins for Michigan against Iowa on Sept. 26. A sticky history Michigan field hockey facts - then and now Then (past accomplishments) Kent State history First meeting since 1994 Series record: Michigan leads, 6-2-3 Southwest Missouri State history. First meeting since 1994 Michigan's last victory was in 1990 1 Michigan's best overall record: 13-3 in 1982 N Two 1996 All-Americans (Shelley Johnson and Michelle Smulders) 9 Six Stickers who were Academic All- Big Ten in 1996 8 Finished last in the Big Ten in 1996 with a conference record of (2-8) Now (1997) 9 Their 5-1 start is the best start since 1993 when they began 5-0 * Two victories away from tying last season's total X First season that women's field hockey team sent four players to the Under 21 Junior World Cup Championship PRtS odayColumn JOHN LEROI Out of Bounds Plar4t' bicollege fotball provies newv excitement B efore Saturday's loss to Purdue, Notre Dame was ranked 12th by the Associated Press. This week, the Fighting Irish didn't even make the top 25. Colorado was No. 7 in the ESPN/USA Today poll. The Buffaloes lost to Michigan, a ranked team, and they tumbled to No. 16 (see Page 2B if you don't believe me). The reason? New pollsters? Extremely capricious voters? An error in counting last week's votes? No. It's just that so many teams are so good, or at least there are a bunch of teams that are about as good as each other. For the first time in - well, I don't have an exact date, but it's been a long time - seven teams received first-place votes in the AP poll. Eight teams were deemed No. 1 by at least one pollster in the ESPNIUSA Today poll. Nobody seems to have any idea who the best two or three teams in the country are. Florida is good. So's Penn State. So's Washington. Tennessee is very good, but UCLA almost beat them. Speaking of UCLA, the Bruins came in 0-2 and trounced then-No. 10 Texas, 66-3. Now UCLA, 1-2, is ranked 24th (in the AP poll). And Central Florida was beating Nebraska through two quarters of football. What the heck is going on? I'll tell you what. There is more parity in college football this year than there has been in the last 20 years. That's not to say that Purdue and Central Florida will be ranked anytime soon (though both received votes in this week's AP poll). But while Florida will still blow out teams like Central Michigan, at least some of these traditionally bad teams can step onto the same football field as top-25 teams and look better than the local high school squad. That's good for college football. Fielding competitive teams makes schools look good to prospective students - athletes and non-athletes alike - and it makes the seaon more fun to watch. It is far more exciting to the average fan not to know who is the best team in the country. And it's more fun for die-hard fans who can follow their favorite team, no matter how bad they were in the past, and know that teams like Purdue have the chance to beat intra-state rivals like Notre Dame. It also takes a lot of power out of the hands of pollsters and makes the games themselves more meaningful. Next year, with the Super Alliance, rankings will mean everything. Hopefully, competition for the top spots will be as heated as it is this season. Let teams play football on the field, not on paper. Early season rankings mean very little when games are this competitive. Gary Barnett has proven a lot, taking Northwestern from perennial doormat to a Rose Bowl team. Coaches of other losing programs have more to live up to now. But little by little, bad teams are becoming mediocre, which is all you can ask for. Not every team can be Northwestern. After all, for every Northwestern, there is an Oklahoma, who the Wildcats beat soundly this season. The Sooners, once the most feared team in football, have been reduced to nothing more than a fading star. But stories like those are far less common these days than those of Northwestern, Oregon and Washington State. And more important are teams like Purdue and Kansas, once shoddy programs} who now can contend with the big boys. This year will be a fun one to watch. -John Leroi can be reached over e-mail atjrleroi@umich.edu. JONATHAN SUMMER/Daily Freshmen Tamra Geryk and Courtney Reid and the Wolverines stuck it to both opponents last weekend, recording two victo- rei. Friday, Michigan squeaked by Kent State In overtime, 3-2, and Southwest Missouri fell on Sunday, 7-0. Flachs records two hat tricks By B.J. Luria Daily Sports Writer Last year, only two Michigan field hockey players scored six goals in the 18-game season. This past weekend, senior captain Julie Flachs scored six goals in two games. Flachs recorded two hat tricks in three days, against Kent State on Friday and Southwest Missouri State on Sunday. Against Kent State, Flachs scored all three of Michigan's goals in a 3-2 over- *me thriller. Her hat trick against 1outhwest Missouri helped put things out of reach of the Bears. The Wolverines led, 2-0, when Flachs scored her first goal of the game with 5:17 remaining in the first half. Michigan went on to win, 7-0. In six games this season, Flachs already has 11 goals, two more than her total last season. Although she has yet to pick up an *ssist this year, her 22 points are already more than she has recorded in any other full season. Flachs attributes much of the increase in goal production to her improved conditioning. "This year I think I've been in better shape than normal," Flachs said. "I owe that to my coaches and then my team- mates, who give me all the assists." Flachs's speed was apparent on sev- eral of her scores. Three of her goals @ast weekend came on breakaways when she managed to get behind the tdefense. "She doesn't have to do so much run- ning, because she already places herself in the right place," senior defender Sandra Cabrera said. "She's got a lot of skill and thought fot the game." Not only has Flachs scored a lot of goals, but they have been important ones as well. Three of her 11 goals have been game-winners, including the over- time goal against Kent State. Dramatic goals are nothing new for Flachs, though. Of her nine goals last year, four of them were game-winners, leading the team. "She's got incredible stick skills," Cabrera said. "She knows the game really well and she knows how to read players." In her four years at Michigan, Flachs has started every single match for the Wolverines. This year, her teammates voted her captain, and their decision has been paying off. She has picked up the slack left by the graduation of last year's leading scorer, Michelle Smulders, and has led Michigan to a 5-1 record. "She's an on-the-field kind of leader; she doesn't like to say too much, she likes to show by example," Cabrera said. "She's an awesome leader." p '1 , WANT TO FLY? WI The Air Force has an urgent need for pilots, navigators, engineers, and managers! No matter what your career plans, there's a way to see them soar. 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