12 - The Michigan Daily - Tuesday, October 7, 1997 lcers concerned about . early defensive miscues By Chris Farah Daily Sports Writer The defensive errors were glaring. Sloppy passes and give-aways in its own zone. Defensemen getting caught up-ice, permitting multiple odd-man rushes. The Michigan hockey team's defensive problems were obvious in Saturday night's Blue/White game, and it bothered one pair of eyes in particular - those of Michigan coach Red Berenson. "That's a big concern, obviously," Berenson said. "We're lacking experience, and I think our defensemen are still looking to find themselves. It's early, we're going to make some mistakes, and we made some mistakes tonight." One of the primary unknowns is the performance of the freshmen. Rookies make up a sizable chunk of Michigan's defensive corps, accounting for four of the Wolverines' eight blueliners. As the season gets underway, freshman Mike Van Ryn has the best chance out of the youngsters to make an early impact, according to Berenson. Van Ryn said that the freshmen defensemen are going to have to get used to playing a less offensive-style of game at the college level. "A lot of us are more offensive," Van Ryn said. "We came in being offensive players. Coach (Berenson) has been helping us along with that, and a lot of the system is new to us, so it's taking some getting used to. But I'm sure with another week of practice we'll be all right." Berenson said he is optimistic about the development of the freshmen. "Overall, I thought some of the young players played pretty well," Berenson said. "Dave Huntzicker has con- tinued to be a pretty steady player. Van Ryn is going to be a good defenseman in this league. I hope they all learned something." But if the freshmen are to adjust successfully, it's up to the upperclassmen to show them the way. Berenson said that players like junior Bubba Berenzweig and sopho* more Kevin Magnuson are going to have to assume lead- ership roles. "Berenzweig - he's a player we expect more from," Berenson said. "If he wants to take a leadership role as one of our upperclassmen on defense, he'll have to real- ly' improve. As a unit, we're still a long way from being the defense we want to be." Mental errors and small, but fundamental mistakes added up to big problems in the Blue/White game. "We don't look for a lot of offense from our defense; we look for a lot of defense, and not turnovers, and no give-aways, and not getting trapped up the ice and no getting beat one-on-one," Berenson said. "That's not the Michigan defense that I want." Michigan captain Matt Herr said the difficulties would have to be ironed out, but that they're nothing to panic about it - at this point in the season, anyway. "You can definitely see things we need to work on," Herr said. "Covering rebounds, picking up your man in front of the net, breaking the puck out over the glass, things like that - things that definitely show up that you don't want. "We're going to be a team that learns from our mis. takes, and hopefully down the stretch in the last 15 or 20 games, we'll be right there playing for the national cham- pionship." Berenson said that improving the defense would be a season-long process, and not something that would be accomplished in a week or two. "It's going to take some time," he said. "We'll get bet- ter every week. We have to try to take the pressure off our defense. "We got a lot to learn, we got a lot to work on, and we'll be working on this all year." SARA STILLMAN/Daly The pressure could be mounting for Michigan hockey forwards like Sean Ritchlin. If Saturday's Blue/White intrasquad exhibi- tion was any indication, the Wolverines' defense might be somewhat suspect this season, due to the abundance of freshmen. TENNIS Continued from Page 11 for the victory. Paradzik met fellow teammate Brook Blain in the finals, whom he dispatched easily, 6-2, 6-0. Raiton's road to the finals was the reverse of Paradzik. He met teammate John Long in the semifinals before fac- ing Duke's Ramin Pejan in the finals. Raiton beat Pejon in two sets, 7-5, 6-4. Raiton also found success in the dou- bles draw, teaming up with Wright to win their bracket. The tandem won four- straight matches en route the champi- onship, never really being challenged until the finals. The other doubles champion team was composed of Swan and Blain. After a bye in the first round, the team won two tight matches, 9-8 and 9-7, before defeat- ing the Notre Dame tandem of Sachire and Miller in a comparatively temperate match -doubles matches are decided in a single set of eight games. "We made a lot of progress this week- end," Eisner said. "Our performance ver- ifies the fact that we're a top-level team." The immediate success of the team has apparently changed the attitude of the players. "This team has pulled a 180 from last year" Wright said. "Last season, it was rough getting out of bed for the last day of these three-day tournaments. We had the mindset ofjust wanting to go home. "This year, we understand that we have a job to do and are ready to go out and play." Part/Full Time Programmer for Start-up High Tech Firm Ex erienced with: stal Reports " Visual Basic Send Resume to MS Access nAn Arbor MI 48106-4267 No. 11 Spartans still waiting for first test EAST LANSING (AP) - Michigan State will be favored to rack up its fifth- straight victory this weekend when it plays Indiana. But the Spartans won't know how good they are until they face a top- ranked opponent. Oh, there are hints. You don't outscore your foes, 147-48, unless you're pretty good, no matter how weak they are. But only when 11 th-ranked Michigan State plays Michigan and Ohio State and even Northwestern will the Spartans get an accurate assess- ment. While upsets are always possi- ble, Indiana, 1-4 for the year, doesn't figure to be much of a test. But even with Michigan State's 4-0 start, the first time that's happened since 1966, Spartan coach Nick Saban still has some things he'd like to see his team do better. "At times I think we've played very well. At other times, we see things we need to improve on," Saban said yester- day. "We have a ways to go in improving as a team to play with more consistency and be able to do it for 60 minutes in a game" Despite Indiana's poor record, Saban is not taking the Hoosiers for grantedO He knows any Big Ten team can rise up to embarrass an overconfident opponent - or one looking ahead to the big teams on their schedule. "Indiana has a young team that's play- ing hard and aggressive," he said. "They're very well coached. I think they've probably played as tough a schedule as anyone in the country to this point." The Hoosiers have only a win ove* Ball State to show against losses to North Carolina, Kentucky, Wisconsin and Michigan. But Saban doesn't down- play Indiana's talent. "This is a capable team,' Saban said. "They play hard on defense," and offen- sively sophomore Jay Rodgers is devel- oping into ad quarterback. Spartan players have adopted Saban's focus-on-the-next-game approach. "The first thing you do is establish a wor4 ethic,' he said. With Indiana on the schedule Saturday, Michigan and Ohio State can wait. UCLA improves, focuses on 'basic stuff' AP PHOTO Sedrick Irvin and his Michigan State teammates have outscored their opponents, 147-48, enroute to their first 4-0 start since 1966. The Spartans are still awaiting their first real test, and will play 1-4 Indiana this weekend. coming Monday. LOS ANGELES (AP) - UCLA is on some kind of a roll, having scored 172 points in its last three games - the most in any three-game span in school history - while allowing only 40. What's the secret? Nothing startling, UCLA coach Bob Toledo said yesterday. Just basic stuff, like added experience, improved execu- tion because of the added experience and plenty of hard work in practice. It's obviously helped that a ball-hawk- ing defense has forced 24 turnovers - the most in the country - while the offense has committed only five. The 3.8 turnover margin also leads the nation. Individually, quarterback Cade McNown has become one of the nation's most efficient quarterbacks; tailback Skip Hicks leads the country in scoring with his 15 touchdowns; and other Bruins are doing their jobs, too. It's been some run. But Toledo knows nothing can be taken for granted. "We've got to keep a level head," he said. "We've got six very tough Pac-10 games coming up. I hate to use an old cliche, but we've got to take them one at a time. "We're not the finished product.We're tightening the screws all the time. We're not going to be complacent, we're not going to be content.' Toledo believes the 18th-ranked Bruins (1-1 Pac 10, 3-2 overall) can't afford another loss if they hope to contend for the conference champi- onship - something that should keep them from becoming complacent or content. Among their final six opponents are No. 10 Washington, No. 16 Stanford and cross-town rival Southern California. But first things first. And first is a trip to the Pacific Northwest to face Oregon (1-2, 3-2) on Saturday. "They're an improving defensive teamW and an explosive offensive team"Toledo said of the Ducks, who lost to UCLA, 41-22, in Eugene, Ore., last year. Job Fair '97 Michigan Union 1 pm to 5 pm, October 7 vrmS c 011- % 10 V %i~r & top If you want the security of a large corporation with the influence of a small entrepreneurial venture, MCI is an ideal combination. with us, send your resume to: MCI Telecommunications Corp., Dept. 0877/107, 2400 N. Glenville Dr., Richardson, TX 75082; FAX: INVU1I UCLW4 Fall Season: Oct..20th - Dec. 15th Register now for Men's, Women's and Coed Leagues. Registration Deadline: Octotler 14th Register by September 30th and receive az$20 Discount on Team Fees. Individual Registrations are welcome. I 1