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Wednesday
November 5, 1997

9


onlan hurts wrist, out 3-5 weeks

By Mark Snyder
Daily Sports Writer
Michigan co-captain Travis Conlan,
fresh off the best game of his colle-
giate career, will be watching the next
month of Michigan basketball from
an unfamiliar position - the bench.
Conlan will be sidelined 3-5 weeks
9ith a fractured right wrist - an
injury he suffered in the second half
of Monday's loss to Athletes In
Action.
The injury occurred on what was a
routine play - routine for Conlan at
least. Known for his hustle and extra
effort, Conlan dove for a loose ball
midway through the second half, and
jammed his arm between the legs of
IA guard Ryan Hoover.
Conlan likened the situation to
"getting your arm caught in bike
spokes."
"I felt something snap and just
Maturity
ey for
By Kevin Rosenfield
Daily Sports Writer
It's the third hole of a sudden-death
playoff that will ultimately determine a
tournament champion. A rain-soaked
+.ar-5 lies ahead. A fine time for Michael
*arris to hit a series of clutch shots that
would suddenly cast him among the
nation's top college golfers.
Harris stepped up to the 535-yard
third hole in the midst of a three-man
playoff at the Persimmon Ridge
Intercollegiate in Louisville, Ky. Two
days and 36 holes of even-par golf had
placed him in contention to capture his
second tourna-
ment crown in as
many weeks.
Harris began
the hole by
« unleashing a drive
that outdistanced
his two opponents
by at least 35
yards, leaving him
230 yards to the
Harris green. When his
opponents chose
& lay up, resigning themselves to reach-
ing the green in three, Harris had a piv-
otal decision to make: play aggressive
and go for the green in two, or stay con-
servative and lay up?
"I had always laid up on that hole
since the layout made aggressive play
pretty risky," Harris said. "I hit a great
drive, though, and felt I had to take
advantage of the opportunity"
Pulling out his two iron, Harris drilled
is shot onto the back of the green, just
ut of the grasp of a large pond. After
putting within four feet of the pin, Harris
watched as his two opponents made par
before calmly sinking the clinching putt
for birdie. Victory was his. Again.
The week before in Memphis, Tenn.,
Harris finished atop a 90-player field to
win the Kroger Invitational for his first
victory of the season. Now he had con-
quered a 23-team, 115-player field in
Souisville. Two weeks. Two tourna-
ents. Two victories.
"To win tournaments back-to-back is
simply remarkable," Michigan golf
coach Jim Carras said. "Winning two
tournaments in your career is unusual,
let alone doing it in consecutive weeks."
Despite being the lone veteran on a
young Michigan team, Harris, a sopho-

more, struggled early in the season, fail-
ing to finish in the top ten in either of the
ing two tournaments of the fall sea-
n.
Now, barely a month later, he's a
repeat champion and an early candidate
for All-America honors.
"I've been taking the same approach
into every tournament," Harris said.
"Early on, small mistakes were taking
me out of contention, but recently I've
been able to stay out of trouble and cap-
ialize on my opportunities."
Carras is confident that Harris' suc-
cesses will continue.
"The past two tournaments were no
fluke; Carras said. "He's got one of the
best work ethics I've ever had a player
possess, and it shows in his play.
"Mike possesses tremendous golfing
naturity. It doesn't matter what kind of
day he's having, he never gets rattled.

thought I pulled something," he said
in a prepared statement. "When I
found out I was going to be out with a
cast for a while, I was disappointed, as
any competitor would be."
Immediately after the injury, he left
the court and did not return to action
-- at Michigan trainer Steve Stricker's
request.
"I wanted to go back in but Strick
wouldn't let me," Conlan said. "I
don't think I could've dribbled with
my right hand, so I might have had
more turnovers."
After a visit to the lockerroom,
where he was examined by team doc-
tor Gerald O'Connor, Conlan returned
to the bench where he sat idly by,
helpless as his teammates let a 15-
point lead slip away.
Although he has yet to miss an
entire game, the impact of Conlan's
injury has already been felt.

In Conlan's stead, junior transfer
Robbie Reid directed the offense
down the stretch, only to have
Michigan fall short in the end, 95-93.
Reid's inexperience with the
Michigan offense - it was his first
game back since returning from a
two-year Mormon mission in June -
led to a lack of comfort in crunch
time.
"Without Travis at the end of the
ballgame to handle the ball - that
hurt us," Ellerbe said. "The last eight
or nine minutes, Travis would have
had the ball."
Conlan moved from his traditional
spot at the point to accommodate Reid
and Louis Bullock in Michigan's new
three-guard set. Reid's minutes will
most likely increase without Conlan
to spell him on ball-handling duties.
So now Michigan must face the
next month of practice without its

floor general, but more important, the
Wolverines must acclimate them-
selves to actual games without the
fiery Conlan.
Over the course of the last two sea-
sons, Conlan has proved to be one of
Michigan's most reliable players,
starting 64 of the last 67 contests.
In fact, until the injury, Conlan was
enjoying his best game at Michigan.
He collected 19 points and dished out
five assists.
Despite the injury, Conlan main-
tained his optimism.
"If I would have pulled a tendon or
something, it could have been a lot
worse," he said. "I'm just going to
work hard and try not to rush any-
thing."
But the larger question remains,
will Conlan risk himself again'?
"I'll always dive,' said the captain,
without a hint of hesitation.

W-ARREN ZINN :ail,
Travis Conlan, a senior and co-captain, will be out 3.5 weeks after ftacturing his
right wrist in Monday night's exhibition game against Athletes In Action.


The 'D' is the key

Back three spark 'M'

soccer

By Jacob R. Wheeler
Daily Sports Writer
Michigan midfielder Kacy Beitel
and forward Amber Berendowsky -
the team's two leading scorers - sat in
a cafe two weeks ago fielding ques-
tions about their accomplishments.
But when asked what has made the
Wolverines so successful this year,
Beitel quickly shifted the focus toward
Michigan's defense.
"Our defense doesn't get much
credit," the Big Ten Freshman of the
Year candidate said. "But they've real-
ly come together and done a great job."
Overshadowed by a high-powered
offense that is averaging almost four
goals per game, Michigan's defense
has been a well-oiled machine all sea-
son. There have been days when Beitel
and Berendowsky couldn't find the net
and the pressure fell on the defense to
keep the match a low-scoring affair. As
a result, the back three have played an
integral part in the Wolverines' team-
record 15 wins.
But on days when the defense hasn't
performed at the top of its game,
Michigan was in trouble. The
Wolverines lost three of the four games
in which they allowed more than one
goal. After falling to Massachusetts, 2-
1 on Sept. 5, despite outshooting the
Minutewomen 21-9, the Wolverines
ran off seven consecutive victories,
before losing their first Big Ten game
to Minnesota. The defense allowed a
barrage of free kicks in that 4-3 loss.
"We've given up too many tree
kicks in all our losses," Michigan
coach Debbie Belkin said.
Inexperience may have contributed
to those losses. Freshman Erin Gilhart
and sophomore Stephanie McArdle -
two of the three starting defenders -
are underclassmen as well as goal-
keeper Carissa Stewart, who has split

time with freshman Jessica Jones all
season. At any given time, the last two
Michigan defenders - and conse-
quently the most important players on
the field -- are freshmen.
More often that not, however, lack
of experience has not played a factor.
In its 15 wins, Michigan's defensive
corps looked like veterans, allowing
only nine goals - one for every
shutout the goalies earned this season.
"I have total confidence in our
defense, even though they're very
young," Belkin said. "They're tough
players who tackle well and control the
air well. They've been consistent all
season and they're going to get better."
The Michigan defense has provided
the verbal punch all season, too. While
Berendowsky is admittedly very quiet,
the hollering has come from behind
the center line. Gilhart, the sweeper, is
the team's on-field motivator.
"Our defense is vocal," Belkin said.
"Even though she's a freshman,
Gilhart is pretty vocal. She's the
anchor back there."
Gilhart has also helped out on the
offensive end. She took Michigan's
only shot against No. 2 Notre Dame.
The shellacking last Friday in South
Bend turned out to be a learning expe-
rience for Michigan. The Fighting Irish
delivered 44 shots on goal, but scored
only five times. Michigan's defense
did an admirable job, allowing only
one goal in the first half.
"Some girls were surprised by how
tough they were," Belkin said. "It was
a great learning experience to play a
team like that before the tournament."
Belkin said the loss to Notre Dame
didn't hurt Michigan's confidence. The
Wolverines should be primed for this
weekend's Big Ten tournament in
Minneapolis because they won't face
anybody nearly as good as the Irish.

FILE PHOTO
Kersten.Kuhlman and a stellar Michigan defensive corps have shut down opponents this season. The Wolverines have
allowed only nine goals In their 15 victories, this year.

Notre Dame inz the Rose Bowl? You want gravy with that?

hatever happened to tradition?
This is the last year the most tra-
ditional, most storied and most
respected bowl game in the country will
be left untouched by the Bowl Alliance
Coalition.
The Rose Bowl has always reeked of
tradition. Since its inception in 1902, it
has symbolized college football and
kicked off the new year with pride and
passion.
Since 1947, the
Rose Bowl has
featured the win-
ner of the Pac-10
and Big Ten con-
ferences only. Put
the game aside,
the Tournament of DANIELLE
Roses Parade, the RUMORE
conference race to
get the coveted bid Rumore
and California in Has It
the winter have
made the bowl
great.
That's tradition.

wise flashy sports world.
The Rose Bowl, as we know it, will be
tarnished after this season. The
'Granddaddy of Them All' will turn in its
cane for a new pair of dance shoes and
join forces with the bowl alliance.
Or more specifically, the Big Ten and
Pac-10 will join the Big East conference,
the Atlantic Coast conference, the Big 12
conference and the Southeastern confer-
ences and Notre Dame in the Bowl
Alliance.
This year, it is possible for a Big Ten or
Pac-10 team, except for the two confer-
ence winners, to go to an Alliance bowl
since the conference champions are
locked into the Rose Bowl.
But next year is a different story - the
conference winners will not be locked into
the Rose Bowl.
The Rose Bowl will join the Orange,
Sugar and Fiesta Bowls in the bowl
alliance, and all four will rotate the
national title game between the top two
teams starting at the end of next season.
And although the original purpose of
the bowl alliance - to have a game that

Then, they play in the Alliance champi-
onship game.
So what this all comes down to is that
the Rose Bowl will never be or feel the
same, unless it leaves the Alliance when
its contract expires.
Where does all of this leave the teams
that are three quarters through this sea-
son?
They are caught in the making of histo-
ry.
This weekend's game between No. 2
Penn State and No. 4 Michigan - both
undefeated - is the biggest game in the
country for obvious Rose Bowl reasons,
and national title hopes, too.
Other teams in the Big Ten aren't exact-
ly out of the race. In fact, Ohio State,
Wisconsin and Purdue - each with one
conference loss - still have a shot.
The race in the Pac-10 is just as close.
Washington is the lone undefeated team
in Pac-10 play, but Washington State,
UCLA and Arizona State each have only
one conference loss and are all currently
ranked in the top 15 of the Associated
Press Poll.

Scenarios for the Big Ten
participant in the Rose Bowl:
Michigan goes if:
U The Wodverines win out. OR
I Michigan beats Penn State and
Ohio State and loses to Wisconsin. OR
Michigan beats Penn State and
Wisconsin, but loses to Ohio State,
and Penn State wins its three
remaining games.
Penn State goes if:
U The Lions win out. OR
N Penn State loses to Michigan, and
Michigan loses its next two. OR
* Penn State beats Michigan, and