The Michigan Daily - Tuesday, September 22, 1998 - 15 'M' Soccer hopes to get defensive to get back into Big Ten race By David Mosses For the Daily 40' Following a disappointing start to the Big Ten campaign, the Michigan women's soc- cer team is searching for answers. The Wolverines began the season with five straight victories, marking the best start in the history of the program. They outseored their opponents 15-5 in the first five games. The winning streak vaulted the Wolverines to a top 10 ranking in the Soccer America poll. But after dropping the first two Big Ten games of the season, the team is now forced lo regroup. Michigan lost its opening Big Ten game in gut-wrenching fashion, in a 1-0 double- overtime loss to Wisconsin. More alarming, however, was the most recent defeat at the hands of Northwestern. The Michigan defense, which had surren- dered five goals in the previous six games, was torched for four goals. With three days of practice before their ext game, the players are looking forward o a spirited week of practice. The practice will be "hard, with a lot of intensity, and working on lots of different things," freshman fullback Alissa Shaw said. Defense will clearly be the focus, as coach Debbie Belkin looks to correct mis- takes that surfaced in the Northwestern game. The players expect to be working mostly on the defensive aspects of soccer. Slow start doesn't bode well for Blue The Michigan soccer team has seen its share of slow starts over its five-year history. In four of the past five seasons, the Wolverines have started the Big Ten schedule with at least two losses, including this year's 0-2 start. As shown by the records below, the slow starts have led to disappointing conference records. Year 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 Starting Big Ten record 0-56 0-5 2-3 4-1 0-2 Final Big Ten Records 1-5-1 1-5-1 4-4-1 10-1-1 Players will be drilled on marking their opponent, covering each other, and reacting quicker to attacks. The Wolverines feel they must improve as they advance into the Big Ten conference season. "We all must play better defense. we can- not afford any mental lapses," freshman midfielder Laurie Peterson said. Improving their defensive play will be crucial for the Wolverines, who possess a much-heralded offensive attack. Led by Jessica Limauro and Amber Berendowsky, the Wolverines have no problem scoring goals. When able to hold down opponents, the team is usually victorious. Despite the two losses, the team remains extremely confident. The players fully believe their problems are correctable and that the team will rebound. "We just need to get back into the swing of things," freshman Becky Kozlick said. "If we continue to play hard, we should be fine." Much will depend on the next three days of practice. The team is committed to regaining its winning ways. The Wolverines possess a talented squad that is blessed with experience. With a few defensive improvements, Big Ten success may still be in the cards for the 1998 team. Last year, the Wolverines posted an 18-4- I record, including a 10-1-1 mark in the conference. When asked if this year's squad could post similar numbers, Kozlick responded without hesitation. "Definitely," Kozlick said. DANA LINNANE/Da1Iy The Michigan soccer team will need more displays of tenaciousness similar to this one in order to come back from an 0-2 Big Ten start. *Ripken goes back to work after first break in 16 years; no homers LECTURE NOTE BLOWOUT!! TORONTO (AP) - It was a short furlough for Cal Ripken. A day after ending his astonishing Weak of 2,632 consecutive games, Ripken was back in the lineup for Baltimore yesterday against Toronto, the same team he faced when the streak started on May 30, 1982. With time to contemplate his deci- sion, Ripken was sure he made the right move. "No regrets, no second thoughts," he said during a pregame news con- ference at SkyDome. "I felt great out how it went. It was a great ccl- ration instead of a sad event." He admitted feeling strange about watching a game from the dugout, and sounded relieved to be returning to the field. "I still consider myself an everyday player," he said. "I have a lot of base- ball left in me." Ripken closed his record run Sunday night, removing himself from A starting lineup in the Orioles' nal home game of the season against the Yankees. The move came more than three years after he broke 2,130-game streak of Yankee iron man Lou Gehrig - a record that had stood for 56 years. "The streak was born out of a desire to play and a lot of managers wanting to put me in the lineup," Ripken said in Baltimore. "It's your job to come to the ball- frk and be available if the manager wants to put you in there you play. I feel very proud, not necessarily with the numbers the streak is, but very proud that my teammates and my manager could count on me." Now that he's finally taken a day off, the next question is: Can anyone ever come close to duplicating his record run? 'You wouldn't think so," said the ankees' Joe Girardi. "That's a lot of years to go so long without being injured. I don't see that DAILY SPORTS: WE DON T TAKE DAYS OFF. Look for Football Saturday on your way to the game this weekend. record ever being broken." Ripken isn't so sure. "If I did it, someone else cao do it. I don't sec myself as superhuman," he said after watching an Orioles' game from the dugout for the first time since May 29, 1982. There's no telling how long Ripken could have gone. Gehrig's streak ended when he could no longer cope with a rare mus- cular disorder that later became known as Lou Gehrig's disease. Ripken was completely healthy. He just ,ot tired of the controversy sur- rounding the streak - more than one columnist called him selfish - and decided that spring training in 1999 might be more fun if he didn't have to talk about playing another full sea- son. So, without tipping any of his teammates except Brady Anderson, his best friend on the Orioles, Ripken walked, into manager Ray Miller's office a half-hour before the game and asked to have his name removed from the starting lineup. "I was shocked," teammate Roberto Alomar said. "I didn't expect the record to end that way. But there was a lot of criticism of him and I think that's why he ended it. That's sad, because people don't know his work ethic." Anderson knew well in advance that Ripken would be watching Sunday's game instead of playing in it. He tried to talk Ripken out of it, but quickly realized his effort would be futile. "It's so much easier for me to want to keep the streak alive because I'm not the one who has to do it," Anderson said. "Playing every game in one season is tough enough." For Ripken, sitting out that one game proved to be the most difficult thing he had done since breaking into the league in 1981. For one thing, he had no idea what to do to keep him- self occupied. Mid-eastern Evez.dy judeut *any sandwich plus a pop 00.00 *daily dish special: shish kabob, chicken kabob, meat shawarma, or chicken shawarma with a salad and choice of rice or hommous 0-.99 ehee or e more daily speials YI&STFRDAY: THE ClB DID NOT ItI.AY. 1i 5 )1ESTO]'ALlAY:. Ripken fidgeted on the bench before getting a message from reliev- er Alan Mills. "He goes, 'What are you doing?' And I said, 'I'm going to sit here and watch a ballgame,"' Ripkcn said. "I said, 'You want me to come out there and visit with you?"' Ripkcn did just that. He talked with the fans and posed for pictures between innings, but afterward he made it clear that most of his days next season will be spent playing third base - from the first inning through the ninth. 11 EA' 10 DAYS ONLY II Bio Anthro 161 Comm Studies 101 Econ 101 Econ 102 Geo Sci 110 Geol Sci 107 Hist 160 Poli Sci 140 Psych Psych Psych Psych 111 330 340 350 Psych 370 Psych 380 Wom Studies 220 Top students take notes in your classes and provide them in typed paragraph format. Notes are accurate, complete, and easy to understand. Grade A lecture notes are valuable supplemental study materials that can help you achieve the grade you want. All courses are faculty approved. Current Lecture Notes are taken and typed daily during the current term. Purchase by the day or as a full term subscription. Test Packs are current notes bundled foryour convenience sthe you get just the lectures covered in your next test. 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