RA~ kW~ImCPs MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL PLAYOFFS American League Championship series NEW YORK 9, Cleveland 5 Yankees win series, 4-2 NHL HOCKEY MONTREAL 1, Anaheim 0 Detroit 3, WASHINGTON 2 NASHVILLE 3, Carolina 2 DALLAS 3, Chicago 1 Toronto at EDMONTON, inc. Ube Mtdftm IWiv Tracking 'M' teams Want to go Sparty crashing? Check out Michigan's soccer and field hockey teams in East Lansing this weekend. Soccer plays Friday at 3 p.m. and field ho* ey plays Sunday at 1 p.m. Bring your paintballs. Wednesday October 14, 1998 I Blast oli 'M'faces R,.ockets I ry ., Geoff Gagnon For the Daily "The Michigan women's soccer team 's hoping today's matchup with Toledo an serve as a launching pad to the remainder of the season. IThe Rockets enter today's 4 pin. game at Michigan Soccer Field on the j. heels of a 6-1 beating that came cour- -+esy of Wisconsin on Sunday. The Badgers troubled Michigan a month 'ago, giving the Wolverines their first loss of the season. Toledo, clinging to a 6-8 record in just its third season, has struggled to find its way against nonconference opponents. Should this trend continue, it may bode well for Michigan. Toledo has failed to pick up a win outside of the Mid-American Conference, despite a 4-3 mark in the league. Michigan, meanwhile, has emerged from the bulk of its Big Ten season with a 4-3-1 league mark, and with only conference-worst Michigan State left to play this weekend, Michigan's tjh-place standing in the Big Ten has I secured the team a spot in the Big Ten tournament. "We're thankful that last weekend's wins gave us a spot in the Big Ten tour- nament," Belkin said. "But we're not going to take anything for granted. I mean that we're going to play the rest of our games just like we always have. We can't sit back and be content, because doing well will help us if we intend to make the NCAA tournament." The Wolverines extended their over- all record to 9-3-1 with shutout victo- ries over Illinois on Sunday and No. 16 Indiana on Friday. Michigan soccer coach Debbie Belkin said she hopes that the pair of conference wins will give the squad the emotional boost it needs to close out the season. "The Indiana game and the Illinois game were each well-played," Belkin said. "After Sunday, I don't think we're going to change a thing." And that means relying on the strin- gent defensive effort that has allowed Michigan to hold its opponents to one goal in the past five games, Belkin said. "Defense has been very key for us lately," Belkin said. "Hopefully that sort of play can continue. We're simply looking to improve some of the little things that still give us trouble without changing a lot." Another thing Belkin said she has no desire to change is the recent offensive output from her talented crew of for- wards. Marshaling the late-season charge that has seen Michigan collect four wins in its past five outings has been junior Amber Berendowsky. The standout forward tied a Michigan record with goal No. 32 of her career after a pair of scores on Sunday. "Amber Berendowsky has been play- ing great for us, and that has been real nice to see," Belkin said. "She has been scoring goals and playing her role." But Belkin said that the Brighton native has not been alone. Teammates Kacy Beitel, who scored in both wins this weekend, and Jessica Limauro have also shouldered their share of the offensive burden, giving Michigan the balanced offensive attack that Belkin says is refreshing to see as her team eyes the Big Ten tournament. "The combination of goal-scorers we have has really been working," said Belkin, "When one is off, the others have been picking up the slack and giv- ing us what we need." Up in the air: Ray's status still uncertain Fifth-year senior Marcus Ray has already missed three games. How many more? By Jim Rose Daily Sports Editor Hold everything. Marcus Ray might Michigan safety be back in two games - but then again, he might not. During the weekly Big Ten telecon- ference yesterday, Michigan coach Lloyd Carr said that "there seems to be some debate as to whether (Ray's sus- pension will) be five or six games." Last Friday, Carr and Athletic Director Tom Goss said Ray would miss two more games as punishment for improper contact with an agent. Now, that may have changed. Carr said Ray will miss "at least two more games," and maybe three. "There is some confusion on the part of both the University and they NCAA as to what was stated and what was understood" in terms of Ray's suspension, Michigan Associate Athletic Director for Media Relations Bruce Madej said last night. "There is an area of confusion in terms of the amount of games that Marcus is suspended for," Madej said. Madej also said that University faculty adviser "Percy Bates is talking with the NCAA to try to reach an agreement." On Monday, Carr said Ray would no longer be a tri-captain for Michigan, and that he'd have to compete to win back his starting safety position. The confusion apparently revolves around whether Ray's punishment was to be half of Michigan's season, or just two more games - in addition to the three he's already missed. Because Michigan has 1£ games scheduled this season, a half-season suspension would warrant sitting out the extra game. RcdcmptzJ nfi Bik Ten playe ndiana's Antwaan Randle El "played a marvelous game on Saturday prior to getting injured," his coach, Cam Cameron said. Randle El accounted for 281 yards of total offense. On the same day, Purdue's Drew Brees tied an NCAA record with 55 completions in one game, leading Wisconsin coach Barry Alvarez to call Brees' "poise and reads" among the best he's seen. Brees threw for 494 yards in the game. But it was Michigan State's Bill Burke - the same guy Michigan roughed up a couple weeks, ago, the same guy who was in grave danger of losing his starting spot to a true freshman - who earned the honors after guiding the Spartans to a 38- 31, double-over- time victory over the Hoosiers. JIM Burke com- ROSE pleted 24 of 37 Rose attempts against Beef Indiana, for 324 Burke, t/ic of the week accelerate and change directions as well as Randle El can." In fact, had Randle El not left the game, Burke may never have gotten the chance to rally his tea@ to the victory - much less earn player of the week honors for himself "I was watching him during pregame warm-ups," Saban said of Randle El, "and I said, 'For as much as this guy carries the ball, he must be a tough little nut, because it seems like he might get hurt.' "Fortunately for us, he banged his head on the turf and missed a few plays in a critical part of the game - which probably helped us a little bit." It probably helped them a lot. The Spartans trailed 24-16 when Randle El left, but rallied to win in his absence. BACK ON THE FIELD: For Iowa quar- terback Randy Reiners, the past year has been one disaster after another. ie's been injured and benched - and those were clearly the easy parts. Reiners' sister, Natalie, died after the beginning of the season, leaving tl young quarterback with much more p than football on his mind. Iowa coach Hayden Fry said Natalie "was the person (Randy) was closer to than anyone in his life,' and that Reiners is still struggling with the loss. A couple weeks ago, Fry said that Reiners, who didn't play against Michigan, was still a long way from getting back into playing condition. At the time, Fry said that "you can be talk- ing to Randy, and all of a sudden his eyes will glaze over, like he doesn't even hear you." But this past Saturday, with Kyle McCann injured, Reiners made his first start since the season opener - and his first return to extensive action since the death of his 25-year-old sister. The return was a success: A 26-24 win over Northwestern. He threw for 249 yards and two touchdowns. "He just did an inspirational job, Fry said. "He made some plays that a normal quarterback couldn't have made, because he's such a competitor." - Daily Sports Editor Jim Rose can be reched atjwrose@umich.edu. yards and two touchdowns, and salvaged a potentially disastrous two-point conversion attempt by scrambling into the end zone. Those two points meant the differ- ence, ultimately, between an overtime win and the Spartans' fourth loss of the season. And after bearing the brunt of the criticism for Michigan State's slow start, the strong performance was espe- cially gratifying for Burke. "Well, it's a huge win for our team, no question," Burke said. "If we can say that we've accomplished something at the end of the season, I'm gonna have to be an integral part of that." Burke's performance came during a game in which his counterpart, Indiana sensation Randle El, dominated for much of the afternoon but missed action in the fourth quarter after getting hurt. Even Michigan State coach Nick Saban said that few quarterbacks "can AP PHOTO Michigan State quarterback Bill Burke is beginning to find his groove. He's led the Spartans to three victories in four games, including a 38-31 double-overtime win over Indiana this past weekend. 'X' marks the spot for golfers' best finish yet - 5th By Chris Grandstaff For the Daily The young Michigan men's golf team grew up a little bit this week. The Wolverines placed a season-best fifth out of 19 teams at the Xavier Invitational in Kings IsleMason, Ohio. The Wolverines shot an 877 on the Jack Nicklaus-designed course, just nine strokes behind tournament winner Eastern Michigan. Big Ten rival Indiana finished second with a score of 870, while hometown favorites Cincinnati and Xavier finished third and fourth with scores of 871 and 875, respectively. Michigan coach Jim Carras called the Wolverines' performance in Cincinnati "the best tournament we've played all season." Tournament medalist honors went to Georgetown's Tristan Lewis, who defeat- ed Xavier's Steve Dixon in a playoff. Both players carded rounds of five- under for the tournament. Michigan was once again led by junior captain Michael Harris. Harris finished the tournament with a three- round total score of 217, his second-best score of the season. Harris' 10th-place finish was highlighted by a one-under- par 70 in the first round. Freshman Andy Matthews continued to impress Carras, finishing 26th overall. Matthews fired a 221. total for the tournament and carried the Wolverines yesterday, shoot- ing a one-under-par 70. Carras continued to juggle the Wolverines' lineup, inserting true fresh- man Andy Chapman into the lineup this week. Chapman shot a 223 total in his Michigan debut, which placed him 39th overall. "I'm very, very pleased with the play of the freshmen Matthews and hapman," Carras said. "I'm especially leased with the play of Andy Chapman 'n his first college tournament." Sophomore Scott Hayes and fresh- man Kyle Kilcherman rounded out the scores for the Wolverines - both posted scores of 224, good enough for 44th place. And although the young Wolverines have yet to win a tourna- ment, Carras remains optimistic. "Every week is different in college golf," Carras said. "In the last couple of weeks, teams have been coming out of nowhere to win tournaments. Who knows it could be us one of these weeks." With Harris a virtual lock to put up three solid rounds, the key to success for the Wolverines is the play of the fresh- men. "You have to remember we have three players starting for us who two months ago had never played a round of college golf" Carras said. "The experi- ence they are gaining is irreplaceable." The Wolverines will continue to gain experience as they face what Carras calls "the toughest competition of the season," when they travel to Palo Alto, Calif. for the Stanford Invitational, completing the fall season. pm LS&A Concentration and Advising Fair What: A fair to find information about the different concentrations in LS&A by talking to advisors, faculty, and staff. Where: Michigan Union Ballroom When: 12:00-4:00 PM, October 14, 1998 What else? 1:00 PM-.LS&A Majors and internships SARA SCHENCK/Daly Michigan's Michael Harris shot a 217 at the Xavier Invitational to lead Michigan. Harris finished the tournament in 10th place. i .Ti