I
The Michigan Daily - Tuesday, October 20, 1998 -11
Golfers use break to catch
By Rick Harpster
Daily Sports Writer
After its season-best fifth-place finish in the
Xavier Invitational, the Michigan men's golf team
finally gets to enjoy a well-deserved two weeks away
from tournament play. During the hectic start to their
fall season, the young Wolverines had the opportunity
to grow and learn more about themselves.
When making travel plans last summer for this
September's fall opener in Minnesota, Michigan
coach Jim Carras knew of just two people who would
surely be going to Minnesota: himself and junior
Mike Harris.
With Harris being the only experienced varsity
golfer, the other four spots on the plane to Minnesota
were wide open.
"The intent was to give every newcomer the oppor-
tunity to compete," Carras said. "Then we would eval-
uate everyone and see where we were at."
In the first four matches of this fall season, eight
different Wolverines saw action.
Harris, freshman Andy Matthews and sophomore
Scott Hayes are the only three to have played in all
four matches so far.
Freshmen Kyle Kilcherman, Brian Seipke and
Andy Chapman also have seen some action in the
final two spots, as have sophomore Nick Lossia and
junior Mike Affeldt.
After watching his team's best finish of the year
last week in Cincinnati, Carras hopes that he may have
finally found some stability in his lineup.
Harris' score of 217 (70-74-73) led the team at the
Xavier Invitational, but Michigan finally showed
some consistency throughout the lineup.
Matthews' 221 (78-73-70) was only a few strokes
behind Harris, while Chapman was right there in his
collegiate debut by posting a 223 (76-73-74). Hayes'
and Kilcherman's scores of 224 put them right up
there with their teammates.
It has been a long time since just seven shots sepa-
rated the lowest and highest Michigan scores during a
54-hole event.
"I'm quite pleased and excited about the effort and
performance from this particular lineup," Carras said.
"This was by far our best effort all fall ... We finally
got the balance we've been striving for"
In addition to looking for balance throughout his
lineup on the golf course, Carras also expects his play-
ers to balance schoolwork and golf effectively.
With their previous two matches falling on week-
up in school
days, each Michigan golfer missed four days of class
during a two-week span. And unlike Andy
Katzenmoyer, they were not earning class credits for
fixing their divots.
Because of his strong commitment to coaching stu-
dent athletes, Carras has given his players plenty of
time during the past week to get re-acquainted with
textbooks and lectures.
"I've always felt thlat school comes first and golf
second," Carras said. "Having played in two consecu-
tive tournaments where they missed Monday and
Tuesday's classes, we've allowed them a lot of free-
dom this week to catch up on their studies."
Michigan plans on using its practice time this week
to prepare for the Stanford Invitational, which begins
on Oct. 29.
While some of the positions in the lineup are start-
ing to come into focus, Carras is still excited to watch
several players compete for the bottom couple spots.
He will decide in about a week who exactly will be
making the trip to Palo Alto, Calif.
One thing is for sure, though: Carras has a better
guess who will be sitting with him on the flight to
Stanford than he did a few months ago when making
plane reservations for Minnesota.
When weather
pennrits, the
Michigan men's
golf team will
take advantage
of a break In Its
' fall schedule to
prepare for the
Stanford
Invitational.
SARA SCHENCK/Daily
I
~_. ._
Field hockey uses second half magic to
ump into the upper echelon of Big Ten
Welcome A0
by Jason Emeott
Daily Sports Writer
Wanna see a barn-burner?
Just follow the Michigan field
hockey team. Everywhere it goes,
action seems to follow. With a 5-1
conference record, the Wolverines
own the nation's No. I1 ranking and
ire on top of the Big Ten, fighting to
efend last season's conference cham-
pionship.
Don't let that gleaming 5-1 Big
Ten record fool you, though - the
defense of the Wolverines' 1997 Big
Ten championship has been tough.
Really tough.
Of Michigan's five conference vic-
tories, four have been decided by just
one goal, and each of those victories
*as tight to the very end.
"The Big Ten conference is
incredibly difficult to play in. You
have to play everyone twice, at home
and on the road. Five of the six teams
in the conference are ranked in the
national top 20," Michigan coach
Marcia Pankratz said. "Grueling is a
good word to describe the confer-
:ence."
On Sept. 24, the Wolverines
pened conference play against
ichigan State and outlasted the
, Spartans 2-I in overtime.
At Northwestern on - Oct. 4,
Michigan found itself down two goals
early in the match, before defeating
the Wildcats, 3-2.
Just five days later, then-No. 8
Ohio State visited Ann Arbor for a
showdown of conference favorites.
The Wolverines once again managed a
one-goal victory, defeating the
Buckeyes 1-0.
Then, last weekend, the
Wolverines did it to Michigan State
again. They scored twice in the final
13:30 of the game to beat the Spartans
2-1, with the game winner coming
with just 33 seconds left.
Poise and composure in the crucial
moments of Michigan's Big Ten
schedule, thus far, have kept them in
contention for a second-straight con-
ference crown.
"We don't get too excited about a
particular win or loss, but, obviously,
the importance of these wins is huge,"
Pankratz said.
The Wolverines are methodical in
their approach to each game. They
attempt to set themselves up for victo-
ry each time they take the field -
through proper preparation prior to
the contest, and by religiously sticking
to the game plan when they're on the
field.
"We don't get frazzled," Pankratz
said. "We have faith and trust in our
game plan. We stick with what we
know is going to work and keep our
patience and poise. If we do that, we
think we can win any game."
A key example of Pankratz's plan
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FILE PHOTO
The Michigan field hockey team has defended its Big Ten title this season with
vigor - the Wolverines are in sole control of first place In the conference.
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