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 See STICKERS, Page 12 Sarah Allen Ann Aufhammer Michelle Bezos Lauren Caldarazzo Shannon Carmody Jennifer Castillo Lara Chelian Alice Chou Monica Dougherty Jennifer Ebie Bridget Feeny Sarah Ferencz Melissa Fleis Beth Halpern Laura Handler Kathryn Hebert Briana Kassin Courtney Kastner Ashley Kennedy Brooke Kessler Paige Kornblue Lauren Kugel Marissa Kuhn Jennifer Laesch Erin Larsen Kathleen Laughlin Katrina Lehman Leona Light Jaime Livermore Karen Lynn Pledges Bryonie Moros Krstin McCasey Allison McDowell Katie Phillips Regan Preston Anna Reby Shavali Shaw Stephanie Shuer Sena Succar Ashley Sullivan Meredith Thomas Nicolina Traverso Erin Weber IV . . . t;:;, e ,. 4 ', a lee, PETERBILT MOTORS COMPANY a Division of PACCAR A DIVISION OF A@= invites you to lean more about this major designer, marketer, and manufacturer of high quality custom trucks. 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