we fficigan alg PORTS IE l *,~0..In! G al Ii e sta d LOUIS BROWN/Daily The Michigan field hockey team was unable to overcome a 2- 0 deficit, losing to Penn State 341 in the Big Ten finals. Vield hockey drops to Penn State in finals Stephane Offen Ddiy Sports Writer EAST LANSING - Dominating. The only word to describe Penn State's performance in the Big Ten field hock- ey tournament for the past four years. As Michigan lost to Penn State yesterday in the Big Ten finals, it was only the most recent victory in a long history of Nittany Lion domi- nance. Take this situation, for instance: With just over six min- es left in the first half, three all-Big Ten first team players mbined to score Penn State's first goal. Tracy Anselmo scored off a penalty corner with assists from Heather Gorlaski and Dawn Lammey. The next would come less then a minute later. This time it was Lammey, the offensive player of the year, who would score on a penalty shot. So, at the end of the first half, things were not looking good for the Wolverines. It was looking as though that would be the way things would end until senior Amy Philbrook gave Michigan hope when she scored the team's first goal with 10 minutes left in second half. But Lammey would come through for the Lions once again, sealing the victory a few minutes later on yet another penalty-corner play. And Penn State would beat Michigan for the third straight time this season and capture its fourth Big Ten title and an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament. Even though Penn State boasted the coach of the year and six of the ten first team Big Ten players, Michigan coach Marcia Pankratz didn't come into this game feeling over- *"I think we can play with them any day and we even did today," Pankratz said. "Certainly they have strong players that finished for them today and their goalkeepers are excel- lent, but I think when we're playing well we can play right with them." Michigan has come a long way to be able to play with teams such as Penn State. Last year's regular season title proved to be a breakthrough for the team. This season was supposed to be the year of NCAA suc- cess, and even though it turned out not to be, the season was not a complete disappointment. "We've come from a program that wasn't known at all Od now just two years later, we're ninth or 10th in the nation," Pankratz said. There is definitely something to be said for Michigan making it to the finals. This year the team had been ranked higher than ever in the program's history, and was able to make it to the finals once again with an impressive win in the semifinals against Ohio State. Michigan's impressive regular season record led to a first round bye, and a second round matchup against Ohio State, who the Wolverines had already beaten twice this year. The Buckeyes proved once again to be no match for the tlverines, and Michigan came up the victor with a 2-0 win. Both Michigan goals came in the first half. Senior Big Ten first teamer Loveita Wilkinson scored the first goal with assists by sophomore Courtney Reid and senior See BIG TENS, Page 78 WARREN ZINN/Daily Sam Sword and the Wolverines stood up Penn State Saturday, handing the Nittany ions their first shutout loss in 11 years. Mic higan, sisoon as the final whistle s AnSaturday, Michigan Stad c address announcer How& did what he always does after a Mi home game - he announced the s This time, unlike the last time M played a ranked team at home (Syracuse), his call was sweet to the ears of Michigan fans. "The final score: Michigan 27, Penn State - nothing.' And there, in a MARK word, King said all SNYDI that was necessary. MarkM Penn State entered Words the Big House early Saturday under the cloud of suspicion. No one knew hi ented this Nittany Lion outfit actu or if that group would even show u In the game of chance that we ca tions, this one was a crapshoot. Bo played their games running backwa ing on their defenses to carry the d But when the dust settled, it was salvages season b ounded Michigan, ranked No. 22 in the nation, that ium pub-- dominated Penn State, pegged as the ard King nation's eighth-best team, by the whopping chigan 27-point margin. core. What's to say these people know what Michigan they're talking about? Nothing. But for the Wolverines, 'nothing' was the focus from the beginning and predictions only further fueled their fire. From the opening coin flip when senior Daydrion Taylor joined Michigan captains Jon Jansen and Juaquin Feazell at midfield, the spotlight belonged to Michigan. The second-largest crowd ever to witness a football game in the United States planned ER all week for the dreaded winter game. Long johns were requested, gloves were sought y and visitors feared the shivers. On Saturday - Michigan's day - 'noth- ing' like that occurred. low tal- Michigan took the field with an unex- ally was, pected fire and a determination to overcome ip. any obstacles - rankings be damned. all predic- From the first kickoff, the renewed inten- th teams sity of these Wolverines spouted from all ard, rely- angles. Ian Gold, the little linebacker with ay. the huge heart, led the coverage team with reckless abandon, flailing his arms to incite y denying Nittany Lions the monstrous crowd. But the fans had seen this before. An intense Wolverine team for the first quarter or so, a group of players preparing not to lose instead of trying to harness their amaz- ing talents as a unit to win. And, as a fan, there was every reason to believe the disappointment rest in the next penalty-driven whistle or fumble by a Wolverine tailback. But James Hall, a phys- ical linebacker itching to make the differ- ence, took the Lions to task. In a Lawrence Taylor-style drag and strip, Michigan's No. 56 smacked Penn State quarterback Kevin Thompson in the back- field while stripping the ball loose. Before anyone else could react, Hall swooped the pigskin into teammate Josh Williams' mas- sive arms and Michigan gained the initial advantage, securing the first turnover of the game. But Hall's pressure defense wasn't restricted to forcing fumbles and levying crushing hits on Nittany Lions. He wanted to play scoreboard operator. Using his teammates' backs as a step- stool, Hall and his left arm played Dikembe Mutumbo, swatting away Penn State's first quarter chip-shot field goal attempt. Sure there were others - such as the first play of the second quarter in which Sam Sword made a self-proclaimed "unbelievable play" stuffing Aaron Harris at the goal line and Thompson flushed appearance whenev- er he felt the heat of Michigan's D-line. Those were just examples of Penn State's atrocious day - a day without positives. For the Lions to take anything away from this game is impossible. They turned the ball over three times through the air and once on the ground. Thompson was sacked four times and ate more grass than the Michigan Stadium lawnmower. Oh, did I mention that Penn State, which entered averaging 28 points per game, did- n't tally any points, either? The masses in the Big House were ecstat- ic with the results. Fans echoed their approval as Dhani Jones and Sword urged them on. Even the sun peeked out from behind the clouds to see this one. King, reporting the game score as profes- sionally as possible, hit the nail on the head. Michigan left the Lions with nothing. -Mark Snyder can be reached via e-mail at msnyder@umich.edu. Soccer quietly exits Big Ten tournament ' Vaughn R. Kug Daily Sports Writer STATE COLLEGE - Revenge was the theme of the Big Ten tournament this weekend for the Michigan soccer team. Unfortunately for the Wolverines, however, they not only issued but endured revenge, falling victim to a Penn State squad bent on redeeming last sea- son's Big Ten tournament championship loss to Michigan. "Last season was brutal for us," Penn State co- ptain Carole Dutchka said. "This year we did the same to Michigan." After ousting Northwestern from the single elim- ination tournament on Friday, fifth-seeded Michigan advanced to face top-seeded Penn State on its own Jeffrey Field. Saturday's semifinal matchup was played in the Kelly Convey headed a corner kick past Michigan goalkeeper Carissa Stewart at the 10:21 mark. "The early goal gave us a much-needed breath of confidence;" Penn State coach Pat Farmer said. "Until then I had no good reason to feel confident of victory against this talented Michigan squad." The 1-0 lead lasted over 60 minutes until Penn State found the back of the net on a second corner kick opportunity capitalized upon by Convey. Just 10 minutes later, Penn State went up 3-0 on a virtu- ally unearned goal. Attempting to combat a Penn State direct kick, Michigan erected a defensive wall intended to deny the Nittany Lions a clear path to the goal. The Wolverines' defense erred when co-captain Jessica Limauro stepped away from the three-man wall to avoid contact with an approaching blast from Bonnie Belkin said. "And we paid for it." The 3-0 deficit took what little drive the Michigan team exhibited in the second half with it. "We just did not have the motivation in the sec- ond half," Belkin said. "And the third goal really took the wind out of our sails." Minutes later, Limauro saved the Wolverines some face, as well as denying Penn State a shutout by scoring an unassisted goal from short range. Ultimately, Penn State's offensive vigor paved the way for the Nittany Lions' second consecutive tour- nament championship berth. "We did not connect on our passes and we did not make things happen," Belkin said. "Penn State clear- ly played a better game." As for Michigan's 1-0 defeat of fourth-seeded Northwestern on Friday, the Wolverines avenged the DANA UNNANE f vw..