4B;- The Michigan Daily - SportsMonday - September 27, 1999
Blue ends non-conference play with wins
By Michael Kern
Daily Sports Writer
The No. 12 Michigan field hockey
team improved its winning streak to
four games this weekend, as it closed
out its non-conference schedule with
two victories at Ocker Field
After taking a 2-0 lead in the first
half on Saturday, the Wolverines held
on for a 3-2 victory over No. 20 Ohio.
Michigan followed the close win with
a 4-0 blowout of Cal Berkley, improv-
ing its record to 7-3.
A was happy for the wins. I'll take
them any way we can get them,"
Michigan coach Marcia Pankratz said
yesterday. "Today was a little bit eas-
ier. We executed corners and finished
the play a little better. It was a good
momentum-builder for this upcoming
weekend."
Handling the bulk of the scoring
this weekend were junior forward
Kel1i Gannon and junior midfielder
Regan Wulfsburg.
Gannon scored twice against
Berkley and once against Ohio,
irproving her team-leading total to
eight for the season.
"We have her in our midfield, so
for her to be scoring all those goals is
really special because normally (a
midfielder) is just a playmaker and a
field general," Pankratz said, "She
does all of that but still puts up the
numbers for us."
More surprising was Wulfsburg's
production off the bench, scoring two
goals against the Bobcats, including
the game winner from the seat of her
pants with 19:55 left in the game.
"We've got good depth at the for-
ward line and try to get everybody
in," Pankratz said. "They all have dif-
ferent strengths, and one of Regan's is
finishing in the circle."
As was the case in their 1-0 victo-
ry over Michigan State on
Wednesday, the Wolverines' offensive
strategy this weekend was to get a lot
penalty corners to gain scoring
chances.
Michigan executed the strategy
well, out-earning its opponents 31-7
on penalty corners. The Wolverines
used that advantage to outshoot their
opponents 31-10.
Unlike the Michigan State game,
in which the Wolverines were unable
to successfully capitalize on their cor-
ners, five of Michigan's seven goals
this weekend came off of a corner.
Early in the game against
California, it appeared as though the
Wolverines would continue to strug-
gle with their corners, as the score
was tied 0-0 with less than seven min-
utes to go in the half. Despite heavy
pressure from the Michigan attack,
the Golden Bears managed to hold off
Michigan's pressure which had
earned nine unanswered corners.
But with 6:25 to go, Gannon gave
the Wolverines a 1-0 lead, capitalizing
on Michigan's 10th corner of the half.
That goal opened the floodgates
for the Wolverines, as Gannon scored
on their next corner just one minute
later. Sophomore forward Jessie Veith
followed a minute and a half later on
the Wolverines' next corner, taking a
Gannon rebound and putting it past,
the Berkley goaltender to give
Michigan a 3-0 halftime lead.
"We practice (corners) in practice
this week so many times repetitively,"
junior midfielder Courtney Reid said.
"They just had to fall sooner or later.
We had some trouble yesterday, but
today we had a lot of corners and they
finally started to fall."
Perhaps looked over because of
the outstanding play of Michigan's
offense, the Michigan defense contin-
ued its dominating ways this week-
end, especially against Berkley.
The Golden Bears recorded just
three shots on net and earned just
three penalty corners, as junior Kati
Oakes and sophomore Maureen Tasch
combined for the Wolverines' second
shutout of the week.
"As a defensive unit, we work
really well together," senior captain
Ashley Reichenbach said. "We have
small numbers on defense, and it
gives us an opportunity to play a lot
together because there is not as much
substitution. We're just clicking."
Michigan now must get ready for
it's toughest road trip of the season, as
the Wolverines travel to No. 5 Ohio
State on Friday and No. 2 Penn State
on Sunday.
"We need to stay focused and
worry about Ohio State first,"
Pankratz said. "They are going to be
like a Grizzly Bear after hibernation
after a loss to Iowa this weekend. This
is the toughest road trip there is
because you have two unbelievable
teams with a ton of travel in between
(games). It's brutal, but that's the Big
Ten."
0,
DANNY KALICK/Daily
Erica Widder and rest of the Michigan hockey team defended themselves against
non-conference foes this weekend, picking up two wins.
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Corners imperative to field hockey success
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By Michael Kern
Daily Sports Writer
In field hockey, a team earns a penal-
ty corner when its opponent commits a
foul in the scoring circle, usually touch-
ing the ball with some part of their
body.
The offensive team then gets to set up
at the top of the circle, while a team-
mate centers the ball from the side of
the net. The offense must stop the ball
cleanly and either shoot at the net or
pass it off, while the defense charges at
them from the goal mouth.
In action, it looks like a corner kick
in soccer combined with a field goal in
football and is one of the most unusual
plays in all of sports.
In all three of Michigan's victories
this week, the penalty corner has been
critical, as the Wolverines have out
earned their opponents 40-9.
"One of our goals for the week was to
try and draw more corners, so that we
have an opprtunity to take more shots,"
Michigan coach Marcia Pankratz said
Sunday. "We did that much better today.
We had a ton of corners and we scored
on three of them, and we'll take that any
time."
The key to gaining so many corners
for Michigan has been a relentless pur-
suit of the ball and a focused effort to
always go for the corner if possible.
"Our practice on Friday was all about
hitting it into people's feet in the circle
and getting corners," junior midfielder
Courtnev Reid said.
Despite earning a number of corners
and getting a lot of shots on net, until
Sunday's game, Michigan was not con-
verting on the corners as well as they
would have liked.
"We played very well today, and we
had a lot of corners," Pankratz said, "but
we have to practice finishing. With 12
corners, we should be able to put a cou-
ple of them in. In a game where it is
scrappy and intense, you just have to
keep scrapping and fighting and hope-
fully one will fall."
The Wolverines know that there is
more to scoring on corners than prac-
tice and skill, though. Just like a corner
kick in soccer, there are other intangi-
bles that have to fall into place for a
penalty corner to result in a goal.
"Part of it just has to do with luck,"
junior forward Kelli Gannon said
Sunday. "I think we wanted it way more
in the game against Michigan State, but
they just fell here."
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DANNY KALICK/Daily
The penalty comer, which Stephanie Johnson is attempting above, was crucial in
all of Michigan's victories last week.
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