The Michigan Daily - SportsMonday - October 4, 1999 - 3B
.Stickers split games with top 10 opponents
by Michael Kern
Daily Sports Writer
The No. 10 Michigan field hockey
team knew this weekend would be the
toughest on its schedule all year, facing
two top 10 opponents, No. 5 Penn State
and No. 7 Ohio State, on the road.
Already this season, the Wolverines
ave hit the road three times to face a
top 10 opponent, only to walk away
with a defeat.
But with that type of experience
under its belt, Michigan hoped it could
return to Ann Arbor with two victories
and first place in the Big Ten.
"It's always a difficult weekend,"
Michigan coach Marcia Pankratz said
Wednesday. "It involves lots of travel
for the team and both Penn State and
*hio State are ranked, so they will be
fficult games"
Although the Wolverines (8-4, 3-1)
opened the weekend with a 3-2 victory
over Ohio State (9-2 overall, 2-2 Big
Ten) on Friday, the weekend ended on a
sour note, as they fell 2-1 to nemesis
Penn State (10-2, 3-1), who made it five
straight victories and 16 out of the last
18 over Michigan.
For the second straight game,
ichigan fell behind 1-0 in the first
alf. But junior midfielder Courtney
Reid sent the game tied 1-1 into the half
with her second goal of the weekend.
Despite a close second half, Traci
Anselmo scored with 15:18 left on
what would prove to be the game win-
ner for the Nittany Lions.
Fatigue may have been a factor for
the Wolverines late in the game after a
draining victory on Friday and a full
day of travel Saturday.
Michigan had a number of chances
late in the game, including three cor-
ners and a key save on a Reid break-
away by Penn State goalie Heidi
Leuchte, but was unable to capitalize
on its chances, as Penn State handed the
Wolverines their first conference loss
of the season.
"Anytime you get three corners in a
row, you hope you can execute them
and make them count,' Pankratz said.
"I thought we did have a stroke on that
one call, but (an official) blew the whis-
tle before it hit (the goalie's) foot. We
probably did execute on one of them,
but it didn't count."
On Friday, the Wolverines came back
from a 2-1 halftime deficit to defeat
Ohio State 3-2 in Columbus. Michigan
scored twice in the final five minutes of
the game, upsetting the Buckeyes.
Junior midfielder Courtney Reid netted
the game winner for the Wolverines
with just 3:50 remaining in the game.
Michigan controlled the second half,
outshooting Ohio State 10-1. The
Wolverines also continued their domi-
nance of penalty corners, out-earning
the Buckeyes 10-3 for the game.
Freshmen Jessica Rose and Molly
Powers also netted goals in the
Wolverines victory.
By splitting their games this week-
end, the Wolverines find themselves
tied for second place in the Big Ten
with Penn State, a half game behind
undefeated Iowa.
But Michigan will have no time to
relax, as it must now prepare for No. 4
Iowa this Friday at Ocker Field.
"The Big Ten is a very tough confer-
ence' Pankratz said. "I think game for
game, having to play 10 matches, home
and away for everybody, it's the tough-
est conference in the country. So we
have to put this game behind us. We
have Iowa Friday and Northwestern this
weekend. So it's just right to the next
match."
- Brad Stratton of the Dailv
Collegian, at Penn State, contributed to
this report.
I
1
BERKA
S
Teeing Off
A:
"a
October: when baseball
takes on a true meanig
My Sunday schedule in the fall
is pretty much set in stone.
After waking up at noon, I
putt around for an hour before plop-
ping on a couch and watching some
professional football.
Football is the best professional
sport in my opinion. It is a action-
packed, hard-hitting and exciting. It is
also played once a week for 16 weeks,
making each game important in rela-
tion to the rest of the regular season.
With sports such as hockey, basket-
ball or baseball - where seasons last
eight months and games number into
the hundreds - the importance of a
typical regular season football game is
refreshing.
So when Sunday rolls around in the
fall, other sports fall into the realm of
the useless in my mind. I either watch
football or study for my classes.
Check that, I just watch football.
But yesterday wasn't a typical
Sunday. Yes, there was football on. In
fact, there were some pretty good
games on the tube. But when it came
down to picking what I was going to
watch, I decided to watch the
Pittsburgh-New York Mets baseball
game.
Before I explain why I committed
this act, I will admit one thing - I
hate watching baseball on television. I
do realize that baseball is supposedly
America's pastime. Because of that
reason, I know that I am supposed to
like baseball.
I do like baseball - when I go to
the games. But when there is a base-
ball game on television, I keep flip-
ping the channels or I turn the TV off
and take an eight-hour nap.
In my mind, I would rather watch a
Total Request Live marathon than
watch a regular season baseball game
between any team.
But yesterday was different.
Yesterday saw a rarity in the annals of
baseball - a game on the diamond
that actually meant something.
For the New York Mets, it was a
chance to avert a horrible late-season
collapse for the second consecutive
season. The Mets - formerly a lock
for the playoffs - had fallen off to
the point where they were in a must-
win situation.
This intrigued me in a couple of
ways. First of all, I hate the Mets.
Actually, I like them compared to their
crosstown brothers, the Yankees, but I
was rooting for them to lose.
Second of all, I hate all New York
teams. I don't know why, but the city
of New York invokes hatred in me
when it comes to sports. Maybe its
because when a team wins in New
York, the press hypes it up more. Or
maybe its because teams from New
York seem to whine more when they
lose. Either way, New York teams suck
and I want them to lose every time
they go out.
But if I wanted to watch a New
York team lose, I could watch the Jets.
Basically, the reason why I watched .
the Mets beat the Pirates was because
playoff baseball is one of the best
things to witness in any form.
As much as I have tried to deny the
basic baseball passion that runs in the
male species of this country, it just
can't be subdued during October base-
ball.
The strategy that goes into every
swing, every pitch and every fielding
change invigorates the fan. The
decades of great moments, such as
Babe Ruth's called shot, Bill
Mazeroski's home run and Don
Larsen's perfect game, all emerge
toward the consciousness in October.
Baseball has its problems. The esca-
lating salaries, the gap between small-
market and large-market teams and
the lack of quality pitching come to
mind. But to any real sports fan, those
issues fade away once October rolls
around.
So if there's a conflict between
baseball and football this month, I
might be tempted to break my routine
a little and watch some action on the
diamond.
Unless the Lions are on.
- TJ Berka lied in this column. He
spends all day studving in the library.
He can be reached via email at
berkat@umich.edu.
DAVID ROCHKIND/Daily
Jeanne Shin and the rest of the Michigan field hockey team, shown here against
Michigan State earlier in the season, split their matches this weekend.
Warhurst's harriers hang with nation's best
'Jon Schwartz
For the Daily
Conventional wisdom seems to
indicate that this year's Michigan
men's cross country team cannot be as
good as last. Perhaps - but if this past
weekend is any indication, it may be
good enough.
Trying to put the loss of All-
Americans John Mortimer and Todd
Snyder behind them, the Wolverines
Jrmed into Friday's Notre Dame
Tnvitational facing some of their
toughest competition to date. They
never strayed far from Georgetown,
their most threatening foe, and fin-
ished tied with the Hoyas for first
place out of 23 teams.
Following close behind was host
Notre Dame, riding junior Ryan
Shay's first-place run to third position
overall.
While some downplayed the com-
etition that Michigan faced, senior
co-captain Jay Cantin, the Wolverines'
top finsher (second overall, two sec-
onds behind Shay,) didn't quite agree.
"Georgetown, Notre Dame,
Missouri. Three of the better teams in
the nation were there," Cantin said.
"We had to run well to place the way
we did."
But Cantin is aware that the team
will be facing tougher opposition in
*e near future, including Wisconsin,
which coach Ron Warhurst called the
Wolverines' toughest opponent.
Joining Cantin in the top 10 on
Friday was Mike Wisniewski, with his
third individual top ten finish in as
many meets this season.
Rounding out Michigan's top five
runners, co-captain Steve Lawrence
placed 18th, followed by Mark Pilja's
24 and John Butsic's 29. Pilja's run
was the first time this season that he
failed to place in the top ten.
Warhurst placed particular empha-
sis on Butsic's performance, pointing
out the stomach cramp that hounded
him through the early miles. Despite
the discomfort, the junior from Iron
River was able to cross the finish line
two seconds ahead of Georgetown's
last two runners, Kyle Smits and
Kalpanatit Broderick.
Truly, the Wolerines' performance
at Notre Dame on Friday was a great
step for the team.
"It was a confidence booster,"
Cantin said. "Georgetown beat us by
around 10 last time. It was important
that we came out the way we did."
Warhurst was also pleased with
Michigan's impressive split time (the
interval between the first and fifth
runners at the finish line). At 57 sec-
onds, the Wolverines improved from
about 1:15 at their last meet.
"It still needs to be lower," Warhurst
said, "but it's a great start." What
made the split particularly noteworthy
was that with the exception of Cantin,
whom Warhurst said ran the best race
of his life, the team was showing signs
of fatigue throughout the race.
Much of this may be attributed to
Warhurst's intense practice regiments
of late. As has been reported, weekly
training schedules - which are usual-
ly in the 80 mile range - have crept
into the 100-plus area for most of the
-,,,,JOHN GUESS AGENCY
INSURANCE FOR EDUCATIONAL EMPLOYEES
JOANNA PAINE/Daily
Captain John Butsic and the Wolverines hung tough with the pack at the Notre
Dame invitational, which hosted some of the nation's best teams.
runners.
"This is our last week of really hard
training," Warhurst explained, proving
that the light competition to be faced
at this Saturday's Murray Keating
Invitational will not prompt a lighter
workload for this week.
While Cantin acknowledged his
teamates' fatigue, he said that in the
long run the extra running will be
good for the team.
"Our strength showed in the latter
part of the meet," Cantin said. "In a
couple of weeks, when we drop our
distance down, we'll be even better.
We're headed in the right direction."
6935 Fosdick
[Saline]
734.429.2707
734.429.1032 [fax]
Serena beats sister
U 11
MUNICH, Germany (AP) -
Serena Williams beat older sister
Venus for the first time in their pro-
fessional careers yesterday to capture
the Grand Slam Cup and a $900,000
payday.
The U.S. Open champion won 6-1,
3-6, 6-3 in a family final in which the
players' mother applauded at the end.
. Venus, at 19 one year older,
plauded Serena and the sisters
1Pbraced at the net after the match,
but did not show much emotion dur-
ing play.
"This is exciting, this is what we
always wanted," Serena said during
the awards ceremony.
"Congratulations, Serena, the U.S.
Open champion," Venus said.
Venus earned $400,000, meaning
the family budget grew by $1.3 mil-
tn.
This was the second sister-sister
final in the history of pro tennis. In
the first, Venus beat Serena 6-1, 4-6,
6-4 in Key Biscayne, Fla., in March.
She also won their two non-title
matches in 1998.
Earlier, Greg Rusedski used his big
Slam events.
Serena won the U.S. Open three
weeks ago and now has a 16-match
winning streak. Venus ended another
16-match winning streak when she
beat Serena in March. Venus was the
only top player Serena had never
beaten.
Serena, the more muscular of the
sisters, won her fifth title of the year.
She was all over Venus from the out-
set, winning 12 of the first three
points and holding Venus to three
points in the first five games.
But her game deteriorated in the
second set and Venus evened the
score. In the third set, Serena broke
serve for a 3-1 lead, missed two
chances to go up 5-1 and needed three
match points to win in 1 hour, 45
minutes.
m .
lam,
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