Ulhe Birbigax Bail PONRT SMP Sports desk: 647-3336 sportsdesk@umich.edu SECTION B I I o escape from L. A. LOUIS BROWN/Daty ABOVE: Senior Anthony Thomas is corralled by Marques Anderson at the Rose Bowl Saturday. INSET: Kicker Hayden Epstein missed a PAT and two field goals, including a 24-yarder to tie the game. iVolverines had every opportunity to win this one P ASADENA, Calif. -- Both were in tears - on one side, UCLA safety Jason Stephens - on the other, Michigan tailback Anthony Thomas- Two different play- ers, two different sto- i ries. For UCLA, ephens became the hero, a safety's dream, intercepting what could have been a game-winning pass from John Navarre. For Thomas, after another fine perfor- mance (24 rushes forl back to Ann Arbor with a loss that shouldn't have been. The tears came not only from the A- Train on Saturday, but all the way down to the caboose. Navarre, Epstein, Whit- ley - young and old - all shared the blame in this, the first game of the sea- son. Yes, after two scrimmages, the Wolverines finally had to play - to real- ly show the country what they were about. Were they national championship contenders? Were they good enough to handle a pesky UCLA team? This was the one game to get them ready for Illi- nois, Wisconsin and Purdue. In the end the answer was clear - this team can't even write up a 'W' when the pen is handed to it. UCLA fumbled and stumbled, turning the ball over three times. The Bruins hurt themselves with penalties, saving a Michigan drive or nullifying a huge UCLA return. When Anthony Thomas fumbled three minutes into the game, UCLA fumbled on the next play. When James Whitley dropped a cer- tain interception, the Bruins' Jason Zdenek dropped one of Navarre's. Michigan soon built up its 10-point lead, and every time UCLA would get close, it would hand the ball to the Wolverines as if to say "Hey, we're get- ting a little close. Aren't you supposed to win?" It's like UCLA was an older brother giving his little brother a chance when they play basketball. You play a little less 'D' - you brick a couple shots. But younger brothers only get so many chances before big bro comes and dunks in little bro's face. And for Michigan, their little brother chances ran out. "We had it in our hands," Whitley said after the game. "We just couldn't come up with it." But - really -what could the Wolverines come up with? Here's Lloyd Carr with three minutes left. On one side of the bench he sees Hayden Epstein, who has already missed See FRANCESCUTTI, Page 6B PASADENA, Calif. - The light smog that capped the San Gabriel Mountains gave an almost surreal glaze to the scene Saturday at the Rose Bowl. From the back- drop, to the sub-capacity crowd, to Michigan's vain efforts on the field, it seemed as though the event were being projected onto a screen - almost a revelry in the delirious California sun. It didn't seem like it was happening. But it did hap- pen. No. 3 Michigan gave away a game to No. 17 UCLA and all but eliminated itself from the national title picture before October. Junior kicker Hayden Epstein missed two field goals and a PAT in Michigan's 23-20 loss. The last of Epstein's failed attempts was a 24-yard opportunity to tie the game with 3:27 left in the game. The ball missed, wide left. Michigan never trailed until Ryan McCann connected with Ed Ieremia-Stansbury for the game-winning score with 6:30 remaining. "It was tough for us," Michigan quarterback John Navarre said. "We didn't execute, and they capitalized on our mistakes." Navarre, the redshirt freshman who has been playing for injured prodigy Drew Henson, threw an interception on Michigan's third-and-long last gasp, ending the game. Early game jitters turned into a poor second half for Navarre, who completed one of 1 attempts after the See BRUINS, Page 6B MARK FRANGESCU7TI The Cutting Edge 182 yards), hie goes Reno rides hot streak for title on Michigan course Taylor's PK gives Blue 90th-minute victory SM' squeaks by in final nonconference tune-up BY Ryan C. Moloney adly Sports Wrnter When Michigan's Courtney Reno arrived at the Michigan golf course clubhouse yesterday morning, she wasn't rehearsing the victory speech she would give later that afternoon. Going into the last round of the Wolverine invitational, the junior held a 36-hole score of 153 - good for a three-stroke lead over Baylor teammates Hanna Svenningson and Tara Bate- man, both tied at 156. While Reno's lead wasn't Tiger Woods-esque, it was enough of a cushion t lay it safe. n other words, Reno wasn't about to pull a Van de Velde. "I was thinking, 'stay calm - don't get excit- ed or cocky, stay confident and let it happen,"' Reno said. In capturing the invitational's individual title, Reno didn't need to be spectacular -just steady. "I was conservative about it," Reno said, "even if you have to take a bogey instead of shooting for the pin, or hitting for the middle of the green making two putts for par." eno maintained her three-shot lead through- out final round play Sunday, finishing with a three-round total of 231. Svenningson took sec- ond with 234 and Bateman rounded out the top three with 236. Baylor, on the strength of Svenningson and Rat"mann tonk the team title with acnre of 951. Michigan coach Kathy Teichert said. "There were a lot of shots around the green that we didn't capitalize on and to me, that was the key to our play. "It's a little bit disappointing for us, because we thought we could win this event and I thought it would be a great start to our season," she said. At first glance, the course conditions appeared moderate. The sun illuminated the still-green golf course throughout the morning and most players bypassed constrictive long sleeves and pants for polo shirts and shorts. But players with high thresholds for adjust- ment were best suited for the final round. The wind made for great kite-flying, but limited dis- tance off the tee. What's more, last week's rain tampered with otherwise predictable lies. Because of the rain, the greens (normally cut every day) were left untouched by the golf course groundscrew during the week - causing a col- lective headache for greens readers when the grass was finally trimmed on Friday. "Our greens were slow during the week and then they cut them on Friday night and Saturday morning," captain Amy Talbot said. "That kind of took away our advantage because a lot of the girls out there are used to faster greens." Following Reno for Michigan was Kim Bene- dict, who came in sixth with a combined score of 240. Bess Bowers was 12th with 245. Misia Lemanski and Le Anna Wicks both tied for 16th and recorded 247s. By Peter Lund For the Daily One week away from facing its toughest competition of the year, the Michigan men's varsity soccer team took a large step forward in its ability to win close games in the crucial waning moments. Freshman defender Kevin Taylor converted a penalty kick in the 90th minute yesterday to raise Michigan to a 1-0 victory over the Uni- versity of Detroit-Mercy. The win brings Michigan's record to 3-2 as it heads into its first Big Ten contest in team history next Saturday at home against sec- ond-ranked Penn State. On the game-winning play, freshman mid- fielder Mike White was taken down in the Detroit box, drawing a penalty kick. Detroit coach Morris Lupenec was very dissatisfied with the call. As the referees walked off the field after the game, he sarcastically applaud- ed them. "That wasn't a flagrant call, in my view. I don't think the referee should be dictating the game on a (penalty) kick," Lupenec said afterward. Taylor put the ball in the upper left corner of the goal. iust out of reach of goalkeeper "My nerves were going a little crazy," Tay- lor said. "I always go left, but he went left early so I had to kick it high." After Detroit controlled possession of the ball in the first 10 minutes of the game, Michigan started to control the game later in the first half, resulting in numerous chances for Michigan at the Titans' net. But each time Michigan threatened, the Detroit Mercy defense would turn it away or shots would fly wide, resulting in a scoreless first half. "In the first half we were getting a lot of opportunities from our outside midfielders," sophomore forward Robert Turpin said. "We just weren't finishing. We didn't work on our finishing a lot in practice:' The second half was much the same for Michigan, especially after senior forward Ryan Yoder entered the game for the first time. Yoder sparked several more offensive chances in the second half before leaving late in the game with an injured calf. Despite all the opportunities, the Wolverines still could not score. "It was frustrating," Michigan coach Steve Burns said. "We were not finishing as many opportunities as we were creating. It's part of the name of soccer. Your expectations are Michian's Kevin Ronsn braws for the I i I I