Wednesday, September 6, 2000 - The Michigan Daily - New Student Edition- 9E
New coach
to lead
water polo
this year
WATER POLO
Continued from Page 1E
sport this is? Ilead down to Canham
Natatorium next spring and check
out the women's water polo team.
"Water polo is something like a
cross between soccer and basket-
ball," Michigan coach Amber
Drury-Pinto said. "It's a very unique
nd exciting sport, and once people
watch, they're hooked~"
In its first year in Division f, the
new-look water polo team will have
a new coach.
Prior to arriving in Ann Arbor,
Drury-Pinto spent two years as head
coach at Long Beach City College
and a season as an assistant at San
Diego State.
In addition, she boasts a wealth of
9xperience with the U.S. National
Team - Drury-Pinto played in over
30 ,international tournaments and
served as an assistant coach with the
natjpnal team from 1994-98. This all
made for an impressive resume
which certainly helped her land the
top job here in Ann Arbor.
"I feel that one of my strengths is
my knowledge from playing on the
national team,' Drury-Pinto said. "It
hasn't been that long since I played.
lo my experiences will benefit me
as a coach."
As evidenced by Drury-Pinto's
coaching background, water polo is
a spprt with a heavy California fla-
vor. The majority of the nation's top
teams reside on the west coast,
which makes Drury-Pinto's job that
much more difficult -- she must
attempt to build a strong tradition at
&ichigan while competing against
established powerhouses for blue-
chip recruits.
But, there is a silver-lining in this
dark cloud - Drury-Pinto has some
impressive schools to model her
fledgling program after.
She need only point at teams like
Stanford or UCLA if she wants to
show her players what it will take to
be champions on the Division 1
vel.
"W:e have a good group of club
girls coming back, so we wil be
competitive." Drury-Pinto said. "We
have to overcome the perception of
Michigan as a club team, so the cur-
rent club players will have to make a
big time commitment.
"1 probably won't model us after
anyone in particular we'll do what-
ever is best with our personnel. One
,qvantage we'll have in recruiting is
Iat any girls that come here have a
better chance of playing here than at
one ofthe west coast schools."
,In their inaugural varsity season,
the Wolverines will play a schedule
that Drury-Pinto describes as "mid-
dle-of-the-road.'
In addition to hosting a pair of
tournaments at Canham Natatorium,
Michigan will be heading out to
Santa Barbara. Calif. for a competi-
n that will feature some of the top
arns in the nation, including Stan-
ford, California, UCLA and USC.
"Our goal is to qualify for the
NCAA Championships," Drury-
Pinto said. "They are probably going
to take one team from the East
Region (which Michigan is in), two
from California, and one at-large
team. It's going to take some time
for us to reach the top level, but peo-
e are going to worry about playing
us this year.,"
The most popular sport?
Granted varsity status on
March 26, 1999, the
Michigan men's soccer
team now will begin their
first season under head
coach Steve Burns. Burns;
captained the men's soc-
cer club to two national
championships in 1997 and
1998. But with a full Big Burns
Ten and NCAA schedule,
the varsity level will be a little tougher for the
Wolverines. To cushion the blow, Burns
recently signed five play-
ers to build his first
recruiting class. The
soccer season opens at
Evansville Aug. 25.
Michigan will take on
Schoolcraft College in
its home opener Sept
10 at Elbel Field &-
Kickin
'it! The men
climb up to varsity
SOCCER
Continued from Page 1E
tuned in to watch the host country.
France, defeat defending champion
Brazil in the 1998 final match in
Paris.
With this in mind, it is somewhat
strange that Michigan has not had a
varsity men's soccer program until
now. True, the Wolverines have had
one of the top club teams in the coun-
trv for several years, but only next
near will Michigan finally make the
jump up to Division 1.
'One of the things I did immedi-
ately upon being hired was talk to
Mark Rothstein, the crew coach, just
to get a feel of what that first year
was going to entail," Michigan coach
Steve Burns said. "Coach Rothsteins
advice was that the first year is the
busiest, because you're literally start-
ing everything from scratch. There's
a big jump with recruiting, putting
together a booster club, all the differ-
ent things you have to do as an
ambassador for your sport."
As a first-year varsity team. Michi-
gan was at a distinct disadxantaue
when it came to recruiting. While
established powers like Indiana and
sW
t ...
Virgitia could simply trot out nation-
al championship trophies to attract
blue-chip talent, the Wolverines had
to scour the country for players who
weren't afraid of a challenge and who
were willing to be part of something
unique.
A big obstacle was letting the soc-
cer community know that Michigan
had added a varsity program;' Burns
said. "We recruited from San Diego
to Miami, but we also tried to as
much as we could in Michigan and
the midwest.
Burns and assistant Walt Barrett
were quite successful in their first
seasonI recruiting Division I talent.
Among Michigan's signees were
defenders Kevin Taylor and Pat
Tuohev, central midfielder Ian
Ihirschfield (a high school team-
mate of Taylor), central defensive
midfielder Mike White, forward
Kevin Robinson and goalkeeper
Joe Zwacki.
"We decided to build out of the
back - we recruited a high-level
goalkeeper and we built the defense;
Burns said. "We'll play a very swift.
counterattack style of plav.
Burns is in somiewhat of a unique
situation. At least as far as the Biz-
DAILY SPORTS.
WE GET YOU
THROUGH EVERY
3ORING LECFURE.
Ten is concerned, the trend in recent
years has been for club coaches to be
replaced once a sport is elevated to
varsity status. Burns is one of the few
club coaches who has been given an
opportunity to lead a varsity pro-
gram, which speaks volumes about1
his preparation and his credentials.
"I wvent about developitig as a
coach over the years:' Burns said. "I
coached a senli-pro team, which have
me experience in dealing with Divi-
sionI -level athletes. I was one of the
first candidates to be interviewed for
the Job. and I feel that I demonstrated
a vision and a sincere concern for the
future- of this program.
As is the case with anv team that
jumps from club to varsity, there is a
large adjustnIent that must be made
by the Wolverines' coaches and play-
ers. The most obvious change is the
level of competition, which is prob-
lematic for Burns -not all of the
players from the club team will pos-
sess the skill level to compete for the
varsity; squad, so some feelings will
be hurt as the start of the season
approaches.
"The players and coaches have to
accept some changes." Burns sai,
"We brought the players in individtt-
ally and talked about expectations
We can set the bar however high or
low we want - the important thing
is for us to be patient.
courtesy Michigan men-s soccer team
Michigan coach Steve Burns (left) senses that things may get bloody in his
team's first varsity campaign.
'rtesv: M1cuq;an
>s soccer team
r
Tough to replace
Thomas this year
CAGERS
Continued from Page 6E
with 6-3 Bies and the possibility of
playing 6-2 junior Raina Goodlow
at small forward, the Wolverines
could present matchup problems for
smaller opponents.
Leary, a 5-8 point guard, and
Schumacher, a 6-0 guard/forward.
also give the Wolverines a possible
five guard rotation with Thorius.
junior Alayne Ingram, and sopho-
more Infini Robinson.
"I have the ability to play with a
lot of different things," Guevara
said. "I'm looking forward to this
team."
Even though the freshmen will
'give the Wolverines much needed
depth, they may not compensate
early on for the loss of Thomas. As
a second round pick in the WNBA
draft, Thomas has taken the skills
that made her a unanimous selection
to the All-Big Ten first team to the
pros.
Whoever takes oxer as the
Wolverines starter at small forward
will have big shoes to fill. Last sea-
son, Thomas led the team in scoring
(14.5 per game) and rebounds (7.7
per game) and set a Big Ten career
record for steals with 372.
But Guevara is confident that
Michigan can survive without her
- citing the Big Ten semifinal loss
to Purdue and N(AA Tournament
loss to Stanford as games in which
the Wolverines played long stretch-
es without the senior but remained
competitive.
"When we beat Michigan State in
overtime we played the last 12 min-
utes without Stacev," Guevara said.
"We'll miss her defensive presence
because people were very aware of
Stacey.
"Looking at the defense - (we
lose) what Alison Miller brought us
and what Kenisha Walker brought
us off the bench, we may struggle
early defensively."
In order to bounce back from the
loss of Thomas. the Wolverines will
need Ingram, last season's second
leading scorer, and Goodlow to step
up their games and take leadership
roles on the team.
"Last year I increased my scor-
ing, assists and rebounds." Ingram
said. "This year we need to step up
our defense as a team because
Stacev did so muchi."
As the team's floor general. Tho-
rius' role with the team will also be
more important than ever before.
Besides distributing the ball to her
teammates, the senior will be relied
on more this year than in the past to
take over games and score in the
clutch.
""The ball is always in her hand.
so she alvays has the first option to
shoot it." Guevara said. "Anne
knows that from the get-go in Sep-
tember her scoring needs to pick up
because that it what the team is
going to need even more than her
distribution"
Before last season, most experts
picked the Wolverines to finish
middle of the pack iii the Big Ten.
After surprising many with their
second place finish, the Wolverines
are once again not picked to finish
in the top three.
But that doesn't bother Guevara
Olie bit.
"People see we lost Stacey
Thomas and think all of a sudden
we are going to go down the tubes,"
Guevara said. "To be honest with
you. I'd rather (our opponents) have
that kind of attitude."
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