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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