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FRIDAY: MICHIGAN 18, IOWA 16
Van i
alant 1.n1
SATURDAY: MICHIGAN 37, WISCONSIN 4
victory
Offensively stagnant,
Blue fals to Badgers
By Raphael Goodstein
Daily Sports Editor
Forty-one points is a great game for one player. For a
team, it's pretty poor, especially if 21 of those come
WISCONSIN 60
MICHIGAN 41
11 overall) to just four-
under their average.
from one player, but that
was all the Michigan basket-
ball team could produce in
its 60-41 loss to Wisconsin.
Wisconsin held the
Wolverines (3-6 Big Ten, 9-
offensive rebounds, about 10
"We challenged our guys," Wisconsin coach Brad
Soderberg said. "There were some times we blocked
out' well enough that the ball could have made it on to
the court when we got it."
Rebounding wasn't the Wolverines' biggest problem,
See BADGERS, Page 5B
BRANDON SEDLOFF/Daily
ABOVE: Michigan's captain Otto Olson gets Iowa's Tyler Nixt into a headlock in the midst of the Wolverine's 13-5
major decision.
RIGHT: 165-pound Charles Martelli walks off victoriously after starting the dual meet by scoring a decision over Iowa's
Matt Anderson. Martelli's win started a string of five consecutive Michigan wins en route to the 18-16 meet victory.
Landmark win ushers in new
era of Michigan wrestling
Ldm
By Nathan Linsley
Daily Sports Writer
There could be a changing of the guard in collegiate
wrestling. This weekend, Michigan showed the rest of
the country that the old powerhouses may be just that -
old.
"We're an up and coming program, and it's fun to be a
part of this program," 141-pounder Clark Forward said.
The Wolverines may continue their recent rise in the
polls after destroying No. 22 Wisconsin, 37-4 on Satur-
day night. On Friday, the Wolverines used an extreme
home advantage to defeat defending national champion
Iowa, 18-16.
Against Wisconsin, the Wolverines won nine of 10
weight classes - the only Badger victory came from
defending NCAA champion Donny Prtizlaff at 165
pounds.
Coach Joe McFarland was worried about the Wiscon-
sin match after the Wolverines' emotional win against
third-ranked Iowa. With a significantly smaller crowd
and a middle-of-the-pack team, there was a dangerous
chance for a letdown.
"These guys really responded well. I think that's just a
reflection on what kind of guys they are and what kind
of kids we have on this team," McFarland said.
The victory over the Badgers was the dessert for the
Wolverines, who devoured Iowa in a match eerily similar
to the teams' first match two weeks ago at the National
Duals.
In that match, Iowa leapt out to a 16-0 lead and then
held off a late charge by Michigan to win 20-18.
Friday, it was Michigan that came out of the gates
quickly with five consecutive victories, securing an 18-0
lead going into intermission.
See HAWKEYES, Page 3B
BRANDON SEDLOFF/Daily
A towel-draped LaVell Blanchard is becoming a season sym-
bol for Michigan (3-6 Big Ten, 9-11 overall).
Eight short years...
"At Michigan State, the guys are like
brothers and the coaches are like
fathers. It was the family atmosphere
that pulled me in. I didn't see that at
Michigan."
- Michigan State sophomore
basketball star Jason Richardson
Page 8B
jt's hih time
seniors to lea
MAHA - It's often said that
after the first few months of a
season, there is no longer such
a thing as a freshman. That may be the
case.
But be it September or April, there
* always seniors to fill the roles of
leaders with proven abilities and post-
season experience.
The Michigan
hockey team has
very little time left
to recognize and
appreciate this
adage.
Four weeks from
this past Friday
night, the team will
*n East Lansing, JON
playing its final SCHWARTZ
regular season The Schwartz
game at Munn Ice Authority
Arena. In order to
end this roller-
coaster season on a high note, the team
is going to need to draw a long line in
the sand.
And the team's eight seniors need to
1 the stick.
'We've all been here, we've all done
this," senior Josh Langfeld said after his
goal on Friday night was not enough to
get past Nebraska-Omaha and the
Wolverines suffered their seventh loss
of the season. "We need to come
together and work as a class."
for'M'
Sthe way
championship game, the Wolverines
relied on their freshmen, with Mark
Kosick scoring two goals and Langfeld
capping the game in overtime for the 3-
2 win. Current senior Scott Matzka
assisted on the championship-winning
goal. It was the Wolverines' second
national title in three years.
But since then, the road has not been
so flowery. Tough breaks caused tough
times, from defenseman Dave Huntz-
icker missing six weeks earlier this sea-
son with a knee injury to Kosick being
benched by coach Red Berenson for an
inability to produce.
But the class is starting to resurface.
After netting the tying goal in a come-
from-behind thriller at Western Michi-
gan, Kosick scored a hat trick against
Notre Dame. And in Omaha, Langfeld
was, as Berenson dubbed him after the
team's victory on Saturday night, "our
best forward for the weekend"
There aren't too many weekends left
in the season, Every team's goal is to
play in the national title game in
Albany, N.Y. on April 7, just over two
months from now.
But the class that was on top of the
world in Boston on April 4, 1998,
knows that time is running out to
reclaim the greatness into which it was
thrust.
"I have 16 games left in my career,"
Matzka said, calculating a Wolverines'
run to the title game. "I want to make
On a power-
play, Mark
Kosick gets
the puck
past Nebras-
ka-Omaha
goalie Dan
Ellis on Sat-
urday night.
The goal put
Michigan up
2-0, as the
team
resnonded to
Women's streak
halted by Boilers
By Benjamin Singer
Daily Sports Writer
WEST LAFAYETTE - One half ended with a late surge
by the Michigan women's basketball team to take the lead.
The other half ended with any comeback attempts quickly
snuffed out by Purdue.
The 33-31 halftime lead was
MICHIGAN 64 encouraging for Michigan but not
4 ~ PURDUE 73 as much as the 73-64 loss at
Mackey Arena was disappoint-
Frida
nigh
loss
I vic
FRIDAY: NEBRASKA-OMAHA 4, SATURDAY: MICHIGAN 4,
MICHIGAN 1 NEBRASKA-OMAHA 1
leers avenge Friday night ic
ay Ing.
t's 41 With All-America candidate Katie Douglas sitting out
with a 4 with an ankle sprain, Cammille Cooper - also an All-Amer-
Dtory. ica candidate - seemed like the obvious pick to take over as
the ultimate scoring threat from No. 6 Purdue.
WOODDaly While Cooper took care of business with 24 points, fresh-
man Shereka Wright, starting in place 'of Douglas, also
emerged in the game as a go-to player with 25.
"I think you just saw the depth of Purdue's team - to lose
a player of Katie Douglas' magnitude and have a freshman,
for God's sake, step in and do the job she did," Michigan
coach Sue Guevara said.
The Wolverines were also shorthanded with co-captain and
point guard Anne Thorius missing her second-consecutive
er Satur- game with her own ankle sprain. Thorius was in uniform and
t of the warmed up with the team, but never made an appearance.
hem, we Perhaps Michigan was missing her senior leadership on the
showed floor, as Purdue started to take over the momentum.
Guevara thought about utilizing Thorius' experience, ask-
n of the ing her if she was ready to enter the game after Purdue took a
ck along one-point lead. But Guevara did not want to sacrifice the rest
the flow of her season for this game, especially since Michigan had
y night, been playing so tough without Thorius.
quieted "We've got a lot of games left and I didn't want to take the
chance of getting her hurt," Guevara said. "I had confidence
in this team that they could get it done. We almost did."
son was In the absence of Thorius, Alayne Ingram produced from
By Joe Smith
Daily Sports Editor
OMAHA - "It was like night and day."
Defenseman Mike Komisarek's words per-
fectly describe the Michigan hockey team's
performance in its split at Nebraska-Omaha
this past weekend.
After getting outplayed, outhustled and out-
worked in Friday night's 4-1 loss to the upstart
Mavericks, Michigan came back with a
vengeance to the tune of a 4-1 win on Saturday
night, "salvaging" the series and keeping the
them," freshman Andy Burnes said afte
day night's victory. "In every aspec
game, we outworked them. We outhit t
beat them to the loose puck. I think it
we wanted the game more tonight."
By refusing to let the combinatio
smothering Nebraska-Omaha foreche
with the Mavericks' rabid fans dictate
of the game like they did on Frida
Michigan showed its composure and
the crowd at the same time.
And it didn't take long.
After Nebraska-Omaha's David Bris
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