URbz £idirgan fuilg SPORTS 4. Sports desk: 763-2459 sportsdesk@umich.edu SECTION B k ~.> -: : all I 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 I i