SPb Lirbigan NiIy POT Sports desk: 763-2459 sportsdesk@umich.edu SECTION a p a ata.:, a 1 Field Hockey headed to Final Four By Bob Hunt Daily Sports Writer After losing three out of the last seven games, the regular season did not feel like a fitting end to the careers of the five seniors on the Michi- gan field hockey team who led the program into the sport's elite. But they knew that the NCAA Tournament was a new beginning, and they took advantage of it. Yesterday, senior captain Catherine Foreman scored a slow-rolling goal off a Kristi Gannon feed in overtime to defeat Michigan State 2-1, concluding a wild weekend in which Michigan also defeated powerhouse North Carolina 5-2, and earned its second trip to the NCAA Final Four in three years. "Our team really pulled through today," Fore- man said. "And as far as our seniors go, I feel like we're pretty happy." The goal ended an overtime against the Spar- tans that the Wolverines dominated. Michigan State controlled the final 20 minutes of the sec- ond half but the momentum shifted when Michigan State defender Judith van Haeringen was given a yellow card with 3:22 remaining giving the Wolverines a player advantage for the final part of regulation and the first minute-and- a-half of overtime. Then in overtime, Michigan took advantage as the play switched from 11-on-11 to seven- on-seven. "We emphasize our fitness and our speed. When you take players off the field and when you take players off the field there's a lot more ground to cover," Michigan coach Marcia Pankratz said. "We feel really confident in the overtimes just in the talent that we have." Michigan took control early. Seven minutes in, freshman Adrienne Hortillosa deked the Michigan State goaltender Lauren Hess, leaving her with a wide open net. But Hortillosa's shot was blocked by a Michigan State defender's foot giving the Wolverines a penalty stroke. "I just pulled to the left and it seemed like it was an open goal and I had my head down so I took a reverse shot," Hortillosa said. "Then I was lying on the ground and I saw that the ball hit the girl's foot so I was kind of disappointed, but I had a lot of faith in Stephanie Johnson." Johnson blew the free chance over a diving Hess giving the Wolverines the early lead. But the Spartans stole the momentum when forward Bridget Cooper floated the ball from the top of the circle over Michigan goalie Mau- reen Tasch and into the net tying the game. In the second half, the Wolverines controlled early on, but the Spartans started to dominate with six shots and five penalty corners in the game's final 20 minutes. The Spartans appeared to take the lead with seven minutes remaining when a shot went by Tasch, but the goal was disallowed for a reason that the officials unspecified and Michigan State coach Michele Madison failed to under- stand. "That (goal) will go up in hockey heaven," See FINAL FOUR, Page 88 April Fronzoni and the Michigan field hockey team defeated North Carolina and Michigan State over the weekend to earn a berth in this season's NCAA Final Four. I Breaking Away Blue learns from past mistakes N ine days ago, this Michigan football team was viewed as a subpar Michigan team. An 8-4 team with a 12-0 schedule. A team that was winning because the Big Ten wasn't as good as it normal- ly is. After all, Michigan had only rushed for 190 yards in its last two games - your average Michigan team grinds that out in 60 minutes. A Michigan defense stops oppos- ing offenses dur-_ ing crunch time, regardless of how much timeit has to stay on the field to dJ the job. If I've learned anything in my 15 years of RAPHAEL watching this ODSTEN team, its that your verag $olKingdom for a your average Voice Michigan team encounters one or two tough losses a year. I have a number of theories why that is - every team is gunning for Michigan, and while Michigan has too much talent to ever get blown out, it does not have enough to win every game. Michigan doesn't have what it takes to blow every team out, and if you find yourself in enough close games, you're bound to lose a couple; no team is ever going to dominate the Big Ten, because of the nature of the conference - with the exception of 1997, every Michigan team has lost one or two tough games. The difference between an aver- age Michigan team and some better than average Michigan teams is how it encounters adversity once it faces it. During Michigan's four-straight four-loss seasons, it would let a bad break become two bad breaks. In 1996, a sloppy 9-3 loss to Purdue See GOODSTEIN, Page 43 Michigan runs into Nationals By Megan Fitzgerald Daily Sports Writer TERRE HAUTE, Ind. - The men's cross country team earned its rightful place on the starting line of the NCAA national meet on Saturday, by placing second in a tough Great Lakes regional. Its effort automatically qualifies it for the finals one week from today in Greenville, South Carolina. The Wolverines, who were not expected to be one of the top two teams, finished just behind No. 5 Notre Dame, which won the meet with 71 points. No. 11 Michigan trailed closely with 82 points, while No. 18 Michigan State (86 points) and Wisconsin (97 points) rounded out the top four. "The team ran great," Michigan coach Ron Warhurst said. "We got an automatic qualifier, which is more than we expected." "We knew we'd go to nationals. We planned on an at-large bid. It's nice not to have to wait until Monday to find out for sure," freshman Alan Webb said. Webb led the men's team, finishing second in a field that host- ed some of the nations top runners. He covered the first 10 kilo- meter race of his career in a time of 30:36. "He's is running great right now," Warhurst said of Webb. "He See WEBB, Page 6B Subpar outing or 'M' harriers By Megan Fitzgerald Daily Sports Writer TERRE HAUTE, Ind. - "It was a C-minus day," Michi- gan women's cross country coach Mike McGuire said after the NCAA Great Lakes regional. The women's team wrapped up a mediocre season on Sat- urday with a disappointing seventh place finish. "We didn't get it done the way we hoped," McGuire said. "By our standards, we didn't do it today." The NCAA regional meet was dominated by No. 6 Michi- gan State, which easily beat second place Notre Dame with a low score of 58 points. Both the Spartans and the Fighting Irish earned automatic berths to the NCAA championships, which will take place in Greenville, South Carolina Nov. 19. Following closely behind Notre Dame (124 pts) were Marquette (128 pts), Toledo (145 pts) and Wisconsin (159 pts): Lindsey Gallo once again led the Wolverines, finishing 29th overall. The sophomore covered the six kilometer course in 21:54. "Lindsey was off her game today," McGuire said. "She ran much better at Big Tens." Gallo has consistently been the teams leading runner, and finished seventh at the Big Ten meet earlier this season. Gallo "has improved tremendously from last year," McGuire said. "She had a bad day today." See SPINK, Page 64 - - I- -- - - - -- ,- - DANNY MOLOSHOK/Daily Chris Perry ran over and around Minnesota's defense in Michigan's 31-10 victory on Saturday. Perry had his best day of the season, rushing for 90 yards and one touchdown. Varsitakes care of business, 31-10 By Jeff Phillips Daily Sports Writer After a heartbreaking loss to Michigan State, Michigan (5-1 Big Ten, 7-2 overall) returned home to pound Minnesota (1-5, 3-6) 31- 10 by fixing its problems with the running game, both offensively and defensively. The Wolverines' No. 1 rushing defense allowed T.J. Duckett 211 yards last week, but held the Gophers' to just 150 yards on the ground - 80 yards below their average - and rushed for 300 yards as a team - 150 yards more than their average and a season- high. "That's one thing we stressed all week, that we wanted to take pride in running the football," quarterback John Navarre said. "Last game we struggled a little bit in that area." Also for the first time this season, all of Michigan's touchdowns came on the ground. Led by the tandem of Chris Perry and B.J. Askew, the Wolverines took advantage of a lifeless Minnesota defense to rush for 91 and 82 yards respectively. Askew continued his breakout season with two more touchdowns, giving him nine for the season. "I thought our backs ran with power and aggressiveness," Michi- gan coach Lloyd Carr said. "I,think that is what you have to do." Perry, who has struggled in recovering from injury, seemed to finally regain the form that earned him so much playing time as a freshman. It was the second consecutive games that Perry scored a touchdown. See GOPHERS, Page 4B Class of 2007 With the retirement of Mark McGw ire yesterday the Hal of Fame class of 2007 may be one of the best of modern times. McGwire adds to a class that already includes sure to be unanimous vote-getters Tony Gwynn and Cal Ripken Jr. Projected Class: Mark McGwire Broke Roger Maris's single season career home run record in 1998 with 70. He finishes his career with 583 home runs, placing him fifth on the all-time homerun list. Tony Gwynn Played for the San Diego Padres for all 20 years of his career. He finished his career with a .338 batting average and more than 3,000 hits. Cal Ripken Knnwas a sf e hall'sh I''ronnMan" Rioken slaved in Big Mac bids adieu; leaves with 583 career home runs BRISTOL, Conn. (AP) - Mark McGwire, the former single-season home run king, told ESPN that he is "worn out" and will retire from base- ball. McGwire strongly hinted of retiring several times this year, when he batted just .187 with 29 home runs as he was slowed by a bum right knee. He told ESPN anchor Rich Eisen last night that he was "extremely happy with the decision." McGwire had agreed to a $30 million, two- year contract extension in spring training but never signed the deal. the salary the organization would be paying me," McGwire said in a statement to ESPN. "I believe I owe it to the Cardinals and the fans of St. Louis to step aside, so a talented free agent can be brought in as the final piece of what I expect can be a World Championship-caliber team." McGwire captured the nation's imagination in 1998 while hitting 70 homers to break Roger Maris' 37-year-old record. It was a short-lived mark as Barry Bonds hit 73 homers this season. McGwire has 583 career home runs, fifth on the career list. He labored through the 2000 season with a bad i I AP PHOTO