8B - The Michigan Daily - SportsMonday - September 9, 2002
Humble Fronzoni quietly leads Blue offense

By Brian Steore
Daily Sports Writer
The Michigan field hockey team
won't have to worry about its offense
this season - April Fronzoni is mak-
ing sure of that.
Through the Wolverines' first four
games, Fronzoni has already scored
seven goals, spearheading the Michigan
offense with dazzling moves and
incredible quickness.
After recording her fifth career hat
trick on Saturday against Central Michi-
gan, the junior forward netted two more
scores yesterday against Ball State, giv-
ing her 37 career goals and moving her
into sole possession of sixth place on
Michigan's all-time list.
Despite her scoring prowess,
Fronzoni remains very humble and

team-oriented.
"I'm pretty confident right now with
my play and the rest of the team," Fron-
zoni said. "I think it's the team backing
each other up that's really pushing me
forward to go for it."
Although Fronzoni's modesty makes
her a little uncomfortable talking about
her tremendous ability, coach Marcia
Pankratz is not afraid to give her star the
credit she deserves.
"I would rate her as the very best
player in the country, bar none as a for-
ward," Pankratz said. "She's a very
humble, respectful person on the team.
Certainly this is going to be a big break-
through year for her because she's an
international player without question."
Fronzoni gave the fans at Ocker
Field just a glimpse of her incredi-
ble talent with two spectacular goals

over the weekend.
For her second score against Central
Michigan, Fronzoni took a pass at
midfield and sprinted toward the goal,
faking out two defenders and rifling a
shot to the back of the cage while
being tripped.
"It was gorgeous, one of the best
goals I've seen since I've been here,"
Pankratz said. "It was beautiful -- she's
being tripped and makes a diving
Bobby-Orr-overtime goal. She has
unmatched speed, and when she's on
and running well, like she was Saturday,
nobody can really stop her."
Fronzoni's second goal against
Ball State also showcased her blaz-
ing speed. Taking advantage of a
superb outlet pass from Kristi Gan-
non, Fronzoni simply outran the Ball
State defenders and hammered a shot

into the left corner of the cage.
"That's a set play, our corner break-
out. I was thinking three passes and go,"
Fronzoni said. "Jenny (Zangara) and
A.D. (Adrienne Hortillosa) did a won-
derful job of pulling the defenders out.
The goalie stepped up and I saw an
open lane."
It's still too early to say whether Fron-
zoni will break Mary Callam's career
goal record of 64. But with seven goals
in four games, she's already mounting a
serious charge this season. True to her
humble nature though, she refuses to
harp on it.
"I'm not really thinking about (my
place on the scoring list.)," Fronzoni
said. "I'm just worrying about the sea-
son and making sure the team plays
well. Good things will come, and I
don't worry about that stuff."

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JESSICA YURASEK/Daily
Michigan forward Adrienne Hortillosa and the Michigan field hockey team had
plenty of offense to go around, as they scored 10 goals in two weekend wins.

CARDINALS
Continued from Page IB
players back into their own circle to
protect the net. At times, Michigan
found it difficult to find enough space
to maneuver.
"It's hard to get a shot off when
there's a stick within a yard of you no
matter where you go," Powers said.
Ohio State employed a similar strate-
gy against the Wolverines last season
with a good amount of success. The
Buckeyes were able to hold Michigan to
just one goal in two games - both
Ohio State victories.
But once the Wolverines relaxed yes-
terday, they dominated play. Michigan
finished with 15 more shots than Ball
State, while outscoring the Cardinals 3-

0 in the second half.
Powers opened that onslaught with
her second tally of the game. She redi-
rected a Fronzoni shot passed McDow-
ell to give Michigan a 3-1 lead. After
the game, Powers was quick to credit
her teammate for the goal.
"April just made a really scrappy
play. She brought the ball in all the
way from outside the circle and I
just finished on it. It was a great
effort on her part."
It was a strong finish to a busy week-
end for Michigan. Pankratz hopes that
her team can learn from having games
on consecutive days early in the season.
"It's good practice," Pankratz said.
"It's good to play back-to-back because
you have to do that in the first round of
the NCAA Tournament."
Harriers
cruise in
opener
By Mustafizur Choudhury
For the Daily

01

O( Allw i, i~rr cM

The Michigan women's cross
country team opened its 2002 sea-
son on Saturday with a strong per-
formance on the rough terrains at
the Detroit Mercy Invitational in
Northville.
Hot and humid weather made the
5,000 meter race all the more diffi-
cult.
But despite the tough conditions
and the undulating course, the
Wolverines were able to start the
season off on the right foot with a
first-place finish.
"It was a good first meet, and we
won pretty easily," said Michigan
coach Mike McGuire, who is con-
tent with his team's performance
and feels that it has improved from
last season.
Andrea Parker led the team with a
third place finish in 18:17.
"I was really pleased," Parker
said. "It was a really great way to
start the season."
The sophomore ran more miles
over the summer and trained harder,
which has improved her perform-
ance from last season.
"I definitely feel confident. We're
all young, but I think that if we all
work together, we'll have a great
season," Parker said.
Wayne State, Eastern Michigan,
Toledo, and the host Titans compet-
ing against the Wolverines.
Other top performers for the
Wolverines were freshman Rebecca
Walters (fifth place, 18:31), sopho-
more Ana Gjesdal (sixth place,
18:36), sophomore Chelsea Loomis
(seventh place, 18:40), senior cap-
tain Jeanne Spink (11th place,
18:58), sophomore Sarah Pizzo
(12th place, 18:59) and freshman
Jeni Frudden (14th place, 19:04).
Because this was a relatively
small race and the competition was-
n't as tough as it will be in the com-
ing weeks, some of Michigan's top
runners didn't run this past weekend
and most likely won't see any action
at this week's Mel Brodt Invitation-
al in Bowling Green, either.
"We're going to hold our top six
orseven this weekend," McGuire
said. "(We will) run six or seven
people who haven't raced yet."
By doing this, McGuire hopes to
give his new runners some experi-
ence .and keen from overrunnnine-

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