6B - The Michigan Daily - SportsMonday - September 30, 2002
Defensive lapses hurt
Blue against Gophers
By Megan Kolodgy Rademacher said.
For the Daily The second half only brought
more challenges for Michigan, as
Despite a boost in confidence Minnesota forward Roth registered a
from a significant victory over Wis- hat trick.
consin on Friday, the Michigan "We knew that she was their
women's soccer team could not strongest forward," Rademacher
muster up the power to beat Min- said. "We knew what to expect, but
nesota yesterday afternoon. Fueled had poor defensive execution. We
by forward Rachael Roth's tremen- made mistakes that shouldn't have
dous firepower and Michigan's criti- happened."
cal defensive mistakes, the Golden About 15 minutes into the action,
Gophers came out on top, by the Roth rocketed her first goal past
score of 4-0. Grech. Then just 19 minutes later,
"It was extremely disappointing to she scored again, bringing the score
come off our big Wisconsin win to to 3-0.
lose to Minnesota," Michigan coach "We knew we had the chance to
Debbie Rademacher said. come back when the score was 1-0,
The loss came as a surprise to the and even when it was 2-0,"
Wolverines, who arrived in St. Paul Rademacher said. "But when you
with an outstanding 3-0 record in the start getting down by three or four
Big Ten. Minnesota, on the other goals, it gets tough to maintain that
hand, was 0-3 in conference play. mentality."
Both teams came out strong in The Wolverines struggled to
the first half: the Wolverines still score, and came close several times
enthused about the Wisconsin win, in the second half. They pulled off
Minnesota hungry for its first Big 15 shots, many of which slid just
Ten win. The game remained score- wide. Senior Amy Sullivant took 11
less for the majority of the first of the 26 total shots, tying team-
half, until Minnesota midfielder mate Abby Crumpton's record for
Kelly Dinse fired the ball past most shots in a game.
goalie Susie Grech. Another setback for Michigan
Michigan outshot the Gophers 11- came in the second half, when
3 in the first half, but did not man- Crumpton, who scored her second
age to put a single shot in the goal. career hat trick against Wisconsin,
Though Minnesota had relatively had to-be pulled from the game due
few chances to score, it did not have td a knee injury.
a problem capitalizing. By the time Roth scored her third
"They played hard, and took and final goal of the afternoon,
advantage of their opportunities," Michigan still had not been able to
Loss of Glinski leads
By Kevin Maratea Michigan's psychological
For the Daily Mhigan (3-4-1) had a sl
Inexperienced 'M' can't
compete with top teams
By Chris Amos
For the Daily
The Michigan men's golf team
improved upon its last-place finish
in its previous outing, but not by
much, placing 13th out of 16 teams
at this weekend's Northern Intercol-
legiate Golf Tournament held at the
Indiana University Golf Course in
Bloomington.
The Wolverines shot a two-day
team total of 881 at the 54-hole
tournament. They fared particularly
poorly in the third round with four
of five players finishing at least
five strokes above par.
First-year Michigan coach
Andrew Sapp cited his teams appar-
ent lack of experience and confi-
dence in attempting to explain the
teams uneven performance.
"Nobody played spectacularly,"
Sapp said. "Overall, I was disap-
pointed in our inconsistency. We
finished the second round strong
with several players shooting
birdies. I am trying to figure out the
reason why we couldn't sustain this
in the third round. I think it's a mat-
ter of gaining experience and confi-
dence and building on that."
Sapp cited the tournament's two
top finishers, Illinois and Minnesota,
as teams that played with the consis-
tency and confidence that the Wolver-
ines lacked. He explained that much
of their confidence came from their
players' greater experience.
"Both of these teams played in
the NCAA tournament last year,"
Sapp said. "Illinois sophomore
James Lepp, the tournament's indi-
vidual winner, was NCAA freshman
of the year last year. Both teams
shot a lot of birdies and played
aggressively and finished strong."
Lepp shot an 11-under par 202.
He was followed by Penn State's
Jim Fuller, who shot an 8-under 205
and Iowa's Mike Tapper, who shot a
7-under 206.
Although Sapp was disappointed
in the team's consistency, he was
impressed by the fact that each
team member played well at times
during the tournament. He was also
pleased with the individual play of
redshirt freshman Mark McIntosh,
who shot rounds of 74, 76 and 70,
to finish in 43rd place with a team-
leading score of 220.
"Mark McIntosh played well,
drove well, and consistently hit
greens, something other players
failed to do," Sapp said.
Sophomore Rob Tighe tied for
second among the Wolverines,
shooting 75, 74 and 72 to finish in
50th place at 221. Christian Vozza
also shot 221 with rounds of 72, 73
and 76.
Sapp said that each player had
shown the ability to play excellent
golf this weekend, and that he
hoped to use this as a building
block toward more consistent play
in the coming season.
*I
DAVID KATZ/Daily
Senior captain Abby Crumpton left in the second half of yesteday's game against
Minnesota due to a knee injury.
slip one past Minnesota keeper Karli "Right now we're 8-2,
Kopietz, who had 13 saves, while Rademacher. said. "This was just;
Grech finished with three. setback. We've played well so fax
Though the loss was a difficult and our game strategy won't change
one for the Wolverines to swallow, We'll just work on our defense thi
they are taking it in stride. week."
to Dayton explosion
a
r,
e.
is
blunders in the first half .
ow start and was not share
Losing a top recruit to another school that has
recruited him is one thing. Losing a top recruit
because of neglecting to contact him is another.
Many teams are finding that out about Dayton
sophomore Chris Rolfe.
Rolfe, the reigning Atlantic 10 Player of the Week,
exploited a depleted Michigan men's soccer defense
yesterday for the only strikes of the match.,.The
Wolverines traveled to Dayton yesterday afternoon
and lost a hard fought match 2-0. They now have a 1-
2 lifetime record against their southern-Ohio foes. In
front of more than 500 fans, the teams dueled on a
dry and torn-up Baujan Field, as Dayton (4-3-1)
earned its fourth straight win. Michigan, which was
without injured defensive force Chris Glinski (turf-
toe), was unable to contain the Flyers' leading scorer.
"Schools looked past Rolfe, and now he's
playing with a chip on his shoulder," Michigan
coach Steve Burns said. "He's a smart player.
The guy scores goals!"
Even though Burns said the poor playing surface
was "not an excuse," both teams made good adjust-
ments. But Dayton was able to take advantage of
mentally in the first half.
"We are looking to get more leadership from our
captains (Joey Iding, Robert Turpin and Mike
White)," Burns said. "The team needs to be better
prepared mentally, as we are developing into a big
game (target) of our opponents ... and it starts with
the little things, like not being late to team meetings."
Michigan was a big game for Dayton, as the win
gave the Flyers national exposure and helped their
chances of qualifying for the NCAA Tournament.
"We're one of the only considerable games on
their schedule," Burns said.
This trend is not going to stop, as teams look for
Michigan's prestigious name, despite the program's
youth, to boost their resumes.
"Teams look forward to playing us, it's a big game
for all our opponents," Burns said. "Even the more
prominent teams (notice us), wanting to keep our
program down."
Despite the loss, Kevin Taylor and Iding produced
strong performances defensively and motivationally.
Iding even tried to inspire his teammates in the 36th
minute, when he received a yellow card for a surpris-
ingly hard tackle. At halftime, with a sense of confi-
dence (despite the two-goal deficit), Iding and Taylor
spoke to the team about creating better scoring
chances against Dayton's effective defense. Those
chances came in the second half, but were not as
threatening as the opposing defense, which allowed
just five shots on goal in the second half.
"We need to take advantage of our long-range
opportunities and not always dribble into the box,"
Burns said.
As a possible result of not taking these shots and
thus losing the ball, the Wolverines got countered
which caused nine of Dayton's 13 shots on goal.
Michigan netminder Joe Zawacki turned away seven
shots for the game.
The psychological problems were not apparent
Friday, when the Wolverines feasted on the Purple
Aces of Evansville in a 6-2 pasting.
During his first start of the year, junior import
.Juergen Schmieder from Regensburg, led the
Wolverines, as he collected his second hat trick of
the year on assists from Adam Bruh, Kevin Taylor
and Trai Blanks.
In .an aggressive match, which featured 33 fouls
and four yellow cards, Michigan continued its scor-
ing assault with goals by Mychal Turpin, Knox
Cameron and White.
0
Comeback too late: U.S. loses Ryder Cup
SUTTON COLDFIELD, England
(AP) - Underdog Europe sent out its
best players to bring home the Ryder
Cup and got even more help from its
unknowns for a shocking victory over
the Americans.
In a stunning conclusion to a match
delayed one year by the terrorist
attacks, the Europeans beat the United
States at its best game --singles - and
reclaimed the Ryder Cup yesterday
when Paul McGinley made an eight-
foot par putt.
McGinley earned a halve against
Jim Furyk, assuring Europe the 14.5
points it needed to win the precious
gold trophy.
The European players stormed across
the green when it was over. Most of
them already did their part by winning
early and winning big, giving Europe
the lead and momentum that it never
surrendered on a thrilling afternoon at
The Belfry.
Colin Montgomerie led it off by
remaining unbeaten in all five matches,
a spectacular performance in which he
never trailed in any of the 82 holes he
played this week.
McGinley, the ninth of 12 singles
matches, won the clinching point by ral-
lying from two-down with six holes to
play to tie Jim Furyk.
Tiger Woods was useless at the
end, the Ryder Cup already decided
as he was playing the 17th hole
against Jesper Parnevik-.
The final score was 15.5 to 12.5, the
largest margin since Europe scored 16.5
points at The Belfry in 1985, the start of
its domination in a competition that
never looks close on paper.
European captain Sam Torrance
bowed his head and smiled. He was the
hero in 1985 when he holed the clinch-
ing putt, but he called this victory the
greatest moment of his life.
"They have alldone a great job,"Tor-
rance said. "This had nothing to do with
me. I led them to the water, and they
drank copiously."
U.S. captain Curtis Strange will
be second-guessed for his decision
to keep his best two players at the
bottom of the lineup, when it was
too late for them to stop the
onslaught of European victories.
Not that it would have mattered.
Phil Mickelson, the No. 2 player in
the world and second-to-last in the line-
up, missed an 18-inch putt early in his
match and was blown away by Phillip
Price of Wales, ranked 119th.
Woods, suffering from a high fever,
never had a chance to contribute. He
conceded a par putt to Parnevik for a
halve of his match.
Torrance played a huge role for
Europe.
He put the precious trophy on the
line by sending out his best seven play-
ers - the only Europeans who had won
matches over the first two days - just
as the Americans did three years ago at
Brookline when they staged their great
comeback.
The Europeans didn't win them all,
but they won enough.
With the matches tied at eight
going into the final day, Europe
won four of the first five matches
and got a halve in another.
The real surprise came at the end.
Paul Azinger added anot!-1-
ter to his 18th-hole heroics at The
Belfry by holing a bunker shot for
birdie that gave him a halve against
Ryder Cup rookie Niclas Fasth and
left-the Americans clinging to the
slimmest of hopes.
All that ended after Furyk nearly
holed a shot from the same bunker
moments later, and McGinley got the
final half-point needed.
"ANN'Y OIVU'OU l y
Sophomore sensation, Laura Olin aided the Wolverines' in their fourth-place finish
at the Lady Northern Invitational when she finished 12th overall.
Fourth-place finish an
improvement forBlue
By Nazeema AIII
For the Daily
After finishing sixth at the Fossum
Invitational last week, the Michigan
women's golf team's performance this
past weekend at the Lady Northern
Invitational in Iowa City seemed to be
pointing them in the right direction.
The Wolverines finished fourth out
of 12 teams with 910, 15 shots behind
first-place Kent State (895), and 12
shots behind Penn State and Indiana
(898 apiece).
"I am satisfied with our scores
this weekend," Michigan coach
Kathy Teichert said. "I'm pleased
with our progress. We are always
striving to get better."
Kim Benedict shot 74-74-75, fin-
ishing at 223 to tie for fifth place over-
all, which was a great improvement
from her 21st-place finish after shoot-
ing 235 last week in East Lansing.
"It's great to see some players step
up," Teichert said. "Sarah Kruer and
Laura Olin came through."
Kruer shot 79-74-70, which was.
good enough to tie for 15th place, as
well as a great improvement from her
36th place finish in the previous
week. Sophomore Laura Olin fin-
ished tied for 12th, stabilizing the
team with her consistency. She also
led the Wolverines with her 11th
place finish at the Fossum Invitation-
al last week. Amy Schmucker fin-
ished tied for 37th at 236.
"Amy hit a lot of greens. Our main
focus is to keep working with her to
improve," Teichert said.
Other finishers included Stephanie
Stascik, who shot 238 to tie for 41st,
and Courtney Goebel, who totaled 253
to finish 61st. Pleased with the tourna-
ment results, Teichert and the team
realize that there is still work to do.
"A couple of our players thought
they could have done better. When we
have three or four or five of our girls
in the top 20, then we are in good
shape," Teichert said. "Our goal is to
finish in the top three (overall) for
every tournament."
The Wolverines will see if this pro-
gressive trend will continue at the
Women's Collegiate Shootout in
Franklin, Ind. next Monday.
As for Teichert's outlook for next
week, she said "I am still trying to
enjoy the outcome of this past
weekend."
01
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