Thursday, October 10, 2002 michigandaily.com sportsdesk@umich.edu SPORTS 11A uses bye week to plan. and prepare By J. Brady McCo~lough Daily Sports Writer While Penn State was busy gaining valuable momentum in its 34-31 win over Wisconsin in Madison last Saturday, Michigan quarterback John Navarre was letting his creative juices flow sitting in front of the TV with a dry-erase board. "You get a chance to draw stuff up," Navarre said. "Whether it's going to run or not doesn't matter. You FOOTBALL always want to be thinking of Notebook ways to attack the defense, and you want to understand why you're doing things." Against Illinois, Navarre and his teammates finally found a rhythm in offensive coordinator Terry Malone's scheme. Navarre, who threw for 264 yards and one touchdown, said that with each passing week, the game is slowing down in front of him, allowing him to make better reads consistently. "We were playing well last week but now we have a chance to be more flexible as far as game planning," Navarre said. "The reason why we played so well is because we prepared hard and really studied Illinois. If we go in there each week with confidence in our offense and have the awareness of what the defense is doing, we're going to play well." Aside from drawing up possible plays with roommates Tony Pape and Dave Pearson, the bye week allowed Navarre to sit down with quarter- backs coach Scot Loeffler and put together a ten- JOE SMITH Is Gajic ready to show he is the next big thing? DAVID KATZ/Daily Michigan quarterback John Navarre spent the bye week preparing to face Penn State this weekend. Despite this sack versus the Illini, Navarre was more comfortable in the offense last week. tative game plan one week earlier than usual. "You can almost be an offensive coordinator as a quarterback," Navarre said. "We can put a game plan in and watch another game and ask our- selves if we really want to do this or that. We have more time and more flexibility to do differ- ent things." Bye weeks have hurt Michigan in two of the last three seasons, as the Wolverines were upset See PREPARE, Page 13A Michigan sophomore forward Milan Gajic heard the jokes and all the criticism last year. A prolific scorer in the British Columbia Hockey League during high school, Gajic suffered major growing pains his freshman season while adjusting to college life and college hockey. Gajic had an easier time finding a 7-Eleven on campus than the back of the net, scoring just three goals in the first half of last season. "We used to joke that Milan used to play in a league with no goalies," said Michigan captain Jed Ortmey- er. It was not a joking matter for Gajic. He admitted that with every shot that hit the post or missed just wide by an inch, he forced the issue even more. He became too aggres- sive and let his lack of scoring effect.other parts of his game. After all, what's a goal-scorer who can't score goals? Gajic ended up sitting out as a "healthy" scratch during the first half of the season more than he lit the lamp... "Whether it was intensity or understanding how to become a bet- ter defensiveplayer, he had a lot to learn," Michigan coach Red Beren- son said. Gajic regrouped near Christmas time, netting six points in the matter of a few weekends. He was a huge part of Michigan making it out of the West Regional, providing an offensive spark with a beautiful wrap-around goal against St. Cloud. So is the real Gajic back? "That's yet to be seen," Berenson said. "I can't tell you he doesn't have the talent, but he's got to prove it out on the ice every night." And if Gajic thought he had a lot of pressure last year, this time around it's multiplied tenfold. With Mike Cammalleri leaving early for the pros, and leading scorer John Shouneyia out for up to eight weeks with a fractured wrist, Gajic will find himself with a ton of ice time on the first line and powerplay. What Gajic does with this perfect opportunity will be a big factor in where the Wolverines stand at mid- season - and in April. "I knew the minute Cammalleri and (Mike) Komisarek left, a lot of the burden would fall on me and the other guys in my class," Gajic said. "It's our turn." Actually, it's Gajic's turn. Other sophomores, like Eric Nystrom, Dwight Helminen and Jason Ryz- nar, may add their fair share of com- plementary goals. And highly-touted freshman Jeff Tam- bellini may show some flashes of brilliance in Yost Ice Arena. But Berenson brought in Gajic to score, score and score again. Adding to the pressure, Michigan will be breaking in 17-year old freshman goaltender Al Montoya and there will be a premium place on the Wolverines scoring plenty of goals - especially early on. Picking up the slack is not impos- sible. Shouneyia proved himself equal to the challenge last year when Cammalleri suffered from mono for nearly two months, rack- ing up the points and setting up teammates the way Berenson always thought he could. And Gajic has a leg up on Shouneyia. He actually loves to shoot the puck. While Shouneyia seems to be a pass-first, pass-sec- ond type center, Gajic has the instincts, the hands, and the vision of a top-notch scorer. He just has to prove it. Of course Berenson gave him the See GRIND, Page 12A Soccer shuts out Bowling Green at home By Megan Kolodgy Daily Sports Writer In what could be the last game at Michigan's Elbel Field, the men's soccer team trounced unranked opponent Bowling Green (2-8-0) by a score of 2-0. The victory came after a heart- breaking overtime loss to Indiana last weekend. Though the win was rela- tively insignificant, it provided the Wolverines (4-5-1 overall, 0-2 Big Ten) with a much needed boost of confidence to carry them into Sun- day's match against Michigan State. "The win helps everyone," Michi- gan coach Steve Burns said. Though the Wolverines won last night's game soundly, their play was not lacking in errors. Michigan domi- nated the play throughout both halves, but missed numerous oppor- tunities to score. In the first half, Michigan out-shot the Falcons, nine to four. Several of these were deflected by Bowling Green goalie David-DeGraff, who totaled five saves in the first half alone. "We created so many opportuni- ties that we missed," Burns said. "We said that we were saving the goals we missed for the Michigan State game." In the sixth minute of play, Wolverines' forward Knox Cameron received a through ball from forward Mychal Turpin and fired a shot past DeGraff, bringing the score to 1-0. The score remained the same for the duration of the first half, despite the Wolverines' best efforts to capitalize on their numerous chances. Both teams came out strong in the second half, but once again, Michi- gan was clearly the prevailing force on the field. It again outshot its opponent, this time by a margin of 15 to 1, and once again, the team put one shot in the net. The second goal of the match occurred in the 79th minute of the contest, when Michigan midfielder Mike White slipped an unassisted shot past DeGraff, bringing the match to its final score. The game grew increasingly phys- ical during the second half, as evi- denced by the distribution of two yellow cards, one given to the Fal- con's Cory Stevens, and the other to Michigan's Kevin Taylor. While the game was not terribly eventful, it did mark freshman goalie Peter Dzubay's first shutout of the season in only his second turn as keeper for the Wolverines. See FALCONS, Page 14A As an engineer in the U.S. Air Force, there' S no telling what you'll work on. (Seriously, we can't tell you.) United States Air Force applied technology is years ahead of what you'll touch in the private sector, and as a new engineer you'll likely be involved at the ground level of new and sometimes classified developments. You'll begin leading and managing within this highly respected group from day one. Find out what's waiting behind the scenes for you in the Air Force today. To request more information, call 1-800-423-USAF or log on to airforce.com.