4
8B - The Michigan Daily - SportsMonday - November 11, 2002
THE BAVARJANYBOMBER
60
By Kevin Maratea Daily Sports Writer
ergen Schmieder wanted to play soccer at
Michigan so badly that in order to fulfill
University requirements, he left his semi-
pro team in Germany during the middle of its
season. Last spring, fourth division Jahn
Regensburg finished its season without
Schmieder because he had to obtain 18 credit
hours at Michigan during the spring and sum-
mer terms to be eligible for the 2002 season.
"He took a lot of grief from the media (in
Germany)," Michigan coach Steve Burns said
of Schmieder's decision to leave his old team.
"He was a key component (for them)."
Heading into the Big Ten Tournament as the
No. 2 seed Michigan has been rewarded by the
5-foot-11, 189-pound junior forward.
Schmieder amassed an incredible seven goals
in 11 games to close out the regular season and
finished fourth on the team in points (14).
With his head, Schmieder has dominated
opposing defenses in the air and helped Michi-
gan to a 5-0-1 record in its last six games..
"Schmieder has the ability to finish goals at
a high rate," Burns said. "He's as close to a
world-class finisher in the air as I've seen."
The 23-year-old Schmieder (known as "the
Kaiser" to his teammates) had the opportunity
to play third division professional soccer in
Germany. He declined in order to retain his
amateur status, knowing he wanted to study and
.play soccer in the United States.
"Juergen was smart (in terms of) planning
for that," Burns said.
Last April, he arrived at Michigan from
Regensburg, Bavaria. Schmieder now lives with
teammates Joey Iding, Kevin Taylor, Ian
Hirschfield, Mike White and Robert Turpin,
who have all enjoyed getting to know "the old
man." At 23, he doesn't feel old amongst his 20
and 21-year-old roommates, but because of his
early bedtime habits, Schmieder has gotten
used to being the old man of the house.
"He's the grandpa," said Hirschfield. "Juer-
gen's even older than one of our assistant
coaches."
Schmieder speaks fluent English and has
been studying the language since fifth grade,
but his roommates acknowledged some early
difficulties.
"When he first got here, Juergen had some
trouble," said Iding. "He still struggles some-
times explaining when he wants something and
if we go out to. eat, he usually asks a lot of
questions about what's on the menu."
"We were (randomly) talking about boarding
school a few days ago and Juergen didn't get
it," Hirschfield added. "He thought we were
talking about snowboarding school."
Other schools - known for soccer and not
snowboarding - like Notre Dame, Southern
Cal. and UCLA were interested in
Schmieder, but he desired to attend and to
play for Michigan.
"Michigan was the best academic school,"
Schmieder said. "Also, my brother studied at
Notre Dame a few years ago and always talked
about how much better Notre Dame was than
Michigan. In high school I became a Michigan
fan and a rivalry developed."
Schmieder was regularly in contact with
other coaches but had been most impressed
with Burns.
"He flew to visit me and meet my par-
ents," Schmieder said. "That made a big
impact on me."
"I spent 36 hours with him and his parents,
and then flew back," Burns said. "Juergen's the
first international player we've recruited, (so)
this whole process has been a new experience."
Schmieder won't be seeking a profes-
sional career in soccer and therefore really
likes the great academic opportunities
Michigan offers.
"It was half coach Burns and half the
education," Schmieder said.
Thus far, Schmieder has felt comfort-
able in the States.
"People are more friendly (and open)
with each other here," Schmieder said of
Michigan students compared to Germans.
"I've made many new friends in classes,
through my roommates and amongst other
athletes."
But he doesn't like the food selection and
misses traditional Bavarian foods such as
Leberkaese and Wienerschnitzel (types of
meat).
"Whenever we go to Kroger or Meijers, and
Juergen sees something German, he has
to buy it," Hirschfield said.
"American food is too fatty and there
isn't much variety," Schmieder added.
In Germany, he had trained and played
a different style for his former team, than
he has with Michigan, but he feels the
coaches have done a good job of trying to
help him fit his style into the team.
"U.S. soccer lacks the creativity and vision of
the European game," Schmieder said. "There's
more emphasis on athleticism, strength and
conditioning in the States ... so American play-
ers' are more fit."
Michigan has had a roller-coaster year, en
route to a 3-3 Big Ten record (9-6-2 overall).
Although its record isn't staggering, five of the
six defeats have been by just one goal.
"I think the losses were more a result of us
being unlucky than being beaten," Schmieder
said.
But Schmieder likes the make-up of the team
and thinks it can be successful in the upcoming
Big Ten Tournament and hopefully get a bid to
the NCAA Tournament.
"We have the players to reach our goal of
playing in the NCAAs," he added. "But we
must play well at the Big Ten Tournament."
Whether or not Michigan makes it to the
NCAA Tournament, Schmieder will still be
around next season and not have to go through
the pains of learning to play with new team-
mates - while he tries to continue his offen-
sive onslaught at the college he is thrilled to
have chosen.
With the option to
choose from so many
American colleges,
Schmieder still knew
Michigan was for him: "I
visited Notre Dame, but
it didn't feel
right," he said.
"Then I visited
a Michig an
and it was
love' at
first
;, . csight."
,:
I
a
DAVID KATZ/Daily
Michigan junior forward Juergen Schmieder has been on a tear this season, scoring an impressive
seven goals in 11 regular season matches.
Tankers keep
rolling against
e s
By Waldeinar Centeno
Daily Sports Writer
EAST LANSING - Most of the athletic matchups
between the two Big Ten schools in the state of Michigan have
been fierce battles for who will gain bragging rights.
But swimming has been a noteable exception.
The Michigan's men's swimming and diving team (1-0 Big
Ten, 3-0 overall) went to East Lansing this weekend to meet up
with its cross-state foe, Michigan State (0-2, 0-4), at Charles
McCaffree Pool.
Michigan had won the last ,26 meets between the teams.
With its win over the Spartans (145-98), Michigan made that
number 27.
With such a productive history, the Wolverines were not
worried about Saturday's meet against Michigan State.
The seventh-ranked Wolverines had their way with the Spar-
tans, as they dominated in both diving and swimming.
"This was kind of a causal day for us," Michigan coach
Jon Urbanchek said. "We had a chance to advance with a
kind of relaxed attitude and it turned out to be a pretty
good meet for us."
Urbanchek had his swimmers compete in events in which
they are usually not included.
Even though Michigan slotted its swimmers in different
events, the Wolverines' strategy did not handicap them during
the meet, as they beat the Spartans handily.
"Since we didn't use our best swimmers in their best events,
it's really hard to judge how well they swam because we had
nothing to judge it by," Urbanchek said. "So that was a really
good low-key off-pressure meet, and everyone had a chance to
swim events they usual don't swim."
Although usually being a distance swimmer, sophomore
Nick Douville had an excellent meet, winning the 200-yard
Robinson is clutch once again
By Gennaro Filce
Daily Sports Writer
Michigan continued its 27 match winning streak over
Michigan State this weekend with a 145-98 win.
individual medley with a time of 1:55.8. Douville also came in
a close second in the 500-yard freestyle.
Sophomore Zayd Ma also contributed to the team effort
with a win in the 200-yard butterfly. Ma normally com-
petes in distance and butterfly.
Coming off a wonderfully successful meet in Florida,
freshmen Davis Tarwater and Chris DeJong once again
pulled out a great meet with victories in 200-yard medley
relay and 200-yard freestyle relay.
Tarwater also came in first in the 100-yard freestyle, and
DeJong came in second during the 50-yard freestyle.
The Wolverines had at least two swimmers in the top
three spots in 10 of the 11 races.
Although Michigan dominated both the swimming and
diving portions of the meet, Michigan State did have a
well-fought competition.
Michigan State never gave into Michigan, but the
Wolverines were just too strong for the Spartans.
"We made the meet pretty close," Urbanchek said. "We
gave State a chance to win some of the events, which they
did. They capitalized on the opportunities."
Michigan's next meet is against No. 1 Texas on Nov. 22
and 23. The Wolverines will face the defending national
champions in Austin.
It may be the most scrutinized relationship in Ameri-
ca today: a father, his son and a sport. Although fathers
are encouraged to support their youngsters in all of
their sporting endeavors, many are criticized for pres-
suring their sons to the extent that they will no longer
want to play.
But this isn't the case with junior Kevin Robinson and
his father. In fact, just last Saturday, a few hours before
Michigan's game against Oakland, Robinson happily took
note of a simple request from the old man.
"At 10 o'clock this morning, my dad called and he said,
'You need to shoot some more,"' Robinson said.
This advice was very simple, but also extremely effec-
tive. At 74:11, Robinson heeded his dad's advice when he
saw Oakland's keeper out of position, and launched a
rocket to the back of the net, from 25 yards out, for the
eventual game-winner.
The 2-1 victory over the Golden Grizzlies, Michigan's
regular-season finale, improved the Wolverines' overall
record to 9-6-2.
In the first half, the Wolverines looked very sluggish
offensively, and weren't able to adjust to an attack with-
out sophomore Knox Cameron, who left the team last
week to represent the United States on the Under-20
national team.
"At halftime, I told the team that we were playing very
stagnant and we needed to pick it up a notch," Burns said.
But the Wolverines continued to coast through the game
early in the second half, and Oakland took advantage of
this on a corner kick at 61:28. Anders Vollen took the cor-
ner, and sent the ball to the far post, towards his teammate
Ryan Rzepka. Rzepka rose above the Michigan defense
and headed the ball past Michigan goalkeeper Peter
Dzubay to give the Grizzlies a 1-0 advantage.
Shocked at the 1-0 deficit, the Wolverines countered
less than four minutes later, evening the score at one. The
play began when Tom Gritter sent a bouncing ball up the
right side to a streaking Mike White. White drove the ball
all the way to the end line, then served up a beautiful pass
across the goal to Ian Hirshfield, who one-timed the ball
through the posts. Although the goal was Hirshfield's first
score in over two years, when he netted the program's first
ever mark in 2000, his offensive surge helped wake up a
struggling Michigan attack.
"We had Ian Hirshfield in the game as an attacking-
mid, to give us some good movement because Ian's got
a big engine, and he can cover a lot of ground on the
field," Burns said. "He was coming from an attacking
position, and getting around on the overlap in the flank
to create difficult situations for the defense to figure
out, and that started to get the movement and started to
get a little flow going."
Michigan continued an aggressive attack, creating mul-
tiple scoring opportunities, and this offensive resurgence
led to Robinson's score, which was his second straight
game-winning goal at Michigan Soccer Field. Robinson
has now scored a point in five straight contests, and this
newfound offense pleases Burns.
"I am glad to see him step up, the way he has in Knox
Cameron's absence," Burns said. "The challenge was out
there for our entire team as to who was going to step up
and Kevin has been that person. He has provided an
immediate impact for us off the bench."
The victory over the Grizzlies took a huge monkey off
of coach Burns's back.
"I have been playing this team since 1984 - as a club
player, club coach and against them as a varsity coach,"
Burns said. "That's 18 years it has taken to finally beat
this team. Now, here we are in our third year, and it looks
like the tide hopefully has turned, where we no longer
face recruiting battles with these guys and we can consid-
er ourselves the best team in the state."
I
I
Brady leads big comeback against Bears
CHAMPAIGN (AP) - Tom
Brady's poise and David Patten's fancy
footwork combined to give the New
England Patriots one of their most
memorable comeback victories. With
a wild finish that saw officials spend
nearly as much time viewing replays
as patrolling the field, the Patriots
came back from a three-touchdown
deficit in the second half to beat the
Chicago Bears 33-30 yesterday.
"When you're down three touch-
downs in the third quarter, it shows
what kind of fight you have," former
Michigan quarterback Brady said after
his 20-yard TD pass, to Patten with 21
A look at the
underside of U of M
JOHN CHRISTIAN
DESIGNERS & CRAFTSMEN SINCE 1850
.Michigan
SCOLLEGE MONOGRAM
RING~
seconds left gave the Pats an improba-
ble victory - and sent the stunned
Bears to their seventh straight loss.
"We were down three touchdowns,
and then we scored and we're down
two, and I said, 'Man, we've got a
shot,"' Brady added.
On a third-and-3 from the Bears 20,
he found Patten in the back of the end
zone. Patten had a step on defensive
back R.W McQuarters and dived to
haul in the pass.
Officials initially ruled a touch-
down, but they reviewed the play. They
upheld the ruling on the field, saying
that Patten had his right foot down and
was able to drag his left foot in the end
zone before going out.
"That was one of the best catches
I've ever seen under pressure," Brady
said.
McQuarters wasn't so sure it was a
Crumpton named best n Big Ten
JASON COOPER/Daily
Freshman defender Ryan Sterba goes up for a header against
Michigan's 2-1 win over Oakland in Michigan's season finale.
By Michael Nisson
Daily Sports Writer
*YEAR DATE
* DEGR EE
-GREEK LETTERS
*YOUR MONOGRAM
14K GOLD $450
On Friday, Michigan senior for-
ward Abby Crumpton was named
the Big Ten Athlete of the Year for
women's soccer. Crumpton is the
first Michigan player to take home
the award.
It comes as little surprise to avid
Michigan soccer fans that Crumpton
received the elite honor. After net-
"I never really thought that I
would ever win this award," she
said. "There is so much talent in the
Big Ten, so many people capable of
winning such an award.
"I would never have been able to
accomplish this without the hard
work and strong play of my team-
mates."
Co-captain and fellow senior
Andrea Kayal was quick to point out
that Crumpton was just being mod-
says has led to her enormous
amount of success.
"The most important factor in my
development as a soccer player was
and still is hard work, determina-
tion, and never being satisfied," she
said. "I always wanted to walk off
the field knowing that I had worked
as hard as I could have."
Kayal could not agree more.
"She does not give up," Kayal
said. "She is relentless. You know
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