The Michigan Daily - Friday, November 15, 2002 - 9A 'M' ready * for home exhibition By Daniel Brommer Daily Sports Writer The Wolverines are ready. After a long offseason followed by weeks of practice, the women's bas- ketball team is eager to get into the swing of things. Last weekend, the Wolverines had a closed scrimmage against Wayne State, but the team will get its first chance to play in front of a crowd tomorrow at Crisler Arena, when it hosts an exhibition against the Dominican Republic National Team. "I'm very excited," Michigan co- captai LeeAnn Bies said. "It seems like we've been practicing for eight months now, and I'm ready for the games to just be here already so we can show people what we can do." Michigan coach Sue Guevara expressed similar feelings of excite- ment for the game. "We're ready to roll. At this point in time, after almost a month of practice, you're ready to play against some other people," Guevara said. "This is the real thing." Despite its "exhibition" status, ' Michigan will not take the Dominican team lightly. The team is approaching the exhibition no differently than it would any regular season game. "We're going to try to win the game," Guevara said. "In my mind, it's just like any regular season game." "The regular season counts (in the standings). That's pretty much the only (difference)," Bies said. "We do i scouting reports, we do the same warmup, preparation and meal. Just at the end of the season, the exhibi- tion doesn't count." Michigan will not be the only stop in the United States for the Domini- can team. White's Swinner not unexpected MEN'S SOCCER 0 STATE COLLEGE By Kevin Maratea Daily Sports Writer STATE COLLEGE - Junior mid- fielder Mike White showed yesterday that his incredible regular season was no fluke, when he scored the game win- ning goal of a 1-0 win against No. 7 seed Northwestern in the first round of the Big Ten Tournament. "Whitey is a guy who comes up big in big games and scores goals," Michi- gan coach Steve Burns said. The game-winner, White's eighth goal of the year, gives him 23 points on the season and moves him into a sec- ond-place tie on the team. This impres- sive point total proves how well White has played this season, especially when compared to his first two campaigns. During 2000 and 2001, a combined 34 games, White scored just two goals and had two assists each season - a total of 12 points. But White does more than just add goals to the scoreboard and feed balls to his teammates. He brings intangibles to the field that help give his team the opportunity to win. Certain assets, such as leadership and composure, are seen during the 90 minutes of a soccer game, but don't get printed in the box scores. "Mike's a guy with great leadership ability on the field," Burns said of his captain. "He keeps composure and stays real positive with his teammates and the team feeds off him. Whitey's a brave, strong guy who doesn't fear injury and because of (that he) fits his leadership role extremely well." The remarkable thing about White's goal was that five minutes earlier, he had just missed on a very similar oppor- tunity. In the 20th minute, attacking freshman midfielder Adam Bruh used a free kick to setup White, who had slid behind the Northwestern defense and into the keeper box. From about 30 yards out, along the left sideline, Bruh sent a seemingly perfect lob in to White, who had an unlucky touch on his half-volley attempt and sent his shot wide left. But White didn't get frustrat- ed; he took advantage of a similar Bruh cross in the 25th minute, this time using his head. White met the ball in the cen- ter of the keeper box and headed it into the left corner past the outstretched arms of Northwestern's keeper. "We know he's going to make that Stickers prepare to defend national crown FIELD HOCKEY STATE COLLEGE BRENDAN O'DONNEL/Daily Senior LeeAnn Bies will try to lead the Wolverines in their exhibition against the Dominican Republic National Team on Saturday. On a Midwestern tour, the Nation- al Team has faced four other Big Ten teams (Minnesota, Purdue, Illinois and Northwestern), losing to them all by margins ranging from as many By Brian Steers Daily Sports Writer For the Michigan field hockey team, this season has produced many tremen- dous feats. The Wolverines broke the school record for consecutive victories, set a new mark for shutouts in a season, and captured nearly every award at the Big Ten banquet. Although it stumbled last weekend against Michigan State in the conference tournament final, Michigan still gar- nered the regular-season title outright with an unblemished record. Now, just one challenge remains for the Wolverines - defending their national championship. With the best teams in the country vying for the same prize, repeating would certainly be an incredible achievement for Michigan. "I think there are a lot of hot teams out there right now," junior Stephanie John- son said. "We just need to try and stay within our team and look at the positive things we're bringing to each team. "We're just really going out there with the mindset that adversity hap- pens, and we're looking forward to embracing it and overcoming those obstacles to try and repeat." Michigan's first step toward defend- ing its title comes tomorrow morning in State College, where the Wolverines (6- 0 Big Ten, 18-3 overall) will face Prince- ton (7-0 Ivy Group, 11-5) in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. Last year, Michigan defeated Prince- ton 4-2 in the semifinals en route to the national championship. But the Tigers retained every player from last year's squad, putting them right back in the national spotlight. "We know their personnel really well because they don't have anybody new," Michigan coach Marcia Pankratz said. "They're a great team; they've got remarkable players, and it will be quite a test for us. But, if we want to go to the Final Four, then we have to play the best to get there." Michigan will also need to have strong offensive production if it hopes to make the semifinals next weekend in Louisville. Junior April Fronzoni and senior Molly Powers have been the Wolverines' dynamic duo all season with 18 and 15 goals respectively, but they were thwarted by the Spartans in last weekend's 3-0 defeat. "There's definitely a little pressure coming into these big games because you're a forward, and you're the one that's supposed to put in the goals," Fronzoni said. "But, pressure is going to come in whatever sport you play. It just depends on how you handle it, and right STATE COLLEGE Who: Michigan ( 6-0 Big Ten, 18-3 overall) vs. Princeton (7-0 Ivy Group, 11-6) When: 11 a.m. Latest: The opening game of the NCAA Tournament marks the beginning of the Wolverines' quest for a second consecu- tive NCAA title. now we're handling it pretty well." Should Michigan get by Princeton in the first round, it would meet the winner of the game between Penn State and Kent State for the right to go to the Final Four. With its season on the line every game from now on, Michigan will have to extend its patented physical play into the tournament. "The toughness that we carry amongst ourselves is awesome," Fronzoni said. "Knowing that we're the defending national champions and everyone is going to bring their 'A' game and want to knock us off is another factor that goes into eveiything. If we just play U- M hockey, no one is going to stop us, and we're just going to go right back to where we were last year." as 37 points in West Lafayette to as few as eight in Champaign. While most Michigan players have not taken the time to see how their conference has fared against the Dominican team, junior Jennifer Smith took the time to check out the results of some of the games. CRISLER Who: Michigan can Republic Na Team (exhibitio When: 7 p.m Latest: The Wo look to their fo ing starters to them to victor first game of ti The coaching staff also has scout- ing reports and tapes, although they have considerably less than they would against other opponents. Their exhibition against the Dominican Republic is the Wolverines' only ARENA preseason game before vs. Domini- they tip off the regular ational season against n) Creighton on Nov. 22. Despite the regular sea- Iverines son being just a week ur return- away, Guevara is still guide hesitant to name a start- he saso. ing lineup. "I'm not even going to venture with that until we get closer to game time," she said. "It's been very competitive in practice. I'm looking for people who are con- sistent. I like the phrase 'Perfor- mance is reality,' because that's what I get to see in practice." "I expect to do just as well if not bet- ter than any other team," Smith said. In preparing for her team's exhibi- tion, Guevara said her staff has been going over stats sheets from the Dominican team's other games against Big Ten opponents this season. TOM FELDKAMP/Daily Senior Molly Powers, who was part Michigan's championship run last season, and the rest of the Wolverines begin the defense of their title this weekend.