The Michigan Daily - SportsTuesday - September 2, 2003 - 17A
'M' eleven performs clean
sheet for weekend upsets
Michigan stumbles
on opening road trip
By Ellen McGurity
Daily Sports Writer
EAST LANSING - Wedding bells
rang for Michigan soccer coach Steve
Burns this weekend as he watched his
team unite both confidence and.skill in
the Michigan M
State Invitational.
In the team's sec-
ond and third games of the season, the
Wolverines dominated No. 2 Loyola-
Marymount 2-0 and Xavier 1-0.
"Anytime you start the season, it's
kind of like planning for a wedding: You
put all these plans in place, and you've
got everything right," Burns said. "Then
you're standing there at the altar, hoping
your bride shows up. You never know
how it's going to translate in terms of
that first game."
The win against Loyola-Marymount
on Saturday was just the second win
Michigan has ever had against a ranked
team in its three years holding varsity
status. Even more impressive is that
Michigan nearly beat another ranked
team, No. 12 Notre Dame, a week ago
when they tied 1-1, in exhibition.
The Loyola-Marymount game got off
to a promising start as the team kept the
ball mostly in it's opponent's half of the
field. But 15 minutes in, the ball came
dangerously close to getting past junior
goalkeeper Peter Dzubay.
"They came out and they got a lot of
easy fouls" said Dzubay, who achieved
nine saves in the first half. "They had a
real big guy who'd send the ball out to
the back post, and he'd try to send it
back in and it was working for them. He
(almost) got lucky on a couple."
By the second half, the Wolverines
had re-grouped and re-energized, com-
ing out with a more possession-orient-
ed, rather than direct style of play.
"We adjusted what we needed to at
the half,' Burns said. "Keeping the ball
on the ground was key for us. We felt
that we would be able to take them
apart if we could keep the ball on the
ground in the central midfield."
The change worked for the Wolver-
ines when juniors Mychal Turpin and
Knox Cameron scored goals within one
minute of each other five minutes into
the second half. With his goal, Turpin,
who also scored the only goal in last
week's game against Notre Dame,
earned the title of Big Ten Co-Offensive
Player of the Week.
Scoring two goals in a row helped
break down Loyola Marymount's
defense and allowed Michigan to take
Junior midflelder Karl Lopata attempts a pass yesterday against Xavier. The
Wolverines beat the Musketeers 1-0.
By Melanie Kebler
Daily Sports Writer
There's no better way for a team to
improve than to schedule tough
matches against high-ranked oppo-
nents. If the first three games of the
Michigan women's soccer team's sea-
son are any evidence, the team has
taken that philos-
ophy to heart.
After a tough BGA yuG
preseason full of
daily double practices, the Wolverines
opened competi-
tive play two
weeks ago with 4
an exhibition
match against one of the most storied
women's soccer programs in the
nation, North Carolina. Last weekend,
they jumped on a plane again, head-
ing West to battle No. 27 Brigham
Young and Utah.
"It's going to be tough," Michigan
coach Debbie Rademacher said of
Michigan's upcoming year. "It's not
going to be any easier than last week-
end. Our schedule is pretty much
tough all the way through."
The Wolverines have a lot to pre-
pare for if the games in Utah are to be
considered "easy." Michigan went 0-
1-1 for the weekend, fighting through
rough and aggressive play.
The mental and physical fatigue
that results from such play was a big
factor for the Wolverines when they
took on the Utes Sunday afternoon.
"I don't think we were completely
ready to play," Rademacher said. "We
were mentally unprepared, and we
didn't show up ready to battle. We
started the match on our heels and
were on the defensive the entire
time."
Utah took advantage of Michigan's
slow start and jumped out to an early
3-0 lead in the first half. The Wolver-
ines couldn't get going until midway
through the second half, and by then it
was too late.
"We didn't play nearly as well as
we could have," senior co-captain
Erika Kleinholz said. "We definitely
didn't challenge hard, and our individ-
ual battles weren't played that well."
Friday's game against Brigham
Young was much more competitive,
and much longer, as the game was
delayed during the second half because
See COUGARS, Page 20A
control of the game.
"After that second goal, the heads of
their team all went down," Burns said.
"They were very vulnerable for a good
fifteen minutes."
But Loyola-Marymount came back
to take possession of the ball again,
forcing the Wolverines to stay on guard
for the remainder of the game.
"Suddenly, it went back their way and
then it was a dangerous game because
you think you're in control, but if they
get one of their direct knock-down
goals, then it's a big time fight right to
the end," Burns said yesterday.
It was obvious that the Wolverines'
win from the day before had not gone to
their heads. They immediately took pos-
session of the ball from Xavier and kept
it throughout the game. Cameron
scored the only goal of the game in the
second period to clinch the win.
With the two victories this weekend
and the tie in their exhibition game last
week, Michigan has already shown its
improvement from last year, when at
this point the team had only won one of
its first three games.
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