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SPORTS -
0 September 29, 2003
SECTION B
Snoosiers
MICHIGAN 31, INDIANA 17
1 Offense struggles in laid-back win
Junior midfieider Laura Tanchon uses
her head to gain possession.
Blue opens
withipair
of shutouts
By Jake Rosenwassor
Daily Sports Writer
In its first eight games, the Michigan
women's soccer team could not seem to
find the net. But this past weekend, the
Wolverines turned the tables on their
opponents by post-
ing consecutive
shutout victories. W N O
Michigan (3-4-3
overall, 2-1-1 Big
Ten) defeated Wis- MINNESOTA 0
consin (5-4-1, 1-2)
2-0 on Friday, and then followed it up
with another win yesterday, 1-0 over
Minnesota (4-4-1, 1-3).
After controlling play for the first 20
minutes with nothing to show for it but
a few shots on goal, the Wolverines
finally put one past Minnesota goalie
Karli Kopietz. Junior Robyn Vince
brought the ball through the middle and
flicked it up to Kate Morgan. The junior
cut past a defender and slid the ball
outstre.ehae@
e keeper for the only tally of the game
and her second of the weekend.
"I give all the credit on that goal to
robyn," Morgan said. "She's a great,
great playmaker. Most of our goals start
from the back: From the keeper to the
wing through the midfield; it's really a
team effort. I just happened to be in the
right place at the right time, getting per-
fect set-ups from my teammates."
Morgan's goal would hold up
because of Michigan's stellar
defense,which didn't allow the
Gophers a shot on goal or a corner
kick for the entire game.
"The defese had a totally different
mentality in practice," sophomore
Whitney Kjar said. "Our communica-
tion is getting a lot better, and we're
starting to play a lot better with each
other. It's tough to come back from
those losses early in the season, but it's
starting to come together."
The Wolverines had numerous other
scoring opportunities, but struggled to
finish. None of the Wolverines' eight
shots in the second half found the net.
"At halftime we said one goal might
not be enough," coach Debbie
Rademacher said. "We played pretty
soccer, but we needed to finish another
one. In any case, we got that one goal,
and if we can win 1-0, I'll take that."
Minnesota struggled to threaten the
Wolverines because of Michigan's
superb ball possession. The Wolverines
were first to every loose ball and
stretched the field by passing to open
spaces all over the field.
"We have some players that are pret-
ty good on their first touch and like to
combine, give-and-go and overlap,"
Rademacher said. "This was a good
team to do that against. You have to
keep the ball moving on Minnesota.
That was our game plan."
On Friday, the Wolverines jumped
out to a lead in the opening minute of
the game. Senior Erika Kleinholz took
a pass up the left side and sent a
through-ball to Stephanie Chavez down
the left wing. The senior gathered the
ball and fed Katie Kramer in stride
toward the goal. Kramer, a sophomore,
slammed the ball past the diving keeper
to set the tone for the entire match.
"By scoring early, it sets the tone for
the whole game," Rademacher said.
"We have had those types of chances a
By Naweed Sikora
Daily Sports Editor
It was sloppy. It was dominating. It
was careless. It was efficient. It was
lackadaisical. It was resilient.
The Michigan offense. The Michi-
gan defense.
The two played like polar opposites
Saturday. Still, together they were able
to pull out an uninspiring 31-17 win
over Indiana.
"Emotionally, we were not at a
peak," Lloyd Carr said. "What you
have to learn how to do is play when
you are not at a peak. We have played
two weeks of very emotionally drain-
ing football games."
In all fairness, after coming off a
thrashing of Notre Dame, followed by
a heartbreaker in Oregon, it would be
difficult for anyone to get up for a
game against the bottom-feeding
Hoosiers (1-4 overall, 0-1 Big Ten) -
even if it was the Big Ten opener.
But it wasn't just Michigan's lack of
energy that was disappointing. It was
the offensive mistakes.
The Wolverines committed four
turnovers in the first half. On the open-
ing drive of the game, Michigan's John
Navarre threw an interception at the
Indiana 3-yard line after Michigan had
driven 65 yards down the field. The
pick was thrown right after a 41-yard
run by Chris Perry and killed the
Wolverines' offensive momentum.
Michigan's second drive ended with
another interception, although this
time Navarre's pass ricocheted off
Perry and into the hands of a Indiana
safety Luke Stone at the Hoosiers' 19.
"I threw pretty well today," Navarre
said. "It was hard to get into a rhythm
early in the game. I felt like we found
that rhythm, though, and when we did,
things began to work better."
Perry also didn't seem like himself,
as he fumbled twice in the game, and
had difficulty finding holes early on.
Still, he finished the game with 112
rushing yards. The Wolverines were
able to escape, though, as Indiana
failed to capitalize on these early
errors.
At the end of the second quarter,
Navarre finally connected with Steve
Breaston for a 20-yard touchdown
catch to make it 24-0. The only prob-
lem was, it had been the Wolverines'
special teams and defense that had
accounted for the first 17 points.
After a dreadful performance
against Oregon, Michigan's special
teams came out strong. Punt returner
TONY DING/Duaily
Several Michigan fans struggle to stay awake during Michigan's 31-17 win
over indiana Saturday afternoon.
Michigan over Indiana?
I've seen this plot before
TONY DING/Daily
Chris Perry struggled early on with two fumbles, but ended up with more than
100 yards rushing. Still, the game was a struggle for the Michigan offense.
Steve Breaston opened the scoring
*with a 69-yard punt return in the first
quarter to give Michigan a 7-0 lead.
"The first rule as a punt returner is
: first guy miss,"Breaston
said. "I felt like the guys up front did a
great job keeping their guys off me
,and all I needed to do was finish the
play."
Breaston's punt return for a touch-
down was the first since Charles
Woodson's return against Ohio State in
1997.
The kicking game was also back on
track, as freshman Garrett Rivas
knocked through a 44-yard field goal
in the second quarter. The field goal
kicking job has been up in the air, thus
far, as Adam Finley and Rivas have
both been called upon at times to han-
dle the kicking.
See HOOSIERS, Page 4B
FAN'S!ORNER L
DoYou want to know what
it will take for the ,
ines to het to the Sugar
Bowl with one loss? How
about that new cheer at
Michigan Stadium? What's
that all about? Turn to
pages 4 & 5.
X's and (Kyle) O's
Dude, Where's my Sugar Bowl?
The Clawwww...
The Hypemeter
Pages 4 & 5
KYLE
O'NEILL
The Daily Janitor
n 1998, I was forced to miss a
Detroit Red Wings/Dallas Stars
Western Conference Final game
so I could have the privilege of double
dating with my best friend, his girl-
friend and one of her best friends who
I ended up dating for awhile. What
movie you ask? "Hope Floats," star-
ring Sandra Bullock and Harry Con-
nick Jr.
A Red Wings' playoff game en
route to a Stanley Cup Championship
for "Hope (f#&!ing) Floats."
I never thought I would have such
monotony enter my life again after
that. But then I was forced to watch
"Meet Joe Black" and "Ever After"
more than I would have liked.
Then Saturday happened. An emo-
tionally-drained team won a pre-
dictable game in front of a lethargic
crowd.
Not even the fantastic speed of
Steve Breaston could awaken the
110,000-plus that attended for more
than just a few moments, nor could
the consistent defensive stops garner
much more than scattered applause.
In fact, I was reliving "Hope
Floats." Not because of content - the
defense's performance alone was bet-
ter scripted than the film that gives
the term "chick flick" a bad name. It
just seemed as though there was
somewhere else we all should have
been - mentally or physically -
instead of the corner of Stadium and
Main.
Maybe another week was needed
before Michigan returned to action,
same for me needing another day
before I tortured myself with a pre-
dictably poor plotline.
Coach Lloyd Carr even admitted
his team wasn't at its "emotional
peak" due to the highs experienced
against Notre Dame and the new lows
from the loss at Oregon.
So where is this team? In limbo,
wondering whether it should take on
the exuberance of its defense, or the
awkwardness of an offense that went
from being considered the nation's
best to maybe amongst the top five of
the Big Ten.
It's an offensive line that finds dif-
ficulties clicking consistently, while
the playmakers are making plays for
the other team: Two fumbles and two
interceptions Saturday.
It's a defense that plays the role of
the "good guy," biding his time as the
"jerk" continues to get the girl ... at
least until Jeremy LeSueur returned
one to the house, giving this pre-
dictable movie its predictable happy
ending.
The "good guy" wins, the final
scene has him making out with the
girl, getting'married or something
corny like that. And all rejoice.
But doesn't anyone ever wonder
what happens after the happy ending?
Everything always looks so easy
when the two main characters fall in
love, but where's the hard work of
building a working relationship that
isn't just sex?
That's where Michigan needs to
differentiate itself from the "chick
flick" of a game it produced against
Indiana.
Iowa's coming off an embarrassing
loss to upstart Michigan State, and it
would love to take out some anger on
the Wolverines in its hometown.
A drive like Indiana's at the begin-
ning of the second half is something
that can't cut it anymore going into
See O'NEILL, Page 4B
Blue edgesWin
first hock'ey scriun ii aggie
By Brian Schick
Daily Sports Writer
Yost Ice Arena can be an intimi-
dating place for opponents to play,
but there are times when even the
Wolverines are nervous about play-
ing before their home crowd.
Freshman T.J. Hensick, considered
to be the best recruit in this year's
freshman class, went into Friday
night's Blue/White intrasquad scrim-
mage feeling a -
bit queasy.
"I was a little
nervous," Hensick said. "You get the
butterflies before the game, but once
you get on the ice, they go away."
Hensick showed no signs anxiety
once the puck dropped, leading all
scorers with three points - a goal
and two assists - and helping his
Blue squad secure a 4-3 victory.
Hensick looked more than comfort-
able in his first game for Michigan
and is well on his way to establishing
himself as another young offensive
force to be reckoned with - much
in the mold of last year's freshman
standout Jeff Tambellini.
"Coming into an environment like
this with the tradition that Michigan
has is something not everyone gets
fellow freshman David Rohlfs and
sophomore Brandon Kaleniecki was
the dominant group to emerge from
the scrimmage, combining for three
of the Blue squad's four goals. Kale-
niecki jumped out of the gate early,
scoring two goals in the first 10
minutes. Crisp passing was the key
to its success, as all three had no
trouble finding each other on the
ice.
The first goal saw Hensick finding
Kaleniecki on a cross-ice pass that
froze White goaltender Mike May-
hew just five minutes into the game.
On Kaleniecki's second tally, Hen-
sick broke out of the neutral zone
with a feed to a breaking Rohlfs,
who let off a slap shot that was
stopped by Mayhew. But the goalie
couldn't control the rebound, and
Kaleniecki buried it to bring the
score to 2-0.
"That line definitely had a good
game," coach Red Berenson said.
"We do have some (line) options
from last year, but we need to get a
feel for who plays well with who to
fit these young players in."
Kaleniecki seems to be picking up
where he left off last season, second
among last year's freshman class and
fifth overall on the team with 14
,
CURTIS HILLER/Daily
Michigan's Dwight Helminen fights to get the puck to the net. Blue edged White 4-3 in Michigan's scrimmage.
clinic, as he scored the game's lone
powerplay goal and another goal
short-handed. Both sides struggled
to find quality scoring chances on
the powerplay, but these struggles
can be attributed to players trying to
make sure everyone is on the same
page.
our surroundings; the little things
that make the difference, we need to
improve"
And despite rotating positions
after each period, all three goal-
tenders looked sharp, giving both
backups substantial playing time.
Noah Ruden and Mayhew saw
"It was a chance for all three
goalies to play," Berenson said. "The
good thing is they all had to make
saves or faced big scoring chances. I
think it was good for Mike Mayhew
to come in and start a game and then
finish the game, and that's the situa-
tion he'll probably find himself in."
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