'M' golfers glad to be home The Michigan Daily - SportsMonday - October 6, 2003 - 3B 'Blame game'important to . .recoveryfrom road defeats By Ian Herbert Daily Sports Writer Every varsity team knows how important the home tournament is. The players have the date marked on their calendars months ahead of time. And, with the support of family and friends behind them, teams often set lofty goals for the event. The Michigan women's golf team hosted the Wolverine Invitational this weekend, came out strong and won the tournament. The team beat James Madi- son, the next-best team, by 25 strokes, shooting a com- bined score of 943. "Our goal coming into the weekend was to win our home tournament," Michigan coach Kathy Teichert said. "To put it together and actually do it - I am very proud." The team was lead by veterans Laura Olin and Amy Schmucker, who individually placed first and third, respectively. Olin, who shot 8-over par on 54 holes and yesterday had the only under-par round of the tournament (71), has always dreamed of winning her home tournament in front of her family and friends. "We only have one home tournament, and it was great that (our parents) came out," Olin said. "Our par- ents actually come to a lot of our tournaments. It's really great to have their support. When you hit a good shot they are smiling and waving, and when you do bad they do the same thing." All six of the Wolverines placed within the top 15, but it wasn't easy. Saturday, they walked the course wearing knit hats, wind pants and mittens just trying to keep warm. "It was pretty windy," Olin said. "The weather defi- nitely made everything harder. It's difficult to know what club to use in the wind, and you lose a little bit of confidence. But Big Tens are like this every year. We are used to playing in these conditions, and we will have to play in weather like this again." The golfers had to battle strong winds, below freez- ing temperatures and frost, which delayed yesterday's shotgun start by an hour. As difficult as the conditions were, it may have ended up helping the Wolverines because of their attitude. "The conditions (this weekend) were very tough," Schmucker said. "When it gets challenging like that, you just have to tell yourself that everyone is playing in the same conditions. You just have to concentrate and grind it out" In addition to the inclement weather, teams were forced to play with some very difficult pin placements yesterday. With the holes resting near hills and tucked behind bunkers, many players were visibly irritated with Michigan Golf Course. "Our team has obviously played this course numer- ous times," Teichert said. "They may not have seen some of the pin placements, but they played very well. Everyone had to putt the same greens, the same holes. The greens here are very tough. There is lots of undu- lation in them, and some teams are not used to that. It can get frustrating." No matter how frustrating, everyone seemed to agree that this tournament could prove to be a step- ping-stone for this Wolverine team that has high hopes. TONY DING/Daily Junior Laura Olin shot eight-over par on 54 holes and notched the tournament's only under-par round (71). "It is always a confidence boost to get a big win," Schmucker said. "Now we will try to keep going and win again on a course that is not our own. That would be an even bigger confidence boost." 'Competitive' freshmen triumph in Invitational By Jamie Josephson For the Daily A wave of beginner's luck seems to have come over the Michigan women's tennis team. Opening their fall season by hosting the Wolverine Invitational this past weekend, all three of Michigan's newly- acquired freshmen won each of their respective singles flights. "The freshmen are very competitive," Michigan coach Bitsy Ritt said. "Together they are going to make an outstanding class. When you have freshmen who can come in and con- tribute like that right away, it just makes everybody better." Freshman Kara Delicata easily defeated Western Michigan's Carrie Jeanmaire in the finals of the "Maize" flight, 6-0, 6-2, with a combination of aggressive net play and groundstroke execution. Delicata's championship match turned out to be the only finals contest Michigan played against an opposing school. In the "Wolverine" flight, freshman Lindsey Goldstein came out on top in an evenly-matched final round against her junior teammate Leanne Rutherford (6-3, 1-6, 6-2). Several changes in momentum contributed to the intensity and competitiveness of this intrasquad faceoff. "It's all business," Goldstein said. "You don't look at the face across the net" Goldstein said that forgetting about her second set loss allowed her to focus on improving in the third. Freshman Liz Exon took first place in the "Blue" flight after defeating her teammate, junior Chrissie Nolan (6-3, 6-1). Exon said that going with the flow was key in her first tournament win as a Wolverine. "I was just really relaxed," Exon said. "I told myself just to step in." Rounding out Michigan's sweep in the top three spots of the "Blue" flight, senior Kavitha Tipirneni claimed third place after destroying DePaul's Gergana Ganeva in straight sets (6-1, 6-1). Tipirneni and Delicata brought their singles success to the doubles competi- tion, where they defeated teammates Nolan and Rutherford in a nail biter, eight-game pro-set (9-7). Tennis matches don't get much closer than this doubles final. Down 15-40, match-point at 6-7, Tipirneni/Delicata miraculously bounced back, breaking Nolan/Ruther- ford to tie the match. Though both sides exchanged breaks a handful of times throughout the round, this one proved to be the deciding change in momentum. "We just said, 'Take it one point at a time; whatever happens, happens,' " Delicata said. "As long as you have the mindset that you can come back, then anything is possible." Of course, the win was a bittersweet victory of sorts, as it came at the expense of fellow teammates. "Its always hard to play your team- mate," Delicata said. "But we are so close, and we understand it's a competi- tion; when it's done, we are all friends in the lockerroom." Goldstein and sophomore doubles partner Debra Streifler added to the Wolverines' tear, winning their consola- tion finals match 8-4 against Lisa Mal- oney and Heidi Romer of Bowling Green. J. BRADY MCCOLLOUGH The SportsMonday Column OWA CITY - For the first time in my esteemed Michigan football road game career, I walked the other way. When John Navarre's 49th pass of the game fell incomplete into the Kin- nick Stadium grass, I retreated through an army of corn-fed ladybugs into the stadium parking lot. There was no point in sticking around to watch the celebra- tion like I did against Purdue and Northwestern freshman year, Michigan State sophomore year, Notre Dame and Ohio State junior year and Oregon this year - I've seen it all before. Step one in the "How to cope with a Michigan loss on the road" handbook? Opposing students storm the field, and we watch in envy as they act like they've actually just conquered heroes. They con- veniently forget that beating Michigan is something that happens all the time these days - especially on the road. The victorious fans, after they've trampled the stadium turf and reflected on what just occurred, say to their bud- dies, "What a great football game," or something they wouldn't dream of say- ing if they were on the other side. Step two is by far the most important. Skip this one, and you're sure to not be ready for next week's game. Without further ado, the blame game begins. This is the crucial part of recovery because we can rationalize Michigan's deviant behavior as the fault of one play- er, coach or unit. It's not Michigan's fault, it's this person's, and he happens to play or coach for Michigan. UCLA 2000? Hayden Epstein! Pur- due 2000? Second-half play calling! Northwestern 2000? That damn sieve- like defense! Washington 2001? Spe- cial teams! Michigan State 2001? Jeremy LeSueur! Ohio State 2001? John Navarre! Tennessee 2001? John Navarre! Notre Dame 2002? Offensive turnovers! Iowa 2002? Markus Curry! Ohio State 2002? Second-half play call- ing! Oregon 2003? Special teams! Iowa 2003? Hmmm ... Luckily, Michigan coach Lloyd Carr got the blame game started just moments after the loss. "I take fMlresponsibility," Carr said.' Carr and his staff were definitely in the running for the Iowa 2003 hardware. What in this scarlet-and-gray world was that punt formation? Three big dudes about 10 yards in the backfield and Gar- rett Rivas --a kicker - a few yards behind them? He runs out of the pocket like he's running the option and executes a ... fake fake punt? Carr rationalized the decision as a way to make up for the loss of injured Jeremy Van Alstyne and Larry Stevens on the punt team. Carr also felt it was the best chance to keep Iowa return special- ist Ramon Ochoa from breaking a big one like he did in the first half. Questions: Since when does Michigan not have two top-tier athletes to take the place of Van Alstyne and Stevens on the punt team, and since when does Michi- gan go to a gimmick formation just to get decent punt coverage? OK, so Carr should be blamed for this one. He even admitted it. But wait! The players want the blame, too? Goodness gracious alive, we're going to be up all night debating this one. "That's our coach," Navarre said. "He's going to say that. I respect him for that, but this is a team loss. It always is." "For him to blame himself for the loss is wrong'" Chris Perry said. "We lost the game. We should've won. He doesn't play a snap. I haven't seen him out there in pads yet." This stuff is all too confusing. It's hard to blame Perry, who rushed for 3.6 yards per carry and a touchdown against a stacked Iowa front. It's hard to blame Navarre, who threw for 389 yards and two touchdowns. And anyone with two sides of a brain couldn't blame the Michigan defense, which fought valiant- ly against poor field position to keep the Wolverines in the game. We're really getting nowhere here. It's the coach, it isn't the coach, it's the play- ers, it isn't the players. I'm putting an end to this right now. The Iowa 2003 blame should fall on my shoulders. I felt the same way after the Oregon game, but I wasn't man enough to voice it at the time. Before the Oregon game, I bought a green and yellow Oregon hooded sweat- shirt. Bad karma. On the drive out to Iowa, I wore my Oregon sweatshirt. At the time, it was a part of the coping process. I was trying to say, "I'm past the Oregon loss. It's behind me" I'm 4-7 all-time watching Michigan on the road, and maybe it's time I should just stay home. I'm a Boston Red Sox and Buffalo Bills fan, and I should never have brought my putrid luck to Ann Arbor. I've written columns that take down the morale of the team and its players. They play their hearts out, and I rip them two days later in this newspaper. So, when you're making your way 'thtough tep two of the Iowa 2003 recovery, take it easy on the Wolverines - and yourself- and put the loss on my shoulders. J Brady McCollough can be reached at bradymcc@umich.edu. I I Harriers run to second place in South Bend By Phil Kofahl Daily Sports Writer Heavy rains and bitter cold make for a nasty day, but it-makes- for even nastier running conditions. The course in South Bend was treacherous, but the No. 12 Michigan men's cross country team didn't seem to mind. The Wolverines ran to a second-place finish behihd host Notre Dame in afield of 23 teams. Sophomore Nick Willis led the harriers for the sec- ond week in a row, finishing the race second overall. Senior Tom Greenless was close behind, finishing fourth, his third top 10 finish of the season. "Tommy is running really well right now," Warhurst said. "He's only going to get better as the season continues" The third Michigan runner to cross the line was senior Alex L'Heureux, finishing 24th. Rounding out scoring for the Wolverines were seniors Tarn Leach and Nick Stanko, 29th and 33rd, respectively. The team showed improvement from a mediocre fourth-place finish the week before at the Great American Cross Country Festival in Cary, N.C. The colder weather may have been a factor in the Wolver- ines' improvement. Michigan ran in very humid, 88- degree weather in North Carolina, while temperatures in South Bend dipped down to a more familiar mid- 30s. The Wolverines were also'vwithout one of their top runners, Nate Brannen, who took the weekend off to rest. Junior Sean Moore is also still recovering from heat exhaustion from the week before, but should recover fully. "Sean just wasn't able to recover in time, he was just tired from the week before, but he'll be fine," Warhurst said. Inconsistency plagues Blue golfers FOR COVERAGE OF THIS WEEKEND'S MEN'S TENNIS, VOLLEYBALL AND WOMEN'S SOCCER ACTION, GO TO WWW.MICHIGANDAILYCOM. By Jule Master Daily Sports Writer When you can't win them all, it's the experience that counts. And that's exact- ly the attitude of Michigan men's golf coach Andrew Sapp. This past weekend, the Wolverines headed south as they faced tough com- petition at the Franklin Street Partners Invitational in Chapel Hill, N.C. The Wolverines came in 40 shots behind tournament host North Carolina, finish- ing seventh out of nine teams. "This (was) a very strong field with a lot of Southern schools," Sapp said. "The competition was excellent, and this is the type of competition that our young team needs to gain experience and improve." Out of the five Michigan golfers, freshman Mike McLaughlin stepped up to deliver his career bests of a 15th- place finish (226 in 54 holes) and a career low of 74 in each of the first two rounds. Senior Dave Nichols also came through after a shaky start of 77 and 81 in the first two rounds to post a 1-over- par in the final round. "Dave played very well (yesterday)," Sapp said. "He's shown some good sen- ior leadership on the last day to finish well for us." Despite certain players shooting well on a round or two, the team is continu- ing to struggle with consistency. "That kind of happened to all of our guys," Sapp said. "Each one of them shot one or maybe two good rounds, but we didn't get anyone shooting three good rounds in a row." None of the Wolverines were able to hit par this past weekend. Freshman Will Kendall shot a 78-75-77 to tie for 20th with a 230 individual total, just four shots behind McLaughlin. Follow- ing Kendall was Nichols (231), Christ- ian Vozza (233) and Kevin Dore (243). $90,000 BEFORE YOU GRADUATE The Navy offers you, as a qualified college student, the chance to earn up to $90,000 during your junior and senior years. And you never have to put on a Navy uniform until after graduation. No drills, no summer obligations. In the Nuclear " Have completed sophomore year, majoring in engineering, math, science or chemistry. " Have a minimum 3.0 GPA, " Have completed a mathematics sequence through integral calculus. m