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November 17, 2003
SECTION B
Blue heading back to the Final Four
By James V. Dowd
For the Daily
EAST LANSING -With a trip to
the semifinals of the NCAA Field
Hockey Championships on the line,
the No. 6 Michigan Wolverines met
rival No. 5
Michigan StateMIIGAN T
in a second
round matchup.
The Wolverines
came into the
game riding
momentum from a hard-fought 1-0
victory on Saturday against No. 4
North Carolina.
That momentum provided a
much-needed push for Michigan
as it faced Michigan State, with
whom it shared the Big Ten regu-
lar season title. After scoring two
quick, controversial goals in the
first half, the Wolverines' defense
stood strong to hold on for a 2-1
victory over the Spartans.
Junior Adrienne Hortillosa
scored just less than 12 minutes
into the first half, putting it in
after a set up from the corner by
senior Laura Woitkewitsch and
junior Jessica Blake. Three min-
utes later, Blake scored a goal of
her own, tipping in a shot from
senior captain April Fronzoni.
"I really wasn't sure if it was
going in, so I just stuck my stick
up there, and made sure it went
through," Blake said. Although
Fronzoni's original intentions
were to shoot, she was pleased
with Blake's effort.
"(Blake) was shooting through
and just nailed it home, she had a
great finish on that," Fronzoni said.
The rules of field hockey say
that a stick must not be raised
above shoulder level, and there
were questions as to the level of
Blake's stick. Hortillosa's goal did
not come without controversy
either, as a goal cannot be scored
from outside of the circle without
being tipped by an attacking play-
er, and there was uncertainty as to
whether Hortillosa was inside the
circle or not.
"In my mind, the goals were
questionable, but I'll review them
on the tape, and it actually doesn't
matter at this point," said Spartans
head coach Michele Madison. "I
hope they were real goals - that
would make me feel a lot better."
Michigan State pulled within one
during the second half, when junior
Veerle Goudswaard slipped an
unassisted goal past freshman goal-
keeper Beth Riley. The goal shifted
the momentum to the Spartans'
side, but the Wolverines' defense,
anchored by seniors Stephanie
Johnson, Kate Dillon and Kristi
Gannon, turned away Michigan
State challenges time and time
again. Riley also rebounded and
stopped the few Spartan challenges
that made it through.
Michigan had a scare when a
shot from Michigan State sopho-
more Michele Huynh-Ba rocketed
through the Wolverine defense and
past Riley. But the shot hit the goal
post. Freshman Jennifer Beeuwkes
rebounded it and put it back on
goal, but Riley turned it away.
Throughout the entire game, the
crowd was on edge. The support
of family and friends served as
motivation for the Wolverines.
They even had a two-person pep
band - a pair of ball girls from
home games - to keep the crowd
in the game with their rendition of
"The Victors."
The win was the second time
this year the Wolverines have won
on Michigan State's turf. They
defeated the Spartans 1-0 in a Big
Ten regular season contest. Those
two losses to Michigan were
Michigan State's only two home
defeats this year. The Wolverines'
recent success at the Michigan
State Field Hockey Complex may
have all but eliminated any home-
field advantage for future
matchups.
"If we can't play at Phyllis
Ocker Field, we can come here
and turn this field and complex
into our own," Fronzoni said.
"We've played well on this field."
The Wolverines now advance to
play No. 1 Wake Forest, the
defending national champions.
They defeated Connecticut, 3-0,
yesterday. Michigan and Wake
Forest met early in the season at
Ocker Field, with Wake Forest
winning 4-2. The national semi-
final game is scheduled for Friday
night at 5 pm, at Garber Field in
Amherst, Mass.
TONY DING/Daily
Jill Civic (13) and April Fronzoni (12) celebrate during Michigan's win over North Carolina on
Friday. Yesterday, the Wolverines beat Michigan State to advance to the NCAA semifinals.
'M' topples Irish,
heads to Sweet 16
'You
can't stop
Michigan 41, NORTHWESTERN 10
us
By Jake Rosenwasser
Daily Sports Writer
SOUTH BEND, Ind. - When
the NCAA Tournament bracket
was unveiled, the Notre Dame
women's soccer team could not
have been happy about the draw it
received. A second-round clash
with Michigan was staring them
right in the face. This was the same
Michigan team that had given
Notre Dame
its first loss of
the season less
than three ICHIGAN 1
weeks ago.
Notre Dame's
presumed concerns became a reali-
ty yesterday as Michigan upset the
Fighting Irish again 1-0. Michigan
is now slated to play Connecticut
in the Sweet 16, while Notre Dame
will go home much earlier than
expected.
Stephanie Chavez scored the
game-winning goal early in the sec-
ond half, and No. 24 Michigan (11-
7-6) held on to make the goal
stand. With 39 minutes remaining,
Michigan was rewarded with its
only" corner kick of the game.
Junior Robyn Vince sent 'the kick
into the mass of players in front of
the net, and after a scramble,
Chavez found the ball at her foot.
She blasted it past Notre Dame
goalie Erika Bohn for her sixth
goal and her fourth game-winner of
the season.
"We've been real successful
a[ainst Notre Dame on our corner
kicks," Chavez said. "I got it on my
foot and saw an opening."
In the first half, No. 4 Notre
Dame (20-3-1) controlled the pace
of play and kept the ball in Michi-
gan's end for a huge majority of the
half. The Irish had numerous scor-
ing opportunities, but were stifled
again and again by freshman goalie
Megan Tuura and the Michigan
defense. While Notre Dame
attacked, Michigan defended and
defended some more. In fact,
Michigan could not even manage a
shot on goal in the first half.
"We walked into the lockerroom
at half relieved to be tied 0-0,"
coach Debbie Rademacher said. "I
told them we needed to do more
possessing of the ball in the
upcoming half:'
But in the beginning of the sec-
ond half, Notre Dame kept the
pressure on. After five more frantic
minutes in the Michigan end, the
Wolverines were able to work the
ball up and force the corner kick
that resulted in the goal.
"We knew that if we had num-
bers in the box and balls were
bouncing around, something good
would happen," Rademacher said.
After the Michigan goal, the
Fighting Irish added even more
pressure, but Michigan defenders
Whitney Kjar, Brenna Mulholland
and Rachel Rothenbach repeatedly
turned the prolific Notre Dame
strikers away. On the rare occasions
when the defense failed, Tuura was
there to grab or deflect any balls that
came her way. Just three minutes
after the goal, Notre Dame forward
Melissa Tancredi sprinted toward the
goal on a breakaway. Tancredi took a
shot, but Tuura made a diving save
to her right to preserve the lead. All
in all, Tuura saw 13 shots while
under constant duress.
"I had fun," Tuura said. "But it
was tough and a lot of work."
Notre Dame's stellar season
ended earlier than they expected
it would.
"I'm disappointed for our kids,"
Notre Dame coach Randy Waldrum
said. "I hate to say it, but I thought
we were the better team. Credit to
them though, they jumped on their
chance. They're tough to play
because they play real ugly, dump
the ball out, have a good goalie and
are very organized."
Michigan had confidence going
into Notre Dame because of its pre-
vious victory over the Irish. Just
two-and-a-half weeks ago, Michi-
gan beat then No. 2 Notre 3-2 on
the same field.
"That was a huge win, but this
was so much bigger," Rademacher
said. "This was the biggest win
ever in Michigan history."
On Friday, in the first round of
the NCAA Tournament, Michigan
avenged a loss against Oakland ear-
lier in the season. Katie Kramer
scored a second-half goal, and the
Wolverines advanced to the second
round of NCAAs with a 1-0 win.
BRENDAN O'DONNELL/Daily
David Underwood and Braylon Edwards congratulate Jason Avant on his one-handed touchdown catch in the second quarter of Michigan's 4110 victory over Northwestern Saturday.
Varsity rolls over 'Cats, ready for Buckeyes
By Courtney Lewis
Daily Sports Editor
EVANSTON - Pierre Woods tried
to talk about Michigan's 41-10 win
over Northwestern, but his train of
thought kept skipping ahead to next
weekend's game.
Gabe Watson said the Wolverines
didn't have trouble focusing on Sat-
urday's game, but then he said that
Michigan was very aware of the tight
game that Ohio State was still con-
testing with Purdue.
"We hope they win, though, so
everything will be on the line -
going for the Rose Bowl," Watson, a
defensive lineman, said.
Carl Diggs didn't even try to hold
back. A crowd of Michigan fans had
gathered around somebody's car out-
side Ryan field to watch the other
game Saturday, and when it ended
and Ohio State (6-1 Big Ten, 10-1
overall) had won, the fans let out a
roar and Diggs broke into a smile.
"Alright," he said. "Alright."
It might have been the only time so
many people wearing Maize and
Blue were actually rooting for the
Buckeyes. But Ohio State's victory
set up a colossal showdown this Sat-
urday at the Big House - the Buck-
eyes and Wolverines will play for the
Big Ten title and a trip to Pasadena.
Before Michigan could start think-
ing about Roses, it had to take care
of business in Evanston. The Wolver-
ines (6-1, 9-2) dispatched the lowly
Wildcats by playing a solid, if not
very exciting, game. Michigan didn't
show any signs of rust from its bye
last weekend, and it didn't get caught
looking ahead to next weekend.
"Anytime you have Ohio State
coming up next week, you worry
about a letdown, no matter who you
are playing, because that game is
special," Michigan coach Lloyd Carr
said. "I think we did show some
maturity."
Watson said the Wolverines
learned the hard way not to look past
anyone.
"For most guys, it wasn't hard at
all (to focus on Northwestern)
because earlier in the season, we
The Michigan Daily took a trip down
to Columbus to scout the Buckeyes,
intent on finding out the secret to Ohio
State's success.
PAGE 5B
found ourselves looking ahead too
much against Oregon and Iowa, and
when you find yourself looking
ahead and not worrying about your
opponent that much, you lose," Wat-
son said. "We know how that feels.
It's a bad taste, and we (didn't) want
that taste in our mouth again."
Michigan made Northwestern look
inept in the first half, scoring at will
and shutting down the Wildcats'
See WILDCATS, Page SB
Michigan/Ohio State collision will be an epic one
VANSTON - The same 80-mile-an-hour
force that ripped through Michigan Stadi-
um's concessions area during its bye week
- leaving a daunting clean-
up job for the Big House's
crew - left its mark in
Evanston on Saturday.
If anything was to be
learned from this new weath--
er front, it was that there is
hardly much that can stop it
when it's blowing at full KYLE
force . __
came in the abruptness of how each was dealt in
the past week. In the same way Mother Nature
showed the United States who was boss with a
powerful winter storm, Michigan told the nation
- especially a certain team from Columbus -
that the pre-storm hype was legit.
There would be no slip-ups, no falling apart and
certainly no repeat of the 2000 debacle.
But for every cold front that has laid destruction
on a part of the world, there is a warm one just as
strong looking for competition.
Now, for the first time since 1997, both Michi-
gan and Ohio State will collide along the plains as
ments that said he, Jason Avant and Steve Breaston
couldn't be denied a big game.
"To be honest, no," said Braylon Edwards of
whether any secondary could get the job done
against the trio. "I don't want to make that an arro-
gant comment, but Jason, Steve and I, we're a
great team. You can't stop us."
Edwards will have to lead, because the offense's
success runs through him. If he's making big
plays, he'll draw double coverage, freeing up
Avant and Breaston against an Ohio State second-
ary that hasn't been the same since safety Mike
Doss' graduation last year.
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