TWO TO GO
Michigan is two wins away from hanging an NIT title
banner in Crisler Arena. But Oregon stands in the way.
PAGE 5Bw
BOBBLE YOUR BRAINS OUT
Get to know the Michigan base-
ball team with a fun game of
Blue's Clues.
PAGE 8B
THE SPORTSMONDAY COLUMN
J. BRADY McCo.OUGH:
The Michigan men's rowing
team is out to prove that
varsity is just a label.
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March
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TONY DING/Daily
Michigan goalie Al Montoya kneels stunned as Boston College's Justin Dzlama (25) and Brian Boyle (10) celebrate their 3-2 overtime victory yesterday In Manchester, N.H. The Wolverines failed to advance to the Frozen Four for the first time In four seasons.
Don't call me cynical: Despite loss, Michigan's
CHESTER, N.H.
Following yester-
's NCAA Northeast
Regional final loss, I felt weird.
Michigan had just dropped a 3-2
overtime heartbreaker that would
S bring even Darth Vader to tears
(especially since the voice of the GENNA
Dark One is that of James Earl
Jones, a Michigan alum), and I FILIC
felt like I was missing some- Nuthin' Bu
thing. It wasn't any of my val- Than
ued possessions. After tapping
both of my front pants pockets, I was assured that
my keys, voice recorder and phone were present.
R
E
ta
1g
And my keeled-over walk indicated that my
overly-stuffed, "Costanza" wallet wasn't left
behind. After I performed a head count that
would make any first grade teacher proud, I
knew that the absence couldn't be credited
to a stray Michigan Daily employee.
No, it wasn't anything of this sort. I was
D missing a feeling, something that had over-
whelmed me after every other loss this sea-
son: cynicism.
'G' Covering a team as talented as Michi-
gan, it is difficult to just accept a loss. And
after each of the Wolverines' 13 prior
defeats, my postgame thoughts were extremely
negative.
Man, we got outhustled ... This teams consis-
tency is laughable ... Coming out that flat, do the
players even care? ... Is Montoya really worth all
the hype?...
These viewpoints and contemplations owned
me every time Michigan came up on the short
end of the stick. I guess I just believed that Michi-
gan had never faced a team that was truly superior
- thus, it shouldn't have lost.
But that all changed yesterday.
Boston College was the better team.
Following Michigan's semifinal win over New
Hampshire on Saturday, Red Berenson comment-
ed on the daunting task the Wolverines had ahead
of them.
effort deserves commendation
"We know Boston College is a great team," stayed in the game and continued to do so until
Berenson said. "They're a deeper team than we Boston College's Ben Eaves finally broke the tie
are. They're quicker, and they probably have and notched the game-winner 70 minutes and
more skill." eight seconds after the puck had initially dropped.
I thought that Berenson was just pulling a Lou The players in maize and blue were scrappy,
Holtz - you know, over-hyping an upcoming they were opportunistic and they battled hard.
opponent for motivational purposes. But Red Basically, this youthful squad embodied the style
wasn't kidding. And yesterday, the Eagles lived of play that its senior captain, Andy Burnes, had
up to his billing. displayed all season.
They were dominant. They outshot the Wolver- In his four years at Michigan, Burnes has
ines 45-17. When I received the shot chart after never been a player that lights up the stat sheet.
the second period - Boston College's most Entering last night, he had accumulated a career
assertive - Michigan's zone was so much more total of just 22 points - three goals and 19
cluttered, I thought that Michigan's shot-charters assists. The defenseman was never a player that
had run out of ink. But, somehow, the Wolverines See FILICE, Page 4B
M' ndes defense
to Sunday sweep
By Ian Herbert
Daily Sports Writer
If defense wins championships, then the Michigan softball
team should buy its plane tickets to the NCAA World Series
now.
The No. 11 Wolverines (25-6 overall) had no errors and
allowed no runs in their double-header against Valparaiso (4-
14) yesterday. They came away from the weekend, behind
strong pitching and flawless defense, with two easy victories,
10-0, 7-0.
The Ritter sisters, Jennie (10-3) and Meghan (0-0), started
things off right for Michigan in front of a home crowd of 623.
The two of them combined to post a three-hit shutout in five
innings of work in the first game of the day. Jennie, a sopho-
more, started the game and struck out seven in four innings,
bringing her season strikeout total to a team-leading 126 and
lowering her ERA to 0.81. The Wolverines built Jennie a 10-run
lead before she turned it over to her older sister Meghan, a sen-
ior. Meghan picked up right were Jennie left off, allowing just
one hit, and finished off the Crusaders.
"We stayed ahead of the hitters, and I thought that Valpo had
a pretty good-swinging team," Michigan coach Carol Hutchins
said. "They were aggressive and they made some good con-
tacts, even with (Jennie) Ritter. But it just shows what we're
capable of."
Freshman Lorilyn Wilson (6-0) took over in the second game
and had no problem keeping the Wolverines on top. She pitched
,.. «.1 ,+.____ h~+_ + -r r +ha -r^ + +*:. i ha e..,.n~
E MEN'S SWIMMING
Tankers take home three titles
By Gabe Edelson
Daily Sports Writer
As the applause rained down on
retiring Michigan men's swim-
ming and diving coach Jon
Urbanchek near the end of the
NCAA Championships in East
Meadow, N.Y., he knew he was
leaving the program in good
shape.
"Michigan is back in the ball-
park," Urbanchek said. "We're
back where we belong."
The Wolverines' 271 total
points in the meet were good
enough for fifth place, Michigan's
highest NCAA finish since rank-
ing third in 1996. Auburn won the
title on Saturday with a score of
634. Seven world records were set
over the course of the weekend.
The final result was as good a
placement as the Wolverines could
have hoped for, since three teams
at the top brought twice as many
swimmers as Michigan.
After being held without a
national championship in a single
swimming event since Chris
Thompson and Tim Siciliano both
took first in 2001, Michigan
claimed three NCAA-best per-
formances from this year's compe-
tition. Over the course of the
three-day schedule, sophomore
Peter Vanderkaay won titles in the
400- and 1,500-meter freestyle
races. The 800-meter freestyle
relay team - composed of senior
captain Dan Ketchum, Van-
derkaay, sophomore Davis Tarwa-
ter and junior Andrew Hurd -
also captured a title in an NCAA-
record time of 7:01.42.
Perhaps the most impressive
event for Michigan was the 400-
meter freestyle during Thursday's
first session, in which Michigan
swimmers finished first, second
and fourth.
"We own that race," Urbanchek
said. "We lived up to the (Michi-
gan) tradition. It was an awesome
swim for Peter (Vanderkaay). He
made it look easy."
Later that night, the 400-meter
medley relay team of Chris
DeJong, Tarwater, Christian Van-
derkaay and Ketchum qualified
for the event finals and displayed a
strong resolve in finishing eighth.
"The goal in the relay was to
make it into finals, and we did,"
Urbanchek said. "The water was
See TANKERS, Page 2B
M BASEBALL
Back at The Fish, Blue rolls
By Matt Venegoni
Daily Sports Writer
Penn got behind batters in almost every inning,
failing to throw first-pitch strikes. But Penn was
able to battle back and get out of potential jams.
"He wasn't mavbe ham ash usual. b~I ut I wasn't
x.:.:,. ,. . .:._.;_ :;. ,. ....._ ......:.:... .. .. .,.,....... _.... (lneninp, 17av weekend started a little later