8B - The Michigan Daily - SportsWednesday - October 20, 2004
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Letdown shakes Blue
By Matt Venegoni
Daily Sports Writer
Every sports team worries about
it - the dreaded letdown. That is
exactly what happened to the No. 9
Michigan field hockey team Sunday
as it blown out by No. 4 Maryland.
Coming off an overtime win
against No. 3 Michigan State, Michi-
gan dropped the weekend closer 4-1
to the Terrapins.
"No question we had a letdown,
and we have to get over that as the
(Big Ten) tournament comes clos-
er," Michigan coach Marcia Pan-
kratz said.
Michigan (3-1 Big Ten, 11-5 over-
all) came out flat, and Maryland (2-
1 ACC, 13-3) controlled the tempo,
keeping the action in Michigan's
zone for much of the first 10 minutes
of the game. Maryland took an early
1-0 lead when forward Janneke van
Leeuwen tallied an unassisted goal,
collecting the ball off a rebound low
on the left side of the circle and drill-
ing it past Michigan's sophomore
goalkeeper Beth Riley.
Michigan took atimeout to regroup
and coach Pankratz pleaded with the
Brannen
team to stop playing so soft and real-
ize that the game had started.
Michigan seemed to take the
advice. It came out stronger and
more aggressive, getting some of
the action to stay in the Maryland
zone. The aggression led to Mich-
igan's lone goal, which came off a
penalty corner. Sophomore forward
Katie Morris redirected Adrienne
Hortillosa's shot high into the Ter-
rapin cage over goalkeeper Kath-
ryn Mason.
The Wolverines were not as tenta-
tive as earlier in the game, but Mary-
land kept the pressure on, tallying
its second goal and taking the lead
for good, 2-1.
"They played the whole game at a
high tempo and put a lot of pressure
on us," Pankratz said.
Maryland took a 3-1 lead into half,
and when play resumed, the Terrapins
kept attacking and showed why they
are the No. 4 team in the country.
"Maryland is an awesome team,
but we can play with them," senior
captain Kate Dillon said. "We came
out a little hesitant (in the first half)
and weren't playing like we know
how to."
, Willis
The final three minutes of the
game typified how the game was
going for the Wolverines. Michigan
had several shots on goal as time
winded down, but Maryland goal-
keeper turned all of them away. The
Terrapins converted their opportu-
nities Sunday, while Michigan fell
short.
Saturday's game showcased Mich-
igan's success in doing what it could
not do against Maryland - capital-
ize on opportunities. In doing so,
Michigan upset No. 3 Michigan State
Saturday 1-0 in overtime.
As expected, the two teams
played a highly defensive, grind-it-
out game that could not be settled
in regulation. Adrienne Hortillosa
ended the game four minutes into
overtime when Mary Fox sent a low
shot on MSU goalkeeper Christina
Kirkaldy. The Spartan goalie came
out of the cage to make the initial
save, but the ball rebounded to the
left side, where Hortillosa stood
alone to put away the game into the
open goal.
"This (win) is multi-layered, it
gets us back in position to win the
Big Ten (title), and it's always sat-
Senior captain Kate Dillon is swarmed by Terrapins this weekend. The Wolverines lost to No. 4 Maryland 4-1 on Saturday.
isfying to play well against an arch-
rival," Pankratz said.
After the emotionally and physi-
cally draining game Saturday,
Michigan just did not play with the
same intensity Sunday. Both Pan-
kratz and Dillon recognized that
the team was not ready for the Ter-
rapins.
"The weekend shows what we
need to bring every single day," Dil-
lon said. "We were really psyched
for the rivalry game, but we need
to understand that we need to treat
every game the exact same way."
set pace for 'M'
Walter leads the
way once again
By Scott Bell
Daily Sports Writer
Nate Brannen has been leading packs
of runners all year long on the Michi-
gan men's cross country team. This
weekend was no different, aside from
one minor detail - he had a teammate
at his side. Junior Nick Willis made his
season debut Saturday for Michigan at
the Pre-Nationals in Terre Haute, Ind.,
and showed no signs of early-season
rust as he joined Brannen among the
top-three finishers.
Brannen finished second in the field
of 242 runners - just two seconds
behind Stanford's Ryan Hall - with
a personal-best time of 23:56.8. Willis
was right behind, clocking in at 23:58.5.
Despite that solid finish at the top, No. 5
Michigan had to settle for a third-place
team finish, coming in with a total of
188 points. Stanford cruised into first
with 77 points, while Notre Dame snuck
past the Wolverines for a second place
finish with 165 points.
"We were great up front all race
long," Michigan coach Ron Warhurst
said. "We were a little loose in the mid-
dle though, and we won't get any bet-
ter until our third through seventh guys'
start posting better times."
Freshman Mike Woods was the next
Wolverine to cross the finish line. He
grabbed a 42nd place finish with a per-
sonal-best time of 24:55.4. Senior Jona-
thon Kieliszak was six seconds behind
at 25:01.0, also a personal-best. That
was good enough for a 52nd place finish.
Rondell Ruff rounding out the top-five
for Michigan. The redshirt sophomore
grabbed 89th place and scored points
for the first time as a Wolverine with a
time of 25:12.8.
Despite the personal-best times from
over half of the scoring Wolverines, a
major discrepancy existed between the
scores of the Brannen and Willis duo
and the rest of the Wolverines. Brannen
feels that he may know what contributes
to this gap.
"I think our middle guys may be get-
ting a little tired." He says, "Everyone
has been training very hard and it's just
really difficult to tell when we all are
going to peak."
Although fatigue may be a factor
now, Brannen remains optimistic that it
is only temporary.
"The one-minute gap between our first
and fifth guy was a pretty big gap to over-
come today," he said. "But I'm confident
that we can get our mileage up before
Nationals and close in on that gap."
Although optimism is clearly pres-
ent among the Wolverines, they do not
make excuses for unsatisfactory races.
The weather on Saturday was less than
pleasant, with high winds and cold tem-
peratures. But Coach Warhurst would
not allow anyone to blame it as a factor
in the Wolverines' less-than-stellar per-
formance.
"Everyone runs in the same weather,
By Jack Herman
For the Daily
The only things certain in life are
death and taxes - but lately it seems
Rebecca Walter leading the Michigan
women's cross country team can be
added to that list.
For her eighth race in a row, Wal-
ter was the first Wolverine to cross the
finish line. She came in fourth overall,
leading the Wolverines to a second-
place finish at the NCAA Pre-Nation-
als at Indiana State University this
Saturday.
"Walter was her typical consistent
self," Michigan coach Mike McGuire
said of the performance.
McGuire was pleased with his
team's overall performance, as it bat-
tled rough weather this weekend.
"These are very tough conditions
it's wet, cold and windy - but we
still had some excellent times,"
McGuire said.
McGuire was also pleased with
the performance of Michigan fresh-
man Alyson Kohlmeier, who was
competing in her first 6,000-meter
race of the year. Kohlmeier finished
with a time of 21:08.1, and placed
21st overall.
Seniors Andrea Parker (21:05.8)
and Sarah Pizzo (21:17.6) also contrib-
uted heavily to the Wolverines' strong
finish, as they came in 18th and 32nd,
respectively.
Pizzo's time was a bit slower than
usual because her foot was bother-
ing her, but she expects to be ready
for the Big Ten Championship in two
weeks.
Katie Erdman, who turned in what
McGuire deemed a "solid perfor-
mance," finishing in 34th place with a
time of 21:19.7 rounded out the top 50
performances for Michigan was.
No. 4 Colorado, led by first place
finisher Renee Metivier, was the only
team able to top the Wolverines.
McGuire was not concerned that
his team did not win, stating that the
difference between the top five teams
is very limited.
"We didn't lose to them, they beat
us," McGuire said. "They're ranked
right behind us. They just brought
their 'A'-game today."
Although some runners will be
competing in the Eastern Michigan
University Classic on Friday, many
will be held out as the Wolverines
rest up for the Big Ten Champion-
ship, where they hope to defend}
their title once again and go for the
"three-peat."
McGuire likes his team's chances at
the Big Ten Championship. -
"We've seen every Big Ten team
now, so there shouldn't be any sur-
prises," McGuire said.
"We need to stay healthy and keep
our level high and go into Big Tens
prepared."
U
I
TONY DING/Daily
Senior Nate Brannen, pictured, and Nick Willis finished two-three at Pre-Nationals
this weekend, but the Wolverines had to settle for a third-place finish.
it is not a factor at all," Warhurst said.
"It may make the times a little slower,
but it has the same effect on everyone."
Nate Brannen went a step further,
saying that it actually may have played
to their advantage.
"The weather is not a disadvantage
to us at all." Brannen said, "Being from
Michigan, we train in this (weather) more
frequently than the Southern schools do,
so if anything, it may even help us."
Although Michigan's No. 5 rank-
ing may drop after this weekend's
performance, there is no sign of panic
in Ann Arbor. The Wolverines know
what has to be fixed. And with five
weeks to go until the NCAA Cham-
pionships, there is time to get back on
the winning track.
"We just can't have two horses pull-
ing the wagon," Warhurst says, "We
need to have five."
40
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The War on Terror and
the New Arc of Crisis
A lecture by Juan Cole, a specialist on the
modern Middle East and South Asia, and
Richard Hudson Research Professor of the
History Department at the University of
Michigan.
October 20, 2004
7:00 p.m.
Schorling Auditorium
School of Education
610 E. University
Since 2002, Juan Cole has
offered his perspective on the
"war on terrorism," the Iraq
War, Middle East history, and
Islam on his Web log Informed
Comment. He is regularly
interviewed by numerous
media, and his op-ed pieces
frequently appear in national
publications.
Sponsored by
Middle Eastern and North African Studies
www.umich.edu/-iinet/cmenas
and
Center for South Asian Studies
www.umich.edu/-iinet/csas
,f
Center for
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Lead the movement to end educational inequity. Apply at www.teachforamerica.org