8B - The Michigan Daily - SportsWednesday - October 20, 2004 E 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 fl 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 OUR GENERATION MUST TAKE ON THIS ISSUE. If you believe everyone should have an equal chance in life-no matter where they are born-then act on your conviction. Lead the movement to end educational inequity. Apply at www.teachforamerica.org