Blue goalie
tk heats up late
By Ryan Sosin
Daily Sports Writer
DETROIT - Michigan goalie Al Montoya hasn't been playing
up to his usual level. But when the third period of any game starts,
the bad breaks that have plagued him all season seem to disappear,
the junior becomes almost unbeatable.
While the numbers don't show a great disparity in his play
between periods, Montoya has stood on his head when the Wol-
verines have entered the third within one goal of their opponent.
"He shouldn't have to be the difference night after night," Mich-
igan coach Red Berenson said. "When (Saturday's) game was on
the line, Al Montoya stood tall, and kept us in the game and gave
us a chance to win. And that's all you can ask of your goalie."
During Saturday's 5-2 victory over Lake Superior State, Mon-
toya opened the final period with a sprawling glove save that set
the tone for Michigan's push down the stretch. Just as he did during
Thursday's win - when he stopped all nine shots Lake Superior
State fired at him - Montoya kept the Michigan net empty in the
third stanza.
After a solid first period Saturday, Montoya lapsed into the
inconsistent play that has become commonplace for him during
many stretches throughout the season's first six games. While
attempting to clear a puck from behind the net 38 seconds into the
middle frame, a Lakers forward picked Montoya's pass off as it
careened off of the boards and put it into the net before the Michi-
gan netminder could get back to the crease.
The second goal given up by Montoya also fell into the "soft
goal" category. With a clear view of the shooter and nothing
between him and the shooter to deflect the shot, Montoya was sim-
ply beaten stickside, and Lake Superior State took a 2-1 lead.
"It's moving past errors," Michigan goalie coach Stan Matwijiw
sad. "It's subtle things that most people aren't going to see. But
I know what he's thinking, and he knows what's going on. He's
f maybe being overly critical on the little things he's doing."
After every shaky period and every weak goal, Montoya has
moved forward to look sharp in the third period.
"As a goalie, mind and body have to walk together," Matwijiw
said. "As soon as your mind separates from your body, that's when
The Michigan Daily - SportsMonday - October 25, 2004 - 3B
Spikers fall to Badgers
RYAN WEINER/Daily
Goalie Al Montoya has been inconsistent so far this season.
Montoya knows that, as the CCHA season continues to get roll-
ing, the bad breaks will come and go.
"You just have to let it go," Montoya said. "You have to stay
focused and go for the win."
One of the reasons Montoya stayed in Ann Arbor - instead
of signing with the NHL's New York Rangers, who drafted him
sixth overall last summer - was to work on his development as a
hockey player. There shouldn't be much questioning of his mental
toughness in a high-pressure situation.
Now, Montoya has to prove whether he - and the rest of his
team - can put together a complete 60 minutes of error-free
hockey. They haven't done it yet. But if Montoya's play in the third
period is any indication, Michigan could prove it did deserve the
No. 1 ranking it got to open the season.
By Stephanie Wright
Daily Sports Writer
Despite falling behind in the sec-
ond and third games of Friday night's
match, the Michigan volleyball team
regained its focus and fought back
against a weaker team, defeating
Northwestern (2-8 Big Ten, 7-13 over-
all) by a score of 3-0.
But against a solid Wisconsin team
on Saturday, Michigan beat itself.
With the match tied at one, Michi-
gan (5-5, 15-6) took control of game
three early, with N H E
the steady play of
seniors Jennifer
Gandolph and Lisa s
Gamalski leading
to a 12-8 advan-
tage. But the Wolverines couldn't hold
onto their lead, allowing Wisconsin
three streaks of three or more points on
its way to a 30-23 win.
In a reverse of game three, Michi-
gan fell behind at the start of the fourth
game, before Gandolph propelled the
team within one, 16-15. Gandolph led
the Wolverines with her seventh dou-
ble-double of the season, recording 14
kills and 19 digs.
Then Michigan fell apart.
"Game four we broke down," Michi-
gan coach Mark Rosen said. "We just
kind of spiraled out of control. We had
a chance to fight back in and force a
game five and then we just didn't take
care of it."
The Badgers took advantage of the
Wolverines' collapse, scoring the final
seven points to win game four, 30-20,
and the match, 3-1.
But Michigan can compete with a
good team like Wisconsin at times.
After dropping a close first game, 31-29,
the Wolverines were flat at the start of
game two, allowing the Badgers to take
a 4-0 lead. Sophomore Erin Cobler then
had two strong kills to awaken Michi-
gan, which traded points with Wiscon-
sin until the middle of the game.
At this point, the Wolverines' streaky
play returned. The Badgers went on a 6-
0 run to take a commanding 19-12 lead.
But like the night before, Michigan
bounced back, with Cobler and sopho-
mores Danielle Pflum and Megan Bow-
man recording five kills and a decisive
block to tie the game at 21. The Wolver-
ines went on to win the back-and-forth
game, 34-32.
"We'll be unstoppable for one point,
and then the next point we just fall
apart," Cobler said. "I think we're
playing a lot of mental games with
ourselves right now. I think that we
have the talent and skill to be unstop-
pable, but we're just kind of holding
ourselves back."
It's not that Wisconsin (7-3, 13-5)
played that much better - it recorded
six fewer blocks than its season aver-
age, while committing six more attack
errors. And in the middle of game
three, the Badgers were audibly tell-
ing themselves to calm down. But
Wisconsin was able to limit the length
of Michigan's runs and kept the score
close when it wasn't playing well.
In order to assert itself as one of the
elite teams in the Big Ten, Michigan
recognizes that it must be able to do
the same.
"We can play with anybody for peri-
ods of time, but we can't do it past a
certain point," Rosen said. "Against the
lower teams we're able to survive that,
but against the top teams we're not.
They're not going to wait around for us
to be steady."
you get in trouble."]
0 WOMEN'S CROSS COUNTRY
Redsh-it firosh wins Classic
By Jack Herman
Daily Sports Writer
Like most people, Michigan fresh-
man Nicole Edwards considers run-
ning a 5,000-meter cross country race
a pretty daunting task.
But, unlike most people, Edwards
is actually a member of the women's
cross country team.
"I'm not as comfortable running
cross country," Edwards said. "It's not
what I do."
That did not stop her from taking
first place at the EMU Classic, which
was held Friday at Buhr Park in Ann
Arbor as a non scoring team meet.
Edwards, who is redshirting and
ran unattached, is more familiar with
middle-distance racing, as her main
sport is track in which she competes in
the 800-meter run. In order to prepare
for the 800, Edwards ran cross coun-
try this fall to get a different approach
to training.
"I'm more of a speed person than a
strength and distance person," Edwards
said. "I was really weak at the begin-
ning of the season, but cross country
helped me get stronger."
Despite her victory, cross country
has not replaced track as her preferred
running sport.
"I'm really excited to run indoor
track," Edwards said.
"Thinking about indoors is what got
me through cross country."
Michigan coach Mike McGuire was
pleased with Edwards's performance on
Friday and feels that the cross country
experience has been beneficial to her.
"It's a good springboard for getting
in shape for track," McGuire said.
McGuire was also happy with the
performance by the rest of the team,
many of whom are also running cross
country to get in shape for track.
"It was a good effort - I thought we
competed really well," McGuire said.
"We were quite a bit faster than we
were on this course earlier in the sea-
son, and that shows that all of our hard
work is paying off."
Unattached junior Chelsea Loomis
(19:15) came in third place behind
Edwards. Senior Chelsea Holman
(19:33) and Kalli Williams (19:43),
both running for Michigan, crossed the
finish line right after Loomis, placing
fourth and fifth, respectively.
McGuire was particularly impressed
with the performance of Williams - a
redshirt freshman.
"I thought she showed a quite a bit of
improvement," McGuire said.
Williams, who cut 1:15 off her previ-
ous time at Buhr Park, was delighted
about the way the team performed.
"We worked well as a team," Wil-
liams said. "It was a good way to end
the season."
Friday marked the end of the sea-
son for those who ran, as only the top
Wolverines will compete at the Big Ten
Championships on Sunday. Those who
qualified sat out to rest for the upcom-
ing meet.
McGuire feels it is a good note for
these runners to go out on.
"It's a tangible reward for all the
efforts during the fall," he said.
SHUBRA OHRI/Daily
Jennifer Gandolph had a solid game Saturday despite Michigan's loss to Wisconsin.
She had 14 kills and 19 digs, recording her seventh double-double this year.
U U
-i ---- --- -- O &
REC
SPORTS
INTRAMURALs
The University of Michigan
Department of Recreational Sports
Intramural Sports Program
www.recsports.umich.edu
734-763-3562
REC
SPORTS
INTRAMURALS
Entries taken:
Mon, 10/25 ONLY
11:00 AM - 5:30 PM
IM Building
Entry Fee:
$88.00 per team
Manager's Meeting:
MANDATORY
Wed, 10/27
6:00 PM or 9:00 PM
IM Building
i
,,. o
l s
1
w .
Entries taken:
Mon, 10/25 ONLY
11:00 AM - 5:30 PM
IM Building
Entry Fee:
$55.00 per team
Manager's Meeting:
MANDATORY
Wed, 10/27
7:15 PM
IM Building
Play begins:
Thurs, 10/28
M Building
yball
Play begins:
Thu rs, 10/28
Mitchell Fields
F
I
Wall
Flag Football
k'
Entries due:
Wed, 11/03
4:30 PM
IM Building
Entry Fee:
$180.00 per team
Manager's Meeting:
MANDATORY
Thur, 11/04
6:30 PM
IM Building
Tournament Dates:
1 4 )' 1 41/10
Entries due:
Thurs, 11/04
4:30 PM
IM Building
Entry Fee:
$25.00 per team
$5.00 per individual
f
Entries als
taken online
Run Date:
Sat, 11/06, 9:00 AM
Mitchell Fields/Gallup Park
Yost Ice Arena
fI
II
I
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