The Michigan Daily - Thursday, February 10, 2005 - 9A
Porter taking
new approach
* I INTERNATIONAL SOCCER
Early goals secure
, win for USA soccer
By tan Robinson
Daily Sports Writer
As he stretches before practice, soph-
omore sprinter Jeff Porter appears to
be enjoying himself. He laughs while
joking around with some of his team-
mates.
He is taking a different approach than
he did last year.
"The biggest difference between this
year and last year is that we enjoy work-
ing out together," Porter said.
Porter enjoys training with his team-
mates, whether they are sprinters, dis-
tance runners or field athletes.
"Every day, I look forward to com-
ing to practice," Porter said. "Last year
wasn't so much of a team. The team was
much more divided."
Michigan's men's track coach Ron
Warhurst believes that performing well
in meets can improve someone's atti-
tude. And three-fourths of the team has
set personal bests this year.
"When you perform well, you have
more fun," Warhurst said. "(Porter) has
found success both athletically and aca-
demically."
Porter hopes that this new attitude
will translate to continued success on
the track. Last season, he won the 60-
meter hurdles at the Big Ten Champion-
ships and earned the Big Ten Freshman
of the Year award. Despite this success,
Porter had higher goals.
"I missed out on going to Nationals
last year," Porter said. "I want to win the
Big Ten title and place in Nationals."
He believes that he is in a good posi-
tion to accomplish his goals.
"I am ahead of where I was last year,"
Porter said. "I am in better shape than I
was last year, and I am having more fun
than I did last year."
Warhurst believes that Porter has the
character to become a great runner.
"He is a great teammate and very
coachable," Warhurst said. "He is a
powerful runner."
This season, Porter has competed in
the 60-meter hurdles and 60-meter dash
but will focus on the hurdles. He has
captured two titles in the hurdles this
year, and he posted an NCAA provi-
sional time of 7.89 seconds at the Meyo
Invitational, just .02 seconds shy of
his personal best. Although Porter has
IUNY UING/Uaily
Sophomore Jeff Porter competes in two events but focuses on the 60-meter hurdles.
turned in a provisional time, he has not
yet earned an automatic spot in NCAA
Indoor Championships.
"If (Porter) wants to make it to
Nationals, he needs to improve his time
by two tenths of a second," Warhurst
said. "He has a good shot to do it."
Warhurst thinks that, as Porter begins
to train lighter, he will post faster
times.
Porter plans on running both the
sprint and hurdles this weekend when
Michigan competes at the Sykes-Sabok
Challenge Cup in State College, Penn.
Duke edges out in-state rival UNC
PORT-OF-SPAIN, Trinidad (AP) -
Fifteen years later, the United States still
knows how to spoil Trinidad's party.
Eddie Johnson kept up his incredible
run of goals when he scored in the 30th
minute, Eddie Lewis boosted the lead
early in the second half and the United
States beat Trinidad and Tobago 2-1 yes-
terday in the opener of the final round of
World Cup qualifying.
Kasey Keller, who made a 23-hour
trip from Germany on Monday to get to
the game, made a sliding save on Leslie
Fitzpatrick on a breakaway eight minutes
into the second half that denied a tying
goal. Keller also made several fine stops
in the first half on Stern John and Dwight
Yorke, playing his first official game for
T&T since June 2001.
Less than three weeks ago, the Ameri-
cans didn't even know if they would
have their top players or would send a
team of minor leaguers because of a
labor dispute. But an interim settlement
ensured the regulars would be on the
field through 2005, and the 11th-ranked
U.S. team imposed its will on Trinidad
and Tobago, ranked 61st, until tiring in
the final minutes.
"It's massive," Keller said, "especially
with all the drama that's gone on around
the team. The guys came together and
got a great victory."
Until Angus Eve scored in the 89th
minute on a cross that went in off Keller's
hand, the home team didn't have much to
cheer for. The United States, which plays
its next qualifier at Mexico on March
27, is 23-0-7 against North and Central
American and Caribbean rivals since a
September 2001 loss at Costa Rica. The
Americans haven't lost to a Caribbean
opponent since a 1994 defeat in Trini-
dad.
"When you write the story of this
game, there were a bunch of reasons
why we couldn't be successful today,"
U.S. coach Bruce Arena said. "We never
agreed with that. I think the way our
BURKE
continued from page 8A
And sure, to be fair, some of
Crisler's problems have come from
the fact that Michigan hasn't been
to the NCAA Tournament since
1998. The sanctions after the Ed
Martin scandal no doubt turned
people away.
It takes wins to keep people
excited about a team.
But if the Crisler crowd from
team pulled together over the last couple
of weeks to be ready to play this garde
under difficult conditions - travel, field
conditions, the heat, everything else - it
turns out to be a fantastic result."
In other World Cup qualifiers in tlN
region, Guatemala and Panama played
to a scoreless tie in Panama City, while
Mexico won 2-1 at Costa Rica.
Ash Wednesday usually is a bealfi
day in this Caribbean nation, where the
Carnival celebration that ends the previ-
ous night is huge. But the steel and samba
drums were sounding for the Soca War
riors in the searing 90-degree heat at
the Queen's Park Oval, with T&T hop-
ing to continue the celebration and exact
revenge for the November 1989 loss to
the Americans that denied it a berth at
the 1990 World Cup in Italy.
Johnson struck in the 30th minute, just
as Paul Caligiuri did 15 years ago in the
famous qualifier at nearby Hasley Craw-
ford Stadium, a game that put the United
States in soccer's top event for the first
time since 1950.
Coming down the right flank of the
80-yard-wide field, Steve Cherunoldo
crossed the ball into the penalty area and
the 20-year-old Johnson, with no defend-
ers near him on the near post, headed
the ball into the net from 12 yards out.
Goalkeeper Neil Shaka Hislop had nq
chance.
"The weight was already on the ball,"
Johnson said. "It was just about me redi-
recting it, and I thought I caught the
keeper off guard."
He has six goals in just four interna-
tional appearances and became the first
player to score in each of his first four
games with the U.S. national team. He
matched William Looby (1955) and
Brian McBride (2001) as the only player
to score in four straight games and with
six goals in qualifying already has tied
Willy Roy for third on the career scoring
list in qualifying behind Earnie Stewart
(nine) and McBride (seven).
Tuesday carried over to every game
of the season, Michigan would
chalk up plenty of victories.
Chris Burke thinks that any Michi-
gan season ticket holder who sells
his/her ticket for Saturday's game
to a Michigan State fan should bi
forced to pay a fine. Checks for
these fines can be made out to Chris
Burke and delivered to The Michigan
Daily. Chris can also be reached at
chrisbur@umich.edu.
DURHAM, N.C. (AP) - Duke slowed the pace and
made North Carolina play a halfcourt game. Under
those circumstances, nobody plays better defense than
the Blue Devils.
J.J. Redick scored 18 points, freshman DeMarcus
Nelson added 16 and No. 7 Duke forced 23 turnovers
to hold off the second-ranked Tar Heels 71-70 yester-
day night.
North Carolina squandered a chance to win in the
final seconds, never getting a shot off after inbound-
ing with 18 seconds left. David Noel dribbled the
ball out of bounds just as the buzzer sounded and the
Cameron Crazies raced onto the court, celebrating the
Blue Devils' 15th victory in the past 18 games in this
Tobacco Road rivalry.
Daniel Ewing finished with 15 points and helped
the Blue Devils (18-2, 8-2) move into a first-place tie
with North Carolina in the Atlantic Coast Conference.
Wake Forest trails both by one-half game.
Duke finished 21-of-22 from the free throw line and
made 10 3-pointers. All but one of the Blue Devils'
baskets in the second half were 3s - only a layup by
Nelson with about 10 minutes left came from inside
the arc.
Sean May had 23 points and 18 rebounds for the Tar
Heels (19-3, 8-2), who couldn't overcome their shoddy
ball control. Point guard Raymond Felton had eight
turnovers and May added five, and the top assist team in
Division I finished with only 10, 11 below its average.
Felton scored 13 points and freshman Marvin Wil-
liams had 12 for North Carolina.
But Nelson was the better first-year player in this
one. He came up big when it counted, swishing two
3-pointers in a span of about 90 seconds in the second
half to help Duke take a 49-42 lead. Williams helped
the Tar Heels rally, powering over Shavlik Randolph
for a layup that turned into a three-point play to tie it
at 53 midway through the second half.
Ewing connected on consecutive 3s, Nelson added
four free throws and Redick had another 3-pointer to
give the Blue Devils a nine-point lead. Still, North
Carolina didn't give up.
Felton scored six quick points to offset two more
free throws for Nelson, and May knocked down two at
the line to bring the Tar Heels within three. Randolph
increased the lead to five with Duke's final points -
again coming on free throws - and it was 71-66 with
less than two minutes left.
May worked inside to tip in a miss by Rashad
McCants, and Williams stuffed a layup by Nelson to
set up McCants's layup that cut the margin to one point.
Redick then was forced to launch a shot from about
28 feet with the shot clock winding down, and the Tar
Heels took possession with the game on the line.
Felton passed up an open shot to look down low for
Williams or May, and he finally passed to Noel. But
with time running out, Noel couldn't get off a shot,
and Duke survived.
McCants, the leading scorer for North Carolina,
was only 3-of-13 from the field and had 11 points.
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Duke _and UNC battled to the final seconds last night.
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