FALL BALL Michigan softball goes undefeat- ed in fall warm-up at home. PAGE 2B IAN HERBERT: Michigan fans singing Lloyd's praises after win. PAGE 3B The SportsMonday Column DOUBLE TROUBLE Michigan sophomore cross country run- ners face sisters in Notre Dame meet. PAGE 8B SPORTSMONDAY October 3, 2005 lB - - - -------------- Michigan 34, MICIIRAN Svcm 31 (OT) 'Heart of the team' * Hart returns to field and leads Varsity to win By Matt Vonogoni Daily Sports Editor EAST LANSING - What are the chances? What are the chances that Michigan and Michigan State would go to overtime for the second year in a row? What are the chances that both teams would miss potential game-winning field goals? And what are the chances that this will be the game that turns the Wolverines' season around? When junior Garret Rivas's 35-yard field goal split the south end zone's uprights, Michigan came away with an overtime victory for the second straight year and also may have righted its ship in the 34-31 win. "I think our leaders have done a great job of keeping this football team together," Michigan coach Lloyd Carr said. "They came in today in a tough arena, and they played their hearts out. For that, I'll never forget this day." After failing to give Michigan a three-point lead with 48 sec- onds left in the game by missing a 27-yard field goal, Rivas got another shot in the extra period. The Wolverines won the coin toss and put the Spartans on offense. On a second-and-five, Spartans quarterback Drew Stanton looked to his left for sophomore Terry Love, but junior cornerback Leon Hall provided tight coverage. As the pass came in, Hall dove and almost came away with an interception that could have sealed the game. Instead, Michigan State had another chance. But once again, Stanton was almost picked off. This time, Stanton rolled to his right and looked for Kyle Brown, but defensive pressure forced a poor throw that went straight to cornerback Morgan Trent, who dropped the easy pick. On fourth down, Spartans kicker John Goss pushed his 37-yard kick wide right - the second miss of the game for the redshirt junior. Goss's miss opened the door for Michigan to bring the Paul Bun- yan Trophy back to Ann Arbor. The Wolverines' offense used two quick runs to get the ball to the middle of the field to set up Rivas for the game-winner. On third-and-two, the junior gave Michigan the victory and redeemed himself for his previous miss. "Every week, I fantasize about that moment," Rivas said. "I want the game on my shoulders. I want that every week. It's like a dream, especially when you come to Michigan State. These conference games mean so much. It's great when it comes down to overtime and you get a chance on a stage like this." -fRivas had the game on his shoulders after a wild fourth quarter sent the game to overtime. See SPARTANS, page 5B RYAN WEINER/Daily The Wolverines celebrate sophomore Mike Hart's fourth-quarter touchdown, which put Michigan ahead, 31-24 against Intrastate rival Michigan State. Saturday's contest marked Hart's return to the field after a three-game hiatus. He also posted 218 rushing yards In the fourth 200-yard rushing game of his career. . Late goal leads 'M' in exhibition opener By Mark Glannotto Daily Sports Writer Junior captain T.J. Hensick had just unleashed a shot on Toronto goalie Ryan NT Grinnell. The rebound went to freshman Andrew Cogliano behind the goal and, as he attempted a wrap-around shot, Toron- to defender Anthony Pallotta dove across the crease to make up for the bad posi- tioning of his goalkeeper, momentarily making him the hero for Toronto. But the puck deflected off his body and, luck- ily for the Wolverines, the puck bounced right to the feet of sophomore Kevin Por- ter, who then punched it in for the game- winning goal. With that goal, the Michigan hockey team barely escaped with a 3-2 victory over the Toronto Varsity Blues at Yost Ice Arena on Sunday. Although one would think that a close game against a team that last season lost to Lake Superior State 15-1 would be troubling, the Wolverines wanted to put a positive light on the game. "I think it was a lot better for us to have a close game like this one," Hen- sick said. "We didn't want to have an 11- 0 game like we've had in the past. The team develops bad habits in games like that. The little things we picked up from this game are definitely going to help us in the long run." Freshman goalie Billy Sauer, tabbed by Michigan coach Red Berenson as the starter going into the regular season, rebounded from giving up six goals in the annual Blue-White scrimmage on Satur- day night by shutting out Toronto in his two periods of play. Although he faced just seven shots, Sauer made a couple of impressive saves including a stick save on a breakaway in the second period. "I would have liked to see more shots," Sauer said. "It's tough to keep your head in the game in an atmosphere like Yost where there's so much going on. It was a close game so I had to be there on every shot." While Toronto mustered 18 shots on goal, the Wolverines peppered Grinnell with shot after shot, accumulating 53 See ICERS, page 6B Icers off target against Toronto 0 VOLLEYBALL Spikers fall to Gophers, end trip with split By Ian Robinson Daily Sports Writer En route to a weekend split with No. 9 Min- nestoa and Iowa, the Michigan volleyball team stayed competitive with Minnesota in each of the three games but failed to close any of them (26- 30, 22-30, 25-30) on Saturday night at the Sports Pavilion in ' VI Minneapolis. Michigan coach Mark Rosen liked the toughness he saw his team exude through much of Saturday night's game, but he [owA noticed some lapses in aggres- siveness. "I didn't think we competed as well as I would like to see us compete," Rosen said. "There were times in each game where we would break for a couple of points. All of sudden, we are down to a really good team." Against a team that has reached the final four two years in a row, Michigan (2-2 Big Ten, 8-5 overall) could not afford to give away points. Facing a 15-13 deficit in the first game, Lyndsay Miller contributed two of her six blocks, igniting a Michigan run that gave it an 18-17 lead. Michi- gan dropped seven of the next eight points to put the team in an insurmountable 24-17 deficit. The Wolverines faced a similar situation in the third game. After holding a 17-15 advantage, the Gophers By H. Jose Bosch Daily Sports Editor Almost 30 seconds into Michigan's third power play of the game, junior forward T.J. Hen- sick stood idly behind the Toronto net, scanning the 0 slot for a white jer- sey in the perfect position. He found it and fired a pass to sophomore for- ward Chad Kolarik, who punched the puck over the stick side of the goalie - from the left side of the net- for Michigan's first score. The Wolverines failed to convert again the rest of the game for a total of one goal in 10 chances. "I liked the way we moved the puck," rate five-on-three power play opportu- nities during the game. Still, Michigan did not seem frus- trated by the missed opportunities, instead skating toward the net harder over the course of the game. "We were just trying to get a feel for each other and figure out what each of us are capable of doing," freshman defensemen Jack Johnson said. "Each time we're out there on the power play we'll get that much better." Berenson believed that part of the reason that Michigan was missing opportunities was that his players were still just a moment behind when mak- ing their decisions. Instead of finding the goalie out of position, he said, players were being a bit tentative and thus giving the goalie an opportunity to make a play. Hensick knows what IMP:"'.