18A - The Michigan Daily - SportsWednesday - September 7, 2005 Four hands better than two for 'M' * By Daniel Bromwich Daily Sports Writer Shot. Saved by the crossbar. Rebound. Diving save. Rebound. Another save. A third rebound. Goal. It was an inauspicious start for freshman goalie Madi- son Gates. Not even five minutes into her first collegiate start, she had already let in her first goal. But for the next 85 minutes of regulation and two 10-minute overtime periods, Gates played flawlessly, repeatedly turning away shot after shot from Texas A&M. It was not necessarily the ideal first game, starting against an aggressive, physical team ranked No. 6 in the country. But Gates was able to overcome her initial nerves and held the Aggies without a goal the rest of the game, allowing her team to come back and get the 1-1 tie. "I was nervous at first," Gates said. "But slowly, inten- sity and adrenaline took over, and I just played." She knew it wasn't going to be easy to play her first game against a team like Texas A&M, and, when the first goal was scored at 3:34, it was time for a gut-check. "I'm pretty mentally strong," Gates said. "So after I get scored on, I just stay confident, and I know I'll get back on my game within a couple minutes." Junior goalkeeper Megan Tuura has a lot of experi- ence in goal and knows how hard it is to get scored on early. "It's really hard to come back from a goal like that," Tuura said. "So I thought she did an amazing job to come back the way she did and stay strong in there." Before the weekend games, Tuura was named Big Ten Defensive Player of the Week for a school-record fourth time. So it might have surprised some to see the freshman Gates in goal on Sunday. But Michigan coach Debbie Rademacher wanted to put Gates in, and she got just the results she wanted. "We definitely need to have two goalkeepers with experience in case there is an injury," Rademacher said. "And those two are both training really hard and com- peting really well, and they both have strengths that can help us, so we want to make sure that Madison gets expe- rience as well." One commonly used strategy is to go easy on fresh- men, bringing them along slowly and only giving them action after part of the season has passed. But that was not what Rademacher did with Gates. "We are just going to kind of throw her in there," Rademacher said. "We put her in against one of the top teams in the country, and she did great. We're going to play it by ear with (Tuura and Gates) and just kind of take it week by week, look at our oppo- nents and our matchups." One of Gates's goals is to at least split playing time 50- 50 with Tuura this season. And due to her performance on the practice field and in the game on Sunday, she looks like she could reach it. "Right now, they are both training so hard and play- ing at such a high level that we really feel comfortable regardless of who's in there," Rademacher said. "Once we get to the playoffs, we will probably lean towards one, but right now, we feel great about both of them." The Wolverines want to win the Big Ten Champion- ship this year. In order to do that, they need to have a goalkeeper they can trust. But the women's soccer team might have just found their advantage over the competi- tion. They have two. Junior Megan Tuura will be part of the two goalie rotation this season. r I I I I I RedcetheDut-ou-reth 1 'M' SCHEDULE sit, RA.e7 Free Sanitizing, i($50 Value) with this coupon 517-783-456 www.airductcfeaners.corr I I I I I 530 S. State St. 734.763.TKTS located on the ground floor of the michigan union Your one-stop source for on- campus concerts and plays, student events, transportation, discount Cedar Point tickets and much more! www.mutotix.COM Date 9/9 9/9 9/9 9/9 9/9 9/10 9/10 9/10 9/10 9/10-11 9/11 9/11 Event Volleyball vs. Akron Field Hockey vs. Miami (OH) W Soccer at Ohio M Soccer vs. Louisville Volleyball vs. Cleveland St. W Cross Country at Great Meadows Invitational Field Hockey vs. Old Dominion Football vs. Notre Dame Volleyball vs. Illinois State M Golf at Hawkeye Intercollegiate W Soccer at Miami (OH) M Soccer vs. Long Island Location Ann Arbor Ann Arbor Athens, Ohio Ann Arbor Ann Arbor The Plains, Va. Ann Arbor Ann Arbor Ann Arbor Iowa City, Iowa Oxford, Ohio Ann Arbor Time 12 p.m. 2 p.m. 4 p.m. 7 p.m. 7:30 p.m. 9 a.m. 10 a.m. 12 p.m. 12 p.m. TBA 1 p.m. 2:00 p.m. Meeting the National Air Duct Cleaners Assoc. Standards L. .. . ... .. ... .. .. .. .. .. ... . Many changes in new AP Poll Associated Press Oklahoma's opening day loss sent the Sooners tumbling from the top 10 of the Associated Press poll-for the first time in almost four years, Auburn stumbled all the way out of the rankings while it only took Charlie Weis just one game to get Notre Dame back in. And of course, Southern Cal. is still No. 1. USC has been No. 1 for 20 straight polls dating back to late in the 2003 season, leaving the Trojans one short of the record set by Miami from 2001-02. USC received 61 of 65 first-place votes in the poll released Tuesday. No.2 Texas got the other four first-place votes. The 18th-ranked Sooners dropped 11 spots in the AP media poll after a 17-10 loss at home to TCU Saturday. The last time Oklahoma, which has played in the last two Bowl Champi- onship Series title games, wasn't in the top 10 was Dec. 2, 2001. "Sometimes it concerns you that when you have won for a period time, the players start thinking you have a right to win," Sooners coach Bob Stoops said. "You have to earn it every play, and I say that every week. We didn't go out there and do it last week, and TCU played harder and tougher than we did." Auburn, coming off an undefeated season and No. 2 final ranking, had its 15-game winning streak snapped by Georgia Tech, 23-14. After start- ing the season ranked 16th, the Tigers have now been relegated to "others receiving votes." Ray Ratto of The San Francisco Chronicle was one of eight voters to drop Oklahoma and Auburn out of the first regular-season poll. "I have a real hard time looking at a team that's 0-1 and keeping them in the poll," he said. "I don't think you get points for losing your opener. "When they get back to 4-1.and 5-1 they'll be back in." AP TOP 25 (first-place votes in parentheses) TEAM 1. Southern Cal. (61) 2. Texas (4) 3. Michigan 4. Ohio State 5. LSU 6. Tennessee 7. Virginia Tech 8. Iowa 9. Georgia 10. Florida 11. Florida State 12. Louisville 13. Purdue 14. Miami 15. Arizona State 16. California 17. Georgia Tech REC 1-0 1-0 1-0 1-0 0-0 1-0 1-0 1-0 1-0 1-0 1-0 1-0 0-0 0-1 1-0 1-0 1-0 0 .4 PTS 1,621 1,541 1,360 1,301 1,291 1,280 1,253 1,146 1,131 1,129 1.064 911 740 710 553 514 459 Pvs 1 2 4 6 5 3 8 11 13 10 14 12 15 9 20 19 -7 I