TheqMichigan Daily - SportsMonday - October 10, 2005 - 7B
" Michigan's late surge
not enough for victory
By Daniel Bromwich
Daily Sports Writer
For two minutes and 30 seconds yesterday afternoon
at the U-M Soccer Field, everything appeared to be going
right for the Michigan women's soccer team.
At the 73:46 mark, sophomore Melissa Dobbyn thread-
ed a pass to senior Therese Heaton, standing at the top
of the 18-yard box on the right side.
Heaton sent a bouncing shot across sNN
the field and into the lower left corner CG t
of the net to tie the Wisconsin Bad-
gers at one. The Wolverines (2-3-0 N HEE
Big Ten, 6-5-2 overall) had all the
momentum and energy in the world.
But less than three minutes later, the Badgers (1-4-1,
6-6-2) struck back when junior Allison Preiss headed in
a cross from senior Amy Vermeulen for what would turn
out to be the game-winning goal. The Wolverines had a
final opportunity with 1:30 left in the game, but junior
Judy Coffman's corner kick was headed out of the box by
a Wisconsin defender to close out the match and go home
with a 2-1 victory over Michigan.
"You are really vulnerable five minutes after you score
a goal," coach Debbie Rademacher said. "Unfortunately,
* we just didn't tighten up enough defensively."
The loss was Michigan's first at home this year, and
it gave the Badgers their first Big Ten win of the year.
The Wolverines expected physical play and a competitive
match from a team winless in the conference.
Junior defender Brenna Mulholland was one of the few
players able to match the intensity of the Badgers from
start to finish. She repeatedly knocked balls out of Bad-
ger possession with well-timed slide tackles and physical
play. But not all the Wolverines were up to the challenge
at the start of the game.
"We went out there in the first half, and we were getting
shoved off the ball," Mulholland said. "That is such a good
indication of who's going to win the game - who's win-
ning the physical battles - and for some reason, which I
don't know, we weren't able to go in there and have that
confidence and that attitude."
The problem with physical play might be a recurring
one for the Wolverines.
"The one thing that we emphasized this week in prac-
tice was that every single consistent scout on us is that
we can't handle physical play," Mulholland said. "People
think that we get beat physically, and in the first part of the
first half, we did."
Wisconsin scored its first goal at the 20:30 mark,
when senior Katy Lindenmuth received a cross from
freshman Sandy Jorgensen and put her shot in the upper
right corner of the net. But after the goal, the Wolver-
ines began to wake up.
They applied consistent pressure for the rest of the half,
repeatedly taking free kicks and corner kicks, but they
could not convert. Their best opportunity came with 15
minutes left in the half. Coffman sent a free kick to the far
side of the net, but sophomore Jamie Artsis was just wide
with her header.
In the second half, the Wolverines stayed on the
attack, with multiple opportunities to score. When
Heaton put in her goal, Michigan looked to be in con-
trol of the game. But three minutes later, the Badgers
had the lead again.
According to Mulholland, it was the small things that
made for the deciding factors in the game.
"The details are what decide the game," Mulholland
said. "Not paying attention to simple details, not marking
up when they have a throw-in, and then it gets crossed
in and they get a goal. Those tiny details can lose you a
game, and it's frustrating that that's what it came down
to. You forget to do one small thing, and that can totally
change the game."
The loss changed the tone of the weekend for the soccer
team. On Friday night, Michigan pulled out a thrilling 3-2
win over Northwestern when Judy Coffman juked a Wild-
cat defender and blasted a shot into the lower left corner of
the net from the 18-yard mark with only three and a half
minutes left in the game.
But the Wolverines left the U-M Soccer Field on Sun-
day afternoon with a completely different state of mind.
ALEXANDER DZIADOSZ/Daily
Junior Brenna Mullholland's physical play was not enough to keep the Wolverines from falling to Wisconsin 2-1 yesterday afternoon at
U-M Soccer Field.
. 'M' shows special teams improvement
HOOSIERS
Continued from page 113
By James V. Dowd
Daily Sports Writer
The simple idea of starting in goal for
the No. 8 Michigan hockey team has kept
freshman Billy Sauer awake at night. One
can only imagine the extra stress that came
from spending more than 25 minutes on
the penalty kill during this weekend's
series with Quinnipiac.
But Sauer was relieved when his team-
mates shut down 14 of the Bobcats' 16
power plays.
"I'm definitely pleased with our penalty
kill" Sauer said. "I don't think our defense
could block more shots. We're definitely
doing great in the department and our hit-
ting is great."
After the Wolverines' power play
went 1-for-10 in last weekend's exhibi-
tion game against Toronto, coach Red
Berenson had his team working on spe-
cial teams - both power play and pen-
alty kill - all week long. Senior captain
Andrew Ebbett said the key to the pen-
alty kill success was keeping attackers
out of the high-percentage scoring zone
between the faceoff circles.
"We just try to make them work around
the boards all they want," Ebbett said. "As
long as they don't get any shots from good
angles. If they get the puck in the middle,
we want to block the shots. I think we did
a good job not letting them get any shots
from the slot or at the back door."
During the early parts of this season,
a strong penalty kill will be essential for
Michigan as the team's 11 freshmen adjust
to college hockey's strict officiating. Dur-
ing Saturday night's game, freshmen
accounted for 18 of Michigan's 22 penalty
minutes.
BOBCATS
Continued from page 1B
The lead did not last for long, as Quin-
nipiac forward Brian Leitch banged the
puck past Michigan goalie Billy Sauer,
tying the game at one.
Quinnipiac defenseman Dan Hen-
ningson added a power-play goal with
less than two minutes left in the game,
capping off the scoring in the 5-3 Wol-
verine win.
Hunwick added two assists to his
three goals, making him the first Wol-
verine to tally five points in a game
since Mike Comrie scored a goal and
notched four assists on Nov. 5, 1999
against Ohio State. Johnson added
three assists, giving him four points on
the night.
"Our first job is to keep pucks out
of the net," Johnson said. "Chipping in
offensively is just a bonus for us, and we
had a fortunate night."
On Friday night, Quinnipiac put up a
tougher fight period, but the result was
the same - a Michigan win. After a
scoreless first, the Wolverines scored
twice in the second. Center Danny Far-
"I think it's just a matter of getting used
to the refs right now," Ebbett said. "Obvi-
ously they are cracking down in the first
couple of weeks. For the first month there
will probably be penalties like you saw this
weekend. Freshmen are just getting used
to playing at this level, it's a little quicker
than juniors."
Sauer also got help in earning his vic-
tory at the other end of the ice. When
Michigan was on the power play, it was
significantly more successful than it was
during last weekend's meager performance
against Toronto. During the Toronto game,
Michigan took 27 shots with a man advan-
tage, but managed to put just one in, when
sophomore Chad Kolarik knocked the
puck home from the back door.
After working on establishing a power
play in practice this week, the Wolverines
took just 19 shots on their 17 power plays
during the Quinnipiac series. But this time
around, the shots were more carefully
selected and resulted in three goals.
"We're getting there slowly," alternate
captain T.J. Hensick said. "I think the more
we work on it in practice and the more we
get the chemistry down, things will get
better. It was definitely improved from last
week to this week but we still have a lot
to do."
Hensick and his power play linemates
clicked into top form this weekend, notch-
ing all three of the Wolverines' power-play
scores. All three of the skaters on Hen-
sick's line - himself, Kolarik and sopho-
more Kevin Porter - earned a point on
the power play during the series. Defense-
man Matt Hunwick, a defenseman, scored
two of his three Saturday goals with a man
advantage.
Even though defenseman Jack John-
dig beat Bobcat goalie Bud Fisher for
Michigan's first score of the year. Then,
the Wolverines capitalized on a two-
man advantage, with left wing Kevin
Porter making the score 2-0.
Things became interesting in the
third when Quinnipiac forward Joe
Dumais beat Sauer, cutting the Michi-
gan lead to one with less than three
"You always get chances (to score) against a good team, and the differ-
ence is that they were finishing their chances at a much higher rate than we
were," Burns said. "Regardless of how they scored their first goal, (they
had) chances before that to get on the board. That's something we're waiting
to see our team put together."
Indiana's first goal against Michigan was scored by Nguyen 53 minutes
into the game. A scrum in front of the net and a foul against the Wolverines
allowed for a penalty kick. Nguyen's shot went to the lower right corner past
a diving Dzubay.
"I think (the penalty kick) was a weak call," Dzubay said. "But you have
to deal with it and play on. I thought we did a pretty good job of that."
After the goal, Dzubay tried to get his team pumped up by yelling at
them to 'step up' and 'not give up.' Despite losing ground on the game, the
Wolverines managed to play at an elevated level of play.
"There wasn't any panic on our side, " Burns said. "We don't like going
down a goal, but there wasn't any panic. And after that goal a lot of the
energy came out of the game, and we started to call on the bench players to
see if we could get it back. That was really the overall tactic that we thought
Indiana couldn't last through."
To the Wolverines' dismay the Hoosiers continued to make consistent
breaks to the goal, but Dzubay turned away six shots in second half.
"You've got to give a lot of credit to Dzubay," Burns said. "He is such a
strong goalkeeper. He keeps us in games long enough to figure out how to
win them, but today we couldn't do that."
Indiana was able to convert its second goal at 79:56 when junior defender
Julian Dieterle found sophomore Josh Tudela at the top of the goal box and
Tudela connected with the ball, sending it through the Michigan defense
and past Dzubay. The ball sank into the right corner and ended any hope of
a comeback for the Wolverines.
When the game concluded, the Michigan players looked defeated and
frustrated with the loss, but Burns found solace in the fact that his team is
developing its form and making it work in game situations.
"We had a great work ethic in the game against a team that is as strong as
they are because they work hard," Burns said. "Indiana is a bunch of guys
that all buy into the theme that, if they don't step up, they can be replaced
by the (guys on the) bench. I think our team is beginning to work towards
this theme now that we have so much depth. Our next-game may have a dif-
ferent ending."
JOIN DAILY SPORTs.
WE MAY NOT MAKE MUCH, BUT IT'S
MORE THAN WE'D BANK IN THE NHL.
RODRIGO GAYA/Daily
T.J. Hensick's power play line notched three goals against Quinnipiac this weekend.
son and Hunwick combined for five
power-play points in the series, they
could have notched several more. Many
times the pair, as well as Michigan's
other defensive pairings, tended to look
for an extra pass rather than a shot, per-
haps limiting their chances to score.
minutes left. But Porter put the game
away 44 seconds later as he tipped in a
pass from assistant captain T.J. Hen-
sick, giving the Wolverines a 3-1 win.
Sauer made 25 saves in the game.
With the weekend sweep, Michigan
is off to its first 2-0-0 start since the
1999-2000 season. The Wolverines
will look to stay unbeaten in the early
"Sometimes we are too patient," Hen-
sick said. "Sometimes we just need to get
shots on net from the point to create things.
It forces them to come out and play our
defenders so we can get low. That can cre-
ate weaker shots like rebounds or deflec-
tions, but it depends on the situation."
season when they host No. 3 Boston
College Friday night at Yost Ice Arena.
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