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NTHMEN'S SOCCER 3B
1 ~THE MICHIGAN DAILY d
er supplies
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SM COLUMN 2B
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Monday, October 30, 2006
'O'must
improve
be ore
oSU
ichigan coach Lloyd
Carr said he was disap-
pointed with his
offense.
Tailback Mike
Hart thought
the Wolverines
could've played
better.
Wide
receiver Steve STEPHANIE
Breaston called imGHT
it a step back.
But the Wright on Target
offense's prob-
lems are more serious than that.
Anyone who attended Saturday's
17-3 Michigan win - or, like a
lot of students, watched it on TV
- knows the offense didn't show
up. The second-ranked Wolverines
got away with it because they lined
up against a vastly inferior oppo-
nent. But that won't be the case on
Nov. 18.
So I'm going to say what Michi-
gan players and coaches wouldn't:
The Wolverines won't beat Ohio
State if their offense doesn't
improve.
The always impressive run game
aside, Michigan's offense was slug-
gish, underwhelming and just plain
boring against Northwestern. The
Wolverines put up just 17 points on
the nation's 89th-ranked scoring
defense. Michigan State, which has
become the laughing stock of the
Big Ten over the past few weeks,
scored 41 on the Wildcats last
weekend, including38 in the sec-
ond half alone.
As unstoppable as Michigan's
defense has been, 17 points prob-
ably won't cut it against Ohio State's
high-flying offense.
The problem wasn't unique to
Saturday's game. In recent weeks,
many Wolverine drives have start-
ed off well and then sputtered after
Michigan got inside its opponents'
40-yard line. Against Northwest-
ern, the Wolverines got down to the
Wildcats' 23 on one drive but failed
to put points on the board.
On top of that, Michigan scored
See WRIGHT, Page 5B
TREVOR CAMPBELL/Daily
Safety Willis Barringer celebrates after intercepting Northwestern quarterback C.J. Bacher's pass in the fourth quarter to seal the 17-3 win for the Wolverines.
MICHIGAN 17, NORTHWESTERN 3
TOO 1'D'-PENDENT
Offiense stalls in aiy.i
Women
take
fifth
straight
By ANDY REID
Daily Sports Writer
BLOOMINGTON - Michigan
women's cross country coach Mike
McGuire's hand has five fingers.
And, after the Wolverines won the
Big Ten championship at Indiana
University Golf Course yesterday,
McGuire now has five consecutive
championship rings to fit snugly on
each of those digits.
JuniorErin Webster, who has led
the Wolverines all year, finished as
the top team runner in five events
and won four events overall Yes-
terday, she asserted herself imme-
diately and stuck with the top tier
of runners.
Eventually, she pulled ahead to
take the individual crown (20:23),
winning the race by 12 seconds.
"I've put in a lot of time and
worked really hard this year," Web-
ster said. "It feels awesome to see it
all that work paying off."
Cementing Michigan's domi-
nance in the race was junior Alyson
Kohlmeier, who finished in sec-
ond place. Kohlmeier hung in the
back of the lead pack and picked
off runners as they started to tire.
She eventually pulled into second
place and finished in that position
(20:35).
No. 3 Michigan's best five run-
ners on the day (which are used
to tally the team's final score) all
finished in the top 22, giving the
Wolverines a final score of 52. Wis-
consin finished in second place
with 91 points.
Although Webster and Kohl-
meier stole the show, McGuire was
especially congratulatory of senior
captain Arienne Field - who has
been on the team for all five Big Ten
Championships. She redshirted her
freshman season.
"I just wanted to acknowledge
Arienne because she has been such
a great asset to this team as a cap-
tain and a runner," McGuire said.
"She has run on three Big Ten
championship teams now. I just
wanted to say hats off to her."
Field, who finished in 18th place,
See TITLE, Page 3B
By SCOTT BELL
Daily Sports Editor
Michigan's offense - and
thousands of fans - must have
missed the memo: There was a
football game Saturday at the Big
House.
Luckily for the second-ranked
Wolverines and their National
Championship hopes, the defense
got it and answered the call once
again.
Michigan's defense held
Northwestern to negative rush-
ing yards and forced five turn-
overs to help the Wolverines get
past the overmatched Wildcats,
17-3. The game took place in a
rapidly emptying Big House in
less-than-favorable weather con-
ditions.
"We knew as a defense we had
to go out there and kind of hold it
down, because our offense wasn't
really moving the ball real suc-
cessfully," defensive end LaMarr
Woodley said. "The defense just
kinda said, 'Let's do it."'
Michigan's aerial attack was
slowed by weather that some
Wolverines called the worst
they've ever played in. Swirling
winds and cold temperatures
halted the passing game - quar-
terback Chad Henne finished just
10-for-20 with 116 yards.
And though the rushing num-
bers looked good on paper (202
yards), it took nearly 50 attempts
to get to that mark. On top of
that, the backs coughed the ball
up twice and a bruised back suf-
fered in the second quarter kept
Mike Hart out of action for most
of the second half.
"It's hard to get your offense
rolling when you're playing in
weather like that," Hart said.
"But no excuses, we still have
to come out here and perform. I
think we have to get better; we
definitely have to get better. I
don't think we played as well as
we could've today."
Even when the offense did
score, it was due in part to the
defense. Both Michigan touch-
downs were set up by turn-
overs created by the Wolverine
defense.
Adrian Arrington's touch-
down grab on the team's opening
possession came after Woodley
forced and recovered a fumble.
Arrington, who sat out the first
five plays of the game for disci-
plinary reasons, caught the 14-
yard touchdown pass on his first
snap of the game.
The Wolverines' second score,
a three-yard touchdown scamper
from Hart, followed an inter-
ception by Leon Hall. The drive
consisted of six plays, all runs by
Hart.
The junior finished the game
with 95 yards on the ground on
20 carries. He hurt his back after
running into a down marker in
the second quarter, and played
in just one drive in the second
half - the only one that yielded
See WILDCATS, Page 5B
Icers can't finish;
split once again
Men three better
this time around
By JAMESV. DOWD
Daily Sports Writer
One of the cardinal rules in hock-
ey's unwritten code of conduct is to
protect your goaltender. And, if an
opposing forward challenges this,
expect
a swift NORTHEASTERN 3
retalia- MICHIGAN 2
tion from
the near- NORTHEASTERN 3
est defen- MICH IGAN 4
seman.
No. 6
Michigan had the perfect opportu-
nity to exact revenge on Saturday in
the formofacomeback after North-
eastern center Joe Vitale bulldozed
Wolverines' goaltender Billy Sauer
with flying knees and elbows in the
second period of the 3-2 loss to the
Huskies.
But after sophomore defenseman
Jack Johnson quickly pummeled
Vitale onto the ice, Michigan (1-1-0
CCHA, 4-2-0 overall) failed to capi-
talize onanynewfound momentum,
going scoreless on the ensuing one-
man advantage en route to an 0-for-
12 showing on the power play.
"When we get an opportunity
like that, to get something going
before we go into intermission, it's
huge," alternate captain Jason Dest
said. "It's huge to be able to go out
for the next period with momen-
tum."
Michigan started the game brim-
ming with confidence from a 4-3
overtime victory over Northeastern
(0-2-1 Hockey East, 1-2-1 overall) on
Friday night, and opened the scor-
ing Saturday when Johnson slotted
a first period shot past Northeast-
ern goaltender Brad Thiessen.
The tide swayed in the second,
when the Huskies took a 2-1 lead
with a pair of goals just minutes
apart. The tying goal came on a
rebound that Northeastern forward
Randy Guzior slapped in from the
slot. Two minuteslater, after Michi-
gan forward JasonBailey was whis-
tied for goaltender interference,
Husky center Jimmy Russo took a
pass and dumped it in the backside
of Sauer's net.
After that point, Michigan had
six more chances on the power
play - including Vitale's aforemen-
tioned goaltender interference call
- but Thiessen continually made
easy saves while the Wolverines
failed to dig up any of the rebounds
that have been their offensive bread
and butter this season.
"You have to give credit to their
goalie," Michigan coach Red Beren-
son said. "He made the saves he
needed to make, and their defense
kept us away from any lose pucks
or second chances - I think we had
one rebound goal in the game. They
checked hard, and we rarely got
more than one isolated chance at a
time."
With Thiessen steadily protect-
ing Northeastern's lead from the
crease, the Huskies netted an insur-
ance goal halfway through the third
period. As Northeastern moved the
puck around the Michigan zone,
Chad Costello received a pass in
the left circle and slapped it past a
confused Michigan defense and an
unsuspecting Sauer.
"That was a killer goal because
By CHRIS MESZAROS
Daily Sports Writer
BLOOMINGTON - With the
Michigan men's cross country
team coming off a disappointing
fifth-place finish at last year's Big
Ten Championships, some ques-
tioned whether the Wolverines
would be able to respond this
year.
Did they ever.
Only a strong Wisconsin team
was able to hold back a resurgent
Wolverine squad as Michigan
strung together stellar perfor-
mances by sophomore Lex Wil-
liams and junior Mike Woods to
finish second overall. Five Wol-
verines finished the eight-kilome-
ter race in the top 30, helping the
team rebound from its fifth-place
finish last year.
Michigan coach Ron Warhurst
was elated by his team's perfor-
mance.
"I am very happy for the
kids," Warhurst said. "They have
worked really hard over the last
four months and really deserve
this result."
The Wolverines ran well at
one of the toughest cross country
courses in the country. Williams
and Woods conquered a hilly land-
scape to finish with times of 24:29
and 24:41, respectively. Sopho-
more Victor Gras (25:01), fresh-
man Brandon Fellows, (25:24) and
freshman Justin Switzer (25:26)
followedbehind. The trio finished
18th, 28th and 29th, respectively.
"It's a relief and a great race for
me," Woods said. "I look to build
upon this performance for the
rest of the year."
The team's second-place fin-
ish was even more impressive
considering Michigan's injuries.
Freshman Sean McNamera, who
finished second at the Michigan
Open, was forced to drop during
the race due to a groin injury.
"When one of your top five
drop out its refreshing to see our
kids perform like they did," War-
hurst said.
The team attributes its strong
performance to an intensive
training program over the past
four months. The Wolverines
trained harder this year by closely
matching the regiment set by the
Badgers, who run nearly 120 miles
a week. The Wolverines increased
their mileage from 65 miles last
year to more than 100 miles per
week this year.
"Starting twenty weeks ago,
everyone has been putting in a ton
of miles in training," sophomore
James Reichardt said. "The top
guys just have that extra talent to
get over the top."
The team then tapered training
to give its understandably weary
legs time to rest for Big Tens.
Lex Williams and the rest of
the Wolverines feel the extra work
has paid off.
"Every year, we have a goal to
do well at Big Tens," Williams
said. "This year our goal was
See HARRIERS, Page 6B
STEVEN TAI/Daly
Goaltender Billy Sauer looks on during a Husky celebration on Saturday.
goals were hard to come by," Beren- Costello's goal proved timely when
sonsaid."Whetherthatwasadefen- Thiessen gave up a rebound on a
sive zone breakdown, or a lapse at shot by Dest, which junior Kevin
the end of a shift or it surprised the Porter knocked past Thiessen with
goalie, goals like that kill you." 3:24 remaining.
In the final minutes of the game, See ICERS, Page 6B