The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com
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'M' kicks off season
with consecutive wins
Wolverines soak up
wins in Honolulu,
upset No. 10 Hawaii
By COLT ROSENSWEIG
Daily Sports Writer
In the sport known to Americans
as football, it was a miserable week-
end for Michigan. But in the sport
known as football to the rest of the
world, it couldn't have gone better.
The Michigan men's soccer team
opened its season with a 3-0 win
over Rutgers on Friday and capped
the weekend with another shutout,
beating Hofstra 1-0 on Sunday. The
Wolverines played sharp, physical
soccer despite the oppressive heat.
They seemed to put the tough 2006
season, in which far too few scoring
chances were converted into goals,
behind them.
Michigan coach Steve Burns also
felt that the styles of play for both
of the weekend's opponents were
favorable for his team, especially
Hofstra's.
"They play the game the way
we want to," Burns said. "That is,
a possession-oriented game where
they're goingtobuild outofthe back.
They look to exploit teams by pull-
ing them out of shape and quickly
switching the point of attack."
No matter what attacks either
Rutgers or Hofstra tried, they were
rebuffed.
Thanks to the tight Michigan
defense and stellar play by junior
goalkeeper Patrick Sperry - who
seta Michigan single-season record
with five shutouts last season -
Sunday's lone goal was enough for
avictory.
"So far the defense is looking
amazing," Sperry said. "It makes
my job pretty easy back there -just
communicating to the guys and
making sure they're in the right
spots. I got tested a few times (Sun-
day) and did my job, and it kind of all
works together."
The deciding tally came at 15:26
Sophomore forward Peri Marosevic scores for the Wolverines during their 3-0 win
against Rutgers on Friday night.
of the first half, courtesy of sopho-
more forward Peri Marosevic.
With senior midfielder Michael
Parke flying up the right side with
the ball, Marosevic found a space
just behind two Hofstra defenders.
Marosevic called for the ball, and
Parke hit him with a perfect pass
as the sophomore split the defense.
Pride goalkeeper Tom Johansen
dove to his right, but Marosevic's
shot slipped past Johansen's out-
stretched hands to settle in the cor-
ner of the goal.
"I was a little afraid because it
was rolling so slow, but luckily, it
went in there, so I'm happy about
it," Marosevic said.
Michigan continued to pressure
Johansen and the Hofstra defense
but was unable to score again. Red-
shirt freshman forward Cam Cam-
eron had several good chances, with
one shot going off the right goal-
post.
Despite the superb weekend, the
Wolverines don't plan to let the two
shutouts go to their heads. They are
confident in their ability to win, but
not cocky.
"I think that this is a team that
has maturity now," Burns said. "I
think they understand that you
want to start any season like this
and keep a level head and continue
to improve."
Next weekend's games on the
West Coast against Cal Northridge
and Cal Fullerton will be the first
big test for the Wolverines.
"California teams usually play
good soccer," Sperry said. "They
keep the ball on the ground and
move it well. ... We have to keep
after it, put the effort in and we'll
get the result."
By ALEX PROSPERI
Daily Sports Writer
It's said that the first match of
the season sets the tone for the
rest.
The No. 14 Michigan volleyball
team is hoping that saying holds
true.
At about 5 a.m. inAnn Arbor on
Aug. 24, the then-unranked Wol-
verines took down No. 10 Hawaii
in front of 7,343 fans at the ASICS
Rainbow Wahine Invitational in
Honolulu. Michigan (6-0) defeat-
ed the Warriors (2-2) for the first
time ever in five sets - 30-14, 30-
28,22-30,27-30 and 18-16.
"It was really sweet," senior
Lyndsay Miller said. "The first
indication of how cool the match
was was when their team started
to come up, the crowd went abso-
lutely nuts. It was a great feeling
because we all love playing in
gyms that are packed."
After winning the first two
games, the Wolverines dropped
two straight before a memorable
final game.
The upset seemed to be slipping
through the Wolverines' hands
in game five as Hawaii led 14-12.
Miller didn't let that happen.
The middle blocker recorded
three straight kills to take the
lead, 15-14. With the score 16-16,
Miller, who was making her 90th
career start, spiked down her
fourth kill of the game. An attack
error by Hawaii finally ended the
match.
"It was by far the most exciting
game that I've played in college,"
senior Sarah Draves said.
Miller's consistent play in game
five was reminiscent of the steady
output by senior Katie Bruzdzin-
ski, junior Beth Karpiak and soph-
omore Veronica Rood, all of whom
recorded 17 kills.
Michigan dominated game one
by connecting on 15 of 19 kills as
Hawaii posted a .000 attack per-
centage. Both Miller and Karpiak
went 4-for-4 on kills.
In game two, the Wolverines
didn't dominate, but came back
after losing for the majority of the
game. With the game tied 28-28,
Rood connected on her seventh
kill of the evening, and after a
Hawaii error, Michigan took a 2-0
match lead.
Facing defeat, Hawaii proved
Senior Lyndsay Miller took control in the fifth game against No.10 Hawaii to push
Michigan to a victory.
FIE LD H OCKEY
Hanging with top teams
enough for Mich igan
they would not go down without
a fight. With 23 kills, the War-
riors took down Michigan 30-22.
Even worse, the Wolverines were
up 27-22 in game four, just three
points away from solidifying the
surprise victory. But Hawaii put
on a show, scoring eight straight
points to win 30-27.
"We may have relaxed a little
bit on them," Miller said.
After taking game five, Michi-
gan would go on to defeat Oregon
State and Colorado State to win
the ASICS Rainbow Wahine Invi-
tational. Senior Stesha Selsky was
named tournament MVP and Zim-
merman and Karpiak were named
to the all-tournament team.
The victory over Hawaii was
the third highest ranked team
that head coach Mark Rosen has
beaten at Michigan.
The following week, the Wol-
verines won the Miami University
Invitational. Michigan took down
Miami (Ohio) (2-3), Pittsburgh
(1-5) and Wake Forest (0-3) all in
straight sets.
After winning two non-confer-
ence tournaments, the Wolver-
ines reached its highest ranking
in program history- moving six
spots down to No. 14 in the CSTV/
AVCA Top 25 poll.
"It's so early in the season,"
Graves said. "But we're getting
better every day and that's our
goal. Every time we step on the
court to play another team, we a;e
focused on the challenge that the
other team presents."
Michigan will roll back into
Ann Arbor for the Michigan/
Pepsi Challenge starting Sep. 7 at
Cliff Keen Arena.
By MICHAEL EISENSTEIN
Daily Sports Writer
Sure, the Michigan field hock-
ey team has a meager one win to
its three losses.
And yes, the Wolverines have
struggled to capitalize on scor-
ing opportunities in each of those
games.
But there's no need to worry
- early-season losses won't make
for a disappointing season. No. 12
Michigan has fallen to Maryland,
Wake Forest and North Carolina,
but its eyes are still set on the
NCAA Tournament's finalrounds.
The three losses have come to the
nation's top-three teams.
The most recent of these loses
was on the road against two-time
defending champion Maryland
on Sunday, a thrilling 3-2 over-
time loss in which the Wolverines
came back from a two-goal half-
time deficit.
"Now we know that we can
hang in there with one of the
top teams in the country, so that
was a confidence boost for our
whole team," senior co-captain
Lucia Belassi said. "If we can do
it now at the beginning of the sea-
son, then we're really going to be
ready for them again once we see
them in the Final Four."
Co-captain Kristen Tiner
cited Michigan's dominate per-
formance in the second half to
prove there was little difference
between them and the top-ranked
Terrapins. Tiner said Maryland
had the edge in taking corners,
which were used to win the game
in overtime.
The Wolverines erased a daunt-
ing 2-0 first-half lead despite
Maryland's 29-13 shot advantage.
And just like last year's 2-1 over-
time loss to Maryland a month
into the season, sophomore Kelly
Fitzpatrick tied the game as the
end of regulation neared.
This time it was off her own
shot's rebound in the 62nd min-
ute as she took advantage of
Maryland's goalie being out-of-
position after the first deflec-
tion.
But the comeback was damp-
ened by Michigan's lackluster
showing in extra time. The Ter-
rapins outshot the Wolverines
7-0 and finally broke through on
their second corner opportunity
after six minutes.
At the helm of a team with just
four seniors, coach Nancy Cox
isn't quite sure her young play-
ers will realize how close they
were to a victory. Cox thinks
watching game tape will help
the Wolverines realize their full
potential but is concerned with
Michigan's ability take advan-
tage of scoring chances and to
close out games.
"Quite frankly, that was the
difference (between) Maryland
and Michigan today," Cox said.
"They finished their opportu-
nities, and we had a couple of
opportunities where the ball
went wide on the post and that's
not Michigan field hockey."
Cox threw Michigan into the
fire in its first four games against
the top-three teams to see where
the team stood nationally.
"We're always going to play
the top teams in the country at
the outset of the season," Cox
said. "It gives the coaching staff
the ability to assess the program
and where we are very quickly.
"We will be a top-five field
hockey team."
And despite losing the first
three of four games, the Wolver-
ines very well could be.
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