0 6B - Tuesday, September 4, 2007 The Michigan Daily Gates locks down mighty Fighting Irish offense in tie 0 Junior Brandon Fellows finished fourth for Michigan on Friday, running over 20 seconds faster than at the start of last season. Michigan runners miles ahead lf ast year's 1mes By CHRIS MESZAROS Daily Sports Writer Replacing four-year starter Megan Tuura was enough of a challenge for junior goalkeeper Madison Gates. Starting her campaign against No. 2 Notre Dame could have been menacing. Yet Gates was able to stifle the potent Irish offense, earning a 0- 0 stalemate to open the Michigan women's soccer team's season. The Baldwinsdale, N.Y., native parried all 10 shots she faced. "Madison had an awesome game," senior captain Lindsay Lottrell said. "When you have a goalie playing great, it gives the rest of us so much confidence." Gatesneeded allthesupportshe could get in the opening minutes of the second half when the Fight- ing Irish's offense posed their greatest threat to the Wolverines. Gates's diving save off a shot from Notre Dame's Kerri Hanks proved to be the highlight of the day. But it was the crossbar that was Gates's biggest help as Notre Dame's Brittany Bock missed her mark on a header. "Madison made a couple of key saves and didn't give up many rebounds," Michigan coach Deb- bie Rademacher said. "It was definitely the best game of her career." Michigan's defense, led by Lottrell, also hindered the Irish offense. It applied pressure to Notre Dame's forwards, especial- ly Hanks, who led the NCAA in goals and assists last season. The Michigan defenders forced Notre Dame to take low-percent- age shots, abating the pressure facing Gates. "The defense was amazing," Gates said. "It makes us such a good team to have a solid defense, especially since they were really strong on their marks." As good as Michigan's defense was, it wasn't until the second overtime that the Wolverine 4 4 By COURTNEY RATKOWIAK Daily Sports Writer The Michigan men's cross coun- try team started the year on the same course as in 2006 - but a faster-paced race proved the Wol- verines are already ahead of last season. Michigan kicked off the season on Friday by hosting the 10,000- meter Michigan Open and had a top team time that was more than 20 seconds faster than now-junior Brandon Fellows's winning time last season. Fellows and senior Victor Gras finished together in 31:53, with Gras in the third position and Fel- lows fourth overall. Gras said the Wolverines ran faster than last year because they paced themselves with the eventual first- and second-place runners, both from Eastern Michigan. "Last year, they took it out really slow, and this year, we started going at a good pace from the get-go," Gras said. "The (Eastern Michigan runners) made the whole race faster for everybody." Just five Wolverines competed, while the rest of the team ran unat- tached. By running unattached in non-scoring meets, athletes still have the option to redshirt the sea- son if they suffer an early-season injury. Junior Lex Williams, an All- Big Ten runner last season who ran unattached on Friday, finished three seconds behind Gras and Fel- lows to match his fifth-place finish at last year's Michigan Open. The times were personal bests for all three of the top-five athletes, an accomplishment that was more impressive because the team is just starting its training season. "It's really just been running miles, so we haven't yet been doing anything too hard," Fellowssaid. "It looks good to be able to run faster than last year without having done any workouts." Three ofMichigan's potentialtop- five runners - senior Mike Woods, junior John Black and junior Sean McNamara - did not run in the meet due to minor injuries. All three will be instrumental to qualifying for the NCAA Championship meet, a goal the team has been unable to accomplish since 2004. After finishing second in the 2006 Big Ten meet, Michigan fiz- zled in the NCAA regional to end its season earlier than expected. Starting this season faster than expected, Gras said the team will work at a steady pace so Michigan is at its best in November. "I'm really excited - this is prob- ably the best team we've had since I've been here, but it'sjust going to be a matter of getting it together," Gras said. "Our goal is to run well at the end of the season, which is something we haven't been able to do the past two years because we failed to make Nationals." Michigan is off until Sep. 14 when it travels to East Lansing for the Spartan Invitational. EMMA NOLAN-ABRAHAMIAN/daily Senior Melissa Dobbyn had an opportunity to break a scoreless tie with a free kick in the second overtime. offense hit its stride. Senior Melissa Dobbyn direct- ed a pass to fellow senior Katie Bohard, who had beaten the Irish defense, when the Notre Dame goalkeeper interfered with Bohard, giving Michigan a free kick and a chance to win. But Dobbyn's effort sailed over the net, stifling Michigan's best attempt to notch the upset win. Despite the tie, the Wolverines were pleased with their perfor- mance, especially given Notre Dame's talent. "It was important for our team to know that we could compete with a top team," Rademacher said. "We came out to play with the same fury and aggression as Notre Dame did." It was especially important to evaluate how the new starters at midfield and goalkeeper would play against a top national pro- gram. "We have a great group of play- ers and have a lot of talent," Lot- trell said. "We were fighting with them throughout the game but this game also gives us something to build from." Frosh gets first in opener By JASON KOHLER Daily Sports Writer How does the women's cross country team follow up its fifth- consecutive Big Ten Tile and a third-place finish in the NCAA Championships? With a first place finish from a freshman runner who wasn't around to experience last year's success. In her first collegiate race at the Wolverine Open on Friday, Dani- elle Tauro raced her way to first with a time of 18:22. "For a freshman to win the whole thing shows how well Dani- elle ran," fifth-year senior Erin Webster said. Four other Michigan runners finished directly behind Tauro to dominate the top five. "It was great to see the girls with the block 'M' on their shirts and to know that they were my teammates," Tauro said. Michigan coach Mike McGuire decided to use the Wolverine Open as an early opportunity to test his young runners, resting veterans like Webster, who won the Big Ten Championship last year, and red- shirt junior Nicole Edwards, who finished 12th in the NCAA Cham- pionship. "We have a good combination of established veterans and talent of first- and second-year runners, which will make for agood blend," McGuire said. Many of the young runners, including Tauro, ran unattached from the University so that they would not exhaust their redshirt in case of an early-season injury. Their success will provide the team versatility and depth later in the season. "I think in our sport, you need to have a continuation of differ- ent individuals step up," Webster said. "We don't know who our top five are going to be on any given weekend. It really takes everyone fighting for a spot because you can never guarantee that one individu- al will be there next weekend." Along with the young talent, the team returns a core of senior tal- ent, including senior Alyson Kohl- meier, Edwards and Webster. "They're goingto be our leaders, no doubt about it," McGuire said. "They are going to be at the front of the pack in every race." Because Michigan's top run- ners didn't compete, little can be inferred about the team from Friday's race. But the early-season meet proved that the Wolverines don't necessarily need their best runners to perform well. The runners who sat out on Fri- day will join the rest of the team to begin their season Saturday at the Indiana Open. For now, the young runners can enjoy the success of the first meet. But the veterans are not shy to point out that the season has just begun. "For being this early in the sea- son, it was a good effort, but we definitely have a lot more to come," Webster said. "It's not going to be the best we run all season." 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