The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com September 15, 2008 - 3B Women's rugby makes statement in win over Spartans Big win could propel team from D-JJ to D-I By JOE STAPLETON Daily Sports Writer Remember a certain surprising upset for Michigan football last year? An upset of similar proportion occurred in 2008, except it was Michigan crossing divisions and shocking the favorites. In East Lansing on September 6, the Division II Michigan women's rugby team beat Division I Michi- gan State, 22-17. The distinction between divi- sions differs every year. College rugby is run by the United States of America Rugby Football Union, not the NCAA, which means divi- sions are made based on team per- formance, not school size. Michigan State had a strong season last year and was bumped up to the top division. Michigan entered this year in Division II, but after the Wolverines' shock- ing victory over the Spartans, the team's fortunes are looking up. "We could absolutely be moved up to Division I," said Meghan Haigh, an Engineering junior and forward for the team. How favored was Michigan State? "I have a friend who graduated last year who said, 'I'm not going to come to the game, you guys are going to get destroyed,' " Michelle Wong, an art history junior and running back, said. Michigan coach Herb Reich said preparation was key to the win. 'It started with the work we did in the winter," he said. "I chal- lenged the girls to come out and take this sport seriously, and I told them rewards will come." The big win indicates that the women's rugby team is a program on the rise. According to Haigh, the team attracts many crossover athletes from soccer, basketball and even tackle football. Since the sport is less popular among kids in the United States as it is in the rest of the world, most players dis- cover rugby later in their athletic careers. "We get all those soccer girls that have always wanted to tack- le in soccer, basketball players, lacrosse, hockey," Wong said. "All these girls with a little extra aggression, they make great play- ers." However, both Haigh and Wong were quick to point out how rugby is for all different kinds of people. "Anyone can play, obviously we get a lot of people who say, 'Oh, I'm too small," Haigh said. "There are 15 players on the field, so there's Spositions for fast kids, slow kids, whatever." Women's rugby is played with the same ball and rules as men's rugby, with the lone exception being that women cannot hit each other above the waist. But make no mistake, the match- es are still quite rough. Swollen fingers, bruises, sprains, and even dislocated shoulders are common injuries. "There is definitely a lot of icing going on after games," Haigh said. Despite the soreness, the team has picked up a bunch of impact rookies. Six first-year players played against Michigan State, with surprising results. "We were able to find some girls who were very comfortable going into contact," Reich said. "And that's something you can't teach." The team holds rookie clinics in the fall for interested students. Students are also encouraged to drop by practices from 6-8 p.m. on Tuesdays and Thursdays at Mitch- ell Field. Anyone who is inter- ested is encouraged to check out the website, http://www.umich. edu/~umwrfc/ or contact Wong at michwong@umich.edu. FILE PHOTO Michigan coach Andrew Sapp was pleased with his loom'sconsistency at the season-opening Waif tun Intercollegiate is Zionsville, Indiana. With stor-m clouds overhead, Michigan take ornamnt Unlike in previous years, team does not succumb to pressure in final round By MATT JOHNSON Daily Sports Writer The Michigan men's golf team got off to a good start in most of its tournaments last season. Finishing strong on the final day was the main problem for the Wol- verines. But Michigan maintained the lead from start to finish to win the Wolf Run Intercollegiate this weekend in Zionsville; Ind., its first tournament of the season. The Wolverines held on for the win after a great start on Satur- day. Most of the other teams in the tournament had finished the fioal round before a 3 p.m. rain delay,' but not Michigan. After the delay, no one shot under par for the Wol- verines with the course in terrible shape. "The weather wasn't good when we finished, and we lost some ground," Michigan coach Andrew Sapp said. "But some other teams struggled, too. We were fortunate to maintain our lead coming in." The Wolverines played consis- tently throughout the weekend. Senior Bill Rankin finished fourth, sophomore Lion Kim finished fifth and senior Nick Pumford finished seventh. Junior Ross Millman and sophomore Alexander Sitompul also tied for 24th. "It was a well-balanced attack for our guys," Sapp said. "Every- body contributed, and it really showed the depth on our team." The win is big for a Michigan team with high expectations this season. The Wolverines won twice last year and finished in the top five in four other tournaments, missing out on qualifying for the NCAA Championships by three strokes. Last weekend Michigan showed that it's a different team now, with the depth to close out tourna- ments. Michigan relied heavily on then- senior Tim Schaetzel last season, but enough players improved over the summer and gained experi- ence last year to make every start- er a legitimate threat to finish in the top 10 of any tournament. Michigan also defeated Big Ten foes .Illinois, Indiana, and Purdue at Wolf Run. Indiana and Illinois both finished higher than Michi- gan at the Big Ten Tournament last year. "Our guys worked hard over the summer and came back to a course they had some success on," Sapp said. "They played well and came out to prove that we're the best team in the Big Ten."