6B - October 13, 2008 The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com 6B - October13, 2008 The Michigan Daily - michigandailycom 'M' inaugurates new field, beats Buckeyes Wolverines end month-long slump with 2-0 victory at home complex By CHANTEL JENNINGS For the Daily It had been more than a month since the Wolverines celebrated a victory heading into yesterday's contest against Ohio State. They were riding a seven-game winless streak. After the disappointing play of the first 20 minutes of their game against the Buckeyes, it looked at though they were going to make it eight. That's when Michigan coach Greg Ryan looked to his freshman for help. "I kind of got on them, and I said 'I'm not going to look at you as freshmen anymore,' " Ryan said. "And they really stepped up. I think I ticked them off." The freshmen answered with two assists in the Wolverines' 2-0 win over Ohio State yesterday showing that they were the type of impact players Ryan wanted. Less than 10 minutes into the second half, freshman Kristin Goncalves crossed the ball to senior co-captain Katie Miler on the far side of the net where she tallied her first goal of the season by putting the ball into the back of the net, underneath the diving Buckeye goalie. "I saw K.G. coming on the side- line and we made that slot," Miler said. "We've been practicing that play since preseason and it just finally came together for us." Five minutes later, sophomore Amanda Bowery, who leads the team in scoring, netted the team's second goal after finding the hole in the Buckeye defense, assisted by freshman Clare Stachel. In amatter of 15 minutes Ryan's team had managed to turn an evenly played game into one con- trolled by the Wolverines. "I think overall we just settled down and we started to play our game,"said Goncalves. "As awhole I think we just relaxed more." And that calm started with a Michigan defense-led by senior Skylar Andrews and sophomore Jackie Carron-that stood strong despite the Buckeyes' attempts to answer. The Wolverines' offense looked totally different compared to Fri- day night's 4-0 loss to No. 23 Penn State. Ryan was upset with his offense's failure to attack the net against the Nittany Lions, but yesterday his team used its supe- rior speed to penetrate the Ohio State defense and create opportu- nities for teammates. "We had Clare Stachel just running by girls, Natalie Horner turning on people in the box and shooting, and Kristen Goncalves and Amanda Bowery making those good runs behind defens- es," Ryan said. "That was the dif- ference in the game today." With its victory over Ohio State, Michigan garnered its first Big Ten victory of the season and surpassed last season's win total. And on a dayto honor the seniors, it was the freshman who sent the veterans off with a win in their last home game. 0 0 SAID ALSALAH/Daily Junior Peri Marosevic scored three goals yesterday at the Wolverines' new home soccer complex. Hat tricks Michigan's 5-1 win Way's goal not enough as Wolverines lose early lead Hoosiers comeback hands Michigan first Big Ten loss of season By AMY SCARANO For theDaily The No. 19 Michigan field hockey team learned this week- end that the Big Ten is tougher than it originally thought. The Wolverines, last year's conference champions, coasted through their first two Big Ten games heading into Sunday's matchup against Indiana (1-3 Big Ten, 7-6 overall). Michigan's conference record last season has many opponents anticipating a rematch this year. A disappoint- ing 2-1 loss derailed Michigan's effort to get through the Big Ten schedule undefeated. "I don't think we played Michi- gan hockey, to be truthful," senior captain Sarah Wilhite said "We were sluggish and really tired out there, and they really took advan- tage of us." The Wolverines (2-1 Big Ten, 6-7 overall) rode their confidence from their 2-0 start in conference through the first half of yester- day's game, but ran out of steam and lost rhythm. "What we really need to work on right off the bat is play- ing together and picking up the tempo," Wilhite said. "We should have gone out there and been able to keep the tempo of the game and we should have kept posses- sion but instead it was back and forth the whole time. That really killed us." Sophomore Meredith Way scored Michigan's first and only goal, a straight shot off the right corner, with 8:55 left in the first half. The early goal gave the Wol- verines a false sense of security. "(Indiana) wasn't having a strong season," Wilhite said. "We just thought (a win) was going to happen. We got that first goal really early and we thought we could just sit on that." They were wrong. The Hoosiers took advantage of Michigan's tired legs in the second half, and they had thor- oughly studied the Wolverines playing style before the game. Indiana took advantage of that knowledge to block Michigan's back line, its usual method for transferring the ball, forcing the Wolverines to move forward with the ball. Although the Wolverines changed how they put pressure on the Hoosiers in the second half and again in the last quarter, they weren't able to consistently score. Eight shots yielded just one goal. "We really need to work on getting the ball to the back of the net," Wilhite said. "We are get- ting shots. They are just not such good quality. We either shot wide or their goalie came up with a good save. We had chances, and they should have been finished." The Wolverines have the opportunity to finish strong starting next week when they play their next conference game against Michigan State. By DYLAN TIMMER For theDaily Junior forward Peri Marosevic couldn't have predicted his dream would come true so soon. In its inaugural game at the U-M Soccer Complex yesterday afternoon, the No. 24 Michigan men's soccer team pounded West- ern Michigan, 5-1. Marosevic tal- lied three goals on the hot October afternoon, giving him the seventh hat trick in Michigan program his- tory. "It was unbelievable," Marosevic said. "It's just an amazing feeling. ... I actually had a dream, before the game, that I would score a hat trick." And a day later, it came true at the new complex's opening. The combination of Michigan's speed, centered on Marosevic, left the Broncos defense carrying its hands on its hips in a game that was essen- tially over by halftime. "Peri showed a real hunger today and that's what it's going to take for him to help us to be successful in the future," Michigan coach Steve Burns said. "Its great to see him come out and put in aworkman-like effort and get three goals." And Marosevic's teammates were there throughout the affair, ensuring that his dream would be granted. "Everybody played with the energy and work ethic we've been asking ofthem and thathas equated to putting wins up," Burns added. "We're a team that is not built around one player, and when we're playing with good touches and working hard defensively, we can be quite good." For the Broncos, this proved to be the chemistry of a lethal injec- tion. Western Michigan's lone goal came at 32:51, just 34 seconds after Marosevic's second marker, and stunned a Wolverine defense still distracted by their own goal. But that one crack was all this horse needed to regain its focus and pull away. Four minutes later, Marosevic connected on a perfect feed from senior Jake Stacy to complete the hat trick, and the roar that erupted from the crowd dashed any hope for a Bronco comeback. By the closing minutes, Michi- gan was furlongs ahead of the Broncos. Repeated shots from sub- stitute forwards redshirt sopho- more Cam Cameron and redshirt junior Tom McCurdy that hit the posthadbecome humorous instead of disheartening. Players still on the Michigan bench smiled as they dribbledballs nearby, enjoying the final minutes of a guaranteed victory. It could have been easy to look past this game. Michigan came into this game after two huge wins against ranked opponents Notre Dame and Indiana and was set to return to conference play against a resilient Michigan State team Sat- urday. But this team does not rest, as evidenced by the second half efforts of Michigan substitutes Cameron and McCurdy. Having to leave the match earlyinthe second half because of a laceration above the right eye, Cameron was eager to makea difference when he came back later in the half. His first touch after returning to the game was Michigan's fifth goal-a powerful shot off a pass from McCurdy. "We made a goal that whenever we get a chance to go in the game, whether we play 60 minutes or 10 minutes, that we're just going to lift the game," Cameron said. The team refuses to let'up. And why would it? If the horse can stay strong, Michigan's eighth year of varsity soccer could be the most success- ful yet. 6 0 In season opener, Blue sharper on the diving boards than in the pool lanes By TIM ROHAN ing seven years ago, Richardson Daily Sports Writer has credited it for the team's late- season success. Two members of the Michigan "I'm the kind of coach (that women's diving team bounced up believes) it's really important for and down on a trampoline min- us to have real integrity in our utes before they were set to com- training," Richardson said. "And pete. They looked as if they were sometimes at the end of the week preparing themselves to bounce you don't have a whole lot to race off the board just right. with." And the practice- paid off as Even in a loss, the swimmers Michigan dominated the diving showed promise and finished out events in its season-opening meet the meet in dramatic fashion by against Minnesota. winning the 200-yard freestyle While the diving team beat its relay. competition, the swimming team Kelly and senior Hannah Smith couldn't muster enough points to each won two events Friday. Kelly fend off Minnesota's deep squad, won the 100-yard butterfly and falling 169-130. the 400-yard individual medley, "Ithoughtthey foughthard, but while Smith won both the 100- we didn't look very crisp," Michi- yard and 200-yard backstroke. gan coach Jim Richardson said. "I Senior Payton Johnson took sec- wouldn't expect us to. We are ina ond in both the 100-yard and 200- real (tough part of our training) yard butterfly. right now, and for the freshmen This time last year in a meet who have never done this, it's new, against Florida, Johnson swam experience." significantly slower times in the The team's training program 100-meter and 200-meter but- has the underclassmen reeling, terfly. Johnson improved on that but the results of prolonged work 100-metertime by more than eight are clear. The veteran swimmers seconds and beat that 200-meter are faster in the pool. time by more than 20 seconds. "Our upperclassmen performed Richardson praised his swim- better than they ever have in a mers' performance but said the meet this early," Richardson said. divers were a little bit ahead of the Richardson talked about the swimming team. The Wolverines team's hardworking training pro- rolled over Minnesota, sweep- gram duringthe week. He said the ing the three top spots in both key is the work the team puts in the one-meter and three-meter on their intense days on Mondays events. and Wednesdays. Ever since the Freshman Amanda Lohman team moved to this type of train- took first place in the one-meter competition (283.88) and third place in the three-meter competi- tion (281.70). Michigan women's diving coach Chris Bergere said he sees alot of potential in Lohman. "She's the real deal," Bergere said. "She's fast. She's flexible. She's athletic. She's going to be a real good performer for us." Junior Stephanie O'Callaghan and sophomore Jillian Drow filled out the top three spots in both diving events. Bergere thought the divers showed that the skills they were developing in practice were com- ing out in the competition. Those skills are good enough for him to rank the diving team behind just Ohio State and Indi- ana in the Big Ten. He said the Big Ten has the "toughest women's diving in the United States", add- ing that the divers must take care of their own business before wor- rying about the rest of the confer- ence. Smith, Kelly, Johnson, O'Callaghan, Drow, and Lohman hope to lead this team to success at the Big Ten Championships later in the year. Richardson sees a squad full of character and hard- working Wolverines. "They're great in the class- room," Richardson said. "They're greatinterms of the kind of people they are, their responsibility level, their commitment, they are just a great group of young women. If they do it right, I'll take whatever we get at the end." 20% OFF Any one item with this complete coupon. I NameI I Address__ SStreet1 City State Zip Em ~il ~