The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com
U yDecember 8, 2008 - 3B
With sweep, Blue finds fun again
SAID ALSALAH/Daly
Senior Payton Johnson helped the 200-yard freestyle relay team win its event.
Wolverines dominate at
EMU Invitational
By AMY SCARANO
Daily Sports Writer
YPSILANTI - Inside the
humid Jones Natatorium on East-
ern Michigan's campus Satur-
day the air smelled of chlorine.
Swimmers were cheering for their
teammates in bathing suits as the
snow fell outside the building. The
crowd cheered intermittently.
The No. 18 Michigan women's
swimming and diving team won
the two-day Eastern Michigan
Invitational with five career best
times and three meet records.
After day one, the Wolverines
were in first place ahead of East-
ern Michigan University by just
four points, but several successful
races Saturday propelled the Wol-
verines to a 185-point win.
"We take this one day at a time,"
Michigan assistant coach Stefanie
Kerska said. "All we think about is
being better than we were yester-
day, and I think we can safely say
that today."
Saturday brought five more
career bests when senior Hannah
Smith and junior Margaret Kelly
both broke meet records - Smith
in the 200-individual medley and
Kelly in the 500-yard freestyle.
Kelly, Smith, sophomore Natasha
Moodie and senior Payton John-
son set meet and pool records
garnering consideration for .the
NCAA championships in the 200-
yard freestyle relay.
Friday night, Smith and Kelly
both posted career bests, propel-
ling the team to first place early
in the meet. Smith raced the 100-
yard freestyle in 50 seconds flat
and Kelly finished the 200-yard
breaststroke in 2:19.16.
The Wolverines also dominated
in diving, winning the one- and
three-meter springboard events.
Freshman Amanda Lohman had
a career best 291.90 in the three-
meter event.
"I think we were off to a slow
start but we continued to focus as
the sessions went on," Kerska said.
"(Saturday) was by far our best ses-
sion. I think the girls worked hard
and earned the performances that
they had tonight."
EAST LANSING -
There was something miss-
ing from many recent
Michigan hockey press
conferences - a smile.
But after Friday's 6-1 win over
archrival Michigan State, the play-
ers couldn't help but display them
often.
Junior defenseman Chris Sum-
mers laughed off questions about
his history of scoring success
against the NICOLE
Spartans. UERACH
Sophomore ....CE
forwardAaron Hod;
Palushaj
grinned after admitting he didn't
notice that Michigan State goalie
Jeff Lerg had been pulled.
And freshman forward David
Wohlberg set off a chain of laughter
through the room when he com-
pared facing the Spartans to play-
ing against Russia.
The atmosphere was relaxed. It
was fun. And it was, well, confident.
After a huge blowout win, the Wol-
verines had no reason to be nervous
for the second game of the series.
Except, they most certainly did.
For a team that has hovered
around .500 for much of the season,
a sweep means so much more than
a split.
Forget that an unranked Michi-
gan State rode a nine-game winless
streak into the matchup. Throw out
records in a huge rivalry game.
"We've been an up-and-down
team in the first half Friday or
Saturday, Saturday or Friday,"
Michigan coach Red Berenson said
late Saturday night outside of the
visiting locker room. "It's been a
long time since we've put together
a complete weekend. It feels good
right now."
His team had just scored three
goals in the final 2:29 of the third
period to beat Michigan State, 5-3,
and stun the raucous green-and-
white crowd.
When the Wolverines punctu-
ated Saturday's come-from-behind
effort with an empty-netter, they
could finally breathe a sigh of
relief. Trailing for most of the third
frame, Michigan seemed destined
for another weekend split and
another loss at Munn Ice Arena.
But for the first time since beat-
ing Ohio State twice on Halloween
weekend, the Wolverines did what
they were supposed to - sweep the
weaker team.
Michigan knows it can't be a
.500 team forever, and this week-
end was a step in the right direc-
tion. The two victories mean as
much as - maybe more than - the
win over then-top-ranked Minne-
sota in the College Hockey Show-
case. .
There was no major let-up. The
Wolverines played two complete
games, from start to finish. An
inconsistent team showed some
consistency.
The Wolverinesbroke an 0-for-
17 stretch on their power play.
They found a starting goalie.
They again halted the Friday
loss-Saturday win pattern.
And, of course, they picked up
two conference wins, which boosts
them up to a tie for fifth in the
standings.
Saturday's press conference at
Munn was more serious, business
as usual. But the carefree, confident
attitude from the day before wasn't
completely gone. It had shown up
on the ice, where Michigan came
from a goal down twice to claw
back into the contest.
The Wolverines said the final six
games of the first half of the season
would tell them where they stand
in the conference. Berenson said
last week the series against Michi-
gan State would be a chance for
both teams to prove they're not as
bad as their records indicate.
And finally, fans can believe that
the Wolverines are better than a
.500 team.
Maybe it took playing the Spar-
tans, whom they absolutely hate. Or
perhaps, it was simply about time
all the parts of Michigan's game
would come together.
No matter what caused it, the
end results were smiles. And that
confidence must stay if the Wolver-
ines want to continue high-quality
hockey going in the second half of
the season.
And as Summers said Friday, "It
feels pretty damn good."
Come celebrate the festival of Our Lady of
Guadalupe with evening Spanish Mass and
reception to follow. Bring food to share. Be part
of a beautiful Mexican tradition!
Los invitamos a venir para celebrar la misa de
Nuestra Senora de Guadalupe. Despues de la
ceremonia tenemos una recepci6n. Los invitamos
tambien a que traigan comida para compartir y
sean parte de una bonita tradicion mexicana.
ZACHARY MEISNER/Daily
Freshman David Wohlberg is restrained by an official after a fight in Friday night's game against Michigan State.
Wohlberg earns State fans' ire
By CHRIS MESZAROS
Daily Sports Writer
EAST LANSING - David Wohl-
berg knew exactly what it took to
tick off Michigan State this week-
end.
The freshman got under the
Spartans' skin by frustrating goalie
Jeff Lerg, the Spartan defense and
perhaps unintentionally, the Mich-
igan State fans.
In the third period of Michigan's
5-3 win in East Lansing on Satur-
day, the Spartan student section
found a new enemy in the 6-foot-1
South Lyon native. -
After Wohlberg took a rough-
ing after the whistle penalty in the
third period, the Michigan State
students were antsy to pummel
Wohlberg with their version of the
"see-ya" chant.
But at Munn Ice Arena, the
chant begins as soon as a player sits
down in the penalty box. Wohlberg
would have none of that, standing
up through the entire penalty.
Eight minutes later, Wohlberg
had another penalty for cross-
checking after the whistle. Once
again he stood during the entire
penalty.
Later, instead of sitting down
on the Michigan bench, when the
State fans were going to burst into
the "see-ya" cheer, he decided to
lean over the boards, standing for
the rest of the game.
Many of the Spartan faith-
ful chanted "giant douchebag" to
BILLIKENS
From Page 1B
seemed Karpiak and Michigan's
season was coming to a close in
Lexington, Ky.
But the Wolverines are used to
these situations.
Down 2-1 in the match against
Kentucky, Michigan rallied to win
in five sets. The teamplayed in five-
set matches a handful of times dur-
ing the Big Ten season and practiced
all week simulated matches so there
was no need to pull the curtain on
the Wolverines season just yet.
They needed to keep their poise
and have their big hitters rise to
the occasion. Everyone in the gym
Wohlberg after he refused to sit
down.
What did he do to repay the
Spartan fans for their hospitality?
He assisted sophomore center
Louie Caporusso on Saturday's
game-winning goal.
With the game tied late in the
third period the newly formed top
line of Wohlberg, Caporusso and
sophomore Aaron Palushaj con-
nected on a goal with fewer than
two minutes remaining in the peri-
od.
Palushaj passed the puck up
to Wohlberg, who then relayed it
across the crease to a wide open
Caporusso. Caporusso finished
off the goal with a chip in past the
Spartan netminder.
"I saw the puck on the top of the
blue line, and I kind of cheated by
staying in the zone," Caporusso
said. "(Palushaj) sent it to Wohl-
berg and I just tried my hardest to
stay open and made sure to put it
in the open cage."
The assist was probably Wohl-
berg's most important play in a
weekend that featured two goals,
three assists and a slew of fights.
Wohlberg scored the eventual
game-winner against the Spar-
tans on Fridaynight. Nine minutes
into the second period, Caporusso
passed the puck in front of the net,
where Wohlberg nearly whiffed
on a one-timer. But Lerg was so
far out of position that the puck
dribbled into the net, giving the
Wolverines a 2-1lead.
knew the stakes.
Lose and go home. Win and have
a shot at facing No. 4-seed Nebras-
ka next weekend.
"We just needed to regroup,"
Bower said. "We all told each other
we were goingto win this match."
After kills from Karpiak and
Bower knotted the score at 11, the
Wolverines were back in conten-
tion.
With Michigan ahead 13-12 in
the final stanza, Karpiak delivered
yet another kill to put the Wolver-
ines ahead by two.
A St. Louis attack error clinched
the victory.
Karpiak and Bower combined
for 37 of 69 Michigan kills, and
Zimmerman dished out 52 assists
He added another goal in the
third period to give Michigan a 4-1
lead and put the game out of reach.
"He fit in good tonight," Michi-
gan coach Red Berenson said. "I
think he'll add something to that
line. He's a good player. He's like
(sophomore forward) Carl Hage-
lin. They both add something to
any line they play on."
On Friday, Wohlberg irritated
the Spartans once again. He was
involved in nearly all of the scrums
in the first period. He received
slashing and roughing penalties
in the period and even had his
face mask ripped off by a Spartan
player.
The Wolverine bench had a dif-
ficult time keeping the game under
control in the period. Players
fought almost every time the Wol-
verines got close to Lerg's net.
"We want them to play with
emotion, but you want the con-
trolled emotion, and you want dis-
cipline," Berenson said Friday.
"Everything happened down
around their goalie, and we were
definitely not a team that tries to
run the other team's goalie," he
said. "But when the goalie is out-
side of the crease, and he's playing
the puck, and the players are play-
ing the puck there's going to be
contact."
Wohlberg was involved in each
of those scuffles, but most impor-
tantly, Wohlberg added to the
rivalry in his first year as a Wol-
verine.
to lead the Michigan offense.
"Lexi did a great job of reading
their defense tonight and then find-
ing the open hitter," Karpiak said.
The way the tandem of Karpiak
and Bower stepped up their game
against St. Louis was evidence of a
solid, well-rounded team.
If the Wolverines are going to
advance further into the NCAA
Tournament, they need even more
stellar performances from both
players.
The scouting report on Michi-
gan might now read: "Commit to
Karpiak, Bower, and Paz."
If Nebraska makes the same mis-
take of committing its blockers too
early like St. Louis, look for another
Wolverine to step up.
El 12 de diciembre a las 7:00 p.m.
December 12 at 7:00 p.m.
Celebramos la misa en espa"ol todos los domingos a las 2:00 p.m.
St. Mary Student Parish
S 331 Thompson St.
(At the corner of Thompson & William)
734.663.0557
www.stmarystudentparish.org
Michigan Head *Pain & Neurological Institute is
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If you qualify, you will receive study related exams and
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In addition, you will be compensated for your time and travel expenses.
For more information, please call a study coordinator at (734)
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