The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com Wednesday, October 7, 2009 - 7A The Michigan Daily - michigandailycom Wednesday, October 7, 2009 - 7A 'M' cruises in fall ball BY LUKE PASCH ly cleared the grandstand in right For the Daily field highlighted an eight-run second inning for Michigan. Eastern Michi- The Alumni Field announcer was gan never recovered from that blow, sure to forewarn the crowd of the as the Eagles couldn't find a rhythm relaxed nature of yesterday's Michi- at the plate. gan softball team exhibition game The Wolverines tossed a no-hitter against Eastern Michigan. in a combined effort from freshman "This game will be played under Stephanie Speierman and junior Jor- scrimmage rules, folks - which is, dan Taylor. Four innings of no-hit pretty much anything goes," he said. ball and eight strikeouts sums up an But fall ball doesn't mean relaxing excellent home debut for Speierman. for the players. The Wolverines are "I felt good and comfortable out looking to improve in all aspects of there," Speierman said. "Itfeltnice to the game, especially after being upset finally pitch on Alumni Field." by No. 8 Georgia in theWomen's Col- But Speierman's ability to baffle lege World Series lastseason. the Eagles' hitters yesterday hasn't "The goal for fall season is for given her false hopes about her role everyone to get better and ulti- for the upcoming season. mately play better than last spring," Michigan possesses a lethal one- Michigan coach Carol Hutchins said. two punch in its pitching rotation "Being good last season doesn't make between All-Americans Jordan Tay- you good this time around -you still lor and Nikki Nemitz. They com- need to earn it.Youneed to be hungry bined for 47 wins and 591 strikeouts to do better." last year, including in Women's Col- The team's preparation for the lege World Series play. 2010 spring season seems to be "Jordan and Nikkihave been great going well. Pitching changes, ros- with showing me the ropes," Speier- ter moves and pinch-runners were man said. "Ilook forward to learning used at free will as the Wolver- alotandplayingbehindtwoexcellent ines cruised to a 12-0 win over the pitchers this season." Eagles. Michigan will be on the road this Sophomore third baseman Maggie Saturday as the team wraps up fall Viefhaus's two-run homer that near- play at Michigan State. Wolverines look to buck recent road woes ZACHARY MEISNER/Daily Fifth-year senior David Moosman has taken over at center while David Molk continues to rehab a broken foot. Bigweek ahead for OL BY ANDY REID game. Daily Sports Editor Molk, whom Michigan coach Rich Rodriguez called one of Through the first three games, Michigan's best players, was an the Michigan football team's integral part of the line. A bevy offensive line was a testament to of players have played somewhere what stability can do for a team. on the line in the last two games A year after producing some of as the group tries to find a solid the worst offensive numbers in solution until Molk can come back program history, the Wolverines in a few weeks. were riding high as the No.1 scor- "We didn't play our best up ing offense in the Big Ten and the front, but there were a lot of No. 4 rushing offense in the coun- (players) that didn't play their try. position," Rodriguez said. "But Two games later - thanks they still competed. I'm proud of largely to a dismal 28-yard ground the guys. There was no panic, and performance against Michigan we know we can play better. But State - the offense looks a lot there are a lot of things we've got more vulnerable. And on the line; to fix." the team is struggling with some During Monday's press confer- of the same issues it had last sea- ence, Ortmann was still unclear son. as to why the Spartans dominated "It's tough to get in a rhythm the line of scrimmage as much as when you're changing so much they did. on a certain side of the ball," left The fifth-year senior said he tackle Mark Ortmann said. "You watched the game .three times saw it last year with the guard on Sunday - taking both good position. It's hard to build the and bad things from it and still communication with someone couldn't pinpoint exactly what when you don't know maybe what went wrong. their abilities are." But one thing was for sure: the Last season, the Wolverines Spartan defensive line was quick, struggled to find a group that which gave it a huge jump off the gelled enough to become a con- bat. sistent line. This season, they "Once you do that to an offen- had found it - until center David sive lineman, they're in panic Molk went down with a broken mode," Ortmann said. "It's not by foot during the Eastern Michigan any sense a strength thing, and that's why I hesitated to say they out-physicaled us. They just beat us off the ball. "Watching the film, Michigan State timed it up well and they beat us off the ball. They almost put us in the defensive mode." Having gone up against both Molk and his replacement David Moosman in practice, defensive tackle Mike Martin said Molk was quicker with his off-hand, which could help keep the defense out of the backfield. But he also said Moosman was very good at get- ting his body'in front of defenders quickly. Whatever the problem, the Wolverines need to figure out a solution quickly. This Saturday, they are traveling to a raucous Kinnick Stadium to play Iowa, which has one of the best defen- sive lines in the nation. "This will be maybe the biggest challenge our guys have faced so far this year, with the front seven of Iowa," Rodriguez said during yesterday's teleconference. "The linebackers are very good, but. their front four is outstanding." The Hawkeyes blitz rarely and only during critical periods, but the front four is good enough to get pressure on the quarterback without extra help. That will make things espe- cially difficult for freshman quar- terback Tate Forcier, because not only will he have to avoid strong pressure in the pocket, but he'll have to pick apart as many as seven Hawkeyes in coverage. "When they don't beat them- selves, they'll control the game," Rodriguez said of Iowa. And up front, the Hawkeyes excel at exactly what put the Wol- verines on their heels last week - jumping the ball. "They're just very good up front and very aggressive," Rodriguez said. "They jump the ball well. They get off the ball pretty quick. So it's a good challenge certainly for our guys. We'll have to play a lot better than we did this past weekend." Of course, Molk's presence would help bolster the line against the toughest defense the Wolverines will face all year. But Rodriguez and Co. aren't making excuses. Instead, they will continue to try to find a combination up front that will click and a game plan that will take down the vaunted Hawkeyes. "As coaches, we've got to get them in some other players maybe to help, and we just weren't sharp," Rodriguez said. "And when you play a pretty solid team and you're not sharp on the road, it's going to cost you." BY ZAKPYZIK For the Daily Michigan women's soccer head coach Greg Ryan has more on the line than usual this Sunday. The' Wolverines head to East Lansing to challenge No.20 Michigan State, and Ryan's undefeated intrastate record falls into the hands - or feet - of his players. Since 1999, the home teamhas not lostagameintheMichigan-Michigan State rivalry. The two teams ended last year's match ina stalemate. "Lyst yeer, we played on the road, and I really didn't think that it had much of an impact," Ryan said. "It's close enough that a lot of Michigan fans can get there. Last year, I did not feel that it was an away game." The team says being on the road will not change the game plan, even though Michigan has recently had difficulty in away games, the Wol- verines will visit the Spartans with a 1-5 road record.In hopes of reversing this trend, Michigan will have to shut down two game-changing Spartans. Michigan State senior forward Lauren Hill and sophomore forward Laura Heyboer are a threatening duo who have accumulated seven assists and 15 goals for the fast-paced Spar- tan offense. "We can't defend them individu- ally," Ryan said. "It's goingto take our whole backline to try and keep them quiet." But even if the Spartans appear to have the advantage, they will still have to finda way to control Wolver- ine junior Amanda Bowery. Bowery, who plays both defense and forward, is the only current Michigan player who has scored in thelast425minutesofplay-andshe did ittwice. The Wolverines will have to click offensivelyquicklyinordertocounter Michigan State's aggressive offense. Freshman forward Holly Hein, who netted game-winning goals against Miami and Oakland, will have a big role in trying to get Michi- gan's offense to click. As a young player going into hostile rival terri- tory, it willbe a difficult task. "I'm just excited to play in a big rivalry game," Hein said. "We have been playingreally well, we just need to go out there and playthe same that we would, anywhere, any day. We need to build the attack and get the numbers up." Michigan's offense will have to unify on the field to compete. In the lastthreegames,theWolverineshave struggled to outscore their opponents by morethan one point. The teamhas scored more goals on set plays than they have the run of play. "Our offense needs to connect on our passes, and we have to make sure that our final ball is good," Bowery said. "Sometimes we get nervous and just kick the ball away,but we need to make sure that we are composed." Though the Spartans are favored, the Wolverines have had unexpected success in this role this season. Mich- igan defeated No. 21 Miami 1-0 and lost a one goal contest against No. 17 Southern Cal. "This is nothing new to us," Ryan said. "We are used to playing as the underdog." DHunwick stands tall in net , ; 6 g ' __ BY MICHAEL FLOREK Daily Sports Writer Michigan hockey coach Red Berenson has made it clear that junior backup goalie Shawn Hun- wick is a "relief pitcher" this sea- Like most relief pitchers, Hun- wick wasn't told when he was going to get into the game in NOTEBOOK Michigan's final exhibition game against Wind- sor. When he took over for junior Bryan Hogan in the second period, Sunday, it was his first appearance since his freshman year. "I knew before the game I was going to get in at some point, but I thought it would be later in the game," Hunwick said. "Obviously I was a little bit nervous. I wanted to prove to the coaches and the teammates what I could do for the team. (The nerves) got out of there pretty quick once I made my first save." 'Hunwick's teammates didn't give him the smoothest start. Just four minutes after Hunwick entered the game, an intercepted pass led to a two-man break for Windsor. Hunwick got a piece of the ensuing one-timer, but eventu- ally the puck got past him. After another quick goal by the visi- tors, Michigan found itself down 2-1 midway through the game to a team it beat 12-1 in its previous meeting. Hunwick shut Windsor down the rest of the way, making nine saves in 40 minutes en route to his first career win. "He fought it in the beginning," Berenson said. "He got it together and by the end of the game, I think he was feeling back in his groove. It's hard when you don't play any games, but now at least we have ro*4k - ? 4 / SAIDALSALAH/Daily Junior Shawn Hunwick saw his first playing time since his freshman year in last weekend's exhibition win over Windsor. buy one beverage get one HALF OFF[ lot equal or lesser value) 1741 Plymouth Rd * Ann Arbor BIGGBY for franchise info www.biggby.com COFFEE Good at this location only. Notlgood with any other offer. No copies of this coupon will be accepted. Offer expires 10/13/09. .11-u, K him ready when we need him." After last season, when there was uncertainty between the pipes, Berenson has made it clear that Hogan, who eventually won the job last year, is his number one goalie. Berenson also said he doesn't know when or if Hunwick will play again this season. NEW GAME, NEW LINES: After puttingsophomoreforward Robbie Czarnik on the first line with Louie Caporusso and David Wohlberg in the season's two exhibition games, junior Ben Winnett will step into that role when the Wolverines head to Alaska this weekend. Winnett put up two assists on the opening weekend, but he fig- ures to be more of a role player when playing with offensively tal- ented players such as Wohlberg and Caporusso. "I think (Winnett will) be a good complement on that line," Berenson said. "He'll make good, subtle, plays and I think he's got better offense than hisnumbers have shown." Freshman Chris Brown will remain at right wing for the sec- ond line, playing with juniors Carl Hagelin and Matt Rust. Czarnik will drop down to the third line to play with freshman A.J. Treais and senior Ben Lebler. "(The lines) might last a game, or a period, or a week or two," Berenson said. "Right now we're just trying to put players together and see who's playing well and isn't, and what they could add, and try to -get some experienced players with freshman players." NOTES: Michigan's two games up in Alaska this weekend are exempt from the maximum 34 games they are allowed to play. This encourages more teams to travel to Alaska. Michigan will actually play 37 games this year, with the outdoor game in Wiscon- sin also exempt, the exemptions.... The only player on the roster not to play in at least one of the preseason games was third-string freshman goalie Patrick Summers. ... A.J. Treais was the only one of the six freshmen to score a goal on open- ing weekend.