The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com
Thursday, October 22, 2009 - 5A
The Michigan Daily - michigandailycom Thursday, October 22, 2009 - 5A
Emotional, one-
goal loss takes toll
on Coach Pankratz
By MICHAEL LAURILA
For the Daily
As time expired in yesterday's
Michigan fieldhockeygame against
Kent State, coach Marcia Pank-
ratz epitomizes the Wolverines'
frustration perfectly. She angrily
asked the referee "if he wanted to
take this into the parking lot" as
he walked
away, the MICHIGAN 0
outburst KENT STATE 1
relatingto
the lack of penalties called against
the Golden Flashes.
Throughout the 1-0 loss, the
Wolverines could not get their
offense going and had few, if any,
good scoring opportunities.
"Kent State played inspired
today," Pankratz said. "We just
couldn't get the ball into the goal,
and when we got to the 25-yard-
line, our attack kind of bogged
down and got stagnant."
Throughoutthe year, Michigan
has been a very successful scoring
team, especially when it has had
corner opportunities. In yester-
day's game, the Wolverines didn't
have a corner until there was 2:25
left in the second half, and they
could not string together a series
of passes to get things going. Pank-
ratz said that Michigan's lack of
corners was definitely a problem.
"We didn't get any corners
called for us," she said. "We just
got to try to work on our finite
skills in drawing corners and get
some shots in the circle."
Before Kent State senior Laurie
Wilkins scored with 12:45 remain-
inginthesecond halfoffofadeflec-
tion in the air, the Wolverines had
shut down numerous Kent State
scoring opportunities. Whether
it was due to apathetic players or
questionable calls by referees, all
three Michigan coaches showed
frustration during the game.
Even though the Wolverines
came in as the favorite, the Golden
Flashes had the most recent victo-
ry in the all-time series, a 1-0 win
last year in Ann Arbor. Coming
into this game with a10-3-3 record
against Kent State and a 7-9 over-
all record this season, Michigan
was looking to avenge its loss last
season and improve its sub-500
record this year.
This season, juniors Meredith
Way and Alicia Mayer, have led the
Michigan offense. The junior duo
has a combined 21 goals and five
assiststhis season, which accounts
for half of the team's entire goal
count. But they were held almost
shotless and could not get any-
thing going yesterday.
The Wolverines next face Mich-
igan State, a team that is coming
in with a 12-3 overall record and a
3-0 conference record. With a big
win, Michigan could get its season
back on the right track.
Junior Troy Woolfolk, who played cornerback last year but moved back to strong safety before the start of the 2009 season, has now switched backto corner.
Woolfolk could stay at
corner permanently
By ANDY REID
DailySportsEditor
Troy Woolfolk's move from
safety to cornerback in the week
leading up to the Iowa game had
all the makings of a temporary
switch. There were questions at
the position, but the coaching
staff seemed to be fixing them
quickly.
Boubacar Cissoko, the original
starting corner, had'fallen out of
the coaching staff's favor and was
suspended for "a violation of team
rules."-And his backup, J.T. Floyd,
seemed to be on the brink of suc-
cess, but just needed a little more
time. In order to shore up the field
opposite defensive stalwart Don-
ovan Warren, the coaches decided
Woolfolk could work - until Cis-
soko or Floyd came around - and
moved walk-on Jordan Kovacs to
Woolfolk's strong safety position.
What a difference a couple
weeks make.
"If we get in a pinch, we can
put Troy back (to safety)," Michi-
gan coach Rich Rodriguez said
yesterday. "But there's so much
different teaching to learn, so
we want to get Troy settled in at
corner. Him and Boubacar (need)
to get solid there. Depending on
the emergence of Floyd and some
of the other guys, we'll see what
happens."
Woolfolk played cornerback
all last season, switching to safe-
ty before the 2009 season. The
logic behind the initial was that
his blistering speed could help
eliminate big plays, which were a
huge problem for the 2008 Wol-
verines.
guez said when asked where
Woolfolk should ideally line up.
"(The defensive coaches) feel
more comfortable with Troy now
at corner and try to develop more
depth and conpetition at safety.
But an injury could change that.
As we stand today, they feel good
with where the guys are at."
So far, Wolverine defenders
have been pleased with Wool-
BeforetheIowa folk's perfor-
game, Woolfolk mance at his old
said he enjoyed "W e feel more position.
playing safety - Woolfolk's
but afterward, he-comfortable speed helped
was a bit confused him against the
about where he with Troy Hawkeyes, who
belonged. oddly tested War-
"It felt kind of at corner." ren instead. War-
natural," he said ren responded
after playing cor- with a pick-six
nerback again. "I and a slew of
just play whatever they want me near-interceptions.
to play. I have a good aspect to "Troy's a very physical guy,
bring to the team because I can and he can run, so he can get up
play versatile, so I'll go to corner, to the line of scrimmage," line-
safety, even quarterback if you backer Stevie Brown said. "He
need me to." can press the receiver, and he can
Even the coaching staff is hav- also run with a receiver, too. So
ing trouble figuring out where he he fits well for us."
is most effective. But Woolfolk's reemergence
"That's a good question, and at cornerback doesn't mean
we've gone back and forth talking Floyd and Cissoko won't get any
with the defensive staff," Rodri- reps. Since Cissoko's suspension,
Rodriguez has maintained that
his return to the playing field will
be determined by his actions off it
- both in the classroom and in his
interaction with the team.
And it seems as if Cissoko is
making the proper strides in both
departments.
Although Rodriguez had been
firm in his stance that Cissoko
will not play, he seemed to take
a softer approach to the Detroit
native's case whenie met with
the media yesterday.
"It really depends on the next
couple days whether he plays or
not on Saturday," Rodriguez said.
"He won't start, but whether he
dresses, is allowed to travel or has
the opportunity to play depends
on the next couple of days."
As for Floyd, he was one of very
few players not to see game action
against Delaware State last week-
end. But the benching had noth-
ing to do with his progression at
cornerback - he was very sick
leading into the game.
"I saw J.T. last night after prac-
tice, and-he was feeling a lot bet-
ter," Rodriguez said. "He was hit
really hard with the flu. He feels
a lot better now, so hopefully he'll
get back in the mix and play some
for us."
The infamous block 'M is
returning to the Big House for
Saturday's Penn State game.
Want to know how it looks from the
press box? Follow @michdailysports.
Forcier famiihar with JoePa
Learn more about the Peace Lorps.
Attend an information session.
Thursday, October 22nd
7:00 p.m.
Michigan Union
800.424.85801 www.peacecorps.gov
Life is callin. How far will you go?
By COURTNEY RATKOWIAK
DailySportsEditor
For both quarterbacks starting
in Saturday's game, the man on the
other sideline will look very familiar.
Fifth-year senior quarterback
Daryll Clark
ended up com- _NTE___K_
mitting to Penn
State, but his first scholarship offer
was from West Virginia and now-
Michigan coach Rich Rodriguez.
"There's just something about
them," Clark, a three-star recruit,
told-rivals.com in 2003. "I camped
up there, and I have been excited
about them ever since that. They
were like the first team to come
after me and offer me. That's some-
thing that is important to me."
West Virginia was Clark's initial
frontrunner, but after he visited
State College in December 2003,
Penn State became his favorite. He
eventually eliminated Rodriguez's
team from consideration, but he
and Rodriguez were still friendly
when they ran into each other at
Big Ten Media Day in July.
"We recruited him a little bit,"
Rodriguez said Monday. "He's an
outstanding athlete. He's achieved
an awful lot. I think he's one of the
best quarterbacks in the country."
Though Rodriguez remembered
recruiting Clark, Penn State coach
Joe Paterno couldn't recall many
specifics about recruiting now-
Michigan freshman quarterback
Tate Forcier.
"I think he may have only been
a junior when he came, and he was
from a long way off, and I don't
know whether I spent a lot of time
withhim,"Paternosaid."Youknow,
well-presented, looked good, spoke
well, very, very modest about his
achievements, those kind of things.
"I remember that about him, but
we just didn't get close enough for
me to really say I knew him well."
Forcier was on the sidelines for
the Penn State-Ohio State game
in October 2007, and Penn State
mailed its offer letter to Forcier on
Feb. 6, 2008, with a handwritten
addendum by Paterno at the end.
"P.S. Tate - We hope you have
interest in Penn State and that 2008
will be a great year for you. Joe P,"
Paterno wrote, according to the
scanned-in offer letter on the Forcier
family website, QBforce.com.
MOLK TO START SATURDAY:
Rodriguez confirmed yesterday
that center David Molk will start
at center against Penn State this
weekend, with David Moosman
at guard and either Perry Dor-
restein or Mark Huyge at tackle.
Molk broke his foot against East-
ern Michigan on Sept. 19 and was
originally projected to be out four
to six weeks.
The redshirt sophomore had sur-
gery on his foot on the Monday after
the Eastern Michigan game and fre-
quently used what Rodriguez called
a "bone stimulator," a device that the
coach said could be applied to the
foot to accelerate healing.
Molk was cleared to practice ear-
lier this week, and Rodriguez said
Monday that Tuesday's full-contact
practice would be the bestbarometer
for Molk's readiness. By the time he
playsonSaturday, hewillhavesatout
for exactly five weeks.
"He did quite a bit yesterday in
full pads," Rodriguez said yesterday.
"The report today from the trainers
is that he handled it well. He was a
little sore, as could be expected, butI
think he came through it all well. He
should be fine for Saturday."
INJURY UPDATE: Rodriguez
said Forcier's head (concussion) and
shoulder are both feeling better,
which can be attributed to sitting out
for most of Saturday's game against
Delaware State. Forcier participated
in full practices Monday and Tues-
day, which he had not been able to
do for weeks.
"The head thing has cleared up,
but with the shoulder, he's able to get
more zip onthe ball and run around a
little more," Rodriguez said.
Rodriguez also said that backup
cornerback J.T. Floyd was feeling "a
lot better" yesterday after coming
down with the flu and missing last
week'sgame against Delaware State.
With Floyd healthy again, the cor-
nerback position will have a bit more
depth Saturday, though cornerback-
turned-safety-turned-cornerback
Troy Woolfolk will still start oppo-
site junior Donovan Warren.
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