The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com
2B - November 23, 2009
HUSKIES
From page 1B
behind the are, for 22 points
and six rebounds. The senior
also reached a career milestone,
picking up his 500th rebound as
a Wolverine.
Though Harris led the team
in scoring (25 points), he was
inconsistent all night, shooting
just 8-of-21. But his free throws
kept Michigan in the game early
and he finished 8-of-11 from the
charity stripe.
The Huskies started the game
playing a 1-3-1 defense that gave
the Wolverines trouble. And
while Michigan, did get some
good looks in the opening min-
utes, the team didn't hit its
shots, making just 38 percent in
the game. Only Harris and Sims
finished the contest with more
than 10 points.
Michigan coach John Beilein
was concerned with his team's
interior defense and rebound-
ing. Houston Baptist's lead-
ing scorer, Mario Flaherty (17
points), picked up nine offensive
rebounds and turned most of
them into baskets. Overall, the
Huskies outrebounded Michi-
gan 52-39.
Beilein hopes the game's
opening minutes will be a teach-
ing tool, particularly as the team
heads to Lake Buena Vista, Fla.
this Thursday to battle Creigh-
ton in the Old Spice Classic.
"We haven't struggled in a
game since Oklahoma beat us
(last year), " Beilein said. "You
forget what it's like, and it's
important that we learn from
the experience of playing teams.
They were very aggressive and
it's certainly better than when
we would have just walked away
from somebody. We'll learn from
it."
CUIF REEDER/Daily
Ohio State fans celebrate after Saturday's win. The Buckeye faithful came out in full force for the game, and by the end of the game, were ouder than Michigan fans.
Too iTuc re Uin the Big House
Ynou all heard it. The first
time Ohio State fans
attempted the "O-H-
1-0" chantt
around the
massive bowl
of Michigan
Stadium,it was
drowned out in
an onslaught
of boos and
hatred. ANDY
By the end REID
of the fourth
quarter -
when it was
apparent that the Wolverines
would fall to their most hated
rival for the sixth consecutive
year - Michigan fans lacked the
energy and passion to dam the
flood of Buckeye joy.
"O-H-I-O" rang out in the Big
House, over and over, for what
seemed like half a century. The
signs came out - scarlet-and-gray
text reading "Rich Rodriguez,
we love you!" and "2,191 days and
counting" and "Another Buckeye
Championship" - to taunt the
Michigan faithful even more.
And following Tate Forcier's
fourth and fStal interception,
the enormous Ohio State fac-
tion began to chant, "This is our
house, this is our house."
And, you know what? For that
day, it was.
"It felt good," Buckeye receiver
Ray Small said. "Every time I've
been here I've celebrated after the
gamee. It felt kind of homey.
And the only people to blame
for that are Michigan fans. Those
who gave up on this season. Those
who sold their tickets on Stub-
Hub or EBay. Those who had the
audacity to sell their tickets to
the greatest rivalry in sport to the
opposing team's fares.
You know what happens when
a Michigan fan tries to scalp a
ticket in Columbus? The seller
looks you up and down, surveys
your maize-and-blue attire and
succinctly says, "Fuck you." He
turns around and tries to sell to
someone else.
Buckeye fans apparently didn't
meet the same resistance Satur-
day.
I can't count the number of
Brutus the Buckeye dolls I saw
or the number of times I heard
that "Hang on Sloopy" song when
I walked around the tailgating
scene at Ann Arbor Pioneer.
But having that many Ohio
State fans in Michigan Stadium is
downright embarrassing.
The entire south end zone
looked be red. Maybe the Buckeye
fans' attire just stood out that
ruch, but the rest of the stadium
seemed- to e housing a lot of
Buckeye fans, too. A member of
the Athletic Department said it
reminded him of the 1969 game in
that aspect, with the sheer num-
ber of people making the trip up
from Columbus.
And that's pretty much the only
way in which Saturday's contest
resembled the famous 1969 game.
When the Buckeyes trotted
over to their fanbase in post-
game celebration - a sight that's
become all too familiar after eight
home losses in the last two years
- they sang the fight song and
swayed to the alma mater as if the
game had been played in Ohio Sta-
dium. It might as well have been.
I will give credit to the student
section, which came out in full
force, but the rest of the stadium
was absolutely unacceptable.
I realize the team sucked this
year, to put it bluntly. But this
was Michigan-Ohio State, and
it ended up being a pretty good
game, despite five offensive turn-
overs.
To see that much red in Michi-
gan Stadium was embarrassing,
simple as that.
And if you sold your ticket this
weekend, you were part of the
problem.
-Reid can be reached at
andyreidumich.edu.
Lehigh too much for
'M'in first dual meet
Wolverines struggle one more match, when redshirt
junior and team captain Antho-
to wrestle fr full - ny Biondo defeated Lehigh's Joe
seven minutes in loss Kennedy 6-4.
Still, the Wolverines struggled
even when they won.
By AMY PARLAPIANO "Anthony Biondo won the
For The Daily match, but he stopped wrestling
when he got the lead," McFarland
During the No. 21 Michigan said. "That's been a problem that
men's wrestling team's first dual I need to fix. You have to compete
match of the season yesterday, for seven minutes."
both the crowd and the Michigan On the whole, Michigan lacked
bench chanted two words: "Keep aggressiveness and toughness
wrestling." yesterday. When the Wolverines
But the Wolverines couldn't got behind, they seemed to lose
stage a comeback. An inability to spirit.
capitalize in scoring situations "It's the effort and being a
led to a disappointing defeat, competitor and a warrior when
21-9, to No. 14 Lehigh. you get on the mat," McFarland
Though there was a strong said. "And some of our guys just
turnout of maize-and-blue-clad didn't step up tonight."
fans, some even donning claws, Sophomore captain Zac' Ste-
Michigan didn't give them much vens (133 pounds) was one of the
to cheer about. few who did step up, winning his
Freshman Sean Boyle (125 early match 7-5 to tie the score
pounds) lost the first match 4-0, at 3-3. Unlike many of his team-
and the team went on to lose mates' matches, Stevens was in
three of the four next matches control much of the entire bout.
to go down 12-3 at intermission. "Zac stayed aggressive,"
Despite pleas from their bench, McFarland said. "He's got that
the Wolverines simply couldn't great toughness and that's what
wrestle strongfor the entire seven it takes to win matches. I've got
minutes of a match. guys that didn't do that tonight,
"We had guys that, when and in the end, it cost us."
things got tough, they didn't The Wolverines have a chance
respond," Michigan coach Joe to show they have learned
McFarland said. their lesson when they travel
Things looked like they might to Guilderland, N.Y. on Sunday
turn around when redshirt for three sets of duals against
junior Aaron Hynes (165 pounds) Bloomsburg, American and
came out after the intermission Penn. McFarland hopes that this
and defeated Lehigh's Brandon weekend his team learned that
Hatchett in overtime. they need to stay focused both
Hyne's resilience electrified when they're behind and when
the building as he worked his way they're ahead.
back and earned a takedown with "I want my kids winning in the
30 seconds remaining to win the third period," McFarland said. "I
match and cut Lehigh's lead to want my kids winningthose tough
12-6. matches like Aaron Hynes did. It
But the rest of his teammates goes into overtime, I want my kids
couldn't keep up the momentum. winning because I want my kids
Michigan went on to win only feelingthatthey deserve to win."
From page 1B
Falcons: quick start propels'M'
last period, we showed a lot of
character killing off that penalty.
... You can hear the guys in the
locker room (after the game) -
we're all excited."
But the Wolverines weren't as
lucky in the series' opening game.
In Friday's loss, Michigan
struck first with an impressive
goal by junior center Louie Capo-
russo - just his second of the sea-
soil.
He weaved through the Bowl-
ing Green defense on the power
play and slipped a backhand past
Nick Eno.
Then, the Falcons (2-9-1) tied
the game with just over a minute
left in the first period. But the goal.
Wolverines recaptured the lead Within the next 2:22, they
with a Robbie Czarnik wrist-shot scored two more goals off of weak
goal over Eno's defensive zone
glove late in the coverage and
second frame. poor rebound
Lee Mof- "You can hear the control by
fie and Steve Michigan goalie
Kampfer each guys in the locker Bryan Hogan.
took penal- Stunned, the
ties early in the room ... tney're Wolvertres wat-
third period, nessed their
and that's when all excited." one-goal lead
Bowling Green turn into a
took control. two-goal deficit
Nine seconds within a matter
gan hockey," Caporusso said.
"Michigan isn't known to lose five
in a row.
"It doesn't sit well. It doesn't
feel good to belong to a team that
is not playing Michigan hockey-
caliber."
The Wolverines returned to
form with the decisive win on
Saturday, but that win was over a
Bowling Green team that had won
just one game this year prior to
this weekend.
The Wolverines still haven't
defeated a ranked team this sea-
son and find itself in an unfamiliar
spot, under .500 this far into the
season.
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after the Kampfer penalty, the Fal- of minutes.
cons tied the game with a 5-on-3 "Obviously, (that wasn't) Michi-
0
On Senior Night, Blue grabs key three-set victory
.Am.
Paz
wa
NC
For,
Rood,
ending
With
sota tie
Friday'
Rood s
two po
the Gol
"To
come b
legitte
us bad
proud
Michig
Thrc
Michig
all) co
sive att
and Rood lead the block on the outside, which ranks
y as Wolverines second in the conference. Early in
the first set, the 12th-ranked Gold-
move closer to en Gophers centered their block-
ers on sophomore Alex Hunt, the
AA Tournament Wolverines'hitting leader heading
into the match.
Knowing that, the coaching
By MARK BURNS staff wanted the team to "bal-
Daily SportsWriter ance out the offense," according
to senior right side hitter Megan
Juliana Paz and Veronica Bower.
Senior Night was a fitting Michigan did just that, catching
the Gophers off guard with hits
Michigan and Minne- from the right side off of slide sets
ed at 25 in the .third set of and back sets.
s volleyball game, Paz and Bower finished with six kills
cored the Wolverines' final and Rood with eight.
ints in a three-set sweep of In the third frame, the Wolver-
den Gophers. ines were down 24-20 with the
come back in game one and game on the line. But led by Paz
ack in game three against a and Rood, the team clawed its way
am- and (Minnesota) beat back.
at their place -,I'm just The duo was responsible for
of how our kids played," Michigan's last seven points en
an coach Mark Rosen said. route to its fifth consecutive win.
eughout the entire match, After the sweep of Minnesota (13-
an (12-6 BigTen, 24-7 over- 5, 22-8), the two, along with Bower
nstantly shifted its offen- and senior Cassie Petoskey, were
ack to combat Minnesota's honored with a video tribute.
The Wolverines have two more
regular-season matches on the
road next week against Ohio State
and Penn State. Rosen said his
team is peaking at the right time as
it heads into the final weekend of
the regular season and the NCAA
Tournament.
"We talk about this every year
"It's great to
send our seniors
out on such a
good note."
that the sign of a good team is
playing your best volleyball at the
end of the year, and we're play-
ing and competing the best right
now," Rosen said. "That tells me0
these kids are doing the right
thing, and we're going in the right
direction."
TOREHAN SH ARMAN/Dal
Senior Juliana Paz ard senior Veronica Rood Ied a comeback in game three against Minnesota to complete the sweep. The Wol
verines won on Senior Night and moved closer to securing an at-large bid in the NCAA Tournament for the fourth straight year.