The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com Thursday September 30, 2010 - 7A The Michigan Daily michigandailycom Thursday September 30, 2010 - 7A In reserve roles, Erwin and Toon show potential TOREH AN SH ARMAN/Daily EI Watch a video that goes with this Michigan men's soccer coach Steve Burns looks on during his team's warmups at the new U-M Soccer Complex. story on MichiganDaily.com A history lesson for the Wolverines Fre Hi B3 Pow 220 ki for the team v the sea men, L have e Man giftedc row as she wa to rack Mic explain always such a all, sh :shmen follow in mental game is "beingconfident in that the team trusts (us) and that unt's footsteps, (we're) here for a reason." Slowly, as the season has pro- learning by gressed, they have discovered new strengths and made developments in observation their respective areas of weakness. Erwin, who was predominantly y EMILY FONTENOT a defensive player during high For the Daily school, is now learning her natural talent as a power swinger and just er hitter Alex Hunt, with how much damage she is capable lls, has been a steady force of in Michigan's front row. No. 22 Michigan volleyball Toon, on the other hand, has with 18 games remaining in been able to gain confidence in son. Behind her, two fresh- her blocking abilities which have exi Erwin and Molly Toon, exceeded her own expectations. merged. She said there is still room for ay see Hunt, a junior, as a improvement. outside hitter from the front Even with this confidence, well as the back row. But another force driving Erwin and asn't always in the position up these gaudy statistics. higan coach Mark Rosenver they ned this week that he wasn't sure that Hunt would make become is still n impact as she has. After .e didn't seen any playing an unwritten By STEPHEN NESBITT Daily Sports Writer The beginning of fall classes was still a week away, but when the Michigan men's soccer team gathered in its new locker room NOTEBOOK before taking the field for the season debut, the Wol- verines were given a history lesson. In preparation for the program's first game at its new $6-million masterpiece stadium on Sept. 1, Michigan coach Steve Burns sat his team down and played a video highlighting several major stadi- ums, the first games played there and the long-lasting success of the home team in each of those com- plexes. Included in the presentation was Michigan's own Big House, which was christened with a 33-0 victory over Ohio Wesleyan. At the end, the video froze on a photograph of the new U-M Soc- cer Stadium. The message was clear - it was time for this team to mark its territory. "When it showed our stadium alongside some clips from last year ... that really motivated us to go out and get that first win in our new stadium," sophomore midfielder Hamoody Saad said. On top of that, Burns decided to tack on some extra incentive for the Wolverines (4-2-3) to capital- ize early in their opener against Detroit. The coaching staff announced that the player who netted the first goal would get his name and the ball enshrined in a glass case dis- played in the soccer complex. That was motivation enough to get the offense buzzing from the onset of the match. No one was willing to let the opponent score the illustrious first goal. Sure enough, it was 28 min- utes into the game when Ham- oody's younger brother, freshman Soony Saad dipped a free kick just beneath the crossbar, etching him- self permanently in the Michigan history books. "Everyonewants therecognition ofscoringthatfirstgoal," Hamoody said. "Everyone wants that ball, but obviously in the end it was all about going for the team's victory." WOLVERINES ON TOP: Several individuals - headlined by Soony - have broken onto the national scene over the last week, joining the top ranks in the conference and across the country. A week after picking up his first career hat trick, Soony was award- ed Big Ten Co-Offensive Player of the Week honors, a spot he shared with Indiana forward Will Bruin. Soony was also named to the Top- DrawerSoccer.com National Team of the Week. Through nine games, he's amassed seven of the team's 12 tal- lies, currently putting him fourth in the nation in goals scored. Soony leads the conference in shots taken (68), putting the Wol- verines atop the Big Ten with 229 total shots. On the other side of the field, senior goalkeeper Chris Blais has made 39 saves, which leads the Big Ten. THE MONTH AHEAD:In August, the team headed to.northern Mich- igan for a week of preseason work- outs. The coaches split the team into five groups and held compe- titions to determine one winning team at the end of the week. on the final day, Burns took his athletes to the Sleeping Bear Dunes and gave them the final, most difficult task. "(They ran) from the base park out to Lake Michigan and back," Burns said. "On that run there are easily 20 big dunes that you have got to climb. We really wanted to paint a picture for them that the dunes really represent the season - there are a lot of ups and downs in every season." After losing a 1-0 match to cur- rent-No. 19 Ohio State last Satur- day, Michigan finds itself looking up a towering dune in the sched- ule. The month of October will be an enormous test to the team's endur- ance and skill. No. 24 Penn State comes to Ann Arbor on Sunday, led by junior Corey Hertzog - the conference's leader in goals (8) and points (20). But perhaps the biggest hurdle will come when the Wolverines travel to face currently unbeaten and top-ranked Akron in three weeks. Sophomore goalkeeper David Meves backstops the Zips, and after setting a school record with 17 shutouts last year, Meves has yet to allow a goal in the team's first six matches this season. A home game against another ranked opponent, No. 11 Michigan State, onOct. 30 closes out the dif- fiim onth+fir Mirhicr time during her first 12 games at Michigan. But she didn't waste her time on the bench, observing and analyzing the way opponents played, particu- larly their defenses. It aided her in moving around the block and her stats almost doubled from a mere 243 kills in 2008 to 465 in 2009. Erwin and Toon are doing the same observation Hunt did in her freshman year, as they rotate in and out of the other outside hit- ter position left up for grabs on the floor. And before one of them permanently takes the spot, she'll have to adjust to the differences of college volleyball. "It's faster," Toon explains. "You have to think a lot faster than in high school." Erwin stressed that the fun- rl-m+nnl hnc +to nvina n ctrnno, story..." Toon is the competition every day in practice. They raise each other's level of play by constantly taking on a competitive attitude. "I think we work as a team," Toon said. "We come off the court and help each other with what we can get better at." Whether it's pointing out good spots to direct a spike or what blocks the defense is commonly using, they are becoming more comfortable on the college court. "You know I think whatever they become is still an unwritten story a little bit," coach Rosen said. "But we'll see as this year pro- srraccPC " LOOKING FOR A MASS MEETING? Funny, we have one tonight. COME BY 420 MAYNARD ST. AT 7 P.M. * AND ALL YOUR DREAMS WILL COME TRUE. Martin Seligman Director, Positive Psychology Center Zellerbach Family Profrssor of Psychology University of Pennsylvania * Positive Psychology & Positive Interventions Thursday, October 7,2010,4:00 PM Rackham Auditorium (ground floor) 0 Also: Symposium on the Tanner Lecture Ruut Veenhoven, Erasmus University, Rotterdam Valerie Tiberius, University of Minnesota Kennon Sheldon, University of Missouri Friday, October 8, 2010, 9:00 AM -1:0 PM Rackham Amphitheatre (fourth floor) Lunch ofollow All events open to the public without charge (www~sa.umichedu/philosophy)