2B - October 25, 2010
The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com
Sparty a national title
contender? Yuck.
Michigan earns "
season's first win
against Rockets
sasatdown on my own
couch to watch college
football on Saturday
(thank you, bye week), I became
pretty captivated with watching
Michigan State's comeback effort
against Northwestern.
I had counted the Spartans out
completely
before they
made their
epic comeback,
something xI
had been doing
fairly frequent-
ly all season
long. But then a
thought struck RYAN
me and has KARTJE
festered since
then.
This Michigan State team is
good. Actually scratch that. This
Michigan State team is really good.
Sure, there's some envy there.
And being in Ann Arbor, I'm far
from actually rooting for Michigan
State. But that doesn't mean you
shouldn't take a second look and
realize that Little Brother is doing
some big things.
If Michigan State beats Iowa
next week, in what could probably
be the most important football
game for the Spartans in decades,
this team is on the fast track to
winning a Big Ten championship.
But even more than that, it's not
inconceivable that Mark Danto-
nio's crew could be in the hunt for
the national championship.
I know, I cringe when I reread
that sentence. But it's absolutely
possible. in arguably the second
strongest conference in college
football, if the Spartans win out-
which is definitely possible-they'll
be competing for the spot with
teams like TCU, Boise State and
Missouri, all three of which play in
weaker conferences.
Yes, the Spartans don't play
Ohio State this year. But it doesn't
change that name recognition in
the Big Ten says quite a bit when
all is said and done.
By MICHAEL LAURILA
Daily Sports Writer
After losing to Minnesota in its
first dual meet of the season, the
Michigan women's swimming
and diving team captured its first
victory on Friday, beating Toledo
182.50 to 112.50.
Senior Natasha Moodie and
junior Caitlin Dauw led the way
for the Wolverines in Ann Arbor.
Moodie took first place in the
50- and 100-yard freestyles and
Dauw took first in the 100- and
200-yard butterfly. Both were
also members of the two first-
place relay teams.
"I was trying to improve my
stroke change in my hundred
freestyle," Moodie said. "Usu-
ally in my 100-free, by the second
half of the race I'm just thrashing
and trying to finish. I was really
working on trying to keep an effi-
cient stroke all the way through
the race."
There were a few other nota-
ble performances for Michigan,
including that of Lizzie Koselka,
who took second place in the
200-yard freestyle with a time of
1.50.78.
"I think (Koselka) probably had
one of her best in season swims
of her life today in the 200 free,"
assistant coach Stefanie Kerska
said. "She just came up short and
got touched out at the end in that
200 free, but her time is really
good and she is making some big
improvements this year."
As it is still early in the sea-
son, the Wolverines' training
schedule is very difficult right
now. They are in the process of
building an aerobic base, which
includes demanding practices
every day.
"I think the team did a really
good job of stepping up when
they were in head-to-head races,"
Dauw said. "People put their head
down and didn't breathe into their
finish, trying to get their hand on
the wall first. And I think we came
in with a really good attitude
about this meet. Like I said, we
had a hard week of training and
pretty much everybody stepped
up to do what they needed to do
to win."
The diving team had simi-
lar success at the meet. Junior
Amanda Lohman took first place 0
in the one-meter dive and fresh-
man Brianna Maroukis finished
in second place.
With Lohman being the only
remaining diver from last season,
Maroukis and fellow freshman
diver Erin Bridgewater added *
necessary depth to a depleted div-
ing team.
"I'm pleased with how they are
progressing," diving coach Kz Li
said through the athletic depart-
ment. "They had to learn a com-
pletely new technique, but they
are coming along nicely. Erin
Bridgewater has started to come
around.
"She dove off the three-meter
board for the first time in her
career today. Briana Maroukis
did okay. She is improving and
learning every day. Every meet
experience she gets, it will help
her."
In the three-meter diving
event, Lohman, Bridgewater and
Maroukis finished first, second,
and third, helping the Wolverines
to victory. Concluding the meet,
Michigan exhibitioned its final
relay as it was leading by so many
points.
"The next two weeks are going
to be really tough with Indiana
and Texas, and then we swim
number one and two with Flor-
ida and Stanford," Kerska said.
"Next week is going to be really
demanding.
"We're going to have to put the
work in Monday through the time
we leave, and then we're going to
have to stand up and swim two
of the best teams out there right
now."
ARIEL BC
Senior linebacker Obi Ezeh makes a tackle in the Wolverines' 34-17 loss to Michigan State last month.
As far as other teams who could
snag those spots, Auburn and Ore-
gon seem to be the two frontrun-
ners. And with just one matchup
against a ranked opponent left for
the Ducks (they play Arizona at
home in three weeks), I'll take the
safe bet and say you'll see them
fighting for the 'ship.
So that leaves Auburn with
half of an SEC conference sched-
ule remaining, one that includes
Alabama on the road for the Iron
Bowl and the SEC Championship.
The Tigers' path is significantly
more difficult than Sparty and
the Ducks. Obviously if they win
out, there's no reason they won't
remain atop the BCS.
But if you crunch the numbers,
there's a legitimate chance we
could see Michigan State with its
best chance at a national champi-
onship since Duffy Daugherty's
crew tied Notre Dame in the con-
troversial final game of the 1966
season.
The real question for Michi-
gan fans, however, shouldn't be
whether the Spartans merit a bid
at becoming national champs, it
should be whether that's a good
thing or not for us in Ann Arbor.
I found myself wonderingthis
question as the Spartans walked
off the field victorious and with
just one big question mark left on
the schedule. Should I be feeling
sick to my stomach at the thought?
With so much parity in this
year's college football season, it's
my opinion that Michigan State
is not the No. 1 or No. 2 best team
in the country. Oregon's offense
would probably dismantle Sparty's
'D' and no one can stop Auburn's
Cameron Newton. You could prob-
ably make the argument that TCU
or Boise State could take them
down head-to-head, as well.
So all biases aside, I have to root
against the Spartans for the sake
of the system working correctly,
right?
Yeah, that's what I'll do. With-
out a logical and good reason to
root for Michigan's rival, even if
they are just a stone's throw away,
there's no reason anything of the
sort should be happening, right?
Well, maybe Purdue or Min-
nesota or Penn State will pull off
a stunner and do what Michigan
failed so miserably to do this sea-
son.
But until then, Sparty is on track
for the national championship.
And I don't know about you, but
it's upsetting my stomach.
Kartje can be reached
at rkartje@umich.edu
Blue shares conference
title after loss to Bucks
By STEVEN KELLNER
For the Daily
In a pair of home matches to wind
down the season, the No. 12 Michi-
gan field
hockey OHIO STATE 2
team sal- MICHIGAN 1
vaged a UC-OAVIS 0
weekend MICHIGAN 2
split.
Ohio State rolled into Ann Arbor
for a Friday afternoon contest. With
a victory over the Buckeyes, Michi-
gan would claim first place outright
in the Big Ten. However, Ohio State
would get a share of the title with a
win.
The Buckeyes came in at 11-3 and
3-1 in the Big Ten, while Michigan
was 10-5 and 4-0, meaning that the
winner would be catapulted into the
No. 1spot in conference play.
The game started with a bang as
freshman forward Rachael Mack hit
streaking senior forward Zara Say-
djari, who was denied by Buckeye
goalie Ally Tunitis.
Offensive pressure from Ohio
State early on led to two shots from
point blank range, both stopped by
freshman Wolverine keeper Haley
Jones.
The first half ended in a 0-0 draw.
The Buckeyes edged Michigan, 3-2,
in both shots on goal and penalty
corners.
Michigan came out more aggres-
sively in the second, controlling the
ball for the first 10 minutes of the
half.
However, Ohio State's constant
pressure could not be stopped. At
51:38, the Buckeyes passed around
a corner eventually landing on the
stick of junior midfielder Aisling
Coyle who put it in the back left cor-
ner of the cage.
Some sloppy passing and missed
opportunities by the Wolverines did
not help the cause and gave Ohio
State yet another opportunity. With
just over seven minutes left in the
game, the Buckeyes struck again,
widening the gap to2-0.
Michigan proceeded with a rapid
comeback attempt in the final seven
minutes, but to no avail. A penalty
stroke by senior midfielder Meredith
Way with eight seconds left provid-
ed a glimmer of hope, but the game
ended soon after in a 2-1 loss.
"There's an awful lot to learn
from not winning games," Michigan
coach Marcia Pankratz said.
Michigan learned its lesson quick-
ly; following with a 2-0 win Sunday
over UC-Davis. The Wolverines
began the game with offensive pres-
sure on the Aggies. Familiar faces
for Michigan provided the offense.
Way missed on a few corner oppor-
tunities, while freshman forward
Rachael Mack was denied just out-
side the goal on multiple occasions.
"At halftime, we talked about
really posting up as forwards and
finishing. We did a better job,
because it was 0-0 at halftime, we
came through with two goals,"
junior midfielder Katie Adams said.
Four minutes into the second half,
Adams - playing in her final home
game as a Wolverine - tallied the
first goal of the contest on a rebound
from a corner.
"We had a lot of circle penetra-
tion, but ... a lot of the time our shots
are going wide or not on the goal,"
Adams said.
Michigan finished the game with
a total of 32 shots to UC-Davis's
three. The Wolverines also compiled
a substantial corner margin of 14-1,
for a 2-0 victory.
"The team has been working real-
ly hard, putting ourselves in position
to win the championship, and that
where we are," Pankratz said.
With the win on Sunday, the Wol-
verines protected Ocker Field to
the tune of a 9-2 record this season.
Michigan improves to 11-6 on the
season, and sits in a first-place tie
with Ohio State in the Big Ten at 4-1.
0
0
0
ERIN KIRKLAND/Daily
Meredith Way, shown here in an Oct.1 game against Michigan State, wasa first-team All-Big Ten selection last year. Way was
among seven seniors honored before yesterday's game.
Seniors recognized before Win
By JAMES BLUM night before with a good theme
Daily Sports Writer and they spend a lot of energy
on it," Pankratz said. "But some-
After suffering a devastat- times it's concerning that the
ing loss to rival No. 6 Ohio State team will be distracted from all
on Friday, the Michigan field of the excitement and I think
hockey seniors took the field two the seniors get sentimental and
days later with their parents to emotional because they love their
celebrate their contributions to experience at Michigan so much.
the team and take on UC-Davis. "But I thought our team did a
While Michigan coach Marcia great job of staying focused com-
Pankratz recognized the emo- ing out, following the game plan,
tional aspects of senior day, working hard."
she remained concentrated at Before the game, each senior
the task at hand, defeating the walked arm-in-arm with family
Aggies. hugged teammates and coaches
"Senior day is awfully special and received bouquets from Pan-
for the team. The freshmen do a kratz.
number on the locker room the Redshirt junior Katie Adams -
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OCTOBR8
who is sacrificing her final year of
eligibility to graduate - was not
distracted by the festivities or
emotional introduction. Adams
had a goal and an assist in No. 12
Michigan's 2-0 victory over the
Aggies.
"It was nice, I don't score too
often." Adams said. "I go in on the
corners, I insert the ball and then
I was told to start going more
towards the post and kind of get
those scrappy shots to finish it.
And that's what I did today and
it was nice to get a goal on senior
day on my last home game."
The high number of players
honored on Sunday may have
serious implications for next
year.
The Wolverines will have to
overcome the losses of Paige Lay-
tos and Alicia Mayer, who were
second-team All-Big Ten last
year, and Meredith Way, who was
first-team All-Big Ten last year as
well as four other key players.
While several freshmen have
put together impressive cam-
paigns - primarily forward
Rachael Mack, who was named
Big Ten Freshman of the week for
the fourth time last week - Mich-
igan may struggle to improve on
its impressive season without the
leadership, ability and maturity
this graduating class brings.
"All seven of them are solid,
really important players to the
program ... a lot of experience, a
lot of great skill," Pankratz said.
"Of course every year that you
have strong seniors like that it's a
transition in the team, but hope-
fully the younger kids are learn-
ing a lot from them and they will
be able to step up and continue
the tradition next year."
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