The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com

Friday, November 19, 2010 - 7A

The Michigan Daily - michigandailycom Friday, November 19, 2010 - 7A

Michigan looks to extend
streak against Lake State

'M' to face Knights
in second round of
NCAA Tournament

ByMICHAEL FLOREK
Daily Sports Editor
Last year, the Michigan hock-
ey team's sweep of Lake Supe-
rior State in the first round of
the CCHA playoffs started a six-
game win streak that earned the
Wolverines an appearance in the
NCAA Tourna-
ment for the 20th
straight year.
While extend- Michigan
ing those two Matchup:
streaks, Michi- LSSU 5-5-2;
gan kept another, Michigan
significantly less 6-3-3
important one When: Friday,
alive - 11 wins 7:35 P.M.
in a row over the
Lakers. Where: Yost
Lakers.Ice Arena
This week-
end's matchup
with Lake Supe-
rior State (3-4-1-0 CCHA, 5-5-2
overall) should be a lot easier on
the Wolverines - they only have
one streak to worry about.
The last time the Lakers won
a game against Michigan was in
early 2007, and the current class
of seniors had yet to enroll at the
University. But this weekend's
main goal isn't about extending
the streak (few, if any, players
actually know about it). It's about
coming away with six points in a
crowded CCHA in which the top
seven teams are separated by just
seven points.
"Obviously you look at the big
events on your schedule like the
Showcase, the Big Chill, the Tour-
nament, stuff like that but when it
comes down to it, every weekend
counts," senior forward Matt Rust

fa
MAX COI
Senior forward Matt Rust and the rest ot the Wolverine senior class have never lost to the Lakers.

By CASANDRA PAGNI
Daily Sports Writer
The No. 19 Michigan men's soc-
cer team has defied expectations
all season long and the team looks
to extend its sea-
son past the sec- UCF at
and round of the
NCAA Tourna- MChigan
ment on Sunday. Matchup: UCF
The Wolverines 12-4-3; Michi-
(14-4-3) didn't gan 14-4-3
just give a strong When: Sun-
showing in the Big day 2 P.M.
Ten Tournament Where:
- they took home UM Soccer
the championship complex
title. And with
that win Michi-
gan secured a first
round bye in its fourth NCAA Tour-
nament appearance.
The Wolverines face a home
matchup against Central Florida
(12-4-3) on Sunday afternoon. The
Knights received their first-ever at
large bid to the NCAA Tournament
and are coming off a 3-0 shutout of
Southern Florida in the first round
of the tournament.
The game will be a battle of two
potent offenses, as Michigan and

UCF rank 10th and 12th in the nation
respectively in total team offense.
The Wolverines flashed their bal-
anced striking abilities in their 4-1
rout of Penn State in the Big Ten
Championship game in State Col-
lege. Senior forward Justin Meram
scored two goals for Michigan,
while the Saad brothers - sopho-
more midfielder Hamoody and
freshman forward Soony -rounded
out the scoring attack.
But to stifle UCF's attack, the
Wolverines will rely heavily on their
experienced defenders, starting with
redshirt junior goalkeeper Chris
Blais. Blais made nine saves in Mich-
igan's win over Penn State and led
the Wolverines to a shutout of Wis-
consin the round before. The Seattle
native is a captain this year andlooks
to lead Michigan on Sunday.
Michigan has found success at
home this season, boasting an 8-2-1
record at the U-M Soccer Complex.
Soony leads the nation in goals with
18 and earned the TopDrawerSoc-
cer.com National Player of the Week
award for his performance against
the Nittany Lions. He will try to
help the Wolverines carry their
momentum through to the NCAA
Tournament this weekend.

Ns/Daly

said. "Especially with the CCHA,
the point race being so close this
year, losing a game or dropping a
point here or there, it's going to
cost us."
Lake Superior State is on the
bottom end of the clutter at the
top, sitting tied for sixth place
after sweeping Ferris State last
weekend. In both games, fresh-
man goalie Kevin Kapalka shutout
the Bulldogs.
No. 10 Michigan has had suc-
cess in the past scoring on the
Lakers. During the Wolverines'
11-game win streak, they aver-
aged nearly five goals a game. But
according to Michigan coach Red
Berenson, that is more luck than
anything else. If last weekend is
any indication for the Wolverines,

then Lake Superior State is com- goalie is if he can't see the puck,"
ing at the perfect time. Michigan Berenson said. "But if he can see
(5-2-1-0, 6-3-3) scored three fluke everything - most goalies in this
goals last Saturday against Notre league, if they can see it they can
Dame. stop it. Now you might get him on
All three began with similar a rebound or you might get him
stories. They started with a low- out of position on a screen shot
shot from the point. The puck then where they can't find it and that's
deflected off one or more players what you have to hope for.
stationed in front of Notre Dame "It's nothing to do with shoot-
goalie Mike Johnson, blocking ing smart with such and such a
his vision. Where they differed goalie. It's just trying to get pucks
was the finish. One came off of a to the net and getting lucky."
rebound and the other two went
directly off equipment and into
the net. But in each case, by the
time Johnson regained sight of the
puck, it was on its way past him.
And even with a new goalie, the
game plan remains the same.
"It doesn't matter who the

Offensive rebounding will be
key in road trip to Marquette

By CAITLIN SMITH
Daily Sports Writer
From a small, unranked team
to the No. 5 team in the country,
the Michigan women's basketball
team has faced opponents on both
ends of the spec-
trum this season. h
And it's only been
two games. Margette
On Friday, the Matchup:
Wolverines (1-1) Michigan 1-1;
take on a more Michigan 3-0
neutral challenge When: Tonight
as they travel to at 8 p.m.
Marquette Uni-
versity to kick- Where: Al
off a four-game McGuire
Center
road stretch.
The Golden
Eagles (2-0) were
ranked in the middle of the Big
East conference prior to the start
of the season. They feature six
seniors and return seven letter-
winners, including three starters.
Heading into the matchup with
Marquette, Michigan coach Kevin
Borseth is imposing a three-item
agenda for his team for Friday's
game.
One main focus is to win the
offensive rebound battle. In Mon-
day night's 85-76 loss to No.5 Xavi-
er, the Wolverines only grabbed
six offensive rebounds to Xavier's
14. Granted, the Musketeers have
two 6-foot-6 All-Americans; but,
height is the name of the game.
"We are going to see Big Ten
teams just like that," Borseth said
after Monday's game against Xavi-
er "Everybody in the Big Ten has
big kids that play and we just have
to get used to that."
If the Wolverines don't adjust
soon, they will pay the price in
points. On Monday, Xavier put
the game away on second efforts,
scoring 22 second-chance points.
When playing tall teams that are
difficult to stop on the defensive
end of the court, the Wolverines
are going to have to put up the
points to match.
Michigan will also need to win
the boards, it will need to play the
entire 40 minutes. In last week's
game against Alcorn State and in
the recent matchup against Xavi-
er, the Wolverines had periods of
lackluster performance.
In the home opener against the
Braves, Michigan went into half-
time with a 41-9 lead. And when
the Wolverines returned to the
court a little flat, Alcorn State
attempted a comeback. Although
Michigan continued to hold a safe
lead, the Braves managed to tally
34 points in just 20 minutes of play.
"My biggest disappointment


rOsY DIso,
Seniorguard Veronica Hicks and the Wolverines start a four-game road trip at
Marquette on Friday. The Wolverines are coming off a loss to No. 5 Xavier.
was that when we came out in the own."
second half, we couldn't run up Michigan's mentality of getti
and down the court," Borseth said the ball into Hicks, Reynolds a
after that game. "I don't think that Ryan in the post is driving its sic
it's that we didn't want to run up gish play on the court. Althou
and down the court, it just looked the veteran players have'been pt
like we couldn't." ting up top numbers in baskets a
But the Wolverines had another rebounds, they can't do it all.
dull spell duringtheir game against "We've got a choice," Borse
Xavier, and this time it proved said. "We can cash the year in afi
costly. Michigan only trailed by the second game, or we can go
three points at halftime, but the the third game and try to pl.
Musketeers quickly increased We're gonna put this one behind
their lead to 14 points. Despite a - learn from it obviously - and t
late offensive rally, led by senior and get better around that baske
guard Veronica Hicks,
the Wolverines were
unable to come back.
Xavier then sealed the
deal with a 12-5 run to be A
end the game.
So why is it that
Michigan cannot seem
to hold constant offen-
sive and defensive GB E T
pressure from start to
finish? According to
Borseth, the Wolver-
ines rely too much on
their three returning
players: Hicks, junior
guard Carmen Reyn-
olds and sophomore
guard Jenny Ryan.
"When we do throw
it in (to the post), we
tend to get stagnant
because you want to
watch that kid make
some things happen,"
Borseth said after
Monday's game. "But
then the problem is that
kid has toscore on her

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