Booters to Share Elbel with students By Arun Gopal Daily Sports Editor The Michigan men's soccer team I begin division I play in eptember. After several dominant years at the club level, the Wolverines finally received a promotion to varsi- ty status - along with the women's water polo team - in March of 1999, So, it is with much excitement and anticipation that Michigan will kick off its' inaugural varsity season this fall, and what better place to call home than the Varsity Soccer Field, right? Well, not exactly. OThe Wolverines won't be playing at the Varsity Soccer Field, the 1,500- seat venue that was constructed in 1995 forthe women's soccer team. Instead, the Michigan men will be playing their home matches at Elbel Field, which has been home to intra- mural softball, pickup football, crick- et and ultimate frisbee for several vars. The obvious question that comes o mind is, 'Why are the Michigan wen being forced to play on what is ]early not a varsity-level field?' This s especially troubling considering hat, in the Varsity Soccer Field, ichigan has a topflight facility that s only five years old. "It strictly has to do with conflicts n schedules," interim Athletic irector Bill Martin said. "The men's nd women's soccer teams have the e seasons, and there is just a lack vailable fields. So, we had to make ther arrangements" Adding fuel to the fire is the fact hat, at present, it appears that nothing as been done to ready Elbel Field for ny sort of major sporting events. On any given day, numerous stu- ents use the field for any number of creational purposes, ranging from er to sunbathing. With the start of school year only a month and a alf away, one might think that the thletic department would be showing lore urgency to make certain that lbel Field will be serviceable for the ccer team. "The field is pretty rough," Martin id. "But, I've had numerous conver- tions with coach Burns and he's ver really said anything to me about To my knowledge, we don't have y plans at this time to improve the before the season." Currently, students don't have limited access to any of Michigan's hletic facilities. Consequently, the nversion of Elbel Field from a stu- nt playground into a varsity com- ex raises another issue - will stu- nts be able to freely use Elbel in the ture? "The soccer field isn't going to take i of Elbel Field," Martin said. "To extent that students aren't interfer- with the soccer matches, I don't why they wouldn't be able to con- ue to use the field." The Michigan Daily - Monday, July 10, 2000 - 13 Blazing the recruiting trail Every year, one of the top notch football programs gets off to a red hot start in the recruiting game. This year, Michigan seems to he holding that title, with nine verbal commitments already under its belt in July. Making the pot even sweeter' for the Wolverines is the fact that they have already whisked a num- her of recruits out of states usual- ly dominated by rival schools. This includes highly rated players from Wisconsin, Tennessee, Texas and Player(position) City three from Pennsylvania that have already announced for Michigan. With the quantity and quality of the Wolverines class, www.rivals.net, a recruiting base lists Michigan as the early leader for the top class. But although the recruiting efforts to date have proved fortu- itous, Casey Paus, a highly rated quarterback from Illinois that Michigan was heavily pursuing, chose the University of Washington. Rival's rank DANNY KAUICK/Day Andy Hilbert and the rest of the Michigan hockey team have one of the toughest schedules in the country. lCers look forward to dauntin schedule LEo HENIGE(OL) CHESANING, MicH. ****(Out of five) SCOTT MCCLtNTOCK(LB) BELLE VERNON, PENN. *** ERNEsT SHAZOR(S) DETROIT DAVID UNDERWOOD(RB) MADISONVILLE, TEX. *** BRETT TRoTT(OL) MURFREESBORO, TENN.* DAN SIMEts(OL) MCKEES ROCK, PENN. **** By Dan Williams Daily Sports Editor Despite the balmy weather at pre- sent, the announcement of the University of Michigan hockey schedule Thursday signals that icier days are just around the corner. Michigan's season will commence with the annual Blue/White intrasquad scrimmage on September 29, and then it will face Wilfred Laurier the next night. The daunting schedule features potential contests with three of last year's Frozen Four teams, as well as four in-season tournaments. "It's a real tough schedule," sopho- more Andy Hilbert said. "There's no time to get into things, it's hard right from the get-go." Michigan will host the annual Ice Breaker tournament October 6-7. It will feature four of the twelve NCAA playoff teams last year, including defending NCAA champi- To be the best... The Michigan hockey teamisgoing into its 2000-2001 season with the philksophy that to be the best team in the nation, you have to go through the top competition in the nation. Here isalistofMichigansregularseasonswatch-tips withNCAA tourmamentiteamsfrom last year. OpponeentDate ColIr er O. 8 New Hampshire/North Dakota* Oct.7 MichiganState Nov.4 at Wconsin Nov. 23 St. Lawrence Dec.8 St. Lawrence Dec.9 Boston CollegefMichiganiState** [ c. 30 Michigan State** Jan.27 Michigan State** Feb.?,7 at Michigan State Mar. 2 'at the annual Ice Breaker Tournament to be hell at Yost Arena. "played inJe Lois Arena on North Dakota. In the first round, Colgate will get a rematch with the Wolverines, who bested the Red Raiders in overtime in the East Regional opener last sea- son. The other tournaments Michigan will compete in are the Johnson Nissan Classic in Anchorage, Alaska (Oct 13-14), the College Hockey Showcase (Nov 23-25), and the Great Lakes Invitational (Dec 29- 30). The Wolverines will play 28 CCHA conference games this sea- son, featuring four games each against Michigan State, Northern Michigan and Lake Superior State. Two of the games against the Spartans will take place at Detroit's Joe Louis Arena. Michigan will also square off with the Lakers at the Joe. The postseason will begin with the first round of the CCHA tournament March 9 at campus sites. 10 ofithe 12 teams qualify for the playoffs. C ACO 4) MARLIN JACKSON(CB) SHARON, PENN. MAT LENTZ(OL) ORTONVILLE, MicH. DAVID SpYTEK(DE) WAUKESHA, Wisc. ** ** - LO -n Lo I StudentI S Europe. Africa . Asia * South America 722 E ma s ioudei - com ~ wwwstuetudnivreto 8-272-9676 s nves