16 - The Michigan Daily - Tuesday, May 3, 2005
I
Blue defeats
rva for ti
By Katie Niemeyer
Daily Sports Writer
BLOOMINGTON - What could possibly have caused
Michigan water polo coach Matt Anderson to tread water
with his shoes on?
It must have been No. 11 Michigan's 8-7 victory over rival
Indiana in the finals of the Eastern Conference Champion-
ship yesterday and its subsequent automatic berth to the
NCAA Championship.
With 2:41 left in the fourth quarter, No. 10 Indiana tied the game
for the third time at seven, erasing Michigan's two-goal lead.
One minute later, the Wolverines received an ejection, which
putIndianaon the power play. The home crowd went crazy trying
to will the Hoosiers to their first lead of the game. But the Wolver-
ines killed it off and earned a power play of their own. Michigan
capitalized when sophomore Shana Welch turned a pass from the
leftiof the net to junior Megan Hausmann - posted in front of the
net - who sent the ball flying by Indiana goalie Jessica Goldner
for the game-winning goal.
"The key was the girls never came over to the sidelines with an
empty look in their eyes," Anderson said. "We knew it was going
to be tied going into the fourth - now it's time to finish it. And
that's the attitude that I've been trying to instill in them."
Michigan began the game quickly, winning the opening
swimoff and scoring on its first possession. Senior Meg Knudtsen
took a pass from senior Sheetal Narsai to take an early 1-0 lead.
The Wolverines made the most of strong opening periods all
weekend. They jumped to 3-0 lead against Bucknell and Princ-
eton in the first quarter of each of Saturday's games and never
trailed an opponent all weekend.
Even the home crowd was impressed. Murmurs of "Michigan
came to play" and "wow, their goalie's amazing" could be heard.
"They don't really have any weaknesses," Bucknell sophomore
Elizabeth Jensen said. "But we tried to get better position, because
it's really hard to score on their goalie."
Michigan goalie Betsey Armstrong was named MVP of the
tournament and selected to All-Tournament first team with her
teammate Welch.
"Betsey Armstrong has shown why she is arguably the greatest
college goalie to ever have played this game," Anderson said. "But
we won (yesterday) because Meg Knudsten decided she was going
to step up and take the team onher shoulders."
Knudsten - who recorded 13 goals before April 3 this season
'M' shocks Big Ten
FI LE P HOTO
Senior Meg Knudsten led the Wolverines with seven goals during
the Eastern Conference Championship last weekend.
- scored seven on the weekend. Knudsten and Narsai made the
All-Tournament second team.
"Meg Knudsten became a superstar," Anderson said. "She is
arguably my most dependable player. She stays in the game the
whole time, but she's alsoour No. 6 option to score the ball, maybe
even our No. 7 or (No. 8). She said, 'I'm a senior. If I'm going out
a winner or a loser, it's going to be my responsibility.' And that's
what she did."
Knudsten started the weekend off with the Wolverines' first
goal against Bucknell and then scored back-to-back goals to
increase the Michigan lead to four. Eventually the Wolverines
beat the Bison, 7-1.
Later that day Michigan pounced on Princeton, scoring five
goals before the Tigers could respond. Princeton finally lobbed
two goals over Armstrong's head to get back in the game. But the
three-goal deficit is the closest the Tigers would come, and Michi-
gan won the game, 8-3.
Then Michigan felt its sweetest victory of the season, beating
the Hoosiers for the Eastern Championship on their own turf.
"All year it's been Indiana and (Michigan) head-to-head,"
Welch said. "I think to beat them in their home pool with all the
ups and downs this season - it makes it just that much sweeter."
By Daniel Levy
Daily Sports Writer
Not many people expected a lot from
the No. 7-seed Michigan women's tennis
team when the Big Ten Championship
got under way last Thursday. That is, not
many people beside themselves.
"We were confident going in," Michi-
gan coach Bitsy Ritt said. "We liked our
draw, and we felt our seed was mislead-
ing."
Michigan's confidence translated into
victories on the court. The Wolverines
beat in-state rival Michigan State, and
then they upset Indiana and Iowa to get to
the championship final before falling to
top-seeded Northwestern.
The Wolverines jumped on the Spar-
tans quickly on Thursday. Michigan
swept the doubles matches and took three
of the first four singles matches to win the
overall match, 4-1.
"I thought our doubles would give us
a good start and get us the momentum,"
Ritt said. "Michigan State played well, but
we were ready to play."
On Friday, the Wolverines squared off
against No. 2 Indiana - ateam that had
beaten Michigan earlier in the season.
Staring at a 2-0 deficit, Michigan needed
to respond. The Wolverines found their
answer in juniors Debra Streifler and Nina
Yaftali and sophomore Elizabeth Exon.
Riding the play of this trio - which
didn't drop a singles match all tourna-
ment - Michigan charged back and took
a 3-2 lead. Senior co-captain Leanne
Rutherford won the No. 4 singles match
to complete the upset comeback, and the
Wolverines were headed to the Big Ten
Championship semifinals.
"We lost a close match at Indiana
earlier, where we had opportunities that
we didn't take advantage of," Ritt said.
"Because they were a high seed and they
already beat us, we felt that the pressure
was all on them and we could just go out
and execute our strengths."
Michigan carried a silent confidence
onto the courts against No. 3 Iowa on Sat-
urday, having beaten the Hawkeyes ear-
lier in the season. The Wolverines gained
the early lead when Yaftali won the No.
6 singles match after Michigan took the
doubles point. Streifier's win at No. 5 sin-
gles put the Wolverines on the verge of a
finals appearance. But Iowa would not go
down without a fight, and the Hawkeyes
stormed back to tie the match at three.
With all eyes on the No. 2 singles match,
Exon ran away with the third set and sent
the Wolverines to their first Big Ten final
since 1998.
"The whole week we talked about stay-
ing in the moment, and not looking back
to previous matches won or lost," Ritt
said. "That helped us keep our focus and
intensity to come away with the win."
The final pitted Michigan against No.
1 Northwestern. The Wildcats - ranked
No. 6 in the nation - had already defeat-
ed the Wolverines earlier in the season in
Evanston. Despite an incredible perfor-
mance from senior co-captain Michelle
DaCosta and sophomore Kara Delicata
- who teamed up to take down the No.
1 doubles team in the country for the sec-
ond time this season - this meeting was
no different than the last one. The Wild-
cats won the other two doubles matches
to get the doubles point and followed with
three singles victories to win the Big Ten
Championship.
"The weekend motivates us for the
NCAAs," Ritt said. "We are bringing
home a completely different team with
increased focus and determination. We
are coming together as a team."
The Wolverines will look to ride the
momentum of their second-place finish
in the Big Ten Championship when they
head to Athens, Ga., to compete in the
NCAA Championships on May 13.
PENN
Continued from page 13
the team had just three hours to prepare for
the 4x800-meter relay.
While Ellerton, Brannen and Willis had
contributed to the two earlier wins, senior
Rondell Ruff had yet to compete.
"Even though we were tired, we thought
it would be unfortunate forhimtocome out
here and not get a chance to win," Willis
said. "He's a strongleader on our team."
Ruff ran the opening leg for the Wolver-
ines and had a brush with disaster on the
first turn of the race when Georgetown's
Chris Bonner fell down in the middle of the
crowded field. Ruff need to hurdle around
Bonner to avoid going down himself.
"AllIcouldseewas(Ruff)goupinthe air,
jumping over the guy. I just thought, 'Here
we go, we're goingdown,' butherecovered,"
Michigan coach Ron Warhurst said.
After the mix-up, Ruff moved to the mid-
die of the pack. As he ran down the back-
stretch for the second time, Ruff moved to
the front of the field. -
After Willis expanded the lead to 30
meters and Ellerton maintained it in the
third leg, Brannen received the baton to
anchor his second relay of the day. As hemran
uncontested down the homestreth, the pub-
licaddressannouncertoldthecrowdto"give
a hand for the Wolverines of Michigan."
MAY JESUS
THE GOOD SHEPHERD
GRACIOUSLY BLESS
POPE BENEDIC T XVI
CHIEF SHEPHERD OF
THE CHURCH
J JESUS MAY BE CALLING YOU
TO SERVE THE CHURCH
AS A PRIEST
CALL: FR. JERRY VINCKE
517-342-2507
JVINCKE@DIOCESEOFLANSING.ORG