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