2B - The Michigan Daily - SPORTSMonday - Monday, October 9, 1995
Kickers break 3-game losing
streak in rout over Creighton
By Dan Stillman
Daily Sports Writer
Finally, the shots went in.
After weeks of outshooting its oppo-
nents, only to be losers in the goals
column, the Michigan women's soccer
team scored early and often in a 5-0
whipping of Creighton (6-5) yesterday
at the Michigan Soccer Field.
The win snaps Michigan's three game
losing streak, and more importantly
marks the first time this season the
Wolverines consistently converted on
scoring opportunities.
Michigan sophomore forward Ruth
Poulin opened the scoring at 8:09. After
receiving a free kick from junior de-
fender Michele Brach, Poulin punched
the ball in the left corner of the net.
Poulin has now scored the winning
goal in Michigan's last two victories
after missing the first three weeks of the
season due to illness.
"Poulin gives a little different di-
mension with her strength and size,"
coach Debbie Belkin said. "We have
a lot of quick and smaller forwards,
but she mixes it up."
Freshman midfielder Kelly Lukasik
supplied a key part of the offense, scor-
ing her first two goals of the season.
Lukasik tapped in the Wolverines'
second goal of the game at 23:28 after
freshman forward Jessica Limauro's
shot rebounded off the Creighton
goaltender.
Later in the first half, Lukasik gave
the Wolverines a commanding 3-0 lead
when she headed in freshman Carrie
Brady's cross in front of the goal. -
Lukasik had played the entire season
at defender before Belkin switched her
to midfielder last week.
"I played forward in high school,"
Lukasik said. "I'm actually more com-
fortable playing midfielder than de-
fense."
"We tried getting Kelly a little more
offensive," Belkin said. "Her shot is
good."
Yesterday's game was the first one in
which the Wolverines scored more than
two goals.
"We've been frustrated, playing so
The Michigan women's soccer team found the back of the net five times in a win over Creighton yesterday.
Michigan blows out Bowling Green
and Wayne State in Fall Invitational
By Brian Sklar
Daily Sports Writer
Complete domination.
These are the words that describe the
Michigan softball team's performance
over Wayne State and Bowling Green
yesterday in the Wolverine Fall Invita-
tional.
In the exhibition tournament at Alumni
Field, the Wolverines routed Wayne State
in their first game, 12-1, and then ripped
apart Bowling Green, 18-2.
Michigan ,combined it's imposing
batting lineup with excellent pitching
and defense. In the game against Wayne
State, the Wolverines got started early
with a sacrifice fly from third baseman
Tracy Carr that scored outfielder Cheryl
Pearcy. The Tartans scored their only
run of the game on Amy Forti's single
in the top of the third inning to tie the
score at one a piece.
In the third inning, Michigan took the
lead for good. The Wolverines took,
advantage of two of Wayne State's
seven errors to score two more runs.
It was in the fourth inning in which
the Wolverines put together a mon-
strous inning and pulled away. Michi-
gan lit up the Tartans for nine runs on
eight hits. Wayne State brought in relief
pitcher Dawn Barshowski to try to stop
the Wolverine attack, but still ended up
allowing three runs.
The inning started out with a sacri-
fice fly from Kellyn Tate, followed by
a hit off the bat of Pearcy. Pearcy later
crossed the plate when Jessica Lang
singled her home. Other contributors to
the fruitful inning for Michigan were
Carr, who slapped a two-run double
into rightfield to make the score 11-1,
and Jennifer Smith, who knocked first
baseman Tracy Conrad home on a sac-
rifice fly to add the last run of the game
for the Wolverines.
While the hitting crew was solid, the
pitching of Kelly Holmes and the de-
fense were equally impressive. The
Wolverines committed only one error
while Holmes pitched seven strong in-
nings, striking out six Tartans and giv-
ing up one run on just three hits.
Assistant coach Bonnie Tholl was
very pleased with Holmes' effort.
"She showed a lot of confidence and
gave us control of the game, which is
what the team needs," Tholl said.
Tholl was equally impressed with the
overall team performance.
"We executed a good game and did a
solid job at the plate," Tholl said. "The
defense held us, in the game until the
offense came around. That's how we
need to play."
In the second game, the Wolverines
continued to take advantage of their
opponents' errors. Bowling Green com-
mitted five errors, all of which led to
Michigan runs.
The Wolverines did not just rely on
the Falcons errors, though. They
pounded out hits throughout the game.
Michigan started things out with a
second-inning RBI single by Tracy
Taylor. Taylor was 4-for-5 in the con-
test with five RBI.
Taylor was pleasantly surprised by
her impressive showing.
"I'm really excited," she said. "It's
something to be proud of, since I'm not
a very strong hitter."
Michigan batted around in the sixth,
See SOFTBALL, Page 10B
well but not being able to finish,"Poulin
said. "About four or five different people
were determined enough to put the ball
in the net today."
Brach and junior midfielder Kim
Phillips added unassisted goals in .the
second half.
Meanwhile, the Michigan defense
continued its solid play, stymieing most
Creighton advances and holding the
Lady Jays to nine shots.
Freshman goaltender Jessica Jones
(1-2-1) rejected six of those shots and
earned her first victory of the season.
The win comes in advance of a make-
or-break weekend for Michigan. After
playing at Valparaiso tomorrow, the
Wolverines host Big Ten powers Wis-
consin and Penn State this weekend.
If the Wolverines are to get back into
the Big Ten race, they must win this
weekend.
"With a good win today and a good
week ofpractice, it's something to build
on," Poulin said. "If we start finishing,
we'll end up having a pretty successful
weekend.
Fisher
Stadium
By Donald Adamek
For the Daily
For Michigan fans getting ready to
go into their winter hibernation foth
baseball, there was one last chanceto
catch some action at Fisher Stadium
Sunday afternoon.
In front ofa sparse crowd, Wolverine
players of the past played in the annual
alumni game.
The four-inning contest was marked
by solid pitching, quality defense and
fun. What was lacking was offense; big
names and any sense oftaking the game
seriously.
The game finished in a scoreless tie
between the Blue home team and the
away Gray team.
This game wasn't about winning or
losing,though. This was mostly achance
for former players to get together and
attempt to relive their youth.
Former Michigan players participat-
ing included ex-Major Leaguers Larry
Sorensen, Bill Zepp and current Michi-
gan head coach Geoff Zahn. Kevin
Crociata, a 1994 graduate, was the only
recent player to participate. In contrast,
James Dickey, acatcher who completed
his Wolverine career 25 years earlier,
made an appearance.
The first inning provided the game's
only excitement.
With runners on first and second and
no outs, Chris Burak slammed a line-
drive down the third base line. Gay
third baseman Keith Spicer dove and
stole a sure double. Whilereverybody
looked on in amazement, he stood up
and fired to second to double up Jim
Hosler.
The two teams registered seven hits
all infield singles. Of more importanc
to the players were the 45 minutes o
sharing stories about Michigan tri
umphs of the past.
First baseman Tracy Conrad fields a ground ball In an 18-2 win over Bowling Green.
Wolverines pound Wildcats in Evanston for seventh consecutive win
By Susan Dann
Daily Sports Writer
The Wolverines defeated Northwest-
ern Saturday in a Big Ten game. No,
this is not a misprint. The maize and
blue beat the Wildcats, eleven against
eleven, on natural grass.
But it was true "futbol."
The Michigan men's soccer team (8-
3-2) added a seventh consecutive win
to its record this weekend by defeating
the Wildcats, 4-1, in Evanston.
Though some Northwestern soccer
fans applauded their football team's
efforts in Ann Arbor, their encourage-
ment was not enough to lift the Wildcat
kickers over Michigan.
"Some Northwestern people started
cheering when they scored (in the foot-
ball game), but we went out and played
our game," senior Rob Sirrine said.
"We really didn't care (what the score
in the football game was)."
Michigan dominated play early in
the first half. Freshman Blake Novotny
scored the Wolverines' first goal three
minutes after the opening wlhistle.
"We played really well the first 20
minutes ofthegame,"juniorDaveColliver
said. "We came out really strong."
Michigan closed the half with a 2-0
lead on a goal by senior Andy Cosenza.
But the Wildcats got on the board
early in the second half.
Colliver said that Northwestern's lone
tally was the result of a defensive let-
down.
"Wejust had a mental lapse, and they
scored within a minute of the beginning
of the half," Colliver said. "We just
bunched in the middle and they some-
how got it in."
The goal marks the first time a club
team has scored on the Wolverines this
season.
Michigan was able to compose them-
selves to increase its lead.
Sirrine and Novotny finished
Michigan's scoring effort in the second
half.
The Wolverines found their offen-
sive strategy clicking against North-
western.
"The 5-3-2 formation really is work-
ing well," Colliver said. "We are ex-
ploiting all of the spaces we should be
exploiting, especially the outside at-
tackers."
Michigan wasn't expecting too tight
a game against the Wildcats. The Big
Ten Invitational, hosted by Michigan
the weekend of Sept. 23, gave the Wol-
verines the opportunity to do some
scouting.
"After watching them play, we real-
ized there was really no chance they
could beat us," Colliver said.
The squad thought the road trip to
Evanston served a number of purposes.
"We knew that we could beat them,
so it was more of a fun weekend for us,"
Sirrine said.
Senior Ryan Carriere agreed.
"Going on this road trip really helped
the team come together."
Michigan faces Findley University
(Ohio) today at 4 p.m. at Elbel Field.
The Wolverines are not sure what to
expect from their opponent.
"We haven't played them for at least
the past three years," Sirrine said. "So
no one really knows anything about
them."
The Wolverines are so unsure oftheir
foe, team members did not even know
what division Findley plays. Colliver
believes they are a Division III varsity
program.
"They are the perennial Ohio pow-
erhouse," Carriere joked.
Michigan is using each game tojudge
what aspects of its game need work.
Now that the end of the season nears,
the team is preparing for regional and
national competition.
"We are playing all of our games
with equal intensity," Sirrine said. "We
will go into this game the same way we
always do. We'll go in hard and not
take them lightly."
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