Field hockey beats up Louisville, 6-1

Respect. The Michigan women's field hockey team now knows what Aretha Franklin was singing about some 30 years ago.

Coming off a Big Ten championship last year, and maintaining a No. 8 rank nationally this year, the Wolverines (1-0 Big Ten, 8-2 overall) are finally the team to be feared in the Big Ten.

But they also know how it feels to be on the other end of the spectrum. And respect is given to every team that comes to Ann Arbor. So, even yesterday, when a young Louisville team with a new coaching staff came into town, there were no swollen heads among the Wolverines, and they were able to defeat Louisville 6-1.

"We really have respect for each team we play," said sophomore Tamra Geryk. "We take every game one at a time."

FILE PHOTO Coming off of an emotional victory over Michigan State, the Michigan field hockey team came out strong against Louisville and won handily, 6-1.

Geryk scored a season-high four goals yesterday, a personal high as well. It was Geryk's second hat trick of the season and she now leads the Wolverines in scoring with seven goals.

"Tammy has an extraordinary knack for scoring goals," Michigan coach Marcia Pankratz said.

Geryk agrees with the saying 'practice makes perfect', and attributes her goal scoring to practicing hard all summer.

"My game just flows in front of the goal," Geryk said.

Even though Geryk scored more than half of the team's goals, this was a team effort. The team was able to outshoot Louisville 22-3, and freshman goalkeeper Maureen Tasch made two saves.

Every player on the team saw playing time, and the Wolverines were able to work on some of their fundamentals.

"We were able to work a lot on the outside of the field and on the crispness of our game," Pankratz said. "We were also able to play a lot of the younger players, who haven't had a lot of playing time this season."

One of those younger players, redshirted freshman Ashley Thomas, was able to score her first career goal with an assist from sophomore Kelly Gannon, who had two assists in the game.

Senior Lindsay Babbitt and sophomore Courtney Reid each added two assists as well.

Senior Loveita Wilkinson also netted her fifth goal of the season on a penalty corner play. Wilkinson agreed that this was a game of teamwork and said that the team has really started to work together.

"We've really started clicking," Wilkinson said. "We all have great individual skills and that plays a really big part."

The Wolverines did allow one goal at the end of the game, to Louisville's Rebecca Gronotte, which Pankratz attributed to a lapse of concentration.

"Other than that, we dominated possession of the game," Pankratz said.

Michigan started the Big

09-28-98