No. 2 UConn awaits 'M' field hockey in Final Four

Jocelyn LaFace is going to the Final Four - and she's freaking out.

"I was thinking about it yesterday," the senior forward said. "We're going to the Final Four. It's finally hitting me. Holy crap. We're going to the Final Four and we can win it all. It just feels like we're on a roll. I don't know if we can lose."

Holy crap. This is it. Faceoff is today, at 3 p.m., when the Michigan field hockey team enters the semifinals of the NCAA Tournament at Northeastern University in Boston. No. 4 Michigan will take on undefeated No, 2 Connecticut to decide who will get to fight for the national championship on Sunday. The winner will play the victor of the Iowa-Maryland game.

JEREMY MENCHIK/Daily Courtney Reid and the Wolverines continue their improbable run today in Boston.

Connecticut has dropped jaws all season. Not only have the Huskies won a record-setting 23 games, but they have also rewritten the record books by averaging a whopping 4.2 goals per game.

Michigan freshman Molly Powers lashed out at the Huskies. Powers is confident the Wolverines will beat the Huskies en route to playing in the national championship game.

"They don't look like an undefeated team should look," Powers said after watching them on film. "I think that they're going to be shocked when they play us, because we're the real deal and they're not."

The stars for the Huskies are senior Nicole Casonguay, who has rattled the cage with 23 goals this season, and junior Laura Klein, who has notched 16 goals and 15 assists. Connecticut is coached by Nancy Stevens, who led it to Big East regular season and tournament titles.

Despite the Huskies' impressive repertoire, many Michigan players feel that they have not been playing a very high level of competition. While the Wolverines have been colliding with top-ranked Big Ten opponents, the Huskies have been breezing by cupcakes like Quinnipiac, Sacred Heart, and Fairfield.

"I don't think they're quite as tested as were are," Michigan coach Marcia Pankratz said. "We've played a much tougher schedule game for game. I don't know if they are really as hardened and as chiseled to adversity as we are. We've got six hard losses and they were all to top-five teams."

After watching the Huskies in action and seeing the tape of the Connecticut-Northeastern games, the verdict is in.

"We think they're beatable," junior midfielder Reagan Wulfsberg said. "They played some tough opponents at the beginning of the season, but since then we feel like they haven't been tested too much. We watched some game tape and we have some strategies, and we think we can come out on top."

Both the Wolverines and the Huskies have clashed with Penn State, Northeastern and Syracuse, and each defeated all three teams, although Michigan was ousted by the Nittany Lions twice earlier in the season. Michigan beat Syracuse 3-2, while Connecticut's two victories over the Orangemen were by two goals.

"It's going to be a tough game," sophomore Catherine Foreman said. "But we're going to be on our game and we're confident that we can beat them."

Michigan's strategy is to attack from the start and put the Huskies away early.

"I hope we're going to put them on their heels early, keep them there, and that they're not going to know what to do," Pankratz said.

This weekend will be the end of Michigan's season, so the Wolverines expect to leave their hearts on the field.

"We're just looking to go out and play our best," Ashley Thomas said. "We know we can beat any team as long as we play our game and play tough."

Michigan realizes that being the best means beating the top teams and overtaking their rank. The Wolverines, who were the third seed going into the Big Ten Tournament, beat the first and second seeds to take the crown. They expect no easy shortcuts and are prepared to beat No. 1 and No. 2 this weekend in the NCAA's.

11-19-99