By George!

She may not be as famous as the former heavyweight boxing champion, but Catherine "George" Foreman is a star in her own right.

Foreman, who hails from South Australia, was given the notable nickname by her teammates on the under-21 Australian national field hockey team. When the Michigan field hockey team visited Foreman in Australia before last season to do some preseason training, they needed a shorter name to use to communicate with Foreman on the field.

"So we said, 'What does your team call you?'" teammate and housemate Ashley Reichenbach said. "She said, 'Well my team calls me George.' She wanted us to call her something else, but we couldn't come up with anything."

The team tried to come up with another nickname, but couldn't.

JEREMY MENCHIK/Daily Defender/midfielder Catherine "George" Foreman lives up to her dominating nickname by shutting down the opposition's offensive attack while contributing to the scoring opportunities on the penalty corner.

"The weight trainer put us through a boxing circuit one day, and while we were boxing, he would yell out all of these boxing nicknames," Reichenbach said. "After she said her last name was Foreman, he would yell, 'Come on, George!'"

More important than what her teammates and coaches call the sophomore defender/midfielder on the field is their talk about her off the field. With senior co-captains Reichenbach and Erica Widder anchoring the defense for the seventh-ranked Wolverines, it would be easy for an underclassman to go unnoticed.

But Foreman's knowledge of the game and ability to make plays on defense have stood out to her teammates and coaches this season.

"She's a fantastic defender," Michigan coach Marcia Pankratz said. "I think she has a real savvy for the game. She's smart in how she plays, and even if she is being beaten she knows how to make sure it doesn't hurt us."

One reason that Foreman is able to excel for the Wolverines so early in her career is due to her experience with the Australian under-21 team. Australia, the current women's field hockey world champion, has one of the strongest development programs in the world.

"She is a sophomore, but she is a very mature player," Pankratz said. "When she gets out there, she is serious and leads by example on the field. She's had a lot of experience playing hockey over in Australia, so she brings a lot of that experience to the field. She stays poised under pressure because she is used to high-level hockey."

Foreman uses that experience to frustrate her opponents, helping to shut down some of the top offenses in the country.

"The difference between Catherine and a lot of other players around the country is that she really reads the game well, knowing when to break it up and just create a foul and when to actually put a tackle on," assistant coach Tracey Fuchs said. "She has stepped up more and more as the season has gone on and into her sophomore season."

Foreman exploits that defensive know-how in a system that allows her to move freely around the center of the field.

Michigan's defensive zone requires players to guard an area rather than playing man-to-man with one particular player from the opposition. Foreman's zone in the middle of the field is paramount to the Wolverines' success, as she often draws some of the most skilled players on the other team to defend.

"She is responsible, along with Ashley (Reichenbach), for the toughest zone because she has the other team's most dangerous player, the center forward." Fuchs said. "But with Catherine back there, I don't worry about the other team's center forward getting too many shots that day, because she is always in the right place."

While Foreman is one of the key players for Michigan's defense, she is also a key to the Wolverines' offense. Playing in the center of the field, Foreman is often responsible for the transition of the ball from the defense to offense.

"We play a very different style back home," Foreman said. "We play a lot faster with the ball, a lot more passing give-and-go than what they do here. Hopefully I've brought some of that back, but I think the team is starting to do that a lot more of that now, and it is having some success for us."

More importantly, though, Foreman plays a key role on penalty corners, where the Wolverines score most of their goals. Foreman's job on corners is the stick stopper. She stops the ball with her stick at the top of the circle for a teammate to shoot.

While that may sound easy, for the shot to count, Foreman has to stop the ball dead before it can be struck by one of her teammates. All of this has to be done while the opposing defense is charging at the ball from the goal mouth.

Despite playing a primarily defensive role, Foreman's play on corners has garnered her 11 assists, the second-most on the team.

"The corner itself is a real specialty position," Pankratz said. "You have someone who does each thing as a skill, like a placekicker in football. She is our best stick stopper, and she does it for the Australian under-21 team.

"(Foreman) is the most consistent and really makes sure the ball gets stopped dead on the corner. So regardless of what position she is, that's where we have her for that because she is so effective."

Foreman's consistency and combination of offense and defense make her one of the Wolverines' most valuable players and one of the top defenders in the Big Ten.

"Catherine is a great defender," Reichenbach said. "It's great playing behind her because a lot of times I don't have to get the ball. She's got a really great game sense, and she's got great stick-stopping skills on corners. She's an all-around extremely solid player and a great asset to the team."

10-20-99