Stickers gear up for 'historic' weekend

When you hear the names Virginia and James Madison, what comes to mind?

Chances are, the first state of the union and an ex-president are the extent of your knowledge and/or interest.

But if you are a fan of field hockey, Virginia and James Madison are synonymous with speed, aggressiveness, talent, winning seasons and above all, top 10 rankings.

Did James Madison play a mean game of field hockey?

No, but James Madison University does and, along with Virginia, both teams will provide the Michigan field hockey team with their stiffest challenge of the season this weekend as the Wolverines travel to Charlottesville, Va.

LOUIS BROWN/Daily The Michigan field hockey team's top 10 ranking will be challenged this weekend when it travels to Virginia to take one powerhouses James Madison and Virginia.

In terms of the national rankings, the seventh-ranked Wolverines can ill afford to bring anything less than the effort used in demolishing Northeastern this past weekend. The Dukes are ranked fifth in the nation, the Cavaliers eighth.

Michigan coach Marcia Pankratz doesn't put as much stock in the nonconference schedule as she does against the Big Ten slate, but good performances against James Madison and Virginia could ensure a positive reputation come tournament selection time.

"Those are two really, really difficult teams to play," said Pankratz. "The level of play will need to be high because both schools are top 10 teams."

Though Michigan brings offensive firepower with players such as Jessica Rose, Kelli Gannon, and Courtney Reid, the defense could be the deciding factor in the upcoming matches.

Team captains Ashley Reichenbach and Erica Widder will need to maintain their expert play and voracious intensity at the defensive positions in order to stop two of the quickest offensive attacks they've faced.

"Both teams (Virginia and James Madison) are very fast and aggressive," said Pankratz, citing in particular James Madison which "has always been known to be aggressive and emotional."

Nobody doubts the ability of the Wolverines to match Virginia and James Madison in those areas. The question is, can the Wolverines maintain that type of all-out attitude through the 35-minute halves in both games?

"In practice we're working on staying relentless," forward Jocelyn LaFace said. "We're doing really well in maintaining that attitude."

Pankratz hopes the week of focus will pay off in the form of two great performances.

"That's always the battle - to bring the 'A' game," Pankratz said. "We have the talent and the team cohesion . . . we're up there in the rankings and this should be a great weekend of hockey."

Ideally, the Wolverines would not be entering into such an intense weekend of matches on the heels of the first week of the semester. But Pankratz is not concerned.

"Everybody is busy," she said. "The freshmen are the only ones who haven't been through it before, but they can handle it - that's why they are Division I athletes."

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