Shed no tears: Stickers outplayed down south

By David Roth

Daily Sports Writer

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. - It's hard to cry when you lose a game you should have lost and got there by winning a game you never should have won.

Sure, the Michigan field hockey team wasn't exactly doing "the Hustle" after being defeated 3-2 in overtime Sunday, but the tears and sniffles were limited to just a select player or two.

Most Michigan players expected nothing less than a second-straight trip to the Final Four this year. But after being denied it, especially in overtime, one would think they should be devastated, right?

Wrong.

Michigan's trip south proved that it was indeed one of the country's premiere teams. But it's not just how good you are, it's how good the other guys are.

The other guys outplayed Michigan in both the Wolverines' win and loss. William & Mary outshot Michigan 27-16 and had 12 penalty corners to the Wolverines' 2. But Michigan somehow ousted the Tribe in double overtime.

As tears streamed down the face of William & Mary's Kathy DeJong in the postgame press conference, she tersely explained her game analysis.

"We dominated," she said.

And her account is accurate.

How often will you hear a member of a losing team say that?

With the ball on Michigan's defensive side of the field 95 percent of the time, it was only amazing defense and goalkeeping combined with once-every-blue-moon sporadic offensive spurts that gave the Wolverines the victory.

Then came Sunday.

The stats again swayed toward Michigan's opposition.

Wake Forest had 11 penalty corners to Michigan's one, and 22 shots-on-goal to the Wolverines' nine.

"Wake Forest played extraordinarily well on their home field, and their key players stepped up," Michigan coach Marcia Pankratz said. "They deserved to win."

Again, a more-than-fair account.

On the weekend, Michigan's ability to create offense hit a new low. Even in the Wolverines' 2-0 loss to Wake Forest on Oct. 14, Michigan outshot the Demon Deacons 15-13. And in its worst loss all year, to North Carolina October 13 by a 4-0 margin, Michigan managed two more penalty corners than the Tar Heels with an 8-6 advantage.

Yet as NCAA regional weekend rolled around, Michigan couldn't muster an absolute advantage in either. And somehow, after being dominated for a combined 154 minutes of field hockey, all Michigan needed was a single shot to erase its ills.

But the winning shot went to Wake Forest's Jenny Everett on a penalty stroke in Michigan's third overtime of the weekend.

As the Wolverines embarked upon their final post-game stretch of 2000, faces were red, amazing senior players careers' with much to be proud of had come to an end, but the players' lacrimal glands held up, knowing that there was no reason to shed tears.

DAVID KATZ/Daily

The Michigan fied hockey team was eliminated from the NCAA tournament Sunday by Wake Forest.