Women kickers burned in Tempe

By Jeff Phillips

Daily Sports Writer

The weekend could have gone better for the Michigan women's soccer team. For the first time in school history, the No. 21 Wolverines were handed two losses to open the season.

"We just didn't have a very good weekend," Michigan coach Debbie Belkin Rademacher said. "This is definitely our toughest start."

Michigan journeyed to Tempe, Ariz. for the Sun Devil Soccer Classic. After losing their first match on Friday to Arizona State, the Wolverines looked to rebound against No. 17 Southern Cal on Sunday. Michigan fell behind 1-0 12 minutes into the game, but just five minutes later Amy Sullivant notched her first goal of the season to tie up the game.

The game remained tied until the Trojans' Isabelle Harvey knocked in her second goal of the game to give Southern Cal a 2-1 victory.

"We definitely had chances to tie and pull ahead, but unfortunately we couldn't do it," Belkin Rademacher said. "We had some mental lapses and couldn't capitalize."

Despite ending with a flurry, Michigan was unable to finish on their last four shots.

"I think that overall we played much better in the second game," Belkin Rademacher said. "Our legs were there, we matched up harder with them, and we did the little things better."

Sunday's contest also marked the first game action for heralded Michigan freshmen Stephanie Chavez, Erika Klienholz and Amber Wilson.

On Friday, Michigan suffered a 4-0 defeat - its worst loss since 1997 and first opening loss since 1996 - at the hands of host Arizona State. The Sun Devils pounded Michigan goalkeepers Carissa Stewart and Suzie Grech with 25 shots, nearly twice as many as Michigan. Grech was forced into action after Stewart was given a red card for a tackle made in front of her net.

"I didn't expect us to play as bad as we did, we just were a step slow," Belkin Rademacher said. "Arizona State is a good team but we just really made them look good."

Tough opening season matches are nothing new to Michigan. Last year, Michigan fell to Arizona State and Missouri early on, and needed overtime to defeat Utah. But Belkin Rademacher pointed out that a tough schedule can be beneficial.

"We had some tough weekends early on last year, and it paid off at the end when we hit the Big Ten season," she said.

The difficult early-season competition toughened the Wolverines last year as Michigan went 8-1-1 in the Big Ten, won the conference tournament and advanced to the second round of the NCAA tournament.

2000-01 women's

soccer schedule

Date Opponent Time

Sept. 8 Washington 4:30 p.m.

Sept. 10 Missouri 2:30 p.m.

Sept. 15 at Purdue* 4:00 p.m.

Sept. 17 at Indiana* 1:30 p.m.

Sept. 22 Wisconsin* 4:00 p.m.

Sept. 24 Minnesota* 1:30 p.m.

Sept. 29 at Iowa* 4:00 p.m.

Oct. 1 at Illinois* 2:00 p.m.

Oct. 4 Oakland 4:00 p.m.

Oct. 8 at Michigan State 1:00 p.m.

Oct. 13 Penn State* 4:00 p.m.

Oct. 15 Ohio State* 1:00 p.m.

Oct. 20 Northwestern* 4:00 p.m.

Oct. 22 WI-Milwaukee 1:00 p.m.

Oct. 24 Notre Dame 3:00 p.m.

Oct. 29 at Butler 1:00 p.m.

Nov. 2-5 BTT (Champaign) TBA

2000-01 women's

soccer roster

No. Name Yr. Pos.

0 Suzie Grech Fr. GK

1 Carissa Stewart Sr. GK

2 Andrea Kayal So. D

3 Tammy Mitchell So. MF/F

4 Erika Kleinholz Fr. D

5 Stephanie Chavez Fr. F

6 Marie Spaccarotella Sr. F

7 Laurie Peterson Jr. MF

8 Shannon Reid Fr. D

10 Sarah Hearey Fr. F

11 Alissa Shaw Jr. MF/D

12 Carly Williamson So. MF/D

13 Amber Wilson Fr. MF

14 Michele Pesiri So. MF

15 Abby Tompkins Jr. F

16 Amy Sullivant So. MF/F

17 Vicky Whitley So. D

18 Becky Kozlick Jr. MF/D

19 Danielle Greer Sr. F/D

20 Kacy Beitel So. MF/F

21 Aviva Jacobs So. MF

22 Abby Crumpton So. F

24 Stephanie McArdle Sr. D

25 Lauren Decker Fr. MF

26 Jessica Parmalee Jr. MF/D

Head Coach: Debbie Belkin Rademacher (7th season)

Assistant Coaches: Scott Forrester, Carrie Maier