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Sports | 1000

SPORTS

Field hockey ready for opener

Dawn Klemish
August 29, 2002

After winning the first Big Ten title in team history last season, the women’s field hockey team has a tough road ahead of them - but they’re ready. Eight starters and 14 letter-winners return to a squad that last year compiled a 16-6 overall record and advanced to the Elite Eight of the NCAA Tournament before being ousted by Michigan in a 2-1 overtime loss. The team kicks off its season Saturday by visiting the nine-time National Champion Old Dominion Lady Monarchs, and is anxious to take on the task. The Monarchs are favored to win their seventh consecutive national championship, despite the loss of 2001 Colonial Athletic Association Player of the Year Adrienne Yoder to graduation. “To have a strong opponent right away is fun, that’s what we train for all summer,” head coach Michele Madison said.

FOOTBALL

Eagles hope to contain Spartans

Eric Mckinney
August 29, 2002

Ypsilanti - The Eastern Michigan Eagles know what they must do in to win it’s season opener Saturday at Spartan Stadium - slow down junior wide receiver Charles Rogers. The problem is they don’t know how.

ICE HOCKEY

Freshman eager to arrive, veteran looks for new home

James Jahnke
August 29, 2002

Seven of the Spartan hockey team’s eight freshmen are on campus, going to class, skating at Munn Ice Arena and generally getting acclimated to college life. The only rookie missing is Nenad Gajic, a skilled forward from Burnaby, British Columbia, who is still with his club lacrosse team that’s fighting for the Canadian junior national championship. Gajic, who is also a forward in lacrosse, is pursuing the Minto Cup with the rest of his Burnaby Lakers teammates.

SPORTS

Sports briefs

Men’s cross country ranked No. 14 in preseason poll The men’s cross country team is ranked No.

FOOTBALL

Punter takes hobby to new heights

Eric Mckinney
August 28, 2002

From Cougar to Spartan, Jason Daily has made the transition from junior college standout to Big Ten starter.But growing up in Santa Clarita, Calif., the 6-foot-1, 180-pound junior punter never imagined football would be his ticket to success.

VOLLEYBALL

Spartans working for perfection

Chris Mackinder
August 28, 2002

All summer, the MSU volleyball team has been lifting weights and conditioning, trying to increase strength and endurance for the upcoming season.With two days until the team’s first regular season matchup, the No.

ICE HOCKEY

Miller leaves behind legacy, questions

James Jahnke
August 28, 2002

One would assume that Matt Migliaccio and Justin Tobe would be feeling a little pressure now that the unenviable task of replacing Ryan Miller has officially begun. After all, Miller was one of the most prolific goaltenders in college hockey history before signing with the Buffalo Sabres on Monday.

FOOTBALL

Speed over size for defense

Eric Mckinney
August 27, 2002

When the Spartans take the field Saturday against Eastern Michigan, don’t expect to see last year’s defense.Middle linebacker Josh Thornhill has moved on to the NFL, and the smash-mouth style MSU fans learned to love went with him.The task of replacing last season’s leading tackler goes to junior Mike Labinjo, who finished third on the team with 64 tackles last season.

SPORTS

Amateur Night

Krista Latham
August 26, 2002

Eric Jorgensen isn’t used to this kind of attention. The MSU senior golfer can’t drive a cart 10 yards at Forest Akers West Golf Course, home of the MSU golf team, without someone stopping to congratulate him on his successful summer.

ICE HOCKEY

Alumni return to Munn

James Jahnke
August 26, 2002

The MSU hockey program held its version of a family reunion last week, but instead of burgers, beer and dorky party games, there were pucks, slap shots and shards of glass.For the third-straight summer, Spartan assistant coach Tom Newton welcomed back former MSU skaters for a weeklong “pro camp” at Munn Ice Arena.

SPORTS

Spirits soar as seasons approach start

Dawn Klemish
August 26, 2002

Incoming freshman and returnees alike were introduced to hockey, basketball and football players Friday - without even buying a ticket.Despite a steady drizzle all day Thursday, thousands of students flooded Spartan Stadium for the annual Spartan Spirit rally to support their school.The event provided a familiar atmosphere for new students who were feeling a little overwhelmed by campus, classes and being away from home.Hiroaki Toda is in his first year of study at MSU.

SPORTS

Lions restore the roar in Detroit

Detroit -They’re back. After 25 years in the suburbs, the Detroit Lions returned downtown Saturday to open Ford Field, their new $500 million home. The indoor stadium was designed to be everything the Pontiac Silverdome wasn’t: charismatic, innovative and state-of-the art. Fans who packed the 65,000-seat venue for an afternoon exhibition contest with the Pittsburgh Steelers certainly took notice. “It’s absolutely beautiful, gorgeous,” Tim Jones, a 35-year-old sales manager from Farmington Hills, said before entering.

VOLLEYBALL

Green takes White in Spikers debut

Chris Mackinder
August 26, 2002

Prior to the MSU volleyball team’s Green & White game Saturday, head coach Chuck Erbe called the inter-squad scrimmage a “coming out party.”Anyone who listened to the radio or was in attendance at Jenison Field House didn’t have much of an argument.

SPORTS

HARDY: Mulder, MLB look at strikes

Detroit - Mark Mulder knows strikes. From the mound, the lanky former Spartan and flame-throwing lefty has seen 352 batters return to the pine during his three-year career with Oakland - he also mulled over a school-record 113 in his final season at MSU in 1998. Baseball fans know strikes, too. They’ve seen eight work stoppages since 1972. And as negotiators go into the ninth inning of bargaining before Friday’s deadline, we can all wonder who will strike next? Mulder or the players? “None of us want a strike,” Mulder says with his casual, cool tone as he stretches on the Oakland Athletics’ green-padded bench with his legs up inside the visitor’s dugout before Sunday’s opening pitch at Comerica Park, where the A’s swept the series against the Detroit Tigers under a deep-blue sky with temperatures in the low 80s. The 25-year-old pitching stud feels little heat, though, even as the sun breaks from behind clouds one day after talks between baseball management and players soured. “This is about keeping the game going,” he says.