The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com Thursday, October 28, 2010 - 5A Vaughan finds scoring touch in senior season After notching just nine points in career, Vaughan leads'M'in scoring in 2010 By MICHAEL FLOREK Daily Sports Editor He's tied for the team lead in scoring and a majority of fans don't know his first name. Senior forward Charles Vaughan has four goals in the Michigan hockey team's first six games after scoring twice Sat- urday night against Nebraska- Omaha. More commonly know to the Michigan faithful as "Scoot- er," Vaughan shares the top of the Wolverines' scoring list with junior David Wohlberg. But it's been a long and unlikely journey to the top for the current third-liner. Vaughan came to Ann Arbor as a defenseman and was expected to be a two-way player on the Michigan blue line. In two inauspicious years at defenseman, Vaughan never got the offense going. He had just nine points in his career - all assists. In Vaughan's sophomore year, he struggled to hold a spot in the line- up, playing in just 25 of his team's 41 games. So before his junior year, the coaching staff moved him to for- ward. After battling inconsistency lastseason, Vaughan has adapted to his new role. "He's got speed," Michigan coach Red Berenson said. "The reason I put him on forward is because he can skate, he's got power, he's got puck handling skills. I thought he could be a good forward. I thought he was in and out last year, he never real- ly got into a groove where he got some confidence." Vaughan's attitude and skating ability caught Berenson's eye in the preseason skates this Septem- ber. Those strengths have earned him not only a regular spot in the lineup, but also extra time on the penalty kill. And the consistency is pay- ing off. His four goals this sea- son have doubled his career total coming into the season. Also, his five points through six games are one shy of his career best. But instead of focusing solely on goal scoring, Vaughan is just looking JAKE FROMM/Daily Senior forward Scooter Vaughan is tied for Michigan's scoring lead with junior for- ward David Wohlberg through six games this season. rr SAM WOLSON/Daily Sophomore running back Vincent Smith has started the last few gares for the Wolverines since Mike Shaw has been injured. Smith has registered 325 yards and finn touchdowns an the grond this season. MNiulti-back approach kept i check for M By RYAN KARTJE Daily Sports Editor j1efore the season, Michigan rpsning backs coach Fred Jack- son made it clear that he was con- fident in each of his five running baeks - junior Mike Shaw, soph- omore Vincent Smith, freshman Stephen Hopkins, sophomore Mike Cox and redshirt freshman Fitz Toussaint. Jackson went as far to say that none of those five ballcarriers would be the No. 1 guy. "I think you're going to see theb whole season and not real- ly know who's who," Jackson said. "Because now I've got guys attuned, that can do everything." --But through half the season Michigan's leading rusher has been its- quarterback - sopho- more Denard Robinson - and the majority of the Wolverines' play- ing time at running back has gone to Shaw and Smith. They, along with Robinson, have accounted fot-1,701 of Michigan's 1,971 total rushing yards. l4opkins has received an increased amount of work in the past few weeks and could be get- ting into the Shaw-Smith rotation. But Toussaint and Cox have been relatively absent from the field, and in his weekly telecon- ference yesterday, Michigan coach Rich Rodriguez addressed Stheir development. The with b health. Tous fought son Ion could n ry-pron "He' S1 s knc has not where' a game kind of a littlei As fo of his p how qu book, a other rr "His been li knee is works h ue to le have en can lea and not In ai most prevalent concern by Robinson - the nation's lead- oth players seems to be ing rusher - there doesn't seem to be enough room in the back- saint especially has field for six backs, including Rob- a nagging injury all sea- inson. g, worrying many that he But in the Michigan offense, eceive the dreaded "inju- especially under Jackson, lack of e" tag. diversity in ballcarriers isn't that s a little bit better, but he uncommon. With the exception of the last two years - whenformerWolver- ' t ines Brandon Minor and Carlos .ou re going 0 to Brown nearly split 50-50 - Jack- ee the whole son's running backs haven't often shared carries. ason, and not For the four years before that, Mike Hart dominated Michigan's )W Who's Who." carries. Then, it was Chris Perry. Then, B.J. Askew. And finally, it was Anthony Thomas. t progressed to the point In fact, outside of the previous we feel we can put him in two years, the Wolverines' No. 2 yet," Rodriguez said. "It's rusher hasn't accounted for more thing that's going to need than 25 percent of the team's rush more time." yards since Clarence Williams r Cox, Rodriguez said alot did it in 1998. rogress will be judged on Of course, Jackson compared tickly he learns the play- Hopkins to Perry, and the pair n area where he trails the of Smith and Toussaint to Hart, unning backs right now. Michigan's last four-year rush- growth in the offense has er. So there's no telling whom mited because he's had a the Wolverines' will use against sue," Rodriguez said. "He Penn State, which boasts a fairly sard and he's got to contin- depleted defensive line and line- arn the offense, so we can backing corps. sough confidence that we But with the dynamic Robin- ve him in for all the plays son also in the fold, the combina- just certain plays." tion onthe field may not matter rushing attack dominated on Saturday. to mak possibl "I c ing I h this to "I C sea I h bi practic penalt blockis scorin myself The won't for 24 ine re, mentio lucky t On then-N e a contribution in any way Vaughan let go of a hard wrist le. shot from the top of the circles. ame into this season know- The puck deflected off a Mav- ad to make a big impact on erick defenseman's stick and ram," Vaughan said after caused Nebraska-Omaha goalie John Faulkner to misplay the puck. On Vaughan's second goal, he n'am e into this picked up the puck in the corner and threw it to the front. The LSOn knowing puck bounced off a Maverick defenseman and into the net. ad to make a "Let's face it, you just get shots on the net as a forward and ig impact ..." some of them are going to go in," Berenson said. But one thing that should last is Vaughan's confidence. Both e Tuesday. "Whether it's Vaughan and Berenson cited y killing, hitting people, increased confidence as a reason ng shots, it happens to be for the forward's offensive out- g goals now, but I pride burst. on all those things." As the clock winded down in scoring pace probably Michigan's 6-1 victory Satur- last - Vaughan's on pace day, the Yost crowd chanted for goals, which no Wolver- Vaughan to get one more shift. ached last season. Not to "I tried to block them out," n Vaughan has a couple of Vaughan said after the game, allies to his credit. smiling. "But I heard them a little his first goal against bit." to. 10 Nebraska-Omaha, . How's that for confidence? Wolverines pick apart Bowling " Green in bounce-back effort IS THE TV COVERAGE JUST NOT ENOUGH ON SATURDAYS? Check out the Daily Sports Twitter for live tweets from State College this weekend: @&MICH DAI LYSPORTS WRITING+SLC +NYC! SERIOUSLY INTERESTED INWRITING? INTONEW YORK? Achieve your full potential as a writer by enrolling in Sarah Lawrence College's Spring Writing Semester in New York! e Work one-on-one with SLC's distinguished writing faculty * Attend organized readings and literary events on-campus and in NYC * Receive 15 transferable academic credits 4 Reside on SLC's suburban campus 30 With 8 million stories at your minutes from Manhattan and interact doorstep and 44 wooded acres with SLC students and a supportive at your feet, you'll have plenty of material to work with. community of successful writers Wild first goal, a &0-yarder, sets tone as Wolverines find Ohio catharsis By JOHN EPPLER For the Daily After a tough loss against No. 1 Akron last Tuesday, the Michi- ganmen's soccer BOWLING GREEN I team let MICHIGAN 5 0nt its 0 fsstration on another Ohio foe. Bowling Green made its way intyAnn Arbor last night expect- iqg to contend in its matchup against the Wolverines - they didn't realize, however, that they had just signed up for target prac- tice. As the clock ran down to zero and Michigan's offensive onslaught came to an end, the scoreboard at the brand new UM Soccer Complex read 5-1. Michigan struck first, thir- teen minutes into the game, with a snipe from freshman forward Soony Saad. After a diving save from Wol- verine junior goaltender Chris Blais, a quick counterattack allowed Saad to find the Falcon goalkeeper out of position. He delivered a booming shot from 60 yards away, and scored the longest goal in Michigan soccer history. "We have seen him do it," Michigan coach Steve Burns said after the game. "He saw the keep- er out. He is a very aware player, so he went for it." After the shot went in, the momentum of the game instantly shifted. Just one second earlier, after all, visiting Bowling Green (5-7-2 overall) was threatening to score. Within minutes, Michigan (2-2-0 Big Ten, 9-4-3 overall) scored another, an unassisted blast from senior forward Justin Meram. "After last week, we just came in knowing we had to get the win," Meram said., The Wolverines added two more goals in the first half. The first was a long-range score from senior forward Alex Wood, and the second another counterattack goal from Meram. Michigan picked up right where it left off in the second half, as Saad scored a goal off of a through ball from his brother, junior midfielder Hamoody Saad. But then, the pace of the game changed. The second half slowed, as most of play settled into the midfield. Meanwhile, Meram and the Saad brothers watched from the bench - their work was done. Through a counter-attack offense and long shots, the Wol- verines found the net, though they took fewer shots than their season average. "We were due for a breakout game since September," Burns said. Last night, under the lights at home, they found it.