The Michigan Daily michigandaily.com November 29, 2010

Meram, Saad send 'M' to Elite Eight

By MATT SLOVIN
Daily Sports Writer
COLUMBIA, S.C. - The Sweet
Sixteen proved to be just that for
the No. 10 seed Michigan men's
soccer
team on MICHIGAN 3
Sunday, SOUTH CAROLINA 1
as the
Wolverines defeated seventh-
seeded host South Carolina, 3-1.
With the win, Michigan moves
on to the Elite Eight to face No. 2
seed Maryland next weekend in
College Park, Md.
"Hats off to Carolina," Michi-
gan coach Steve Burns said after
the game. "They were a really
tough team, as we knew they
would be."
The first half saw several legiti-
mate threats by both sides, though
the Wolverines (16-4-3) led on the
stat sheet.
An 11-7 shots advantage for
Michigan contributed to an over-
whelming feeling at Stone Stadium
that a breakthrough was imminent.

Before the eventual goal how-
ever - a toe poke from senior for-
ward Justin Meram that found the
lower right corner of the net - it
seemed that the Wolverines would
once again fall victim to superb
goalkeeping from a feisty oppo-
nent.
In the tournament's second
round, Central Florida forced
overtime with Michigan, mostly
due to brilliant saves on the part of
the Knights.
However, Meram's goal silenced
the garnet-clad faithful. Senior
Gamecock goalie Jimmy Maurer
was no longer the brick wall that
the Wolverines had been firing at
in the first half.
It took a while for Michigan's
attack to adjust to Maurer's goal-
keeping style, which differed sig-
nificantly from that of last week's
opponent.
Burns attributed Maurer's
success to his "bigger range"
compared to the Central Florida
See ELITE EIGHT, Page 2B

MEN'S BASKETBALL
Blue drops two in
Legends Classic
By ZAK PYZIK gan coach John Beilein said of
Daily Sports Writer the shooting spell. "(The Miners)
came out and they really defended
ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. - Thir- very, very well. We had two turn-
teen minutes and 24 seconds. overs that we gave them and they
For the the final two minutes of would just throw it to the basket
the first half and through nearly and dunk it."
11.5 minutes in the second, the The Wolverines contended for
Michigan third-place honors against the
men's SYRACUSE 53 Miners after losing a close one to
basket- MICHIGAN 50 Syracuse, 53-50, on Friday night
ball team in the weekend's first round.
went UTEP 65 Michigan looked like two separate
without a MICHIGAN 56 teams on Friday night and on Sat-
field goal. urday night.
That shooting drought - that On Friday, the Wolverines
spanned for a third of the game - picked apart the Orange's 2-3 zone
resulted in a hole that the Wolver- - at least in the first half - and
ines couldn't overcome en route went into halftime leading 31-29.
to a 65-56 loss at the hands of the But as the second half began to
University of Texas-El Paso in the dwindle down, so did Michigan's
consolation game of the Legends lead. Syracuse turned the ball
Classic on Friday. over 14 times, but the Wolverines
"That was a long time," Michi- See ATLANTIC CITY, Page 3B


WAITING IN THE WINGS?
K In his SportsMonday Column, Ryan Kartje
warns Michigan fans not to assume Stanford
Coach Jim Harbaugh will mosey to Ann Arbor
just yet. Page 2B

SHOWCASED
N In the last College Hockey Showcase, the
Wolverines couldn't manage much in
Minneapolis and Madison, losing to the
Gophers and tying the Badgers. Page 2B