6B - Tuesday, September 6, 2011

The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com *

Michigan remains winless at 0-4 Offense optimistic

Wolverines have
nearly matched
2010's loss total
By ZACH HELFAND
Daily Sports Editor
The man the Michigan men's
soccer team needed, the man
who could solve its scoring
woes, was inside the stadium
Sunday. But Justin Meram sat in
the stands in a T-shirt and could
do nothing but watch as his for-
mer
team- BUTLER 2
mates MICHIGAN 1
were
shut NORTHERN ILL. 1
out by MICHIGAN 0
North-
ern Illinois.
Sunday's 1-0 defeat at the
hands of the Huskies marks the
fourth straight loss to begin the
season for Michigan. In each of
the first three games, the Wol-
verines - who averaged 2.12
goals a game last year - found
the back of the net just once.
Even penalty kicks gave
Michigan trouble. Down 2-1 to
Butler on Friday with 11 seconds
left, midfielder Fabio Villas Boas
Pereira drew a penalty in the
box. But Butler's keeper blocked
his penalty kick, and Pereira
collapsed to the turf in disap-
pointment.
Attrition and inexperience
lie at the heart of the offensive
woes. Several big names, includ-
ing Meram and the nation's sec-
ond-leading scorer Soony Saad,
departed after last year's Col-
lege Cup berth. Fifty of 2010's
53 goals left with them, leaving
behind a talented but inexperi-
enced squad.
"We've only had five games
together, and there's 12 new
players, so it's quite a lot that
we need to work on together,"
freshman forward Matthew
Rickard said after the game.
"But hopefully it will come ... It

despite early woes

FILE PHOTO/Daily
Michigan sophomore midfielder Fabio Villas Boas Pereira scored Michigan's only goal of the weekend, but missed a PK.

will co
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than it
Friday
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played
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ern Illi
"TI
ph
cre
Red
Adam
the tea
two ga
finish
opport
In t
day's g

me." scoring opportunity, but the ball
higan has played better clanged off the post, and junior
s 0-4 record suggests. On midfielder Latif Alashe's sliding
against Butler, and again putback attempt went wide. It
day, the Wolverines out- was one of two scoring oppor-
their opponents for large tunities within the span of a few
ns of the game. Michigan minutes.
A Butler by a large margin "I'm not concerned about the
and also outshot North- lack of scoring, because that
inois 18-7. comes," Michigan coach Steve
Burns said. "That does come,
its young guys that are learning
how to do that at this level, and
he way we're it takes a little time. What I'm
. concerned about is conceding
aying shows soft goals. That's what we gave
? up today on the weak side."
re re able to The Northern Illinois goal
ate chances" came when the Michigan
defense failed to mark Huskies
defender Pat Sloan. Sloan raced
into the box on the far side of
the ball and scored after receiv-
shirt senior midfielder ing a pass from forward Isaac
Shaw said he believes Kannah.
.m improved from its first Burns said the team will
mes but has struggled to work on what he calls "plus-one
when faced with scoring defending," situations in which
unities. defenders outnumber strikers,
he 29th minute of Sun- to stop allowing soft goals.
ame, Rickard had a great Against Butler, Michigan held

a 1-0 lead, but two goals in the
span of seven minutes gave But-
ler the lead. Less than a minute
into the second half, Bulldog
forward Austin Oldham beat
Michigan keeper Adam Grin-
wis and tapped in a goal off the
inside of the right post. Seven
minutes later, sophomore for-
ward Adekunle Oluyedun sent
a ball delivered beautifully by
midfielder Brycen Howard into
the back of the net.
Before classes have even
begun, Michigan finds itself just
one loss shy of the team's entire
2010 total. Signs of frustration
have started to show, like when
Pereira received a yellow card
for shoving a Northern Illinois
player in the 84th minute Sun-
day.
"Hey look, losing is frustrat-
ing," Burns said. "It tests the
strength of your leadership and
it tests your locker room. And
I'd be less than honest if I was
to say we weren't frustrated, but
I think the big thing is we rec-
ognize it, we continue to work
after it, and it will come."

By STEVEN BRAID
Daily Sports Writer
The Michigan men's soccer
team had its chances this weekend
to do some damage against Butler
and Northern Illinois.
The Wolverines (0-4 overall)
outshot their two opponents,
40-16, and registered 11 shots on
goal in the pair of games. But early
in the season, it's quite clear that
the team's problem isn't a lack
of scoring opportunities, but an
inability to convert those chances.
Despite Michigan's myriad of
chances, the team mustered just
one goal against Butler and was
shutout by Northern Illinois. The
Wolverines lost the games 2-1 and
1-0.
"I think the way we're playing
shows that we're able to create
chances," fifth-year senior mid-
fielder Adam Shaw said. "It's just
a matter of putting the ball in the
back of the net and just finish-
ing the opportunities when they
come."
Against the Bulldogs on Friday,
none of the Wolverines' oppor-
tunities was greater than when
sophomore midfielder Fabio Vil-
las Boas Pereira had a chance to
equalize the score with less than
20 seconds remaining in the con-
test. Already with the lone Wol-
verine goal earlier in the game,
Pereira was given a penalty kick
after he was tripped in the box.
But, Pereira was unable to con-
vert on the opportunity as Butler's
goalkeeper Andy Holte made an
impressive diving save to deny
Michigan a chance at overtime.
It was no different against
the Huskies, as the Wolverines
applied pressure on the defense.
Eight different players recorded
shots, including a game high of
five from Pereira.
Freshman forward Matthew
Rickard hit the post around the
29th minute and later missed a
header from inside the box with

less than 10 minutes remaining.
Junior midfielder Latif Alashe hit
the upper-left corner of the cross-
bar on Michigan's first offensive
possession in the second half.
"We've just got to keep working
hard and training," Rickard said.
"The goal for this week is to try
and improve and hopefully (the
goals) will come."
While the Wolverines have
appeared unlucky at times,
Michigan coach Steve Burns
understands that there is more to
scoring than good fortune.
"Scoring goals is three things,"
Burns said following the loss to
Northern Illinois. "One, you've
got to get a couple of bounces fall
for you, and we didn't today. Then,
you've got to be able to unlock
teams and pack defenses with
quick combination play. That's
something that is rehearsed and
prepared but everyone has to play
predictably.
"And then you've got to have
courage to strike the ball, be it
weak side on your left foot. If
you've got those half chances or
those little 25-percent seams,
you've got to strikethrough them."
Burns recognizes that he has a
young and inexperienced squad,
and that his players will only con-
tinue to learn and grow as the sea-
son continues. He expressed that
a lot of his players, especially the
underclassmen, are still learning
how to play both with each other
and against their competition,
so he's not worried by the lack of
goals.
He did admit that there is a
little bit of frustration brewing
from Michigan's winless start
and lack of scoring -Burns's team
has scored just two goals in four
games despite having outshot
every opponent.
"We'll do our job behind the
scenes, and the players will be
doing their job behind scenes and
we hope it appears on game day,"
Burns said.


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