2B - November 19, 2012 The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com Afina, fondfarewellfor 'Team 133' seniors The final chapter is always the hardest to put down. The Michigan football team's 18 seniors bade farewell'to Michigan Stadium for the final time with a 42-17 victory over Iowa on Saturday. They each exited differently, each lingered longer than the man before. Craig Roh walked side-- by-side across the field with Will Camp- bell, burning a hole in the , turf with his blank down- ward stare. STEPHEN J. He looked up, NESBITT gazed up at the rows and rows of emptying bleachers. Jordan Kovacs took his time, slowly blazing a path to the tun- nel. When he got there, he spread his arms wide to greet fans on both sides of the entrance with a high-five. "It was bittersweet," Kovacs said. "Obviously, it was a big win for us. That was exciting. For it to be the last time in The Big House, I'm not ready for it to end. It's been quite the journey, and I'm ready to ride it out." But before they stepped off the field, they each looked back. They looked to see the iconic block 'M' at midfield once more. They looked to admire the his- toric stadium in which 112,000 watched them win 14 games and lose none in the past two seasons. They looked to see who came after. Kenny Demens came after, followed by Steve Wilson, J.T. Floyd and Roy Roundtree, each leaving a legacy behind him as he stepped off the turf and started up the tunnel. Finally there was only one locker room. Brown is still a familiar name, but he comes from a different time, a darker time. Brown spent four seasons at Michigan, enduring the rapid down-trend when Rich Rodri- guez took the reins from Lloyd Carr as head coach. He was here when Roh was a true freshman trying to get his feet under him asa starter. He was here when Kovacs was just joining the team as a student-body walk-on. He was here when Robinson was just a blip on the radar, a backup quarterback to Tate Forcier. There are no do-overs in col- lege football, no second chances at finishing things right. Brown's senior day was a 21-10 loss to Ohio State, a merciful end to a five-game losing streak to close his career. That's not the way he ever dreamt it would end. There's a reason Hoke says this is the seniors' team and charges them to lead. They don't get a second chance, and they'll fight harder than those who higan fans. have a next year. They are guar- anteed nothing. Nothing other ped on shoulder than the assurance that this is it, since they were S this is the end. do it again after And, in the end, they enjoyed cl game. And they a proper send-off at Michigan another stadium Stadium and kept the goal of a Big Ten title within reach, if only for another week. *** Someday, they'll return like Brown did on Saturday. But they to greet the won't be remembered as fixtures hey entered the from a darker time. They'll be w York Giants remembered for hoisting Michi- rown. He was one gan back in its right standing channel, who among the nation's elite. eam alive. They'll return with their ile and hug for heads high to revisit that final hey darted by, chapter, the one they'll never put ubled back to down. 0 Senior quarterback Denard Robinson finished his career at Michigan Stadium with the same flashes of brilliance that have endeared hirrto Mic left. It was the man who filled the stadium when Michigan couldn't field a team worth watching. The one who tran- scends the quarterback position, the alpha position in college athletics, and does it all with a smile. The one whose swan song ended with an ESPN interview at center stage of the largest stage in the country. Denard Robinson closed his final chapter at Michigan Sta- dium just the way he should. The flicker in his eyes re-lit, Robinson trotted past throngs of adoring fans and disappeared into the darkness of the tunnel for the final time. They didn't all make the same impact. Jack Kennedy only took snaps when stadiums had been half- emptied and TVs were shut off. But everyone was watching as Kennedy, not Robinson or Devin Gardner, led the offense to lead Michigan onto the field for the last snap. Kennedy took the snap, hesitated and dipped his right knee to the turf. As the last seconds started to tick off the clock, Kennedy spun to the man behind him in the victory forma- tion, grinned and embraced him. It was Joe Reynolds, a redshirt junior receiver, and the two know each other better off the field than they do on it. Kennedy used his last season to follow another passion and kickstart a band with Reynolds they later dubbed 'JDK and Rey.' Senior day is a bittersweet occasion. You realize that they don't all have futures in football. Hardly any of them do. In pro- fessional football, there's always next year. On senior day, there rarely is a next year. College graduation is billed as "commencement" - a new beginning. Senior day is any- thing but. For a lot of these guys, they don't flip the channel and play on Sundays. This is it. With the exception of a few players, the members of Michi- gan's 'Team 133' senior class who have strap pads and cleats years old won't Michigan's boe will never have to call home. The last man seniors before t tunnel was Nev safety Stevie Br who did flip the did keep the dr He had a smi each senior as t stopped and do greet him. "Ste vie" fans chant followed Robin 6 vie, Stevie, Ste- ed as Brown son toward the - Nesbitt can be reached at stnesbit@umich.edu. Wolverines left looking for answers after being swept by Fighting Irish Michigan falls to No. 1 Akron in 2nd round By LIZ VUKELICH Daily Sports Writer The Michigan hockey team didn't want to believe that things could any worse this weekend. After all, they had already lost 3-1 to No. NOTRE DAME 3 7 Notre MICHIGAN 1 Dame on -- -- Friday, NOTRE DAME 4 when MICHIGAN 1 the 12th- ranked Wolverines collapsed under themselves. Though visibly distressed over the loss, at least there was some hope for Michigan that things could turn around the next night. But hope doesn't always translate into results, and the Wolverines fumbled their way to a 4-1 loss, the first time they'd been swept at Yost Ice Arena this season. "I think our team came out (tonight) with renewed ener- gy," said Michigan coach Red Berenson. "They felt bad about last night's game and they wanted to make up for it, and they.couldn't do it. "We just couldn't get the offense going and it was a defensive battle." The first period had the mak- ing of a picture-perfect stanza, with crisp passes and consid- erate puck handling in both zones - a far cry from the slop- piness that tore Michigan (2-5-1 CCHA, 4-6-1 overall) apart the night before. Considering Michigan's man advantage was abysmal on Friday, it wasn't necessarily comforting to them when they took the first-power play of the night. The Wolverines' power play unit stayed solid through- out the first frame - even if it wasn't scoring goals, at least it wasn't giving them up. But it was the other special- teams unit that faltered first, when Notre Dame (5-1, 8-3) scored a power-play goal with a snipe from the point midway through the frame. The remainder of the period Freshman goaltender Steve Racine hasn't been helped by the Michigan defense, which made a pair of crical mistakes. By JEREMY SUMMITT Daily Sports Writer AKRON, Ohio - No match against Akron, the perennial NCAA men's soccer power, is ever the most pleasant experi- ence. But the Michigan men's soccer team may have AKRON 2 caught MICHIGAN 1 the Zips at the worst possible time - in the midst of a 14-game winning streak. Top-ranked Akron added another tally to its tremendous streak on Sunday night, edging out the Wolverines, 2-1, in the second round of the NCAA tour- nament. The Zips haven't lost a match since Sept. 9, and they have outscored their opponents by a staggering 36-2 margin dur- ingthat span. Redshirt sophomore goal- keeper Adam Grinwis may have played the best match of his career for the Wolverines, but Akron proved too much for the improved Michigan defense. The Zips (7-0 MAC, 18-1-2 overall) controlled most of the possession throughout the match, leading to numerous plays that showed off their crafty footwork and ball skills. "We did some the best stuff early on in the second half that I've ever seen out of any Akron team I've had," said Akron coach Caleb Porter. "Some of the sequences and combinations were fantastic." Grinwis kept Michigan (5-3- 1 Big Ten, 11-10-1) in the game after making a string of crucial saves in the last 10 minutes of the initial frame, each coming from point-blank range inside the 18-yard box. But even Grin- wis's extraordinary performance wasn't enough to keep the Zips scoreless heading into halftime. In the 43rd minute, it was mid- fielder Eric Stevenson who struck a laser to the top right corner giv- ing Akron a 1-0 advantage just before the break. In the secondhalf,Grinwiswas even more impressive, making six out of his nine saves against the Zips' relentless attack. "Adam made some superb saves in the second half that defi- nitely kept us in the game," said Michigan coach Chaka Daley. "I think both keepers were excel- lent tonight." But the Wolverines' defense faltered again in the 59th minute when Akron forward Thomas Schmitt chipped a loose ball over Grinwis to give his team a 2-0 lead. To make matters worse for Michigan, three minutes later, freshman forward Colin McAtee was shown a red card for stomp- ing on an Akron defender follow- ing a hard tackle. On top of a two-goal deficit, the Wolverines were down to ten men on the field for the second time this season against Akron. But a minute later, off the ensu- ing free kick, freshman forward James Murphy revitalized the Michigan squad after striking a rocket into the left side of the net to cut the Zips' lead to one. "It was a little ironic," Daley said regardingthe quick goal fol- lowing the red card. Perhaps it was a bit strange, but more importantly for the I Wolverines, Murphy's strike meant they still had a chance. After McAtee's red card, the Wolverines showed more urgency than it had in the first sixty minutes of the match. Daley switched formations to push more attackers toward the Akron goal, but goalkeeper David Meves sealed the deal for the Zips, as he made a leap- ing save from junior midfielder Fabio Pereira's shot with just four minutes left. "It looked good off of (Pereira's) foot," Daley said. "It looked like it was going in the top pocket, but (Meves) got his hand to it and he made a great save." The Wolverines' season may be over, but Daley said that this season, his first at Michigan, has been a great experience for him- self and the team. "As a new coach, and to get buy-in from your team, I think our guys have grown a lot (dur- ing the season)," Daley said. "There will be better days for Michigan soccer for sure." see-sawed with back-and-forth penalties, but neither team con- verted. Michigan had just four shots on goal, with no real qual- ity looks. Freshman defenseman Jacob Trouba was the one who finally lit up the sluggish offense that was still lethargic throughout the second stanza. With seven minutes left, the defenseman found a loose puck at the top of the circle and rocketed it past Fighting Irish goalie Steven Summerhays's glove to knot the game at one. If Michigan was asleep before, Trouba lightingthe lamp certainly woke the team up. The Wolverines kept possession of the puck and had more better looks in the last five minutes of that period than they did in the previous night and first frame of Saturday combined - sopho- more forward Phil Di Giuseppe fired a breakaway backhand that bounced off both posts and Summerhays but never crossed the line. It was almost unfortunate for Michigan, then, that the second period had to end. As they came out for the third period, the momentum that the Wolverines had been carrying seemed lost as Notre Dame began to swarm freshman netminder Steve Racine. "You like to keep the game going," Berenson said. "We're playing well and we've got a little bit of momentum and we need to .feed off every little bit we can. "It's was a close, hard-fought game, and you had to battle for every inch. We did, and they did, and they finally broke us." Racine made the big saves he should have, and for a while, the defense held true. Instead of faltering in front of him, both the blue liners and the forwards went out of their way to clear the zone and stop good Fighting Irish looks on net. The good fortune could only hang on for so long, though. Senior defenseman Lee Mof- fie mishandled a puck behind the net, passing along the end boards right to a Notre Dame stick, which turned into the go- ahead goal. Just minutes later the Fighting Irish scored again after another defensive mishap gave Notre Dame a loose puck in the slot. That marked the all-too- familiar third-period collapse for Michigan, a team so des- perate that it pulled its goalie with 3:20 left in the game, only to lead to an empty-net goal for the Fighting Irish. If anything, the weekend only confused the Wolverines more. Whereas in past games it was either a weak defensive corps or a lack of offensive produc- tion, this weekend highlighted troubles all over the board. And time is ticking, as Michigan approaches the midpoint of its season. "I just think we're struggling to find full-team effort," said senior forward Kevin Lynch. "Inconsistency is what we're fighting right now, and you've got to find it somewhere."