Sports
8A - Thursday, October 3, 2013
The Michigan Daily - michigandailycom
*I
Offense finally snaps
long scoring drought
By MAX BULTMAN
For theDaily
After a 245-minute scoreless
droughtthat spanned nearly three
games, the Michigan men's soc-
cer team finally broke through
less than a minute into the second
half Wednesday against Western
Michigan.
The last;goal scored by the Wol-
verines, a golden goal five min-
utes into overtime two weeks ago
against West Virginia, was falling
further and further from memo-
ry. But Michigan redshirt junior
midfielder Tyler Arnone fired a
shot into the bottom left corner
from just outside the 18-yard box
on the right wing. The goal not
only ended the drought for the
team, but it also started an offen-
sive explosion in the second half
for the Wolverines, who piled on
three goals from 21 second-half
shots to beat Western Michigan,
3-1.
The 21-shot eruption was a far
cry from the two Michigan mus-
tered in the first half, which came
as a bit of a surprise coming off a
very strong showing just a few
days ago against No. 7 Northwest-
ern. One reason for the slow start
was the absence of senior mid-
fielder Dylan Mencia, who missed
the game with an ankle injury.
"I thought Dylan was our best
guy against Northwestern," said
Michigan coach Chaka Daley. "We
missed his presence, his competi-
tiveness, his leadership. Hopefully
we can nurse him back to health
quickly."
Replacing Mencia at midfield
was senior Fabio Pereira, who
dropped back from forward to fill
the spot, while senior T.J. Roehn
got the starting nod at forward.
Junior TJ VanSlooten, Michi-
gan's leading scorer this season,
came off the bench and assisted
the drought-breaking goal to start
the second half.
"We had a good combination
play up the field, the ball popped
out to me and I looked toward the
top of the 18-yard box to Tyler and
he slammed it home," VanSlooten
said "I started out the season well,
and then went through a bit of a
slump. It felt really nice to get on
the statsheet tonight."
The whole team has been off
the statsheetlately,so it was a wel-
come change when it fired 10 of its
21 second-half shots at Western
Michigan sophomore goalkeeper
Chase Rau.
Daley credits the second-half
breakthrough to a change in men-
tality.
"Just to kind of focus in," he
said. "Where we are in our season,
we still have a ton to play for."
If the Wolverines can continue
to get contributions from players
like Arnone, who netted his first
goal of the season tonight, they
may be able to put all the talk of
their offensive struggles to rest.
In fact, none of Michigan's goal
scorers tonight had scored prior
to the game. Along with Arnone,
senior forward Malcolm Miller
and junior midfielder Marcos
Ugarte got their first tallies of the
year.
"We talked a lot about being
relentless," Arnone said "Usu-
ally it's a lot about tactics, but
today it wasn't about tactics, it
was about work ethic and having
pride. Today, he kind of fired us up
instead of going over tactics."
Daley, though, said that he
gave his team "just a few words"
between halves.
Whatever he said, it worked, as
the Wolverines looked like a dif-
ferent team afterthe break.
"I don't know if we were partic-
ularly flat, but we weren't as good
as we were in the second half,"
Daley said.
"I think in the second half we
demonstrated a little bit of North-
western...with goals," he contin-
ued, referencing the Wolverines'
failure to capitalize against the
Wildcats despite an impressive
showing.
Michigan (0-1 Big Ten, 3-3-3
overall) will look to replicate
its level of play from the second
half on Sunday, when it travels to
Columbus to take on Ohio State in
a game Daley described as "not a
difficult one to get motivated for."
VanSlooten certainly seems up
tothe challenge.
"Come Ohio State, you'd better
believe we'llbe ready forthatone,"
he said.
0
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VIRGINIA LOZANO/Daily
Redshirt junior midfielder Tyler Arnone broke Michigan's 245-minute scoreless streak with a goal in the second half to put Michigan on the board and tie the game.
A tale of two halves in win
over Western Michiga
By MINH DOAN
For the Daily
The men's soccer team took a
break from its Big Ten schedule
as Western
Michigan WMICHIGAN 1
(3-6-0) MICHIGAN 3
traveled
across the state to take on the
Wolverines. But Michigan also
seemed to take a break from the
first half of the game. It took a
lifeless first 45 minutes before
the Wolverines rallied with
three second-half goals en route
to their 3-1 win.
Any progress that the Wolver-
ines made during their previous
game against Northwestern on
Saitrday, when they dominated
possession, was stunted in the
first half as Michigan was out-
hustled by the Broncos. Mainly,
the Wolverines lacked passion
and energy ina very listless first
half. Michigan seemed to not
have the final pass to goal and
had little offensive production
because of it, exemplified by its
two shots, both off target.
"(The halftime talk was)
about work ethic and having
pride," said redshirt junior mid-
fielder Tyler Arnone. "A con-
versation you don't really want
to have because it's expected at
Michigan."
Western Michigan, on the
other hand, showed more life in
the first half as defender Connor
Furgason scored his first goal of
the season to the delight of the
large Western Michigan crowd
on hand for the game. The ball
was whipped in on a free kick
by midfielder-Edu Jimenez and
Furgason beat his defender and
struck a vicious header that hit
the bottom of the crossbar. The
shot was just out of reach of red-
shirt junior goalie Adam Grin-
wis before crossingthe goal line.
"We weren't as sharp as we
in the locker room," Arnone
said. "For me, I wanted to instill
some positive energy."
The Wolverines continued to
press and rattled off three more
shots in the next two minutes
before the Broncos could even
get down the field.
. Redshirt junior midfielder'
Colin McAtee received an assist
in the 65th minute when he
weaved his way past two Bronco
defenders on the goal line before
playing a low hard cross across
the goal mouth. The cross was
thought could redirected
be," said Mich- into the back
igan coach " v y e of the net by
Chaka Daley. Everyones senior for-
In the sec- head ward Mal-
ond half, s were colm Miller,
though, some- down in the his first goal
thing turned of the season,
on for the Wol- locker room " and the even-
verines, and * tual game
they came out winner.
of the gate fly- After the
ing. Just 23 second goal,
seconds into the half, Arnone Michigan seemed to be in the
collected the ball from junior clear, but Western Michigan
midfielder TJ VanSlooten out- wouldn't go down without a
side the 18-yard box and rifled a fight.
shot into the lower left corner of The 67th minute saw action
the goal. It was just out of reach for the Broncos when Jimenez
of Broncos goalie Chase Rau and made a run down the right flank
gave Arnone his first goal of the and crossed the ball into the
season. The goal was Michigan's box. Grinwis punched out the
first in 245 minutes. ball, but it was not far enough
"Everyone's heads were down and Western Michigan forward
Matheau Rogers got a foot on it.
But the shot went wide.
Just a minute later, Furgason
- the Broncos' goal scorer -
had a golden opportunity to tie
the game when he found himself
wide open on the farsd e of the
goal after a cross tree again,
Western Michigan was not able
to put the ball on frame, and
Michigan came out unscathed.
The Wolverines added anoth-
er goal in the 80th minute when
junior midfielder Marcos Ugarte
tapped in a rebound off a shot
from sophomore forward James
Murphy.
"I thought Marcos did very
well and scored a really good
goal," Daley said.
Overall, Michigan played a
better second half and outshot
the Broncos 21-5 in the frame.
The hustle and energy, missing
in the first half, was evident.
The game served as a good
reminder for the Wolverines
that they have to play a complete
game if they want to do well the
second half of the season. How-
ever, the offensive outbreak does
give Michigan some confidence
as it heads into its first road Big
Ten matchup against Ohio State
on Sunday.
"We still have a ton to play
for," Daley said. "We want to.
be a consistently competitive
team."
0
TRAcYKO/Daily
Junior midfielder TJ VanSlooten collected an assist Wednesday against West-
ern Michigan, and he is the team leader in goals scored, with three.
MEN'S BASKETBALL
Michigan adds four-star
forward Kameron Chatman
By DANIEL WASSERMAN
Daily Sports Editor
The Michigan basketball
team's run to last year's Nation-
al Championship game was
supposed to solidify the Wol-
verines on an entrenched posi-
tion amongst the elites on the
national recruiting trail.
But despite continually find-
ing itself in serious contention
for several top prospects in the
2014 recruiting class - players
set to come to campus next year
- Michigan repeatedly found
out that like the title game, com-
ing up close doesn't quite cut it.
Finally, the commitment
drought ended Tuesday night,
when the Wolverines secured
a verbal pledge from four-star
2014 MICHIGAN
VERBAL COMMITS
-Ricky Doyle, C
6-foot-9, 225 pounds
-Kameron Chatman, SF
6-foot-7, 200 pounds
-Austin Hatch, SF
6-foot-6, 210 pounds
forward Kameron Chatman -
their first since three weeks
before appearing in Atlanta.
Chatman, aversatile, 6-foot-7
wingman, is a consensus top-30
player in the nation. The Port-
land, Ore. native is regarded as
a tremendous rebounder for his
size and position, something
Michigan will certainly ben-
efit from, especially if the team
loses its starting wing, sopho-
more forward Glenn Robinson
III, to the NBA Draft following
the season.
Chatman joins three-star
center Ricky Doyle in the Wol-
verines' current haul, which
hopes to capitalize on the
newfound momentum. Michi-
gan is looking to compliment
the incoming frontcourt play-
ers with a prolific shooter out
of the backcourt. The team is
currently in the mix for shoot-
ing guards Devin Booker and
James Blackmon Jr. - a former
Indiana commitment that took
an official visit to Ann Arbor
last weekend. Booker, who
many analysts believe is leaning
towards attending Kentucky,
is planning to make his own
official visit to Michigan for
this weekend's football game
against Minnesota.
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