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October 28, 2013 - Image 11

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The Michigan Daily, 2013-10-28

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The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.pm

October 28, 2013 - 3B

The Michigan Daily - michigandailycom Ochoher 28, 2013 - 3B

HOCKEY
From Page 1B
only answered any lingering
doubts about their program, but
demonstrated how it's stronger
than it has been in the better
span of a decade.
With a little less than 17
minutes remaining, the build-
ing groaned when an apparent
Michigan goal was disallowed.
But it didn't really matter in the
end.
Five minutes later, freshman
forward Tyler Motte tied the
game with a one-timer, and the
team's reaction was as much a
sigh of relief it was as a celebra-
tion.
Last year, the Wolverines
might not have found an equal-
izer.
But the freshman was in the
right place at the right time - as
he has been all season - to net
his fourth career goal.
"You go out in practice every
day, and this is the reason you
come here, to play games like
these," Motte said.
The Boston University net-
minder responded later in the
period by punching senior for-
ward Luke Moffatt in the head,
a play that went unpunished
by the referees. But Michigan
didn't need to fight back, not like
that. Halfway through the final
period, Guptill was upended
ona reakaway and awarded a
penalty shot. It was a dubious
call, but after equally suspect
calls at New Hampshire, it was
a fortuitous break a week in the
making.
Guptill made the Terriers pay,
going five-hole on the goaltender
to put Michigan ahead for good,

and Yost's 90-year-old structure
shook in response.
"It'll get louder,"Berenson
said. "If our team plays well,
we'll hear about it."
That the Wolverines lost to
Massachusetts-Lowell, 2-1, on
Saturday night was little more
than a minor inconvenience.
The River Hawks were the top-
ranked team-in the preseason
polls and projected to win Hock-
ey East, and "it was anyone's
game, right down to the very
end," according to Berenson.
"You can't win them all," said
senior defenseman Mac Bennett.
They won't, but they've come
pretty close so far.,Michigan
faced five ranked opponents in
its first six games - perhaps the
toughest stretch it'll encounter
in the regular season - and fin-
ished 4-1-1.
So come back to Yost, because
this year, the Wolverines are for
real.
They've proven as much
through the first three weekends
of the season, erasing lingering
doubts and establishingthem-
selves as the team to beat in the
Big Ten.
As the final moments of Fri-
day's win ticked away, freshman
forward JT Compher and Ter-
rier defenseman Doyle Somerby
tussled behind the Boston
University net. Somerby gave a
shove as the final horn sounded,
hut by then Compher had began
to skate towards center ice with
his stick raised.
There were no questions left
to answer; that fight was already
won.
- Zdtiga can he reached
at azs@umich.edu or on
Twitter @thezuniga.

JAMES COLLER/Daily
Freshman forward Yamann Sahlool provided instant offense off the bench for Michigan. He scored the Wolverines' first goal of the game in the 69th minute.
n win over Hoosiers another
second-half flurry for Michigan

By MIKE PISCIO TTA
For the Daily
For the second straight game,
the Michigan men's soccer team
found itself tied 1-1, heading
into the final five minutes of the
match against Indiana on Satur-
day. And for the second straight
game, the Wolverines managed
to seal a 2-1 victory against a Big
Ten foe thanks to a late game
winner. Junior midfielder TJ
VanSlooten's 87th-minute goal
propelled Michigan to a victory
over the Hoosiers for the surg-
ing Wolverines' third consecu-
tive win.
With three minutes remain-
ing and overtime looming,
freshman defender Rylee Woods
sprinted down the left flank and
whipped in a hopeful cross into
the Indiana box. Hoosier 'goal-
keeper Michael-Soderlund came
out to claim the ball, but instead
of catching it, he fumbled the
ball into the path of freshman
defender Lars Eckenrode. Eck-
enrode instinctively poked
the ball toward the path of the
oncoming VanSlooten, who slot-
ted the ball into the back of the
net to give Michigan the lead.
"We are coming out (in the
FIVE
From Page lB
season. Michigan advanced to
the National Championship that
year.
2. Michigan's offense won't be
potent until it buries its chances.
The Wolverines tallied 83
shots in two games. They scored
on just three of them.
For what has been deemed one
the deepest units he's ever seen,
Berenson has reason to be upset
with a .036 shot percentage.
It's clear Michigan can create
chances, which should theoreti-
cally mean more goals, but that
hasn't been the case. .
"We have to score more than
one goal at home," Berenson
said Saturday. "We've got to take
advantage of our chances better
than we did tonight."
Freshman forward Tyler
Motte had one of those scoring
chances late against the River
Hawks on Saturday, when he
received the puck nearthe crease
with an open net but sent it wide
left. Senior forward Derek DeB-
lois also failed to finish with an
open net, pushing his shot just
wide.
It doesn't help when both of
the opposing goalies' play is out-
standing, but missed opportuni-
ties like Motte's and DeBlois's
have become costly.
The offense has shown its
potential against RIT when it

second half) fi,
result," said se:
Fabio Pereira.'
ways to win gam
Heading into t
for halftime, Mi
Ten, 7-4-3 over
uphill battle, do
reigning. NCAAc
ana (1-3, 5-9-1).
Wolverines' mi
shirt junior
goalkeeper
Adam Grinwis
was forced to
leave the game
with an injury.
Although
Michigan had
a tough task
ahead, the
team's perse-

ghting for the and higher up the pitch.
nior midfielder Sahlool, who has provided
"We're finding instant offense off the bench
es." for Michigan, seemed poised to
the locker room score after creating a few qual-
chigan (3-2 Big ity chances upon entering the
rall), faced an game. In the 69th minute, he did
wn 1-0 against just that.
champion Indi- Following a corner, the ball
To add to the was played out to Pereira on the
sfortunes, red- left flank. With plenty of space,
Pereira deliv-
ered a cross
into the box
"We're finding that found
the head
ways to win the of Sahlool.
, Unmarked at
game. the back post,
he directed
the ball into
the net to tie

the Indiana front line. The Hoo-
siers were very intent on play-
ing balls in the air to their tall,
strong strikers. The runs made
by the other Indiana attackers
off the ball caused trouble for
the Michigan defense as it had
trouble winning the ball in the
air. This led to a couple quality
chances for Indiana in the first
half, and eventually, a goal from
Andrew Oliver in the 43rd min-
ute.
"We had a much better per-
formance in the second half,"
Pereira said. "Our resiliency is
what changed the game."
With freshman goalkeeper
Grant Mattia in net, the Wol-
verines' defense needed to be at
its best for the final 45 minutes,
and it stepped up to the chal-
lenge. Michigan completely shut
down the Indiana attack, allow-
ing only one shot on goal, which
came in the final minute of the
game, and preventing any other
chances to preserve the victory.
"Beating the national champs
from last year certainly helps us
from a mentality standpoint,"
Daley said. "It helps build the
legacy we're trying to create
with the Michigan soccer pro-
gram."

verance and intensity changed
the game after the intermission.
"They believe that they're a
second-half team," said Michi-
gan coach Chaka Daley. "Their
energy gets better as the game
goes on."
With the introduction of
VanSlooten and freshman for-
ward Yamann Sahlool, the Wol-
verines transitioned into a more
attack-oriented formation with
Pereira playing in the middle

the score at one.
The Wolverines' attack was
relentless in the second half.
They outshot the Hoosiers, 11-2,
and kept the majority ofthe pos-
session in their opponents' half.
Along with the stellar play by
the attack, the Michigan defense
improved after struggling in the
first half.
Throughout the first half,
the Wolverine back line had
trouble with the physicality of

SOCCER
From Page 1B
freshman defender Rylee
Woods's attempt was palmed by
Soderlund into the crossbar and
ultimately cleared out of bounds
by an Indiana defender to set up
a corner. Senior defender Ezekiel
Harris's header off the ensuing
corner kick sailed high over the
bar, as Michigan's succession of
shots could not producea goal.
With just three minutes to
play in the half, after Michigan's
flurry of shot opportunities was
stymied by Indiana in the 39th
minute, the Hoosiers scored off
a counter attack to take the lead.
Indiana's Patrick Doody
crossed the ball from the left
side over Michigan sophomore.
defender Jack Brown. Redshirt
junior goalkeeper Adam Grinwis
came out to try and clear the ball,
but Indiana's Andrew Oliver beat
him and headed the ball into the
open net, giving the Hoosiers a
1-0 lead. Despite being outplayed
in the first half, the Hoosiers sur-
prisingly led at the break.
Due to an injury, Grinwis was
replaced by freshman goalkeep-
er Grant Mattia at the half. He
played valiantly in the first game
action of his career, blanking
Indiana the rest of the way and
allowing Michigan to get back in
the game.
The breakthrough came in the
70th minute, as Pereira crossed
the ball from the right corner
to freshman forward Yamann
Sahlool. The substitute beat the

Hoosiers' back line and grace-
fully headed the ball into the top
left corner for the second goal
of his career, to finally tying the
game at 1-1.
"Yamann scored a great goal
tonight, just put himself in the
right position at the right time,"
Daley said. "His header into the
back of the net got our momen-
tum going."
The game winner came in the
88th minute as a run.by Woods
down the left sideline ulti-
mately led to junior midfielder
TJ VanSlooten's clutch goal.
Woods served the ball into the
box, which was then fumbled by
Soderlund.
Freshman defender Lars Eck-
enrode managed to control the
ball and found VanSlooten who
knocked it past the goalie from
just a few yards out to complete
the come-from-behind 2-1 win
over the Hoosiers.
Michigan is proving to be a
strong second-half team, with
this trend continuing against
Indiana.
"Earlier in the year, I think we
lacked confidence late in games,
but now (the players) are saying
that we're a second half team
and that their energy gets better
as the game goes on," Daley said.
"They were late goals, but they
were really good goals at the end
of the day."
Indiana's only shot on goal in
the second half came in the 90th
minute. Mattia saved Harrison
Petts's last-second shot as the
clock wound down to seal the
victory for Michigan.

scored seven times, but its play
in the past two weeks has not
lived up to its reputation. Big
Ten teams will play comparable,
if not better, offense to recent
Hockey East opponents, which
means the Wolverines won't be
able to constantly rely on their
goaltenders.

Meanwhile, Compher continues
to create scoring chances when
he brings the puck down.
"We're all the same age, and
we've all been together for a few
years," Allen said. "Me and Tyler
have been together before that,
so I think we have a lot in com-
mon on the ice and off the ice."

3. The all-freshmen line is play- 4. Penalties will be costlier than
ing like it's a veteran line. usual.

At the end of Friday's contest
against Boston University, with a
slim 2-1 lead in the waning sec-
onds, Berenson sent out the third
line of freshmen Motte, JT Com-
pher and Evan Allen.
The 11th-ranked Terriers
pulled their netminder in the
final minutes in attempt to tie
the game and fired more shots in
the third period than the previ-
ous two, but the young line held
on for the win.
The move was bold of Beren-
son, who said prior to the sea-
son that he had planned to put
younger players with experi-
enced ones. It demonstrates his
early trust in unproven players at
the collegiate level.
"I justhad agood feel for these
three," Berenson said. "They're
competing hard. They're always
making good decisions on the
ice."
All three were members of the
U.S. NationalTeamDevelopment
Program last year and show solid
chemistry on the ice. Saturday's
game was the first in the past five
games that Motte did not score.

The Wolverines have allowed
five power-play goals thus far,
good for 27th fewest in the
nation.
The middle-of-the-pack num-
bers don't tell the whole story.
Michigan takes 13.2 penalty
minutes per game, which both
players and coaches alike have
said disrupts the team's rhythm
and flow.
The Wolverines have strug-
gled the most during games in
which they have sat in the penal-
ty box the longest. Against RIT,
Michigantook seven penalties in
the second period and allowed
four goals in the same frame.
Tied at one midway through
the third period of Saturday's
contest, junior forward Phil
Di Giuseppe again proved why
the penalties are costly. He was
called for checking from behind
and subsequently given a game
misconduct. The five-minute
major that ensued strained
Michigan's defense and kept the
Wolverines out of the offensive
zone.
The penalty ultimately result-

ed in a goal allowed, which stood
as the game winner.
"Killing a five-minute pen-
alty is tough," Bennett said. "I
thought we almost had it, but it
was too little, too late. They capi-
talized, and we couldn't come
back from that."
When the Wolverines play
their best hockey, they stay out
of the box and hold onto the
puck longer. Michigan will have
to stay disciplined against rivals
like Michigan State and Ohio
State later in the season if it
wants any shot at keeping games
close.
5. Bold Prediction: Michigan
won't lose again in 2013.
The Wolverines played three
top-20 teams with an untested
defense and were without their
starting goaltender for half of
their games to the start the sea-
son and finished 4-1-1.
Michigan won't face another
top-20 team this year if the rank-
ings remain similar to where
they are now, which looks good
for the Wolverines on paper.
Their next two opponents -
Michigan Tech and Nebraska-
Omaha - have combined for
three wins this season, and the
competition afterward, teams
like Niagara and Ferris State,
doesn't appear much better.
As the defense gains experi-
ence and with Racine eventually
back to full health, the season
looks promising to end the calen-
dar year.

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