The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com Monday, November 4, 2013 - 3B The Michigan l3aiIy - michigandailycom Monday, November 4, 2013 - 3B GAME STATISTICS For first time, seniors beat OSU Tam tats Fist Down Rush/Yards Pasg Yrds Offnive Plays TtlOffes Kickretums/yds Punt returno/yds Com~p/Att/Is$., Punts/Avg Fumbles/lost Penatie/Yards Tme of Pssssions Michigan 12 29/48 216 59 168 5/117 1/5 15/30/1 8/40.9 3/0 3-39 27:39 MSU 19 39/142 252 72 394 2/58 3/21 18/33/1 5/40.8 0-0 5-25 32:21 1 PASSING Player Gardner Morris Totals RUSHING Player Toussaint Morris Gardner Totals RECEIVING Player funchess Gallon Chesson Toussaint Totals M I C H I G A N C-A Yds 14-27 210 1-3 6 15-30 216 Att 8 29 Yds 20 0 -46 -48 Yds 65 67 82 2 240 Avg 2.5 0 -2.6 -1.7 Avg 10.8 13.4 27.3 2.0 16.0 TD 0 L9 9 Lg8 25 3s5 58 s2 TD 0 0 0 TD 0 0 0 0 No. 6 s5 3 1 Nebraska win means Michigan falls short of Big Ten title By JUSTIN MEYER Daily Sports Writer With the players' families sit- ting in the stands after traveling from all across North America for senior night, no one would've blamed the Michigan women's soccer team for being a bit dis- tracted. But they weren't. The eighth-ranked Wolver- ines (9-1-1 Big Ten, 15-2-1 over- all) took the field Saturday night with a determination and drive that has propelled them through the regular season. At stake was the senior class' first-ever vic- tory against Ohio State (4-5-2, 10-6-3) and a program-record eight-game win streak that extended back to Sept. 29. The unfazed Wolverines fin- ished the game with a 2-0 win and mounds of confidence as they head toward the Big Ten Tournament. After walking onto the field arm-in-arm with their fam- ily members, all seven seniors started for the Wolverines not out of charity, but rather as a testament to the strength and commitment of the group. "My whole class coming into Michigan, we knew that it was going to be a rebuilding year," said senior forward Shelby Chambers-Garcia. "We were our coach's first recruiting class as a whole; (fifth-year senior defender) Holly (Hein) was his first recruit. We knew that we were going to be starting some- thing special here at Michigan. Growing up together, training together, building this program together has been an amazing a ball past the keeper for the go-ahead goal in the second half, her first of the season. Senior forward Nkem Ezurike undressed the Buckeyes' defense before cutting back on the goaltender and tucking the ball inside the far post to give the Wolverines the 2-0 advan- tage and extend the Michigan career goals record to 46. Senior midfielders Tori McCombs, Meghan Toohey and Kayla Mannino all turned in solid performances as well. McCombs threatened to score multiple times, including a point-blank chance on a long ball she blew past a defender to reach. Mannino and Toohey both helped hold the defense togeth- er, even as Ohio State brought four attackers forward in the second half. Mannino spent sig- nificant time watching the Buck- eyes' speedy Nichelle Prince on the wing, and Toohey broke up plays at midfield all game, frus- trating Ohio State by forcing its forwards wide and not allowing plays to build up. When the final whistle sound- ed and the crowd stood cheer- ing, the Wolverines finally let themselves soak in the scene of their final regular-season game. "We're all emotional and upset," Chambers-Garcia said, gesturing at the stadium around her. "I mean you look at this, and this wasn't here when we got recruited. We've been here since the very beginning, and it's just been an honor to represent the block 'M' on this beautiful field for this great university." Fighting back tears, Cham- bers-Garcia headed to the lock- er room to celebrate the victory with her family, but also with her fellow seniors that have put the Michigan women's soccer team in the best position it has ever been in to win a Big Ten title. PUNTING Player No. Yds Asg 5, Wire N8. 327 40.9 49 Totals 8 327 40.9 49 PlyKr No. Yds Avg Lg TD Chesson 1 17 17.d 17 0 Norfleet 4 100 25.0 35 0 Totals 5 117 23.4 35, 0 PUNT RETURNS Player No. Yds Avg Lg TD Total 1 5 6.08 T TACKLES Taylor 6 6 12 Clark 3 6 . 9 Bolden 2 6 8 Morgan 1 7 8 Gordon. C. 1 4 s5 Wi"son 3 1 4 Countess 1 3 4 Avery 0 4 4 Ryan 2 1 3 Gallond 1 0 1 Black 0 1 1 Beyer 0 1 1 Washington 0 1 1 Wormley 0 1 1 Totals 30 s0 80 Senior defenders Shelina Zadorsky and Holly Hein helped freshman goaltender Taylor Bucklinto a shutout Saturday. experience." Michigan coach Greg Ryan said he was worried about how his team would start the game with all of the distractions, even going so far as to make time for a second warm-up after the ceremonies. When the Wolver- ines took the field against the opponent that eliminated them from the 2012 Big Ten Tourna- ment, though, they looked every bit the postseason contender they've proved themselves to be this last month. Senior defenders Shelina Zadorsky and Hein stonewalled the Buckeyes to help give fresh- man goaltender Taylor Bucklin her ninth shutout of the season. Ryan called the pair two of the best center backs in the Big Ten, and the cool and collected duo displayed that on Saturday night to back up their coach's praise. "I think we had a solid defen- sive day, but I also think we had a lot of confidence going into this game," Zadorsky said. "We weren't cocky by any means, but we were confident and I think that was a different feeling for me. In the past, we might have been a little hesitant to play Ohio State, but this year I think we prepared so well and we were excited." Every member of the senior class displayed that confidence Friday as Michigan put on a clinic at both ends of the field. Chambers-Garcia rocketed Player Cook~o Totals EUSHIN Playe, A M I C H I G A N C-A Yds 18-33 252 18-33 252 . S TA TE GROUNDED From Page 1B State dominated the line' of scrimmage. Lewan said after the game that the Spartans ran similar blitzes to the ones they ran two years ago. Michigan just couldn't stop them. "A lot of this game absolute- ly falls on this offensive line," Lewan said. "They ran a bunch of blitzes, a lot of the same exact blitzes they ran in 2011, but when it came down to it, we couldn't pick it up. That's our job." That might have been Lewan's opinion, but it wasn't the opin- ion of everyone. "It's not just the line," said Michigan coach Brady Hoke. "There are backs involved, there are routes involved, there's tim- ing - all those issues are part of it." And maybe that's the biggest issue. It would be easier to point at one specific unit and place the blame on them, but it's not that easy. Toussaint was blown up repeatedly on blitz pickups, which essentially erased Gard- ner's safety net. Wide receivers got no separation all night, while Gardner held onto the ball for too long and was hit on almost every passing attempt. Part of that is on offensive coordinator Al Borges, but part of that is also on Gardner. You can blame it on the line, or on Gardner, Toussaint, Borg- es, Hoke - whomever. There are many holes with many needed solutions. All that's important is that on a night where Michigan could have made a statement win, it instead put up the worst rushing performance in school history. Sometimes, numbers say all that needs to be said. TD int 1 1 Att 26 2 2 1 3 5 39 No. 6 5 2 2 1 1 1 i8 Yds 125 38 5 2 0 4 174 Yds 75 62 62 14 18 12 9 252 Avg 2s5 2.0 3.6 Avg 12sA 180 140 L9 40 4 2 40 L9 25 49 TD 1 1 0 0 0 0 1 2 TD i 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 - PUNTING Payer No. Yds Avg Lg o 204 40.8 1 s 204 40.8 51 No. Yds Avg Lg 2 58 290 36 2 58 29.0 . 36 TACKLES Player Solo Asst To Allng 1 4 9 Drummond s 3 8 Calhoun 3 3 6 Davis 2 2 4 Ruch 2 2 4 Lewis 1 3 4 Jones 2 0 2 Edmondson 1 1 2 Knox 1 0 1 Scarpinato 0 1 1 Tota 31 24 5s5 S LIKE US ON FACEBOOK PRETTY PLEASE * www.facebook.com/ michigandaily SLOVIN From Page 1B begin each drive at midfield. Buteven thatmight not have been enough against the nation's top-ranked defense. Follow- ing an interception by junior defensive back Raymon Taylor, the Wolverines set up shop at the Michigan State 41-yard line. Though they trailed by 10 at the time, which in this game felt like a three-score deficit, the tusnover could have changed the game completely. Best-case scenario, it results in a touch- down and suddenly Michigan is right back in the game. At the very least, it should've ended in a field goal, cutting it to a one- possession game. Instead, it became the worst- case scenario. The Wolverines' offense had been moving back- ward all game, which left the team shell-shocked after moving the ball with hardly any resis- tance against Indiana in its last game. And even given a rare short field, the trend continued. Michigan State brought the pressure on redshirt junior quarterback Devin Gardner, who had no place to go on an option call to begin the drive and lost five yards. Two plays later, each resulting in one of the Spartans' seven sacks on the afternoon, the ball had moved from the Michigan State 41 back to Michigan's own 38. Forget that outlier drive - and Michigan offensive coor- dinator Al Borges would surely prefer that you do anyway - and the Wolverines' average starting field positionbecomes their own 18-yard line. Now let's revisit the .06 points per drive that teams sacrifice with every yard of starting field position lost. The Spartans began their drives, on average, at their own 35-yard line. For ref- erence, in 2011, one of the years of the aforementioned statistical analysis, the biggest discrep- ancy between a team's starting position and its opponents was 15.9 yards, showing just how big Saturday's field position dif- ferential was. It's no coincidence that NCAA-leading field position team, Boise State, went 12-1 in 2011. Ignoring the miserable drive that netted negative 21yards, Michigan State had a 17-yard edge in the field-position battle. According to the statistical analysis, done by a better math student than I, that difference equates to an advantage of about a point per drive. Each team held the ball 13 times in Saturday's game, suggesting that Michigan cost itself about two touchdowns with its field position. Not all of the blame for that falls on the Wolverines. On three occasions, Spartan punter Mike Sadler pinned Michigan inside of its own 10-yard line. There's nothing the Wolverines can do about that, except be thankful they only have to see Sadler one more time before he graduates. But on the nine other drives that began inside the Michigan 35, the Wolverines shot them- selves in the foot. Poor starting field position meant little oppor- tunity to move the ball on likely the best defense they'll face all year. Drives were killed before they truly began. After the game, the Spartan Stadium scoreboard told you that 13 points wouldn't have made up for what Michigan coach Brady Hoke called alack of execution by his team. The Wolverines didn't lose this game because of the field-position battle alone. But any time a math whiz tells you you're spotting the other team 13 points worth of field position, don't feel good about your chances. Slovin can be reached at mjslovin@umich.edu or on Twitter @MattSlovin. I Buy one sandwich, get one FREE! 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