8A - Friday, November 8, 2013 The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com,' 8A ~ Friday, November 8, 2013 The Michigan Daily - mithigandailytom * Roa to Fial Four egins FIELD HOCKEY Late-game magic comes to an end By SIMON KAUFMAN Daily Sports Writer The last time Final Four ban- hers were in motion at the Crisler Center, they were coming down from the rafters - not going up. Friday night, for the first time since the ban- ners from the 1992 and 1993 UMaSS Final Fours Lowell at were removed Michan because of NCAA sanc- Matchup: tions, a banner UMass 0-0; will be lifted to Michigan 0-0 the rafters. This When: Fri- time, it sees to day 7 p.m. remain there Where: Crisler permanently. Center After the TV/Radio: lights go down BT N and the banner commemorat- ing last year's Final Four run goes up, a new era of Michigan basketball will com- mence, as the Wolverines kick off their regular season against UMass Lowell. But Michigan won't be playing with its eyes on the banner. It'll be looking toward another trip to the championship game in 150 days. "Any time we have a banner raised, you know it's something special," said Michigan coach John Beilein. "At the same time, we just get ready to play again because we do want to have more success obviously. We want to keep this program growing." This Michigan team will have a different look than the one that came up just short against Louis- ;*yille in last year's championship ame. Namely, former stars Trey Burke and Tim Hardaway Jr. left for the NBA. But in two exhibi- tion showings, it's clear that this team still has many of the parts that contributed during its NCAA tournament run. Last year, a cast of freshmen played supporting roles to Burke and Hardaway. This year, the By MATTHEW KIPNIS Daily Sports Writer With the No. 18 Michigan field hockey team down by one late in Thursday's game against Iowa, Michigan coach Mar- cia Pankratz called a timeout. Could the Wolverines find their late game magic that led to five wins in their last six games of the regu- lar sea- MICHIGAN 0 son? IOWA 1 The magic ran out, though, as Michi- gan exited earlier than expected in the Big Ten Tournament to Iowa on Thursday morning in Columbus. Despite the 1-0 upset, Pan- kratz believes the Wolverines "may have an outside shot" at making the NCAA Tournament, but it seems unlikely. - "We expected a lot of our- selves, which is why everyone is pretty upset about it," said.fifth- year senior goalkeeper Haley Jones. "When you expected to do great things, it's worse when you lose, and you really feel it. It is a sign that we were proud of where we could have gone, and. it is unfortunate that we lost so early, but the sun rises tomor- row. We have to move on and be thankful for the season we had." The Wolverines won on last- second goals in three of their last five wins, including the last game against Iowa. They couldn't pull out another one in Columbus. "Up until the last second, I really thought we would be able to tie it up," Pankratz said. "It just didn't work out for us today, and we just couldn't quite fin- ish." Neither team scored until the 58th minute, when Iowa scored off a counter attack from a turn- over at midfield. Iowa forward Natalie Cafone brought the ball into the Wolverine circle and crossed to forward Stephanie Norlander, who knocked the ball into the net around Jones' diving attempt to block the ball. After the timeout with one minute left in the game, Michi- gan had possession of the ball near the Iowa 25 and substi- tuted all their offensive threats into the game. The Wolverines couldn't get the ball into the circle, and the Hawkeyes man- aged to take control of the ball and finished the clock. Michigan had the advan- tage in shots, 11-8, and penalty corners, 5-3, but couldn't take advantage of these breaks. Jones. played well in the cage with four saves, but the lone goal was all Iowa needed. "It is a battle to get the ball in the net, and they had a good break and got the goal in," Jones said. "Their defense held up and ours just had a flaw, and they got lucky with the goal." After being upset by Michi- gan in early October, it looked as if Iowa was happy to-return the favor and avenge its earlier loss when it really mattered. Iowa will now play Penn State, which beat Michigan 2-0 in the finals of last year's Big Ten tourna- ment. "It's the end of the line for the seniors, which I have been very proud of," Pankratz said. "They have had a very outstand- ing career as they are two-time Big Ten champs, and they have represented the program with grace and a championship men- tality. And the underclassman, we are going to get back at it in January. We are going to come back and start training and keep our sights on the 2014 season. We have a great incoming class and a lot of really experienced returnees, who I know will be ready to avenge this disappoint- ment." TERRA MOLLENGRAFF/Daily Redshirt junior Jon Horford is expected to start in place of injured sophomore center Mitch McGary on Friday. sophomores will share the spot- In two lopsided exhibition light. With sophomore forward wins, the Wolverines won 117-44 Mitch McGary out with a back and 79-60, respectively. It's likely injury, Beilein will be forced to get that they'll be on the right side. more creative with his lineup. In the two exhi- bition games, he started red- shirt junior Jon Horford and fifth-year senior Jordan Mor- gan to make up for McGary's absence in the post. Beilein of another crooked score Friday night. "We want UMass Low- .eli won't just to keep thS be playing its first regular- program season game r n against Mich- grow ing. igan - it'll be its first game as a Division- I team. Last to highly-touted freshman Jahad Thomas to the equation, and it looks as though UMass Lowell's welcome to the top tier of college basketball could be a quick reality check. But don't expect Michigan to get caught up in the banner cel- ebrations or the beatings it may dish out to the inferior teams that fill many of its early-sea- son games. They know a trip to Arlington won't come easy. "We didn't get the job done, but we had a great season (last year)," said sophomore guard Caris Levert. "We'll be feeling really excited but not accomplished, though, because we still have a lot of work to do. We have a long sea- son ahead of us." wouldn't share his starting five year, the River Hawks went 15-13, for Friday night's game though, and 10-2 in the Division-II North- saying only, "I like our starting east-10 Conference. lineup." Add a new coach and an injury MEN'S SOCCER Wolverines look to. keep Big Bear Trophy Michigan faces early litmus test " By MINH DOAN Daily Sports Writer Like its football counterparts, the Michigan men's soccer team is looking to walk out of East Lansing with a win. But the Wol- verines can only hope their result turns out better than the football team's fortunes did last weekend and they retain the Big Bear Tro- phy, given to the winner of the annual rivalry game. Michigan Last year, .Raig Michigan won at vICuigan the trophy after State a goal by Kofi Matchup: Opare - now Michigan 8-5- playing with 3; MSU 9-4-3 the Los Angeles Galaxy of Major dhen: Sat- League Soccer - off acorner Where: kick in the 70th DeMartin Soc- minute lifted cer Complex for an exciting TV/Radio: and physical 1-0 mgoblue.com victory in last season's match-. up between the two teams. But the Spartans had the last laugh as they beat the Wolverines in last season's Big Ten Championship overtime thriller, 2-1. "There's alittle bit of a revenge aspect," said senior midfielder Dylan Mencia. "But the game means a lot in other aspects too in that we could clinch an NCAA spot while also being a local rivalry." But getting revenge and over- coming Michigan State's home- field advantage could prove difficult for Michigan. The Wolverines have won just two out of six road games this year and going into East Lan- sing to win won't be an easy task. Michigan will be looking for just its second-ever win at Michigan State and its first in10 years. "We're in a very great place, mentality-wise," Mencia said. "We're excited and ready to go." JAMES cOLLER/Daily Senior midfielder Dylan Mencia said "there's a little bit of a revenge aspect." The Wolverines will enter the DeMartin Soccer Complex in their last game of the regular season looking to take the No. 2 seed in next week's Big Ten Tour- nament in Columbus. Penn State wrapped up the regular-season title last Sunday. Michigan could also wrap up an NCAA Tourna- ment at-large bid with a win. - "I think if we win this game, we're in (the NCAA Tourna- ment)," Daley said. "But it will certainly be a tough game." No. 22 Michigan State, cur- rently fourth in the Big Ten standings, comes in two points behind the Wolverines and would jump to 2nd place with a victory. The Wolverines come in riding a 1-0 victory over Valparaiso on Monday night. Senior midfielder Fabio Pereira scored the game- winning penalty kick in his final regular-season game at the U-M Soccer Stadium. The game ended a successful five-game home- stand in which Michigan was victorious over No. 16 Wisconsin and No. 25 Creighton. But to get the all-important win in East Lansing on Saturday, the Wolverines offense will need to get past a stalwart goalie, 2012 All-Big Ten Freshman Zach Ben- nett. Bennett leads the Big Ten in shutouts, with eight. While only a sophomore, Bennett has already rewritten the Spartan record book - he is Michigan State's all- time leader in wins, saves, save percentage and minutes played by a goalie. The Michigan offense will need to play its best attack- ing game to get a goal past Ben- nett. The Spartans, led by fifth-year coach Damon Rensing, will look to attack and pressure ahead early and throughout the game to try to create chances. They will also look to create corners and free kicks close to the Wolverine goal and convert those chances. At the head of the Spartan' attack are forwards Adam Mon- tague and Tim Kreutz. While the reigning All-Big Ten first-teamer Montague is the all-time Spartan leader in both goals and assists, Kreutz has taken over the spot- light this season. He leads the team in goals, with eight, and will look to increase that count against Michigan. "(The Spartan offense) is orga- nized, they don't make a lot of mistakes," said Michigan coach Chaka Daley. "They're also very, very good on set pieces. That will . be very challenging for us." By LEVFACHER Daily Sports Writer After a 26-point exhibition win against a Division I team last Fri- day, the short honeymoon is over for the Michigan women's bas- ketball team and the 2013- 14 season. Michigan Now Bowl- atBowing ing Green awaits, fresh Green off a 24-11 Matchup: campaign Michigan and looking 0-0; Bowling to build on Green 0-0 its run to the When: Fri- third round day 4 p.m. of the WNIT Where: New last year. Rochelle, But the New York faces of both TV/Radio: teams have changed dras- mgoblue.com tically. When the Wolver- ines tip off the Iona Tournament in New Rochelle, N.Y., they'll find themselves in a battle between two teams that lost the bulk of their scoring ability from last sea- son. The graduations of Chrissy Steffen and Danielle Havel leave Bowling Green in search of a com- bined 17.1 points and 9.7 rebounds per game, but the Falcons are still the more experienced squad, given Michigan's youth. The Wolverines are likely to sport the same starting five they used last week against Wayne State. That's in large part to an impressive performance by soph- omore guard Madison Ristovski, who scored 15 points and added four assists in 31 minutes. Three juniors - forward Cye- sha Goree and guards NicoleElm- blad and Shannon Smith - had already been considered probable candidates to start, along with freshman guard Siera Thompson. That left the final spot up for grabs. Barnes Arico and her staff decided to go with Ristovski in the exhibition game after the team's practice the day before, and it's more than likely Ristovs- ki will be on the floor from the game's beginning. The second-year coach has indicated a willingness to switch up her rotation based on recent performance, but none, of the original four starters did any- thing to cost themselves a spot in the starting lineup last week, and Ristovski's performance went a long way toward impressing the coach. "I thought she did a great job," Barnes Arico said following Michigan's 81-55 win last Friday. "(She was) able to contribute on' the offensive end, and knock down some shots." The tournament opener against Bowling Green, of course,. is by no means a must-win game. However, it's games like these that will come to define Michi- gan's season. The Wolverines will struggle to compete against the Big Ten's top tier, but they'll coast through the easier parts of their sched- ule, which features matchups with the likes of Alcorn State and Western Michigan. It's the games against teams that are good but not elite that could make or break Michigan's season and push the Wolverines over or under the .500 mark, and the Falcons will provide an early test for a Michigan team that's too youngto have found its identity just yet. The Wolverines hold a slight size advantage over the Falcons, but that's certainly not a luxury they should get used to. Michigan's tallest play- ers - Goree and senior forward Val Driscoll - stand 6-foot-3 and 6-foot-4, respectively, which would make both of them taller than anybody on the Falcon ros- ter. But throughout the rest of the season, Michigan's guards will have to pickup the slack rebound- ing-wise, a trend that might need to begin as, soon as Saturday, when the Wolverines take on either Iona or Arizona, depending on Friday's results. "We pride ourselves on being the hardest-working team in America," said Ristovski after the victory over Wayne State. "We have to make sure we work hard in practice, and in games too, to make sure that we pull those boards." A weekend in New Rochelle isn't going to decide much, if anything, about Michigan's sea- son. But the first step this young team takes in what Barnes Arico admits is a transition year is an important one nonetheless. If Michigan wants to play a factor in the Big Ten race and turn itself into a surprise contender, it's games like these that will show whether those hopes are realistic or a year premature. maCsY KO/Daily Junior guard Nicole Elmhlad is a veteran who started 32 games last year. 0