The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com
April 7, 2014 - 3B
The ichganDail - ichgandilyom pril7, 014- 3
'M' tops in Regional
Madrid, Man U confirmed
By CINDY YU
Daily Sports Writer
With a ticket to nationals on
the line and regular season All-
American Austin Sheppard out
after suffering a season-ending
ankle injury, there was little room
for error at the NCAA Athens
Regional Saturday at Stegeman
Coliseum in Athens, Ga.
To fill in for the sophomore
standout, the underclassmen
on the No. 7 Michigan women's
gymnastics team stepped up at
the most important meet of the
season against No. 6 Georgia,
No. 18 Central Michigan, No. 22
Ohio State, North Carolina State
and Rutgers.
The underclassmen played an
integral role in helping Michigan
win, 196.750-196.375, over
runner-up Georgia.
Freshman Nicole Artz earned
9.925 to finish second on floor
exercise to senior Joanna
Sampson, who scored 9.950 for
her routine, highlighted by a
difficult tumbling sequence.
The other three teammates
- fifth-year senior Natalie
Beilstein, senior Reema Zakharia
and junior Sachi Sugiyama -
By GREG GARNO the state of Michigan and will
Daily Sports Editor continue to extend the Michigan
brand internationally."
It'll be like a football Saturday, Officials and Brandon hope to
but in the middle of summer. break the record for attendance at
And on steroids. a soccer game in the United States,
Friday afternoon, the which stands at 101,799. Michigan
Michigan Athletic Department Stadium has an official capacity of
confirmed a report by the Daily 109,901 for footballgames.
in a press conference that Real Brandon said he expects the
Madrid and Manchester United event to bring up to more than
will face off at Michigan Stadium $14 million to the city of Ann
on Aug. 2, 2014. Arbor, citing a typical football
The match,originallyreported Saturday as bringing in close to
in February by worldsoccertalk. $14 million on average.
com, is part of the International "Certainly, from time to
Champions Cup, which features time, when something comes
clubs from Italy, England, Spain along, we're very open to it
and Greece. as long as it's good for the
"This is a rare chance for community," Brandon said. "We
the Ann Arbor community love doing this; it creates a lot
and thousands of soccer fans for excitement. And we take a
in and around the southeast facility that we all love, and that
Michigan area to watch elite- sits empty all but seven or eight
level professional soccer," said days of the year."
Athletic Director Dave Brandon The Athletic Department and
in a statement. "This event will officials discussed how convert
have a positive economic impact a turf football field - 53 yards
on the city of Ann Arbor and in length - to a soccer field
that must be between 70 and 80
yards wide. Brandon said that
teams will not sit on the field.
Rather they, will likely be placed
in benches in the stands, leaving
the entire width of the field
available for playing.
Charlie Stillatano, CEO of
Relevant Sports, the marketing
company affiliated with the
event, said that workers will lay
a protective surface over the
turf field before loading trays of
sod on top. The process should
take about 48 hours to complete,
according to Stillatano.
Part of proceeds from the
event will be put to academic
scholarships, according to
Brandon, while the rest will go
to the construction of a new
soccer facility. The UM Soccer
Stadium, home to both the
Michigan men's and women's
soccer teams, was opened in
2010, but does not have access
to athletic training spaces, office
space or anything beyond locker
rooms and a field.
ALLISON FARRAND/Daily
Lindsay Williams posted a career high on bars as Michigan won its Regional.
each posted 9.90(
team total to 49.
record for the N
competition.
Michigan was
with Georgia at th
its first rotation.I
outscored the Wo
0.025, proving
why they were
the top-ranked
team in the
country on
uneven bars.
"We knew
Georgia was
starting on
their best event
uneven bars, and
put some pressure
from the very firs
Michigan coach B
wanted to send
everyone in the
would be able to h
and that's what we
After setting tI
floor, Michigani
momentum and ov
by 0.700 at the hal
In a
performance, espe
loss of the nation
vaulter, freshman
matched her caret
on vault.
Beilstein ancho
0, to bring the time in her career, contributing
575, a program a silver medal-worthy 9.900 for
*CAA Regional her explosive Yurchenko 1.5 that
nearly reached the end of the mat.
neck-and-neck The Wolverines then
e conclusion of overcame some adversity on bars
The Gym Dogs to maintain their lead.
lverines by just For the first time all season,
Sampson, the
NCAA/W
"We wanted to Regionast
send a message." Gymnast of
theYear,fellin
competition,
missing her
Tkatchev
t, which was release move on bars. Her
we wanted to uncharacteristic mishap put
e on the team added pressure on the final two
t routine," said competitors in the lineup.
ev Plocki. "We Beilstein followed up nicely,
a message to tying her season-high of 9.900
arena that we with a routine that included a
ang with them sky-high Gienger release move.
did." In only her third bars
he bar high on appearance this season,
maintained its sophomore Lindsay Williams
'ertook the lead rallied in the anchor position,
fway point. scoring a new career-best 9.850
much-needed for her clean routine featuring a
cially with the stuck double-layout dismount.
s's second-best "It was my best routine of
Talia Chiarelli the season," Williams said.
er-best of 9.850 "I thought to myself, 'This is
actually happening.' After I
red for the first stuck that dismount, I ran over
to the corral as fast as I could and
hugged everybody."
To finish out the meet, the
Wolverines delivered a solid
beam performance, though
the scores may not reflect
that. Though their 48.700 was
relatively low, it was the second
highest of the night.
"Ironically, the team score
would lead you to think we didn't
do a great job on beam, but we
had no falls and the beam scores
were tight," Plocki said.
Like always, the freshmen set
the rest of the team up perfectly,
even earning the two top team
scores on beam. Chiarelli scored
9.775 while Artz took first overall
with 9.850. Artz also claimed her
first all-around victory of the
season.
Williams appeared in her
fifth beam lineup of the season,
scoring 9.750 and showing
increased confidence,
After nearly a month of
rehabbing her ankle, sophomore
Briley Casanova returned to the
beam lineup in her usual anchor
spot. Her 9.725 secured the win
for Michigan over Georgia.
While both teams advance
to the NCAA Championships,
Michigan completed its mission
of making a statement at regionals
for the national stage.
JAMES COLLER/Daily
venue for Real Madrid vs. Manchester United, the Athletic Department confirmed.
MEN'S LACROSSE
Wolverines Stag-nate
By MINH DOAN "Lott had a couple of faceoff
Daily Sports Writer violations early," said Michigan
coach John Paul. "It really set
With a little more than two him back and slowed him down
minutes left in the game and the today."
Michigan The first two goals of the
men's MICHIGAN 8 game came from Fairfield
lacrosse FAIRFIELD 9 attackers Trevor Sperry and
team down Dave Fleming, before Michigan
by one, Fairfield midfielder struck back with a goal from
Drew Frederico had the ball Wolverine freshman midfielder
on the right hash mark, with Mikie Schlosser.
Wolverine The two
junior teams traded
midfielder goals to end
Thomas Orr "Teams aren't the first
between half, leaving
him and the going to want to Michigan
goal. With a down just 3-2
spin move, play us. - even after
Frederico beat the barrage
Orr before of mistakes
cocking back it had made
his stick and firing a laser over
his left shoulder and into the
back of the net for the Stags.
Defeated, Orr dropped to
the ground in angst. Frederico
had just killed any chance of a
Michigan (1-2 Eastern College
Athletic Conference, 4-8
overall) comeback after No.
15 Fairfield's only goal of the
second half.
The score was just enough
for the Stags' triumph over
the Wolverines on Saturday
afternoon, 9-8.
In accordance with its recent
trend, though, Michigan started
off the game poorly.
Sophomore faceoff man Brad
Lott went 1-for-6 in the first
half and the Wolverine offense
made passing mistakes in the
offensive zone, as the team
struggled to find its footing at
the beginning of the game.
throughout the first quarter.
The second quarter was
different.
With the Wolverines still
looking to find their footing in
the game, Fairfield scored five
goals in the quarter, with the
last coming just three seconds
before the halftime whistle. The
Stags took an 8-4 lead into the
locker room.
"At halftime, I told the guys
the goals were going to come,"
Paul said. "If we started to get
a couple more posessions from
faceoffs, we were going to have
an opportunity to close the gap."
After the break, Michigan
seemed to find the on switch
and played a much better half,
starting with a snipe from fifth-
year midfielder Thomas Paras
with less than two minutes gone
in the stanza.
The Wolverines added two
more goals from the sticks
of Schlosser and sophomore
midfielder Kyle Jackson to close
the gap to one with almost a whole
quarter left to go in the game.
But both defenses held
their ground and the game
was scoreless for more than 12
minutes in the quarter.
Frederico's goal broke
the scoreless drought before
Michigan redshirt freshman
midfielder David Joseph
rocketed a shot from the point
to cut the deficit to one and
make the last 90 seconds of the
game intense.
"Joseph is an explosive
athlete," Paul said. "He's the
fastest guy in every game we play
so he has the capability of scoring
and we need him to do that."
But Fairfield escaped with a
one-goal win.
With a growing team in
just its third year as a varsity
program, Paul looks for
positives in each game, and on
this day, it was the defense.
Not only did the defense
hold the No. 15 program in the
nation to fewer than 10 goals,
but it also killed two man-up
situations - one of which came
when the Wolverines were
down two men.
With three games and the
ECAC post-season tournament
looming, the Wolverines know
they need to start playing
consistent lacrosse.
And this game was a good
start, despite the defeat.
"We played well, and come the
next couple games, teams aren't
going to want to play us because
we're going to come out strong as
we have been," Joseph said.