September 15, 2014 - 3B The Michigan Daily -- michigandaily.com The Michigan Daily - michigandailycom September15, 2014 - 38 'M' stuns Badgers in last second By MITCH BECKMAN Daily Sports Writer The clock showed :01 left as the ball found the back ofthe net. The Michigan women's soccer team had stormed the field, jubilantly celebrating WISCONSIN 1 what it MICHIGAN 2 believed to be the winning goal while the referees sat huddled in the corner, discussing the call. The season is young, but the Wolverines have already packed a full season's worth of drama into it. Following their controversial 2-1overtimewinoverMinnesota on Friday night, the Wolverines upended No. 9 Wisconsin on Sunday afternoon, 2-1, scoring with only one second left in regulation. For the second straight game, a free kick and an errant whistle decided the ending. Freshman forward Taylor Temko fired a free kick toward the goal as time wound down, but it was deflected away. However, the ball found its way to the foot of sophomore defender Bailey Haydock, who volleyed a cross that was redirected into the goal by redshirt freshman forward Ani Sarkisian. For a moment, it seemed like the perfect ending for the Wolverines (5-2). However, the side judge gc had his flag It Wc aloft, signaling £4. offside. While aflL the team was herded back to the bench, the referees conferred, eventually waiving the offsides call and upholding the goal. Both teams realigned for the last second of play, but it was a mere formality. Michigan had won, its first victory over a top- 10 team in 11 years. "We worked too hard not to get a win out of this game," Michigan drops pair in Ore gon TERESA MATHEW/Daily Redshirt freshman AnISarkisian scored with only one second remaining in Sunday's game to give Michigan the win. Sarkisian said. "It was a big mish-mosh in the box and Bailey sent it across and I finished. It was a great pass." Wisconsin entered the game undefeated and the clear favorite, but the Wolverines never played like the underdog. The Badgers as juSt (7-1) couldn't get behind 3.Stie. the Michigan _back line and were forced to play on the periphery in Michigan's half of the field, often resorting to long shots or driving down the wing. The tight defense paid dividends for the Wolverines offensively. Despite a lack of offensive possession in the first half, Michigan had multiple strong counterattacks stem from smart, responsible defense. "The whole team played really good defensively," said Michigan coach Greg Ryan. "Wisconsin never had those clear-cut chances behind our line. They had the ball a lot, but we didn't give away many chances. It was just fantastic." After several minutes of Badger possession early, the Wolverines capitalized on a counter. Finding space down the sideline, junior forward Corinne Harris launched a cross that was headed on goal by junior forward Nicky Waldeck. Wisconsin's keeper made the save, but Sarkisian beat her defender to the net and knocked in the waiting rebound. Michigan's only glaring defensive mistake came with 10 minutesleftinthe firsthalf.Abad pass and turnover left Haydock in poor position, leading to her taking a yellow card just inside the box. Wisconsin converted the penalty kick and evened the game, but the play seemed to wake up the Michigan offense again. In the second half, the team that was unranked was indistinguishable from one in the top 10. The Wolverines went stride for stride and shot for shot with the Badgers, with both teams having opportunities to score. The performance gives Michiganahugeconfidenceboost early in the season and proves to the rest of the conference that itis aviable threat. "We said at halftime, whether we win or lose, let's go out there and just play," Ryan said. "We hung around long enough to give us a chance to win, and it gives us a real confidence. It's not a soft nonconference win - we go into the next games saying we have a shot against anybody." W( fi blov A qu volley the B might excelle Wit 20 kill record in Fr Wolve runnin Pacific Un numbe victori perfor State< to win Wolve 17-25, They No. 18 match 19-25,. Mic it live: which victor' but w weeke and i Saturd match with] Caroli "I thoug we 1 very defens said Michit coach unacce a gy and e succes poor le The had Wolve in the .346 f Michi, to ke were i until e they w run. D with, could dropp Stru Pac-12 have I the W outsta playin the ut Friday "(O runni be eff unfort that w on the becau pretty lverines fall in Michigan allowed 10 Oregon State service aces and ve sets Friday, committed 17 errors, spoiling a match in which several wn out Saturday players set or matched career highs. Junior outside hitter ByJACOBGASE Ally Davis, playing her third Daily Sports Writer match' of the season after returning from injury, led the nick glance at the Michigan offense with 33 kills over the ball team's statistics from weekend. Freshman opposite ig Ten/Pac-12 Challenge hitter Katherine Mahlke and suggest that it put on an freshman defensive specialist/ mt performance. outside hitter Caroline Knop h four players exceeding also reached career-high kill s this weekend and three totals on Friday, with 20 and 14, ing double-doubles respectively. iday's match alone, the "Offensively, we were flowing rines' offense was nearly pretty well," Davis said. "The ag on all cylinders in the connection between the setters Northwest. and the hitters - we did a good ortunately for them, the job with that. But obviously there rs didn't translate into are other areas of the game that es. Michigan's stellar we need to work on.You can'tjust mance against Oregon win with purely offense." on Friday wasn't enough Playing with a very fluid a five-set slugfest, as the lineup and using numerous rines dropped the match substitutions, the Wolverines 25-21, 22-25, 25-22, 13-15. still seemed to be searching for fared even worse against the best way to use their young Oregon, losing Saturday's players. Rosen tried something in straight sets (17-25, new at the setter position this 25-27). weekend, still trying to fill the higan (3-4) proved that void leftbysenior co-captainLexi s and dies by its defense, Dannemiller, who is sidelined held its own in a strong with mononucleosis. Junior y over Duke last week Carly Warner, the only setter as overwhelmed both this Michigan had used this season, nd found n last herself lay's rotating North "Ithought we with redshirt na. played very poor freshman Cindy Zhou ht defense, and that's againt played oregon. epOr unacceptable." Zhou e,"made her collegiate gan debut by Mark Rosen, "and that's picking up 10 assists in the loss. ptable. We can't go into "We're still trying to find a against a good team the answer there," Rosen said. xpect we're going to be "We started trying some other sful playing defense at a system things to try to create a mvel." better lineup that will allow us Ducks(8-0) in particular to compete defensively.sWe've their way with the got to figure out that ytem rines. They never trailed for us to be offensively and first two sets, hitting defensively minded with the or the entire match as same lineup." gan's defenders struggled Finding the correct lineup ep up. The Wolverines to balance offense and defense unable to create a rally seemed to be Michigan'sabiggest ary in the third set, when challenge this weekend. went on a match-best 5-0 Knop, perhaps the team'sabest espite reaching set point example of the dual mindset a 24-23 lead, Michigan Rosen preaches, showed the n't put Oregon away and ability of a defensive-minded ed the set and match. player to contribute on offense aggling against one of the on Friday. But standing only 's biggest powers might 5-foot-8, she had a tough time been understandable, but with the physical front line of olverines also wasted an the Ducks on Saturday. nding offensive effort by Rosen has emphasized that g subpar defense against Knop and her teammates can nranked Beavers (7-1) on find more success when they y. blend the perfect balance of n Friday) we were contrasting styles. ng a very solid offense to While the team knows a ective," Rosen said. "It's 3-4 record leaves something unate and disappointing to be desired, the Wolverines e lost the game basically showed that they seem content defensive side of things, to use their losses as learning se on offense, we did some experiences until they find the nice things." equilibrium that eludes them. Wolverines ram VCU, stretch streak By JUSTIN MEYER Daily Sports Writer Before the Michigan field hockey team stepped onto Ocker Field on Sunday for a matchup with a woefully overwhelmed VCU team, the message was clear: score early and VCU 1 often. MICHIGAN 9 With nine goals on 16 shots in a 9-1 victory, the Wolverines didn't disappoint. Redshirt freshman forward Carly Bennett racked up a goal and two assists, while sopho- mores Courtney Enge, a forward, and Sina Lampe, a midfielder, both posted their first career multi-goal games. "One of the things we were going to stress for this game was to finish and for the forwards to get their sticks down near the goal for those long shots across the circle," Bennett said. "Today, like five of the goals were tips. I think we really nailed that today." Lampe's first goal, which put Michigan (4-2) ahead 3-0, was the highlight of the game. Enge flung a pass to the left side of the circle, which Lampe corralled as she fought off a defender before hesitating and spinning to her backhand. The move gave her just enough space to fire a shot past VCU goalie Kendall Clifton's right shoulder and into the upper corner of the cage. Nine different Michigan play- ers recorded a point in the game, and by the time the second half rolled around, the starters were pulled and the Wolverines' reserves were taking the field. Two days after needing two penalty corners to put away Providence, Michigan looked fluid on offense and strong on the back line. Freshman goalie Sam Swenson got the starting nod again, and she too posted a strong performance, extending her shutout streak to 225 min- utes before exiting the game at the half for redshirt sophomore Chris Lueb. The Rams couldn't gener- ate even a glimmer of offense in the first half, failing to threaten on either of their two corners. The showing from Michigan's senior-laden back line continued its string of elite performances on defense. The offensive explosion, though, felt like a sort of final piece in the difficult transition the Wolverines have made from the beginning of the season, when they were blown out by No. 1 North Carolina and dropped an overtime heartbreaker to No. 10 Wake Forest. After pouring on goal after goal against VCU (2-4), Michi- gan is hopingto finally put those offensive concerns to rest. The production from the Wol- verines' young players was par- ticularly good news for a team that is relying on underclass- men on the front line. Fresh- man forward Veerle Lubbers, still adjusting to collegiate field hockey and life away from her home in Amsterdam, netted the first goal of her career. "Veerle plays like an upper- classman," said Michigan coach Marcia Pankratz. "She's a real- ly solid player. I think all (the underclassmen) contribute and are contributing well." Among the underclassmen poised for breakout years on offense, Bennett has distanced herself, starting five of the Wol- verines' six games after red- shirting last season. "Over the summer, I just kind of told myself I need to forget about what it felt like to be a red- shirt and just come in and do my thing," Bennett said. "It's tough, you work your ass off in practice, and there's kind of no expecta- tion there. You knowyou'll never get in no matter what. I think a lot of that energy was pent up, so I got to let some of that out this year." Lampe, who calls Germany home, also figures to see a sig- nificant increase in playing time this year after struggling with the transition at times last sea- son. "My sophomore season is a lot different, because my freshman season I was really homesick," she said. "Now I know everyone really well and I feel more con- fident about playing, because I know the style of American hockey now. It's a lot faster, it's a lot of running and fighting. American hockey players are really jacked.' The midfielder shows flashes of skill but can sometimesbe less effective in the face of a more physical game. But Lampe said her goal for the season is to score more, and she'll certainly have an opportunity to do that for Michigan this year. The only question left unan- swered by the Wolverines after running by VCU is whether the victory will translate to success against better competition. "What was good about today was that we had some players who were banged up, so we got a chance for them to rest," Pan- kratz said. "We got the chance to see some players in other positions, to get some experi- ence, because we're going to need them next weekend. Those things were really positive." Sophomore Courtney Enge recorded her first career multi-goal game as Michigan blasted VCU, 9-ion Sunday afternoon.