Sports
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Tuesday, February 17, 2015 — 7

Culture keys program

By BRANDON CARNEY 

Daily Sports Writer

The 
Michigan 
men’s 

lacrosse team isn’t your typical 
program. In just their fourth 
year 
of 
competition, 
the 

Wolverines believe they have 
an opportunity to shake up not 
only the traditional mold of 
successful lacrosse programs, 
but 
also 
the 
landscape 
of 

Michigan athletics as a whole.

For Michigan coach John 

Paul, the identity of the program 
begins with its youth. Despite 
only winning five games last 
season, Paul has managed to 
bring in a top-10 recruiting 
class.

What’s surprising about the 

Wolverines’ meteoric rise up 
the national recruiting boards 
is how, by the numbers, it looks 
like Michigan is behind in 
almost every statistical category 
on the field.

In his first recruiting classes, 

Paul laid the foundation that 
made his program unlike any 
other in the nation in order to 
attract quality players. Perhaps 
more than any coach, Paul 
has relied on marketing the 
Michigan brand to prospective 
players more than the sport 
itself.

“Academics and the setting 

of Michigan has had a big effect 
on what we do,” Paul said. “The 
reality with lacrosse is we don’t 
have leagues you’re going to 
make millions of dollars playing 
in.”

Paul’s overall vision is to 

attract and develop players who 
are well rounded in everything 
they 
do. 
The 
scoreboard 

victories, Paul believes, will 
come as a result of victories 
around campus and in his 
players’ overall lives.

“You have a group of kids who 

are committed to overall being 

good people,” said freshman 
midfielder Parker McKee. “I 
think that’s shown through thus 
far and will continue to show the 
next four years.”

On the field, the Wolverines 

are still discovering who they are, 
and the ongoing development 
of Michigan lacrosse has been a 
real draw for players.

“No matter what sport you’re 

playing, tradition is important 
at Michigan,” said freshman 
midfielder PJ Bogle. “Being able 
to create the tradition and the 
culture within the first years of 
the program is special.”

Along with drawing recruits, 

the Wolverines are creating 
a program built around their 
current players. With a new 
stadium in the works and 
countless resources off the field, 
Michigan lacrosse is growing, 
and that’s something its players 
are excited about.

“Being 
a 
new 
program, 

everything 
Michigan 
did 

seemed 
very 
progressive,” 

McKee 
said. 
“Training, 

academic programs, facilities, 
everything’s new for us. We’re 
not falling into an old system 
that needs to be revamped. 

We’re jumping into something 
reaching 
for 
success 
right 

away.”

Though 
there 
are 
many 

opportunities available to the 
Wolverines’ talented freshmen, 
Paul has made it clear to the 
first-year class that time on the 
field is not a given. And despite 
an 
accomplished 
recruiting 

class, the young program still 
has many holes to fill.

But like he has done thus far, 

Paul will find a way to make up 
the deficit.

Behind every great team, 

there has to be a great coach 
getting all his players to buy in, 
and Paul does that just as well as 
anyone in the country.

It’s not every day a club team 

gets picked to become a varsity 
program, but with Paul leading 
the way, Michigan and its strong 
culture 
is 
already 
breaking 

the tradition of powerhouse 
programs by creating a tradition 
of its own.

“Coach Paul is definitely a 

visionary,” Bogle said. “I think 
this year and beyond, we’re 
going to turn a lot of heads and 
surprise a lot of people. We owe 
a lot of that to (Paul).”

SAM MOUSIGIAN/Daily

John Paul has been a driving force in establishing his program’s culture.

Copp sidelined with 
upper-body injury

By JEREMY SUMMITT

Daily Sports Editor

The injury bug continues to 

come and go for the Michigan 
hockey team.

Michigan coach Red Berenson 

announced Monday that junior 
forward Andrew Copp sustained 
an upper-body injury in Satur-
day’s game at Minnesota and is 
doubtful to play in the Wolver-
ines’ upcoming series against 
Ohio State.

Copp was unavailable for com-

ment, but Berenson said Copp 
would be listed as week-to-week.

Though Copp’s injury will 

leave a massive hole at center on 
Michigan’s top line, senior for-
ward Travis Lynch is expected to 
return this week from a fractured 
wrist he suffered Jan. 10.

Lynch has been skating in non-

contact drills the past week, and 
Berenson confirmed he should 
be inserted into the lineup this 
weekend barring any setback. 
Lynch is an integral part of the 
Wolverines’ penalty-killing unit, 
and he has scored five goals as the 
team’s fourth-line center.

The senior won’t be the player 

to assume Copp’s role, but his 
return should certainly help bol-
ster what would have been a thin 
lineup if both players were absent 
from the line chart. Instead, 
Berenson said sophomore for-
ward JT Compher will return 
to center, flanked by sophomore 
forward Tyler Motte and a player 
to be named later on Michigan’s 
top line.

Copp has scored 13 goals this 

season to go along with 11 assists, 
good for 24 points in 25 games. 
Five of those 13 goals have come 
on the power play.

“The big loss right now is 

Copp,” Berenson said. “I mean, 
that’s a huge loss to our team, and 
we got to pick up the slack from 
that.”

He sustained the upper-body 

injury with 8:46 remaining in 
the second period of Saturday’s 
game. Copp dropped off a pass at 
the offensive blue line that was 
intercepted, springing Minneso-
ta’s Travis Boyd on a breakaway.

Copp bolted back to the 

Wolverines’ 
zone 
to 
stymie 

the Gophers’ scoring chance. 
Instead, he got tangled up with 
Boyd. Both players crashed into 
the boards, and it seemed that 
Copp’s left arm and shoulder had 
absorbed the impact.

After trainers tended to him 

for several minutes, Copp slowly 

skated off the ice at Mariucci 
Arena and headed straight for the 
locker room, holding his left arm 
tightly against his waist. After 
the game, his arm remained in 
that same position unwrapped 
and unstabilized.

It looked as if it could have 

been a long-term injury, but 
Michigan caught a break when it 
needed it most.

“Well, you never know. You 

never know,” Berenson said. “I’m 
glad it wasn’t.”

Senior forward Andrew Sinelli 

and senior defenseman Mike 
Chiasson are also recovering 
from minor undisclosed injuries. 
However, Berenson expects them 
to fully participate in practice 
this week.

PAUL SHERMAN/Daily

Andrew Copp is unlikely to play in this weekend’s series against Ohio State.

Goree’s foul trouble hurts Michigan

By JACOB GASE

Daily Sports Writer

In a tumultuous season, the 

Michigan women’s basketball 
team has shown that it fre-
quently lives and dies with its 
best player: senior forward Cye-
sha Goree.

The Wolverines’ best stretch 

of the Big Ten season — a 4-1 
January surge including wins 
over 
Penn 
State, 
Michigan 

State, Ohio State and North-
western — was fueled in large 
part by Goree’s 18.6 points and 
10.2 rebounds per game.

Over 
the 
entire 
season, 

Goree’s 14.4 points per game 
and 55.1 shooting percentage 
make her both Michigan’s lead-
ing scorer and its most efficient.

But in the Wolverines’ last 

three games — all losses, by no 
coincidence — Goree just wasn’t 
able to stay on the floor.

In the losses to Rutgers, 

Ohio State and Northwestern, 
Goree committed 13 total fouls 
and played just 26 minutes per 
game. Prior to the losing streak, 
Goree was averaging 33 min-
utes.

Without her, Michigan was 

unable to muster any semblance 
of offense or defense — in sepa-
rate second-half collapses, the 
Wolverines allowed a 12-0 run 
to the Buckeyes and suffered a 
six-minute scoring drought in 
a last-second loss against the 
Wildcats.

“Cyesha gets in foul trouble, 

and it just changes the dynam-
ics of our team,” said Michigan 
coach Kim Barnes Arico. “Even 
if she’s not scoring, she gives 
an inside presence, and that 
changes what teams do against 
us defensively.”

Goree’s inside presence is 

something no one on Michi-
gan’s roster can match, espe-
cially 
defensively. 
Senior 

forward Nicole Elmblad has 
stepped up her game as of late 
to make up for Goree’s extend-
ed absences. She has 22 points 
and 21 rebounds over the last 
two games, but the 5-foot-11 ex-
guard playing power forward 
can only do so much.

Beyond Elmblad, just about 

all of the Wolverines’ key 
players are offensive-minded 
guards, including senior Shan-
non Smith, junior Madison 
Ristovski, 
sophomore 
Siera Thomp-
son and fresh-
man Katelynn 
Flaherty.

And 
even 

when 
given 

opportuni-
ties to come 
out 
victori-

ous 
without 

Goree, 
those 

shooters haven’t been able to 
capitalize without her presence 
commanding attention in the 
middle.

“I thought we had some 

good looks, and we got to the 
line,” Barnes Arico said after 
the Northwestern loss. “And 
normally we make those free 
throws. ... (To avoid scoring 
droughts), you get people to stay 
out of foul trouble. You get peo-

ple to make shots.”

As 
Michigan’s 
only 
true 

post player, it’s unavoidable for 
Goree to pick up at least a few 

fouls per game 
— 
she 
has 

been whistled 
two times or 
fewer in just 
five 
games 

this 
season. 

But 
consid-

ering 
how 

depleted 
the 

Wolverines 
look 
without 

Goree, Barnes 

Arico wants to see fewer inci-
dents like the over-aggressive 
dive for the ball that brought 
Goree her second foul in the 
first half against Northwestern.

“It was the third or the 

fourth foul when she was hold-
ing the back of the kid’s shirt — I 
think that she has got to remain 
disciplined,” Barnes Arico said. 
“It’s extremely difficult because 
people are attacking her all the 

time, but she’s got to keep her 
discipline about her and not 
give up silly ones.”

At this crucial stretch of the 

season, Michigan needs Goree 
on the floor more than ever.

The Wolverines (6-8 Big Ten, 

14-11 overall) have just four 
games remaining before the 
Big Ten Tournament, and they 
may need to win all four and 
pick up multiple wins in the 
tournament to keep their fad-
ing NCAA Tournament chances 
alive. Michigan currently sits 
at eighth place in the Big Ten, 
meaning any conference tour-
nament run would likely have 
to go through No. 5 Maryland, 
which is undefeated in the con-
ference and beat the Wolverines 
by 26 at Crisler Center on Jan. 
29.

Unless Michigan proves it 

can score and defend without 
Goree in the paint, any more 
foul trouble down the stretch 
could spell doom for the Wol-
verines’ postseason aspirations.

RITA MORRIS/Daily

Cyesha Goree has committed 13 total fouls and played just 26 minutes per game in Michigan’s last three losses.

“I think that 
she has got 
to remain 

disciplined.”

Friends on land, 
teammates in pool

By SYLVANNA GROSS

Daily Sports Writer

Despite knowing her for a 

little more than a year, fresh-
man Hannah Moore doesn’t 
have a shortage of good things 
to say about new best friend 
and teammate, freshman Clara 
Smiddy.

“We’ve 
grown 
so 
close, 

we’re practically sisters at this 
point.”

The pair has dominated 

competition for the Michi-
gan women’s swimming team 
alongside their breakout fresh-
man swimming teammates. 
Smiddy has twice been named 
Big Ten Freshman of the Week, 
and Moore has consistently 
out-touched opponents. Most 
recently, Moore took second 
in both the 500-yard and 100-
yard freestyle in the dual meet 
against Ohio State on Jan. 24.

When Smiddy signed last 

year, Moore was quick to get 
in contact with someone she 
had only vaguely known about 
through elite youth swimming 
circles.

“I heard of (Smiddy) and 

knew she was a really talent-
ed swimmer, so when I found 
out we had both committed, 
I got her number and texted 
her immediately,” Moore said 
“But technically, we first met 
at Winter Junior Nationals last 
year.”

And according to Smiddy, 

they have been best friends 
ever since.

Over the past year, the 

power couple has raced not 
only together in Michigan, but 
also at the Youth Olympics in 
Nanjing, China over the sum-
mer.

“It’s good to have some-

one in college who has been 
through the same experienc-
es,” Smiddy said.

Moore says she and Smiddy 

were practically inseperable 
when they were abroad. They 

also bonded with future team-
mate, freshman PJ Ransford, 
in China.

Middy and Moore agreed 

that the atmosphere in Nanjing 
was subpar compared to the 
intensity at Canham Natatori-
um where there meets are loud 
and raucous.

And both definitely agree 

that Michigan has comple-
mented the bond that they 
have formed, with the two 
seamlessly transitioning from 
teammates in the pool to best 
friends and roommates on 
land.

“A lot of the times we’ll just 

sit next to each other and study 
and just enjoy each other’s 
company,” Moore said. “So 
it’s not all swimming talk all 
the time … but there is plenty 
of swimming talk. I don’t feel 
like we even compete against 
each other, because we’re both 
so happy if the other one does 
well.”

The obvious camaraderie 

between the two Wolverines is 
emphasized by their ability to 
finish each other’s sentences, 
their joy at the other doing well 
in a competition and, weirdly, 
their sleeping habits.

They tend to wake up at the 

exact same time in the middle 
of the night, and because of 
their grueling practice sched-
ule, their bodies have become 
programmed to wake up natu-
rally at 5:30 a.m. almost every 
day. The friends find the early 
wake-up funny but annoying.

They spend almost every 

second outside of class togeth-
er. Moore is pursuing the sci-
ences, 
whereas 
Smiddy 
is 

focusing on social sciences.

“Surprisingly, we get along 

really well,” Smiddy joked.

And even though the two 

won’t be rooming together 
next year, they still plan on 
seeing each other every day.

“Let’s face it,” Smiddy said. 

“Nothing will change.”

WOMEN’S SWIMMING AND DIVING

