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