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SportsTuesday
September 8, 2015 — 7B
‘M’ sweeps with double-OT victory
By TYLER SCOTT
Daily Sports Writer
Throughout his tenure as a
Wolverine,
senior
midfielder
James Murphy has made scoring
crucial goals for his team some-
thing of a habit. Sunday was no
exception.
Two minutes into double over-
time, Murphy watched junior
defender Rylee Woods launch a
free kick into the penalty box.
“I just sort of ended up in the
(18-yard) box, and luckily, no one
seemed to be marking me,” Mur-
phy said. “It was a good ball, and
I just thought to myself, ‘Attack it,
go get whatever you can on it.’ ”
Woods had seen that Murphy
was unguarded on the backside
and launched a perfectly weight-
ed ball into the box. Murphy leapt
to meet the ball, heading it past
the goalkeeper and into the right
side of the net.
With the goal, the Michigan
men’s soccer team (2-1) defeated
Niagara, 2-1, Sunday at U-M Soc-
cer Stadium.
“Luckily, I got pretty good con-
tact on it, and it went in,” Murphy
said. “It was a bit of a relief, to be
honest.”
The Wolverines established a
threatening attack early on, tak-
ing eight shots and nine corner
kicks in the first half alone. Yet
despite the relentless attack, find-
ing the back of the net proved to
be a challenge.
“We created a lot of chances,
which is always a positive thing
from an attacking point of view,”
Murphy said. “Some of those
didn’t go in, but we had good
efforts, to be fair. … We kept fight-
ing and kept working hard, and
we found a way out of it in the
end, which is pleasing.”
The Purple Eagles (0-4) had
only scored one goal in three
games entering Sunday’s match.
But in the 23rd minute, Niagara
caught the Wolverines off guard
on a dangerous counterattack.
Forward Alex Dimitriu capital-
ized on the opportunity, lobbing a
shot from 25 yards out that float-
ed over the outstretched arms
of sophomore goalkeeper Evan
Louro to give the Purple Eagles
a 1-0 lead.
“We could have easily been
(up) 2-0 in the first 10 minutes,”
Murphy said. “Their score was
a good goal, to be fair to him. ...
They obviously got confidence
off that, sat in and made it really
difficult for (us), and it is frustrat-
ing.”
In the second half, Michigan
was more aggressive with its
attack, tallying nine shots. Fresh-
man defender Marcello Borges
rattled a free kick off the crossbar
in the 47th minute, while fresh-
man midfielder Francis Atua-
hene threatened the opposition
with runs into the 18-yard box.
Daley’s plan of attack paid off
when freshman midfielder Ivo
Cerda scored the equalizing goal
in the 71st minute off a Borges
assist. Cerda fired a shot at the
goal line that was originally
blocked, but he managed to find
and bury the rebound to tie the
game.
Late in the match, the Wol-
verines attempted to utilize the
speed of senior forward Wil-
liam Mellors-Blair by playing
long balls and letting him outrun
the defense. Through the end of
regulation and the first sudden-
death period, Michigan con-
tinued to generate chances, but
couldn’t find the finishing touch.
It wasn’t until Murphy’s first
goal of the season that the Wol-
verines sealed the victory.
“It was certainly a hard-
fought, grind-out game which
I think last year or the last two
years, we may have given away,”
Daley said. “Our guys stood up
and did what they were supposed
to do.”
RITA MORRIS/Daily
Senior midfielder James Murphy celebrates his game-winning, double-overtime goal that led Michigan to victory this weekend against Niagara.
By BRANDON CARNEY
Daily Sports Writer
Francis Atuahene set the
bar high for all forwards on the
Michigan men’s soccer team
after scoring a hat trick against
West Virginia on Friday, putting
pressure on his teammates to
match his performance when
the Wolverines took on Niagara
on Sunday.
While the freshman forward
continued to impress, it was
his fellow wide attackers who
followed his lead, as Michigan
(2-1) was able to take down the
Purple Eagles (0-4) in extra
time, 2-1.
The Wolverines found success
on the wings as Niagara failed
to stop Michigan from moving
the ball down the flanks the
entire match. Of the 20 shots the
Wolverines attempted against
the Purple Eagles, a majority
were created thanks to the
runs and crosses made by wide
attackers and fullbacks.
Michigan
coach
Chaka
Daley started an experienced
trio of forwards with redshirt
senior Colin McAtee and senior
William Mellors-Blair on the
wing and redshirt senior TJ
VanSlooten up top. The front
line controlled possession and
pushed Niagara back into the
final third early on, but failed to
find a finishing touch in front of
the goal.
With the team playing on
short rest, Daley was forced
to
experiment
with
his
wide
personnel
and
turned
to
Atuahene
and
freshman
defender Marcello Borges.
“We have some good, dynamic
players who we can interchange
in those areas,” Daley said.
“(Playing one-on-one against
Atuahene and Borges) can wear
you down, so I think we have
good depth in those spots to
keep the pressure on the other
team.”
Borges,
who
originally
subbed on as a right back,
proved impactful early on as he
made aggressive runs at Purple
Eagle defenders from his deep
role. In the second half, he
was moved forward and was
successfully getting crosses into
the box from his more advanced
position.
“(Borges) is good enough to
start on the team, easily,” Daley
said. “We have two fullbacks
who are physically imposing,
but Borges is certainly good
enough to start and will play a
ton of minutes all season in wide
areas.”
In the 71st minute, Borges’
hard work in the final third paid
off when he connected with
fellow freshman forward Ivo
Cerda for the equalizing goal.
The two fullbacks currently
starting in front of Borges
were also key in Michigan’s
dominance up and down the
flanks.
Sophomore
defender
Billy Stevens and junior defender
Rylee Woods gave the forwards
in front of them several quality
chances while providing stout
defense in front of the Wolverine
net.
Woods
frequently
found
himself making plays further
up the field in his role as the
attacking fullback. He was able
to draw fouls and corners to give
Michigan chances on set pieces
that Woods took.
The dead-ball specialist ended
the prolonged match when he
found senior midfielder James
Murphy’s head off a free kick for
the sudden-death winner.
“It’s great for people like
me and the other central guys
because we have so many good
attacking wide players,” Murphy
said. “The way they all stepped
in today when they were asked
to was real pleasing.”
Pasternak, Wolverines
start season off strong
Twelve Michigan
athletes finish in
top 25 in opener at
Eastern Michigan
By CHRIS CROWDER
Daily Sports Writer
It’s not often that starting
a season ranked No. 12 is seen
as a disappointment. But for
the Michigan women’s cross
country team, which started
last season as the No. 1 team in
the nation, it constitutes a dip.
After an 18th-place finish in
the NCAA Championships last
season, the Wolverines enter
this year with less hype than
they had last season.
Instead of competing at the
Michigan Open, the annual
opening race Michigan has
hosted for years, the Wolverines
changed
up
their
schedule
to
compete
at
the
EMU
Celebration. And it has already
paid off.
“We were all pretty calm
going into it,” said senior Anna
Pasternak. “For the most part,
people were pretty happy with
how their day went. It was
definitely the fastest race we’ve
had as an opener.”
Twelve Michigan athletes
finished in the top 25, not
including five others from the
team who competed unattached.
One hundred sixteen athletes
from
15
schools
competed,
but most of the runners were
unattached, not representing
their school.
Michigan junior Erin Finn,
who ran unattached, finished
first with a time of 16:54 — a
course record and the only
time under 17 minutes in the
field. Pasternak, the top runner
among the Wolverines, finished
fourth overall with a 17:24 clip.
Rounding
out
Michigan
runners in the top 10 were senior
Shannon Osika, who finished
sixth with a time of 17:30; senior
Erika Fluehr, who finished
seventh with a time of 17:38;
and redshirt freshman Claire
Borchers, who finished 10th
with a time of 17:50. Borchers
competed just twice last season,
finishing 13th and 25th at the
EMU Classic and the Michigan
Open, respectively. Fluehr is a
fifth-year senior and graduate
transfer from Princeton, and
Saturday was her first time
competing as a Wolverine.
Each
Michigan
athlete’s
performance
represented
improvement,
as
all
seven
runners
in
the Michigan
Open last year
ran
faster
times in this
season’s
opening race. Even with classes
about to start and the thick
of the season yet to begin, the
Wolverines were proud of their
performances.
“It is definitely a more hectic
time of the year,” Pasternak
said. “We just finished our
preseason camp and people are
moving into their dorms and
houses and stuff, and getting
ready for school. It was nice that
it was a nearby venue, but we
were looking forward to seeing
how our work at camp came
together at this race.”
At camp, the team split up
into subgroups and aimed to
stay in those groups during the
race. The strategy paid off, as
some racers ran their fastest
5Ks
ever.
The
Wolverines
enjoyed the success that came
with the plan and hope it will
continue to improve their times
as the season progresses.
“(Saturday’s
race)
was
a
confidence booster,” Pasternak
said. “Knowing that we can run
this fast coming off a hard week
this early, it makes us excited
for what we can do.”
Pasternak and her teammates
know that they have a long
season ahead of them with more
struggles, because as Michigan
learned last year, success the
first week doesn’t mean that
the outcome in upcoming weeks
will be certain.
The
Wolverines
are especially
trying to take
care of their
bodies
to
avoid
injury.
Last
season,
Finn
and
Osika
were
injured
at
the
end
of
the
season,
dashing Michigan’s hopes of a
national championship.
“We’re really emphasizing
proper recovery and refueling,”
Pasternak said. “If we can keep
that as a priority, that will
really help us throughout the
season. We’re going to try to
use each other as resources for
knowledge and strength during
workouts. Each one of us is
smarter this season compared
to last year. ”
If the Wolverines stay healthy
and race as well as they did
Saturday, the end of the season
could bode well for Michigan.
While the EMU Celebration is
only the first race of the season,
it’s also the first step toward
success.
WOMEN’S CROSS COUNTRY
“It was definitely
the fastest race
we’ve had as an
opener.”
JAMES COLLER/Daily
Freshman forward Reilly Martin scored her second goal of the season in Friday’s 5-0 win at Portland.
‘M’ splits weekend
By KATIE CONKLIN
Daily Sports Writer
Though
the
Michigan
women’s
soccer
team
went
1-1 this weekend at the Husky
Nike Invitational in Seattle, the
Wolverines’ continued quality
of play gives them no reason to
worry early in the season.
Michigan dropped the second
game of its doubleheader on
Sunday
to
Washington,
but
trumping Portland 5-0 earlier
gave the Wolverines a split.
In its latter match, Michigan’s
three-game
winning
streak
ended in dramatic fashion when
Washington scored the winning
goal in the 89th minute.
“(Sunday’s) game was just what
we expected,” said Michigan
coach Greg Ryan. “It was two
really good teams playing great
soccer early in the season. It
just came down to Washington
scoring a great goal late.”
Entering the contest with a
4-1 record, the Wolverines had
outshot their opponents, 112-
27. And against Washington,
Michigan
didn’t
cease
to
create opportunities or scoring
chances. However, outshooting
Washington 18-12 did not earn
the Wolverines a win.
“We had plenty of chances
throughout the match,” Ryan
said.
“Perhaps
the
better
chances.”
The
Wolverines’
scoring
opportunities came from all over
the roster rather than certain key
goal scorers. Compared to some
of Michigan’s opponents, this
depth is an advantage and could
be one of the reasons the team is
seeing such early success.
“We’ve just got a lot of talented
players
through
all
of
the
classes,” Ryan said. “Everybody’s
contributing. The kids coming off
the bench are
contributing,
and at the end
of the day, it’s
early
in
the
season,
but
this
team
is
in
midseason
form.”
With Michigan’s depth and
plethora of scoring opportunities,
all the Wolverines need to do is
get their shots to land in the back
of the net, an ability they showed
against Portland but not against
Washington.
“We
scored
five
against
Portland,” Ryan said. “On that
day we took our chances well,
but against Washington, we had
some great chances and we just
didn’t take them well enough.”
Against Portland, in their
first away game of the season,
the
Wolverines
entered
the
pitch energized, but with a
better end result. Sparked by the
substitution of senior forward
Lulu Haidar, Michigan began to
pull away when Haidar bent the
ball into the upper-right corner
to make it a 1-0 game in the 26th
minute.
Michigan’s
pressure
up
top didn’t end there, as the
Wolverines buried two more
shots to enter halftime with a 3-0
lead.
The
Wolverines
poured it on
in the second
half. Freshman
forward Reilly
Martin
and
freshman
midfielder Abby Kastroll notched
the final two tallies for Michigan,
resulting in a 5-0 victory.
Michigan plans on putting
an emphasis on finishing in its
future matches.
And
with
plenty
scoring
opportunities created so far this
season, the Wolverines don’t
seem worried.
“We have to start hitting the
net more often — that’s going to
be our main focus,” Ryan said.
“Everything else is looking really
good. We’ve just got to hit the
net.”
“This team is in
midseason form.”
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