Sports
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Wednesday, February 17, 2016 — 7A

‘M’ looks to build off past

At leadoff banquet, 
Bakich gives nod to 
successful teams in 

program history

By NATHANIEL CLARK

Daily Sports Writer

In his opening remarks at 

Friday night’s Leadoff Banquet, 
Michigan baseball coach Erik 
Bakich said, “Teams that win 
together stay together.”

These words rang true at 

the event, as several members 
of the 1953 and 1962 national 
championship 
teams 
were 

present, decades after they won 
their titles.

The quote also applies to the 

2015 Wolverines. While they 
did not win a national title, they 
did capture Michigan’s first 
Big Ten Tournament title and 
NCAA Tournament appearance 
since 2008 — a winning team by 
any measure.

And, for the most part, the 

squad has stayed together for 
the upcoming season. While the 
Wolverines lost multi-position 
star Jacob Cronenworth to the 
Major League Baseball draft, key 
contributors such as junior left-
hander/first 
baseman 
Carmen 

Benedetti, junior left-hander Brett 
Adcock, senior left-hander Evan 
Hill and sophomore shortstop 
Jake Bivens have returned.

At the banquet, Bakich also 

spoke of how each Michigan 
team has built off the Wolverines’ 
150-year history.

“Bill Mogk and Paul Fancher 

(in 1953) paved the way for 
Dick Honing, John Kerr and 
the rest of the 1962 team that’s 
back there. I mean, what an 
honor it is to be with you guys, 
to hear your stories. For you to 
share your experiences, that’s 
something that I know every one 

of our players, every member of 
Team 150, is privileged to share 
the room with you guys tonight. 
As we carve out our journey, we 
hope to follow in your footsteps.”

Many people already feel that 

last year’s Michigan team paved 
the way for the 2016 edition.

Baseball America placed the 

Wolverines 15th in its preseason 
rankings, making Michigan the 
the sole cold-weather school in 
the top 25. Consequently, the 
Wolverines are the favorites to 
win the Big Ten, a big jump from 
last year, when most projections 
had them finishing third or 
fourth in the conference.

But Michigan’s goals don’t 

end with the conclusion of 
the Big Ten Tournament. The 
Wolverines are looking to appear 

in the College World Series for 
the first time in 32 years, a feat 
they accomplished five times 
from 1978 to 1984.

One banquet guest, former 

Michigan coach Moby Benedict, 
played 
multiple 
roles 
in 

jumpstarting Michigan’s success 
during that era.

“Coach Benedict epitomizes 

Michigan 
baseball 
and 
this 

proud 
tradition 
of 
ours,” 

Bakich said. “He was the head 
coach here from 1963 to 1979 
and an assistant coach on the 
1962 national title team. The 
accolades, the championships, 
the trips to the (College) World 
Series, are all on the wall at Ray 
Fisher Stadium.”

Yet in spite of the Wolverines’ 

success 
last 
year 
and 
the 

expectations for 2016, Bakich 
insisted that accolades aren’t 
everything.

“(The 
2015 
Big 
Ten 

Tournament) 
wasn’t 
about 

getting a ring, or a trophy or a 
title — even though those are 
great things to get,” Bakich 
said. “It was more about, ‘How 
much fun can we have on a 
baseball field?’ and ‘How can 
we best represent the University 
of Michigan?’ It was an easy 
message to deliver to the team 
because we’ve talked about it all 
the time.”

Michigan’s senior captains, 

Hill and catcher Domenic Jamett, 
echoed Bakich’s sentiment.

“There’s 
a 
quote 
in 
the 

bulletin board in the nutrition 
lounge from the 1953 national 
championship 
team,” 
Jamett 

said. “It reads, ‘We are proud 
by the high standards that are 
set and the successes that we 
achieved. They’ve inspired us 
to perform with confidence and 
behave responsibly.’ I think 
that’s a quote that not only 
summarizes that team, but also 
our program.”

The Wolverines will have 

their first chance to prove 
that they are deserving of the 
preseason praise this weekend, 
with a four-game series against 
Canisius. It is part of a stretch 
of 19 games on the road for 
Michigan before it returns home 
to face University of Illinois at 
Chicago on March 25.

“I’m excited for what’s in 

store for Team 150 as we dig our 
toes into opening day in a week,” 
Hill said. “I’m honored to share 
the field with these guys I call 
my brothers.”

The sentiment of “teams that 

win together stay together” rang 
true for the 1953 and 1962 squads. 
The 2016 Wolverines will have 
to wait and see if they will be 
remembered as a squad that won 
together and stayed together.

AMANDA ALLEN/Daily

Left-hander Evan Hill will be a co-captain for his senior season at Michigan.

WOMEN’S BASKETBALL
WOMEN’S GOLF

Racine: A lonely 
difference maker
O

n road trips, Steve 
Racine always stays 
alone. It’s been that way 

since his freshman year.

The 

Michigan 
hockey 
coaching 
staff never 
told the 
senior 
goaltender 
why he gets 
his own 
room in the 
team hotel, 
but Racine has a guess.

“I think (coach Red 

Berenson) just wants me to 
focus more,” Racine said. 
“Doctor’s orders.”

In any case, Berenson’s plan 

is finally working.

After three and a half 

years, Racine is playing the 
best hockey he ever has in a 
Michigan uniform. Berenson 
named him the team’s bona 
fide starter more than three 
months ago. For his last six 
games, he boasts a .931 save 
percentage, a career high for 
any stretch over five games 
that he has played.

And this past weekend, 

he was the 
only reason 
Michigan 
managed 
to escape 
Madison with 
five points, 
rather than 
three. In 
Saturday’s 
contest 
against 
Wisconsin, the Wolverines 
won in a shootout, despite 
surrendering four goals.

“You should’ve seen him at 

Wisconsin,” Berenson said. 
“He stood on his head, and we 
had no business winning the 
game based on the chances we 
gave up.

“That was his best game of 

the year.”

It’s odd that Berenson would 

call Racine’s best game of the 
year one in which he let in four 
goals. But he’s right.

Racine handled 50 shots in 

that game. He made sprawling 
kick saves and swooping glove 
saves on countless Wisconsin 
3-on-1 opportunities. They were 
grade-A chances, and goals 
Michigan fans wouldn’t shake 
their heads at if Racine were to 
let any of those pucks in.

“We haven’t done a great job 

helping him out all year,” said 
junior forward Tyler Motte. 
“It’s something we’re focusing 
on — the D-zone and doing our 
best to help him out.”

Motte referenced the 

defensive lapses that don’t seem 
to go away, no matter how many 
times the players have stressed 
they are working on them.

You don’t have to dig deep 

in the history books to see that 
Michigan has dealt with this 
before. Just look to last season.

The Wolverines finished 

the year with the nation’s 
best offense, yet ranked in the 
bottom half in team defense. 
What did that get them?

Nothing.
Fast-forward eight months, 

and now you have a strikingly 
similar Michigan team. The 
Wolverines average 4.78 
goals per game — nearing 
Quinnipiac’s record of 5.42 
goals per game, which was set 
in 1999.

However, like a year ago, the 

Wolverines allow 3.00 goals 
per game, which ranks in the 
bottom half of the NCAA.

But that’s no longer because 

of a lack of solid goaltending.

“I’m still lamenting our 

goals-against,” Berenson said. 
“It’s not our goalies. A couple 
years ago, we would’ve said our 
goalie needed to play better, 
but our goalies have given us 
a shot.”

A big part of that is the 

addition of Steve Shields, a 
former Wolverine great, as 
goaltending coach. Whereas 
Racine used to have a goalie 
coach just twice a week, he now 
has one around every day to 
help fine-tune even the smallest 

aspects of his 
game.

In Friday’s 

4-1 win over 
Wisconsin, 
Racine 
allowed one 
goal that 
shouldn’t 
have counted 
— officials 
failed to 

notice the puck slid in through 
the side of the net. But Shields 
still found a way to coach 
Racine about that moment.

“Working with Steve allows 

me to know exactly what I need 
to do and to learn what I’m 
doing when I am playing my 
best,” Racine said. “We found 
a direct correlation to how I’ve 
been practicing leading into 
games, and working harder is 
just giving me the foundation to 
have good weekends.

“I tell him all the time about 

how happy I am to have him 
here. He understands exactly 
what I need to do to play my 
best. The way I feel when I am 
playing well, he knows that 
exactly and can tap into that 
and help me to play my best.”

It has certainly showed in 

Racine’s last 12 games as the 
starter — the longest starting 
stretch of his Michigan career. 
He has given his team a chance 
in each of those games.

So when the Wolverines hit 

the road for the postseason, and 
likely the NCAA Tournament, 
two things are for certain: 
Racine will show up as he has 
all year, and he’ll have his own 
hotel room — doctor’s orders.

Rubinstein can be reached 

at jasonbr@umich.edu and 

on Twitter @jrubinstein4.

AMANDA ALLEN/Daily

Senior goalie Steve Racine has done his part to bail out the Wolverines lately.

JASON
RUBINSTEIN

“I think Red 
just wants me 
to focus more. 

Doctor’s orders.”

Michigan heads 
to College Park

By CHRIS CROWDER

Daily Sports Writer

The 
Michigan 
women’s 

basketball team will have its 
second crack at pulling off an 
improbable 
upset 
Wednesday, 
when 
the 

Wolverines 
head 
to 

College Park 
to face No. 6 
Maryland.

In 
the 

two 
squads’ 

matchup 
in 

Ann 
Arbor 

on Jan. 14, 
Michigan 
nearly came 
out with the win. The Wolverines 
(7-7 Big Ten, 15-10 overall) came 
into the fourth quarter down by 
just three with the home crowd 
fueling the comeback. But with 
their two post players, freshman 
center Hallie Thome and senior 
forward Kelsey Mitchell, in foul 
trouble, the taller Terrapins 
outrebounded Michigan by 10 
and found easier baskets in the 
paint to seal a 74-67 win.

At 
the 
time, 
sophomore 

guard Katelynn Flaherty said 
the Wolverines could still win 
the Big Ten, as they were just 
five games into the 18-game 
conference schedule. After the 
Maryland game, Michigan was 
2-3 in conference play. Now in 
ninth place in the conference 
with just four games to go, the 
goal of winning the Big Ten is 
unattainable. And at this point 
in the season, a win against the 
Terrapins in Maryland will be 
just as difficult to pull off.

Maryland (12-2, 23-3) has lost 

to just two teams this season — 
No. 5 Ohio State (twice) and No. 
1 Connecticut. All three losses 
have come by single digits, proof 
that the Terrapins deserve to be 
regarded as one of the best teams 
in the nation and are capable of 
staying close to elite teams.

However, Maryland is coming 

off a game in which it didn’t play 
its best. It beat Northwestern — 
a preseason Big Ten darkhorse 
now 3-11 in the conference — by 
just nine. The Terrapins aren’t 
invincible, but they are tough to 
beat, even if they don’t play their 
best game.

“Maryland is an incredible 

team, 
and 
(they) 
have 
a 

tremendous 
program,” 
said 

Michigan coach Kim Barnes 
Arico 
in 
her 
weekly 
radio 

appearance with WTKA on 
Tuesday. “They’re led by a guard 
(Shatori 
Walker-Kimbrough) 

who scored 41 the other night 
and then 35. We might have to 
change the lineup again, because 
we’ve been playing small to 
match up on rebounds.”

For Michigan to pull off 

the upset this time around, 
it will need to play one of its 
best games of the season. In 
its earlier matchup against 
Maryland, the game was in 
the Wolverines’ grasp. If the 
Wolverines can stay out of foul 
trouble, allowing their taller 
players to get more rebounds, 
they might have a chance.

But again, this is a different 

atmosphere. 
The 
Terrapins 

boast one of the best home 
crowds 
in 
women’s 
college 

basketball and have lost only 
once at home this season.

The 
Wolverines 
are 
also 

clinging to hopes of a berth to the 
NCAA Tournament. A victory 
against the Terrapins would be 
the resume builder they need 
in order to have a shot. The 
following three games come 
against teams behind or tied with 
them in the Big Ten standings.

Winning on Wednesday may 

give Michigan the momentum 
to make the Big Dance for the 
first time since 2013. After all, 
the Wolverines have won three 
straight Big Ten games for the 
first time since that season.

“We don’t want the season to be 

over, so it’s a process to get there 
every day,” Barnes Arico said.

Dowling encouraged 
despite sluggish start

Wolverines start 

winter with 

13th-place finish in 

Puerto Rico

By BILLY STAMPFL

Daily Sports Writer

After a break of nearly four 

months, the Michigan women’s 
golf team returned to action 
Sunday at the Lady Puerto 
Rico Classic. In a tournament 
that included 16 teams, the 
Wolverines 
settled 
for 
13th 

place after recording a score of 
916 — 52 strokes over par and 49 
behind champion Georgia.

Some may find reason to be 

discouraged by a disappointing 
finish on Tuesday, especially 
after a fourth-place showing 
to conclude the fall season 
in October at the Las Vegas 
Collegiate 
Showdown. 
But 

Michigan coach Jan Dowling 
voiced 
few 

serious 
concerns 
regarding her 
team’s play in 
Puerto Rico.

“Everyone 

had things to 
work on over 
the 
winter,” 

Dowling said. 
“It was really 
cool to watch 
them integrate those things 
into their games this weekend. 
We’re going to build on that and 
continue to improve.”

Dowling’s positivity may be 

a result of her understanding 
that a long break from outdoor 
play 
— 
coupled 
with 
the 

“discomforting” 
feeling 
of 

competing on grass again — 
makes returning to competition 
difficult for her players.

Despite some adversity, senior 

Catherine 
Peters 
had 
little 

trouble shaking the rust from 
winter, as she tied for 18th with 
a team-best score of 223. Peters 
attributed her hot start to the 

spring campaign to her focus on 
improving key weaknesses over 
the past three months.

“I 
honestly 
just 
worked 

on my putting,” Peters said. 
“I’m pretty technical with my 
swing, so I don’t change it very 
often, but my putting needed 
some work.”

Much of Michigan’s fate this 

season will be decided based 
on offseason training. Finding 
motivation over the winter to 
improve even more wasn’t hard 
for the Wolverines after a strong 
finish to the fall season.

“This team is intrinsically 

motivated 
to 
begin 
with,” 

Dowling said. “But (the Las 
Vegas 
Showdown) 
definitely 

added fuel to our fire to continue 
to show what we’re capable of 
this year.”

As the lone Wolverine senior, 

Peters has embraced her role as 
unofficial captain on a young 
squad. On a roster with five 
underclassmen out of the seven 
golfers in all, she realizes 

she 
has 
no 

choice 
but 

to set a good 
example.

“I 
know 

that the other 
girls look up to 
me, especially 
in 
terms 
of 

hard 
work 

and 
setting 

the pace for 
practice 
and 

workouts,” Peters said. “I have 
to make sure I always have a 
positive attitude.”

Behind the encouragement 

of Dowling and the leadership 
of Peters, Michigan can only 
improve as they return from 
Puerto Rico. They’ll travel south 
again in two weeks to compete 
in the Hurricane Invitational in 
Miami, hoping to recover from 
the rocky start and build on 
offseason progress.

“Overall, we showed a lot of 

great signs this week,” Dowling 
said. “The more and more we’re 
competing, the better we’re 
going to get.”

“Everyone had 
things to work 

on over the 

winter.”

Michigan at 
Maryland

Matchup: 
Michigan 15-10; 
Maryland 23-3

When: 
Wednesday 
7 P.M.

Where: Xfinity 
Center

TV/Radio: 
BTN Plus

