The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
September 6, 2016 — 3B
SportsTuesday

Michigan rolls on 
West Coast swing

By NATHANIEL CLARK 

Daily Sports Writer

To most teams, two weekends 

of road games against ranked 
opponents would inspire feelings 
of dread. But not the 10th-ranked 
Michigan field hockey team. 

The Wolverines (3-1) defeated 

No. 12 Stanford, 2-1, Friday and 
California-Berkeley, 5-0, Sunday. 
Michigan’s 
victories 
came 

following a 1-0 road victory over 
then-No. 1 UNC, 1-0, and a 2-0 
loss to then-No. 7 Wake Forest last 
weekend.

“I’m really proud of the team 

for playing a full 70 minutes,” said 
Michigan coach Marcia Pankratz.

Sophomore 
forward 
Emma 

Way kicked off the scoring for the 
Wolverines against the Cardinal 
when she netted a goal at 23:57, 
while senior forward Courtney 
Enge extended Michigan’s lead 
to two 14 minutes later. The 
Wolverines kept Stanford off the 
board in the first half.

But the Cardinal did not go 

down without a fight.

Stanford 
took 
advantage 

of a penalty corner in the 51st 
minute to get the ball past junior 
goaltender Sam Swenson to cut 
Michigan’s edge in half. 

The Cardinal then appeared 

poised to tie the game when the 
Wolverines were given a green 
card with 3:41 left. But Swenson 
and her teammates successfully 
ran out the clock and ensured the 
victory for Michigan. Swenson 
finished Friday with four saves in 
total.

“I 
think 
we’ve 
worked 

together really well,” Swenson 
said of her teammates. “We’ve 
upped our communication so 
that everyone is on the same 
page. That’s really helped us all 
the way through the team.”

Pankratz gave special praise to 

Swenson, though.

“Swenson 
is 
an 
amazing 

goalkeeper,” Pankratz said. “She’s 
quick, she’s experienced and the 
defense in front of her is really 
confident because of her.”

Against the Golden Bears, 

redshirt junior forward Carly 
Bennett drew first blood when 
she scored at 28:08. The rest of 
the first half featured very little 
offense as the teams combined for 
just three shots on goal.

The Wolverines would change 

that in a big way in the second half.

Senior forward Sina Lampe 

made a shot off a penalty corner 
towards Enge, who put the ball in 
the net in the 55th minute. Bennett 
added another goal two minutes 
later to extend the lead to three.

Freshman 
forward 
Bree 

Bednarski scored her first career 
goal 1:36 later and Enge topped 
things off by notching her third 
goal of the weekend as time 
expired.

“I think we all got extra 

hungry and extra ready for the 
second half,” Enge said. “We just 
penetrated the circle and the goals 
fell.”

Michigan will be rewarded for 

its early success by finally getting 
to play at home against Villanova 
on Sept. 10, something Pankratz 
and the Wolverines are looking 
forward to.

“We’ve been on the road a long 

time and it gets tiring,” Pankratz 
said. “Our players have worked 
really hard, and classes start (this 
week).”

The Wolverines will have 

to face No. 6 Maryland and 
No. 12 Louisville before 2016 
is out. But after the past two 
weekends, Michigan likely won’t 
be walking into those matchups 
feeling dread.

‘M’ dominates Ole Miss

By BRAD WHIPPLE 

Daily Sports Editor

At first, Reilly Martin didn’t 

want to take the penalty kick in 
the 39th minute of Friday night’s 
game. 
After 
the 

sophomore 
midfielder 
was taken down inside the box 
by an Ole Miss defender, Martin 
was shaken up and senior 
midfielder 
Jessica 
Heifetz 

stepped forward to finish the 
job with the Michigan women’s 
soccer team clinging to a 1-0 
lead.

That was until head coach 

Greg Ryan called for Martin to 
take it herself, especially since 
she was the player who drew the 
penalty.

Martin stepped forward and 

paused. Three weeks ago on 
Aug. 11, she was in the exact 
spot against the goalkeeper 
from then-No. 4 Virginia, but 
Martin’s attempt ricocheted off 
the left post. This time against 
Ole Miss, though, there was no 
chance she’d let it hit anything 
other than the net.

With her right foot, Martin 

kicked the ball past Rebels 
goalkeeper 
Marnie 
Merritt, 

giving Michigan (3-1-1) a much-
needed insurance goal and an 
eventual 2-0 victory.

“She’s the one kid I know will 

put it in the back of the net,” 
Ryan said. “Great for her to step 
up, and that was the goal that 
put the game away.”

Twenty 
minutes 
earlier, 

redshirt junior forward Ani 
Sarkisian opened the game up 
for Michigan after Martin took 
the ball up the field, drew off a 
defender inside the box and gave 
Sarkisian an open look to spiral 
a shot into the upper 90 for a 
one-goal lead.

The Wolverines knew they 

were 
facing 
a 
high-octane 

offense in Ole Miss, and getting 
on the board early would be the 
difference maker. Much of this 

week’s focus leading up to the 
game was to work on having 
two extra defenders on the ball 
carrier, because Ryan knew that 
his team couldn’t stop the Rebels 
offense one player at a time.

The 
strategy 
worked 
for 

Michigan, which headed into 
halftime with a two-goal lead. 
Luckily for the Wolverines, they 
continued to execute their game 
plan in the second half against 
an Ole Miss squad even hungrier 
to even out the scoring.

“At halftime,” Ryan said, 

“I told them, ‘Hold on, it’s 
coming. They’re going to throw 
everything at ya. We’re gonna 
be defending a lot. Keep your 
shape, keep your composure and 
you’ll be fine.’ ”

Added 
Sarkisian: 
“Second 

half, we didn’t really control the 
tempo as much but they were 
knocking on our door all 45 
minutes and we did a great job of 
just keeping them out of our box 
and defending as a whole unit.”

Three 
minutes 
into 
the 

second half, Ole Miss fired off 
a shot only to have it saved by 
sophomore redshirt goalkeeper 
Sarah 
Jackson. 
The 
Rebels 

placed an extra forward up front 
and brought up most of their 
outside backs, showing how 
eager they were to narrow the 
deficit.

Ole Miss (3-2) fired off just 

four shots in the first half, but 
in the second, the offense came 
alive in a 12-shot onslaught — 
four of which came in the final 
10 minutes of the game.

Jackson made a diving save 

on the final shot from the 
Rebels. Even if Ole Miss had 
scored in those final minutes 
for a one-goal loss instead of 
two, Michigan still wanted the 
shutout. This season, the team’s 
motto is “All In,” meaning they 
have to put in the effort in all 
90 minutes, because letting 
loose for even a few seconds 
could result in a late comeback 
by an opponent — something 
the Wolverines dealt with on 

occasion last season.

With Jackson making nine 

saves 
through 
90 
minutes, 

though, the Rebels efforts were 
thwarted.

“Sarah was very, very sharp 

tonight,” Ryan said. “The thing 
with Sarah is she’s getting really 
confident, and that was a key for 
her, because she’s always had 
the ability and the athleticism, 
and tonight was a perfect game 
for her. She can get to just about 
anything.”

The 
season 
ahead 
is 

promising for the Wolverines 
after they shut out a high-
caliber offensive team ranked 
in the NSCAA top 25 last week. 
With the exception of a loss to 
Marquette, Michigan has made 
the most of its opportunities 
to compete against some of the 
best talent in the country.

And with Big Ten play just 

two weeks away, the Wolverines 
will be that much more prepared 
to begin their journey toward a 
conference title.

OLE MISS
MICHIGAN 

0
2

ALLISON FARRAND/Daily

Reilly Martin converted a first-half penalty kick Friday to give Michigan an insurance goal against Ole Miss.

Wolverines earn three more wins

By LANEY BYLER 

Daily Sports Writer

Holding onto a 3-0 record 

from its season opener, the 
Michigan volleyball team had high 
expectations to deliver the same 
quality performance at the Kansas 
State Invitational. The Wolverines 
didn’t disappoint, as they advanced 
to 6-0 after claiming victories over 
Tennessee State, Kansas State and 
Georgia Tech.

Despite dropping their first 

set of the season against the host 
Wildcats, Michigan rallied for 
a four-set victory, 25-21, 24-26, 
25-19, 25-22. Fifth-year senior 
outside hitter Kelly Murphy 
highlighted the offense with a 
career-high 21 kills and a .455 
attack percentage. Senior middle 
blocker 
Abby 
Cole 
followed 

closely behind with 17 kills and 
a .333 attack percentage. The 
Wolverines totaled 59 kills out 
of 151 total attacks for a .311 total 
attack percentage.

But it was Michigan’s ability to 

avoid mistakes and capitalize on 
strengths that really separated it 
from Kansas 
State.

“We were 

very 
low-

error,” 
said 

Michigan 
coach 
Mark 

Rosen. 
“We 

kept a lot of 
stuff in play, 
and if things 
weren’t 
perfect, we didn’t make them 
worse. We tended to make them 
better. A lot of the time, with the 
teams we played this weekend, 
the difference in score was 
error, because we tried to stay 
pretty clean.”

Michigan’s 
performance 

against 
Georgia 
Tech 
was 

oriented more toward consistency 
and defense rather than offense. 
The Wolverines’ defense only 
allowed Georgia Tech a .094 
attack average while topping the 
Yellow Jackets in four sets, 25-16, 
25-17, 19-25, 25-22. Michigan 
reached a season-high 72 digs, 
along with 12 team blocks.

Cole reached a career-high 

total with nine digs, while 
sophomore libero Jenna Lerg 

recorded a season-high 23.

In the third and final match of 

the invitational, the Wolverines 
tallied 
their 
best 
average 

attack percentage since 2012, a 
.444 against Tennessee State, 
streamlined by redshirt sophomore 
middle blocker Cori Crocker. She 
led the team with 10 kills and 
contributed a .529 attack average.

“We’ve been working with Cori 

to try and develop her offense,” 
Rosen said. “She’s a very good 
blocker and good on the defensive 
side of stuff, but we haven’t really 
been able to utilize her as much 
offensively. In the match against 
Tennessee State, she led in kills 
and and hit over .500, so that was 
a great breakout match for her 
offensively. If we can get her more 
involved offensively, that’s going 
to be a good thing.”

Murphy 
and 
junior 
right-

side hitter Katherine Mahlke 
both contributed offensively as 
well, with seven and nine kills, 
respectively.

Lopsided scores of 25-7 and 

25-14 in favor of Michigan during 
the first two sets allowed some of its 

younger athletes 
experience, 
including 
freshman 
setter Katerina 
Rocafort 
and 

freshman 
outside 
hitter 

Sydney 
Wetterstrom, 
who tallied six 
kills.

“We’re still trying to give people 

opportunities to see how they play 
in games and see what they do in 
practice,” Rosen said. “We track 
that really closely, but we still 
want to see how they respond in 
game situations. Today, when we 
shuffled things around and made 
changes, the level didn’t really 
drop off. In lots of ways, it actually 
improved, and I think that’s a 
great sign of depth.”

If the Wolverines can continue 

to expose their freshmen to the 
offensive mentality they have 
been highlighting, then Michigan 
shouldn’t 
have 
a 
problem 

fielding experience and depth 
at the Panther Invitational next 
weekend — and maybe tack on 
three more wins to their record.

The difference in 
score was error 
... we tried to stay 

pretty clean.”

RYAN MCLOUGHLIN/Daily

Kelly Murphy was Michigan’s star against Kansas State with 21 kills.

AMANDA ALLEN/Daily

Sam Swenson gave up one goal in two games for the second straight weekend.

