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

Atuahene, Sahlool spark ‘M’

By BRANDON CARNEY 

Daily Sports Writer

Through its first three games, 

the Michigan men’s soccer team 
had developed a clear problem. The 
Wolverines were still evaluating 
their options for where their next 
goal was going to come from.

They had been shut out in two 

of their first three matches as they 
couldn’t figure out who was the 
best fit to lead their attacking line.

But two moments of brilliance 

just two minutes apart in the 
second half may have shined 
the light on the solution for the 
Wolverines.

Sophomore midfielder Francis 

Atuahene scored a low screamer 
off a corner just before senior 
forward Yamann Sahlool worked 
his way through the Yale defense 
to find a second, helping Michigan 
earn a 2-2 draw on Monday.

After falling a goal behind, 

Michigan coach Chaka Daley 
made the call to introduce 
Atuahene, who had missed the 
prior two matches while nursing 
an injury, and pair him with 
Sahlool to lead the attacking line.

As Atuahene subbed in, the 

Wolverine 
offense 
sparked 

to life after looking futile for 
the opening 60 minutes. His 
power 
and 

confidence 
were 
exactly 

what 
Michigan 
was 
missing 

not 
only 
in 

the first half 
of 
Monday’s 

match, 
but 

through 
the 

prior 
three 

matches of the season.

“I thought the person who 

changed the game was when 
(Atuahene) came on,” Daley said. 
(Atuahene and Sahlool) have the 
license to interchange and go 
from one spot to another within 
the front three. They did a good 
job with their movement to make 

things exciting.”

Daley has experimented with 

several different combinations at 
the head of the Wolverines’ attack. 
On Friday against Columbia, 
Daley chose to start sophomore 
defender 
Marcello 
Borges 

at 
striker. 
Borges’ 
footwork 

allows him to make a difference 
wherever he’s positioned, but as 
he showed over the weekend with 
10 missed shots, finishing is still 
an area he needs some work in to 
be considered a regular option as 
Michigan’s number nine.

On Sunday, Michigan started 

redshirt sophomore midfielder 
Michael 
Kapitula 
at 
striker 

against the Bulldogs, but he 
looked uncomfortable from the 
start, lasting just 33 minutes at 
the spot.

“(Kapitula and Borges) are 

capable and dangerous players,” 
Daley 
said. 
“I 
think 
their 

movement is good and they 
create chances. Certainly as we 
go we don’t look against anybody. 
Every team is a little different.”

Kapitula and Borges both 

lacked the physicality to get past 
Yale’s central defenders, which 
forced Daley to make the two 
changes that would make the 
difference against Yale. Sahlool 
came on and began holding the 

ball 
up 
for 

wingers 
like 

Borges to make 
runs.

The 

Wolverines’ 
attack 
looked 

more 
lively 

and dangerous 
with the senior 
forward on the 
field, but still 

lacked the finishing ability in the 
final third to find a breakthrough. 
Sahlool looked comfortable in his 
role and that carried over to his 
quality of play.

“I feel like playing center 

forward is really good for me,” 
Sahlool said. “I’m a guy who likes 
to make short runs in behind 

the defense just to be dangerous 
or get in the box and just get as 
many shots off as I can. I think 
the number nine is my best 
position. I like to shoot and score 
when I can. It’s what I’ve been 
doing since I was a little boy.”

Once Michigan had fallen 

behind, Daley knew he was 
going to have to make a risky 
substitution by bringing on an 
unfit 
Atuahene, 
but 
holding 

out on the change for so long 
may have made the difference. 
The 
sophomore 
midfielder 

was a constant menace for the 
defenders marking him and put 
on a convincing display on why 
he should be the Wolverines’ 
go-to scorer once fully healthy.

“I think Francis is a top player 

and he’s capable of playing five or 
six spots within the team,” Daley 
said. “We’ll continue to find his 
niche because he’s becoming 
more and more of a mark man. 
They put a man on him and man 
marked him the entire time he 
was on.”

After 
this 
weekend’s 

performance, Daley has a strong 
case for Sahlool and Atuahene 
leading the attack heading into 
conference play.

“We know Sahlool can hold up 

the ball real well and Atuahene 
can go score goals up top with his 
speed,” Borges said. “I think they 
are our goal scorers on the team, 
and we know if we can find them 
in the right places, they’ll score 
their goals.”

LUNA ANNA ARCHEY/Daily

Francis Atuahene scored a crucial goal in his return from injury on Monday.

WOMEN’S SOCCER
Kastroll recovers 
from early injury

By BRAD WHIPPLE 

Daily Sports Editor

At one point during the 

Michigan women’s soccer team’s 
2-0 win against Ole Miss on 
Friday night, Abby Kastroll 
stopped moving, put her hands 
above her head and tried to catch 
her breath.

The 
sophomore 
midfielder 

had been all over the pitch — 
beating out any counterattack, 
heading balls and sliding for 
loose passes to clear the ball. 
Kastroll appeared unstoppable, 
but even she needed a substitute 
and came out of the game in the 
30th minute.

After 
the 
halftime 
break 

concluded, Kastroll took the field 
again for the next 45 minutes. As 
the Rebels began an offensive 
onslaught in an attempt to 
rebound from a two-goal deficit, 
the Wolverines couldn’t afford 
to have her off the field, and 
Kastroll remained steadfast on 
defense for the rest of the match.

Kastroll’s exhaustion wasn’t a 

matter of her needing to improve 
her stamina. Rather, it was a sign 
of how strong of a player she is 
becoming — one who will give 
100 percent for any minute she is 
on the pitch.

The 76 minutes she played 

against Ole Miss were no different, 
and they earned her praise from 
Michigan coach Greg Ryan after 
the game when Ryan approached 
Kastroll and said, “This was a 
breakout night for you.”

“She hasn’t had that night yet 

this year, where she just imposes 
her will on the game from 
an attacking and a defending 
standpoint,” 
Ryan 
said. 
“I 

thought she dominated every 
matchup she went into tonight.”

Kastroll’s stellar performance 

Friday is not an outlier when 

compared to how instrumental 
she has been in the team’s 
success thus far, though. On Aug. 
28 against then-No. 12 Notre 
Dame, she put Michigan on the 
scoreboard first with a header in 
the 64th minute.

After redshirt junior forward 

Ani Sarkisian headed a slow ball 
toward the net, Notre Dame 
goalkeeper 
Ginny 
McGowan 

was primed to make the save. 
Kastroll, though, was positioned 
right in front of the net, and with 
no more than a split-second to 
react, she threw her head up and 
backward to head the ball just 
past McGowan.

Three 
days 
before 
that 

matchup, Kastroll also assisted 
on half of the Wolverines’ four 
goals against Marshall.

Kastroll has had an impressive 

showing of late, all of which came 
after she was injured during the 
preseason. Since Michigan began 
training on Aug. 3, the team 
hasn’t had much time off.

“We haven’t been able to 

rest her, so she just had to plow 
through it,” Ryan said after 
Friday’s win. “But I think she’s 
finally feeling really recovered 
from that injury. She looked 
really strong tonight.”

Luckily for Kastroll and the 

rest of the Wolverines, they were 
rewarded with a two-day rest 
period after their game Friday — 
a rarity in college soccer.

“They’re tired,” Ryan said. 

“This is huge rest for us. Then 
it’s just getting ready to come out 
and compete like we competed 
tonight against UC Riverside and 
then into the Big Ten season.”

So far, Kastroll’s success has 

come without an extra day of rest, 
so there’s no telling what kind of 
show she and the Wolverines 
could put on this Friday at U-M 
Soccer Stadium.

“I feel like 

playing center 
forward is really 

good for me.”

