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.”