The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
SportsMonday
September 26, 2016 — 3B
Dominant second half powers ‘M’
The last time the Michigan
women’s
soccer
team
faced
Michigan State, it suffered a
bruising
3-0
loss
in
East
Lansing —
its first loss to its in-state rival
since 2011. But the Wolverines
returned to their winning ways
Saturday night, defeating the
Spartans, 1-0.
Behind
an
electrifying
second-half performance that
Michigan
coach
Greg
Ryan
called “our best half of soccer of
the year”, the Wolverines (3-0
Big Ten, 7-1-1 overall) completely
overpowered Michigan State
(1-2, 4-5-1), which simply had no
answer for them.
“They terrorized Michigan
State in the second half,” Ryan
said. “I mean, they just couldn’t
catch their breath.”
While the two teams were
locked in a physical, gritty
battle in the first half — both
finished
with
double-digit
fouls — Michigan came alive
and imposed its will on the
match before the second whistle
sounded. Adopting an aggressive
approach, the Wolverines went
after the Spartans, winning
tackles all over the pitch and
making it nearly impossible
for Michigan State to complete
a pass. Every time a Spartan
so much as touched the ball,
a blue shirt raced to rapidly
recover possession. It was a
tactic redshirt junior forward
Ani
Sarkisian
described
as
“(blowing) up their rhythm.”
The persistent pressure made
life easy for Michigan goalkeeper
Sarah Jackson, who needed to
make only one save during the
entire game. The same cannot
be said of Spartan goalkeeper
Savanna Wojtanowski.
Wojtanowski had her work
cut out for her from the outset,
as the Wolverines bombarded
her early and often, totaling
20 shots on goal. In the second
half, it was more of the same.
Whether
it
was
Sarkisian,
senior forward Nicky Waldeck
or sophomore midfielder Abby
Kastroll — who each had five of
those shots — Wojtanowski was
under constant fire.
A 15-minute span in the
second half proved especially
challenging for Wojtanowski,
whose team simply couldn’t
hold onto the ball long enough to
relieve the strain.
Sophomore forward Reilly
Martin sprung Waldeck into
space with a cross in behind the
defense, and even with a heavy
first
touch,
Waldeck
came
close to beating the keeper to
the ball and pulling off a chip
shot. Sarkisian followed with a
cross over the top of the defense
toward an open Waldeck, and
Wojtanowski had to make a
kick save recovery to keep the
ball out.
Kastroll
joined
the
fray
soon thereafter, weaving her
way through the defense on
a run down the right flank
and firing a shot from inside
the box. Wojtanowski made
the initial save again, but the
rebound went straight back to
Kastroll, whose second attempt
was cleared off the line by a
Michigan State defender.
“I thought their goalie made
some really good plays on the
day,” Ryan said. “When you’re
hitting the post, and you’re
making the goalie make saves,
you’re doing everything right.
You just gotta keep taking your
chances. They’ll start to fall.”
It was only a matter of time
until Michigan would find the
back of the net.
Sarkisian
provided
the
breakthrough
in
the
76th
minute, as she burst into the box
unmarked and put her head on
the end of Martin’s cross from
distance. The ball sailed through
the air and nestled softly into
the bottom left corner of the
goal in picture-perfect fashion.
This time, Wojtanowski had no
chance.
“You don’t see them like that
very often,” Ryan said. “Great
way to win the game.”
While avenging the sting
from
last
season’s
loss
admittedly
felt
good,
the
Wolverines know it is a small
victory in a long journey ahead.
“Our goal is Big Ten champs,
and yeah they’re a big rivalry
team and it’s important that
we win this game, but it’s just
as important to win any other
game,” Sarkisian said. “We
want to go undefeated in the Big
Ten. That’s our goal, so every
team is a good team, and every
team in the Big Ten is very
(competitive). Hopefully we’ll
continue on like this the rest of
the season.”
Wolverines stymie Michigan State in final 45 minutes for third straight victory
SINDU KILARU/Daily
The Michigan women’s soccer team avenged last season’s loss to Michigan State with a 1-0 home victory Saturday.
BETELHEM ASHAME
Daily Sports Writer
MICH. STATE
MICHIGAN
0
1
Michigan splits first
conference weekend
Friday night, the Michigan
women’s volleyball team found
itself in an uncharacteristic
position.
The team went into conference
play against No. 1 Nebraska on
Friday with an impressive 11-1
regular-season record — and
went out with an 0-1 record for
the Big Ten.
Not exactly the way they
had hoped the start of their
conference play would go, the
Wolverines had less then 24
hours to turn things around
before hosting Iowa on Saturday.
And while there were still some
consistency issues against the
Hawkeyes, Michigan managed
to switch gears for a four-set win
to end the weekend 1-1.
In the first match of the
weekend,
the
22nd-ranked
Wolverines (1-1 Big Ten, 12-2
overall) dropped the first three
sets against the Cornhuskers,
22-25,
25-20
and
25-18
to
record their first Big Ten loss
— and second loss overall — of
the season. Nebraska tallied
five more kills than Michigan
and had seven fewer errors,
which resulted in a .234 attack
percentage, almost double the
Wolverines’ .118.
Fifth-year
senior
outside
hitter Kelly Murphy led the
offense with 10 kills, followed
closely
by
senior
middle
blocker Abby Cole, who had
nine. Sophomore libero Jenna
Lerg contributed 10 of the 47
total digs, with Murphy adding
nine to top the Cornhuskers in
digs, 47-43.
“Nebraska gave us a great
barometer of where we’re going
and where we want to be,” said
Michigan coach Mark Rosen.
“I thought that, physically, we
played with them for 85 percent
of the match — we were right
there, toe to toe with them.
There wasn’t a situation where
I thought, ‘Man, we just can’t
stop this player’ or ‘We’re
overmatched here.’
“Where we were different
was the other 15 percent, and
that’s being able to execute on
a consistent basis. That’s where
Nebraska is ahead of us, they’re
just more consistent. But that
gives us a great gauge to where
we’re going.”
Michigan turned around on
Saturday to face Iowa, where
the Wolverines pushed their
conference record to 1-1 with a
four-set win, 25-21, 25-19, 25-27
and 25-17.
The
Wolverine
offense
dominated the match, with three
athletes recording double-digit
kills. Murphy and junior outside
hitter Adeja Lambert recorded 12
kills apiece, while Cole added 11
for the combined team total of 53
and a team attack average of .279.
“I thought Adeja did a great
job this weekend,” Rosen said.
“She’s been battling in practice
to get in the lineup and I thought
she did a great job. Especially
tonight, she came out at the very
beginning and kind of set the
tone with two big kills right off
the bat and a block at right that
kind of got things going.”
Lambert had the second-
highest amount of digs on the
team, falling two short of Lerg,
who led with eight.
Redshirt freshman middle
blocker Cori Crocker also had a
great match, tallying a career-
high eight blocks on defense
and five kills on offense. She
finished the night with a .714
attack average.
“It’s really exciting to be
able to come out and play in the
best conference every single
night,” Crocker said. “It’s great
to know that everyone you’re
playing is the best competition
in the country.”
LANEY BYLER
Daily Sports Writer
Wolverines top Ohio State, fall to Penn State
With former players in town
for alumni weekend, the current
No. 8 Michigan field hockey team
faced two strong conference
opponents for the first time
this weekend. The Wolverines
defeated Ohio State (0-2 Big
Ten, 3-6 overall) 1-0 on Friday
night, but fell to No. 4 Penn State
(2-1 Big Ten, 9-1 overall) 3-1 on
Sunday afternoon.
Despite
its
win
Friday
evening, Michigan had a hard
time capitalizing on offensive
opportunities
throughout
both games. The Wolverines
had 15 shots on net, but just
a few were legitimate goal-
scoring
opportunities.
Still,
freshman forward Fay Keijer
scored the game-winning goal
during the first half of Friday’s
game against the Buckeyes,
which was a deflection into the
upper netting after freshman
midfielder Meg Dowthwaite’s
initial penalty-corner shot.
“We did it as a team,” Keijer
said. “We worked so hard and
fought until the end because this
was a very close game. I don’t
really think it was just my goal.”
Sophomore forward Emma
Way finished a chance off
a
corner,
but
Ohio
State
challenged the call and it was
disallowed by the referees for
being too high.
After halftime, the game
turned into a defensive battle,
culminating in a high shot
from the Buckeyes that junior
goaltender
Sam
Swenson
batted away with three minutes
remaining. That attempt was
Ohio State’s only on-net shot of
the game.
Though the Buckeyes did
not generate many traceable
offensive opportunities, they
kept the ball in Michigan’s
defensive zone for much of the
second half. The Wolverines
were forced to defend five
penalty
corners,
but
they
held strong and sealed the 1-0
victory.
“We were having trouble
breaking the ball out of the
defense today,” said Michigan
coach
Marcia
Pankratz
on
Friday.
“We
were
a
little
unsteady there.”
The
Wolverines
made
adjustments in practice Saturday
to correct that, but their miscues
came back to bite them, as they
were caught sleeping at the start
of
Sunday’s
game.
The
Nittany Lions
burst
past
Michigan
and
tipped
in their first
goal just 38
seconds
into
the game. Six
minutes later
they racked up
another
goal
during the second effort on a
penalty corner.
“We tried to get back to the
game plan” Pankratz said. “We
just unfortunately didn’t play
the whole 70 minutes. We were
10 minutes late.
“By then we were really
scrambling to come back and
it’s tough to do that against a
great team like Penn State. But
I was proud of how we turned it
around … and I thought it was an
even game the second half.”
Despite the tough first half,
Michigan seemed encouraged
by the alumni who were honored
on the field at
halftime and
began leading
the
fans
in
chants during
the
second
half.
But
that
wasn’t enough
to
help
the
Wolverines,
as
the
scoreboard
reflected the even-matched play
the rest of the game. Way finally
earned a spot for Michigan
on the board with less than 10
minutes left in the game, with
an assist from junior midfielder
Katie Trombetta. Once again,
the goal came from a penalty
corner. The Nittany Lions tallied
one more late goal with just 3:42
left in the game to solidify their
win.
“We just need to finish more
on our corners,” Way said. “We
had a lot of opportunities and
they’re the number one scoring
part of the game.”
Added Trombetta: “I think
each game we’re getting better,
we’re building more, getting
more confident. I think today
we kind of let the hectic-ness
get to us. We started to dribble a
lot more, so we have to go to our
basic of passing.”
Michigan
is
entering
a
crucial point of its season —
gearing up to face conference
opponents for the next three
weekends in a row. Unlike its
10-0 cakewalk against Central
Michigan last week, the stakes
are higher as conference play
begins. The Wolverines will
have to tweak their offense —
or at least their penalty corners
— in order to be successful.
Michigan gives up two early goals in 3-1 loss to fourth-ranked Nittany Lions
MAZIE HYAMS/Daily
Sophomore forward Emma Way scored a late goal Sunday, but it wasn’t enough to overcome No. 4 Penn State.
MAGGIE KOLCON
Daily Sports Writer
“We just
unfortunately
didn’t play the
whole 70 minutes.”
VOLLEYBALL
WOMEN’S TENNIS
Michigan opens fall
season at Virginia
The
Michigan
women’s
tennis team kicked off its 2016
fall season this weekend with
just three players competing
at the UVA Fall Invitational in
Charlottesville, Va.
The
Wolverines
started
the tournament with a sweep
Friday, as sophomores Kara
Hall and Alex Najarian and
freshman Chiara Lommer all
won their matches in two sets.
Najarian gave up only one game
each set.
But Michigan was unable
to carry its success into the
doubles matches. Lommer and
Najarian
were
defeated by two
pairs of players
from
Marshall
and Utah by an
eight-game pro-
set score of 8-6
in each match.
Even though
the Wolverines
donned
the
maize
and
blue
at
the
Invitational,
they
competed
as
individuals
and
didn’t
accumulate team points.
“We have a certain number
of dates that we have,” said
Michigan
coach
Ronni
Bernstein, “and if we bring less
than four (players) it doesn’t
count as a team date. Everybody
will basically play four events
this fall, so we just had these
three go this weekend.”
Saturday
was
another
day of mixed results for the
Wolverines.
Najarian
swept
players from Old Dominion
and Virginia to advance to her
flight’s finals, while Hall was
defeated by competitors from
Virginia and Virginia Tech.
The tournament concluded
Sunday, with Najarian taking
on Old Dominion’s Borislava
Botusharova
in
the
flight’s
finals.
Botusharova
proved
too strong of an opponent for
Najarian, and she fell 6-1, 6-1.
Hall
and
Lommer
also
competed Sunday in eight-game
pro-set consolation matches.
Lommer
defeated
Utah’s
Jenna Chang, 8-1. Hall also
participated in an 8-1 match,
but Hall was defeated, 8-1, by
Utah’s Alexia Petrovic. Hall and
Najarian were also defeated by
a duo from Virginia, 7-6 (2), in
their flight’s consolation match.
“I think with Alex, even
though she lost today, she
played really well for the most
part,” Bernstein
said. “I think the
biggest thing we
really need to
work on is our
doubles.
That
was
probably
the
area
we
could have done
a lot better.”
Fall
season
losses
aren’t
all that bad for
a team, though. Rankings and
conference standings are based
on results from the winter season
— when dual matches occur —
and the fall season is often used
as a time for players to get back
into the groove of things after
a summer of inactivity. The fall
season also allows for teams to
figure out shortcomings before
the winter season.
“The fall is great,” Bernstein
said. “It doesn’t have the
same pressure as it does team
against team, so you just hope
they can relax a little bit and
work on some things. It gives
us a good opportunity to work
with the kids and get matches
under their belt before we start
in January.”
Najarian, Hall and Lommer only ‘M’
players to compete; Najarian goes 3-1
MATTHEW KENNEDY
Daily Sports Writer
“I think the
biggest thing we
need to work on
is our doubles.”