8 — Tuesday, September 27, 2016
Sports
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Michigan shows championship
potential in win over Spartans
As the whistle blew for
halftime, the Michigan women’s
soccer team, which won its
first two Big Ten games last
weekend, walked to its bench
with the score still stuck at zero.
Michigan coach Greg Ryan was
visibly upset. His team looked
nothing like the one that had
won its last four games.
“I really got into them at
halftime,” Ryan said. “I told
them they’re better than that.
And
they
responded
really
well.”
The Wolverines (3-0-0 Big
Ten, 7-1-1 overall) came out for
the second half looking like
the same team they have been
most of the season. By the final
whistle, the scoreboard read 1-0
in favor of Michigan.
The
Wolverines
showed
Michigan State why they are
being touted as potential Big
Ten champions by earning their
third win, keeping their perfect
conference record intact and
increasing their overall win
streak to five. And truth be
told, the score-line flattered the
Spartans.
At first it was a day where
the ball just didn’t want to go
in for Michigan, but by the end,
the Wolverines proved their
quality.
They ended the day with
20 shots, forcing Michigan
State
goalkeeper
Savanna
Wojtanowski into seven saves.
Michigan also had two further
efforts cleared off the line, and
one pushed onto the post by the
Spartans’ stubborn defense.
With a few minutes left on the
clock, redshirt junior forward
Ani Sarkisian rose highest in
the box to head home a cross
from
sophomore
midfielder
Reilly Martin. For all her good
work that night, Wojtanowski
stood helpless as she saw the
ball hit the back
of her net.
“I think Reilly
and I are a good
duo,” Sarkisian
said. “We both
like to get the
ball, turn and
go after them.
That’s a team’s
worst nightmare
when
players
take
them
on
one on one and
I think we did that really well.”
The
Wolverines
boast
an
intimidating
front
line.
Sarkisian sits on five goals
this season, while Martin and
sophomore
midfielder
Abby
Kastroll have scored four each.
It seems goals are flying in
from everywhere as Michigan
is scoring at a rate of 2.11
goals per game, second only to
Minnesota’s 2.36 in the Big Ten.
“Their goalie made some
great saves,” Ryan said. “On
another day like this, we might
have scored three or four. We
just gotta keep doing what we’re
doing.”
At the defensive end of the
field, only Northwestern has
more clean sheets per game
than
Michigan’s
sophomore
goalkeeper Sarah Jackson. She
has conceded in just two out of
the seven games she has played
this season.
The
statistical
dominance
is reflected in the Big Ten
standings where the Wolverines
are the only team with three
wins and a perfect record.
“This team is capable of
beating every team on our
schedule,” Ryan said. “So if
we just roll up our sleeves, we
can
contend
for the Big Ten
championship.”
Michigan will
host Rutgers on
Thursday night
in
a
top-of-
the-table
clash
that could be a
potential tipping
point in the race
for the Big Ten
title.
The
Scarlet
Knights have had a season
almost identical to Michigan.
They would have matched the
Wolverines’ record, but were
held to a stalemate against
Illinois the day after Michigan
beat Michigan State.
However, a win for Rutgers
would see them jump ahead of
the Wolverines, while a win for
Michigan would make the team
an outright favorite for the Big
Ten championship.
“The
way
we’ve
always
worked is that we’re totally
focused on the next game,”
Ryan said. “We want to contend
for the championship, and to do
that, we’re probably gonna have
to win the next game.”
With
Michigan’s
current
form, playing the Wolverines
is a daunting prospect for
anyone. Although still early in
the season, the Wolverines have
effectively thrown down the
gauntlet for every team in the
Big Ten this season.
WOMEN’S SOCCER
“We can
contend for
the Big Ten
championship.”
Wolverines ride strong second half to 1-0 win over in-state
rivals, prove their mettle going into season’s final month
SYED FAHD AHSAN
Daily Sports Writer
Wolverines finish third at Windon
Two tournaments into the 2016
fall season, the Michigan men’s
golf team has begun what could be
a trend: a good Day 1 followed by
an even better Day 2.
The
Wolverines
teed
off
Sunday in Glenview, Ill., at the
Windon Memorial Classic, an
annual tournament hosted by
Northwestern. The tournament
consisted of two rounds Sunday
and a final round Monday.
Despite having played only one
tournament prior, Michigan coach
Chris Whitten felt good about the
lineup he chose.
“We had about 10 days, or about
two weeks after the first day of
school, to play a lot of qualifying
rounds
around
Ann
Arbor,”
Whitten said. “Between that and
looking at their past experiences,
that helps us to shape the lineup a
little bit.”
Though Michigan ended up
shooting an 870 for an impressive
third at the tournament, the event
did not begin as well as it hoped
for.
In
the
first
round,
the
Wolverines were led by senior
Reed Hrynewich, who shot a 68
to lead all competitors in the field.
Following Hrynewich were junior
Kyle Mueller and sophomore
Nick Carlson, who shot 71 and 74,
respectively. Overall, the team shot
a 288 for the first round, which had
Michigan tied for fourth.
Later that day, the Wolverines
had to go back on the course for
the second round. Michigan was
holding its position through the
second round before a lightning
delay postponed the final two
holes of the round until Monday.
At the end of Day 1 — with the
second round not yet finished —
the Wolverines were sitting fifth.
After finishing the final two
holes Monday morning, Michigan
was still sitting fifth, and Mueller,
Hrynewich and Carlson again led
the team.
Though the rain and lightning
had passed, a strong wind swept
through the Windy City metro
area, which caused most teams to
falter. For the Wolverines, though,
the wind was just the boost that
they needed.
With the winds behind the
team, Michigan shot a day-
three score of 288, the lowest
third-round score of any of the
fourteen teams competing. The
next lowest third-round score
was a 293, shot by tournament
champion Florida.
Leading the charge for the
Wolverines during the third round
was Mueller, who shot a 67 to earn
the individual tournament crown
with an overall score of 209.
“Kyle just had a great round
today,” Whitten said. “The course
played more difficult today; there
was really a lot of wind, and the
greens were faster, and the hole
locations were really tough. So for
Kyle to shoot five-under today was
a great round.”
Carlson
followed
Mueller
with a round-three 70, and the
Wolverines’ total score of 870
put them in third place for the
tournament, behind Florida and
Eastern Michigan.
“In the first two tournaments
of the year we’ve started kind of
slow but then had very good final
rounds,” Whitten said. “So we
need to play a little bit better in
rounds one and two.”
With such an experienced
lineup
returning
this
year,
though, Michigan should be in a
good position to meet Whitten’s
request. Mueller was one of a
small handful of college golfers
to compete in the U.S. Open in
June, while Carlson made an
unexpected run all the way to the
semifinals of the U.S. Amateur.
There, Carlson lost to eventual
champion Curtis Luck in a
sudden-death, 21st-hole playoff.
“We really have good players
on this team, and the guys know
it, and they know they are capable
of playing well,” Whitten said. “I
think our final round in the first
two events showed we are capable
of competing, so we just have to go
play and be confident and do our
best every single time.”
MICHIGAN PHOTOGRAPHY
Kyle Mueller won the individual tournament crown with a score of 209.
MATTHEW KENNEDY
Daily Sports Writer