The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
SportsMonday
October 31, 2016 — 3B

‘M’ falls to top-ranked Terps in 2OT

In the 15-year history of the 

Michigan men’s soccer program, 
the Wolverines had never beaten 
the nation’s 
top-ranked 
team. And 
despite 
holding a two-goal lead 65 
minutes into the game, Sunday, 
Michigan (1-6-1 Big Ten, 3-10-4 
overall) allowed that streak to 
continue against No. 1 Maryland 
(7-0-1, 15-0-2), falling, 3-2, in 
crushing fashion.

With 
88 
minutes 
gone, 

it appeared the Wolverines 
would finally capture their 
signature win, as Maryland 
desperately 
attacked 
to 

protect its undefeated record 
with Michigan clinging to a 
one-goal lead. But with just 
over a minute remaining in 
regulation, Terrapin defender 
Chris Odoi-Atsem equalized 
off a service from midfielder 
George Campbell — crushing 
the spirits of the Wolverines 
as many laid down on the 
grass 
in 
disappointment 

and 
exhaustion, 
while 
a 

strong 
Maryland 
contingent 

celebrated from the stands.

Roughly 20 minutes later, 

Michigan’s dream turned into a 
nightmarish loss. In the second 
overtime period, defender Suli 
Dainkeh buried a shot from 
the left side past Wolverines 
goaltender Evan Louro for the 
game-winner. 
But 
Michigan 

coach 
Chaka 
Daley 
argued 

Dainken 
never 
should 
have 

gotten the opportunity to give 
the Terrapins the win, as a hard 
challenge led to a Wolverine 
turnover in the box.

“It was a foul,” Daley said. 

“He pushes a guy down — it’s 
a foul. It was called all day as a 
foul, and it was not called in the 
last minute of the game.”

Daley found the officiating to 

be one of the culprits behind the 
crushing loss for the Wolverines.

“The referee impacted the 

game 
immensely,” 
he 
said. 

“For us, I think he changed the 
game. You’re supposed to keep 
it neutral, and I think that … 
inconsistency changes games.”

Despite the alleged injustice 

against Daley’s team, Michigan 
was 
able 
to 

capture 
a 
2-0 

lead in the first 
half 
thanks 

to 
goals 
by 

sophomore 
midfielder 
Robbie 
Mertz 

and 
freshman 

forward 
Jack 

Hallahan 
— 

both of which 
were 
assisted 

by sophomore forward Francis 
Atuahene, who now has seven 
points in Michigan’s last two 
contests.

The tide turned for Maryland 

when, off a handball, the nation’s 
third-leading 
scorer 
Gordon 

Wild placed a penalty shot into 
the lower left corner of the goal 
during the 66th minute.

“Goals change games,” Daley 

said, who continued to question 
the competency of the referees. 
“The penalty kick — is it or isn’t 
it, you know?”

After 
Wild’s 
conversion, 

Maryland was able to control 

possession 
and 
pepper 

the 
goal 
with 

strong attempts, 
resulting in an 
astounding 
27 

shots from the 
Terrapins 
and 

11 
saves 
from 

Louro 
— 
his 

season high.

As Maryland 

found 
itself 

facing its largest deficit of the 
season, tempers boiled over in 
the first half. A foul on Maryland 
midfielder 
Connor 
Smith 

resulted 
in 
extracurricular 

pushing 
between 
him 
and 

Hallahan. 
That 
exchange 

sparked 
a 
confrontational 

atmosphere for the rest of 
the contest, as Atuahene and 
midfielder 
Tyler 
Anderson 

both received yellow cards for 
the Wolverines in a match that 
saw many players flailing to 
the ground and clutching their 
shinguards in pain.

“I 
like 
that 
competitive 

atmosphere,” Anderson said. “It 
makes the game more fun, and 
it makes (the game) go by a lot 
quicker.”

In a season in which little has 

gone right for the Wolverines, 
Michigan seemed on the brink 
of a season-defining win Sunday. 
But even that was stripped 
from the team, adding salt to an 
already opened wound.

“I don’t know if anyone in 

the country has played more 
heartbreaking games than we 
have,” Daley said. “Certainly, 
we’re going to pick ourselves 
up and go and fight (in the Big 
Ten Tournament on Saturday) 
against a Rutgers team that’s 
fighting for their lives as well.”

Wolverines squander two-goal halftime lead, lose heartbreaker on Senior Day

ELIZABETH XIONG/Daily

Senior midfielder Tyler Anderson played all 109 minutes in his last career game, but Michigan lost in double overtime.

MARK CALCAGNO

For the Daily

“Certainly, we’re 

going to pick 

ourselves up and 

go and fight.”

MARYLAND
MICHIGAN 

3
2

WOMEN’S SOCCER

VOLLEYBALL

Wolverines win in PKs 
in Big Ten quarterfinal

In practice on Friday, the 

Michigan women’s soccer team 
didn’t make a single one of its 
penalty 
kicks.

Luckily 

for the Wolverines, Sunday was a 
new day.

Michigan (6-3-2 Big Ten, 11-4-

3 overall) made all four penalty 
kicks against Wisconsin (8-5-7) 
to pave its way to the Big Ten 
Tournament semifinals Friday 
against top-seeded Minnesota.

“We’ve 
been 
practicing 

(penalty kicks) all season because 
we knew it could go into this,” 
said Michigan coach Greg Ryan. 
“Especially the last few days 
we’ve been doing a penalty kick 
contest.”

The last time the two teams 

met, on Oct. 13, the game ended 
in a 1-1 draw, with the Badgers 
scoring first and the Wolverines 
scoring later on in the game to 
force the tie. On Sunday, Michigan 
drew first blood. In the 20th 
minute, sophomore forward Reilly 
Martin turned on her defender, 
accelerated down the right flank 
and sent in a cross. Senior forward 
Nicky Waldeck met the cross in 
the air, heading home her eighth 
goal of the season. 

But it didn’t take long for 

the Badgers to equalize, finally 
turning 
their 
overwhelming 

possession in the final third into a 
goal. Wisconsin defender Payton 
Wesley gathered the ball on the 
right end line and crossed it into 
the middle toward her teammate, 
forward Emily Borgmann, who 
finished the chance cooly. 

From 
there, 
both 
sides 

sputtered 
on 
offense, 
with 

chances few and far between. 
Neither side controlled the flow of 
the ball in the midfield, and both 
relied heavily on long through 
passes to forwards making runs. 

“I thought we were off our 

game for a good portion of (the 
game),” Ryan said. “But it was just 
a game where we just had to fight. 
It’s just a gritty performance.”

Ryan 
attributes 
much 
of 

that struggle to the challenge 
the Badgers presented, while 
simultaneously 
crediting 
his 

defense — and its 3-4-3 formation 
— for negating Wisconsin’s attack.

“They’re a very good defending 

team,” Ryan said. “They play that 
tight diamond in midfield, and it’s 
very hard to play in behind them. 
… (The formation) allowed us to 
at least get pressure on almost all 
of their players on the field, and 
I think that was causing them 
problems.”

Neither overtime period was 

enough to decide the victor. 
Unlike the draw two weeks 
ago, Michigan and Wisconsin 
headed to penalty kicks to 
decide 
which 
team 
would 

advance 
to 
the 
conference 

tournament semifinal. 

And 
redshirt 
sophomore 

goalkeeper 
Sarah 
Jackson 

ensured that spot would belong 
to the Wolverines, despite an 
unconventional strategy to do so.

“I have a really bad strategy 

(for penalty kicks),” Jackson said. 
“I told my coach I always dive to 
the right.”

After seeing the first Badgers’ 

shot find the crossbar, Jackson 
knew one stop would all but 
secure the win.

In Wisconsin’s second attempt, 

Jackson decided to dive to her 
left, and reaped the benefits — 
knocking away the line-drive 
attempt that seemed destined for 
the corner of the net.

The Wolverines converted 

each 
attempt, 
winning 
the 

penalty 
shootout, 
4-2, 
and 

sealing 
the 
matchup 
with 

Minnesota on Friday.

And if that matchup reaches 

penalty kicks, Jackson may just 
decide to dive left more often.

MAX MARCOVITCH

Daily Sports Writer

WISCONSIN
MICHIGAN 

1
1

Michigan falls on road 
against Indiana, Purdue

For the first time this season, 

the Michigan women’s volleyball 
team 
lost 
two 
consecutive 

matches.

The 
Wolverines 
took 
on 

Purdue on Friday and lost in 
four sets, and the following day, 
Michigan fell in the same way 
against Indiana.

Even though the matches 

followed 
similar 
patterns, 

Indiana and Purdue could not 
be more unlike, according to 
Michigan coach Mark Rosen. 
Indiana dominated at the net 
while Rosen praised Purdue for 
using their physicality to throw 
off Michigan’s game plan. 

“We knew that the styles of 

play were going to be totally 
different,” Rosen said. “The way 
Indiana plays and the way Purdue 
plays are 180 degrees different.”

The 
Wolverines 
lost 
the 

first set of both matches, but 
came back strong and won the 
second. The team fell short in 
the fourth set against Purdue the 
following two sets and finished 
the weekend with no victories, 
though not without a fight. 
With a deficit of 12 points, the 
Wolverines had a 5-2 point run 
to make a small comeback, but 
ultimately lost on a service error.

Rosen outlined two game 

plans for the vastly different 
opponents, but at game time, his 
team did not execute.

“I don’t think we did a good 

job of being disciplined to our 
game plan,” Rosen said. “That’s 
certainly something we have to 
be good at if we’re going to be 
successful. Every team we play, 
we go into it with a certain plan.”

The team also lacked its usual 

offensive power. Against Purdue, 
the Wolverines tallied a .117 
attack average, the second-lowest 
of their season. Saturday, the 
attack average was an even lower 

0.93. Sophomore libero Jenna 
Lerg led the defense for the 24th 
game in a row, but Rosen was still 
unhappy with the performance.

“I don’t think we attacked 

very well — we hit under 100 as 
a team,” Rosen said. “I think our 
passing was not great, I think we 
could’ve executed much better 
with the ball control we had.”

Even with such a low hitting 

percentage, the Wolverines put 
up a fight in the fourth set of the 
match on Saturday and kept the 
game close.

After trailing by seven points, 

the team was able to go on a 
10-3 point run led by sophomore 
outside 
hitter 
Carly 
Skjodt 

and senior outside hitter Kelly 
Murphy to tie the score at 12-12. 
Indiana led for the majority of 
the remainder of the match by 
one point with ties at 15-15 and 
16-16. A kill by Skjodt, tied the 
game at 23-23 after another kill 
by Skjodt forced Indiana to call 
a timeout at 21-23. But Michigan 
faltered late, losing the last two 
points to drop the set and match.

“I’m encouraged by the fact 

that we fought hard and that we 
never gave up,” Rosen said. “We 
let things get away from us there 
at the end, both last night and 
tonight, but we have to get much 
better with our execution.”

Though 
the 
Wolverines 

have victories over Rutgers, 
Northwestern, Maryland and 
Kansas State on the road, they 
have losses against Pittsburgh, 
Penn State and now Indiana 
and Purdue.

“We play better at home 

than we do on the road,” Rosen 
said. “But we can’t use that as 
an excuse, we’ve got to find a 
way to play better in different 
environments.”

With a 10-2 home record and 

a second shot, Michigan will 
have another chance to create its 
game plans against Indiana this 
Saturday at Cliff Keen Arena.

SARAH HURST

For the Daily

Wolverines lose to both teams, 3-1; 
fall to 7-5 in Big Ten, 4-4 on the road

Finn, Wolverines earn Big Ten titles

Erin Finn has had no shortage 

of accomplishments during her 
time at Michigan. She’s a six-
time Big Ten champion and 
two-time NCAA runner-up in 
track and field, and her victory 
on Sunday at the Big Ten Cross 
Country 
Championships 
in 

Minneapolis, Minn., marked the 
third individual conference title 
of her career.

This time, though, she finally 

got to share her title with the 
rest of her team.

The senior led the No. 6 

Michigan women’s cross country 
team to its first conference title 
since 2012, crossing the finish 
line at the challenging 6,000-
meter Les Bolstad Golf Course 
in 20:37.30, 25 seconds ahead of 
her closest competitor. With 63 
points, the Wolverines edged 
out No. 9 Penn State, which 
totaled 70 points.

The Wolverines had already 

raced this course this season, 
finishing 
fifth 
in 
tough 

conditions at the Roy Griak 
Invitational 
in 
September. 

While the terrain wasn’t as 
muddy as it was during that 
race, the soft ground and 
challenging hills still presented 
an intimidating obstacle.

“It wasn’t super muddy, but it 

was slick,” said Michigan coach 
Mike McGuire. “People fell in 
the race losing their legs on 
sidehills or if they were coming 
into a turn. By no means was it 
pristine, but everybody had to 
deal with it.”

Even with Finn’s typically 

dominant 
performance, 
the 

Wolverines knew that winning 
a team title would require 
strong performances from every 
runner. They were bolstered 
by redshirt junior Gina Sereno, 
who placed fourth with a time of 
21:07.30 and joined Finn on the 
all-conference first team after 
what McGuire described as her 
best race of the season. 

Also 
contributing 
to 
the 

Wolverines’ team score was 
junior Avery Evenson, a second-
team 
all-conference 
honoree 

with her 14th place finish, 
and redshirt juniors Jaimie 
Phelan and Jamie Morrissey, 
who finished 19th and 25th, 
respectively.

Michigan had finished second 

at the conference championships 
in 2013 and 2015, and third in 
2014. For Finn, after coming 
so close to a team title the last 
three seasons, the feeling upon 
claiming victory this year was 
one of jubilation.

“I’m 
so 

extraordinarily 
proud 
of 
this 

group of girls,” 
Finn 
said. 

“We’ve worked 
so 
hard, 
and 

I’m 
really 

impressed with 
the 
progress 

we’ve made and 
the fact that we 
finally went out and did what we 
said we were going to do.”

The Big Ten Championships 

capped off a month full of 
highlights for Michigan. At 

the Roy Griak Invitational, the 
Wolverines 
finished 
behind 

Portland, Michigan State, Penn 
State and Boise State. They have 
now defeated three of those 
teams in their last two races, 
placing ahead of the Pilots 
at the adidas Pre-Nationals 
and topping the Spartans and 
Nittany Lions on Sunday.

“We knew it was going to be 

a three team battle going in,” 

McGuire 
said. 

“(Michigan State 
and Penn State) 
definitely 
have 

been established 
programs in the 
conference 
for 

the last several 
years, 
and 
we 

knew 
it 
was 

going to require 
our best race up 
to this point in 

the season.”

McGuire stated that he has 

been most impressed with the 
discipline and accountability 
of his runners, as well as their 

ability to stay focused and 
competitive at all times.

“The level of engagement that 

you see in their eyes and body 
language, we saw it with all nine 
(runners),” McGuire said. “We 
don’t have one taking the day off 
and putting it on the other eight.

“They’ve 
been 
that 
way 

throughout 
the 
season 
in 

practice, and it really reached its 
zenith today.”

Soon, the Wolverines will 

have to start preparing for 
 

the 
Great 
Lakes 
Regional 

in Madison, Wisc., on Nov. 
11, and the NCAA National 
Championships in Terre Haute, 
Ind., on Nov. 19. But for now, 
they can revel in a hard-earned 
victory long in the making.

“It’s been so hard to be so 

close the past two times I’ve 
competed,” Finn said. “I know 
everyone has given it their all 
and just to come up a little bit 
short has been really tough.

“I’m just so thankful that we 

were able to put it together this 
year.”

AMANDA ALLEN/Daily

Senior Erin Finn won the Big Ten cross country title again, and this time, she had the team title to match it.

JACOB SHAMES

For the Daily

“I’m just so 
thankful that 
we were able to 
put it together.”

