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.”