8 — Tuesday, November 1, 2016
Sports
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
‘M’ slumps to fifth at Big Ten meet
Before the Michigan men’s
cross country team even left
Minnesota
this
weekend,
it
was already planning on how
to outperform itself at its next
event, the Great Lakes Regionals.
At
this
meet,
though,
the Wolverines fell short of
expectations. Hoping to win a
second straight Big Ten title,
Michigan instead fell to fifth place.
“The
season’s
not
over
yet — we’ve got more things
that we can, and plan, on
accomplishing,” said Michigan
coach Kevin Sullivan. “Honestly,
I didn’t have to say a whole lot
(of positive encouragement to
the team after the race). We had
to recognize what happened. We
had to come to the realization
pretty quickly we have more
opportunities to right the ship.
We couldn’t, and can’t, wallow
and feel the self-pity, because we
have to get back to work.”
The team traveled to the
Les Bolstand Golf Course in
Minneapolis for the second
time this year for the Big Ten
Championships. The Wolverines
navigated
an
8,000-meter
course against 11 other Big Ten
programs. Prior to 2015, the last
time Michigan won a conference
championship was in 1998.
The 14th-ranked Wolverines,
however, failed to achieve the
title and instead finished with
123 points, a large margin
behind first-place Wisconsin.
Adding to an already rough
defeat, only one Wolverine
managed to finish in the top-
10 athletes — redshirt junior
Aaron Baumgarten who crossed
the finish line at 24:49.0 for
sixth place, only one second
from breaking into the top-5
runners.
“(Baumgarten)
is
a
great
example of what hard work
and fierce determination to be
an elite athlete can really do,”
Sullivan said. “He goes into
these races with a chip on his
shoulder because he wasn’t a
highly recruited athlete coming
out of high school.
“For a lot of his early part of his
career he’s looked at himself as an
underdog. So he’s always wanted
to prove people wrong, and he
has. But he carries that feeling
with him in every race situation.”
Baumgarten’s race strategy,
much like the team’s, according
to Sullivan, was to go on the
defensive
rather
than
the
offensive.
But
opponents
managed to start out strong and
stay there, and Michigan was
unable to work its way through
the masses of runners like it
typically does.
“Something that we’ve prided
on and learned is that we do
really well with moving up
through the field and beating
guys in the latter half of the
race,” Baumgarten said. “One
thing we saw in this race in the
results is that our places were
stagnant and that we didn’t do
what we usually have. We were
sitting in the same spot instead
of moving up through that.”
Many
factors
could
have
played into the Wolverines’
less-than-stellar
performance.
Sullivan mentioned that the Big
Ten Championships were always
a toss-up between Michigan,
Michigan
State,
Indiana,
Minnesota
and
Wisconsin.
It just so happened that this
weekend the Wolverines wound
up on the bottom of the pile.
Michigan
also
boasted
a
relatively inexperienced roster
for the event. The lineup that
Sullivan brought to the race
consisted of nine athletes with
only
Baumgarten,
redshirt
junior Micah Beller and senior
Connor
Mora
previously
competing for the Big Ten
title. The other six runners
were redshirt freshman Jordy
Hewitt,
redshirt
sophomore
Kyle Kroon, redshirt juniors
Austin Benoit, Billy Bund and
graduate students Connor Herr
and Ned Willig.
Other top-25 performances
included Mora in 19th (25:10.6)
and Bund in 22nd (25.14.5).
Despite everything, including
the initial negative morale, the
team is planning on overcoming
its fall from graces.
“Our team wasn’t pleased, but
it’s not indicative of the talent
on our team,” Baumgarten said.
“I think this team is going to
have an exceptional end to the
season. We’re going to turn
some heads and come back with
some fire in our stomachs at the
nationals course.
“Don’t count us out.”
Late loss comes with
promising look ahead
With hands on their heads and
faces frozen in utter disbelief,
the
Michigan
men’s
soccer
team’s body language told the
whole story.
Its 2-0 lead had slipped away,
as No. 1 Maryland scored three
unanswered goals and handed
the Wolverines a 3-2 loss in
double overtime. Michigan was
on the brink of one of college
soccer’s biggest upsets of 2016,
but had its opportunity firmly
taken away.
The
Wolverines’
state
of
shock is all too familiar. It was
reminiscent of their recent 1-0
defeat to Ohio State in another
double-overtime thriller, and
several other contests in which
they squandered leads.
“I don’t know if anyone in
the country has played more
heartbreaking games than we
have,” said Michigan coach
Chaka Daley.
Though
the
game
meant
virtually nothing for the Big
Ten standings, Michigan (1-6-
1 Big Ten, 3-10-4 overall) can
take away many positives after
its intense battle against the
Terrapins (7-0-1, 15-0-2).
Its
offensive
attack
—
spearheaded
by
sophomore
forward
Francis
Atuahene,
sophomore midfielder Robbie
Mertz and freshman forward
Jack Hallahan — has finally
found sparks. The Wolverines’
major
scoring
drought
has
subsided with seven of their 18
goals scored over the past two
contests. Hallahan and Mertz
both tallied one goal each
against Maryland and Atuahene
added two assists to complement
his team-leading six goals.
Evan Louro put forth a
valiant effort as well. The junior
goaltender logged 11 saves — just
one short of the program record
— while facing 14 shots on goal.
Louro believes the Wolverines
showed a large TV audience
on the Big Ten Network their
tournament potential.
Sunday’s matchup showcased
Michigan’s many pieces slowly
coming together, its ability to
play competitively against the
Maryland
powerhouse
and
a possible spoiler role with
something to prove in next
week’s Big Ten Tournament that
starts Saturday in a play-in game
against Rutgers.
“I think a lot people saw what
we can do against the number one
team in the country,” Louro said.
“And the Big Ten Tournament
is a whole new season. Records
don’t matter at that point, so I
think we gained a little respect
from everybody. Maybe things
didn’t go our way, whether it was
in our control or whether it was
out of our control, but I think we
got a lot of confidence from this
and we can move on.”
Added
redshirt
junior
midfielder
Tyler
Anderson:
“(The game) shows that even
given our record that we can play
with the best. Hopefully right off
the bat, we can get a win against
Rutgers and go back against
Maryland and show them that
we can beat them. I think that’s
going to be best for the team
moving forward.”
Even with players lying on
the turf, heads tucked into
their jerseys, Daley says the
Wolverines should possess a
different mindset coming away
from the heartbreaker.
“To have that type of spirit,
fight and character in the last
game of the season, when it’s not
gone your way, against the best
team in the country, is absolutely
fantastic and absolutely superb,”
Daley said. “I could not ask
anything more from that locker
room. They should not hang
their heads.”
AMANDA ALLEN/Daily
Aaron Baumgarten (right) was Michigan’s only top-10 finisher at the Big Ten Championships, placing sixth in 24:49.0.
Coming off conference title, Wolverines finish below expectations in Minneapolis
SYLVANNA GROSS
Daily Sports Writer
MEN’S SOCCER
BENJAMIN KATZ
For the Daily
Goaltenders can’t save Michigan
It took 22 seconds for Vermont
to score its game-winning goal
against the Michigan hockey team
Friday night. Freshman goaltender
Hayden Lavigne, already used
to early deficits, resorted to his
calming exercises in an effort to
maintain composure.
The
freshman
netminder
remained
relaxed
and
saved
Vermont’s next seven shot attempts
until Catamount forward Matt
Alvaro scored at the 10:22 mark.
The rest of the Michigan hockey
team, though, failed to muster any
offense to support Lavigne’s effort
in the crease — notching just eight
shots on goal in the first, seven
in the second and six in the final
frame. It proved to be the trend of
the weekend, as the Wolverines’
goaltenders notched 71 saves on 77
shots, but still fell 3-0 to Vermont
and 3-2 to Dartmouth.
“We just gotta be able to come
out and play from the get-go,” said
senior defenseman Nolan De Jong
Friday night. “One thing I said after
the game is that we gotta come
in there with a little bit of pride.
You don’t come to Michigan to be
average, and (Friday night) was far
below average for our standards.”
In the second period Friday
night, sophomore forward Brendan
Warren hit the post but it was to no
avail.
Michigan
had five power-
play opportunities,
but
managed
just
five
shots
with
this
one-
man
advantage
and couldn’t find
paydirt
on
any
of them. Though
Lavigne
turned
away 39 of 42
shots he faced, his
offense attempted
just 21 shots on goal.
Saturday night, when facing
Dartmouth, it was more of the
same. The Wolverines’ attack
fared better, scoring two power-
play goals. Winborg scored his
first career goal in the game’s third
minute. Forward Alex Kile tied up
the score in the third, on his second
goal of the season. Yet these bits
of offense were not enough, as
a late opportunity by Big Green
forward Troy Cema broke the
stalemate with 49
seconds left. Once
again,
another
impressive effort
by
a
Michigan
goaltender
went
to
waste.
This
time,
it
was
freshman
Jack
LaFontaine who
stopped 32 shots
on 35 attempts.
After
the
departure of many
players from Michigan top-ranked
scoring offense last season, early
growing pains were to be expected.
Excellent goaltending, though, has
kept the Wolverines in games.
But
Michigan’s
goaltenders
can’t save every shot, and with a
struggling offense, the early goals
have proved costly.
In the two matchups over
the weekend, Michigan allowed
only one power play goal on 21
shot attempts.
The Wolverines’ goaltenders
continue to thrive while their
offense has generated just 18 goals
in seven games. The three players
— Lavigne, LaFontaine and senior
Zach Nagelvoort — rank sixth
nationally in save percentage with
a .934 clip. The offense though,
continues to struggle. It sits
second to last in the nation with a
39.5 percent Corsi average, which
measures the percentage of shots
taken compared to an opponent.
In a season filled with close
calls and heart-breakers, there has
been one constant for Michigan:
the success of its goaltenders. And
this weekend was no different.
Michigan once again fell just
short.
Freshmen Lavigne, LaFontaine each start one game, give
up three goals in defeat during rough East Coast weekend
AVI SHOLKOFF
Daily Sports Writer
RYAN MCLOUGHLIN/Daily
Goaltender Hayden Lavigne’s 39 saves weren’t enough for a win against Vermont.
“We just gotta
be able to come
out and play
from the get-go.”