2B — January 23, 2017
SportsMonday
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Wolverines split exhibitions to open their season
Senior
goaltender
Robbie
Zenino set up for a shot from a
Marquette attacker, his knees bent
and pole over his right shoulder.
With the ball ripping towards him,
he dipped and extended his arms
toward the bottom left corner of
the goal, catching the attempt in
the safety of his stick.
Zenino isn’t the usual face in
front of the net. Last year, that was
Gerald Logan, who transferred to
Johns Hopkins University during
the offseason. Logan’s move is
one of a series of departures that
shuffled the core of the Michigan
men’s lacrosse team. But on this
particular play, Zenino made the
same save that Logan would have,
as well.
The Wolverines, surrounded
by question marks, began its sixth
season Saturday with exhibitions
against Marquette and Denison at
Oosterbaan Fieldhouse.
In the first matchup, after a
back-and-forth battle saw the
18th-ranked Golden Eagles take
a 15-12 lead with five minutes to
play, sophomore attacker Brent
Noseworthy and senior midfielder
Mikie Schlosser scored a pair of
goals, closing the lead to one with
just over 15 seconds remaining.
But an inconclusive faceoff and
the strong play of Marquette
defenders ran the clock out, and
Michigan failed to complete the
comeback.
“The great thing about getting
to play in an exhibition like this
is we get to use it as a learning
opportunity — it’s not going on
our record,” said Michigan coach
John Paul. “We have some things
we need to do better — we know
that — but we gave ourselves a shot
at the end, and that shows a lot of
grit.”
A
scoring
battle
between
Noseworthy
and
the
Golden
Eagles’ Tanner Thomson proved
to be the highlight of the afternoon
— each scored five times to break
ties at critical points in the game.
The Wolverines got off to a fast
start, scoring five goals early in
the first period. The team limited
Marquette’s opportunities thanks
to physical defending, including
a resounding hit by redshirt
sophomore goaltender Tommy
Heidt in front of his own net.
But the Golden Eagles would
get their revenge on the starting
goalie later in the frame, knocking
him off his feet and outside the
vicinity of his crease, leading to
retaliation from defenders and
a Michigan penalty. Though no
conversion came on the man-
advantage, the hit on Heidt proved
to shift momentum in the game, as
a 4-0 run ensued.
“Managing (runs) for your team
is just about making the next play,”
Paul said. “Managing the other
team’s runs is something we’ve
been more concerned about the
last couple of years. We haven’t
been great at that.”
In the Wolverines’ second
game, many reserves saw action
in a low-scoring, shortened affair.
Only three periods were played
in a game that ended in a 7-6
Michigan victory.
Freshman
goaltender
Matt
Trowbridge
was
especially
impressive early, making two
remarkable saves, including one
off a tough bouncing attempt and
another off a point-blank effort
from the left side of the crease.
Heidt, Trowbridge and Zenino
have
battled
throughout
the
fall and winter for the role that
Logan occupied for the past three
seasons.
“I think it’s going to be a
week-to-week thing this year, to
be honest with you,” Paul said.
“I’d love to just be able to make a
decision, but all three are playing
at a pretty high level in practice.
Nobody’s separated themselves, so
that’s what we’re waiting to see.”
Heidt surrendered 11 goals in
three periods of action, while
Zenino gave up four in the final
15 minutes against Marquette.
In the Wolverines’ second game,
Trowbridge allowed just two
scores in two frames.
“I would have love to see (Heidt)
play a little better for the first
three, he’s been playing great in
practice,” Paul said. “I thought
he was dipping his stick a little bit
and giving up some stuff up high.
I thought (Zenino) came in the
fourth quarter and did a pretty nice
job. He made a couple key saves
to give us an opportunity to come
back there. We still have a battle.”
Michigan will also miss the
contributions of the program’s all-
time leading scorer, Kyle Jackson
— the seventh overall selection
in the 2016 NLL Draft. But the
Wolverines welcomed back senior
attacker Ian King, who sits 20
goals away from Jackson’s record
despite struggling with injuries
over the past two seasons. King got
off to a strong start, notching two
goals in the second half against
Marquette.
“If I break (the record), it would
be an honor, but I’m more focused
on the team winning,” King said.
“I’d love to see wins come. If the
points come with it, then I’ll be
happy, too.”
Despite the team’s inexperience
following
the
graduations
of
the Wolverines’ first recruiting
class, King, Zenino and the rest
of Michigan’s second recruiting
class gives Paul confidence in the
program’s future.
“They’re really focused on
turning this program into an elite,
Division I culture — that’s been
their mission all year,” Paul said.
“They want to leave this team
competitive in the Big Ten and
in a place where the next group
of leaders stepping in has a much
easier job in front of them — a team
primed to do the things that need
to be done to compete at a high
level.”
AARON BAKER/Daily
Freshman goaltender Matt Trowbridge is part of a Wolverine trio that will compete for time in net this season.
MARK CALCAGNO
Daily Sports Writer
It’s personal for Zak Irvin
F
or as long as he has been
one of the leaders and de
facto spokesmen for the
Michigan men’s basketball team,
Zak Irvin
has never
hesitated
to use any
emotion as
motivation.
Two
years ago,
when Irvin
stepped
into his role
as a go-to
player for the Wolverines, the
Fishers, Ind., native admitted after
scoring 23 points in Bloomington:
“Going into this game, this was a
personal one for me.”
Last February, after Michigan
State and Indiana dealt Michigan
consecutive, embarrassing
blowouts at Crisler Center, Irvin
minced no words: “You’ve got
them laughing at us on our home
court,” he said. “In these past two
games, teams have just punked us,
and we can’t let that happen.”
And then, after the Wolverines
trounced Southern Methodist
to win the 2K Sports Classic
and avenged ugly defeats to the
Mustangs in the previous two
years, Irvin vowed: “The last loss
we had to them, we basically got
punked throughout the whole
game, and we knew we weren’t
going to let that happen this
game.”
More fodder for another chip
on Irvin’s shoulder came along
last week, and you didn’t have to
look hard to find it. After Illinois
ran up 85 points to drop Michigan
to 1-3 in the Big Ten, Fighting
Illini center Maverick Morgan
slighted the Wolverines, calling
them “more of a white-collar team
traditionally.”
Michigan coach John Beilein
insisted the Wolverines “do not
have a bunch of white-collar
kids.” Junior guard Muhammad-
Ali Abdur-Rahkman added, “I
especially don’t like that.”
But the first player to speak
up, two days after the game, was
Irvin.
“We’ll see them again,” the
senior vowed.
Saturday, Michigan did. And
the Wolverines blitzed Illinois,
winning Saturday at Crisler
Center in a game not nearly
as close as the 66-57 score
indicated. Michigan (3-4 Big
Ten, 13-7 overall) has plenty of
work to do to make the NCAA
Tournament, but for at least one
day, the Wolverines proved their
toughness and their grit.
In large part, that mindset
stems from Irvin. The senior
captain has long established
himself as one of the leaders of
the team, and he plays that role
more emotionally than anything
else. When Michigan goes on a
scoring run, Irvin
is among the most
enthusiastic.
When the
Wolverines get
“punked,” Irvin
is usually the first
to implore them
to do something
about it. In this
case, while most
of the players saw
the “white-collar”
comment in one
way or another, junior forward DJ
Wilson said Irvin showed the most
urgency about it toward the rest of
the team.
“Zak kind of just lets us know
what was said and how we’re
going to go about it the next time,”
Wilson said
Friday. “… Him as
our leader, I think
he’s just kind of
just watching out
for us and trying
to get us ready as
much as we can
and prepare for
them.”
Irvin made
it clear how he
wanted his team
to approach
the rematch against Illinois. In
response to Morgan’s dig after
last week’s game, Irvin had the
idea of wearing road uniforms
at home. The reason was simple:
Morgan called the Wolverines
white-collar, so they wore blue
jerseys — “just to switch it up a
little bit,” Irvin said.
The satisfaction in Irvin’s
voice of having the last laugh was
palpable. Illinois’ first shot was
sweet, Michigan’s answer much
sweeter. Irvin has always talked
about the mental aspect of the
game. He has lost 45 games in his
college career. But the blowouts
and the laughing and the insults,
those seem to sting much more.
As the Wolverines look to climb
out of this hole and inch back into
the NCAA Tournament, they
could use a fiery leader — or two or
three — like Irvin.
“Teammates and coaches told
me they notice that the team feeds
off of me and the intensity that I
bring,” Irvin said. “So I try to bring
that no matter how I’m playing
on the offensive end. I know I can
always bring emotion to the team
and get us going, and I did that
a little bit today. But like I said, I
really feel like DJ set the tone and
carried us today.”
Saturday, with the help of
Irvin, Wilson (19 points, seven
rebounds, five assists) and senior
guard Derrick Walton Jr. (13
points, 11 rebounds), Michigan
did what good teams do. The
Wolverines came out on their
home court with much more
energy and outplayed Illinois
almost wire to wire.
It’s worth noting that Irvin’s
performance Saturday was
statistically the least impressive
of those three. He needed 15 shots
to score 15 points and turned
the ball over four times with no
assists. But as he has proven many
times before, he can influence the
game with his intensity perhaps
more than anything else. He
admitted after the game that this
performance meant a little more
to him.
“When a team’s beat you and
you get another opportunity to
play ’em, you definitely want to
take it personally,” Irvin said.
“You really never want to get
swept with that team in the
regular season.”
Michigan allowed just 24 points
in the first half and led by as many
as 21. The Wolverines “punked”
the Fighting Illini. They might as
well have been laughing on their
own home court.
They still have a long road back
to the NCAA Tournament, but
it continues Thursday night in
primetime against Indiana, Irvin’s
hometown team. That’s a personal
one for him, remember.
Lourim can be reached
at jlourim@umich.edu and
on Twitter @jakelourim.
SPORTSMONDAY COLUMN
EVAN AARON/Daily
Senior wing Zak Irvin has always been an emotional leader for the Wolverines, and they will need that if they hope to return to the NCAA Tournament this year.
I know I can
always bring
emotion to the
team and get us
going
King scores to help ‘M’
beat No. 18 Marquette
The
Michigan
men’s
lacrosse team trailed 11-10 in
its exhibition game Saturday
against No. 18
Marquette. The
Wolverines
desperately
needed a spark
late
in
the
contest.
With
one
flick of senior
attacker
Ian
King’s stick, he
tied the game
at 11. And with
10.3 seconds left in the third
period, he added another goal,
giving Michigan a 12-11 lead
heading into the final quarter.
Being an offensive spark
plug is nothing new for King,
who has tallied 68 goals and 29
assists through his first three
seasons for Michigan. It is
not the most significant thing
expected of him, though.
“If he’s leading and he’s letting
the game come
to him and being
a steadying force
on our offense
and not ‘the guy’
on our offense,
we’re going to
be
in
pretty
good
shape,”
said
Michigan
coach John Paul.
“There’s going to
be times where
we need him to
be ‘the guy’, but that can’t be his
mindset day in, day out. We want
to take that pressure off him and
just have him play lacrosse.”
Kyle Jackson served in that
role for Michigan last season
before being drafted seventh
overall
by
the
Rochester
Knighthawks
in
the
2016
National
Lacrosse
League
Draft. He left the program as
the all-time leading scorer,
with 113 points. While King
claims filling Jackson’s shoes
will be a collective effort, the
reality is that King is the most
notable returner. With another
full
season
ahead of him,
King
needs
just 16 points
to
shatter
Jackson’s
record.
Still,
the Wolverines’
staff is hoping
he assumes a
role as a leader
more
than
a
scorer.
“I think we have a lot of good
freshmen that are coming in
and filling spots,” King said.
“We lost a lot of points with
Kyle Jackson, but if there is any
added responsibility (for me),
I’ll take it, but I don’t think
there is.”
Added Paul: “He’s matured.
He’s become a little more of a
leader this year, which is what
we need from him. You need
your best player
to lead. … He’s
just
worked
really hard to
set
a
better
example.”
Entering his
final
season,
King
can
likely
surpass
Jackson’s
school
record.
But as for his
ultimate
goal,
King said he wants to win
the Big Ten Tournament and
advance to postseason play
for the first time in program
history.
“If I break (the record), it
would be an honor, but I’m more
focused on the team winning.”
King said. “I’d love to see wins
come. If the points come with
it, I’ll be happy too.”
JAKE
LOURIM
EFE EDEVBIE
For the Daily
He needs just 16 points to shatter
Kyle Jackson’s program record
There’s going to
be times where
we need him to
be ‘the guy’
If the points
come with
(winning), I’ll
be happy too
MEN’S LACROSSE