The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Sports
Friday, January 27, 2017 — 7
Louro set to leave Michigan,
sign with New York Red Bulls
After three years and 44
starts between the posts for the
Michigan men’s soccer team,
junior goalkeeper Evan Louro
has signed a contract with the
New York Red Bulls of Major
League Soccer.
The South River, N.J., native
has forgone his fourth year of
eligibility with the Wolverines
and passed up opportunities
to play for European clubs to
return home and play for the
Red Bulls. Prior to coming to
Michigan, Louro spent time in
the Red Bulls’ youth academy.
That experience allowed New
York to offer him a deal — on a
Homegrown Player contract —
without going through the MLS
SuperDraft.
“When I initially came to
Michigan, I knew that this was
what I wanted to do,” Louro
said. “And that whenever we
both decided the time was right
for me to go, (the coaching
staff) would support me in that
decision.”
But that same coaching staff
will
undoubtedly
miss
his
presence in goals.
In his 46 appearances with
the Wolverines, Louro sports
the second-best goals-allowed-
per-game
average
of
any
goalkeeper in program history
(1.16). This season he set a
career-high in saves, with 68,
including a career-high 11 saves
against then-No.1 Maryland.
“I wanted to win a trophy and
all that good stuff,” Louro said.
“But honestly I just want to be
the guy who made the program
better and put the program on
that next step.”
The
departure
leaves
Michigan with an experience
gap at keeper next season, as
the roster is now devoid of a
goalkeeper who has started
a collegiate match. Andrew
Verdi, who redshirted this year,
will likely enter the season as
the presumptive starter. Verdi,
though untested, arrived in Ann
Arbor during the last offseason
as a highly coveted recruit,
having spent time with the U-18
US Men’s National Team and
the Philadelphia Union youth
academy for five seasons.
The coaching
staff and Louro
came
to
a
decision that he
was ready to sign
professionally
around
mid-
October. Louro
and
senior
defender
Lars
Eckenrode
—
who
was
selected in the
fourth round of
the SuperDraft
by Toronto FC
— will likely become the third
and fourth active Wolverines in
MLS.
As for the most lasting
memories he’s made with the
program,
Louro
glowingly
recalls a 3-2 victory over Notre
Dame his freshman year —
“The fans stormed the field,” he
says — and a win over Michigan
State
last
season.
But he says
what
will
be
most
difficult
to leave behind
about Michigan
has
nothing
to
do
with
soccer, nor what
happened
on
the field at U-M
Soccer Stadium.
“I
made
some
of
my
best friends (at
Michigan) that will be my best
friends for the rest of my life,”
Louro said. “Really that’s what
I’ll miss the most.”
SAM MOUSIGIAN/Daily
Senior goalkeeper Evan Louro had spent time in the Red Bulls’ youth academy.
I just want
to be the guy
who made the
program better
Michigan reaping benefits
of its home-court advantage
In the classic movie “The
Wizard of Oz,” Dorothy uttered
her famous line: “There’s no place
like home.”
And
while
the
Michigan
women’s basketball team is from a
different place and time, it would
certainly agree with Dorothy’s
sentiment.
With their 80-54 victory over
Northwestern
on
Wednesday,
the Wolverines (6-2 Big Ten, 17-5
overall) are now a perfect 11-0 at
home in the 2016-17 season and
sport a 19-game winning streak
at Crisler Center. Michigan has
not lost a game in its own arena
since a 93-81 defeat at the hands of
Nebraska on Jan. 24, 2016.
“Our players were confident,”
said Michigan coach Kim Barnes
Arico after the game. “They
showed a level of maturity. They
showed a level of leadership. Our
seniors and juniors have really
taken the younger kids under their
wings.”
Though Michigan’s win over
the Wildcats — who are currently
ranked
44th
in
the
Ratings
Percentage Index
— was one of the
more impressive
ones
the
Wolverines have
pulled
off
this
year, it was not
the only quality
triumph they have
nabbed at home.
Michigan
topped
Minnesota
on
Jan. 15, Indiana
on Jan. 10 and Ohio on Dec.
13. Each of these wins have
contributed to the Wolverines’
quest to earn their first NCAA
Tournament berth in four years.
“We know we have a great
opportunity in front of us,” said
senior guard Siera Thompson. “It’s
very exciting, but you don’t want
to get too far ahead of yourself
because then you
start
dropping
games that you
can win.”
Michigan’s
success
this
season
has
paid
dividends
in
attendance
figures, too, as it
is on pace for a 20
percent increase
over last season.
However,
the
Wolverines’
good
fortunes
at Crisler might leave them
wondering
what
might
have
been, as they faced both No. 3
Maryland and No. 15 Ohio State
on the road. Michigan held leads
in both contests, including late
in the fourth quarter against the
Terrapins, before ultimately losing
96-87 to the Buckeyes and 93-80 to
Maryland.
While the Wolverines won’t
have the opportunity to see if
playing on their home court would
have made a difference against
either squad, they may at least
earn the opportunity to upset one
or both teams in Indianapolis —
on a neutral court. Though Barnes
Arico didn’t want to look that far
ahead, she did admit that she pines
for shots at redemption.
“I’m (thinking) one game at a
time,” Barnes Arico said. “But we
talked about it after we played
Maryland and after we played
Ohio State — how close we are.
We’ve got to get better at some
things, and we know the things
we have to get better at. We have
to take care of our next eight or
nine games and then hopefully
after that point, we’ll have the
opportunity to match up with
those guys on a neutral court.”
Until then, Michigan will strive
to extend its home winning streak
and further prove that there really
is no place like home.
JEREMY MITNICK/Daily
Senior guard Siera Thompson has spent a lot of time winning at Crisler Center.
MAX MARCOVITCH
Daily Sports Writer
You don’t
want to get too
far ahead of
yourself
NATHANIEL CLARK
Daily Sports Writer
Kevin Lohan reflects on multi-sport high school career
Kevin
Lohan
knows
the
benefits of playing multiple
sports in high school. The
senior defenseman played four
years of high school hockey and
lacrosse in Cold Spring Harbor,
N.Y.
Now in his final season with
the Michigan hockey team,
Lohan knows the advantages
that he earned from playing
multiple sports.
“I grew up playing a bunch
of
sports,”
Lohan
said
on
Wednesday. “And then as you
get older, it dwindles down and
it eventually dwindles down to
one sport. I think it’s great to
have that little break from one
sport. It kinda keeps it fresh,
keeps your energy high, keeps
that enthusiasm.
“I love both sports. I love
hockey more, obviously, but,
you know, the people you meet,
the friendships and the things
you learn go a long way in both
sports. I definitely don’t regret
playing lacrosse for as long as I
did.”
Michigan
coach
Red
Berenson often seeks out multi-
sport athletes to play under
him. Students who play soccer
and
lacrosse
often succeed in
hockey as well
because of their
sports’
speed
and
constant
back-and-forth
play.
Though
Berenson never
played lacrosse,
he has seen a
handful of games
and understands
why Lohan had
the talent to have played the
sport competitively in high
school.
“A lot of the hands (skills) are
similar, hand eye coordination,”
Berenson said. “It’s a contact
sport with a lot of running,
conditioning, moving.”
Added Lohan:
“I think the two
sports are fairly
similar in terms
of
competitive
nature
and
the
offense
and
defensive
aspects of the
game.
There’s
a lot of similar
stuff in terms of
movement both
in the defensive
zone
and
offensive zone, that can help.”
While
some
young
high
school
athletes
choose
to
specialize in one sport by the
time they reach high school,
Lohan continued playing both.
He explained that it wasn’t
until his sophomore year that
he began to place
more
emphasis
on hockey Still,
he
continued
to
play
both
sports
for
his
remaining
two
years.
It didn’t cross
his mind until
junior
year,
however,
that
he
believed
he
possessed
the
skills
and potential for a college
hockey career. Even after this
realization
though,
playing
the sport after high school
presented a challenge for Lohan.
“After that year, I decided to
pursue hockey,” Lohan said. “I
had some opportunities with
lacrosse,
but
nothing
with
hockey, but that’s
kinda where my
passion was. I’d
played
hockey,
and
after
the
season I’d take
a
little
break
and
my
break
would be playing
the rest of the
lacrosse season.
Once that was
over, I’d put my
attention toward training for
hockey.”
Perhaps
Berenson
might
have embraced Lohan playing
lacrosse in addition to lining
up on defense. Besides Lohan,
senior forward Max Shuart
played two seasons of lacrosse
and
junior
forward
Cutler
Martin
played
varsity tennis.
“Sports
nowadays
have
become
so
specialized,”
Berenson
said.
“You
have
to
become a one-
sport athlete at a
young age. I like
the fact that you
can play more
than one sport, that you be an
athlete as well as a good hockey
player. We’ve had some players
who were very athletic and were
really good hockey players. and
we’ve had other players who
only played one sport and were
also good hockey players.
“But personally, I like to see
kids that are well-rounded and
playing other sports too.”
As Lohan progressed through
the early parts of his career, he
began to fully comprehend the
skills that lacrosse taught him.
Lohan hasn’t entirely let
go of playing lacrosse, either.
The friendship between the
hockey and the lacrosse team
gives them opportunities to
practice their skills during the
offseason.
“We’re really close with those
guys,” Lohan said. “There has
been a couple times throughout
the year, that, after our season
was done, they had (opened)
Oosterbaan. So a couple of the
guys, we went in with them, and
last year I went with (former
Michigan forward) JT Compher,
and
(Wolverine
midfielder)
Mikie Schlosser on the lacrosse
team took us in there and we
messed around a little bit. It was
definitely fun.”
Though Lohan focuses full-
time on manning Michigan’s
blue line and clearing pucks out
of the Wolverines’ zone, he still
ponders whether he could’ve
played
lacrosse
during hockey’s
offseason in Ann
Arbor.
“It was always
in the back of
my
mind,
the
possibility
of
playing both in
college,” Lohan
said.
“I
had
known
some
people
who
had done that.
Realistically,
that would’ve been my main
goal, but things happen for a
reason, and my heart was with
hockey.”
LIZZY XIONG/Daily
Senior defenseman Kevin Lohan considered playing both lacrosse and hockey at Michigan after seeing the complementary nature of the two sports’ skillsets.
Senior defenseman sees the connections between his past in lacrosse and his present in college hockey
AVI SHOLKOFF
Daily Sports Writer
I love both
sports. I love
hockey more,
obviously
I like the fact
that you can
play more than
one sport
Sports
nowadays have
become so
specialized