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