The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Sports
Thursday, February 23, 2017 — 7A
Michigan still winless after loss to the Fighting Irish
After five minutes of relentless
attack to begin the game, No.
8
Notre
Dame
scored
two
consecutive goals in the next two
minutes to take an early 2-0 lead.
Senior attacker Tess Korten,
however,
quickly
answered
for
the
Michigan
women’s
lacrosse team. She served as the
playmaker for the Wolverines,
creating more open shots for her
teammates.
Still trailing by one, Michigan
again found help from one of its
seniors, Allie Breitfeller. The
attacker caught a pass from
Korten while cutting right and
took a turnaround shot within
the arc for her first goal of the
season. Her goal tied the game
at 2-2, shifting the momentum in
favor of the Wolverines.
Using the momentum to its
advantage, the Wolverines played
grittier defense, drawing four
fouls and two turnovers within
six minutes. The defense caused
key plays that allowed a free
position attempt for Michigan.
Senior midfielder Anna Schueler
assisted fellow senior attacker
Jess Angerman off the attempt
for the first lead of the game, 3-2.
But
despite
the
play
of
their seniors, Michigan (0-4)
ultimately fell to Notre Dame
(4-1), 12-5, in Michigan Stadium.
The Wolverines’ run came to
a halt as Notre Dame called the
first timeout of the game. Unable
to deal with the adjustments
from the timeout, such as double
teams
on
Korten,
Michigan
entered the second half down
by two after the Fighting Irish
answered with a 3-0 run of their
own.
“There were a couple of
timeout calls from both ways,
and that’s kind of just how
lacrosse goes,” Breitfeller said.
“There’s ebbs and flows, people
will go on runs, and there are big
stops. I think it just comes down
to us when there is a really big
stop on defense. We need to come
back and finish on attack.”
Coming out from halftime,
Schueler scored her first goal
of the game from an assist by
Korten. Cutting the lead down
to one, Michigan switched to a
more aggressive
defense.
Despite
the
Wolverines’
increased focus,
Notre
Dame
outscored
Michigan seven
to two in the
second
half,
with
Schueler
scoring
both
goals
for
the
Wolverines. It marked the third
consecutive game that Schueler
has led the team in scoring.
Michigan’s
second-half
struggles began with foul trouble.
Though they were an issue for
both teams in the first half —
with Notre Dame and Michigan
committing 18 and 14, respectively
— Notre Dame improved while the
Wolverines remained the same,
committing 12 in the second half.
The fouls Michigan gave up
led to five free-position attempts.
Fortunately
for
the
Wolverines,
the
Fighting
Irish
converted
only one of their
five
attempts,
in part due to
the
efforts
of
redshirt freshman
goaltender
Alli
Kothari.
Making
her
second
career
start, Kothari recorded a career-
high nine saves. Despite six of the
nine saves coming in the second
half, Michigan failed to take
advantage of her performance in
the cage.
“For us, this was a great game
and great learning experience
from the sense that we’re really
learning how to play 60 minutes,”
said Michigan coach Jennifer
Ulehla. “We played a great 25.”
“I would say our defense
played an incredible game, our
goaltender
especially
at
the
end came up very big. We had
opportunities to get back in
the game, and we just lost our
composure.”
Despite the 0-4 start to
the season, the team believes
that as the season progresses,
improvements will show.
“Again, I think we really did
grow as a team today and our
attack did really well from how it
has been showing the last couple
weeks,” Breitfeller said. “It’s
good, we’re showing growth.
And like I said, playing these
teams now, further in the season,
you’re going to see us when we
go on those runs. And when we
stop those runs and finish, then
instead of it being 3-2, it’ll be
6-2.”
For the first time in program
history, the Michigan women’s
lacrosse team (0-3) faced off
against Notre Dame (4-1) in
Ann Arbor. And though the
Wolverines have aspirations
of being a top team like the
eighth-ranked Fighting Irish,
the lopsided outcome — a 12-5
Notre Dame win — revealed
Michigan’s most glaring flaw:
inconsistency.
At the 10-minute mark of
the first half, the Wolverines
held a 3-2 lead after scoring
three straight goals.
“We
just
came
out
confidently,” said Michigan
coach Jennifer Ulehla. “We
were taking care of the draw,
which is the most important
thing, and recognizing what
kind of defense they were
playing, and we knew exactly
how to beat it.”
The Wolverines had brief
stints where both the offense
and defense were clicking, but
they could not string together
60 minutes of consistent play.
After scoring three straight
goals against Notre Dame,
Michigan
was
once
again
unable to maintain a high
level of play on both ends of
the field. A big stop on defense
would lead to a turnover
in transition, and a goal on
offense would be countered by
a goal from the Fighting Irish.
“We clearly have to work on
our transition game,” Ulehla
said, “Coming up with great
saves and defensive turnovers
then being able to get the
ball up the field, especially
when we start to get fatigued
— which isn’t an excuse —
so we gotta work on getting
the ball up safely and staying
composed offensively for 60
minutes.”
Its inconsistent play has
haunted
Michigan
multiple
times this season. In their
season opener against Oregon,
the Wolverines scored three
straight goals to pull within
one,
but
were
unable
to
continue this level of play and
eventually fell to the Ducks,
11-8.
Despite
Michigan’s
troubles early this season,
finding consistency is exactly
what a young program like the
Wolverines needs in order to
create a winning culture.
“When
we
have
those
opportunities, we’ll actually
finish
in
the
future,”
said
senior
attacker
Allie
Breitfeller. “I definitely think
there is a lot of hope for
our team, and once we start
clicking all over the field and
executing consistently, that’s
when our team is gonna win.”
Once defensive stops are
converted to goals on the
offensive end and the brief
high level of play Michigan has
flashed early on in the season
becomes
a
normalcy,
the
results may turn in its favor.
ZOEY HOLMSTROM/Daily
Michigan coach Jennifer Ulehla’s team has stumbled out of the gate, but she is still confident that the early struggles will become learning experiences.
JORGE CAZARES
For the Daily
The Wolverines are doomed by penalties, outscored 7-2 in second half in 12-5 loss to Notre Dame on Saturday
TIEN LE
For the Daily
“We had
opportunities
to get back in
the game”
Wolverines to host Nebraska on Senior Night
Four
years
ago,
guards
Siera Thompson and Danielle
Williams were new to the No. 25
Michigan women’s basketball
team.
Now, in their final regular
season game, the two seniors
will be honored
before
the
contest in the
midst
of
the
Wolverines’
best
season
since
they
arrived
in
Ann
Arbor.
Michigan (10-4
Big Ten, 21-7
overall)
will
face off against
Nebraska
(2-12,
6-20)
on
Thursday
night at Crisler
Center, where
the Wolverines
have lost only
once all season to Michigan
State on Feb. 19.
“Our league is incredibly
difficult,” said Michigan coach
Kim Barnes Arico on WTKA.
“And our last two games back
to back, we played Indiana and
Michigan State — who were
preseason picked to finish third
in our league. We knew they
were a great team. Michigan
State had beaten Ohio State
earlier in the season by 20, Ohio
State went and beat Maryland
last night, who only had one
loss to (Connecticut) on the
year.
“So I think we played against
some quality opponents and
it was a great test for us,
preparing us to finish out our
last few games in the regular
season and head on into the Big
Ten Tournament.”
This senior class is special
to Barnes Arico as it is her first
recruiting class to graduate
from Michigan.
Thompson
has
appeared
in 136 games in her career,
starting 128. She is currently
second in program history for
minutes played in her career,
totaling 4,453 — just 105 behind
first place.
Thompson is also currently
second in career 3-pointers
(232), second in assists (515)
and 10th in all-time scoring
(1,386).
Williams, meanwhile, has
played in 112 games, starting
just 43 and averaging 1.5 points
per game in 12.7 minutes. While
the statistics may not show it,
she is considered a backbone
of the program, serving as
co-captain with Thompson for
the past two seasons.
As a team, the Wolverines
reached 10 wins in the Big Ten
for the first time under Barnes
Arico. The school record for
most conference wins is 13,
impossible for Michigan to
surpass as it has just two
more games left in the regular
season.
However,
Michigan
could
still take third place in the Big
Ten Tournament with only one
more win, and has a chance to
finish third or better within the
conference for just the fourth
time ever.
“It’s definitely an advantage
and we haven’t been in that
position, I don’t believe, since
I’ve been here,” Barnes Arico
said on WTKA. “I think the
biggest advantage of it, is that
your kids get an extra day of
rest, which at this point in the
year — we had our bye week
really early in the season —
so there is a bunch of teams
coming off of bye weeks late. …
I think us getting that double
bye would really give our team
an extra day of rest, as well as
the coaches and the team an
extra day to prepare. And we
are at our best when we have
that time to prepare for our
opponent and really lock in and
really focus.”
The Wolverines stayed in the
Associated Press poll this week,
marking their third-straight
week and the fifth appearance
under Barnes Arico. The USA
Today Coaches Poll ranked
Michigan 24th.
Junior
guard
Katelynn
Flaherty has helped her team
get to this point, averaging 19.7
points per game on 44.3 percent
shooting to date. She currently
boasts 1,826 total points to rank
second in all-time scoring at
Michigan, and is just roughly
over 200 away from knocking
Diane Dietz out of first place.
The
Cornhuskers
only have one
player
hitting
double-digits
on average in
forward Jessica
Shepard
with
18.4
points.
Altogether,
Nebraska
averages
62.1
points a game
and allows 75.9 points per
game. Still, Barnes Arico has
stressed that Michigan can’t
take the matchup lightly.
“That’s the thing with the
bottom of our league,” Barnes
Arico said on WTKA. “Those
teams
are
continuing
to
play
extremely
hard, and those
teams have some
great players on
them.
Nebraska
is led by Jess
Shepard, who is
an
All-America
candidate.
And
they’re
still playing. …
Wisconsin and Nebraska had
wins this week. You want to talk
about kind of a letdown — as
well as Indiana played against
us
…
they
looked
nothing
like the team we played, and
Nebraska went and beat them.
“Nebraska is coming off a
great
win
against
Indiana,
and they will be fired up when
they come into our place. And I
think our kids know, by playing
Wisconsin late, that teams in
the league are still fighting
even if they’re down at the
bottom of the league, and we
need to be prepared. … We did
a great job against them the
first time at their place, but
that doesn’t mean that they’re
not a much-improved team and
they will come in fired up for
an opportunity to play a ranked
opponent.”
CLAIRE MEINGAST/Daily
Michigan coach Kim Barnes Arico will see the two members of her first recruiting class play in their final game at Crisler Center on Thursday night.
SYLVANNA GROSS
Daily Sports Editor
Michigan will play its final home game of the season against the Cornhuskers at Crisler Center on Thursday night
Nebraska at
Michigan
Matchup:
Michigan 10-4
Big Ten, 21-7
overall; Illinois
2-12, 6-20
When:
Thursday
7 P.M. ET
Where: Crisler
Center
TV/Radio:
BTN Plus
“Those teams
are continuing to
play extremely
hard”