Sports
WOMEN’S SOCCER
FIELD HOCKEY
Wolverines fall short at
Notre Dame Invitational
Dowthwaite falls just short
of giving Wolverines victory
After a 1-1 tie against Santa Clara
(2-3-1) Friday, the No. 23 Michigan
women’s soccer team was slated
to face No. 11 South Carolina as its
last opportunity to come out of the
Notre Dame Invitational with a win.
And for a brief moment, it looked
like a possibility.
Just eight minutes into the game,
junior forward Reilly Martin sent a
free kick towards the Gamecocks’
goalkeeper,
who
managed
to
punch it away without an issue. But
sophomore defender Jada Dayne
was there to head the ball to the back
of the net, giving the Wolverines an
early 1-0 lead.
Michigan was eager to walk
away with a win, but two second-
half goals from South Carolina (5-1)
meant the Wolverines would leave
the Notre Dame Invitational with a
tie and a loss.
Trouble arose when Michigan
(3-1-2) allowed two goals within a
matter of minutes. The Wolverines
maintained their one-goal lead
through the first half, but in the 54th
minute South Carolina’s midfielder
Bianca
Galassini
collected
a
deflection in the box and slotted
it in. Michigan struggled to keep
its composure, and Galassini took
advantage of a poor clearance and
chipped it into the top right corner
for her second goal of the day.
From
there
on
out,
the
Gamecocks controlled the game.
South
Carolina
dominated
possession in its half of the field
until the final whistle blew. The
Wolverines didn’t even get their
first shot of the second half until the
75th minute, when redshirt junior
forward Taylor Timko ripped a shot
to the far-right post that sailed wide.
A quiet outing from junior
midfielder Abby Kastroll surely
impacted the Wolverines’ chances
against the Gamecocks. Kastroll
registered only one shot Sunday,
where Friday she managed six shots
and had the game-tying goal. She
pressured Santa Clara’s backline,
which
allowed
for
freshman
midfielder Sarah Stratigakis to send
a through ball for Kastroll to tap in.
Michigan coach Greg Ryan
doesn’t
consider
the
weekend
unsuccessful, though. With only
one game left before conference
play starts, Ryan knows the strong
competition will prepare his team
for what’s to come.
“We have a lot of younger players
and this kind of experience is huge,”
Ryan said. “We had the opportunity
to play two teams that were in
the Elite 8 last year of the NCAA
Tournament, so I think this will
help us face the top teams in the Big
Ten.”
Still relatively early in the season,
Ryan’s top priority is giving players
as much playing time as possible.
Two goalkeepers saw action this
weekend, with senior Sarah Jackson
starting
Friday
and
freshman
Hillary Beall starting Sunday. The
two combined for nine saves on the
weekend.
While Ryan was pleased with
his team’s performance, there
is still plenty of work to be done
before the Big Ten season begins.
Michigan started five freshmen in
both games over the weekend, and
its inexperience was evident. The
defense was especially suspect as
the Gamecocks’ two goals came off
defensive errors.
With the goalkeeper position
up in the air and new faces in the
backline, the Wolverines now
look to create a rhythm with their
defense and hope the experience
from beginning of the season was
enough to garner a successful run in
conference play.
The No. 11 Michigan field
hockey team experienced its first
snag of the year, losing 2-1 to No.
4 Connecticut on Sunday in Ann
Arbor after opening the season
with three consecutive wins over
ranked opponents.
The contest was locked in an
offensive stalemate for much of the
game, with both teams remaining
scoreless well into the second half.
“I think (Connecticut) had a
really good one-on-one defense.
They were very stingy coming
into the circle, which gave us some
trouble,” said Michigan coach
Marcia Pankratz. “I think we
tended to not have very good vision
and had our heads down instead
of transferring the ball around
and penetrate another side of the
circle. Those two things together
probably didn’t make for a great
day for us.”
The tie was broken by Huskie
defender Casey Umstead on a
corner shot with 15:08 remaining in
the matchup. Umstead would tack
on another goal on a penalty stroke
less than four minutes later, giving
Connecticut a 2-0 advantage.
The barrage of goals by the
Huskies ultimately became the
deciding factor in the game. With 11
penalty corners to the Wolverines’
two, Connecticut was able to swing
the balance with its ample amount
of goal-scoring opportunities.
“If you give them that many
corners, they’re going to execute
one or two here, eventually. And
they did,” Pankratz said. “We need
to have more opportunities on our
end so we can even up the score,
and weren’t able to do that.”
Despite the sudden flurry of
Huskie goals, Michigan was able
to tighten the margin with a corner
goal from sophomore forward Meg
Dowthwaite with 3:26 remaining.
The goal was Dowthwaite’s fifth in
four games.
After finally getting on the
scoreboard, the Wolverines kept
high pressure into the waning
seconds of the game. In the final
minute of the game, the team
had
one
last
penalty-corner
opportunity. But Michigan wasn’t
able to convert, and Connecticut
was able to run the clock out to
preserve the victory.
“You pick up energy when you
get a corner; we hadn’t had a corner
all game,” Dowthwaite said. “You
get a goal and it lifts the mood
again and you get more energy and
more confidence. So we really tried
to go really hard in that last five
minutes. (We) got a corner at the
end but we just couldn’t finish it,
unfortunately.”
Signs of fatigue were apparent
given a short turnaround from
last Friday’s contest against No.
25 Liberty. The Huskies had a
full week of rest before Sunday’s
matchup.
Even
with
the
loss,
the
Wolverines
look
to
have
a
promising season ahead of them,
with
a
resume
that
already
includes a win over then-No. 1
North Carolina. The team will look
to bounce back this Friday against
William & Mary.
“The last four minutes (against
Connecticut) was the team that
was here on Friday and last
weekend,” Pankratz said. “It took
us 66 minutes to get there, so that
was unfortunate. We’ll just have
to try to work on that and fix it for
the next weekend. It’s a long season
and that’s why we play the games —
to get better every game so we’re at
our best at the end of the season.”
PAIGE VOEFFRAY
Daily Sports Writer
EFE EDEVBIE
Daily Sports Writer
AMELIA CACCHIONE/Daily
Sophomore forward Meg Dowthwaite’s goal wasn’t enough for Michigan.
10A — Tuesday, September 5, 2017
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
ZOEY HOLMSTROM/Daily
Sophomore defender Jada Dayne scored in a loss against South Carolina.