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Sports
Thursday, October 19, 2017 — 7
MEN’S SOCCER
Zakyi plays the hero
The Michigan soccer team was
sputtering offensively Saturday
against Omaha until freshman
striker Mohammed Zakyi turned
the match on its head.
With the Wolverines down
1-0 in the 60th minute, freshman
midfielder Marc Ybarra launched
a free kick. His in-swinging cross
over the top of the Omaha defense
found Zakyi, who was able to sneak
behind the Maverick back line to
place a diving header to the left of
goalkeeper Joseph Ghitis and knot
the score at one.
“(Zakyi’s) a smashing young
player,”
said
Michigan
coach
Chaka Daley. “We’re excited to see
his growth as a footballer. He’s a
natural center forward, he scores
goals.”
Forty-five minutes later, with
Michigan locked in a tight overtime
battle, Zakyi played the hero again.
Daley drew up the same play,
with a nearly identical result. Ghitis
thwarted Zakyi’s initial header,
but the freshman’s relentlessness
paid off, as he arrived first to the
ensuing scramble and slotted
the ball past the flailing Omaha
defenders to give the Wolverines a
2-1 victory.
“In practice, we work on free
kicks a lot because in college, it’s
really hard to (score from) through
balls,” Zakyi said. “With free
kicks and corner kicks it’s really
important to just put your body on
the line and (the second goal) was
really scrappy, I just put myself on
the line because it’s for the team.”
Michigan’s
scoring
troubles
were on full display in the first
half of Saturday’s match, as it
was unable to find holes in the
Mavericks’ defense, relying on
ambitious long-balls and crosses
to try to equalize after Omaha’s
opening goal.
Success
hasn’t
come
automatically to Zakyi in his first
season in Ann Arbor, either. After
scoring 10 minutes into his college
career in the season opener against
William and Mary, he missed
nearly a month with an injury.
After being eased back into play
following his return, he regained
his starting role five matches ago
against Oakland and hasn’t looked
back, tallying four goals and three
assists since then.
But Saturday was his best
performance yet, signaling the
completion of his transition to the
college game.
“In high school, I (was able
to) carry the ball a lot and dribble
through
players,”
Zakyi
said.
“But in college, everyone is really
physical … so you have to work
extremely hard.”
While the increased physicality
may have affected Zakyi early in the
season, it is clear he has adapted, as
his ability to win an aerial challenge
with the Mavericks’ keeper caused
the ball to fall to him for his match-
winning goal.
The two goals were not his only
contributions, as he repeatedly
challenged the Omaha defense
in his 67 minutes — both with
dangerous balls into the box
and runs behind the Mavericks’
backline. He nearly ended the
match in the first overtime,
narrowly missing with a right-
footed shot from a tight angle after
controlling a long ball and beating
a defender one-on-one to get
through on goal.
“Coming in as a freshman and
playing against bigger guys. … They
think that I’m going to be really
weak and that I won’t be able to
fight hard,” Zakyi said. “My team
captain, (senior center back Billy
Stevens), he’s really inspirational
and he tells us we can do anything.
(He) keeps me going no matter
what so I think Bill has been an
inspiration to me, making me play
very well today.”
Saturday’s performance was
just the most recent chapter in
Zakyi’s young college career. With
his confidence growing, and new
heights seemingly being reached
in every match, Zakyi’s continued
success will be crucial for the
Wolverines going forward.
Michigan pulls out late win over Omaha
As players jostled for position
in the box awaiting the free kick,
Mohammed Zakyi felt his jersey
being tugged by the Omaha
defenders marking him.
Seconds later, it was Zakyi
himself grabbing his jersey and
ripping it off in celebration.
Omaha
goalkeeper
Joseph
Ghitis couldn’t control Tristan
Jacob’s high-arcing set piece, and
the ball fell in front of Zakyi. The
freshman forward outstretched
his foot and knocked the ball
into the net, giving the Michigan
men’s soccer team (4-1-1 Big
Ten, 8-4-2 overall) a 2-1, double-
overtime
victory
over
the
Mavericks.
“I
remember
a
defender
was telling me that I’m trash,
I can’t do anything, I’m just a
freshman,” Zakyi said. “But I
was like, ‘If you keep telling me
(that) stuff, I’m going to do work’
because that keeps me going.”
This trash talk and physical
back-and-forth play exemplified
Saturday’s
contest
from
the
opening kickoff to Zakyi’s game-
winner, which came after 106
minutes of gritty, hard-nosed
competition from both sides.
While it was a non-conference
game, Michigan coach Chaka
Daley stated it didn’t feel that
way.
“That
game
was
as
in-conference,
passionate
fighting as it gets,” Daley said.
“And Omaha made it that way.”
The Wolverines began the
game looking “lively,” according
to Daley. Michigan took five of
the first seven shots, and Omaha’s
only serious threat in the early
going came off a Wolverine
clearance error.
Due to Omaha’s physical style,
however, serious chances from
open play were hard to come
by. And the Mavericks took
advantage — in the 37th minute,
forward Diego Gutierrez finished
off a counterattack by firing a
shot past freshman goalkeeper
Henry Mashburn.
But when the teams went to
the locker room at halftime,
Daley wasn’t worried.
“I thought we were in control
in the first half,” Daley said.
“They scored a goal against the
run of play. But in saying that,
they’re a very tough team to play
against. They were a challenge to
us and we had to fight, scrap and
claw for everything that we were
going to get.”
To
Daley,
the
problem
wasn’t
that
his
team
was
being outhustled. Instead, the
emphasis at halftime centered
on clinical finishing and set
piece execution, two areas where
Omaha was stronger in the first
half.
“We wanted to tidy some
things up and tighten up the
ship,” Daley said. “We could
have done a better job in the final
third of making more dangerous
services.”
Michigan certainly did after
the
break.
Sixteen
minutes
into the second half, freshman
midfielder Marc Ybarra drove a
free kick deep into the six-yard
box. Zakyi flew forward to meet
the ball with his head, tying the
game at one apiece.
But
the
Mavericks
were
undeterred,
threatening
to
break the deadlock on multiple
occasions.
Forward
Fred
Frimpong had a one-on-one
with Mashburn just 10 minutes
after Zakyi’s goal, but Mashburn
made an impressive save with
his legs.
Three
minutes
later,
an
Omaha goal was disallowed due
to an offside call. And in the 87th
minute, Elvir Ibisevic surely
would have scored the game-
winning goal if it weren’t for
junior defender Daniel Mukuna
being in perfect position to clear
it.
The first overtime period,
however, mostly belonged to the
Wolverines, as they fired four
shots to the Mavericks’ one.
Zakyi found himself all alone on
the edge of the box with seconds
to go, but his effort was wide left.
His next attempt, however,
was not.
“From a character standpoint,
I thought it was great for the
group,” Daley said. “We were
exhausted at the end, and they
made us work for it.”
After a tiring stretch of four
games in 12 days, Michigan has
plenty of time to recover before it
travels to Ohio State on Saturday.
But there’s more than a heated
rivalry at stake — a Wolverine
win would clinch a top-four
finish in the Big Ten, and give
them the opportunity to play
at home during the conference
tournament.
“You know how those games
always go between our schools,”
Daley said. “It’s a huge one.”
‘M’ falls in rivalry match with Spartans
The Michigan women’s soccer
team fell, 2-1, to rival Michigan
State in a game defined by
missed scoring chances.
The Wolverines (2-4-3 Big
Ten, 5-5-6 overall) can’t seem to
beat their rivals, falling short to
Michigan State (2-7-0 Big Ten,
6-10-0 overall) after a loss to No.
17 Ohio State last week. Going
into
the
matchup, it
seemed like
Michigan
would have blown out the
Spartans. The game, originally
postponed
for
weather
conditions, was a shock for both
sides.
The Wolverines started off
strong offensively, dominating
possession
of
the
ball
and
notching four shots within the
first four minutes. Junior forward
Reilly Martin was the first to
convert on a pass from freshman
midfielder
Nikki
Hernandez,
soaring past Michigan State
defenders and scoring a 10-yard
goal inside the box just over five
minutes into the game.
“I
think
our
chemistry
together has really developed
over the season,” Martin said.
“It’s
really
great
having
a
freshman who can step up and
just take part in such a big role.”
The Spartans were quick to
tie the game at
though. Roughly
three
minutes
after
Martin’s
goal
midfielder
Lexy
Warner,
tapped
in
a
rebound
inside
the box.
“We
had
a
number
of
situations where
the ball’s falling
and it seems like Michigan State
is a step closer than us,” Martin
said. “The one goal they scored
in the first half, the ball was
knocked in the box, dropped
down and their player put it in.
That was the difference.”
The match remained tied, 1-1,
for the remainder of the half,
as the Wolverines struggled
to convert their shots to goals.
The period ended with the
Wolverines totaling 15 shots
and one save compared to the
Spartans four shots and five
saves.
“Well
you
know,
unfortunately
for us today we
hit a lot of shots
high, a lot of
shots wide. We
just didn’t hit
the target well,”
said
Michigan
coach
Greg
Ryan. “Certainly
not often enough
with
all
the
chances we had.”
At the start of the second half,
Martin continued to implement
the Wolverines’ strategy, which,
according to her was to, “put
high pressure on them for 90
minutes.”
Though she was unsuccessful
in giving Michigan a lead,
Martin’s skill and talent didn’t
go unnoticed.
“Reilly was the best player
for either team today, she
showed for the ball, she got a
ton of balls,” Ryan said. “She
was dangerous every time she
touched the ball, she dribbled by
multiple Michigan State players,
she took a lot
of chances and
scored a goal.
It’s great to see
Reilly rising to
the
occasion,
she’s our most
consistent
scoring threat.”
Eventually,
the
Spartans
found a scoring
threat of their
own. As the rain started to pour
down with just over 58 minutes
remaining, Warner set up the
assist to break the tie. This
allowed for forward Kristelle
Yewah to head the ball into the
goal, making the score 2-1. The
Wolverine
attack
continued
pressuring though, letting eight
more shots fly in the remainder of
the half. Overall, the Wolverines
outshot the Spartans, 32-10, but
lacked accuracy in shots on goal,
often shooting high and wide.
“I think we needed to do a
better job of creating higher
percentage shots, so instead of
shooting
from
outside the box,
working a little
bit
harder
to
create
chances
inside
the
penalty
box,
which are higher
percentage
scoring chances,”
Ryan said. “It’s
something we’re
going to work on
every week and you know your
hope your execution is good.”
Added Martin: “Unfortunately
things didn’t fall our way, I think
we outshot them by a lot on the
attack and the field was not
ideal, but that’s not an excuse we
should have definitely put more
goals away.”
WOMEN’S SWIMMING AND DIVING
Wolverines take third
place at SMU Classic
As junior Siobhán Haughey
touched the wall first in the final
leg of the 800-yard freestyle
relay on Friday night, it was
clear that the defending Big Ten
Champions had picked up right
where they left off.
The relay squad that anchors
the
Michigan
women’s
swimming
and
diving
team
–
senior
Gabby
Deloof
and
juniors
Catie
Deloof, Rose Bi
and Haughey –
won the event by
over five seconds
and notched an
NCAA “A” time
of 7:00.71.
The sixth-ranked Wolverines
did not perform as convincingly
as a whole, but they still showed
their talent in the SMU Classic
on Friday and Saturday. They
finished third with a score of
322 behind perennial swimming
powers No. 10 Louisville and No.
5 USC. No. 21 UCLA, Miami, and
SMU rounded out the field.
Haughey, who represented
Hong Kong at the 2016 Rio
Olympics,
noted
that
there
was “a lot of competition”, as
she squared off multiple times
against
Louisville’s
Mallory
Comerford. Comerford, a sprint
freestyler who won the 200-yard
freestyle at last year’s NCAA
Championship, won five gold
medals at this summer’s World
Swimming Championships in
Budapest, Hungary.
In the 200-yard freestyle,
Haughey put up a fight against
the defending NCAA champion,
touching the wall less than a
second after Comerford. In the
100-yard freestyle, she came up
short against Comerford again
but recorded a school-record
time of 47.22 in the process.
The meet was not a traditional
one — each team was allowed to
bring just eight swimmers and
one diver to the contest. Each
event was comprised of only
one swimmer from each school,
giving the pool a “select” feel not
usually present so early in the
season.
“They were really thinking
about fighting for their team
back home in Ann Arbor,”
said associate head coach Rick
Bishop.
Added
Haughey: “We
were racing for
them. ... They
made a video
to tell us good
luck.”
Bishop
credited “great
leadership”
from
senior
team
captains
Clara Smiddy and Gabby Deloof
in helping to keep the team
focused in such a small group.
“They
lead
from
the
front,”
Bishop
said.
“Their
performances were great.”
Smiddy, in particular, led by
example with her dominance in
the backstroke events, winning
the 100-yard backstroke with a
time of 52.55 and placing second
in the 200-yard backstroke. She
also finished second in the 200-
yard individual medley.
In
addition
to
veteran
leadership, Michigan’s young
talent
shined.
Sophomore
Miranda Tucker led the way in
the breaststroke races, touching
second in the 100-yard event
and third in the 200-yard event.
On the boards, freshmen diver
Nikki Canale finished third in
both the one-meter and three-
meter diving events.
Five months out from the
2018 Big Ten Championships,
the SMU Classic served as an
early test for a Michigan team
that already has its sights set on
a third consecutive Big Ten title.
“This is just a meet in a very
long journey,” Haughey said.
“Our end goal is a Big Ten
Championship.”
The Wolverines were pushed to double overtime before earning a 2-1 win
JACOB SHAMES
Daily Sports Writer
THEO MACKIE
For the Daily
KATELYN MULCAHY/Daily
Michigan coach Chaka Daley gave the Wolverines the halftime talk they needed to turn the match around in their favor.
ROBERT BUECHLER/Daily
Junior forward Reilly Martin opened the scoring five minutes into the game, but Michigan couldn’t maintain that lead.
DELANEY WALKER
For the Daily
MICHIGAN
MICH. STATE
1
2
... we should
have definitely
put more goals
away
Reilly was the
best player for
either team
today
ZACH GAN
Daily Sports Writer
They were
really thinking
about fighting
for their team