The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com Sports Wednesday, October 25, 2017 — 7A ‘M’ goaltending competition still open Now, four games and an exhibition into its season, the Michigan hockey team has split goaltending time evenly between sophomores Jack LaFontaine and Hayden Lavigne. Mel Pearson has set the deadline for selecting a starting netminder at the eight-game mark. This deadline will come around in approximately two weeks after the Wolverines open conference play this weekend against Penn State and face Ferris State at home the following weekend. “It’s not unlike quarterbacks here at Michigan,” Pearson said at the onset of the season. “You’ve got three, four, five quarterbacks who are all pretty good, but usually one emerges and then takes the job.” LaFontaine and Lavigne have already put up half of the showings that will dictate who will get to be the primary goaltender for the remainder of the season. With this important cut off looming in the near future, here is a closer look at the efforts of each goaltender so far in the season. Jack LaFontaine: LaFontaine boasts a perfect 2-0-0 record on the ice, an elite .950 save percentage and a minuscule 1.01 goals-against average. The goaltender’s performance has already transcended that of his freshman season where he recorded one win while in net. He has started the Friday nightcap against St. Lawrence and Vermont. LaFontaine picked up his first win of the season against the Saints, which came in the Wolverines’ first game of the season. He registered 24 saves, and allowed only one goal throughout regulation. “LaFontaine was excellent in net (against St. Lawrence),” Pearson said. “You need goaltending, and I thought Jack was a huge difference for us in this game.” In the home- opener against Vermont on Friday night, LaFontaine again put on a stellar performance and recorded his second complete- game win of the season. The sophomore netminder made five saves in each period, and let the puck slide by him only once. Notably, when the Catamounts held a 5-on-3 advantage during the second period, LaFontaine remained unfazed, notching four saves en route to Michigan escaping the dangerous penalty kill unscathed. Hayden Lavigne: Lavigne has gone 1-1-0 over his two outings this season, holding a quality .898 save percentage and a 2.50 goals- against average. In his season debut, the sophomore goaltender had to settle for a 3-0 loss to Clarkson. However, he still put up a solid effort, making 16 saves on the night and was instrumental in the Wolverines’ 5-for-6 mark on penalty kills. Lavigne notched his standout performance in the second game of the Vermont series. Saturday night he earned his first win in the net, and was fundamental to the Wolverines’ clutch weekend sweep. Lavigne registered 28 saves, shutting down many of the Catamounts’ most viable scoring opportunities. “I thought they had a few very good scoring opportunities,” Pearson said. “And (Lavigne) came up big.” After the first weekend of play, LaFontaine may appear to have a slight edge over Lavigne in the battle for the starting position. Yet, subsequent to the Vermont series, each goaltender has displayed at least one standout night and both hold impressive stats this year. These factors ensure that Pearson’s impending decision will be anything but easy. “Two good goalies in both Hayden and Jack,” said sophomore forward Adam Winborg following the Vermont series. “… As long as we do our job in front of them, they’re there, so they’ll always give us a chance to win the games.” RYAN MCLOUGHLIN/Daily Sophomore goaltender Hayden Lavigne has gone 1-1 over two starting outings this year, posting a .898 save percentage. It’s not unlike quarterbacks here at Michigan. FIELD HOCKEY Wolverines close out season with shutout It has been a regular season characterized by near-perfect execution for the No. 4 Michigan field hockey team — a sonorous symphony conducted with perfection by coach Marcia Pankratz and passionately played by a bevy of seniors. Tuesday night, that symphony concluded with a satisfying crescendo. The Wolverines easily dispatched Central Michigan, 4-0, in Mount Pleasant. The victory resulted, in part, from relentless offensive pressure and excellent passing by the Wolverines. “(The offense) does really well with basic skills – fundamentals,” Pankratz said. “Trapping and passing is the cornerstone of the game. We’ve been able to do it well and that’s allowed us to sustain our success.” From the outset of the match, the Wolverines (8-0 Big Ten, 16-2 overall) thoroughly dominated the Chippewas (0-5 Mid-American Conference, 0-16 overall). Michigan kept possession and generated several scoring chances early in the first half, but Central Michigan desperately fended off each of these chances. Then, Michigan junior defender Leah Cardarelli deftly beat goalie Lily Amadio, spinning with Bachian grace and chopping the ball at the seemingly wide-open net. Suddenly, Chippewa defender Ali Huddleson came out of nowhere and stretched her stick out, barely stopping the ball from rolling over the line. Mere inches separated Cardarelli from her second goal of the season. Yet again, Central Michigan had fended off an excellent Wolverine attack. But the Chippewas defense would not hold forever. With about 20 minutes left in the half, sophomore midfielder Meg Dowthwaite received the ball on the right side of the field and fired a cross to the front of the net. Junior forward Emma Way redirected it to junior midfielder Katie Walker, who pounded it into the back of the net to give Michigan a 1-0 lead. A mere 35 seconds later, Dowthwaite pounced on a ball in the middle of the shooting circle and flung it past several Chippewa defenders and a sprawling Amadio with the sheer force of Mozart’s symphony No. 25. The Wolverines suddenly had a 2-0 lead — a lead that they would never look back from. In the second half, senior back Katie Trombetta and graduate forward Carly Bennet each tacked on another goal to Michigan’s lead. Due to suffocating defense, the Wolverines didn’t concede a single shot attempt, let alone a goal, to the Chippewas — the 10th shutout of their 13-game winning streak. “They just communicate really well and organize the defense,” Pankratz said. “Of course, (senior goalkeeper Sam Swenson) does a great job in goal as well. And we’ve got some speed back there on the side back position. Put that all together and that’s a very solid foundation (for our defense).” As the final notes of a truly stellar regular season begin to fade into silence, the Wolverines know that they are capable of ending the postseason with a national title — but Pankratz doesn’t want her team to focus on that. Even-keeled as always, Pankratz said, “the next game is the most important one.” Wolverines aim to put blowout in the past These are uncertain times for the Michigan football team. Saturday night, the now- unranked Wolverines suffered their worst loss since 2015 — another 42-13 blowout at the hands of then- No. 2 Ohio State — and they have faced a storm of backlash as a result. Though they faced a wave of criticism after their first loss to Michigan State, this is the wave that could threaten to bring their sails crashing down. In the high-stakes atmosphere of college football, one loss has the potential to poke holes in a resume. Two losses has the potential to sink a season. But Monday, Michigan argued that its ship is still intact. “With any team and fanbase, there’s going to be negative talk about it. That’s just the way it is,” said fifth-year senior fullback Henry Poggi. “Everyone wants perfection, and when that doesn’t happen, people start falling off the ship. “We know that no one on our team can fall off the ship.” Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh has taken it upon himself to steer the Wolverines in the right direction. After Saturday’s game, he told them about those fans who would hop off the bandwagon and express negative opinions about the state of the team. He didn’t have to tell them. In the often-critical landscape of social media, Twitter and Instagram give those types of fans a platform to voice their complaints either directly or indirectly. College athletes, whose social media presence is typically monitored by the communications departments of their respective programs, have to learn how to deal with the hits without hitting back. Junior wide receiver Grant Perry said he just keeps scrolling to bypass the negativity. Poggi said he just doesn’t follow people who engage in that kind of activity. For a Michigan team dominated by underclassmen, it can be easy for the outside noise to seep through. The Wolverines’ veterans see it as their responsibility to turn down the dial. “It’s a pretty bad loss,” Poggi said. “But the best thing about football during the season is that you have another game coming up to correct your wrongs. … The best way to put something in the young guys is just to lead by example. Show them that we’re still practicing hard. Practice harder to correct what happened.” Added redshirt junior right tackle Juwann Bushell-Beatty: “I think emotions are high. Going forward, I think we’re just going to continue to do what we do and try to improve our game and continue to learn from our mistakes. I think, most importantly, going forward as a team we just need to learn confidence and trust in ourselves.” Michigan doesn’t have to look very far back to find an example of how one loss can turn into a string of them if the Wolverines aren’t careful about how they respond to it. In 2016, Michigan’s first loss, to Iowa in November, was also unexpected. And while the Wolverines were able to respond with a win over Indiana — as they also did this year — they lost the final two games of their season to then-No. 2 Ohio State and then-No. 10 Florida State. Though Michigan’s losses have come much earlier this season, Harbaugh said Monday that the lesson he intends to teach is the same. “The team that goes through this understands — can have a great opportunity of understanding — where there needs to be a response,” he said. “The response that comes as coaches and players (is) gotta keep coaching and players gotta find out what they’re made of from a competitive standpoint. “The going gets tough, the tough get going. It’s a cliché, but clichés are usually clichés because they’re true.” Harbaugh was then asked if he thought the Wolverines had it in them. “I believe we do,” he said. “(I) believe that this team will respond.” ‘M’ finishes fifth in last fall match For a day, the Michigan men’s golf team looked like it could hang with the nation’s cream of the crop. Well actually, a half a day. After the first round, Michigan was just six shots behind No. 8 Baylor — the eventual-champion — with Carlson and Mueller shooting a 67 (-4) and 69 (-2), respectively. From there, the Wolverines didn’t fare as well. In their last match of the fall season, Michigan finished fifth out of 13 schools at the Royal Oaks course, a familiar location for experienced seniors Kyle Mueller and Ian Kim, as well as junior Nick Carlson, and it clearly showed in the tournament. “This tournament was really unusual because all five of the players played in one group together,” said Michigan coach Chris Whitten. “We’ve never done that since I’ve been head coach here. That team dynamic this week of seeing your teammates do well and having the momentum [spread] through the group was a big deal.” Indeed, it was a big deal. No one shot green numbers in the first round, as freshman Charlie Pilon and Kim both produced an even 71 for the first round. Michigan’s top-three standing in the tournament was short-lived, though. On the second round of day one, birdies were hard to come by and more bogeys creeped their way onto the scoreboard. Baylor, No. 15 Kent State and No. 17 Arkansas began to show their true colors as well, with all three schools shooting tremendous second- round scores. “In the second round, it’s not that we did anything a lot worse,” Whitten said. “We just didn’t make as many birdies. Sometimes, that’s just the difference of (getting) a few feet closer on your approach shots and then just getting a couple more putts to go.” Heavy wind — a golfer’s worst enemy — dominated the course on the second day, and it showed especially in round 3 scores. “It was funny because (in) some other tournaments, our worst round a lot of times was our first round,” Whitten said. “Today, I would say the course played totally different. I mean, it was so windy that you almost had to play the wind on a five- foot putt or a four-foot putt.” Contrary from the usual, the Wolverines played the par-3 holes as good as anyone but finished dead last in average scores for par-5 holes. Individually, Michigan’s top tandem of Carlson and Mueller continued their success, finishing third and 12th, respectively. But the Wolverines still couldn’t make up for the loss of freshman Henry Spring, who is currently back in his home country playing for a potential spot in the Masters and the Open Championship. “This is kind of a cool story actually,” Whitten said. “He’s qualified for the Asia Pacific Amateur, which is a really big tournament in New Zealand, his home country. So he’s in New Zealand right now about to play that and the winner of that tournament gets an exemption in the British Open and the Masters.” For the rest of the team, however, there is a long three- month break before their next tournament in February, which kicks off the spring season. During this break, the Wolverines will have five days of strength and conditioning on top of swing practice, continuing their hunt to break into the nation’s top-25 come February. As Whitten said: “We’ll be ready. For sure.” AKUL VIJAYVARGIYA For the Daily MEN’S GOLF ANNA MARCUS Daily Sports Writer DYLAN CHUNG Daily Sports Writer BETELHEM ASHAME Managing Sports Editor AMELIA CACCHIONE/Daily Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh emphasized that a loss to the second-ranked Nittany Lions will allow the Wolverines to learn something about themselves.