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SportsMonday
Monday, November 13, 2017 — 3B
Wolverines top Northwestern, clinch spot in Final Four
“Magical.”
That was the word Michigan
coach Marcia Pankratz used to
describe junior forward Emma
Way after her hat trick led the
Wolverines to a 3-0 win over
Northwestern in the NCAA
Tournament quarterfinals.
From
the
beginning,
Michigan seemed to have the
Wildcats under its spell.
The
Wolverines
fought
off
Northwestern’s
early
possession lead and took the
ball down the field. Way tipped
in a diagonal pass from fifth-
year
senior forward
Carly
Bennett for her first goal.
“Attacking-wise we could
take
a
couple
more
risks
(after the goal),” said senior
goalkeeper Sam Swenson. “So
it was a nice little cushion.”
One of those risks was in
Michigan’s
passing.
After
having the majority of their
passes blocked by Syracuse’s
defense in the round of 16,
the Wolverines found more
success Sunday through their
triangular passing formation.
Senior back Katie Trombetta
stood directly in front of
Swenson to receive passes
when other players weren’t
open.
“Since we’ve played (the
Wildcats) three times now, we
had an idea of what they do on
their breakout,” Way said. “We
did a very good job of stepping
in front of every ball that was
passed to us.”
Four
minutes
into
the
second half, Way did just that,
positioning herself well for
freshman
midfielder
Kayla
Reed’s pass. She knocked it in
the cage to extend the lead to
2-0.
Way’s
third
goal
was
perhaps the most impressive
of all, as she dove to receive
a pass, then tipped the ball
right through Northwestern
goalkeeper Annie Kalfa’s legs.
“She has magical hands, and
it was evident today,” Pankratz
said. “We needed it.”
But the Wildcats weren’t
letting up easily. They put the
Wolverines’ defense to the test
by drawing three consecutive
penalty corners. After the
first two shots were blocked,
Northwestern
attempted
a
direct shot. Swenson, though,
was there to make the save.
“Our
corner
(defense)
executed
really
well,”
Swenson said. “We’re really
focused because they are very
dangerous on corners.”
The Wildcats’ speed wasn’t
a problem for the Wolverines.
They
knew
Northwestern’s
strategy was to play quickly,
and they were prepared.
A
quick
shot
by
Northwestern
midfielder
Kaitlin Wood looked like a
surefire goal, but Swenson
made it there first, using her
leg to block the shot.
“The final foray at the end,
(the defense) managed it really
well,”
Swenson
said.
“We
weathered the storm.”
One
final
blocked
shot
sealed the win and a spot in the
Final Four against Maryland.
“I’m so excited,” Swenson
said. “I think we can do special
things.”
Maybe
it
was
time
for
Michigan to save Sam Swenson
for once, instead of the other way
around.
As the active NCAA leader in
career save percentage — both
this year and for her career— the
senior goalkeeper has bailed out
the Wolverines time and time
again. Swenson stands on top
of one mountain of success. But
she’s looking at a higher one: an
NCAA Championship.
Before Saturday’s 1-0 overtime
win against Syracuse, Michigan
only had one NCAA Tournament
win during Swenson’s tenure— a
2-1 win over Wake Forest in 2015.
Even that year, Michigan lost its
next game, 1-0 to No. 2 North
Carolina.
“It
means
everything,”
Swenson said. “I mean we had a
close chance a couple years ago,
so to finally do that it feels really
great. We have a really special
team, so it’s really extra nice to
do it with them this year.”
With time expiring in the
first half, Syracuse was in prime
position to score the first goal of a
gritty, defensive game off a corner.
As the Orange lobbed a 45-degree
shot toward the right side of the
goal, Swenson stretched out her
leg and deflected the shot outside
the right post with her shin pad.
Eight
minutes
later,
the
goalkeeper stopped a Syracuse
shot cold in its tracks inches
away from the goal. Regardless,
Swenson deferred praise of the
Wolverines’ defensive prowess
Saturday afternoon to Michigan’s
back line and the rest of her
teammates.
“Our back line is incredible,”
Swenson said. “But really, the
back line starts with the forwards
and the forwards did a great job
of keeping the ball pressed up
high. Especially when there were
corner balls, we almost always
turned it over.”
“We put a lot of pressure on
them if they messed it up because
they put that pressure on our
backfield. And we were there to
pick it up. Katie (Trombetta) did
a great job today, and Maggie
(Bettez) and Halle (O’Neill) also
did.”
Swenson
didn’t
have
to
shoulder the load after that.
Syracuse
didn’t
even
take
another
shot
on
goal
after
45-minute mark, as the back line
of the junior and freshman duo of
Bettez and O’Neill walled off the
Orange’s attackers.
The senior goalkeeper got to
do something that she hadn’t
been able to do before: watch her
offense work. Swenson noted
after the game how happy she
was to see the offense close out
the game after 77 minutes of
strong defense.
“I felt like it was gonna come,”
Swenson said. “I think we were
really patient, we worked it
around the back, and then Meg
(Dowthwaite) obviously tipped
it in. It was a great goal and I felt
like we deserved it, and obviously,
I was really excited, I don’t think
I’ve ever run so fast down the
field. So, yeah, really excited and
proud of them to finish. They
deserved it.”
Swenson, for her defensive
prowess
throughout
her
Wolverine tenure, deserved it
too.
RYAN MCLOUGHLIN/Daily
Junior forward Emma Way scored three goals Sunday afternoon, helping the Wolverines defeat Northwestern and advance to the Final Four of the NCAA Tournament.
RIAN RATNAVALE
For the Daily
ARIA GERSON
Daily Sports Writer
Way’s hat trick leads Michigan past Wildcats
Swenson keeps ‘M’ afloat, gets deserving win
‘M’ tops Liberty behind stout defensive effort
Katelynn Flaherty snaked
around the top of the key,
stopped on a dime and rattled
the shot. Up on the Crisler
Center scoreboard, a graphic
flashed: nine points to go.
Alas, this was not the day
Flaherty would break Diane
Dietz’s
all-time
scoring
record. Those were her last
points of the day. Hold the
countdown, at least for now.
“I forgot about the record,”
joked Michigan coach Kim
Barnes Arico after the game.
“And then when I took her
out of the game, someone
had mentioned to me how
many points away she was.
Obviously we knew coming
into the year Katelynn was
going to set the record. She’s
just such a tremendous player.
But my concern with Katelynn
right now is making sure she’s
rested, making sure she has a
tremendous season, making
sure she stays injury free.”
Still, the No. 24 Michigan
women’s
basketball
team
dominated
Liberty
from
start
to
finish
Sunday,
winning 74-50 and moving
on to the preseason WNIT
semifinals against the winner
of Louisville and Toledo’s
matchup Tuesday.
Flaherty’s pursuit of the
record
will
be
made
the
story of this game, but the
Wolverines’
defense
was
what
won
it
so
easily.
Michigan
—
which
normally plays
a
2-3
zone
— went to a
press
toward
the end of the
first
quarter.
The
results
were
almost
immediate.
Right
at
the
start
of
the
second,
sophomore
forward Kayla Robbins picked
up a deflection, leading to
a
10-second
violation
on
Liberty. Just seconds later,
freshman guard Deja Church
stole
the
ball
away
with
the Lady Flames still in the
backcourt and laid it up. The
rout was on.
“Coach Wes (Brooks), it
was his scout. That was his
gameplan,”
Barnes
Arico
said. “He thought that if we
pressured them and made
them speed up a little bit, it
would play into our hands.
That was his call after the
scout. It was a great call.”
By
halftime,
the
Wolverines
were up by 20.
When the third
quarter
ended,
the
margin
was
27.
When
the
final
horn
sounded,
the
score was 74-50
and the game not
as close as that.
Michigan
forced 17 Liberty
turnovers, most
of
them
with
the press. Other
than freshman forward Hailey
Brown,
every
Wolverine
starter had at least one steal.
Even when the Lady Flames
got it down the court, they
were near-hapless most of the
time. When Liberty managed
to find open shooters, the ball
seemed to hit air more often
than net.
In
addition
to
scoring
20, Flaherty picked up five
assists. For this being just
her second ever start at point
guard, the senior seems to
be an adept learner. She did
everything
from
beating
Liberty’s press by finding
Hallie Thome downcourt for
a layup to snaking in and out
of the paint, opening up junior
guard Nicole Munger for a
3-pointer.
Munger finished with 13
points of her own on 3-for-5
shooting from beyond the arc.
She also had three steals and
thrived in the press, picking
up deflection after deflection
as the game went on. Michigan
finished with 26 points off
turnovers, a good portion of
those thanks to her.
Sophomore guard Akienreh
Johnson also saw her first
extended time on the court
after suffering an ACL injury
last season. She came in at the
start of the second quarter,
however, didn’t get her name
on the statsheet until the end
of the half. Munger nearly
lost the ball after stealing it
away from the Lady Flames.
Johnson, however, took it
right back and ran down the
remainder of the court for an
easy lay-in. Though Johnson
played only a minute in the
Wolverines’ opener, the 15 she
had Sunday were a step-up
from than the feeling-out time
she had previously.
“It was just great to see her
out there,” Barnes Arico said.
“She’s worked incredibly hard
and she’s had some setbacks.
To watch her battle back, and
her perseverance, was just
inspirational to us all.”
In all likelihood, Michigan
will get its first big test of
the year Thursday. Louisville
— their opponents barring a
massive upset — is the ninth-
ranked team in the country,
and Michigan will go on the
road to play them.
However, the Wolverines
have passed their first two
tests, and done so with flying
colors.
ETHAN SEARS
Daily Sports Writer
MAX KUANG/Daily
Senior guard Katelynn Flaherty came nine points shy of becoming Michigan’s all-time leading scorer Sunday afternoon.
He thought that
if we pressured
them and made
them speed up a
little bit, it would
play into our
hands.
MEN’S SOCCER
Wolverines falter in
Big Ten Tournament
One whistle blew, Michigan
forward
Francis
Atuahene
restarted the match after a
fourth Wisconsin goal, and
a second later, three more
sounded, signaling the end of
the top-seeded Wolverines’ Big
Ten Tournament dream run.
Moments earlier, Wisconsin
forward Alex Alfaro had put the
final dagger in a disappointing
afternoon for the Michigan
men’s soccer team, as his goal
with one second remaining put
the Badgers up 4-0.
Michigan’s hopes of a Big
Ten Tournament title took its
largest blow with 15 minutes
remaining. With the Wolverines
dominating
possession
but
trailing 1-0, a bad back pass
from Wisconsin put freshman
forward
Mohammed
Zakyi
through on goal with a chance
to equalize.
A great save from keeper
Philipp Schilling saw the ball
fall to a Wisconsin defender,
who played a long ball over the
top to forward Chris Mueller.
Mueller cut past two Michigan
defenders
and
finished
to
the far post — all but sealing
the Badgers’ victory, merely
seconds after it looked like
their lead was finally going to
fall.
“We thought that was the
equalizer,”
said
Michigan
coach Chaka Daley. “Then off
of that, they came straight back
on top of us and we lost a little
bit of focus and they scored off
that play. … (It) definitely took
the wind out of our sails a little
bit.”
Wisconsin
opened
the
scoring 29 minutes into the
match when a cross fell loose
in the box after a Badger striker
landed on top of freshman
goalkeeper Henry Mashburn.
The
opportunity
didn’t
go
wasted, as the ball was slotted
home with Mashburn still lying
hopelessly on the ground.
Mashburn
found
himself
on the ground again for the
Badgers’ third goal, as he
slipped while taking a free
kick, ultimately allowing Tom
Barlow to finish into an empty
net.
Despite
the
loss,
the
12th-ranked Wolverines have
a favorable chance to make the
NCAA Tournament for the first
time since 2012, especially given
their regular season conference
title. But they still must await
the
selection
committee’s
decision on whether they have
done enough to earn one of 16
first-round byes.
“We
have
some
top
25
results, big wins,” Daley said.
“We’re in a great position to be
in the NCAA Tournament so
whether or not we’re in the first
round or we get a bye, I think
that’s what we were trying to
cement today.”
In order to make its impact
felt
in
the
tournament,
Michigan will have to re-group
from what was its first loss since
Oct. 10 and most lopsided loss
of the season. Daley, though,
isn’t concerned.
“I’m
confident
that
the
guys will regroup from the
(Big Ten Tournament),” Daley
said, “which was a little bit
of a disappointment, and get
our minds right for the NCAA
Tournament,
which
is
the
ultimate prize.”
And
while
Friday
may
have been a let down for the
red-hot Wolverines, Daley is
determined to not let his team
lose the focus that led them
to his most successful regular
season in Ann Arbor.
“I’m positive that the group
will be re-invigorated.” Daley
said. “It’s exhausting to go
through the regular season and
win the title the way we won,
which is something new for
them. … A loss at the end of the
season on a neutral site doesn’t
necessarily
distinguish
our
body of work, which has been
really, really good.”
THEO MACKIE
For the Daily