10
Thursday, June 28, 2018
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
SPORTS
Kathryn Peterson is used to
accolades.
The Michigan field hockey
recruit — ranked No. 7 in the
country according to MAX
Field Hockey — has racked
up
an
impressive
resume
before even setting foot on
campus. A key member of
title-contending teams from
high school to club to the
U19 National Team, Peterson
has the potential to become
a difference-maker even as a
freshman.
Her high school — Serra
High School in San Diego,
Calif. — is nearly unstoppable.
Ranked as the No. 8 high school
team in the country and the
best west of Washington, D.
C., Serra went undefeated in
the last two seasons and won
their section championships
all four years of Peterson’s
high school career. Her senior
year, she served as co-captain
and scored 40 goals with 18
assists.
Peterson’s club team, RUSH
Field Hockey, won every game
of the U19 Disney Showcase
2018 and placed fifth last
year at the U19 National Club
Championships. Peterson is
also a member of the USA
Field Hockey U19 National
Team — an elite squad that
gets the opportunity to tour
and compete internationally.
Peterson is a well-rounded,
energetic athlete whose skills
translate well to any team.
“She’s
super
creative,
dynamic, on the ball,” said
RUSH coach Brian Schledorn.
“With ability to distribute
long-range passing.”
Her versatility also enables
teams to use her wherever
she fits best, opening up more
options for coaches. On her
high school team, she played
forward and midfield and
with RUSH, she has played
all
three
non-goalkeeper
positions — forward, midfield
and back.
“Personally, I like her in
the
midfield,”
Schledorn
said.
“(But)
for
the
U19
National Team, she plays the
forward line, and then I think
potentially at Michigan she
might play the defensive line.”
(She is listed as a midfielder
on MGoBlue.com.)
The Wolverines lost several
top players to graduation last
year — including midfielder
and back Katie Trombetta
and forward and midfielder
Esther de Leijer. Like both
players, Peterson is a skilled
and versatile passer, and she
can prove to be a threat on
offense or defense.
Though
comparisons
to
either player at this point
would be unfair — Trombetta
was an All-American and Big
Ten Player of the Year and de
Leijer was named to the All-
Big Ten and All-West Region
Second Teams — Peterson has
the skills of a potential elite
player and as a top-ranked
recruit, she will likely be
given a chance to contribute
right away.
Not only was Peterson a
star on the field, she was
named
to
the
San
Diego
Union-Tribune All-Academic
Team with a 4.64 grade-point
average. Her academic and
athletic achievements make
her a good fit for Michigan.
Many Division I field hockey
programs are at small East
Coast schools, but with her
well-rounded
interests,
Peterson wanted something
more.
“She wanted a big school,”
Schledorn
said.
“A
top-10
contender.”
The Wolverines certainly
check off both those boxes.
Michigan
had
its
most
successful season in several
years
in
2017,
sweeping
the Big Ten regular season
and tournament titles and
making a run all the way to
the Final Four. And while
the Wolverines lost several
important
pieces
from
last season in Trombetta,
de Leijer, goalkeeper Sam
Swenson and forward Carly
Bennett, Peterson has the
capability to become a key
part of a young core striving
to lead Michigan back to the
heights of the sport.
Scouting report: Kathryn Peterson
ARIA GERSON
Daily Sports Writer
FILE PHOTO / DAILY
Michigan recruit Kathryn Peterson is looking to immediately make an impact on the field hockey team in her innaugural season
‘M’ looks to improve on
Big Ten success in 2018
More than 150 years ago, Charles
Dickens unknowingly described the
2017 Michigan men’s soccer team’s
(6-1-1 Big Ten, 12-6-2 Overall) 2017
season in 12 words as well as anyone
today could in a thousand.
For much of last season, it was
the best of times for the Wolverines.
Needing a win against Maryland on
the road, Michigan clinched its first
Big Ten regular-season championship
in program history on an overtime
goal off the golden foot of MLS-bound
forward Francis Atuahene. The
Wolverines rose to as high as No. 10 in
the United Soccer Coaches Poll, tied a
program record with nine home wins
and even held then-No. 1 Indiana to a
1-1 draw, all after going 4-11-4 just a
year prior.
With a first round bye in the NCAA
Championship for the first time since
2012, Michigan had lofty postseason
hopes. Against Colgate in the second
round, Michigan initially looked like
the same strong team, scoring two
goals in the first five minutes. The
good times kept rolling.
By the time the first half was
over though, that 2-0 lead was gone.
And by the time the clock ran out,
Michigan’s tournament hopes were
gone, a resurgent season squandered
3-2 on a 87th-minute header from a
team that finished .500 in the Patriot
League. When it mattered most, it
was the worst of times in Ann Arbor.
The
past
is
not
something
Michigan can completely erase.
However, the Wolverines return all
but two players from last year’s team
and have enough talent to bury last
year’s painful exit under many more
achievements. For all the heartbreak
at the end of the season, not many
predicted Michigan to even come
close to where it did in the first
place. The Daily breaks down how
the Wolverines and Michigan coach
Chaka Daley will look to continue
their success and the obstacles they
may face:
Positional Leaders:
With Atuahene’s departure to
FC Dallas, Daley will lean even
more heavily on junior forward Jack
Hallahan, who led the team in points
(25), goals (nine) and assists (7), and
was named First Team All-Big Ten.
Sophomore Mohammed Zakyi scored
six goals of his own to pace the rest of
the team and should slip right into the
forward spot vacated by Atuahene.
Other than that, the rest of the team
remains largely the same from last
year. Senior Robbie Mertz returns to
the midfield as last season’s co-MVP
with
Hallahan,
accompanied
by fellow senior Ivo Cerda and
sophomore Marc Ybarra, the latter of
whom started all but two games as a
freshman and played a crucial role as
the team’s free-kicker from distance.
Both Zakyi and Ybarra were named
to the Big Ten All-Freshman Team.
On the back end, senior and
Second Team All-Big Ten Marcello
Borges returns as the best defender.
In 15 starts, Borges was the anchor
of a Wolverines defense that allowed
multiple goals in only four games and
ranked fourth in the Big Ten with a
1.138 goals against average.
What is Michigan’s biggest
question going into the season?
The goalie situation.
Then-sophomore
goalkeeper
Andrew Verdi came into the season
as the starter, starting thirteen games
for Michigan and allowing fourteen
goals. After a 3-1 loss to No. 7 Notre
Dame, however, the Wolverines
turned
to
freshman
goalkeeper
Henry Mashburn, who started off
strong with three goals allowed in five
games. Mashburn, though, allowed
four goals in a loss to Wisconsin in the
Big Ten Tournament, and three more
in Michigan’s ultimate match against
Colgate.
Will the Wolverines turn back to
Verdi and put their unfortunate end
to last season in the rear-view mirror?
Or will they build on that late season
success with Mashburn and develop
him as the goalie of the future?
Schedule analysis:
Michigan will play 17 regular
season fixtures, with twelve of
those matches being at U-M Soccer
Stadium. Of their five true road
games, two of those are also in state —
at Oakland and Michigan State for the
Big Bear trophy.
The Wolverines would benefit
from a fast start, however, because the
end of their schedule doesn’t do them
any favors. To end the regular season,
Michigan plays five of their final six
matches against teams that they lost
to last season — vs. Indiana, vs. Notre
Dame, at Wisconsin, at Michigan
State and vs. Maryland. All of those
teams were ranked in the top 10 at
some point of last season.
MEN’S SOCCER
RIAN RATNAVALE
who has this position