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

