The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Sports
Wednesday, September 12, 2018 — 7A
‘M’ shuts out Marquette for fourth straight win
On
Monday
night,
the
scoreboard read 3-0 at the half.
For the coaches and players,
though, the game was still
scoreless. The Michigan men’s
soccer team (4-1) did not want to
not fall victim to the same fate as
the previous game.
The
Wolverines
found
themselves in a familiar situation:
a multi-goal lead going into the
half. Last Friday, Michigan was
up 2-0 against Western Michigan.
In the second half of that game,
the Broncos stormed back to
force overtime in a game that the
Wolverines eventually won.
But in the second half on
Monday night, Michigan played
like a team determined to win
in regulation. Led by a stingy
backline, the Wolverines earned
a shutout over Marquette (2-3) —
the first victory over the Golden
Eagles
in
five
head-to-head
matches all-time — and their
fourth consecutive win of the
season.
The first 10 minutes of the
match featured back-and-forth
play with neither team having a
clear advantage in possession.
Any control Michigan had on the
attack throughout the opening
minutes of the game was featured
almost exclusively on the left side
of the pitch. Sophomore forward
Umar Farouk Osman created a
few early scoring opportunities,
using his pace to create space in
the attacking third but couldn’t
capitalize on the chances.
Sophomore defender Austin
Swiech opened up scoring in the
12th minute. As the ball trickled
out of the 18-yard box in what
became a broken play off of a
corner kick, Swiech fired in a low
shot that found the right corner
of the net past outstretched
goalkeeper Cedrik Stern for his
first career goal.
“It was rolling out to me, how
we do it in training,” Swiech said.
“I just saw it and struck it low and
into traffic and I hoped it went in
or for a deflection to go in.”
After
Swiech’s
goal,
the
Wolverines not only took the lead
but also control of the game.
Just over a minute later,
good ball movement in the
attacking third found open senior
midfielder and captain Robbie
Mertz inside the 18-yard box,
who slotted the ball past the right
side of Stern, to give his team a
2-0 advantage.
Michigan kept the pressure
on the Golden Eagles’ defense,
squandering
Marquette’s
offensive
momentum
and
dominating play particularly on
the right side of the field through
junior forward Jack Hallahan.
The
Wolverines
earned
a
pair of corner kicks in the 27th
minute. After a weak clearance
on the second corner, the ball
found Hallahan on the right side
of the pitch outside the 18-yard
box. Hallahan then curled in a
left-footed shot towards the far
post, just under the crossbar
and over a leaping Stern, giving
Michigan a commanding 3-0 lead
going into the half.
“(Hallahan’s)
scored
some
fabulous goals here at Michigan,”
said
Michigan
coach
Chaka
Daley. “So, it didn’t surprise me
when he put it in. I was like, ‘Man,
he meant to do that.’ Because at
the end of the day, he’s scored
some really nice goals for us and
that was one of them.”
Despite having a halftime
lead, the Wolverines were weary
of the complacency that led to
their defensive collapse in their
previous game.
“(Coach Daley) just said, ‘Don’t
let go. Keep going out there and
pretend like it’s nil-nil. Keep
going at them, you never know
what can happen,’ ” Hallahan
said.
As expected, Marquette came
into the second half aggressive
on offense, desperate to push the
pace and create scoring chances.
Michigan’s defense weathered
the storm, however, halting any
opportunities the Golden Eagles
had.
The
Wolverines
regained
control
of
possession
after
the early offensive blitz from
Marquette who, by the 80th
minute, appeared demoralized by
the 3-0 deficit.
“I think it was a point of riding
the storm at first,” Hallahan said.
“Making sure we didn’t concede,
keep a clean sheet and then
eventually get control of the ball
again. The more possession we
had, the less they could do with
the ball and the less fret against
us.”
At the final whistle, Michigan
reconciled
the
second-half
struggles that plagued the team
in its previous match by playing
dominant on defense for a full
90 minutes to extend their win
streak to four games heading into
Big Ten play.
Balance propels ‘M’
Individual talent alone cannot
win team sports — just ask
LeBron James. It takes teamwork,
dedication and balance. Monday
night, the Michigan men’s soccer
team (4-1) demonstrated it has all
three in spades with a 3-0 shutout of
Marquette (2-3).
On
attack,
the
Wolverines
showed just how balanced their
squad is as three different players
found the back of the net. The
offense employed early aggression
and worked diligently to create
opportunities for all its players.
Kicking things off for Michigan
was sophomore defenseman Austin
Swiech.
In just the thirteenth minute of
the game, the Wolverines’ offensive
pressure paid off. After a cross from
sophomore forward Umar Farouk
Osman was headed outside of the
box, Swiech picked up the rebound
in stride and sent a rocket screaming
towards the net. The ball tipped off
a Golden Eagle defender and snuck
inside the left post, and just like that,
Swiech had his first career goal.
On the other side of the field,
Swiech consistently made key
defensive stops, serving as the
anchor of the defensive line.
Swiech’s quality of play speaks
volumes to the depth and team
chemistry of this Michigan squad.
Swiech wasn’t originally intended
to start for the Wolverines this
year, but instead was thrust into a
starting role in light of an injury to
senior defenseman Peter Brown.
Since assuming the position, Swiech
has exceeded expectations, much to
the delight of his teammates and
coaches.
“Swiech’s been brilliant,” said
junior forward Jack Hallahan. “I
think he didn’t get many minutes
last year. I think he made a few
appearances, but it’s brilliant to see
him step up. He got his first goal,
really happy for him tonight, and I
think he deserves it. About time he
got one.”
Added Michigan coach Chaka
Daley: “Austin’s played himself
into a position where he’s been
consistent, passes the ball well,
scored a goal tonight, which helps.
He’s got good service, has defended
well one v. one and he’s learning on
the job. He’s being deputized as the
games go on, but it’s a tough one as
he replaces someone who is injured,
but he’s given himself a fair shot to
be included.”
Beyond the efforts of Swiech, the
Wolverines have found meaningful
contributions up and down their
roster against nearly all competition
so far this season. With his team
scoring multiple goals in all of its
wins, Daley finds unselfish play and
offensive prowess coming easily to
his players. But more importantly,
his players have bought into the
idea.
“Unselfish, unselfish, unselfish,
and our guys have bought into it,”
Daley said. “They don’t have to be.
You gotta remember that. They
can be a different way, but they’ve
been very unselfish, and I think the
proof’s in the pudding. They’ve all
created chances for themselves and
for others, and the goals have flowed
because of that.”
That kind of altruism and group
cohesion does not come easily or
quickly. It takes time and effort as
teams build a rapport and fall into
a rhythm. By playing together last
year and finding early success this
season, Michigan is right where it
wants to be.
To gauge this cohesion, Daley
checks the tape. But not the footage
of seamless passing or highlight reel
assists — Daley watches his players’
celebrations.
“I go back, it’s kinda a weird
thing, I go back and I look at the
celebrations a little bit to see who’s
with who and how we’re acting and
reacting,” Daley said. “Very team-
centric, making sure we’re about
the team, the team, the team. And
I’m looking at all the celebrations
online or on video where I watch
it and making sure guys are very
intermingled.”
Nothing brings people together
like winning, and right now, due
to their cohesion and balance, the
Wolverines are doing a lot of it.
Notebook: Bushell-Beatty fights against criticisms, Thomas on offense
Fifth-year
senior
tackle
Juwann Bushell-Beatty doesn’t
seek it out, but it’s impossible
to ignore. He scrolls through
social media and sees and
hears the harsh criticism his
unit faces. It reached a fever
pitch after the 24-17 loss to
Notre Dame on
Sep. 1, and has
since
quieted
a tad, after the
Wolverines
rushed
for
over 300 yards
against Western
Michigan
this
past weekend.
Bushell-
Beatty
says
that’s
how
it
goes — lose one
week and fans want your head,
win the next and the uproar
fades. He thinks it stems
from the public’s inability to
understand the fundamentals
of offensive line play. He,
like
Michigan
coach
Jim
Harbaugh, thinks the criticism
of the offensive line has been
misguided.
“The public doesn’t really
understand the inner-workings
of how things go on in here,”
Bushell-Beatty said Tuesday
afternoon. “I think there were
mistakes, and when there’s
mistakes — and there’s always,
everyone
wants
to
point
fingers and there are things
that happened. It’s football. I
understand, regardless of what
happens, O-Line is going to
take blame for whatever. I’ve
accepted that. Whether it’s
true or not, is not up to me.
“Some of it is (unwarranted),
but that’s life. People are going
to criticize you for everything
you do. The sooner you learn to
accept that the better.”
He
added
that
it’s
a
galvanizing force for a group
that isn’t willing to apologize
for weaknesses it feels doesn’t
exist.
Redshirt
sophomore
center
Stephen
Spinellis
affirmed
this
sentiment
Monday afternoon.
When Bushell-Beatty talks,
he sounds like a calloused
veteran who’s been on the
receiving end of insults his
entire
career.
He
speaks
candidly, but maturely, about
how he feels, not in a combative
way, but in a stern assertion of
how he feels.
He hasn’t always been able to
handle criticism as assuredly.
“It’s not something that’s
easy
to
have
people pointing
fingers at you,”
he
said.
“It’s
something that
takes
time.
I
understand
my role on this
team and as a
football player,
there are things
that
happen,
things are going
to
go
wrong,
people are going to say, ‘You
suck.’ But, I mean, at the end
of the day, they can’t do what
they do, that’s why they watch
us on TV.”
Ambry
Thomas
getting
chance on offense
Whether in seven-year-old
Pee Wee football or on the road
at Notre Dame, the recipe for
sophomore Ambry Thomas has
long been the same: Just run.
“I was literally seven years
old,” Thomas said. “Every time
I touched it, I just ran and
scored. They just tell me ‘Run!’
That’s all I did. I just ran. Like
Forest Gump, run.”
When you have the speed
Thomas does, that works out
more often than it doesn’t.
When Thomas watches film,
his speed even stands out to
him.
“I didn’t know I was that
fast,” Thomas said. “I knew I
was fast, but that fast, no.”
The Monday after the loss to
Notre Dame, Michigan coach
Jim Harbaugh informed the
team Thomas wouldn’t just be
using his speed at cornerback
and on special teams; he’d
work in with the offense as
well. It’s a chance Thomas had
awaited with baited breath.
He got one carry on Saturday
against
Western
Michigan,
gaining
five
yards.
He
estimates he’s been working
on offense for a play or two
in each practice — hardly a
challenging endeavor for the
sophomore.
But an enticing opportunity
for him and for an offense in
dire need of explosive plays,
nonetheless.
Last
season,
Michigan
ranked
58th
in
IsoPPP,
a
statistic
that
meaures
explosive
offensive
plays.
Thomas is a walking explosive
play. He was in Pee Wee. He
was in high school. He can be
in college, too.
“High school, it was like
the same thing. That’s when I
really got at corner,” Thomas
said. “They saw what I could
do at corner, they liked my
speed there. They said ‘Aw,
yeah, this guy could possible
be a two-way player at the next
level.’
“I just like knowing that
you have the opportunity to
change the game, if you get the
ball in your hands. That’s real
exciting to me.”
McCurry’s first touchdown
Redshirt
freshman
wide
receiver
Jake
McCurry didn’t
keep the ball.
It didn’t occur
to him that his
first touchdown
in the Big House
— and the first
catch
of
his
career — might
carry
some
sentimentality
down the road.
“That didn’t go through my
head at all,” McCurry said
Tuesday afternoon.
With just under nine minutes
left in Saturday’s blowout over
Western Michigan, McCurry
lined up in the slot to redshirt
freshman quarterback Dylan
McCaffery’s right. McCaffery
took the snap, faked a handoff
and rolled to McCurry’s side.
“I’m not really sure what
I am in the progression. I
was one of the main routes,”
McCurry said. “I
just
remember
looking at the
leverage
the
DB
had
—
it
was
a
quick
play. We got up
right there and
ran it. It was a
quick play, and I
remember I had
to get outside
and try to stack
him a little bit. That’s really all
I thought when I was running
the route.”
McCaffery
delivered
the
strike to McCurry on the
sideline, who then juked a
lunging defender and dove into
the endzone.
It was McCaffery’s first
passing
touchdown
of
his
career, to boot.
“Initially, I just wanted to
see Dylan, because I’m pretty
close with Dylan — it was a
special moment that he threw
me the ball. I was just excited,
that’s the only way to describe
it.”
McCurry heard from all
walks of life — his phone
blowing up with tweets, texts,
all forms of congratulatory
messages.
“It was definitely a special
moment,” McCurry said. “It
was specifically special with
Dylan and other guys that were
on the field that are my best
friends, like Joel Hornigford,
Oliver Martin, I think Andrew
Steuber might have been out
there, Tru (Wilson). Those are
the guys I’ve really hung out
with a lot, and are really close
to.”
ALEXIS RANKIN/Daily
Fifth-year senior tackle Juwann Bushell-Beatty was part of an offensive line that rushed for over 300 yards in Michigan’s 49-3 win over Western Michigan Saturday.
JORGE CAZARES
Daily Sports Writer
JACOB KOPNICK
Daily Sports Writer
MEN’S SOCCER
MAX MARCOVITCH
Daily Sports Editor
CARTER FOX/Daily
Junior forward Jack Hallahan scored one of three goals in Michigan’s shutout of Marquette on Monday night.
“I was just
excited, that’s
the only way to
describe it.”
“Everytime I
touched it, I
just ran and
scored.”