The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
SportsWednesday
Wednesday, October 17, 2018 — 3B
Michigan looking to right the ship defensively
Go back one year, and much
is the same now for the No.
11 Michigan hockey team —
especially on defense.
Last season, the Wolverines
took time to adjust to Michigan
coach Mel Pearson’s system,
only reaching peak defensive
form in a post-New Year’s day
stretch that saw them allow
2.72 goals per game. Before that
though, the Wolverines were
plagued by lackadaisical play
off the puck and turnovers deep
in either zone.
Through one game against
Vermont and two exhibition
games, this season’s initial
impressions are much of the
same — Michigan has given up
at least four goals in each game,
and has allowed scores on five
of 10 opposing power plays. Be
it the blue line playing too far
up on offense or committing
too many turnovers, opposing
teams have been able to break
away and score, seemingly just
like last year.
“Our play without the puck
(needs to improve),” Pearson
said. “Not as much in zone
but our transition game when
we’re getting back into our
zone, who we’re picking up
our goaltending, we have to get
better there.
“... Definitely a defensive
game. I think if you look at all
the aspects you can’t expect
to give up as many goals as we
have in these games and expect
to win. So one area that we’re
going to spend a lot of time this
week is working on our play
without the puck.”
Unlike last year, though,
Michigan
can’t
rely
on
unfamiliarity as much of an
excuse. Whether it’s the blue-
line pairings of sophomore
Quinn
Hughes
and
senior
Joseph Cecconi, or senior Nick
Boka and junior Griffin Luce,
the Wolverines return not only
experience but also resilience
from last year’s defense.
That’s not to say, though, that
the start of this season is all
the back line’s fault. In college
hockey, the unexpected is the
expected,
and
that’s especially
true
when
many
teams
haven’t formally
stepped on the
ice for a game
in six or seven
months. Having
to
integrate
a
completely
new front line
rotation
is
no
simple
task,
either. Neither is manufacturing
teamwide chemistry.
“We’re still fluid,” Pearson
said. “We’re still trying to
work on it, get some chemistry
together. You can see it when
(sophomore
forward
Jack)
Becker and the two Pastujovs are
together, they’re really good. (I
think sophomore forward Josh
Norris) and (junior forward
Will) Lockwood have some
chemistry.
Other than that,
we’ve
gotta
find some more
chemistry, and
you can’t force
that, that’s the
hard part. It’s
gotta occur ...
we
have
too
many
good
players.”
Just like last
year, Michigan
has a chance to turn around its
defense, but can learn from last
year and fix things up a little
earlier. Almost all the pieces
are there. Junior goalkeeper
Hayden Lavigne hasn’t started
strongly, but he too has a
second chance at redemption.
Even
freshman
goalkeeper
Strauss Mann showed flashes
by allowing just one goal in his
first 40 minutes of action on the
ice.
“You know, Hayden’s a good
goaltender, he’s just fighting it
a little bit right now, Pearson
said.“Maybe
the
exhibition
game he didn’t prepare for or
whatnot, but he’ll bounce back.
And you have to. We got off
to a slow start last year, and it
(ended) really good,”
Time
will
tell
if
the
Wolverines can duplicate the
same successful run that they
conjured up last year. While
the first three games on Yost’s
ice have been a mixed bag, to
say the least, Michigan may
well find a groove. Whether it’s
enough or not is all in the hands
of the men on the defensive end
of the ice.
ALEC COHEN/Daily
Senior defenseman Nick Boka is part of an experienced defensive group returning this season for the Wolverines.
RIAN RATNAVALE
Daily Sports Writer
“We’re still trying
to work on it, get
some chemistry
together.”
Handball sparks ‘M’
for big win over Titans
Even before kickoff, the
Michigan men’s soccer team
looked bigger and faster than
Detroit Mercy. The physical
supremacy carried over into the
match, where the Wolverines
controlled the Titans for much
of the 90 minutes, winning,
5-0.
With the game tied at zero,
Michigan (9-2-1 overall, 3-1-1
Big Ten) was firmly in control,
as it dominated possession with
precision passing, while Detroit
Mercy
(1-11-2
overall,
0-5-1
Horizon)
had
trouble linking
up more than
three passes at
a time. Then the
Wolverines took
the lead in the
38th minute, as
senior defender
Marcello Borges
drew a penalty
after his cross into the box was
blocked by a Titan defender’s
arm.
To break the tie, sophomore
midfielder Marc Ybarra lined
up the ensuing penalty, as light
rain came down on the players.
With calm nerves, Ybarra sank
the penalty kick into the right
corner. The Titan keeper dove
the wrong way and never had a
chance at the save.
Up 1-0, the Wolverines never
looked back, as they sank four
more goals in the remaining 50
minutes.
“I think we got ourselves
in good advanced positions
and then we got in advanced
positions in the wide areas as
well,” said Michigan coach
Chaka Daley. “I think the
service caused them problems
and we didn’t go to it enough
and we finally got to go to it late
in the half and when we did:
handball, PK.”
Michigan
played
a
very
physical game after the penalty,
as the Titans began to man-
mark after that. That opened
up holes in the Detroit Mercy
defense as the Wolverines’
passing pulled the Titans out of
position and opened holes for
Michigan to attack and advance
its postion.
The second goal quickly
followed the first after a cross
into the box fell to freshman
forward
Sosa
Emovon.
He
slotted a pass to sophmore
forward
Umar
Farouk Osman,
who
was
waiting
right
outside
the
five-yard
box
in between two
Detroit
Mercy
defenders.
Osman rocketed
the
ball
into
the left corner
giving
the
keeper no time to react.
The second half brought
three more goals, and two
more goalies for the Titans.
After a breakaway goal by
senior forward Noah Kleedtke
and a corner kick headed in
by
sophomore
defensemen
Jackson Ragen, junior forward
Jack Hallahan scored to go
along with his two assists,
calmly
dribbling
around
Detroit Mercy‘s third goalie of
the night and chipping the ball
into the net.
With five games remaining
before the Big Ten Tournament,
it is key for the Wolverines to
get these confidence-boosting
wins.
“We’re
only
guaranteed
ten hours, I told those guys
today,” Daley said. “We’re only
guaranteed ten hours of soccer,
so let‘s make the most of it and
I think they did tonight.”
MEN’S SOCCER
RON CHEN
For the Daily
“We’re only
guaranteed ten
hours, I told
those guys...”
Wolverines fall to Irish
Seconds before kickoff, senior
Robbie Mertz made the sign of
the cross and appeared to lift his
hands in prayer. Given how the
first half of the Michigan men’s
soccer team’s matchup against
Notre Dame went, there may
very well have been something
supernatural going on. It seems
that the laws of physics were
reversed; players spent more
time on the ground than the ball,
which was constantly airborne
and passed backward instead of
forward.
In the end, the Wolverines
fell to the Fighting Irish (8-4-1)
Tuesday night, almost a week
after their 5-0 shutout win against
Detroit Mercy increased their
record to 9-3-1 overall and 3-1-1 in
the Big Ten.
The game seemed to progress
in slow motion, the first minutes
spent in a punting match between
the goalies, each launching the
ball down the field right to the
other. The game was also routinely
interrupted by an abundance of
fouls on both sides, each seemingly
in response to the other team’s
transgression.
The
back
and
forth quickly resulted in senior
midfielder and captain Ivo Cerda’s
early exit from the game after he
suffered an injury. Soon after their
captain came out, the Wolverines
ceded a goal to Notre Dame’s
Thomas Ueland off a rebound from
Michigan sophomore defenseman
Jackson Ragen.
Evidently with a chip on his
shoulder, Ragen drew a yellow
card late in the first half for
slide tackling Notre Dame’s Ian
Aschieris. Though the fouls kept
raining down, the Wolverines
seemed to wake up from their
trance after falling behind, getting
down to business.
“They passed well, they played
well; we caused them a whole host
of problems,” Michigan coach
Chaka Daley said, and despite the
loss, “... We outplayed Notre Dame
from start to finish.”
Daley
expressed
disappointment in the referees,
who had their whistles blowing all
game with a combined total of 25
fouls, 14 on Notre Dame and 11 on
Michigan.
“Consistency is important in
everything you do, because that’s
what the players will expect,
and that’s what the coaches will
expect,” Daley said. “If the game
is inconsistent, it disrupts your
rhythm and flow; you don’t what’s
a foul and what isn’t a foul.”
The Fighting Irish nearly scored
a second time in the first half on a
seemingly-undefended goal, but
a last-minute charge call spared
the
Wolverines.
That
divine
intervention not going unnoticed,
Jack Hallahan capitalized in the
form of an early second-half,
right-foot goal in the bottom right
corner of the net, tying the game
and highlighting why he is ranked
among the program’s top scorers
historically.
Not to be outdone, Notre
Dame’s Sean MacLeod answered
Hallahan’s goal with one of his
own, scoring off a penalty kick
at 67:41 in the game. With three
minutes left in the game, the
Fighting Irish appeared to be
playing a game of cat-and-mouse,
taking their time to run down
the clock and secure the victory.
Michigan apparently didn’t know
who was the cat and who was the
mouse, as the claws came out and
heated exchanges ensued.
As the regular season draws
to a close, and with the Big Ten
Tournament
on
the
horizon,
pressure is mounting going into
Friday’s game against Wisconsin,
which is vying to challenge the
Wolverines’ No. 3 position in the
conference.
The
Badgers
boast
road
wins
against
Maryland
and
Michigan State, both of which the
Wolverines have to play before
they end their regular season.
Michigan needs to keep its footing,
given that the Spartans, whom the
Wolverines play next Tuesday,
sits comfortably in second place.
A bitter and close, 1-0 loss to No. 1
Indiana on October 7 emphasized
the stakes going into the the Big
Ten Tournament.
“I think after (Tuesday’s loss)
our guys will be hungry and
motivated to get this out of our
system,” Daley said. “The guys had
a good day at the office.”
Beilein settling for freshmen in final rotation
At
the
Michigan
men’s
basketball
team’s
first
media
availability of the season, John
Beilein told reporters that his team
needed “two or three” freshmen
to work their way into a rotation
depleted by graduation and NBA
departures.
Forwards
Ignas
Brazdeikis and Brandon Johns
came in as highly-touted four-
star recruits, widely expected
to contribute immediately, but
Beilein would only commit to
Brazdeikis.
“We’ve only got seven guys
returning, we’re gonna have a nine
or ten man rotation,” Beilein said
at the time. “Two or three of those
guys gotta find their way into that
lineup.”
Three weeks later, he has
settled on guard David DeJulius
to join Brazdeikis and Johns in the
rotation.
The reasons they — and not
guard Adrien Nunez or center
Colin Castleton — have earned
Beilein’s trust are strength and
defense, which he labels as the two
factors that keep most freshmen
off the court.
Through
three
weeks
of
practice,
defense
has
been
the biggest bright spot for the
Wolverines. It’s why their practices
are absent of players running stairs
at the top of the Crisler Center or
doing extra sprints afterwards.
In contrast to early last season,
when
then-freshman
guard
Jordan Poole’s defensive struggles
kept him off the floor, this year’s
freshmen have been at the center
of Michigan’s defensive emphasis.
“They have a will to get better
… it comes little bit by little bit
with every kid,” Beilein said.
“And some positions are harder.
Colin Castleton’s man is gonna set
screens, he doesn’t have to worry
about zoning up as much. David’s
got everything, Brandon’s trying to
play two positions (power forward
and center).”
“… Here’s the one thing they
know more than anything else: If
you don’t play defense, you’re not
gonna play.”
Brazdeikis,
DeJulius,
and
Johns’ physical readiness has also
separated them from Nunez and
Castleton.
Castleton has added 16 pounds
since reporting to Ann Arbor at
210 but still hasn’t fully grown
into his 6-foot-10 body. In contrast,
the Wolverines’ strength staff has
already forced Brazdeikis to stop
bench pressing because he’s too
muscular.
“Their bodies are more ready
than the other two right now,”
Beilein said. “… Iggy is older than
(sophomore) Jordan Poole so his
body is ready. Brandon’s body is —
he’s got a great body but he’s got to
get stronger within that body. And
then David is just like a bulldog,
he’s got a great trunk to him, he’s
got a great core to him. So those
guys are gonna be ready.”
After losing production from
last season at all five spots on
the floor, Johns and Brazdeikis’
versatility adds to their value off
the bench.
Beilein discussed Brazdeikis’
ability to play at the ‘2’ through ‘4’
last month, while he expects Johns
to get time at power forward and
center behind sophomore Isaiah
Livers and junior Jon Teske,
respectively.
“Brandon’s gonna have to learn
the ‘4’ and ‘5,’ alright,” Beilein said.
“Breaking news, he’s gonna have
to learn those two positions.
“… For Brandon to sit there and
watch Isaiah and Iggy play at the
‘4’ wouldn’t make sense.”
That seemingly leaves Nunez
and Castleton out of Beilein’s plans
early in the season. But when
asked about the possibility of
either redshirting, Beilein would
only say that he had informed all
freshmen that they will lose their
redshirt eligibility as soon as they
enter a game.
That
could
be
important
information
for
Nunez
and
Castleton. For the other three, it
will likely become irrelevant on
opening night.
“They’re really hard working,
and they’re really good kids,”
Beilein said. “They are growing
every day, and some days there are
giant leaps and some days there
are steps backwards. But I love
coaching them.”
THEO MACKIE
Daily Sports Writer
EVAN AARON/Daily
Freshman forward Brandon Johns will have to learn the power forward and center positions for Michigan this season, according to coach John Beilein.
SOPHIA JASKOSKI
For the Daily