The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Sports
Wednesday, September 4, 2019 — 7A
Play while tired.
For the Michigan women’s field
hockey team, this mantra shapes
everything. Early in the season,
the Wolverines are trying to
create their identity — an identity
that puts playing through fatigue
and adversity at the forefront.
From quick, explosive starts to
high-effort plays late in matches,
intensity is the name of the game.
No. 7 Michigan (1-1) showcased
this mindset Sunday during a 3-0
victory over No. 10 Wake Forest
(0-2).
From the first minute, the
Wolverines’ high-effort mentality
made its mark. Michigan worked
hard to suffocate the Demon
Deacons’ elusive style of play from
the outset. These efforts paid off
early and often, as the Wolverines
scored on two corner shots in the
first half.
For Michigan, the recipe was
simple. Draw a corner. Have
sophomore midfielder Kathryn
Peterson smack the ball to the top
of the circle. Line up a shot for
senior forward Meg Dowthwaite.
Find the back of the cage. Repeat.
This strategy worked twice in
the first half for the Wolverines
who jumped out to a commanding
2-0 lead at the half. Scoring
successfully off corner shots seems
to be a staple of the offense early
in the season, as Michigan scored
twice off them against No. 1 North
Carolina on Friday, as well.
But this hasn’t always been
the case for the Wolverines who
struggled mightily to capitalize on
corner shots last season. This year,
the corners are coming with a new
mindset and with them, much-
needed offensive production.
“Last year, our corners were not
great to say the least,” Peterson
said. “This year, it’s a new
mentality. This year we all know
we have so much improvement to
do there, that this year coming into
these games, they’re just clicking.”
The intensity didn’t stop at just
drawing corners. The lone goal in
the second half came courtesy of
Peterson, who scored off a heater
that rocketed off the goalkeeper’s
gloves and over her head to cross
the goal line.
The
beatdown
marked
a
statement win for the Wolverines.
After losing 4-2 against the Tar
Heels in the first game of the
season, Michigan wanted to right
the ship and start the year off with
a bang. The Wolverines needed
to show that they could not only
play with, but also beat, elite
competition.
“(The win was) huge,” said
Michigan coach Marcia Pankratz.
“I mean to be 1-1 instead of 0-2, but
they’re both top-five teams, and
most importantly this is a process,
right? We’re trying to grow and
get better and challenge ourselves
every time and see where we are,
and I feel really great about it.”
From here, the name of the game
for the Wolverines is to maintain
that intensity through a long
season. They’ve proven they can
do it through a game and come out
the other side victorious, cutting
off passing lanes and intercepting
balls deep into the fourth quarter.
Carrying on their identity for the
rest of the season will now be the
team’s focus. For now, the most it
can do is hammer the message of
playing while tired and hope the
rest takes care of itself.
“Marcia says that every single
day,” Dowthwaite said. “The best
players are playing while tired,
you’re not going to be not tired
when you’re playing. You got to be
able to capitalize and score and play
well when you’re tired, so we say
that everyday.”
A quick glance at the stat
sheet would suffice to show
penalty corners played a big part
in the No. 7 Michigan women’s
field hockey team’s 3-0 victory
Sunday afternoon.
While the Wolverines (1-1)
scored two goals off corners
against No. 10 Wake Forest (0-2)
on Sunday, it was Michigan’s
defensive press that sparked
offensive production and led to
those corners.
When the Wolverines lost
possession while attacking, their
players charged relentlessly at
the Demon Deacons and forced
them to make mistakes. From
there, Michigan looked to cut
off the passing lanes. This was
the team’s key strategy going
into the contest.
“Well for this game, we
knew they were really strong
at transferring out of the back,”
said
sophomore
midfielder
Kathryn Peterson. “And so what
we would try to do was cut them
to one side and try to take away
those long passing lanes, and
pressure as high as possible.”
With the press, Michigan
often
won
back
possession
quickly.
As
a
result,
the
Wolverines spent the majority
of the game on the attacking
side of the field. This yielded the
scoring chances, including four
corners and five total shots on
goal.
“That’s
an
emphasis,”
said Michigan coach Marcia
Pankratz. “That’s kind of our
team personality. Our team
character
is
to
play
great
team defense and step up and
intercept. And I thought we did
it beautifully today, and I was
really proud of them.”
It is still early in the season,
but the press is already a staple
of the team’s practice regimen.
Specifically, Michigan focuses
on ensuring that the intensity is
a team effort.
“We
train
really
hard,
someone loses the ball and
you’ve gotta fight to get it
back,” said senior forward Meg
Dowthwaite. “I think we’re
practicing at the minute how
we train which is really intense
and really good, and everyone
works together as a team, it’s not
individual.
“If your teammate loses the
ball, everyone gets behind it.
It’s not just that person that lost
the ball, which I think is really
important.”
In
the
Wolverines’
first
contest of the season, against
No. 1 North Carolina, the press
wasn’t consistent throughout
the game. Michigan brought
the intensity early and notched
a one-goal lead after the first
quarter.
The
Wolverines
couldn’t sustain it, though, and
suffered a 4-2 loss.
By Sunday, Michigan made
enough adjustments to get back
on track.
“We started really strong
against UNC, and then we
backed off a bit,” Dowthwaite
said. “So I think it was important
for us to keep that intensity the
whole game, even intercepting
balls which we were able to do
up until the last whistle, so I
was really happy with that, and
that’s what we really took away.”
Dowthwaite views the press
as a central part of the program.
As a senior, one of her goals is
to teach the younger players the
intricacies so that they can get
more involved.
Taking Sunday’s success as an
example, this tactic could pay
dividends down the road.
Pressure cooker
Behind defensive press, goals off corners seventh-ranked Wolverines top Demon Deacons, 3-0, for first win of season
ROHAN KUMAR
Daily Sports Writer
JACOB KOPNICK
Daily Sports Writer
KATELYN MULCAHY/Daily
Sophomore midfielder Kathryn Peterson scored the lone goal of the second half in Michigan’s 3-0 victory over Wake Forest on Sunday afternoon.
Michigan falls to FGCU, bounces back with Monday win against SIUE
In just the sixth minute of
the match, Florida Gulf Coast
forward Ryan Medilah found
himself wide open in the box
and buried a flawless cross
from
fellow
forward
Shak
Adams, silencing the opening
night crowd at the U-M Soccer
Stadium on Friday night.
The header was the first of
three goals from Medilah, as
the Michigan men’s soccer team
(0-1) fell 4-3 to the Eagles (1-0).
For the Wolverines, the match
was defined by poor defense
and an inability to convert
on second half opportunities
offensively.
Medilah followed his first
goal with a free kick eight
minutes later from the right
corner of the box. His low
line drive cross snuck past
Michigan’s defense and froze
senior
goalkeeper
Andrew
Verdi as it trickled across the
goal line, giving FGCU an early
2-0 lead.
Despite
lackluster
play
on defense, the Wolverines
managed to even the score
at two before halftime. A
well-placed ground ball from
freshman forward Christian
Pulselli gave junior forward
Mohammed
Zakyi
an
easy
goal in the 30th minute, which
graduate
transfer
forward
Nebojsa Popovic
followed with a
cheeky tap-in on
a free kick from
senior forward
Jack Hallahan.
At the start
of the second
half,
Michigan
seemed
poised
to take the lead
with
Hallahan
and
Popovic
leading a strong
offensive push. In just the third
minute of the half, Popovic
earned
an
opportunity
in
front of the goal, but Eagles’
keeper
Gustavo
Vasconcelos
gobbled it up with ease. The
Wolverines tallied 11 shots in
the second half, including a
point-blank opportunity from
Popovic that forced a diving
save from Vasconcelos. But
they converted on only one of
these opportunities, when a
late-game corner from junior
midfielder Marc Ybarra found
junior defender Joel Harrison
with enough space to notch
Michigan’s
third and final
goal.
The
Wolverines
would
come
to
regret
these
missed
opportunities,
as Medilah’s hat-
trick goal and a
dazzling strike
from
FGCU
midfielder Ivan
Rosales put the match out of
reach.
“I think we created enough
chances to win the game,”
said Michigan coach Chaka
Daley. “(But) they were more
opportunistic
in
the
sense
of taking their chances on
our minor mistakes in the
midfield.”
Popovic put up impressive
numbers on his first regular
season game since transferring
from Oakland University as a
graduate student. He tallied
three shots — all on target —
on top of his first half goal.
His decisiveness and quick
shooting complements the elite
ball control and passing ability
of
preseason
All-American
Hallahan, and the pair seems
poised to make a big splash for
the Wolverines.
“Popovic is a good player,”
Daley
said.
“We’re
excited
about having him in our group,
and the hard part is figuring
out all the pieces around these
guys.”
“We need to find ways to get
(Hallahan) the ball, because
he’s a special player as well,” he
added. “Regardless, our team
defending has to get better. ...
It let us down a little tonight,
but we’ll work on it, we’ll get
better, and we’ll grow from the
experience.”
It happened in a flash and
to the amazement of almost all
those in attendance.
With just under four minutes
remaining and the Wolverines
probing for a go-ahead goal, the
ball was played back to Southern
Illinois University Edwardsville
goalkeeper Noah Heim. What
was supposed to be a routine
clearance turned into anything
but as Michigan sophomore
forward Derick Broche came
flying in to block his kick.
The
ball
ricocheted
off
Broche and into the path of
fellow
Wolverine
Nebojsa
Popovic. With Heim chasing
back towards goal and the
Cougar
defenders
out
of
position, Popovic coolly finished
off the unexpected opportunity
to restore Michigan’s one-goal
advantage.
SIUE
(0-1-1)
could
never
recover
as
the
Wolverines
(1-1-0) added another late goal
to complete their less than
straightforward 3-1 victory.
The intensity was there for
Michigan from the opening
whistle. Having lost their home
opener to Florida Gulf Coast
University, the Wolverines came
out energetic and eager to start
Monday’s game off on the right
foot. A goal 3:50 into the game
from
Broche
accomplished
exactly
that.
Junior winger
Umar
Farouk
Osman sent a
deep cross into
the box, which
Broche
met
with a leaning
header.
After
missing
the
entirety of his freshman season
recovering from a broken leg
he suffered at the end of high
school, Broche’s header marked
his first career goal and came in
his career start.
“For me it means everything,”
Broche, who had a metal rod
inserted in his leg, said. “I’ve
been coming to this field since
I was a kid. And last year going
through that, it just means all
the more. I’m just happy that
I was able to help the team in
anyway I can.”
The Wolverines looked well
in control the rest of the half.
Though
Michigan
was
still
working out some early-season
kinks for much of the first
half, its energy alone held the
Cougars in check — allowing
only one shot on goal.
Much of the second half was
punctuated by missed chances
from the Wolverines. On a
number of occasions, senior
forward Jack Hallahan glided
through
the
SIUE
midfield
and played pinpoint passes to
Michigan’s forwards, who failed
to capitalize.
“We didn’t take our chances,”
Daley said. “I think we created
enough chances to make the
game not as unnervy as it was
at the end. I think the big thing
for us is, we want to give our
team a chance to win the game,
and if we don’t take some of our
chances, we gotta make sure we
hold them on defense.”
Those missed opportunities
came back to bite the Wolverines
when the visitors nabbed the
tying goal out of seemingly
nothing. Cougar forward Jorge
Gonzalez got on the end of
a cross from the right wing
and nodded it past Wolverine
goalkeeper
Andrew Verdi in
the 74th minute.
The
goal
took
the air out of the
stadium and ten
tense
minutes
followed
until
Popovic
scored
off
the
Broche
deflection.
Broche secured
the win by firing
his second goal of the day into
the roof of the net after some
nifty footwork to get into the
six-yard box moving the score
to 3-1.
“Ultimately, we found a way
to win though,” Daley said. “I
think that’s a big piece of the
puzzle early on in the season.”
BRENDAN ROOSE
Daily Sports Writer
CONNOR BRENNAN
Daily Sports Writer
FILE PHOTO/Daily
Senior forward Jack Hallahan made crisp passes from Michigan’s midfield in its 3-1 win over Southern Illinois University Edwardsville on Monday afternoon.
I think we
created enough
chances to win
the game.
Last year going
through that, it
just means all
the more.