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SportsMonday
Monday, September 23, 2019 — 3B
Pearson not expecting another slow start
Mel Pearson sat down casually
and focused on his next few
words.
He gestured with the flat of
his hands, raising one inches
from his chest area and the other
to his eye level.
“You don’t want to take it from
here,” the Michigan coach said,
indicating the level of play with
his hands’ positioning. “And all
of a sudden, you play a game to
here.”
Pearson was preparing his
team for the start of the season.
In a game, every aspect of hockey
is ramped up — speed, strength,
skill. The standards for a game
could not be easily mimicked
in practice. But that’s what
the Michigan hockey team is
striving for.
“We
want
the
intensity,”
Pearson said. “We want the
pace. We want the speed up, and
then hopefully, because if we get
there, then the execution will
stay there.”
High-octane
practices.
Stricter conditioning. Countless
repetitions.
The
team
did
everything in its power to get
as close to in-game conditions
and as in shape as possible —
for the sake of getting off to a
strong start to the season. And
that reason being, the last two
seasons, the Wolverines have
begun the year poorly.
The previous two seasons
under
Pearson,
Michigan
amassed an 8-8-1-1 record with
a loss to Bowling Green on New
Year’s two years ago, and a 6-7-2-
3 in the same stretch of time last
year.
Even in years prior, dating back
to Pearson’s tenure at Michigan
Tech, his teams have struggled
to start a season successfully. In
2016-17, the year before Pearson
departed for the Wolverines,
the Huskies lost their first four
games, starting the season 1-5-2
— though they eventually turned
the season around to get an
NCAA Tournament bid.
It’s a problem Pearson’s aware
of.
But this year, he anticipates a
different result.
“The
first
year,
I
can
understand
why
with
new
systems and new coaches and a
lot of different things going on,”
Pearson said. “And last year, I
can’t put my finger on it. I could
give you a couple of my thoughts,
but I don’t know if they’re
correct or not. But having said
that, I think I don’t anticipate
that same issue this year.
“Now, if you look at my record
and the coaching record, we
probably always got off a little bit
slower and stronger as we go on.”
His first year, Pearson had to
juggle coaching with learning
new players, roles and teaching
a completely new scheme. That
meant
experimenting
early
games to figure out which role
fits whom best.
“Part of it, too, is just finding
out what you have and who your
team is, and trying to play guys,
maybe in some situations you
don’t know yet,” Pearson said.
“And I’m a proponent of trying to
see what we have in games and
go from there, give every chance
so to speak.
“So, I don’t know if we will this
year. I think we know a lot more
about our team, and our players
now when I first came in.”
The second year, the team
chose
to
prioritize
even
strength play in practice early
— but special teams would later
come back to bite them. The
Wolverines weren’t concerned
with the power play and penalty
kill early, because “it’s hard to
get those things right off the get
go.”
In addition to answering the
special team concerns early this
year, Pearson has gotten to know
the team’s ins and outs. Time will
tell if that will translate to live
play in Pearson’s third season.
“I think it’s going to be a lot
smoother transition in the start
of season this year,” said senior
forward
Nick
Pastujov,
“as
compared to maybe some other
ones.”
Wolverines rebound in
weekend tournaments
After
last
weekend’s
disappointing
season-opening
tournament at the Napa Valley
Tennis Classic, the Michigan
men’s
tennis
team
made
a
concerted effort to press the
reset button. In two weekend
tournaments — the Battle in the
Bay Classic in San Francisco
and the Farnsworth-Ivy Plus in
Princeton — it showed.
“We went back and met as a
team and had to really recharge
and restart, get back to who we
are as a team and what tennis is
all about,” said Michigan coach
Adam
Steinberg.
“The
guys
performed well this weekend,
and it was a step forward for us,
for sure.”
Across the two tournaments,
Michigan singles players won 13
of 23 matches and doubles pairs
won 4 of 7, through midday on
Sunday. Three additional singles
matches went unreported. Such
were the positive results that
Steinberg was looking for in his
team.
No player made a bigger
statement
than
freshman
Ondrej Styler. Playing in his first
collegiate
tournament,
Styler
advanced through four rounds,
all the way to the finals.
“For Ondrej to play as well
as he did was a terrific effort,”
Steinberg said. “It was something
we needed to jumpstart us. To do
that in a tough, big environment
with a lot of great teams — USC,
TCU, Stanford, Cal — beating
those guys, he did tremendous.”
The highly-touted recruit out
of Prague showed both skill and
determination on the court. In
his first match, Styler persevered
through
two
tiebreakers,
winning, 7-6 (3), 7-6 (4). He later
advanced to the finals on the heels
of another dramatic tiebreaker
before ultimately falling to USC’s
Brandon Holt, 6-2, 6-4.
Across the country at the
Farnsworth-Ivy Plus in Princeton,
the duo of juniors Harrison
Brown and Kristofer Siimar won
their doubles tournament, posting
a 3-0 record. After winning their
opening match, 8-3, the pair never
looked back.
“We came out with a lot of
energy and enthusiasm,” Brown
said. “For me, I’ve really improved
my mental game. I feel as if this
tournament wasn’t as tough for
me compared to the others from
last year.”
While the official collegiate
season doesn’t kick off until
January,
participating
in
tournaments
offers
several
benefits
for
the
Wolverines,
among
them
competitive
gameplay and an opportunity to
work on certain skills. Specifically,
Steinberg wants his players to
come together as a team, buying
into the importance of coherence
and collectivity.
When it comes to formulating a
team culture, Brown can already
sense a notable difference in this
year’s coming faster than that of
yesteryear.
“I have a really good feeling
about this group of guys,” Brown
said. “We’ve come out of the
summer a lot stronger compared
to last summer. We have the
ability to make a big impact on the
national stage.”
Making
such
an
impact
and
winning
championships
is certainly the end goal for
Michigan. Steinberg insists that
winning is inevitable so long as a
strong team foundation is first in
place.
“Right now, we’re trying to
just develop,” Steinberg said. “We
talk about it everyday. It’s not the
most exciting thing, but trying to
develop a championship culture
in our program in every way is our
goal. We don’t talk about rankings
and championships right now.
Just a big culture, because now
we’re just trying to get better.”
Offense can’t capitalize on potential
It was textbook team play
that
allowed
the
Michigan
men’s soccer team an early lead.
From inside his own box,
senior forward Jack Hallahan
set up junior midfielder Marc
Ybarra, starting a chain of
beautiful
passes
between
Hallahan, Ybarra and freshman
forward
Christian
Pulselli.
The flawless build-up ended
with a cross to fifth-year senior
Nebojsa Popovic who buried the
ball in the back of the net on the
opposite end.
Only
two
minutes
after
kickoff, the pitch-length run
and resulting goal gave the
Wolverines an early one-goal
lead. But that was the only
offensive
production
that
Michigan (0-0-1 Big Ten, 3-2-2
Overall) could muster in a rain-
shortened 1-1 draw to Rutgers
(0-0-1 Big Ten, 5-0-2 Overall).
“We want to see if we can
be aggressive early and get
after teams and make them
uncomfortable,” said Michigan
coach Chaka Daley. “We want
to state our intentions by our
approach.”
The early game success wasn’t
unusual for the Wolverines, who
have scored a goal in the first 15
minutes in both of their past
two matches.
That much,
the team has
done,
but
sustained
success
has
been
lacking
through seven
games.
The
opportunities
are there, just
not the goals.
Michigan finished the game
with nine shots, five of which
were on target.
“We had some really really
great chances and I wish one
of them snuck in,” Daley said.
“One’s in the goalie’s hands, is it
over the line, ref protects him a
little bit. Two one (versus) ones
inside the box, keeper makes an
amazing, amazing two saves,
seems to happen to us a lot.”
Retaining momentum after
the goal was an issue for the
Wolverines,
who
seemed
sluggish after their initial push.
It took until after the half for
them to reapply
pressure on the
Scarlet
Knights’
defense. Just as
the
chemistry
between
Hallahan, Popovic
and
sophomore
forward
Derick
Broche
was
heating
up
again, the game
was
delayed
by
severe weather and then called
outright, leaving 18 minutes on
the clock and the trio without a
much-needed goal.
Despite the disappointment
of not finding a go-ahead goal,
Daley
had
largely
positive
takeaways from a tie in the first
Big Ten matchup of the year.
“We’re still creating chances
and we’re off to a good start,”
Daley said. “We are what we
are.”
As Daley knows, though,
Michigan is going to have to
capitalize on these chances
to have success this year. The
team was controlling the game
against a strong Rutgers squad,
and a win would have been a
boost going into conference
play.
It all comes down to what the
team can do with those chances.
“When
we
look
at
big
moments, when we think about
the game we always talk about
there’s big moments in every
half”
Daley
said.
“There’s
probably three or four big
moments in every half. Do you
win those moments?”
In
this
matchup,
the
Wolverines were only able to
win one of these moments.
The team has talent and their
head coach is pushing the right
mentality,
but
the
question
remains — can they turn these
moments into points on the
scoreboard?
‘M’ starts strong, ends in 1-1 draw
Imagine a textbook give-
and-go
around
a
Rutgers
defender, a hard pass into the
middle of the box, and an easy
tap-in by the Wolverines and
that’s
the
Michigan
men’s
soccer team only goal no
more than 120 seconds into
the game. In a combination of
deadly passes, Michigan sliced
easily through the right side
of the Rutgers defense and
seemed poised to continue that
momentum into the rest of the
game.
Michigan (3-2-2) struck early
during its first Big Ten matchup
against No. 24 Rutgers, yet
fell victim to a penalty kick
and then lightning as weather
forced the game into an early
ending, 70 minutes in at 1-1.
Michigan’s only goalscorer
of the night was fifth-year
senior
forward
Nebojsa
Popovic, who now has five
goals on the season. Popovic
led the Michigan attack in
keeping a high press against
the Rutgers defense from the
very beginning of the game,
and
eventually
transformed
that pressure into his second-
minute goal. Fellow forwards
Jack Hallahan and Christian
Pulselli, were both credited
with assists.
“We want to see if we
can be aggressive early and
get after teams and make
them
uncomfortable
and
its been successful for us,”
said Michigan coach Chaka
Daley. “We want to state our
intentions by our approach and
I think we’ve done that.”
The
Wolverines
kept
a
strong hold on the midfield and
limited the Scarlet Knights to
only a few offensive chances in
the first 20 minutes. But while
defending a Rutgers corner
in the 24th minute, senior
defenseman
Abdou
Samake
committed a foul inside the box
and senior goalkeeper Andrew
Verdi could do nothing to stop
the penalty from sailing into
the right side of the net.
The Rutgers goal changed
the flow of the game and
successfully
slowed
the
momentum Michigan had built
in the opening minutes to a 1-1
halftime score. The Wolverine
defense was increasingly under
attack,
while
the
midfield
struggled to keep possession
of the ball due to sloppy passes
and frequent turnovers all over
the field. The teams entered the
locker rooms even and needing
to come out strong.
“While
they
had
more
possession
in
the
first
half, I don’t think we were
uncomfortable in any shape or
form,” Daley said.
Michigan seemed to rise
to the challenge, and four
minutes into the second half
sophomore
forward
Derick
Broche managed to put the ball
into the goal but it was called
back as he had kicked the ball
out of the goalkeeper’s hands.
However,
soon
after
that
chance the game settled into
what it was in the first half- an
even battle with close chances
and scares for both teams.
In the 60th minute, Popovic
re-entered
the
game
and
re-energized
the
Michigan
attack, pressing the defense
and
quickly
creating
two
opportunities
for
Broche
and
junior
forward
Umar
Farouk Osman. But, by the
70th minute, lightning and
rain in the area stopped any
more offensive chances when
officials stopped play. A thirty
minute weather delay led to
play resuming for about two
minutes before storms initiated
a second weather delay that
saw the match called 1-1.
“Both teams really wanted
to finish the game,” Daley said.
“I think we really wanted to a
little bit more because we were
kind of responding to a sluggish
first half. But we weren’t
poor by any stretch because
in reality their only shot on
goal was a PK, ... We gotta live
with what we have, we are who
we are, and just keep rolling
through the season.”
NICHOLAS STOLL
For The Daily
CLAIRE BRADY
For The Daily
MILES MACKLIN/Daily
Senior forward Jack Hallahan had an assist in Michigan’s 1-1 draw against Rutgers on Sunday afternoon, which was suspended due to lightning with 20 minutes left.
We want
to state our
intentions by
our approach.
TIEN LE
Daily Sports Editor
ALEXANDRIA POMPEI/Daily
Michigan coach Mel Pearson’s teams have struggled at the beginning of the season throughout his career.
JARED GREENSPAN
For The Daily
MEN’S TENNIS