The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Sports
Wednesday, September 25, 2019 — 7A

Field hockey team forms its identity

What do you want this team’s 
identity to be?
Every coach from high school 
on up to professional leagues 
is faced with some form of this 
question at the beginning of every 
season. This year, Michigan field 
hockey coach Marcia Pankratz 
kept her answer very simple.
“Hard-working,” 
Pankratz 
explained. 
“Warriors. 
Hard-
working. Wolverines. Together. 
Playing together on and off the 
field. 
When 
Pankratz 
inevitably 
faces her team at the end of 
grueling practices, during half 
time of tight games and after 
emotional fourth quarters, both 
excruciating and exhilarating, 
those are the words that will form 
the cornerstones of her speeches. 
While certainly difficult to do, 
making that determination was 
only the first step to establishing 
the culture necessary to support 
a winning team. Words are 
meaningless 
if 
they 
aren’t 
accurate 
and 
messages 
ring 
equally hollow if they aren’t 
tested.
Building 
a 
culture 
takes 
adversity. It takes challenges and 
tests.

If the Wolverines were seeking 
a challenge, they had to look no 
further than the first five games 
of the season. Four of those 
matches came against ranked 
opponents, three of which were 
in the top ten: No. 10 Wake Forest, 
No. 3 Connecticut and No. 1 North 
Carolina. With No. 21 Stanford 
rounding out the quartet of top-
tier opponents, the Wolverines’ 
opening schedule was anything 
but easy.
But 
then 
again, it wasn’t 
supposed to be.
 
“It’s 
by 
design that we 
play 
a 
tough 
pre-conference 
schedule to play 
against the best,” 
Pankratz 
said. 
“To improve and 
see 
where 
we 
are.”
Warriors are built through 
battle. And battle is exactly what 
Michigan did.
After falling 4-0 to UNC in the 
season opener, the Wolverines 
bounced back with a decisive 3-0 
win against Wake Forest en route 
to a 3-2 record through the first 
five games, with two wins against 
top 25 opponents.
The Connecticut game, above 

the rest, stands out as a step 
forward. 
Michigan 
had 
not 
beaten the Huskies since 2005, 
but after jumping out to an early 
lead and staying strong enough 
to withstand a fourth quarter 
push, the Wolverines ended that 
14-year drought. 
“We’ve had a steady increase 
over the games,” said junior 
midfielder Kayla Reed. “We had 
a good win last week over UConn 
which 
was 
a 
good confidence 
booster for the 
girls.”
In anticipation 
of 
what 
Reed 
describes 
as 
a 
competitive 
Big 
Ten, 
Pankratz 
hopes 
that 
battle 
testing 
her 
team 
will 
pay 
dividends 
later. 
Running 
her team through the gauntlet 
was an intentional ploy to lay the 
foundation she sought.
A team cut from the cloth of 
those that grind out every game 
they play. A hard-working group 
that gives everything it has for 60 
minutes and never says die.
“And I think we are that,” 
Pankratz said. “So I’m proud of 
them.”

JACOB COHEN
Daily Sports Writer

CARTER FOX/Daily
Michigan coach Marcia Pankratz intentionally scheduled difficult early season opponents, hoping to test her team.

Guided by Stratigakis goal, Michigan beats Ohio State in Columbus, 2-1

Sometimes, you just need to 
take a break. For the Michigan 
women’s soccer team, halftime 
provided just what was needed 
on Sunday, and the Wolverines 
came 
out 
of 
their 
break 
energized and aggressive. 
Despite being tied at one 
with Ohio State (3-5-1 overall, 
1-1-0 Big Ten) at the end of the 
first half, Michigan (7-2-0, 2-0-
0) was being outshot 14-7 and 
had allowed the Buckeyes to 
dominate possession.
The Wolverines looked like 
a different team after halftime, 
and junior midfielder Sarah 
Stratigakis’ slow-rolling shot 
four minutes into the half gave 
Michigan the 2-1 advantage 
it protected for the rest of the 
game. 
Early on, the Wolverines 
ceded 
possession 
to 
Ohio 
State, as they spent much of 
the match’s first 10 minutes 
hemmed in their own third of 
the field.
“I just think Ohio State came 
out with great energy and came 
at us really quick with some 
good pressure,” said Michigan 
coach Jennifer Klein. “It just 
took us a little bit of time to 
settle into the game and get into 
our game plan. I thought once 
we 
were 
able 
to possess the 
ball … it opened 
up some better 
opportunities 
for us.”
Both 
teams 
came 
out 
physical and the 
rivalry matchup 
only contributed 
to the intensity. 
There 
was 
no 
shortage of contact—19 fouls 
were committed between the 
two teams. The physical play 
continued 
throughout 
and 
contributed to both Wolverine 
goals, one coming on a penalty 
shot and the other off of a free 
kick. 
“I 
think 
(physicality) 
definitely goes into the rivalry 

and the tradition of the two 
teams competing,” Klein said. 
“And both teams coming off a 
win on Thursday, and getting 
an opportunity to get two 
wins on the week, kind of sets 
itself up for the teams to throw 
everything at each other.”
About halfway 
through 
the 
first half, a lack 
of 
possession 
cost 
Michigan. 
A strong Ohio 
State shot from 
just outside the 
penalty 
box 
was blocked by 
junior defender 
Alia 
Martin, 
who 
collapsed 
in pain as a result. As she tried 
to grab the ball out of the air, 
junior 
goalkeeper 
Hillary 
Beall collided with sophomore 
defender 
Janiece 
Joyner, 
allowing the ball to roll to open 
Buckeye Marissa Birzon. Birzon 
fired the ball into the back of 
the net as Beall scrambled to 
recover from being tangled up 
on the ground.
Ohio 
State’s 
one-goal 
advantage 
was 
short-lived, 
though, and junior midfielder 
Nicki 
Hernandez 
converted 
a penalty kick less than 30 
seconds later, tying the match 
at one in the 25th minute. 
The 
Wolverines’ 
quick 
answer 
to tie the game 
and 
strong 
performance 
in 
the 
final 
10 minutes of 
the 
first 
half 
provided 
some 
positivity 
heading 
into 
halftime. After 
the break, they wasted no 
time getting back to what was 
working.
“I felt we had a great 
response in the second half,” 
Klein said. “To get another goal 
early, it really helped us settle 
into the game a bit more.”
Stratigakis drew a foul when 
she was pulled down from 

behind bringing the ball into the 
Buckeye penalty box in the 49th 
minute. The ensuing free kick 
was taken by senior midfielder 
Brook Cilley and deflected in 
front of the goal by an Ohio 
State defender. A redirection 
by sophomore defender Sydney 
Shepherd 
sent 
the 
ball 
back 
to the feet of 
Stratigakis, 
who 
promptly 
secured a lead 
for Michigan.
For the rest 
of 
the 
match, 
the Wolverines’ 
defense 
was 
stout, preventing 
the 
Buckeyes 
from effectively centering the 
ball and stopping developing 
attacks with physical play. Ohio 
State’s lone dangerous scoring 
opportunity came with six-
and-a-half minutes left to play, 
when a Buckeye striker’s spin 
move on the left wing freed 
them to cross the ball into the 
box. Ohio State’s Kayla Fischer 
received the ball at point-
blank range directly in front 
of Michigan’s goal and made a 

last-gasp effort. She fell to the 
turf as she stretched for the 
ball and delivered a hard shot to 
a part of the goal left exposed 
by 
Beall. 
Luckily 
for 
the 
Wolverines, Hernandez’s shin 
was perfectly placed to prevent 

a late, game-tying score.
Michigan’s 
steady 
improvement over the course 
of the match was critical in 
securing the team’s second road 
win over a Big Ten opponent 
this week. 

“It’s a big rivalry game 
and when aggression meets 
aggression, 
talent 
shows,” 
Stratigakis said. “I feel like 
our team really showed that 
and that’s why it became a 2-1 
result.”

KATELYN MULCAHY/Daily
Junior midfielder Sarah Stratigakis’ second-half goal helped lead Michigan past Ohio State on Sunday.

Wolverines sputter to ninth place 
finish at Inverness Intercollegiate

The Inverness Intercollegiate 
offered the Michigan men’s golf 
team a chance to start anew. 
With a strong performance, 
the Wolverines could put their 
second-to-last place finish at 
last week’s Windon Memorial 
Classic firmly in the rearview 
mirror, 
cementing 
their 
struggles as nothing more than 
a blip. 
After placing ninth out of 
15 teams in the two-day event 
this week, though, it’s clear 
that Michigan still has a ways 
to go before becoming a serious 
competitor. 
“Ultimately, ninth place is 
not where we intend to finish,” 
said Michigan coach Steve 
Barlow. “Although there were 
some positives that we can 
take from moving forward, we 
still had mistakes that ended 
up leading to big penalties and 
resulted in us not finishing 
where we wanted to overall.”
The 
Wolverines 
finished 
31-over-par, for a three-round 
team total of 883. Leading 
the way for Michigan was 
senior Brent Ito, whose 216 
54-hole total landed him in 
a tie for 11th place out of 90. 
The performance marked Ito’s 
second straight top-12 finish to 
begin the season. 
“Overall, I’m pretty satisfied, 
but definitely hungry to get 
better,” Ito said. 
He attributes his early season 
success to the three-month-
long rest period provided by 
the broken ankle he suffered 
last spring. After the rest, Ito 
came back rejuvenated and has 
been on a “pretty good stretch” 
ever since. 
“(Ito’s) pulled our end and 
has played really well,” Barlow 
said. “He had a good finish last 
week and followed that up this 
week with another good one. 

He’s been the leader of this 
team thus far, really put us on 
his back and carried us.”
But Ito’s personal success 
has 
yet 
to 
translate 
to 
accomplishments 
for 
the 
Wolverines as a collective unit. 
Although golf is often viewed 
as an individual sport, team 
golf challenges that notion. 
All 
players 
are relied on 
to 
pull 
their 
weight equally, 
as 
the 
four 
highest scores 
are 
pooled 
together in the 
end. 
Barlow 
recognizes that 
in this aspect 
— having a 
core group of strong players — 
Michigan isn’t quite there yet, 
although he feels it is getting 
close. 
“Some of the things we 
talked about last week that 
we needed to get better at, 
we did get better at,” Barlow 
said. “One thing was stopping 
the 
bleeding 
quicker. 
Last 
week it took entirely too long. 
You’re always gonna run into 
stretches, especially in team 
golf, where you struggle, but 
the best teams bounce back 

quickly. I thought we were 
better at that this week. The 
guys took that to heart and 
were cognizant of that leading 
up to this week.”
At 
the 
Inverness 
Intercollegiate, 
there 
were 
flashes of potential. Junior 
Henry Spring shot a 69 (-2) 
in his final round, which tied 
his career best. 
Sophomore Ben 
Dunne tied his 
career low with 
a 72 (+1) and 
finished 
in 
a 
tie for 35th. On 
his last round, 
junior 
Charlie 
Pilon shot a 72, 
finishing tied at 
46th. 
Promising 
results like these have Barlow 
believing that sustained success 
is right around the corner. 
“I think we’re close,” Barlow 
said. “Big numbers are fixable. 
The entire week, I said to my 
assistants that we’re close to 
breaking out. There’s a lot of 
talent on this team, all the way 
down the lineup… We’ll be a 
better team in the Spring than 
the Fall, and that’s because 
we’re going to continue to get 
better. I think per the breakout, 
it’s only a matter of time.”

JARED GREENSPAN
For The Daily

KATELYN MULCAHY/Daily
The Michigan men’s golf team finished ninth at the Inverness Intercollegiate.

What do you 
want this 
team’s identity 
to be?

OWEN SWANSON
Daily Sports Writer

I felt we had a 
great response 
in the second 
half.

I just think 
Ohio State 
came out with 
great energy...

I think we’re 
close. Big 
numbers are 
fixable.

