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.