The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Sports
Friday, October 11, 2019 — 7

Young guns

New faces buoy Wolverines past tough Detroit defense as Michigan takes 1-0 victory behind Derick Broche’s winner

As 
the 
minutes 
ticked 
further and further down in 
Wednesday 
night’s 
match, 
the 
Michigan 
men’s 
soccer 
team’s intensity was gradually 
building. After being knotted at 
zero with Detroit Mercy after 
nearly 75 minutes of action, the 
Wolverines were in desperate 
need of a big play to restore 
order on the pitch. 
That play came with 16 
minutes to go in the second 
half, as sophomore forward 
Derick Broche connected on a 
cross from freshman midfielder 
Harry Pithers to give Michigan 
(6-2-3 overall, 2-0-2 Big Ten) 
the lone goal en route to a 
1-0 win over the Titans (3-7-1 
overall, 0-2-1 Horizon League). 
Players 
exchanged 
chest 
bumps, and Broche was mobbed 
by his teammates in the corner 
of the field. For the Wolverines, 
who had struggled mightily 
throughout most of the match, 
Broche’s diving header came 
with an overwhelming sense of 
relief. 
“It 
was 
definitely 
frustrating,” 
Broche 
said. 
“They’re a drop back team, and 
to finally get that breakthrough, 
it gave us all the life back in the 
game. So, yeah, it was amazing 
for the team.” 
Michigan entered the game 
expecting to cruise to an easy 
victory, but its lackadaisical 
approach in the early going 
played right into the hands of 
the scrappy Titans. 
Throughout 
the 
game, 
Detroit 
Mercy 
gained 
a 
competitive edge by exerting its 
physicality and getting under 
the skin of the Wolverines. 
While 
Michigan 
dominated 
possession, the Titans managed 
to keep things close with their 
chippy play and stingy defense. 
They certainly succeeded in 
getting reactions out of the 
Wolverines as well, drawing 13 
fouls including a yellow card 
from junior midfielder Carlos 

Tellez.
In the early goings Michigan 
wasn’t 
matching 
Detroit 
Mercy’s 
intensity 
according 
to senior goalkeeper Andrew 
Verdi. He quickly became so 
fed up with the effort of the 
team that his exasperated voice 
could be heard throughout the 
stadium. 
“I saw that a lot of people 
maybe weren’t giving the energy 
in the game that they typically 
bring,” Verdi said. “So I was 
trying to lift that up. I think 
sometimes you’re gonna have to 
get on your teammates and try 
to get the best out of them. I’ll 
do as I expect somebody to do to 
me if I wasn’t playing the way I 
wanted to.”
While Verdi may have been 
disappointed with the effort at 
some points, the win did give 
him his fourth straight clean-
sheet. 
“It feels great,” Verdi said. 

“Four 
straight 
shutouts 
is 
something that’s pretty rare. 
I think me and the defense 
take great pride in that. It’s a 
reflection on the whole team.”
Michigan 
managed 
to 
keep its shut-out streak alive 
without two key starters, junior 
defender Joel Harrison and 
junior forward Umar Farouk 
Osman. Coach Chaka Daley 
decided to rest both ahead of 
Sunday’s match against No.4 
Indiana — though Harrison was 
forced to sub in for the final 
ten minutes due to an injury to 
senior defender Abdou Samake. 
In their stead, Pithers and 
fellow freshmen Carter Payne 
and Christian Pulselli saw a 
sharp increase in their playing 
time. 
“A lot of new faces in this kind 
of local derby type atmosphere 
or game, and I thought they 
stood up well and fought hard,” 
Daley said. “And we got a 

It was a slugfest.
At halftime of the Michigan 
men’s soccer team’s match against 
Detroit 
Mercy 
(3-7-1 
overall, 
0-2-1 Horizon), the Wolverines 
(6-2-3 overall, 2-0-2 Big Ten) had 
only registered one shot on goal 
in the scoreless tie. The Titans’ 
defense was suffocating Michigan, 
dropping almost everyone back to 
ensure they always had numbers 
on the defensive side. 
Normally, in situations like 
these, the Wolverines would look 
to their main playmakers for 
offense — All-American senior 
forward Jack Hallahan or graduate 
transfer forward Nebojsa Popovic, 
both of whom have started every 
match. 
Instead, the big play came 
from true freshman midfielder 
Harry Pithers. Facing pressure on 
the right sideline from a Detroit 

defender, he lobbed a masterfully 
placed cross to sophomore forward 
Derick Broche, who buried a 
header for the game’s lone goal. 
The assist was Pithers’ first point of 
his college career.
Still, Michigan’s 1-0 victory on 
Wednesday did not come easy, 
thanks to the Titans’ solid defense. 
Their conservative 
approach 
ceded 
time of possession 
to the Wolverines, 
but 
it 
allowed 
almost no space 
for their attackers 
to 
work 
with. 
Especially 
in 
the first half, the 
Detroit defenders 
filled the box and 
clogged up passing 
lanes, 
keeping 
Michigan from landing many 
quality shots and forcing offensive 
mistakes. 
“We 
made 
a 
few 
tactical 

mistakes,” said Michigan coach 
Chaka Daley. “ … Mistakes happen. 
We strive for perfection, but there’s 
always an error that can happen.” 
The Titans kept up their 
defensive 
approach 
early 
in 
the second half, holding the 
Wolverines to only one shot in the 
first 25 minutes of the half. Even 
Michigan’s usual 
stars 
struggled 
to make plays — 
Hallahan failed 
to register a shot 
in the second 
half before he 
was 
subbed 
out in the 66th 
minute. Detroit’s 
excellent 
defense 
also 
showed itself on 
corners, as the 
Wolverines failed to convert on any 
of their 10 corner opportunities. 
But as time ticked on, the talent 
gap became apparent, as Michigan 
managed to get behind the Titans’ 
back line, eventually culminating 
in Broche’s 74th-minute goal. 
“I think it was an early cross,” 
Broche said. “Most of the time 
early in the game, we took a little 
too long, and they got a chance to 
get players back, but this time we 
got a good cross early from Harry 
Pithers, and luckily I was at the end 
of it.” 
Though they only scored the one 
goal, the Wolverines’ offense was 
much more active late in the second 
half, tallying four shots in the final 
20 minutes of the match. This was 
partially due to Detroit adopting 
a more aggressive approach to 
try and even out the score, but 
Michigan’s 
passing 
was 
still 
visibly smoother and cleaner in the 
closing minutes. Pithers, Broche 
and junior midfielder Carlos Tellez 
— who has only started one match 
this season — were all central to 
the Wolverines’ attack late in the 
match. 
“We just needed a little bit of 
quality on service,” Daley said. 
“Because we were in the final third 
a lot in the second half.” 
A little bit of quality on service is 
exactly what Pithers delivered.

BRENDAN ROOSE
Daily Sports Writer

ALEC COHEN/Daily
Freshman midfielder Harry Pithers found Derick Broche for the game-winning goal in the 74th minute on Wednesday night as Michigan topped Detroit-Mercy, 1-0.

‘M’ set for tight series with Clarkson

Mel Pearson is quick to point 
out that when this weekend’s 
series was scheduled, no one knew 
what Michigan and Clarkson’s 
respective hockey teams would 
look like by the time the games 
were played.
So, the fact that the Wolverines’ 
home opener is against the No. 
11 team in the country isn’t 
intentional. 
But 
Pearson 
is 
embracing it as an opportunity to 
test what his team is made of right 
off the bat.
“It’s 
obviously 
a 
tough 
assignment for the first weekend, 
but a great opportunity for us, 
too,” Pearson said. “We’re at 
home. I like where our team’s at. 
We get to play a good opponent. 
It’s a good measuring stick. We’ll 
find where we are. Nobody’s going 
to win a national championship 
the first weekend or qualify to 
the tournament, but these are big 
games in the big scheme of things, 
especially down the road.”
The two programs come into 
the series in very different places. 
Clarkson went 26-11-2 last season, 
won the ECAC tournament and 
lost in overtime to Notre Dame 
in the first round of the NCAA 
Tournament. Michigan, on the 
other hand, entered last season 
ranked No. 4 in the country, and 
then proceeded to fall on its face 
and win just 13 games.
And after that disappointing 
finish 
last 
season, 
Pearson 
welcomes a chance to make a 
statement in the first weekend of 
the season. But it won’t be easy.
The Golden Knights return the 
vast majority of their scoring from 
last year, losing just two players 
who finished top 10 on the team in 
points. Their defense allowed the 
fourth-fewest goals in the nation, 
conceding just 78 goals on the 
season.
Kris Mayotte, who Michigan 
hired from Providence in the 
offseason, has some experience 
with Clarkson, as the two teams 
were 
frequent 
non-conference 

opponents. He knows what the 
Wolverines are in for.
“In my career, I’ve seen that 
school 
a 
lot,” 
Mayotte 
said 
Tuesday. “I know it’s always a 
big challenge. They are an older, 
structured type of team. I think 
that’ll be a great challenge for our 
guys and something that, as a staff 
and as a team, we’re excited for.”
Part of the challenge for 
Michigan will be maximizing 
its opportunities to score. The 
Golden Knights are known for 
their defense, and the Wolverines 
will need to take advantage of the 
chances they get — particularly on 
the power play.
Early in the year, when teams 
are still figuring out how to 
maximize their personnel, special 
teams can be a deciding factor. 
Last year, special teams was key 
for Michigan in a ranked non-
conference matchup with then-
No. 19 Western Michigan — the 
Wolverines won the Friday game, 
6-5, and went 3-of-7 on the power 
play while holding the Broncos to 
only one power-play goal in six 
opportunities.
This weekend, Pearson expects 
special teams to be no less 
important than it was then.
“We have to make sure that 
we’re disciplined,” Pearson said. 
“We have to make sure that we take 
advantage of the opportunities 
that are presented on the power 
play. We’re going to try to take it 
to them a little bit with our speed 
and aggressiveness. If we draw 
penalties, that’s great, but you 

have to make sure you can follow 
through and convert on the power 
plays.”
While Michigan and the Golden 
Knights have met only once before 
— in 2017, when the Wolverines 
won 3-0 on the road — two players 
bring an element of familiarity to 
the matchup.
Sophomore 
forward 
Nolan 
Moyle and Clarkson forward Josh 
Dunne spent two years on the same 
junior team, the USHL’s Green Bay 
Gamblers and even lived together 
during that time. In their second 
season, Dunne centered the line 
that Moyle played on all year. That 
season, Dunne finished second on 
the team with 48 points and Moyle 
finished third with 45.
Each is excited to see his friend, 
but it’s clear that the competition 
will be intense on the ice.
“It’s obviously going to be a little 
different seeing him in another 
color,” Moyle said. “But down 
there on the ice, he’s the opponent. 
Gotta work hard against him. Not 
going to take it easy.”
Added Dunne: “I’m always 
looking forward to seeing him, 
and we’re both competitive so 
we love the competition between 
each other. We’re both excited for 
this weekend.”
In Pearson’s view, playing 
against a friend always adds an 
extra level of competitive drive. 
And in this series, which both 
Pearson and Mayotte expect to be 
closely contested, that extra level 
of motivation may help Michigan 
come away with at least one win. 

For Dwumfour, this may be the start

After a win over Iowa, Michael 
Dwumfour texted his defensive 
coordinator.
“Coach, I jumped some gaps,” 
he said, according to Don Brown. 
“It won’t happen again.”
That’s just how Dwumfour 
is. The redshirt junior defensive 
tackle is always hungry for 
improvement, 
even 
after 
demolishing 
his 
opponent 
the way he did against the 
Hawkeyes, when he mauled 
Iowa’s vaunted offensive line 
in a game Michigan coach Jim 
Harbaugh called a “defensive 
masterpiece.”
Aiding his effort, Dwumfour 
has an impressive set of athletic 
abilities, especially for a 282-
pound defensive lineman. Brown 
doesn’t want to admit where 
he was when he saw a video of 
Dwumfour running a slant route, 
but he will admit his reaction: a 
little smile creeped across his 
face.
Still, after spending much of 
the spring dealing with a torn 
plantar fascia and then getting 
injured again one play into the 
season, it hasn’t all been easy for 
Dwumfour.
“It was tough,” Dwumfour 
said Tuesday night, a maize towel 
still draped around his neck from 

the practice he’s finally healthy 
enough to participate in. “ … But 
I’m back now, so I forgot about 
that.”
It had to have been frustrating 
for Dwumfour to sit on the 
sideline as the defensive line 
got pushed around in a loss at 
Wisconsin, with the Badgers 
picking on Michigan’s lack of 
size. Converted fullback Ben 
Mason, drastically undersized, 
was forced to start at three-
technique with Dwumfour out, 
and his inexperience there was 
on full display.
Harbaugh 
called 
out 
the 
entire defensive line in front of 
the team after that loss, telling 
them they had to play better. 
That 
unit 
has 
stepped 
up, 
with Dwumfour’s return the 
following week against Rutgers 
aiding that growth.
“Mike’s a great player,” said 
fifth-year 
senior 
offensive 
tackle Jon Runyan. “He’s really 
active with his hands, really 
quick twitch. Really hard to 
block in practice sometimes, 
that’s for sure. Seeing him back 
and healthy, I know he’s been 
struggling 
a 
lot, 
especially 
throughout the summer as well 
and going to the fall, it’s hard 
to see that guy sitting on the 
sidelines, sitting in the training 
room, battling through all these 
injuries he’s got, but I’m happy 

for him, that he’s back out there.”
Dwumfour especially excels 
in stopping the run game — a 
vital piece of the Wolverines’ 
game plan against Iowa. Now, 
the next step for Dwumfour is 
getting more involved in the 
passing game, highlighted by 
Brown’s explosive and tough-to-
master blitz packages.
With so much time missed, 
Dwumfour hasn’t been able to 
condition as much, but once 
he’s had a little more time back, 
Brown hopes to utilize him more 
in those looks and make the pass 
rush even more fearsome than it 
already is.
“The thing that Mike brings to 
the table is the ability to come out 
of his stance, 100 miles an hour,” 
Brown said. “… He’s athletic and 
again for him, he hasn’t played 
a whole heck of a lot of football 
lately around here. So now he’s 
going through another practice 
week, a chance to kind of sink 
your teeth into the game plan, 
sink your teeth into your stance, 
your footwork, your techniques, 
your fundamentals, your eyes, all 
those things.”
Dwumfour called it a blessing 
to be back on the field the past 
two weeks. But if his texts to 
Brown are any indication, he’s 
not taking any of it for granted — 
and in Brown’s eyes, it only goes 
up from here.

ALEC COHEN/Daily
Redshirt junior defensive tackle Michael Dwumfour is growing into an impact player for the Wolverines.

ARIA GERSON
Daily Sports Editor

BAILEY JOHNSON
Daily Sports Writer

ALEXANDRIA POMPEI/Daily
Sophomore Nolan Moyle roomed with Clarkson’s Josh Dunne from 2016-18.

ARTHUR POTTER
For The Daily

We strive for 
perfection, but 
there’s always 
an error.

