The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
SportsMonday
November 4, 2019 — 3B
COLUMBUS — With a little
over a minute remaining in Will
Lockwood’s penalty for slashing,
junior forward Dakota Raabe
skated the puck into the offensive
zone.
He brought the puck up along
the boards, but then he lost control
of it. A few seconds later, the
referee blew his whistle — Raabe
was headed to the box for hooking
and Michigan (3-4-1 overall, 0-2-
0-0 Big Ten) was headed for a
minute-long five-on-three penalty
kill against No. 13 Ohio State (6-1-1
overall, 2-0-0-0 Big Ten).
In
the
final
moments
of
Lockwood’s
penalty,
Buckeyes
forward Tanner Laczynski brought
the puck across the blueline.
Standing unmarked at the top of the
left faceoff circle, forward Michael
Gildon waited for a pass. Before
the puck even arrived, Gildon was
setting up for a one-time slapshot.
He beat sophomore goaltender
Strauss Mann glove side, just under
the crossbar.
In an instant, the Wolverines
trailed the Buckeyes, 1-0, halfway
through the second period. Though
Gildon’s goal wasn’t what resulted
in the eventual 2-1 loss Michigan
suffered on Saturday night, its play
through that stretch of the period
offered no aid.
“I didn’t get a good look at it,”
said Michigan coach Mel Pearson
of the call against Raabe. “I don’t
know if it’s a penalty or not, but to
put you two men down when you’re
200 feet from your net, I don’t
know. We can’t even put ourselves
in a position to take a penalty like
that.”
The
untimely
penalties
combined
with
poor
puck
management
resulted
in
an
offensive lull for the Wolverines.
They tallied just four shots on
net compared to the Buckeyes’ 13
in the second period. Bad puck
bounces resulted in turnovers in
the Michigan defensive zone and
scoring chances for Ohio State.
When the Wolverines did manage
to clear the puck, the Buckeyes
quickly regained possession and
Michigan was back to playing
defense.
“We’re not playing 60 total
minutes of hockey,” said freshman
forward Johnny Beecher. “And
I think that definitely showed
tonight, especially in that second
period. We need to dial it in, and
we need to take care of pucks.
We’re just giving up way too many
opportunities in the neutral zone.
We just need to get pucks deep and
get it on net.”
Headed into the third and
looking to put its poor performance
in the second put behind it,
Michigan searched for a tying goal.
There were plenty of offensive
looks and opportunities, but the
Wolverines failed to capitalize on
them.
As
more
minutes
ticked
from the clock, the Wolverines’
urgency increased. With just over
four minutes left in the game,
Raabe connected with freshman
defenseman Cam York as York
made a push into the offensive
zone.
When the puck found York’s
stick just outside the right faceoff
circle, he drove towards the net.
York carried the puck behind the
goal, and in one seamless motion
completed a textbook wraparound
to score the tying goal — and the
first of his career.
“He had one in the first period,”
Pearson said, “where he circled the
net like that. We talked (about) if he
has the opportunity to get around,
just the way their coverage is, you
can come in on that backdoor. Good
for Cam. He’s a heck of a hockey
player and he’s gonna have many
more.”
Riding their newfound wave
of momentum, the Wolverines
continued their offensive push into
the closing minutes of the game.
Sophomore defenseman Jack
Summers settled the puck off the
boards at the edge of the offensive
zone. Desperate to keep the play
alive, Summer attempted to pass
the puck — but his stick didn’t
make contact with it.
Ohio State defenseman Grant
Gabriele reached out for the puck,
pushed it between Summers’
legs and took off on an odd-man-
rush down the ice. Gabriele fired
a shot at Mann, who deflected
it wide and right, to the stick
of Tate Singleton. In a fluid
motion, he slid the puck past
Mann’s outstretched pad and the
Buckeyes retook the lead, 2-1. In
the waning moments of the game,
the Wolverines’ attempts with
an extra attacker didn’t yield an
equalizer.
When the final buzzer rang,
Michigan had been swept by its
biggest rival to open the Big Ten
schedule.
“The game never comes down
to one play or an opportunity,”
Pearson said. “I referenced the
Ronnie Bell catch against Penn
State. It doesn’t come to that. It’s,
again, another tough bounce,
another tough break, but we gotta
pick each other up.”
COLUMBUS
—
All
Jack
Summers could do was stand there
and watch Ohio State celebrate.
Seconds earlier, the sophomore
defenseman received the puck at
the blueline and tried to pass it
back in to keep Michigan in the
offensive zone as they looked for
a go-ahead goal. But Summers
whiffed on the pass, and that
half-second with a loose puck was
all defenseman Grant Gabriele
needed to take the puck for
himself.
Gabriele flew through the
neutral
zone
as
Summers
desperately gave chase. A shot
from the left faceoff circle went
off sophomore goaltender Strauss
Mann’s pad as he came high in
the crease to challenge Gabriele,
which left forward Tate Singleton
a wide-open net.
Singleton’s wrister found the
back of the net, and Mann never
had a chance. Summers was a step
behind Singleton, catching up to
the play just a moment too late.
As
the
crowd
at
the
Schottenstein Center rose to its
feet, Summers turned to watch
Singleton and his teammates
celebrate the game-winner. He
dropped his head into his hands,
and his defeated body language
said it all.
Not even two minutes after
freshman defenseman Cam York
tied the game on a highlight-reel
wraparound,
the
Wolverines’
chance at a come-from-behind
win was all but gone. It took
Michigan 56 minutes to get its first
tally of the night, and everyone in
the building sensed that the 91
remaining seconds were too few
for another comeback.
“(The momentum swing is)
brutal,” York said. “To work hard
all game to get that one and then
to give it up like that, it’s just not
good. It’s frustrating for sure.”
The Buckeyes’ defense stifled
the Wolverines throughout the
game on Saturday. A four-shot
second period left Michigan in a
1-0 hole after giving up a power-
play goal, and it took the majority
of the third period before the
Wolverines found twine.
In the moments after York’s
tying goal, it looked like Michigan
was going to find a way to come
back and win.
Two shifts later, freshman
forward Eric Ciccolini picked up
a loose puck in the defensive zone
and brought it into the attacking
zone. He passed the puck to fifth-
year forward Jacob Hayhurst who
was crashing down on goaltender
Tommy Nappier, but the pass
went just past Hayhurst and Ohio
State got going the other way.
“I liked after we tied the game,”
said Michigan coach Mel Pearson.
“I thought, I really did, that we
were going to win this game. We
had the momentum and even the
next shift, we’re in their zone...”
Senior
defenseman
Griffin
Luce got down the ice to break up a
scoring chance for forward Austin
Pooley, and the game settled down
for a few moments.
Then the pendulum swung
back the other way, and within
seconds, the Buckeyes netted
the game-winning goal. It was
the final blow of the weekend for
a team that struggled to create
chances and maintain possession
of the puck — both of which came
back to haunt them on the last
goal.
All
the
momentum
from
York’s goal was taken out of the
Wolverines with one whiff on a
pass and a rebound that went out
to just the right spot for Singleton
to send it home.
“It’s heartbreaking,” said senior
forward Will Lockwood. “You
know, I think we worked really
hard. It’s a big play from Yorkie, he
really stepped up and made a huge
play to tie it up and bounces like
that are just going to happen. And
you can’t always get the bounce
your way and unfortunately, it
went their way and ended the
game there.”
After the game, Pearson was
quick to point out that the game
never should’ve come down to that
one play off Summers. A mistake
by any one player almost never
decides a game, and Lockwood,
the Wolverines’ captain, wanted
to make sure Summers knew that.
“I just told him to forget about
it,” Lockwood said. “No one on
our team is going to point fingers.
If someone points fingers, they’re
on the wrong team. That’s not
what we do here.”
MOLLY SHEA
Daily Sports Writer
BAILEY JOHNSON
Daily Sports Writer
The
Michigan
women’s
soccer team pounded on the
door right from the initial
whistle Sunday in the Big Ten
Tournament
quarterfinals,
dominating Maryland in time
of possession and shots on goal
for the entirety of the match.
But for the first 35 minutes, the
scoreboard didn’t reflect that.
Every time the Wolverines
got remotely close to putting
the ball in the back of the net,
Terrapins
goalkeeper
Erin
Seppi was ready — making
her backline look good for
Michigan’s first five shots on
goal. But with the Wolverines
consistently pushing the ball
into the final third of the pitch,
Maryland was bound to break.
With 9:31 left in the first half,
forward Jayde Reviere manned
a three-on-two counterattack.
Striking a curving cross from
midfield
over
the
head
of
two Maryland defenders, the
freshman caught sophomore
midfielder Meredith Haakenson
in stride, who just had Seppi to
beat.
Haakenson sent a hard-hit
ground ball right into Seppi’s
hands, but the goaltender was
unable to reel it in, setting up
freshman
forward
Danielle
Wolfe for an easy follow —
tacking on the first goal in a 3-0
victory for No. 3 seed Michigan
(13-4-1 overall, 8-2-1 Big Ten)
over the sixth-seeded Terrapins
(9-7-3, 5-5-1).
“I usually play on the right
side with Meredith, so I know
her
movement
fairly
well,”
Reviere said. “My thing is I love
to cut inside so being on the left
side, I think the coaches knew
that I had a little more freedom
to be able to kind of mix up the
opponents mind.
“(Haakenson) was able to
take a beautiful touch, able to
take a shot on goal. It didn’t
obviously result in a goal for
her, but it did for (Wolfe) and
at the end of the day, a goal is a
goal.”
A near lock for the NCAA
Tournament, the Wolverines
kicked off the postseason in
style. Amassing a total of 21
shots and 13 shots on goal, they
didn’t let up their intensity in
the second half.
Ten
minutes
in,
Sarah
Stratigakis, the newly-crowned
Big Ten Midfielder of the Year,
found
herself
against
two
defenders in the box. As a result,
Haakenson, the team’s leading
goal-scorer,
was
left
wide
open for a clean through pass
from Stratigakis. This time,
Haakenson beat the goalkeeper
and Michigan’s score doubled,
giving it a comfortable cushion
for the rest of the game.
Forward Emma Cooper scored
the first goal of her junior year
campaign as well.
The
shutout
wasn’t
the
only
testament
toward
the
Wolverines’
suffocating
defense. Even more revealing
was
that
Maryland
didn’t
have any shots on goal and six
shots total, showing that the
midfielders played their part
in limiting the Terrapins from
breaking into the final third of
the field.
“Just really happy with the
clean sheet,” said Michigan
coach Jennifer Klein. “We’ve
had a lot of good results over
the last couple of games, but just
haven’t been able to get a clean
sheet, so I think that today
was really good for our team’s
confidence moving forward.”
Michigan
will
have
to
overcome
a
much
greater
challenge next weekend in the
semifinal round, traveling to
New Jersey to play tournament
host and No. 2 seed Rutgers,
who defeated the Wolverines,
1-0, on Oct. 24.
But, with a chip on its
shoulder and consistency on
both sides of the ball, this team
could be a tough out.
Late in a first half that had
yielded
open
chances
but
no goals for the Michigan
women’s soccer team, a pair
of freshmen blew the game
open for the Wolverines. Right
back Jayde Riviere sent a cross
from near midfield that caught
the
Maryland
defense
off
guard and set
Michigan
up
with a scoring
opportunity.
Fellow
freshman,
forward
Dani
Wolfe, finished
off
the
play,
out-racing
Maryland’s
center back down the pitch
and tapping the ball in off a
deflection.
“The
goalkeeper
shifted,”
Wolfe said. “And it was just a
little hard work to outrun the
second center back to finish
that for us.”
It was this play and others
made by the two freshmen
that helped give Michigan a
convincing 3-0 victory over
the Terrapins on Sunday and
a berth into the semi-finals
of the Big Ten
Tournament.
“They’re
continuing
to
grow
and
continuing
to
get
better
within
our
group,”
said
Michigan coach
Jennifer Klein.
“I think you see
the confidence,
I think they’re really getting to
know the expectations for them
as players.”
Wolfe
has
continued
to
impress after a stellar freshman
regular
season,
where
she
earned a spot on the Big Ten
All-Freshman team. She also
tallied an assist in the match
after coming off the bench.
“This is such a great group of
girls who work so hard,” Wolfe
said. “So, I just match that
when I come onto the field and
just work as hard as I can. As a
freshman coming in, you just
make the impact you can.”
Wolfe nearly scored later
in the game as well, when she
just barely struck wide off a
pinpoint pass from Riviere —
a connection that reflects the
bond that the two have formed
off the field, as well.
“Dani
and
I
are
very
close friends outside of this
environment.” Riviere said. “...
She’s like a sister to me and I
think that kind of helps with
the chemistry on the field. We
go to the field and get some
repetition together, so I think it
just shows in the game.”
Riviere, for her part, played a
multi-faceted role in Michigan’s
gameplan. Her contributions
from right back did not end
up in the box-score statistics,
but she managed to impact
the game in all three areas of
the pitch. Riviere has handled
her demanding role well this
season, and found herself on
the Big Ten All-Freshman team
with Wolfe.
“As a fullback at Michigan,
the demands are that you’re
an end-to-end player,” Riviere
said. “You should be able to get
in attack and be able to get back
and defend.”
As the season has gone on,
these two talented freshmen
have forged a strong bond and
helped each other to grow.
Their
progress
this
season
has proven invaluable to the
Wolverines, and will be a boon
for Michigan as it continues its
postseason run.
“They’re confident, they’re
relaxed,”
Klein
said.
“And
I think they’re having fun,
which I think you can see when
they’re on the field.”
AKUL VIJAYVARGIYA
Daily Sports Writer
‘M’ falls to OSU, 2-1, capping sweep
Momentum swing dooms weekend
ALEXANDRIA POMPEI/Daily
Junior forward Dakota Raabe took a costly penalty on Saturday.
ALEXANDRIA POMPEI/Daily
Sophomore defenseman Jack Summers committed a key turnover Saturday.
On a roll
Buoyed by freshmen, Michigan dominates Maryland in opening round of Big Ten Tournament, setting up Rutgers clash
ARTHUR POTTER
For The Daily
ALLISON ENGKVIST/Daily
Freshman forward Dani Wolfe scored a tap-in goal as Michigan beat Maryland, 3-0, on Sunday afternoon in the Big Ten Tournament quarterfinals.
They’re
continuing to
grow ... within
our group.