The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Sports
Thursday, February 6, 2020 — 7

With healthy legs and new faces, Michigan looks to build on success in 2020

After a season riddled with 
injuries, faceoff struggles and 
deflating, 
tightly-contested 
losses, 
many 
teams 
would 
simply throw in the towel 
toward the end of the season, 
deeming 
their 
final 
games 
meaningless. 
The 
Michigan 
men’s lacrosse team could’ve 
been one of those teams.
But 
the 
Wolverines 
still 
needed to play Ohio State to end 
their 2019 campaign. Despite 
its 3-9 record at the time, 
Michigan wasn’t going to hand 
the Buckeyes a win.
Eager 
to 
send 
departing 
seniors like Brent Noseworthy, 
Decker 
Curran 
and 
Nick 
DeCaprio out on a high note, 
Michigan came out hot. At 
halftime, the Wolverines found 
themselves up 8-4 against Ohio 
State, 30 minutes away from 
knocking 
the 
Buckeyes 
out 
of contention for the Big Ten 
Tournament and ruining their 
postseason hopes.
Thirty minutes away from 
the program’s first win over 
their rival in history.
“We knew we were close to 
turning the corner,” Michigan 
coach Kevin Conry said. “The 
season as a whole was a season 
of reinventing ourselves based 
on our situation ... We had to 
consistently change who we 
needed to be. And by the end of 
the year, we had finally found 
that identity.”
So Michigan kept its foot on 
the gas pedal. For his final time, 
Noseworthy led the Wolverines 
on an offensive charge, notching 
three 
goals 
throughout 
the 
second half to keep the lead out 
of Ohio State’s reach.
As the final seconds ticked 
down on the clock, Michigan 
stood tall to defeat the Buckeyes, 
13-10.
The locker room celebration 
ensued. 
Director of Operations Joe 
Hennessey made his way down 
to Conry and congratulated him. 
The pair shared a sigh of relief 
and embraced what was a hard-
fought, deserved win to end a 
season that tested the bounds 

of the program’s resilience and 
patience.
Beyond the satisfaction of 
playing spoiler to the Buckeyes, 
Michigan’s victory over Ohio 
State was monumental for the 
program. While the Wolverines’ 
eighth season as a Division I 
lacrosse program was not all 
they hoped it would be, their 
finale demonstrated the team’s 
true potential and gave the 
program a wave of confidence 
going into the upcoming season. 
“It really sprung us forward,” 
Conry said. “That was a great 
taste of what we could be, but 
(now) we know how to get 
there to be what we should 
be. … It starts to develop your 
championship mentality.”
It is undeniable that the 
departure of key players like 
Noseworthy — a team captain 
and 
USILA 
Academic 
All-
American 
who 
holds 
the 
program’s all-time goal-scoring 
record with 102 — leaves a void 
both on and off the field for 
Michigan. 
But Conry expects a new 
class of leaders — including 
captains 
senior 
midfielder 
Avery Myers, graduate student 
midfielder 
Peter 
Hollen 
and senior goalkeeper Matt 
Trowbridge — to step up, build 
off the momentum of their 
predecessors and guide a roster 
featuring 16 freshmen and 10 
sophomores.
“Although we changed our 
roster over significantly, the 
mindset is still the same from 
our leadership,” Conry said. 
“Our guys came away with (the 
Ohio State) game saying ‘Okay, 
I know what I need to do now 
to get ugly and dirty and do it 
when no one else is watching, so 
that we can be great later on in 
the year. But I’m going to focus 
on right now.’ ”
Despite 
the 
losses 
of 
Noseworthy and Curran, who 
rank second and fourth for 
total points in program history, 
Michigan’s offense retains a 
firm majority of last year’s 
productivity. 
“We don’t replace guys like 
Noseworthy 
and 
Curran,” 
Conry said. “We look for a lot 
of guys to go ahead and pick up 

the slack … We still have a lot of 
goals and a lot of playing time 
back on the field.”
Most 
importantly, 
the 
Wolverines 
return 
their 
entire attack line: sophomore 
Bryce Clay and juniors Alex 
Buckanavage and Kevin Mack. 
Clay, who burst onto the scene 
as a freshman last year with 
22 goals, was named a Big Ten 
Player 
to 
Watch 
alongside 
Buckanavage and sophomore 
defenseman 
Andrew 
Darby. 
After finishing first and second 
on the team in total points last 
season, Buckanavage and Mack 
are expected to continue their 
offensive dominance in their 
third year as starters.
At midfield, the Wolverines 
look to Myers, who finished 
second on the team in goals 
with 24 last season, and Hollen, 
a 
solid, 
tenured 
defensive 
midfielder, for leadership and 
experience. After missing all 
of 2019 due to injury, fifth-
year senior midfielder Rocco 
Sutherland hopes to return 
to the level of productivity 
he showed as a junior when 
he notched nine goals and 13 

assists. Under the guidance of a 
veteran midfield core, freshmen 
like 
Jake 
Bonomi, 
Jacob 
Jackson and Josh Zawada will 
be integrated into the mix and 
are expected to see significant 
playing time early on in their 
careers.
On the defensive side of the 
field, Michigan must move on 
from its former swiss-army 
knife, 
Nick 
DeCaprio, 
who 
anchored 
down 
its 
defense 
last season and led the team 
in 
ground 
balls 
(34) 
and 
caused turnovers (27). After 
an impressive freshman year 
alongside DeCaprio and senior 
Michael Borda at close defense, 
Darby is expected to lead a 
young Michigan defense that 
will feature freshmen like Dylan 
Gardner and Ryan Schriber. 
In addition to Darby, the 
Wolverines bring back junior 
defenseman JD Carroll, who 
missed all of last season due 
to injury, and senior long-stick 
midfielder 
Finn 
Goonan 
to 
add some age to Michigan’s 
defensive lineup.
“(We had) one Nick DeCaprio. 
Now we have four or five really 

high 
quality 
defensemen,” 
Conry said. “We have extra 
depth at the defensive position 
that we don’t need one guy to do 
it all … We’re piecing it together. 
We got a group of guys who we 
are really comfortable with and 
can make the transition. And 
that’s really positive for us.”
After rotating between now-
graduated goalkeepers Tommy 
Heidt and Gunner Garn last 
season, a battle for the starting 
job persists this year between 
Trowbridge 
and 
sophomore 
John Kiracofe. Although neither 
has 
racked 
up 
significant 
minutes at the college level 
thus far, the Wolverines hope 
that either player will be able 
stabilize their defensive unit 
between the pipes.
Last 
season, 
Michigan’s 
biggest team struggles stemmed 
from problems at the faceoff X, 
where it only won 32 percent of 
faceoffs. After losing all three 
of his true faceoff-men to a 
myriad of injuries, Conry was 
forced to insert a mix of players, 
including Noseworthy, Goonan 
and DeCaprio, to try and tie up 
opponents. With senior Matt 

Dellacroce 
and 
sophomore 
Nick Rowlett now healthy, the 
Wolverines expect to benefit 
from greater security at the 
position. 
“It’ll be really exciting once 
we win a couple (faceoffs),” 
Conry said. “Adding them really 
just gives a spark in the ball. We 
have a pretty efficient, high-
powered offense that we feel 
comfortable once the ball gets 
down there we can create some 
quality opportunities.”
Overall, Michigan’s schedule 
is fierce, featuring matchups 
against six teams currently 
ranked in the Inside Lacrosse 
Top 
25 
rankings—including 
titans like Penn State and Yale, 
who both reached the 2019 
Final Four and return the bulk 
of their key players from last 
season. 
While no easy task, Conry, 
now in his third season as 
the Wolverines’ head coach, 
believes that his team can 
compete with the best teams 
in college lacrosse. And after 
beating Ohio State, the players 
have begun to believe that they 
can too.

Wolverines dominate Gators, 4-0

Guilia Pairone smashed a ball to 
the right side and let out a scream. 
Her 
opponent 
never 
even 
moved. 
The senior finished off her 
singles match with the confidence 
that the entire No. 10 Michigan 
women’s 
tennis 
team 
(2-1) 
exemplified in a 4-0 win over No. 
24 Florida (1-2) on Tuesday. 
The Wolverines set the tone 
in the doubles. Sophomore Anca 
Craciun and junior Alyvia Jones 
quickly jumped out to a 4-0 lead 
and had a bounce in their step as 
they dominated the Gators. In the 
fifth set, Jones blasted two aces to 
put the duo on the brink of victory. 
After dropping the next set, it 
was Craciun’s turn to serve. She 
launched one down the middle that 
Florida’s Marlee Zein mishit and 
it gave them a 6-1 win in their first 
ever match together.
“I think both of us were serving 
really well,” Craciun said. “Once 
we started getting those easy free 
points we just kind of loosened up.”
They then turned their attention 
to the next court over, where 
Pairone and senior Chiara Lommer 
looked to secure the doubles 
point for Michigan. Leading 5-3, 
Lommer took a deep breath and 
served the potential match point. 
She laid it down the left side and 

the return sailed long, giving the 
duo the 6-3 win. Lommer let out an 
emphatic scream and confidently 
walked forward to shake hands 
with her opponents, knowing she 
had put her team in prime position 
to win. 
“I thought we played a really 
good match,” Pairone said. “I was 
setting (Lommer) up really well 
and she was closing off all of the 
points.”
After grabbing the doubles 
point, the Wolverines moved to the 
singles matches and continued to 
make short work of the Gators. 
Freshman Nicole Hammond 
powered her way to a win in straight 
sets over Florida’s Ida Jarlskog and 
quickly gave Michigan a second 
point. 
“She strikes the ball so well, 
so it’s hard to hang with her,” 
Michigan coach Ronni Bernstein 
said. “She made very few unforced 
errors.” 
On the other side of the arena, 
Pairone and Craciun carried the 
momentum from their doubles 
performance. 
Pairone 
came 
out firing against the Gators’ 
McCartney Kessler and raced out 
to a 4-1 lead. After trading games, 
Kessler sent a shot long and Pairone 
pumped her fist as she took the first 
set, 6-2. 
“I knew how to play with her,” 
Pairone said. “I was very positive 
and I knew what to do.”

On the next court over, Craciun 
was 
performing 
with 
equal 
confidence against Florida’s Tsveta 
Dimitrova. She took the first set, 
6-1, after Dimotrova sent her 
return into the net. Craciun calmy 
walked to her bench to prepare for 
the next set. 
Pairone, though, was anything 
but calm. 
She let out fiery screams after 
every game and was extremely 
animated. 
“I always have a lot of energy,” 
Pairone said. “I’m very loud so 
that’s just who I am.”
She took a 5-1 lead before 
dropping the next set. It was clear 
that would be the last time she 
lost. She laid down some sizzling 
shots to win the match 6-1, 6-2. 
After securing the victory, she ran 
to the bench, dropped her racket 
and turned to watch her teammate 
finish off the Gators. 
Craciun won two key deuce 
points to go up, 5-1, but then 
dropped the next set. 
The entire team looked on as 
Craciun geared up for the final 
serve of the match. Craciun 
watched the return sail wide and 
the match was over. 
“I was just looking around at my 
team,” Craciun said. “I knew they 
were there for me.”
And after securing the win, 
Pairone was the first one there to 
leap into Craciun’s arms.

Pitching depth provides opportunity

Over the past two seasons, 
the Michigan softball team’s 
success in the circle has largely 
fallen on the shoulders of one 
athlete: 
junior 
left-hander 
Meghan Beaubien. 
But this season, as sophomore 
right-hander 
Alex 
Storako 
comes into her own and the 
Wolverines welcome two more 
pitchers 
onto 
their 
roster, 
Beaubien may be able to give her 
arm a rest from time to time. 
For the first time in 20 
years, 
the 
Wolverines’ 
pitching staff now boasts five 
pitchers: 
Beaubien, 
Storako, 
freshman left-hander Lauren 
Esman, 
freshman 
right-
hander Chandler Dennis and 
junior 
right-hander 
Sarah 
Schaefer. But with so many of 
Michigan’s 
options 
untested 
and unseasoned, it’s too early 
to tell what impact the added 
depth will have. 

Esman was ranked the No. 65 
recruit nationally by FloSoftball 
in the 2019 class. As a senior 
in high school, she posted an 
ERA of 0.42 and racked up 341 
strikeouts in 148.2 innings. 
But collegiate play is a whole 
different 
ballgame. 
Pitchers 
face a different caliber of batter 
and a new level of pressure. For 
Storako, it took a full year until 
she felt like she’d found her 
personality in the circle. Esman 
may be a similar case. 
“We haven’t utilized Esman 
as much going into this part of 
the year,” Michigan coach Carol 
Hutchins said. “We’ve been 
kind of working her slow. We’re 
picking that up a little bit. She’s 
not as far along as we might 
need her to be, so she might have 
to get on the fast-track.”
For 
Dennis 
— 
the 
No. 
29-ranked recruit by FloSoftball 
— 
that 
transition 
may 
be 
happening a bit faster. She 
registered a 1.04 ERA in high 
school and was a three-year 
All-State honoree in Georgia. 
Hutchins has made it clear that 

both of the new additions will 
get the opportunity to prove 
themselves this season. 
“(Dennis) is definitely better 
this semester than she was last 
semester,” Hutchins said. “I 
think (Dennis) is really capable 
of some great things, and I 
think she needs to see herself 
as great. She needs to have 
some determination everyday 
and every pitch — like all of 
them. They’re always a work in 
progress.”
Schaefer 
rounds 
out 
the 
Wolverines’ 
bullpen 
as 
the 
third returning pitcher, though 
she’ll be out with an injury for 
at least a month. Even when she 
returns, it’s unclear how much 
time she’ll spend in the circle. 
Her 
freshman 
season, 
Schaefer posted a stellar ERA 
of 1.57 — although only pitched 
62.1 innings — but she was 
largely absent from last season’s 
rotation, finishing with only 17.2 
innings pitched and an ERA of 
3.17. 
In practice, the added depth 
on 
this 
year’s 
roster 
may 
not make a huge difference. 
Hutchins and the rest of her 
assistant coaches may choose to 
stick with last season’s rotation 
of Beaubien and Storako — the 
tried and true pairing that 
carried the team to a Big Ten 
Tournament win. But their 
goal is to use the entire staff. If 
even one of the other pitchers 
becomes a reliable option, it 
would be a game-changer for 

the Wolverines. 
While Michigan is always 
a force in the Big Ten, it has 
struggled in recent years to 
compete 
with 
west-coast 
powerhouses in the postseason. 
The Wolverines haven’t made 
it out of Super Regionals since 
2016 when they lost in the 
second round of the World 
Series. But a third pitcher in 
the rotation could be what takes 
Michigan to the next level. 
Most top-ranked programs 
— including Florida and Florida 
State who the Wolverines will 
face at next weekend’s Wilson-
Demarini tournament — have 
more 
than 
two 
consistent 
pitchers. But the last time 
Michigan was able to use three 
pitchers 
in 
relatively 
even 
amounts was 2014. 
Pitching 
upwards 
of 
10 
innings a weekend, it’s easy for 
a pitcher to get worn out by the 
end of the season. But more than 
that, it’s about having someone 
to pick up the slack. 
“The beauty of (having five 
pitchers) is if somebody isn’t 
on and somebody else isn’t 
on, hopefully the next person 
will be and we really use the 
staff,” 
Hutchins 
said. 
“We 
certainly need to have high level 
performance from each of them. 
That’s going to be the key.”
There’s 
no 
question 
the 
Wolverines’ pitching staff has 
the talent to make that happen. 
The issue will lie in how soon 
they find their rhythm. 

LANE KIZZIAH
Daily Sports Writer

ALEC COHEN/Daily
Junior right-hander Sarah Schaefer posted a 3.17 ERA in 2019.

JOSH TAUBMAN
For The Daily

ALEC COHEN/Daily
Senior Guilia Pairone secured Michigan’s victory over Florida with a win in her singles match on Tuesday.

DREW COX
Daily Sports Writer

ALLISON ENGKVIST/Daily
The Michigan men’s lacrosse team brings back a majority of its production from 2019, despite losing Brent Noseworthy and Decker Curran, among others.

