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.