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Sports
Tuesday, February 11, 2020 — 7

Storako pitching as ace
T

op of the seventh, last 
chance for Georgia State. 
Sophomore right-hander 
Alex Storako 
trotted out 
and took 
her place 
inside the 
circle. With 
13 strikeouts 
under her 
belt, she was 
just two away 
from tying 
her single-
game record 
of 15 set last season against Michi-
gan State.
Skylar Mosel stepped up to 
the plate for Georgia State. Four 
pitches later, she was heading 
back to the bench after swinging 
for the third strike — 14 strike-
outs.
Sofia Tunon took her turn 
against Storako. And once again, 
Storako got another Panther to 
swing and miss for a third strike 
— 15.
Two outs. Gracie Kittrell was 
Georgia State’s last chance. Seven 
pitches in and Storako and Kittrell 
were locked in a full count. Stora-
ko sent the ball over the plate. Kit-
trell swung, but like those ahead 
of her, she found nothing but air 
— 16, a new career-best.
That was how Storako started 
her season. With emphasis. 
“I just had all my pitches,” 
Storako said.

She stamped Michigan soft-
ball’s season opener, a 6-1 win 
over Georgia State, with a per-
formance that made a statement 
about her year to come. She went 
on to contribute in three of the 
other four wins, helping the 
Wolverines improve to 5-0 on the 
season.
There was no debate over 
whether Storako was going to be 
a starter after coming off a suc-
cessful freshman campaign that 
ended in a 14-6 record and a 2.02 
ERA. She and junior left-hander 
Meghan Beaubien were locks in 
the pitching rotation entering the 
season.
But Storako’s performance in 
the Wolverines opening weekend 
at the USF-Rawlings Invitational 
warrants a new question: Does 
Michigan have a clear No. 1?
The short answer: no.
When asked, Michigan coach 
Carol Hutchins praised both 
pitchers, not naming one ace, but 
rather treating the two as a pair.
Beaubien was the first pitcher 
in last year’s rotation. After all, 
Storako was only a freshman and 
Beaubien was coming off a cam-
paign that saw her win Big Ten 
Freshman and Pitcher of the Year.
And over the weekend’s games, 
Beaubien in no way played poorly. 
She finished with an ERA of 1.75 
and a 1.13 WHIP. 
But Storako excelled. This was 
her weekend, and Storako showed 
just how good she can be.

“Well, I thought our team had a 
great weekend and Alex certainly 
was a big part of that,” Hutchins 
said. “Last year, at this time, she 
couldn’t get through entire games, 
and now she’s doing a heavy load 
for us. I’m very pleased with that.”
Storako pitched in four of five 
games over the three-day slate, 
only sitting against South Florida. 
This included her record-setting 
start against Georgia State, a 
relief performance against Illi-
nois State, a zero earned-run 
outing against Fresno State and 
a complete game against the 
Wolverines’ best opponent of the 
weekend — No. 7 Florida — where 
she held the Gators to just two 
runs on six hits.
“I think it speaks for itself,” 
Hutchins said. “Now she’s carry-
ing the bulk of the load and she’s 
someone that we count on to be 
consistent and to be competitive.”
Storako came out of the week-
end boasting a 1.00 ERA and 
1.10 WHIP, while averaging 1.81 
strikeouts per inning and 12.67 
per game.
“I felt really good,” Storako 
said. “I was able to throw one 
pitch at a time.”
It’s a small sample size — just 
three starts and four games — but 
the numbers don’t tell a lie. Stora-
ko dominated.
Her pitching took over each 
game, paralyzing opposing 
offenses. Out of the 23 players she 
let on base over four games, 20 
were stranded.
Storako came out this weekend 
and pitched like an ace. Like a 
true number one Hutchins trust-
ed with the first game, last game 
and hardest game of the weekend. 
At the same invitational last 
season, Hutchins noted Storako 
surpassed then-sophomore Sarah 
Schaefer as the No. 2 pitcher in 
the rotation.
This year, Storako made her 
case again — this time for a share 
of No. 1.

Stoll can be reached at nkstoll@

umich.edu and on Twitter @nkstoll.

Notebook: Faceoffs, line chemistry, 
penalties important for Wolverines

The past two weekends — more 
than any others — exemplified the 
importance of winning faceoffs 
for the Michigan hockey team. 
The Wolverines won a couple key 
faceoffs, at home against No. 13 
Ohio State and Wisconsin, that 
helped fuel wins.
In Friday’s game against the 
Buckeyes, a crucial faceoff victory 
came late in the second period. 
The score was tied at one a piece 
and sophomore forward Jimmy 
Lambert got ready to take a draw 
at the right circle of the offensive 
zone. 
Lambert won it and quickly 
sent it behind him to freshman 
defenseman 
Cam 
York. 
York 
hustled toward the left circle 
and found a window between 
defenders to rifle the puck into the 
net. That goal came at a turning 
point for the eventual 3-2 victory.
Then Saturday against the 
Badgers, senior forward Nick 
Pastujov won another important 
draw early in the first period of 
a then-scoreless game. Pastujov 
won the faceoff at the right 
circle of the defensive zone and 
soon connected with freshman 
forward Eric Ciccolini who sent it 
to freshman defenseman Keaton 
Pehrson near center ice. Pehrson 
did the rest, putting Michigan on 
the board in a 5-3 win that secured 
the weekend sweep.
These plays show just how 
much of an advantage winning a 
faceoff can be. It puts the opposing 
players on their feet, as they have 
to quickly get set in a defensive 
position and figure out what 
they’re going to do. A split second 
hesitation from the opposing 
defense in making that transition 
is all it takes to spur an offensive 
burst. And that was the case the 
past two weekends.
There’s plenty of room for the 
Wolverines to improve on faceoffs, 
as they’ve won 49.8 percent to 
date. That said, the results from 

the 
weekend 
could 
provide 
Michigan enough of an incentive 
to bear down on the draws.
When it comes to the drop of the 
puck, Pastujov is the Wolverines’ 
most talented player. He has taken 
close to 22-percent of his team’s 
faceoffs and is winning nearly 57 
percent of the time.
Slaker, Lambert, Granowicz 
line finding success
With 
freshman 
forward 
Johnny Beecher out during last 
Friday’s game due to a one-game 
suspension, the lines were changed 
up a bit. For the first time, the 
combination of senior forward 
Jake Slaker, freshman forward 
Nick Granowicz and Lambert 
found its way onto the ice.
“I thought that we were good 
on the forecheck,” Lambert said of 
the line. “We were just going to the 
net. A lot of the times, the goals are 
scored just within 10 feet of the net 
and that’s where we scored pretty 
much all of them, so we clicked 
well, but we were skating and we 
were moving it and communicating 
and that was big out there tonight. ”
And it worked for Michigan. 
The line helped churn three goals 
in the 8-4 win.
“I’ve been playing with Jimmy 
on and off for the last two years, so 
we have good chemistry,” Slaker 
said. “It was our first night with 
(Granowicz) and we had really 
good practices this week. We kind 
of went in with a game plan and it 
ended up working out.”

Despite Beecher’s return to the 
ice on Saturday, the Wolverines 
stuck to what worked — letting 
Slaker, Lambert and Granowicz 
continue to stick together. And once 
again, the results were positive. In 
the 5-3 victory, the line was on ice 
for two of Michigan’s goals.
Lambert left the game in the 
third period due to an undisclosed 
injury after sliding into the boards. 
If he can make a timely recovery, 
though, he and his new linemates 
could help the Wolverines continue 
their offensive strides that they’ve 
searched so long to find.
Penalties dwindling away
While 
hosting 
Wisconsin, 
Michigan 
significantly 
limited 
its penalties. Heading into the 
weekend, the Wolverines were 
averaging 8.96 penalty minutes 
a night. That figure wasn’t too 
much of an issue due to the group’s 
skillful penalty kill unit.
But in the two games against 
the Badgers combined, Michigan 
served just six total penalty 
minutes. 
“Honestly, I think it’s just the 
point in the season,” senior forward 
Jacob Hayhurst said of the drop. 
“It’s late. Everyone knows what the 
refs are gonna call and what they’re 
not gonna call. I think there’s 
gonna be a little more leeway each 
night, just because it’s getting that 
much closer to playoff hockey.”
However, if such improvement is 
here to stay, it could pay dividends 
down the road.

NICHOLAS
STOLL

ALEC COHEN/Daily
Alex Storako showed this weekend that she can be a second ace for Michigan.

ROHAN KUMAR
Daily Sports Writer

NATALIE STEPHENS/Daily
Senior forward Nick Pastujov won key faceoffs in Michigan’s weekend sweep.

Fresh faces

Five minutes into the first 
quarter, freshman midfielder Jake 
Bonomi glided across the left side 
of the field, tucking his crosse to 
his side as he face-dodged past a 
flurry of defenders. With his hands 
free, Bonomi then smoothly placed 
his shot right past the left shoulder 
of Cleveland State goalkeeper 
Gareth Haigh to net the Michigan 
men’s lacrosse team’s first goal of 
the 2020 season and his first goal 
as a Wolverine.
Alongside 
Bonomi, 
who 
recorded one other goal and 
one assist on Saturday, fellow 
freshmen attackman Josh Zawada 
and defenseman Dylan Gardner, 
who both found the back of the net 
twice, had impressive debuts as 
the Wolverines (1-0) defeated the 
Vikings (0-1), 16-9, in their season 
opener. 
With senior midfielder Avery 
Myers out due to injury, three 
freshmen found themselves in 
the Wolverines’ starting offensive 
rotation: Bonomi, Zawada and 
midfielder Jacob Jackson. 
And they all proved why they 
deserve to be starters, seamlessly 
integrating themselves into a 
fierce unit of goal-scorers that 
includes junior attackman Kevin 
Mack and sophomore attackman 
Bryce Clay.
“Playing alongside Kevin and 
Bryce, I have to work off them,” 
Zawada said. “Every time they 
dodge, I’m there. I gotta just 
know my place and what to do. 
Everything will fall into place 
after that.”
“We have some firepower with 
our offensive unit, but it’s more 
about leadership,” Michigan coach 
Kevin Conry said. “It’s just the 
quiet confidence in this group 
that they know that they have 
the ability to go on some of these 
runs.”
Bonomi 
and 
Zawada’s 
goals were paired with a set of 
opportunistic goals from junior 
midfielders Alex Buckanavage, 
after a man-up possession, and 
Steven Schnieder, following a 
lengthy ground ball scrum. By the 
end of the first quarter, Michigan 

extended its lead to 4-1.
“It 
was 
more 
about 
just 
understanding and knowing that 
they could do it,” Conry said. “It’s 
great to see them actually perform. 
They’ve had such good preseasons 
that we weren’t very surprised.”
Three minutes into the second 
quarter, 
Vikings’ 
attackman 
Tristan Hanna found teammate 
Ryan Haigh streaking through 
the Wolverines’ defensive unit. 
Haigh then fired a shot past senior 
goalkeeper Matt Trowbridge to 
cut Michigan’s lead to two goals.
But just two minutes later, Clay 
bulled his way through a Vikings’ 
defenseman and fired a shot past 
Haigh to re-extend Michigan’s 
lead to three.
The Wolverines didn’t look 
back from there. Highlighted by 
a ferocious time-and-room goal 
scored by fifth-year senior Rocco 
Sutherland and an open-net goal 
from near midfield by Gardner, 
Michigan piled on four more 
goals throughout the quarter. At 
halftime, the Wolverines stood tall 
with a commanding 9-3 lead.
In last season’s contest against 
Cleveland State, Michigan found 

itself in a similar situation, up 
7-0 halfway through the second 
quarter. The Wolverines let the 
Vikings back into the game and 
barely escaped with a victory, 10-8. 
This season, although Michigan 
was able to hold onto a healthy-
sized lead throughout the second 
half, Cleveland State never folded 
and scored twice as many goals in 
the second half as it did in the first. 
Led by Hanna, who scored two 
of his three goals in the second 
half, the Vikings capitalized on a 
young Wolverines’ defensive unit’s 
miscues on transition defense and 
positioning several times.
“You have to look and give 
Cleveland State a lot of credit,” 
Conry said. “Tristan Hanna is 
slippery. He’s got incredible hands 
and moves really well off the ball. 
A lot of it is the speed he was 
working at. … You look at those 
guys who are all freshmen getting 
back in the hole. A lot of times you 
get back in the hole, you rest. (And) 
you can’t rest. So that’s really the 
message that we have to continue 
to hammer into them.”
Despite 
occasional 
lapses, 
Michigan’s 
defense 
stood 
its 

ground for the most part and took 
advantage of numerous missed 
opportunities ceded by the Vikings. 
In addition to his two goals, 
Gardner scooped up seven ground 
balls and caused one turnover. 
Sophomore defensive midfielder 
Andrew Russell and sophomore 
defenseman Drake Schaffner each 
picked up three ground balls to 
award the Wolverines’ offense 
the possessions they needed to 
maintain their lead. 
In spite of Cleveland State’s 
offensive efforts, its defense was 
unable to contain Michigan’s 
offensive weapons throughout the 
second half.
Forty-five seconds into the third 
quarter, Jackson netted his first 
goal as a Wolverine. Following 
an 
unreleasable 
unnecessary 
roughness penalty by the Vikings, 
Buckanavage and Mack scored 
goals within a minute of one 
another to extend Michigan’s lead 
to eight, 12-4.
Whenever Cleveland State was 
able to score, the Wolverines had 
an answer.
And on Saturday, that was all 
they needed.

Freshmen lead Michigan past Cleveland State in dominating, 16-9, win

Saturday, the Michigan men’s 
lacrosse lineup was missing 
some familiar faces. Seniors 
Avery Myers — a starter in the 
midfield last season — and Finn 
Goonan were out with injuries. 
So, Michigan coach Kevin Conry 
turned to his youngest players.
They 
did 
more than heed 
his call. 
Freshman 
midfielder Jake 
Bonomi 
broke 
the seal for the 
Wolverines with 
his first career 
goal. 
Scoring 
within the first 
five minutes of 
play, Bonomi set 
the tone for the offensive core, 
and finished the game with two 
goals and one assist in a 16-9 win 
over Cleveland State. 
“He’s a missile,” Conry said. 
“He’s like the Energizer Bunny 
coming out of the box. We knew 
that we could surprise some 

people. The key with Jake is to 
continue to develop and keep 
playing as hard as he does.” 
Bonomi is not the only weapon 
in Michigan’s offensive unit. 
Sophomore 
attackman 
Bryce 
Clay led the team with three 
goals 
and 
junior 
attackman 
Kevin Mack put up two goals. 
With Myers — who was second 
in goals last year — set to return 
any week, the 
offensive 
unit 
will be a balance 
of upperclassmen 
who can lead the 
team and young 
players with a lot 
of potential. 
“We 
have 
some firepower 
with 
our 
offensive 
unit, 
but 
it’s 
more 
about the leadership,” Conry 
said. 
Freshman 
attackman 
Josh 
Zawada had an impressive start 
to his career as well, leading 
the team with three assists and 
putting up two goals, matching 
fellow 
freshman 
defensemen 
Dylan Gardner in scoring. 
“It felt awesome,” Zawada 
said. “It’s a dream come true 
wearing the Michigan uniform 
and wings on our helmets.”
“ … I get a lot of support from 
the upperclassmen. Every time I 
don’t know the plays and I don’t 
know where to go on the field 
they guide me through it and 
then the next rep I know what to 
do.”
The 
Wolverines 
hope 
leadership and team chemistry 
will lead them to a strong season. 
The team struggled last year to a 
4-9 record overall and went 1-4 in 
the Big Ten. 
And considering how injury-
prone the team was last season, 
being able to rely on younger 
players that have the ability 
to step up and perform will be 
important for Michigan. Veteran 
Wolverines have now seen they 
can trust the freshmen to hold 
their ground at a high level. 
“It’s huge,” Clay said. “We 
know they can play, and that’s 
why they’re on the field.”

BECCA MAHON/Daily
Freshman attackman Josh Zawata had three assists and two goals in his Michigan debut as the Wolverines beat Cleveland State, 16-9, in their opener.

DREW COX
Daily Sports Writer

MAX WADLEY
For The Daily

They can play, 
and that’s why 
they’re on the 
field.

