The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
7 — Tuesday, April 7, 2020
Sports
The bond between Owen and Bryan Finnerty
Bryan Finnerty gazed across
the table and saw himself.
It was late last October, and
he was out to lunch in Ann
Arbor, in town for that night’s
men’s soccer game between
Michigan
and
Wisconsin.
Bryan was catching up with
one of his fraternal twin sons,
Owen, who doubled as the
Wolverines’ backup goalkeeper.
Michigan had only three
games left on its regular
season schedule and Owen,
a freshman, had yet to see
the pitch. He was the backup
to senior stalwart Andrew
Verdi, the eventual Big Ten
Goalkeeper of the Year.
Bryan had been in Owen’s
shoes
before.
Thirty-two
years ago, he was a backup
goalkeeper for San Diego State,
slotted behind senior Felipe
Hernandez on the depth chart.
To begin the 1987 campaign,
Bryan, a redshirt sophomore,
readied for life on the bench,
unlikely to contribute for the
third straight season.
Then everything changed.
Eleven games in, Hernandez
fell victim to a broken leg in an
ugly collision during practice,
thrusting
Bryan
into
the
starting lineup.
Bryan took his opportunity
and ran with it. In his first
game in the net against rival
San Diego, he anchored a 2-0
shutout win. He steered the
Aztecs all the way to the NCAA
Tournament final, the first
chapter in what would become
a successful 13-year career
that spanned the collegiate
and professional ranks on the
National Professional Soccer
League’s Detroit Rockers.
So as Bryan looked at Owen,
whose lack of playing time
made redshirting a possibility,
he had just one message to
relay: be ready.
“Most guys just shut it down
mentally at that point,’’ Bryan
said. “They’re just done, ready
for next year. But what if the
coach looks down the bench
and says it’s time for you to
go in? Do you say yes or no?
Without hesitation, Owen goes
‘Yes, for sure. I’m taking every
chance I can get. I’m ready for
it. I’m ready to go.’ ”
That
evening
against
Wisconsin, Verdi suffered an
injury that forced him out of the
game. Owen was summoned.
“Hearing my Dad’s story
so many times before, I think
I was prepared in a way that
I knew I needed to be ready
because my Dad always told me
to be ready,” Owen said. “I put
myself in the right mental place,
the always be ready aspect.”
Verdi’s injury proved to be
season-ending; the reins to the
net were now Owen’s. He didn’t
miss a beat.
In his first collegiate start,
he shut out rival Michigan
State, 2-0, much like Bryan
did against San Diego all those
years earlier. He piloted the
Wolverines on a run in the
NCAA Tournament — just as
Bryan had done with his Aztecs
— ending in the Sweet Sixteen.
Like father, like son.
Said Bryan: “You just can’t
script it.”
***
A
sobering
predicament
faces kids pursuing a sport
in which one of their parents
found success. Every day of
their childhood, they confront a
reminder of all they have yet to
achieve. Some aspiring athletes
crumble under the pressure,
engulfed by their parent’s
shadow. Others opt for a more
auspicious outlook.
Owen always viewed his
Dad as a beacon of possibility,
not a towering wall of his own
unfulfilled expectations.
“I felt a drive, almost like
I wanted to experience my
dreams to play professional
soccer and collegiate soccer and
take the game as far as I can,”
Owen said. “Having a Dad who
did the same thing I wanted to
do, that inspired me to do that
as well. I knew it was feasible.”
From an early age, Owen
grew cognizant of his Dad’s
soccer career. He watched old
tapes of Rockers games, seeing
his Dad shine in goal against his
adversaries.
It was through these films
that Owen got a sense of who
his Dad was as a goalkeeper.
“Watching
the
games,
not a lot of (my actions) were
censored out back then,” Bryan
remembered, laughing. “Owen
would go, ‘Dad are you cussing
there? Are you yelling that?’ It
was just the intensity I played
with. He grew to understand
that, when you’re on that side of
the touchline, you should have
that level of intensity that the
game deserves and needs.”
Playing with that vigor is
a requisite for goalkeepers,
perhaps more so than it is for
other positions. Manning the
net comes with the utmost
pressure — being the last
line of defense, the boundary
between win and loss and often
the scapegoat for the latter.
Accordingly, goalkeepers, the
good ones, have trademarked
characteristics.
They
are
dogged,
unshakable.
Bryan
calls it a “bravery chip.”
It’s a trait that’s been visible
in Owen since he was 13,
only a year after he took up
goalkeeping full-time.
It was the 2014 State Cup
final and he got peppered
with shots, his team vastly
outmatched. In the first half
alone, he made 15 saves and
allowed just one goal.
In the halftime huddle,
Owen inspired.
“He comes in and just
pumps the guys up,” Bryan
recalled. “It’s a spot where most
goalkeepers want to be in a shell
and crawl under a rock, cause
they know that’s coming in the
second half. He just showed
a lot of moxie, to have what it
takes between gears to be able
to get scored on and still bounce
back and have that resolve. I
remember thinking to myself
he’s got it, he’s got that chip.”
Owen
and
Bryan’s
similarities in the net go beyond
the chip. They share the same
charisma and demeanor, that
fervor. They’re both risk-takers
and have a knack for making
the big save. Hard work runs in
Finnerty blood — “control the
controllable” is a family mantra.
And Owen’s career path,
rather eerily, continues to
resemble that of his father.
Last May, Owen stood out
on the turf field at Keyworth
Stadium, the home venue for his
new team, Detroit City FC. The
stands were filled with those
Bryan
labels
“generational
fans” of Detroit soccer. It’s a
vibrant community that didn’t
exist when he played for the
Rockers. The ‘90s marked
an era where the fans, while
devoted,
were
novice
and
limited in number.
Bryan has long been a fixture
in Detroit’s soccer community.
He won over followers with
stellar play on the field and
activism off it, making routine
appearances at schools and
camps. When his career ended
in
2000,
his
involvement
didn’t cease. Along with his
wife, Denise, he launched
Opportunity Seed, a nonprofit
program designed to stimulate
soccer in the area and assist
younger players.
On that May evening, Bryan
found himself caught up in
the moment. He looked on
as his son signed autographs
for a fanbase he cultivated.
Owen lacing up to play on a
field he laid the groundwork
for. He couldn’t help but get
emotional.
Here was Owen, literally
following in his doting father’s
footsteps.
***
All father-son relationships
evolve over time. And along
the way, all have their ups and
downs. Sports have a way of
surfacing these tensions.
The Finnertys were never
exempt from any of this. Bryan
and Owen’s relationship has
had its strains, for which the
dinner table was the usual
stomping ground.
“There were plenty of times
where I thought I knew better,
and Owen thought he knew
better, which led to some pretty
spirited discussions,” Bryan
said. “You know, where as a
Dad who might have grown
up playing hockey and then
Owen played soccer, I probably
wouldn’t have had as much of
an opinion.”
Gradually, their relationship
has matured. It’s taken effort
on both sides.
Bryan, who coached Owen
in his early playing days, has
acclimated to a more hands-
off approach. He’s learned to
embrace the life of a spectator,
as someone who can’t affect
the outcome of the game any
longer.
Owen,
meanwhile,
has
grown to appreciate everything
his Dad has brought to the
table, learning it’s often best
to heed to Dad’s wisdom. In
hindsight, he realizes just how
fortunate he’s been to have a
former goalkeeper around all
the time.
“I just love when he watches
me,” Owen said. “And having
him to coach me and kinda
show me what he could show
me. Especially as a young kid,
to be exposed to someone like
that, it was huge. Just having
him to talk to all the time and
ask questions, to have him by
my side all the time was huge
for my growth and knowledge
of my game.”
Their bond extends beyond
the soccer pitch. The two share
many of the same passions and
cherish the times when they’re
not talking about soccer at
all, the “guy time” — fishing,
surfing, golfing.
“I
think
through
that
goalie-to-goalie,
dad-to-son
relationship, it created a lot
of space for us to build many
other relationships, which has
just been really cool,” Bryan
said. “Certainly, soccer has
made us closer. I’ll go back
to the conversations at the
dinner table. To me, that’s like
any relationship. It’s tough to
have your relationship grow if
you don’t have those healthy
contention
points
where
you’re challenging each other.
Not only did it give us time
to communicate with each
other about soccer, but also to
communicate about life.”
***
In Owen’s second start as a
Wolverine, Michigan hit the
road to take on No. 17 Maryland.
As the last contest of the
regular season, the match had
major implications on seeding
for the impending Big Ten
Tournament and a potential
NCAA Tournament bid.
With under a minute to
play, the Wolverines nursed
a 3-2 lead. The Terrapins
had
possession
and
in
a
quickly developing play found
themselves on the lip of Owen’s
18-yard-box. As a Maryland
forward ripped a screaming
shot
toward
the
top-right
corner of the net, Owen
propelled himself into the air.
He punched the ball away
with his right fist, denying the
equalizer with a highlight-reel
save.
Michigan held on to win, 4-2.
After the game, Owen made
a beeline for the stands to greet
a beaming Bryan.
“To just go over there,
hugging him as a fan, I think
that was a great moment for
both of us,” Owen said. “It felt
like a lot came together in that
moment. I’ll never forget that
one.”
“That Maryland moment, it
was culminating,” Bryan said.
“A critical point in the season,
as a young player when you’re
still being tested. To make that
save, I was just taken aback. It
was kinda like, man, he did that.
“And I was just so, so proud.”
MADELINE HINKLEY/Daily
Owen Finnerty’s career path mirrors his father, Bryan, who also played goalkeeper in college.
JARED GREENSPAN
Daily Sports Writer
It is the case, even outside
the realm of sportswriters like
myself, that students often
remember
their
time
at
Michigan
through
the
snapshot
of sports.
Questions
like,
“Where
were you when Poole hit the
shot?” both capture a moment
in
time
and
a
nostalgic
reverence for the past. We get
that brief rush of dopamine
thinking back to a single
moment of joy. Who did we
hug? What did we do? Who
climbed that light pole on
South U?
Students graduating this
year — or whatever word we
choose — have seen a four-year
span packed with Michigan
sports success, maybe more
so than any crop of graduates
since … the late-90s? The early
90s? Earlier?
There
were
iconic
moments, legendary athletes,
historic runs and unexpected
twists. There was a shot, a
frozen dagger, a gut-punch
in the pouring rain. There
was heartbreak — oh, plenty
of that. A loss at Kinnick.
Inches of a football separating
triumph and tumult. Titles
and
near
titles.
Surprise
postseason runs. Coaching
changes we expected and
coaching changes that seemed
unfathomable.
But
let’s
not
get
too
far ahead of ourselves. I
picked
eight.
Your
eight
might be different. We’re
all susceptible to our own
biases. But here are the eight
moments, runs, games and
events that will define how I
remember our four years on
this campus. I’d love to hear
from you, particularly my
fellow graduating seniors — @
Max_Marcovitch on Twitter
or
maxmarco@umich.edu
— to see where you agree or
disagree.
The Michigan memories that defined college
MAX
MARCOVITCH
DAILY STAFF PHOTOGRAPHERS/Daily
Michigan had various memorable moments over the last four years.
See MEMORIES, Page 8