14 — Wednesday, March 3, 2021
Sports
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
After outscoring No. 4 Maryland 6-5 in
the fourth quarter of its 20-9 loss last week,
the Michigan men’s lacrosse team picked
up right where it left off when it faced Johns
Hopkins on Saturday afternoon.
In
the
opening
quarter,
the
Wolverines’ defense clamped down on
the Blue Jays, forcing five turnovers and
limiting their offensive unit to only one
goal. On the offensive end, things were
firing on all cylinders for Michigan.
Freshman attackman Michael Boehm
scored a highlight-reel goal while
diving into the crease, and sophomore
midfielders Michael Cosgrove and Jacob
Jackson notched tallies of their own. By
the quarter’s end, the Wolverines stood
tall with a 3-1 lead.
But in the subsequent stanzas — in large
part due to a myriad of mental gaffes and
self-induced turnovers — Michigan ceded
control of the game to Johns Hopkins, and
the Blue Jays ran away with it on the back
of attackman Joey Epstein, who netted
six goals. Outpacing the Wolverines (0-2),
13-4, in the next three quarters, Johns
Hopkins (1-1) soared to a 14-7 victory in
Michigan’s home opener, giving coach
Peter Milliman his first win with the Blue
Jays.
“We had 21 turnovers,” Wolverines’ coach
Kevin Conry said. “You want to see the
game, there it is. Twenty-one turnovers. …
That’s a lot of second-chance opportunities
(for an opponent). I don’t think we’re in good
enough shape, defensively, to handle that.”
For a brief portion of the second quarter,
Michigan stayed the course. In response
to a rocket inside from Johns Hopkins
attackman Brendan Grimes, Boehm dodged
from behind the cage and scored his second
goal of the day to re-establish the Wolverines’
two-goal lead. From there, though, an
opportunistic Blue Jays’ offense began to
capitalize on the numerous Michigan errors
which ensued.
On the extra-man opportunity following
a push from Wolverine junior defenseman
Andrew Darby, a wide-open Epstein fired a
shot into the top right corner of the net past
junior goaltender John Kiracofe, cutting
Michigan’s advantage to one. Epstein’s
tally was the first of four goals that Johns
Hopkins would score on man-up throughout
the contest.
Four minutes later, Epstein rattled off
a pair of goals within a minute to give the
Blue Jays their first lead of the day, 5-4.
For the Wolverines, the composure and
confidence that were so evident during the
first quarter performance had vanished by
the midpoint of the second. Desperate to
keep up with Johns Hopkins as it watched
its lead slip away, Michigan began to
force its passes and shots, resulting in six
turnovers and three failed clears.
“We’re just not playing well,” Conry
said. “That’s it. We’re turning the ball over
consistently. We’re not in good spots. We’re
not getting the right guys the ball at the
right time. We have to do a better job, and
I have to do a better job putting these guys
in good spots.”
While a buzzer-beating, underhand laser
from graduate midfielder Avery Myers
breathed some life into the Wolverines’
sideline heading into halftime, it paid no
dividends, as their woes would carry over
into the second half as well.
Michigan began the third quarter with
five consecutive possessions that ended in
turnovers. Meanwhile, the Blue Jays opened
the floodgates, piling on six goals to jump
out to a commanding 12-5 lead. Playing from
behind against a storied program like Johns
Hopkins, the Wolverines — particularly
their underclassmen, who comprise six of
the 10 starting lineup spots — were visibly
flustered and struggled to get into any type
of groove. Sophomore attackman Josh
Zawada, who recorded an astounding five
points against Maryland, failed to score
and racked up three turnovers. With one
second remaining in the third quarter,
frustration had seemingly boiled over when
freshman midfielder Kyle Stephenson hit a
Blue Jays player and was charged with an
unnecessary roughness penalty.
“I love their energy,” Conry said of his
freshmen and sophomores. “They’re energy
guys. … (But) just settling those guys down
is the biggest thing.”
Added Myers: “I think the biggest thing
for me is just making them understand that,
although this is Big Ten lacrosse, (although)
this is Division I, it’s stuff they’ve done
before. They gotta have confidence in their
stick skills. They’re here for a reason.”
While Michigan hoped to come away
with a win against a Johns Hopkins
program that underwent a coaching
change this offseason and has fallen off a
bit in recent years, it was ultimately its own
worst enemy on Saturday. Missed defensive
assignments, turnovers and penalties gave
the Blue Jays too many opportunities to
take advantage of, and it all proved to be
too much for the Wolverines’ youth to
overcome.
But with such an inexperienced roster
navigating a brutal Big Ten-only schedule
this season, these growing pains are to be
expected early on.
“We have to have patience,” Conry said.
“We still haven’t seen the best version of
who we are, and I’m still excited about this
team. … It’s just, right now, we’re making
too many mistakes at key moments.
“And that’s what’s killing us.”
DREW COX
Daily Sports Editor
KATE HUA/Daily
Michigan attacker Michael Boehm tallied two goals and one assist.
ALEC COHEN/Daily
Michigan’s struggles in the last five minutes of the first half led to a loss.
In observance of Women’s History
Month, The Daily’s sports section is
launching its fourth annual series
aimed at telling
the stories of
female athletes,
coaches
and
teams at the
University
from
the
perspective
of the female
sports writers
on staff.
Kari Miller
watched as her shot bounced
right on the edge of the court,
then watched again as her
Ohio State opponent couldn’t
corral it.
Miller, a freshman on the
Michigan
women’s
tennis
team, pumped her fists as her
teammates hounded her. She’d
just won the tiebreaker at No.
1 singles, giving her team a 4-3
upset over the eighth-ranked
Buckeyes.
It was far from the only
winning moment this weekend
you
may
have
missed.
In
Minneapolis, three swimmers
and three relay teams won
Big
Ten
championships
as
junior
Maggie
MacNeil
was named Swimmer of the
Championships for the second
consecutive year. At the same
time in Geneva, Ohio, the
women’s track and field team
won
individual
conference
titles in the 400-meter dash
and the pole vault en route to
a second-place team finish, its
best since 2016. In Leesburg,
Fla., softball kicked off its
season with sweeps of Purdue
and Iowa. Water polo notched
three top-15 wins. Earlier this
week, women’s soccer shut out
Minnesota despite missing two
of its top players — both playing
for the Canadian national team.
The Wolverines’ women’s
teams are often overlooked in
a normal year. This year, with
a pandemic still raging, teams
playing out of season and the
men’s basketball team flirting
with a top ranking, it’s even
easier for them to slip under
the radar.
But that’s not how it should
be. With every women’s team at
Michigan either playing right
now or beginning its season in
the next few weeks, this year
provides an opportunity like
no other: to follow a multitude
of contending teams, day in and
day out.
Let
women’s
basketball
coach Kim Barnes Arico tell it:
“Shout out to all of the women’s
coaches at the University of
Michigan. I think part of what
drew me to this incredible
university was to have an
opportunity to work with the
best and to learn from the best.
And the University of Michigan
has some of the greatest female
coaches in the world, and I get
to be surrounded by them and
learn from them every day.”
In almost every women’s
sport, the Wolverines have a
reputation as the team no one
else in the conference wants
to play. Take, for instance, the
two teams that share Crisler
Center with men’s basketball.
The
women’s
basketball
team is one of the only women’s
teams at Michigan largely
without a storied history of
success, but that could change
this year. If the Wolverines can
make it to the finals of the Big
Ten Tournament, get better
than a 7-seed in the NCAA
Tournament or advance to the
Sweet Sixteen, they will notch
the best season in program
history. (ESPN bracketologist
Charlie Creme has Michigan
as a 5-seed in his latest
update.) Already this year,
women’s basketball has hit a
few smaller milestones: Junior
forward Naz Hillmon scored
a program-record 50 points
against Ohio State and the
Wolverines beat powerhouse
Notre Dame for the first time
in 12 years.
“I think it just really speaks
to
the
character
and
the
maturity and the experience
of this group,” Barnes Arico
told The Daily. “We didn’t have
an opportunity to finish last
season and go to the NCAA
Tournament, and COVID hit,
we were all sent home. And …
to then have the opportunity to
come back to campus and try
to create something incredibly
special. And they’ve done a
few things in this season that
hadn’t been done before in our
program history. I think that
just speaks to the commitment
to the focus and, really, to the
gratitude.”
Hillmon is a contender for
National Player of the Year.
Around
her,
juniors
Amy
Dilk and Leigha Brown lift
the rest of the team up. More
importantly, this is a team
with chemistry on the court
and off it.
Despite
a
large
number
of
postponements
and
cancellations, this looks like
a team that could make noise
in March and establish the
Wolverines’ program as one to
consistently watch for.
“Michigan’s about winning
championships, this university
has won a tremendous amount
of championships. And it’s
a
long
history,
with
the
exception, probably, of women’s
basketball,” Barnes Arico said.
“So that’s always a goal of ours.
And that’s definitely a goal
moving forward.”
Meanwhile,
women’s
gymnastics has one of the more
terrifying 1-2-3 punches in the
country
with
all-arounders
Natalie Wojcik, Sierra Brooks
and Gabby Wilson. Wojcik
—
the
2019
NCAA
beam
champion — has four titles
this season on beam and in
the all-around and one title
each on floor and bars. Wilson
has three floor titles; Brooks
has two titles on vault and
one each on beam and the all-
around.
The team, which is gunning
for
its
seventh-straight
Big Ten championship, has
enough difficulty and depth
that even after counting two
falls on floor at its Big Five
meet Saturday, it still finished
second. If the Wolverines,
currently ranked No. 5 in the
country, can find a bit more
consistency, they are fully
capable of getting over the
hump and making the national
finals.
“We
definitely
wanna
win
Big
Tens,
obviously,
and then we want to be the
four on the floor (at NCAA
Championships),”
Brooks
said Saturday. “We know how
capable we are, we know how
high of a level we can compete
at, so we just wanna really
find our stride and keep going
with it. Honestly, we had one
messed up rotation on floor
today but looking at our other
three events, they’re amazing
and we can do so much, so I just
think we really have big goals.
We wanna win nationals, we
wanna do all those amazing
things.”
Gymnastics and basketball
aren’t the only programs in
search
of
championships.
Women’s
swimming
and
diving is ranked No. 11 and
rounding into form as NCAA
Championships
approach.
Freshman Ziyah Holman, a
sprinter on the track team,
has
been
a
contender
for
national titles since her first
meet. Miller, just a freshman,
looks fully capable of helping
women’s tennis maintain its
success even after graduating
much of its top talent. Water
polo, ranked No. 6 in the
country, has four consecutive
conference titles.
Those
aren’t
the
only
intriguing storylines, either.
Women’s
lacrosse,
much
improved from its early days
after
becoming
varsity
in
2014, is looking to shake off
a tough start. Field hockey,
always a Big Ten and national
contender, has to wait a bit
longer to kick off after a few
postponements but has a team
loaded
with
talent.
Come
Mar. 13, rowing finally gets to
compete again after having its
2020 season canceled before it
even began.
Women’s teams know more
than anyone that in sports,
nothing is given. Many of them
had their sports postponed to
the spring and waited through
a long fall not knowing when
they’d get to compete again.
Now, they’re all playing at
the same time, competing for
airtime.
“In this global pandemic,
if it’s taught us anything, it’s
that we need to appreciate the
moments and really not look
past the moment and try to be
the best that we can, in that
individual moment, because
we don’t know what tomorrow
is gonna bring,” Barnes Arico
said. “And for us, that’s really
held
true,
because
we’ve
been put on pause or games
have been canceled at the last
minute … so we just hope for an
opportunity tomorrow.”
Added gymnastics coach Bev
Plocki after the Big Five meet:
“We’re grateful for every day
that we get, even the difficult
days like today.”
Women’s teams are used
to being overlooked, and this
year, COVID-19 has made the
circumstances even less ideal.
But the Wolverines’ women’s
teams are still here — and
they’re as good as ever.
So
this
week,
if
you’re
flipping through the channels
looking for something to watch,
tune into one of Michigan’s
women’s teams.
You’ll be in for a treat.
With five minutes left in the
first half of its bout with No. 10
Maryland, the No. 17 Michigan
women’s lacrosse team found
itself leading, 5-4. The game had
the appearance of a back-and-
forth battle, as the upset-minded
Wolverines forced the Terrapins
into sloppy play at various points.
Five
minutes
and
four
Maryland goals later, though,
Michigan
trailed,
8-4.
Two
goals from midfielder Hannah
Warther and a goal each from
attackers
Libby
May
and
Hannah Leubecker turned the
ranked matchup on its head.
The Wolverines (0-3) never
recovered, losing by a final score
of 12-9.
“We
played
a
great
25
minutes,”
Michigan
coach
Hannah Nielsen said. “We came
out strong and took a 4-1 lead.
The problem is that we cracked
in the last five minutes and dug
ourselves a hole.”
“Cracked” was a word Nielsen
used repeatedly when describing
the Wolverines’ performance
after Sunday’s game. She used
it to talk about how, in its first
three games, they have tended to
have five to seven minute lapses.
According to Nielsen, these
lapses have been characterized
by unforced errors and critical
turnovers, which have dug the
sort of hole that Michigan found
itself in as Sunday’s halftime
whistle blew.
The
Wolverines’
lapses
are problematic for a team’s
winning chances in general,
but such blunders are further
exacerbated when playing a
team of Maryland’s caliber.
“When you play a team like
Maryland, you have to be dialed
in for the whole 60,” Nielsen
said.
Looking
further
into
the
details of Sunday’s matchup,
Nielsen’s point is obvious. Aside
from the run of goals at the end of
the first half, the Terrapins also
dealt rapid damage to Michigan
with three goals in just over two
minutes midway through the
second half.
Midfielder
Grace
Griffin,
attacker Victoria Hensh and
Leubecker’s goals came in such
quick succession that it seemed
as though Michigan never even
had a possession.
This is indicative of the talent
on Maryland’s roster, the kind
of talent that can bury excellent
performances by opponents by
capitalizing on even the smallest
series of mistakes.
Michigan junior midfielder
Kaitlyn Mead had one such
performance, scoring a hat-trick
that included the Wolverines’
last goal before the Terrapins’
second half scoring frenzy.
“Kaitlyn
(Mead)
had
an
incredible game today,” Nielsen
said. “She put the team on her
back at points.”
Mead’s
performance
represented the sort of bright
spot that teams look for after
a loss like the one Michigan
suffered on Sunday. Mead herself
is focusing on moving forward
following the team’s third loss in
three games to start the season.
“This was not the beginning
of the season we wanted,”
Mead said. “But Maryland is a
great team, and all we can do
is learn from it and come back
against Rutgers. We need to
learn from what we did wrong
and get going. Stick to what we
usually do.”
It is all well and good for
a team to focus on moving
forward after a loss against a
top-10 opponent like Maryland,
but if the Wolverines want to
recover from what was a sloppily
played game and reach the high
expectations thrust on them to
start the season, they need to
focus on actionable change.
And
that’s
exactly
what
Nielsen plans on doing.
“We need to find ways in
practice to put them in more
pressure,” Nielsen said. “We
come out strong, but when the
other team turns it on, we crack.
It’s five to seven minutes at the
end of a 30 minute half that we
tend to lapse and put ourselves
in a hole.
“What we need to work on is
staying dialed in for a whole 30
minutes, so we’re not always
having to play catchup lacrosse.”
JACOB COHEN
Daily Sports Writer
‘M’ falls to Maryland in
ranked matchup
Men’s lacrosse struggles with turnovers as it falls to Johns Hopkins
SportsWednesday: Opportunity comes with
all Wolverine women playing at once
MADELINE HINKLEY/Daily
Michigan coach Kim Barnes Arico looks to make history this year.
ARIA
GERSON