Wednesday, May 18, 2022 — 7
Sports
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Draw control woes end Michigan’s season against Northwestern
JOHN TONDORA
Daily Sports Writer
When mounting a comeback,
streamlining the game plan becomes
paramount. As time dwindles down,
and desperation grows, teams must
claw their way back with the basics
and leave the fancy stuff behind.
As basic as it can get, the first step
of that comeback starts at the faceoff.
Then, after gaining possession, teams
simply see where things go.
In
the
Michigan
women’s
lacrosse team’s 15-12 second-round
NCAA Tournament loss, getting
past the first step proved fatal. The
Wolverines (11-7 overall, 2-5 Big
Ten) dropped 23 out of 29 faceoffs
against No. 4 Northwestern (15-4,
6-2) in a game that continuously saw
Michigan’s momentum stunted by
draw control losses.
“I think that was the issue today,”
Michigan coach Hannah Nielsen
said. “Credit to Northwestern, their
effort on the draw was sensational.
… (Jill) Girardi is great on the draw.
No question, that’s their bread and
butter.”
The first 13 seconds of the game
told the tale of the tape. Catching
a smooth draw control, Wildcat
Attacker Lauren Gilbert raced into
the offensive zone, darting past the
Wolverines’ defense and netting
Northwestern a 1-0 lead.
The
Wildcats
exploited
Michigan’s inability to win draw
controls all day, yet never found as
much success as they did in the first
quarter. Northwestern won the first
five faceoff opportunities of the
match and converted each and every
time, ending the first frame with a
daunting 5-0 lead. The Wolverines’
evident lapses in the middle left them
scrambling to stop the bleeding.
Those scrambles would continually
fall on Michigan’s defense — none
more
than
graduate
goaltender
Arielle Weissman, who faced 34 shots
during the bout. Pressed to make save
after save, Weissman delivered. Yet
that situation forced the Wolverines
to operate their offense out of the
transition game, pitting them up
against the suffocating Wildcats’
ride.
Without
winning
draws,
the
Wolverines relied on their defense to
play more than perfect — a task too
tall for any team.
“Credit to our defense as well,”
Nielsen said. “They got us the ball
back a lot and allowed us to score
… But when you don’t get it from
the middle, it makes it really, really
difficult.”
After yet another draw control win
by the Wildcats and a 7-1 lead in the
second frame, Northwestern looked
poised for a repeat of Friday’s blowout
victory against Central Michigan.
Yet the Wolverines’ defense would
not allow it.
During the final seven minutes
of the first half, Michigan rallied
to win two of its six draw controls
of the day — both of which led to
immediate goals on the offensive end.
However, the team’s comeback came
on the heels of excellent defensive
play, as it forced two turnovers and
entered the second half on a 4-1 run
— overcoming losing three draw
controls in the process.
As the third quarter commenced,
the Wolverines’ midfield control
slipped further out of their grasp.
Michigan could not win a single
faceoff in 15 minutes of play, and
they gave the Wildcats nine free
possessions from that ineffectiveness.
Nevertheless,
Michigan
paradoxically continued to close the
gap, as four Northwestern turnovers
in the first eight minutes of the
second half allowed the Wolverines
to pull within one goal for a score of
9-8. In effect, the Michigan defense
created its own faceoff wins through
opposition turnovers and saved shots.
“Defense was doing just what they
needed to in the moment,” Weissman
said. “They were giving them a lot
physically and that was all I needed
today.”
Yet
the
Wolverines
couldn’t
draw closer. A three goal flurry by
the Wildcats — complemented by
three draw controls — cemented
Northwestern’s
position
in
the
driver’s seat with a 12-8 lead.
And although the Wildcats never
fully pulled away, Michigan did not
capture another strong chance as
Northwestern’s draw control wins
and time of possession kept the ball
out of the Wolverines’ hands until the
end of the match.
And
as
with
any
potential
comeback, the first step is getting the
ball in your hands.
Despite its comeback, Michigan fell short against Northwestern.
ANNA FUDER/Daily
Michigan inches past Texas in Super Regional, will
face Ohio State in Quarterfinals
Senior Andrew Fenty’s tossed
racquet and open arms represented
more than anyone could imagine.
It meant more than a celebration;
it meant the Michigan men’s tennis
team had turned a page on an
underwhelming ending to its last
season.
In the first round of last year’s
NCAA Tournament, Fenty battled
into a third set against Arizona’s
Gustaf Strom. But, Strom took an
early 3-1 lead and never looked back,
clinching the match and knocking
Michigan
out
of
championship
contention.
This year, the Wolverines nearly
met that same fate, but Fenty made
sure that didn’t happen. While
playing next to junior Ondrej Styler,
he rewrote last season’s narrative.
In response to a 4-1 third set
deficit, Fenty used a combination of
aces and perfectly placed returns
to win five consecutive games and
clinch Michigan’s victory over Texas.
Looking
to
make
its
first
NCAA Tournament Quarterfinals
appearance in 34 years, No. 5 seed
Michigan (25-3 overall, 8-1 Big Ten)
did exactly that, overcoming No. 12
Texas (18-11) in a tightly contested
match.
“We thought Styler was going to
win,” Fenty said. “And, the next thing
you know, it’s completely flipped. … It
doesn’t matter who won; we just kept
going and going.”
In the truest sense, Fenty’s
comeback
displays
what
the
Wolverines have built towards: the
peak version of themselves.
“We’re heading into the part of
the season where a lot of guys will
peak with their (performances),”
Michigan coach Ben Becker said on
Apr. 15. “We want to be there in a few
weeks.”
And, the Wolverines showed
they have done just that, with each
remaining match presenting itself to
be the team’s season finale.
Beginning with doubles, senior
Patrick
Maloney
and
graduate
student Nick Beaty were the first duo
to earn breakpoint, and they didn’t
relent from there. Their 6-1 victory
over Texas’s doubles pair of Cleeve
Harper and Richard Ciamarra — who
are ranked No. 4 by the Intercollegiate
Tennis Association — seemed to give
Michigan confidence in its success.
“Getting an early break is always
a huge confidence booster for (me
and Beaty),” Maloney said. “And,
if we play a ranked duo, we always
get a little fired up … , for the results
and record we have, we take (being
unranked) personally.”
The Wolverines’ confidence was
amplified by the success from the
other doubles courts.
Before
sophomore
Jacob
Bickersteth delivered an ace to
capture a 5-2 lead at No. 3 doubles,
sophomore
Nino
Ehrenschneider
remained unfazed as both of his No.
1 doubles opponents attacked the net,
placing a return just within the back
boundary to give him and Fenty a 4-1
lead.
But shortly after, Texas showed
the abilities that got it to this point.
The Longhorns kickstarted their
comebacks — which resulted in a 5-4
lead at No. 1 doubles and a 5-5 tie at
No. 3 doubles — with an ace at No. 3
to deny Michigan its first doubles
point clinching opportunity. But,
with Beaty and Maloney’s victory to
fall back on, Bickersteth and Styler
won a tiebreaker 7-5 to halt Texas’s
resurgence.
“I was really proud of the character
these guys showed,” Michigan coach
Adam Steinberg said. “We really blew
some big leads, and, since we knew
they had such a good team in singles,
we knew we needed the doubles
point.”
The
Wolverines
split
their
first sets in singles with Texas.
Ehrenschneider emerged victorious
in the longest-lasting first set across
all courts, winning a tiebreaker 7-5.
“I came out playing a bit too flat,”
Ehrenschneider said. “I had to switch
my mindset by … (preparing) my
points a bit more than usual because
his shots passed me well throughout
the match.
Bickersteth on the other hand
struggled to bounce back, giving
the Longhorns their first point in a
straight sets loss, 6-1 and 6-4.
Maloney
quickly
regained
Michigan’s first lead though, serving
an ace to win 6-3 and 6-3.
“Since
(Bickersteth)
was
struggling a little bit and Beaty had
a close match, I tried to give to them
a little more to get them going,”
Maloney said. “It’s always nice to
have a match that’s going well.”
And,
Ehrenschneider’s
second
set tiebreaker victory, 7-4, made
way for Fenty’s rather consequential
comeback.
Andrew Fenty’s strong performance
boosted Michigan over Texas.
SELENA SUN/Daily
ABHIJAI SINGH
Daily Sports Writer
LACROSSE
TENNIS
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