Hopefully this will help take the sting out of the massive screw job the Lions just got, because it was the best week of the season so far for the non-revenue sports teams as a whole. This is longer than usual, because there were some good stories this weekend.
TEAM OF THE WEEK: Michigan Women's Soccer
Normally, beating your arch rival on the road and then upsetting the #3 team in the country on the road would get you team of the week status automatically (more on that later)...but what the women's soccer team did this weekend might be even more impressive. The soccer team had road games against a decent Minnesota team and the #9 Wisconsin Badgers this weekend. A challenging slate, made more challenging by the fact that Michigan was missing not 1...not 2...not 3...not 4...but 5! starters due to injury (and 3 of them would be among Michigan's top 6 players). It was a motley crew of players who normally played 5-10 minutes a game, inexperienced freshmen, and a couple players I'd never heard of before this weekend taking the pitch. Surely a recipe for disaster.
Not so fast, my friend. In the opener against Minnesota, Michigan gets an early goal to go up 1-0. They spend most of the rest of the game trying to survive an onslaught of Gopher shots, but finally crack and give up 2 goals within ten minutes to go down 2-1 with 4 minutes to play. The Wolverines looked totally exhausted and it seemed a loss was imminent as the ball was right outside the Michigan goal box with just 25 seconds left. But 2 long passes got the ball down the field and freshman Sarah Stratigakas beat the goalie to the ball and then sent in a long rolling ball that crossed the goal line just before a defender got to it with 9 seconds to play. After 2 uneventful overtimes, Michigan escaped with a 2-2 tie.
Then today, Michigan had the even tougher task of taking on Wisconsin, still down 5 starters. An early goal by Jada Dayne off of a corner gives Michigan a 1-0 lead, but a penalty kick for Wisconsin early in the 2nd half tied it at 1. Michigan ends up going to overtime again in sweltering heat for the 2nd time in 48 hours. Play for the tie? Nope. Michigan comes out on the attack and several minutes in, Michigan's only experienced attacking player still healthy, Reilly Martin, gets the ball at the top right corner of the box. She fights off 2 defenders for the ball, cuts back to the middle around a 3rd defender and fires a perfect left-footed shot just inside the corner of the net for the sudden death win. One of the grittiest weekends I've seen from a team in a long time. Clearly exhausted in both games...they just never stopped fighting.
Field Hockey: This team has a legit chance to win it all. 2 road games this week, starting at arch rival OSU. Michigan controlled most of the game, but couldn't find the net in regulation so it went to overtime tied at 0. With 20 seconds left in the overtime, Michigan's play making fielder Lacort split two defenders and then sent a beautiful touch pass to Emma Way who redirected it into the net for the win. Emma Way...all she does is score goals right in front of the net, and she does it well.
Following that game the Wolverines travelled to Happy Valley to play #3 Penn St. The #9 Wolverines came in underdogs, but you wouldn't know it as they attacked from the get go. A goal 15 minutes in from Dowthwaite gave Michigan a 1-0 lead. With a few minutes to go in the half, senior Carly Benson gets a beautiful chip shot goal while fading away to go top shelf for a 2-0 lead at the half. In the 2nd half Michigan continued to press and put the game away on a laser slap shot from Esther De Lijer to go up 3-0, which would be the final score. Once again Sam Swenson showed why she's the best goalie in the country, making a few incredible saves. Even if you know nothing about field hockey, I would recommend watching this team the next time they're on BTN. They play so freaking hard, and they have the skill to match.
Men's Soccer: The week started with a tough 1-0 loss to a top 15 Western Michigan team. The men rebounded today though with a solid 3-1 win over Northwestern. Northwestern isn't good, but this was a tough win, because shortly after going up 1-0, Atuahene got a red card and Michigan had to play about 65 minutes down a man. Clinging to a 2-1 lead late, the Wolverines got two great individual runs from Mohamed Zakyi and Jack Hallahan and a great pass from Zakyi to Hallahan to get an empty net goal and clinch the win. Team should stay in the top 25 this week, and continue to be in a strong position to make the tourney.
Women's Volleyball: With road games against #1 Minnesota and #5 Wisconsin, this weekend didn't look to go well for Michigan...and it didn't. Michigan lost both matches in 4 and 3 games respectively. No shame in losing either, but in watching this team, there is still something not clicking. They'll need to figure it out soon, or a tournament birth could be in jeopardy.
That's all for this week. Couple of huge games next weekend. The Field Hockey team hosts a top 10 Maryland team, with the winner being strongly in the drivers seat to win the Big Ten. And the volleyball team will take on OSU in Crisler Arena...hoping they can get a good crowd for that one.
TEAM OF THE WEEK: Michigan Women's Soccer
Normally, beating your arch rival on the road and then upsetting the #3 team in the country on the road would get you team of the week status automatically (more on that later)...but what the women's soccer team did this weekend might be even more impressive. The soccer team had road games against a decent Minnesota team and the #9 Wisconsin Badgers this weekend. A challenging slate, made more challenging by the fact that Michigan was missing not 1...not 2...not 3...not 4...but 5! starters due to injury (and 3 of them would be among Michigan's top 6 players). It was a motley crew of players who normally played 5-10 minutes a game, inexperienced freshmen, and a couple players I'd never heard of before this weekend taking the pitch. Surely a recipe for disaster.
Not so fast, my friend. In the opener against Minnesota, Michigan gets an early goal to go up 1-0. They spend most of the rest of the game trying to survive an onslaught of Gopher shots, but finally crack and give up 2 goals within ten minutes to go down 2-1 with 4 minutes to play. The Wolverines looked totally exhausted and it seemed a loss was imminent as the ball was right outside the Michigan goal box with just 25 seconds left. But 2 long passes got the ball down the field and freshman Sarah Stratigakas beat the goalie to the ball and then sent in a long rolling ball that crossed the goal line just before a defender got to it with 9 seconds to play. After 2 uneventful overtimes, Michigan escaped with a 2-2 tie.
Then today, Michigan had the even tougher task of taking on Wisconsin, still down 5 starters. An early goal by Jada Dayne off of a corner gives Michigan a 1-0 lead, but a penalty kick for Wisconsin early in the 2nd half tied it at 1. Michigan ends up going to overtime again in sweltering heat for the 2nd time in 48 hours. Play for the tie? Nope. Michigan comes out on the attack and several minutes in, Michigan's only experienced attacking player still healthy, Reilly Martin, gets the ball at the top right corner of the box. She fights off 2 defenders for the ball, cuts back to the middle around a 3rd defender and fires a perfect left-footed shot just inside the corner of the net for the sudden death win. One of the grittiest weekends I've seen from a team in a long time. Clearly exhausted in both games...they just never stopped fighting.
Field Hockey: This team has a legit chance to win it all. 2 road games this week, starting at arch rival OSU. Michigan controlled most of the game, but couldn't find the net in regulation so it went to overtime tied at 0. With 20 seconds left in the overtime, Michigan's play making fielder Lacort split two defenders and then sent a beautiful touch pass to Emma Way who redirected it into the net for the win. Emma Way...all she does is score goals right in front of the net, and she does it well.
Following that game the Wolverines travelled to Happy Valley to play #3 Penn St. The #9 Wolverines came in underdogs, but you wouldn't know it as they attacked from the get go. A goal 15 minutes in from Dowthwaite gave Michigan a 1-0 lead. With a few minutes to go in the half, senior Carly Benson gets a beautiful chip shot goal while fading away to go top shelf for a 2-0 lead at the half. In the 2nd half Michigan continued to press and put the game away on a laser slap shot from Esther De Lijer to go up 3-0, which would be the final score. Once again Sam Swenson showed why she's the best goalie in the country, making a few incredible saves. Even if you know nothing about field hockey, I would recommend watching this team the next time they're on BTN. They play so freaking hard, and they have the skill to match.
Men's Soccer: The week started with a tough 1-0 loss to a top 15 Western Michigan team. The men rebounded today though with a solid 3-1 win over Northwestern. Northwestern isn't good, but this was a tough win, because shortly after going up 1-0, Atuahene got a red card and Michigan had to play about 65 minutes down a man. Clinging to a 2-1 lead late, the Wolverines got two great individual runs from Mohamed Zakyi and Jack Hallahan and a great pass from Zakyi to Hallahan to get an empty net goal and clinch the win. Team should stay in the top 25 this week, and continue to be in a strong position to make the tourney.
Women's Volleyball: With road games against #1 Minnesota and #5 Wisconsin, this weekend didn't look to go well for Michigan...and it didn't. Michigan lost both matches in 4 and 3 games respectively. No shame in losing either, but in watching this team, there is still something not clicking. They'll need to figure it out soon, or a tournament birth could be in jeopardy.
That's all for this week. Couple of huge games next weekend. The Field Hockey team hosts a top 10 Maryland team, with the winner being strongly in the drivers seat to win the Big Ten. And the volleyball team will take on OSU in Crisler Arena...hoping they can get a good crowd for that one.
