The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
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58 THE WOLVERINE JANUARY 2020 OLYMPIC SPORTS a lot of exclusions. Now we have to focus on converting them. Our per- centages in that need to go up, and we were kind of seeing who our scorers are going to be from the perimeter." Top Performers: "Replacing [gradu- ated All-American] Julia Sellers is go- ing to be a task in itself, but I think that, by committee, we have a lot of people that were waiting to emerge. "I felt that defensively, we started taking shape. We started to see how we were going to get stops with our length and athleticism. It helps when I feel like we have the best combo of goalie [senior Heidi Ritner] and center defender [junior Sofie Pontre] in the country. It makes life a little easier and make the coaches look good, too. "Heidi's a four-year starter. We built our defense around her strengths. Not only is her polo IQ very high, her ath- leticism matches that. She commands our defenses. The ability for her to be so vocal with exactly what we're run- ning is flawless. It's like having an- other coach in the water." "Sofie Pontre is coming into her realm. She's a junior center defender. It's now her time. She was an elite cen- ter defender her first couple of years, but now she's added being able to play both as a center and as a defender. The relationship that Sophie has with Heidi is unique, which commands our de- fense." ❑ Men's Cross Country (seventh at NCAAs) Michigan, led by redshir t junior Devin Meyrer's 16th-place showing, finished seventh in the team stand- ings at the NCAA Championships … It marked the squad's third top-10 place- ment in the last five years … Junior Jack Aho joined Meyrer in earning All- America honors by crossing the line 40th … Three others placed in the top 100 — redshirt junior Isaac Harding (44th), fifth-year senior Jordy Hewitt (96th) and redshirt junior Joost Plaet- nick (100th). Women's Cross Country (13th at NCAAs) Freshman Ericka VanderLende's indi- vidual 25th-place finish paced Michi- gan to a 13th overall team placement in the NCAA Championships … Red- shirt junior Micaela DeGenero also finished among the top 100, placing 97th. Field Hockey (13-7 overall, 5-3 Big Ten) Michigan senior midfielder Guada- lupe Fernandez Lacort became the 13th different Wolverine player to gar- ner NFHCA first-team All-America hon- ors with her selection on Dec. 10 … A team captain for two years, Fernandez Lacort was also named 2019 Big Ten Player of the Year … She was joined by junior back Halle O'Neill on the NFHCA All-West Region first team … Earning second-team All-West Region laurels were senior forward Meg Dowthwaite and sophomore midfielder Kathryn Peterson. Men's Soccer (11-5-6 Overall, 4-1-3 Big Ten) After advancing to the Big Ten con- ference tournament final, Michigan lost a heartbreaker to Indiana, 0-0, 4-3 on penalty kicks … The Wolverines made those tie-breaking penalty kicks work for themselves in their opening- round NCAA win over Wright State, 0-0, 4-3 on PKs, before falling to Wake Forest, 3-1, in the NCAA Tournament's second round. Women's Soccer (17-6-1 Overall, 8-2-1 Big Ten) Junior midfielder Sarah Stratigakis was named second-team All-American by the United Soccer Coaches … A successful run to the Big Ten Tourna- ment finals, highlighted by wins over Maryland and No. 15 Rutgers, came to an end in the conference final with a 2-1 overtime loss to Penn State … One-goal NCAA Tournament victories over Bowling Green and No. 15 Texas Tech put the Wolverines into the tour- nament's third round, where they lost to No. 2 North Carolina. Volleyball (21-11 overall, 13-7 Big Ten) After sweeping Northern Kentucky 3-0 in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament, U-M fell to host Ken- tucky by the same 3-0 score in its bid to reach the NCAA Sweet Sixteen … It marked the program's 18th NCAA bid under head coach Mark Rosen, and its 13th in the last 14 years … Senior set- ter MacKenzi Welsh and sophomore outside hitter Paige Jones were named to the AVCA Volleyball All-Region team, while redshirt senor Cori Crocker earned honorable mention honors. — Bob Miller WRAPPING UP FALL OLYMPIC SPORTS SEASONS THAT HAVE BEEN COMPLETED Senior midfielder Guadalupe Fernandez Lacort earned third-team All-America honors last season and was named a first-team selection this year. PHOTO COURTESY MICHIGAN PHOTOGRAPHY