The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
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JUNE/JULY 2021 THE WOLVERINE 59 BY CLAYTON SAYFIE M ichigan women's field hockey won the Big Ten regular-season title, beat rival Ohio State in the Big Ten Tournament championship game April 24 and earned a No. 2 seed (and first-round bye) in the NCAA Tournament. After a first-round bye in the 12- team tournament, the Wolverines topped Bucknell 2-0 in the quarter- finals. With the win, the Maize and Blue advanced to their fifth-ever Fi- nal Four and their second in the last four seasons. It took some magic for U-M to beat No. 3 seed Louisville in the semi- finals, with junior Katie Anderson finding the back of the net in the sixth round of the shootout to break the tie and advance. It was Ander- son's second marker of the shootout. The Wolverines made their third national title game appearance in program history and were looking to win the program's first crown since 2001. Entering on a 12-game win- ning streak, U-M was on a roll when it faced off against No. 1 seed North Carolina May 9. U-M drew first blood on a goal by redshirt junior Kate Burney at the 9:18 mark in the first quarter, but then fell behind 3-1. However, U-M wasn't done, with the Wolverines scoring two goals — Anderson scored U-M's first of the fourth quarter and junior Kathryn Peterson notched the equalizer — in the final 5:06 of the game to square things up and force overtime. UNC junior Erin Matson scored at the 66:39 mark in the overtime pe- riod, her second goal of the night, to clinch the Tar Heels' third consecu- tive national championship in a 4-3 thriller over U-M. The Wolverines finished the sea- son with a 15-3 record — the pro- gram's most wins since registering a record 21 in 2017 — and swept the Big Ten Conference championship and tournament title for the fifth time in school history. MEN'S GYMNASTICS PLACES THIRD AT NCAA CHAMPIONSHIPS Guided by Big Ten Coach of the Year Kurt Golder, Michigan men's gymnas- tics already had plenty of success even before the NCAA Championships, having won the Big Ten regular-season and postseason championships and posted a perfect 13-0 regular-season re- cord, but the fireworks were not done. Eleven Wolverines earned a total of 13 All-America accolades, helping lead Michigan to a third-place fin- ish — the program's best result since winning the national title in 2014 — at the NCAA Championships April 13 in Minneapolis. The Maize and Blue, who posted a team score of 410.358, finished behind only national cham- pion Stanford (414.521) and second- place Oklahoma (411.591). The night was highlighted in large part by sophomore Paul Juda's out- standing performances on both pom- mel horse and vault. In the former, he posted a 13.800 and ended up as the runner-up in the event. Juda paced the Wolverines in the latter event, too, notching a 14.600. Another U-M national runner-up score occurred when freshman Evg- eny Siminiuc registered a 14.266 on parallel bars in the fourth rotation of the championships, at which point the Wolverines remained in third place with two rotations to go. U-M struggled to a 65.265 on high bar and had to count falls on the ap- paratus from both Juda and senior Cameron Bock in the fifth rotation, which dropped them to fourth place. But they were able to respond to the adversity when it mattered most. A stellar performance on the floor ex- ercise surged U-M back up to No. 3, with senior Jacob Moore scoring a 14.900, senior Nick Guy generating a 14.800 and Juda accumulating a 14.166 for a team score of 71.599, U-M's season-high for the event. GOALIE STRAUSS MANN LEAVING MICHIGAN TO PURSUE PRO CAREER After being Michigan ice hockey's OLYMPIC SPORTS UPDATE Field Hockey Makes National Title Game Run, Falls Short In Overtime Junior Katie Anderson found the back of the net twice in the shootout to move Michigan past Louisville and reach the NCAA championship game. PHOTO BY REAGAN LUNN/COURTESY MICHIGAN PHOTOGRAPHY