The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/213966
big tens: men's soccer Wolverines Miss NCAA Tournament, But Are Building Toward The Future Life on the bubble is tough. With the season over, there is nothing to do but wait to hear whether the NCAA Tournament selection committee deemed your team worthy of postseason play. This year, after winning six of their final eight regular-season games before a disappointing first-round loss to Indiana in the Big Ten Tournament, the Wolverines found themselves squarely on the NCAA Tournament bubble for the second straight year. And this time around, Michigan wasn't lucky enough to squeeze in, when the NCAA Tournament field was announced Nov. 18. "You can already see these guys have a lot of motivation for the future, because we were very close, but still there is a lot of ground to make up to get the extra little bit you need to take the next step," Michigan head coach Chaka Daley said. "To get from good to great, there's a pretty significant gap. It's important that we take it in stride and get better and understand what a fine line it is between being a success and not — what it takes to get there. "We have to make sure we can sort out our NCAA Tournament aspirations before the conference tournament, because that's a one-and-done coin toss, and that happened to us." Eight games into the season, the Wolverines found themselves 2-3-3 overall. The last loss, a 2-0 decision to then-No. 7 Northwestern Sept. 28, was a turning point. That's when Michigan went on a tear, putting together a 6-2 stretch and finishing fourth in the final Big Ten standings with an 8-7-3 overall record, 3-3-0 in the Big Ten. "Northwestern was our first introduction to Big Ten competition, and we played better in that game, but we didn't get the result we wanted," Daley said. "That was a big wake-up call for the young guys. We did some very positive things down the stretch against some outstanding teams. They can take some positive things from those games, but the losses need to stay with them until next year so they can gain motivation from them, so they can strive to get better." With a better showing in the conference tournament, it would have been difficult to keep the Wolverines out of the 48-team field of the NCAA Tournament. But the Hoosiers' A.J. Corrado tied the score at 1-1 in the 62nd minute, and Indiana closed out a 2-1 win in overtime. Even though it's disappointing to be left home during the NCAA Tournament, there is plenty to be encouraged by, moving forward.