As the final whistle blew at the U-M Soccer Stadium on Sunday, members of the Michigan women’s soccer team fell to the ground in anguish and frustration.
The 2-1 loss to Ball State marked the Wolverines’ fifth straight. The crowd — aside from the Cardinals’ faithful — echoed the low morale of the winless team, shuffling solemnly out of the stands.
Michigan coach Jennifer Klein summed up the outcome:
“Honestly, it’s a bit disappointing,” Klein said.
But for the first 15 minutes of the match the Wolverines were sharp. Accurate passes and through balls over defenders were hard for Ball State to manage, and Michigan struck first. Junior midfielder Emma Lang scored in the 8th minute, assisted by a cross through the box by junior forward Kali Burrell. The game seemed to be going exactly as planned for the Wolverines.
Michigan’s stellar play didn’t last long, though. The errors came soon, and they came in numbers. The Wolverines are a predominantly young team, with only three starters in their final year of eligibility from the 30-woman roster.
Potentially as a result of that inexperience, lapses in the midfield and defensive thirds proved fatal, with Ball State’s goals coming from intercepted passes just 10 minutes apart as the inexperience and sloppy play took over. The Cardinals ultimately overloaded the defending Wolverines, creating mismatches for their attackers. Ball State moved throughout Michigan’s 18-yard box with ease, exploiting the open space.
In the attacking half, the Wolverines lacked a true offensive threat. Strikers pushed for the break they were looking for, but no one could hit home. Ball State handled Michigan’s attack and shut down many advances before a shot could be fired. The Cardinals forced several turnovers in the midfield, put strong pressure on the wingers early and sprung into counterattacks with strong passes through the middle.
The loss extends the Wolverines’ gloomy start of the season — and one they’re certainly looking to turn around quickly.
“We just gotta keep moving forward and getting better,” Klein said.
While the losses certainly don’t look good on the scoresheet, each game brings 90 minutes of experience for younger players and plays an instrumental role in doing exactly what Klein is looking for from her team: getting better.
Freshmen forwards Ella Jablinskey and Elle Ervin and midfielders Adi Walick and Beanie Harshe contributed to a majority of the scarce scoring chances Michigan created on Sunday. Before Sunday, they’ve tallied an assist and a combined eight shots, a large chunk of the Wolverines’ offensive production throughout the season.
To add to their bright future, Lang will still have another year of captaincy with the Wolverines, and brings a lot of returning expertise and experience. But it’s unrealistic to expect a complete turnaround in a single season, and it’ll take some growing pains to restore the Wolverines’ culture of victory.
“When you have some younger players and a younger team they lack the (in-game) experience to draw from,” said Klein. “But they all come from really great environments so hopefully they can lean on those to understand that they’re capable of (performing).”
It’s a gross overstatement to say that Michigan’s season is over, however, only Alabama and Iowa State remain on the schedule before conference play. And, sitting alone at the bottom of the Big Ten standings, it doesn’t look like there’s a path toward success for the Wolverines this year — largely due to the inexperience they showed Sunday.
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