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COLUMBUS — In the Big Ten Soccer Championship showdown between No. 1 seed Ohio State and the No. 7 seed Michigan men’s soccer team, chances came from both open play and set-piece routines. But ultimately a second-half corner kick made all the difference.
Soccer is a sport of controlled chaos, and nothing in the game demonstrates that better than the set piece. Corner kicks, free kicks, throw-ins — dead ball situations are a brief pause from the otherwise-continuous flow of the game. More and more across the sport, teams are focusing on attacking, and therefore defending, from set pieces. Yet the best-laid plans … Well, you know the rest.
But it wasn’t that all the scoring chances came from set pieces. The Wolverines were able to create plenty of opportunities from the run of play in the first half. They pressed high to intercept the Buckeyes’ passes out of the back and force turnovers immediately after losing possession.
“If you can press, and not let them play the big diagonal into (Ohio State midfielder Michael Adedokun), that is a key to the game,” Michigan coach Chaka Daley said.
Adedokun — the top-ranked Buckeyes’ danger man on the left wing — provided most of their attacking opportunities. The high press therefore also shut down Ohio State on the transition, minimizing their best goal-scoring threat, and led to more Wolverine attacks.
Another part of Michigan’s strategy consisted of through balls in behind Ohio State’s outside backs, where a Wolverine attacker could whip in a cross for another player to receive. However, a number of first half free kicks in threatening positions outside the penalty area offered Michigan an opportunity to do something similar from a set piece.
In one free kick scenario in the first half, rather than send it directly into the penalty box, the Wolverines played the ball out wide to graduate midfielder Bryce Blevins in a deeper, wider position, where he could then send a dangerous in-swinger toward the waiting Michigan attackers. Ohio State cleared the ball, but the chances kept coming.
Later in the first half, graduate forward Beto Soto took a free kick from about 30 yards out, which he opted to send low and curling toward the back post. The ball ricocheted off of junior midfielder Zach Martens’ head and found the foot of sophomore defender Will Baker, who volleyed it toward goal — and forced a desperate clearance off the line from an Ohio State defender.
Michigan had continuously come so close to seizing the lead, and yet it felt like the ball just wouldn’t fall the Wolverines’ way. That would prove to be decisive.
“We weren’t rewarded with a goal from the opportunities created,” Daley said. “And goals change games.”
Finally, in the second half, the Buckeyes broke the deadlock. Standing at the corner flag, Ohio State midfielder Marko Borkovic sent a looping ball toward the front post. Junior defender Nolan Miller leapt up to meet it, hoping to get there before a Buckeye could direct the ball toward the goal. But instead of landing out of the danger zone, the ball landed at midfielder Parker Grinstead’s feet. The Wolverines’ defense rushed to close down the Ohio State midfielder, but he got his shot off quickly enough to find the back of the net. The chaos of the set piece had swung in Ohio State’s favor.
“It wasn’t a missed detail, in any way shape or form, why we conceded,” Daley said. “We defended it well, came back out, he smashed it home. They took their chance and we were a little unlucky.”
As the sun sank lower into the sky over Columbus and the game wore on, it looked less and less like Michigan would be able to find its way back into the game. The Wolverines continued to whip crosses into the penalty box, but that lethal connection never came.
Nevertheless, the chances created are an encouraging sign for Michigan, and there is everything to play for in the NCAA Tournament.
“We have another life,” Daley said. “We can hopefully see another day.”
If the Wolverines can continue to service their attackers in the penalty box — from set pieces and crosses alike — the goals should inevitably follow.
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