Poor giveaways and thinning forward options key in Michigan’s fifth straight loss

In the eighth minute of Sunday’s game, the Michigan women’s soccer team seemed well on its way to celebrating its first win after opening the scoring for the very first time this season.

But two costly giveaways combined with a lack of a true center forward led to the Wolverines’ (0-5-0) demise, as they ultimately squandered all three points to Ball State (2-2-0) in a 2-1 loss.

Four different players rotated throughout the game to try to fill the center forward role. With sophomore forward Gabby Prych playing limited minutes due to illness and freshman forward Elle Ervin still lacking experience, much of the responsibility to lead the attacking line fell on junior midfielders Jenna Lang and Abby Zugay.

“Right now Gabby Prych has been a bit sick so it’s a lack of having her consistently in the lineup,” Michigan coach Jennifer Klein said. “I think Elle (Ervin) is doing a good job, still working on fine tuning her game. So we’ve been utilizing Abby Zugay to help with that. Hopefully we can continue to get Abby in a better spot, keep pushing and working Elle and try to develop that a little bit better.”

Michigan sustained possession and kept the ball in Ball State’s defensive half in the early stages of the contest by filtering its attack through Lang, whose threatening crosses continued to beg for a finish.

Lang decided to take matters into her own hands by redirecting a well-placed in-swinging corner from junior forward Kali Burrell into the back of the net. Her headed goal in the eighth minute marked the first time on the season Michigan broke the deadlock, and it looked to be smooth sailing from there on out. At least for a brief moment.

But the Cardinals had other ideas. In the 20th minute, the ball fell to Ball State midfielder Addie Chester following a sloppy turnover. Chester left three Michigan defenders for dead before slotting the ball in the bottom left corner of the net. With a goal completely against the run of play, the Cardinals found the equalizer with their first shot of the day.

The shift in energy was palpable, and Michigan was no longer confidently controlling the tempo of the contest. Ball State channeled its momentum and began pressing much higher up the pitch, suffocating the Wolverines’ back line.

And that eventually paid off for the Cardinals, who found their go-ahead goal in the 30th minute via another turnover. The ball found its way to Ball State forward Delaney Caldwell just inside the box, and she laced an unsaveable bullet into the top left corner of the net. Two chances, two shots and two moments of individual brilliance separated the Cardinals from the Wolverines going into halftime.

Neither team could find their rhythm in the opening 10 minutes of the second half. But Michigan soon regained its poise and began controlling possession, utilizing senior midfielder Avery Kalitta in transition.

Michigan’s best chance of the second half came from a slaloming run from Kalitta, who skipped past three Ball State defenders before playing a through ball to Zugay. Zugay found herself one-on-one with the keeper but couldn’t quite capitalize.

Michigan’s best shot at redemption was playing through the middle. But with the Cardinals now sitting deep in a low block, the Wolverines had no choice but to exploit wider spaces and look for crosses.

“We have some other spaces that we would prefer to get into and just weren’t able to, so it definitely was more of what the game was giving us.” Klein said. “We’re just gonna have to be better at capitalizing on those opportunities from wider spaces in terms of our runs in the box and being more aggressive to get on the end of it. Whatever it may be. At this point, we’ll take any goals we can get.”

While the flurry of Michigan crosses into the box were dangerous, the Wolverines glaringly missed an aerial presence. Zugay and Lang are talented players, but using them as makeshift strikers didn’t get the job done.

The Wolverines pushed to find an equalizer, but it looked increasingly less likely as the clock wound down. Despite a promising start to the game, two quickfire opportunities converted by the Cardinals prevented Michigan from celebrating its first victory. And with only two goals in their opening five contests, it’s evident the Wolverines need to fill that center forward position to end their losing streak.

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