Michigan
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Western Michigan
Keeling's Offensive Outburst Leads U-M to Seventh Win
9/30/2001 12:00:00 AM | Men's Soccer
ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- Junior transfer Jody Keeling (Odessa, Fla./Berkeley Preparatory) scored two goals and assisted on another to give the University of Michigan men's soccer team a 5-2 win over intrastate rival Western Michigan University on Sunday (Sept. 30) at the U-M Soccer Field. The win is the Wolverines' seventh of the season, surpassing last year's inaugural-season total of six.
The high-scoring affair started out rather quietly as only one goal was scored in the first half. At the 7:44 mark U-M's freshman midfielder Knox Cameron (Bronx, N.Y./Cardinal Spellman HS) put the Wolverines on the board when he pushed a Dave George (Livonia, Mich. Churchill HS) through-ball past an outstretched Ian Spooner from 15 yards out, giving Michigan a 1-0 lead.
Keeling scored his first goal of the game in the 51st minute off a Cameron free-kick centering pass. Keeling judged the kick perfectly as he jumped above the Western defense and headed the ball past Spooner for a 2-0 Wolverine lead. Nearly 10 minutes later Keeling struck again. J.J. Kern (Trenton, Mich./Lake Orion HS) served the ball into the box and Keeling knocked it out of the air with his left foot, placing it directly to the left of the keeper's hand. The goal was Keeling's fourth of the season, tying both Tom Gritter (Grand Rapids, Mich./Grand Rapids Christian HS) and Kevin Robinson (Caro, Mich./Faith Baptist HS) for first place on the all-time scoring list.
Western answered back in the 73rd minute as Ryan Goldman intercepted a pass, dribbled past Joe Zawacki (Livonia, Mich./Stevenson HS) and walked the ball into the open net to pull the Broncos back within 3-1. Less than four minutes later Kevin Taylor (Miami, Fla./Gulliver Prep) snapped a Brian Peters (Ann Arbor, Mich./Pioneer HS) header past the Spooner to gave the Wolverines back their three-goal cushion. It was Taylor's first goal of the season in which he did not use his head.
Karl Lopata (Farmington Hills, Mich./Farmington HS) ended Michigan's record scoring day when one-timed a Jeff Mirmelstein (Indianapolis, Ind./Lawrence Central HS) centering pass into the lower left corner of the net. Keeling received his fifth point of the game on the goal as he set the play in motion with his cross pass to Mirmelstein.
With only 4:37 remaining in the match Western's Chad Wiseman scored on a Scott Duhl centering pass to make the final score 5-2.
The Wolverines' five goals set a school record for most goals in a game; U-M had three goals three times last year during its inaugural season. Keeling tied Gritter's Michigan single-game record with his two goals and set the mark for points in a game with five, breaking Gritter's mark of four vs. Cleveland State on Sept. 5, 2000.
Michigan will look to extend its four-game winning streak when it heads to Rochester, Mich., to face Oakland University Wednesday (Oct. 3) at 4 p.m.
GAME SUMMARY
| Team | 1 | 2 | F |
| Western Michigan | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| Michigan | 1 | 4 | 5 |
Scoring, Time (Assist)
1st -- U-M, Knox Cameron, 7:44 (Dave George)
2nd -- U-M, Jody Keeling, 50:52 (Cameron)
2nd -- U-M, Keeling, 60:32 (J.J. Kern)
2nd -- WMU, Ryan Goldman, 72:10 (unassisted)
2nd -- U-M, Kevin Taylor, 75:46 (Brian Peters)
2nd -- U-M, Karl Lopata, 82:41 (Jeff Mirmelstein, Keeling)
2nd -- WMU, Chad Wiseman, 85:13 (Scott Duhl)
Shots: U-M 21, WMU 17
Saves: U-M 5 (Joe Zawacki), WMU 5 (Ian Spooner 2, Mark Howell 3)
Corner Kicks: U-M 6, WMU 3
Fouls: U-M 20, WMU 20
Cards: U-M, Robert Wurth 55:00 (yellow); WMU, #2 56:00 (yellow), WMU, Jeff Schlicht 75:00 (yellow), WMU, (Chad Wiseman) 85:00 (yellow)
Q U O T E S
U-M Head Coach Steve Burns
On the style of today's game ... "It was more a psychological battle than a physical battle. The psychology here was how do you get your team motivated to play a team that they feel they're better than. We had to remind them of one of the team goals is to beat all in-state opponents this year. So, we used that and the psychology of a lot of players on the WMU team we had in our recruiting pool and they wanted to put in a good game together against us. As well, Western is not on our schedule next year, they certainly wanted to make a statement this year saying we deserve to be on your schedule next year."
On scoring early ... "That's just important. My anxieties were that we were going to play a real flat first half, and to get a goal and have a little bit of a cushion was nice, it's just nice."
On Western's physical play in the first half ... "Well, if anything, it motivated us, it kind of jarred us back into the game. We're built for a real rugged, physical game and that's the Big Ten Conference, and with these guys it takes a while to realize were not going to intimidate anybody, regardless of wins and losses. We're not going to intimidate anybody just yet."
On junior transfer Jody Keeling ... "He's a guy that knows how to sniff out goals, and he's just constantly around the ball. It's not always pretty but he had some quality finishes. We knew that is the type of player he was, very opportunistic and cool and calm in face of the net and that's what we saw today out of him."
On getting everyone into the game ... "It's the first opportunity we've had in two years to get everybody playing time. We want the team to develop and be challenged, and we were, but they responded and we got some guys in and saved legs on the guys who have a lot of minutes. We saved some wear and tear on them and it gives a little morale boost to those guys who haven't been playing, so it was big."
On opening up the attack ... "It took awhile. In fact, it was really the halftime talk where we as a team said, 'Let's possess the ball in the ball in the middle third and the back third of the field and make Western work harder.' That will allow us to pick the moment when we wanted to go forward and try and score. We really wanted to put that true possession game together and only go forward when we felt it was time to go forward."
Junior Forward Jody Keeling
On his ability to find the back of the net ... "That's just being a forward, that's why I'm there is to do that. All I'm doing is getting in the right position, standing around the goal area. All of my goals right now, apart from that goal last week, were inside the six-yard box. So, I mean, what I'm doing is just getting there and hopefully my teammates can get me the ball. It's working out so far."
Contact: Gene Skidmore (734) 763-4423
