Michigan Drops Big Ten Opener to Indiana in Overtime

Sunday, October 5

Ann Arbor, Mich.

2:00 PM

Michigan

7-4

Indiana

3-3-4

OT 1

Indiana

Michigan

10/5/2003 12:00:00 AM | Men's Soccer

Box Score

By: Gene Skidmore

Site: Ann Arbor, Mich. (U-M Soccer Field)
Score: Indiana 2, Michigan 1 (OT)
Records: U-M (7-4, 0-1 Big Ten), Indiana (3-3-4, 1-0-1 Big Ten)
Next U-M Event: Friday, Oct. 10 -- vs. Western Michigan (U-M Soccer Field), 1:30 p.m.

ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- The University of Michigan men's soccer team dropped a 2-1 overtime decision to Indiana University Sunday afternoon (Oct. 5) in front of a record crowd of 2,012 fans at the U-M Soccer Field. Junior Matt Niemeyer (St. Louis, Mo./John Burroughs HS) notched his first career goal for Michigan's lone tally of the match, while sophomore Peter Dzubay (Sylvania, Ohio/Northview HS) turned away a season-high six shots in goal.

Niemeyer's goal came of an assist from freshman Kevin Savitskie (Plymouth, Mich./Salem HS) following a throw-in in front of the Michigan bench. Niemeyer settled the ball with his thigh and sent a bending ball toward the far post. IU goalkeeper Jay Nolly was fooled by the shot, as the ball bent back to the near post and found the back of the net for a 1-0 Michigan advantage just 18:05 into the game. Neimeyer's goal marked the first time the Wolverines have held an advantage in the five-game series with the Hoosiers.

IU regrouped following the Wolverine goal and dominated much of the possession throughout the remainder of the first half. Dzubay kept IU off the board in the 20th minute when he made a diving save on a low line drive to the back post from Hoosier midfielder Vijay Dias at the right corner of the arch.

Despite Indiana's having more possession, Dias' chance was one of only three shots on goal by IU in the first half as the Michigan defense held strong. Despite allowing much of the play in its end, Michigan utilized its size and kept the smaller Hoosiers outside of their penalty box for most of the half.

In the second half, Indiana came out firing on all cylinders and managed the equalizer just four minutes into the period when midfielder Ned Grabavoy slotted a penalty kick to the low right corner past the outstretched arms of Dzubay. The 10-yard free kick came as a result of a collision between Savitskie and an IU forward just inside the left corner of Michigan's 18-yard box. With the ball rolling toward the sidelines, away from the goal, both players raced to gain possesion and had their legs tangle, resulting in the IU player falling one step shy of being outside the box.

After Grabavoy's goal, IU continued to pound the Wolverine net with a number of good chances resulting from six corner kicks and nine shots. Much of the play in the early part of the second half was in the Michigan third of the field as IU continued to dominate possession.

As the second half wore on, the Michigan defense and midfield seemed to settle in and push the Hoosiers out of their defending third. The Wolverines nearly retook the lead with nine minutes remaining when junior Knox Cameron (Bronx, N.Y./Cardinal Spellman HS) found open space in the IU goal box and fired a shot that beat the keeper high but carrumed off the crossbar and bounced out of harm's way. Senior tri-captain Mike White (Livonia, Mich./Stevenson HS) set up the play with a penetrating pass to the left of the penalty spot.

With only 2:04 remaining in the game, IU appeared to net the potential game-winner, as one of the IU attackers defected a corner into the Michigan goal. However, the referee ruled an IU attacker interfered with Dzubay and waved off the goal, keeping the scored knotted at 1-1 and eventually sending the game into extra time.

The Hoosiers again came out and carried most of the action and eventually netted the game-winner just 2:14 into the first overtime period when forward Jacob Peterson sniped out the right corner of the Michigan net after Grabavoy sent him in to the Michigan penalty box with a slicing through-ball.

The Wolverines (7-4, 0-1 Big Ten) have a pair of intrastate matches next weekend as the Wolverines host Western Michigan on Elbel Field Friday night (Oct. 10) at 7 p.m., then travel to East Lansing for a Sunday afternoon (Oct. 12) affair with Big Ten rival Michigan State with kickoff scheduled for 2:30 p.m.

GAME SUMMARY

Team	1	2	OT	F
Indiana	0	1	1	2
Michigan	1	0	0	1

Scoring, Time (Assist)
1st -- U-M, Matt Niemeyer, 18:05 (Kevin Savitskie)
2nd -- IU, Ned Grabavoy, 48:34 (Penalty kick)
OT -- IU, Jacob Peterson, 92:41 (Grabavoy)

Shots: U-M 8, IU 24
Saves: U-M 6 (Peter Dzubay), IU 5 (Jay Nolly)
Corner Kicks: U-M 2, IU 8
Fouls: U-M 20, IU 16
Cards: U-M, Joe Iding, 44:41 (yellow).

QUOTES

Michigan Head Coach Steve Burns
On the game ... "We played a great Indiana team. Our guys played their hearts out and were a little shattered. Right now, we're going to have to measure ourselves by how quickly we rebound from this because great teams are able to rebound from losses like this and get right back on track."

On going into halftime with a 1-0 lead ... "I think the confidence has been there all along for this team. Indiana is a very good team, and in the first half they recognized how to get into a seam on our right side, between our outside back and Kevin Taylor. They were really working that seam with Ned Grabavoy, who is a fantastic player, and Jacob Peterson as well. We gave a sigh of relief getting to halftime 1-0, so we could regroup and get that figured out."

On halftime adjustments ... "We didn't like how that first half ended, because they were controlling so much in the flanks. We changed our shape to essentially give them the flanks and really clog up the middle more and be more of a counterattack team. So you saw in the beginning of the second half we didn't have a lot of play in the flanks and a lot more play up front. Then, in the run of play, maybe midway through, once we inserted Trey Blanks in the lineup and got our three forwards back on track, we got more things going, and we were just waiting to absorb as much of their pressure and energy to steal some momentum back, and almost did it."

On where the team goes from here ... "There's so much of the season left in terms of the Big Ten, we can still rebound within the conference and put a really strong season together within the conference. That's the goal for us."

On what a victory would have meant ... "We really thought that this could be a milestone for our program. The alumni were here for a reason. We brought out the yellow uniforms; that's something new for us. We're going to wear those for big games when you need the boys to feel that little extra to get you over the hump. Everything was set up as such, other than they scored a great goal to win at the end."

U-M Senior Tri-Captain Defender Kevin Taylor
On the game ... "Every year it's always a close game, and then something like that happens -- we have a little breakdown and they win. This was our first Big Ten game, and as a senior this is the one game I haven't won yet that I really want to win."

On the strategy against Indiana ... "As long as we stayed behind the goal, we were all right. It's when they play it over our heads that we have a problem. Everyone on their team runs 110 percent every play, so it's just when they play balls behind us and we have to chase it that gives us trouble."

U-M Senior/Junior Defender Matt Niemeyer
On his goal ... "Kevin (Savitskie) threw it in to me right on top of the 18-yard box and I just had one touch and tried to put it on net."

On Indiana ... "They're just a skilled team and they've been in the big games. They know how to pull out victories. We're getting there, and we'll figure it out too. They've been playing in big games for a long time, and they have a lot of good players and they work very hard."

On Indiana's penalty kick ... "Obviously, when you're on the losing side, you're going to disagree with it. You have to go with whatever happens. They put another one in and we didn't. It's tough, but that's the way it goes sometimes."

On the team chemistry ... "We have started jelling as a team, and we have a great team this year. We've got a lot of older guys who have been together for a while. Every game, every practice, we're getting better, so it's exciting. As long as we keep working hard, we'll keep getting better."

Indiana Head Coach Jerry Yeagley
On Michigan aiming for this game as being its big chance to make itself known in the college soccer world ... "We said, 'We're Indiana.' The Big Ten has been ours. We want to make sure that if and when we do lose to a Big Ten team -- and it's been since 1995 -- that it's well earned. It's not going to be because of our poor performance.

"I give credit to Michigan. They're a very good team and hard to play up here in this great environment. But the Indiana team was the better team today and played the better soccer and deserved the win."

On where the Michigan program is headed ... "Steve (Burns) and Ernie (Yarborough) have done a great job in a short period of time. They have beaten some ranked teams. They played for the championship in the Big Ten. They're there. They can play with anybody. They had two losses to ranked teams in the last two minutes."

NOTES

• It marks the third time in the five-game series the two teams battled into extra time. Indiana has won all three matches -- 1-0 in triple OT in the 2001 Big Ten Tournament semifinals at Madison, Wis.; 2-1 in 2002 at Bloomington, Ind.; and today's 2-1 win.

• The Wolverines are now 0-5-0 in their five-game series with the Hoosiers.

• Matt Niemeyer earned his first career goal at 18:05 with a bending ball from 23 yards out.

• Niemeyer's goal was the second scored by the Wolverines in the five-game series. It also gave the Maize and Blue its first lead of the series.

• Sophomore/freshman Michael O'Reilly (Spring, Texas/Klein HS) was in the starting lineup for the first time in his Michigan career.

• Freshman Kevin Savitskie earned his first career assist when he found Niemeyer with a throw-in during the first half.