2006 SOM vs. Ohio State -- Notes & Quotes
10/22/2006 12:00:00 AM | Men's Soccer
N O T E S
Michigan and Ohio State played to the first tie in series history, giving U-M an all-time record of 4-3-1 against OSU.
Sophomore/freshman Patrick Sperry's five saves against Ohio State gave him sole possession of the U-M single-season record for saves (64) made by a first-year goalkeeper. Sperry's 64 saves also move him into third place on the U-M single-season saves list as he passed Joe Zawacki's (2000-04) total of 59 saves and Peter Dzubay's (2001-05) 62 saves from 2004. Sperry is just eight saves from tying Dzubay's 2005 second-place total (72).
Junior Tolu Olowolafe made his first start of the season, playing in his 11th game of the year.
With today's 0-0 tie, the Wolverines are 0-2-3 in the Big Ten.
U-M was shut out for the ninth time this season, which is the most shutouts against a Michigan team in program history. The Wolverines are 0-7-2 in those contests.
The Wolverines played in their fifth double-overtime match of the season and moved to 0-1-4 in double-overtime games.
Q U O T E S
Michigan Head Coach Steve Burns
On the team's response to being down a man ... "They responded incredibly well. This is a team that has seen a lot of challenges in front of them all season long. They played against a good attacking team in Ohio State. Our guys were motivated, played with emotion, and they had the attitude and tried to overcome those challenges. We just couldn't find the one goal that was going to sink the game."
On the team's defense ... "We've got some good strong players that form our back line. We've got a lot of experience in our two outside players in (Michael) O'Reilly and (Kevin) Savitskie. Today (Michael) Holody and Chase (Tennant) played well and covered each other's backs, in addition to (Patrick) Sperry in net. You have to look at him being connected to it all. Sperry made some good decisions on exits. Overall it was a solid defensive performance, not only in our back third, but in the middle third of the field. I thought our forwards -- or forward when we're in a 4-4-1 -- worked very hard defensively as well."
On the importance of being able to earn at least one point from today's game ... "It's about momentum at this point in the season. One point gives you a little bit of momentum; certainly a win gives you more. Going in against Penn State, they just had a win against Indiana, they're a good team. We got them at home. Hopefully it's a challenge that we respond to."
On the importance of closing out the regular season at home ... "It's the closure to our regular season, it's great we can do it in front of our home fans. It's going to be Senior Day for our guys, and it's going to be very emotional for them. More than anything we'll look at the day as a the last time the seniors will play on our field. The team will respond; I know the seniors will respond and put forth a total effort."
U-M Sophomore/Freshman Goalkeeper Patrick Sperry
On earning his third shutout and team's fourth shutout of the season ... "The team looked good. It's a really tough situation to get down a man that early in the game, especially in these conditions. It took a lot of guts, and we showed that we have the guts. We proved that we can play with any team in the Big Ten."
On the team's morale going into halftime ... "We were not down, we weren't nervous. We've been here before (down a man) with Michigan State and we just knew we had a challenge ahead of in the second half. We had to weather the storm because we were playing to win. We went out there with the mentality to put it all on the line to get the job done."
