Grassie's Travels; Big Ten Championship Day 2
11/13/2008 12:00:00 AM | Men's Soccer
As the Wolverines continue one of the most successful seasons in program history, they look to add a Big Ten title to their resume. As they make their bid at the 2008 Big Ten Championship (Nov. 13-16), U-M assistant coach Chris Grassie will provide his second travel guide of the season. He was the MGoBlue tour guide in the Maize and Blue's tour of Brazil during the preseason. He will provide daily updates of the Wolverine adventure on and off the field.
THURSDAY | NOV. 13, 2008
For all of the Michigan faithful, I will cut straight to our quarterfinal encounter against our host, Wisconsin.
The temperature was in the 40's, the rain was coming down and we were the third game of the day on a very heavy pitch. The game took about 15 minutes to settle down as both teams looked to figure out their opponents and how to deal with the environment. We started quite slowly, not being able to get the ball under control as it pinballed around on a wet pitch.
After the first 15 minutes, we really took over. In particular Mauro Fuzetti, who spent the first portion of the game trying to find the rhythm, began to dictate the rhythm to everyone else. He sliced and diced Wisconsin's defenders so many times they must have felt nauseous every time he got on ball. But for all Mauro's and our forwards' endeavor, we just could not break the seal. We hit the post and the crossbar, and their keeper made three very impressive saves. By all accounts, it could have been 6-0 going into halftime.
The second half was a bit of a different story with the weather becoming an even bigger factor and play becoming even scrappier. However, we were still the better team, and our fighters Morisset, Robles and Holody manhandled Wisconsin and dominated their attack. Up top, Peri Marosevic was holding the ball up for us, allowing us some attacking momentum. At the end of regulation, it was tied 0-0. We went to OT, and it was the same story.We dominated play but were just not able to score.
So to penalties it went. We knew there was no doubt of victory as we have some of the best PK shooters in college. Mauro Fuzetti, Michael Holody, Adam "Killer" Keller, and Peri Marosevicscored to send us to victory. But the man of the moment was our keeper, Patrick Sperry, who proved again he is one of the best in the nation by making two big saves to book us a place in the semifinals.
So with the victory just minutes confirmed, we were off to the Big Ten banquet. The banquet became a farewell roast of living legend, Joe Baum, as he steps down as Michigan State head coach at the end of the season after almost forty years involvement with that program. We also honored the All-Big Ten selections this evening. Holody, Peri, Mauro, and Jake (Stacy)all made the first team. U-M had the most selections of any Big Ten team.
We must give credit to our entire team, who do the dirty work, the hours of training, and give the support to these special individuals who were mentioned.
Bring on Indiana in the semifinals!
WEDNESDAY | NOV. 12, 2008
Today we made the long bus trip out to Madison. The trip was fairly uneventful, but the lads are in good spirits. There is a certain confidence to this team at the minute. It is not the kind of confidence that is arrogant or brash, but is one that has the quiet strength of a team that knows how good they can be.
We know we are the best team in the Big Ten, but the lads are ready to put in the miles of running and drip the buckets of sweat that it takes to prove it.
On an interesting note, IU is staying in our hotel. As you know, they could be our semifinal matchup, so I expect things to be pretty interesting around the breakfast buffet once the testosterone levels get up to match standards.
