Maize & Blue Takes Determination into NCAA Tournament
11/9/2017 1:00:00 PM | Field Hockey, Features
By Steve Kornacki
ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- Four wins.
That's what it will take for the No. 3 University of Michigan field hockey team to claim the NCAA championship, and the quest begins against Syracuse (12-6) 11:30 a.m. Saturday (Nov. 11) at Phyllis Ocker Field.
Wolverines coach Marcia Pankratz said the leadership of her six seniors and graduate students fuels that ultimate ambition.
"They are determined to win the championship," said Pankratz, who guided the Maize and Blue to its lone field hockey national championship in 2001. "All of them are like, 'We're not leaving here without a championship.'
"They are focused, committed, and great role models for the younger kids. They really elevated the expectations. I know the other (recent) teams expected to do well, but they've expected high achievement and have backed it up. They bring out the best in their teammates."
The Wolverines (19-2) have exhibited an intense will to triumph this season and that was perhaps best exhibited by graduate student Esther de Leijer scoring the game-winner in the Big Ten Tournament championship game with a broken hand.
"The left hand is broken and that is actually the more important hand," said Pankratz. "It's the top hand on the stick, and you do pretty much everything with it.
"She's been a cast for two weeks, and so they molded the cast around her stick. Toughness is another quality I give this team. We're very tough, and Esther certainly has been."
The stick itself was used to form a rounded groove in the cast to support the stick during maneuvering in game action.
Digging down deep and doing whatever it takes to win has been a trademark of this squad.
Seniors with the Big Ten trophy after the regular-season win // De Leijer doing a postgame interview
The Wolverines claimed both the Big Ten regular-season and tournament championships, and hadn't accomplished that double feat since 2010. They also did it in 2000, 2004 and 2010.
What's made this team a big winner?
"It's a combination of a lot of things," said Pankratz, "but I think the leadership's been tremendous. We've got six seniors that are just mature, talented, selfless, hard-working, put-the-team-first, low-maintenance people. They get it done.
"And we have some talent, and have done some hard work."
Morgan Malone, Sam Swenson and Katie Trombetta are seniors. They are joined by a trio of graduate students: Casie Ammerman, Carly Bennett and de Leijer.
De Leijer, who paused medical school studies in her native Netherlands to play two seasons at Michigan and pursue a master's degree in kinesiology, scored the game's only goal late in Sunday's (Nov. 5) Big Ten Tournament championship win over Penn State.
"Carly had the ball and was dribbling," said Pankratz, "and it went over to Esther. She one-timed it right away, and the goalie was off her angle. So, it was perfect timing. And she did it with that broken hand."
Pankratz, an intense competitor herself who played for the U.S. in the 1988 and 1996 Olympics, chuckled and shook her head.
"It was just great execution with five minutes left," added Pankratz.
It was de Leijer's fourth goal of the season, and second game-winner.
Meg Dowthwaite, from Weybridge, England, is the leading goal-scorer with 18, and was a first-team all-conference pick along with Swenson and Trombetta. De Leijer was a second-team selection and Ammerman won the Big Ten Sportsmanship Award.
"She's got her feet underneath her in her sophomore year," said Pankratz. "She's played with tons of confidence, and plays fast. She has great skills. Her finishing skills are awesome, and her attitude is super-positive. She's energetic, happy and always walks in with a smile on her face and has a very positive effect that's contagious."
Trombetta (Holbrook, New York) was named the Big Ten's Player of the Year, and shares the team lead of 11 assists with sophomore Guadalupe Fernandez Lacort.
"Katie's an incredibly smart player," said Pankratz. "She's really composed, poised, skilled, experienced, and has toughness. She's so reliable. She's the field general. She's really our coach on the field along with Sam and some of the other seniors. We trust her to make the decisions on the field.
"She has great delivery skills. She's the whole package, and is just such a great defender that the rest of our team can play with a lot of confidence around her. She brings out the best in her teammates."
Swenson, from Harrogate, England, was named the Big Ten's Defensive Player of the Year. She has 11 shutouts in 21 games with a 0.72 goals-against average and 0.831 save percentage.
"She is as quick as a cat and very agile," said Pankratz. "She's also incredibly smart, and her positioning in the game is excellent. She's almost always in the right position, and communicates to her defense really well. And she also plays with a lot of confidence so her teammates around her feel great with her back there. She's really experienced and makes really good decisions."
Swenson and Trombetta are part of the senior leadership group that Pankratz credits for a large part of this team's success.
"We have a lot of experience from the six of us," said Swenson. "We've all played a lot and we all are really close friends. That helps that we're always on the same page and everyone's work ethic on the whole team is just incredible. It's really easy to work with that, when everyone's working so hard on the field. It makes leading very easy."
Trombetta added, "We are much more about leading by example. Every day, we just come looking to play hard with no complaining, and that shows what our expectations are. To want it so badly really influences others."
Pankratz, named the Big Ten Coach of the Year for the sixth time, has impacted their leadership approach by exhibiting her own strong desire to succeed.
"She's just a phenomenal coach who really gets you to want to play at your best level," said Trombetta. "You want to play for her because you can tell how much she wants it, and how she wants it for us. So, you want to play to that level and really try to be the best in everything you do."
Swenson and Bennett with the Big Ten Tournament trophy // Wolverines celebrating after the win
Michigan has ridden a wave of great emotion all season long.
"The energy we get from our bench during games is just insane," said Swenson.
Junior Regan Leavitt coordinates the enthusiasm.
"Regan Leavitt is one of the biggest chiefs of the chants," said Trombetta. "She has so much heart and is constantly happy and amped up. Everyone is constantly cheering. I mean, you look at the photos from when we win and the teammates on the sideline are just as happy as the ones on the field. We all do really want it together and for each other."
The Big Ten championships this season are special to them, but now they covet the NCAA championship, and the Wolverines need to beat Syracuse to advance to Sunday's Elite Eight game (2 p.m.) with either Northwestern or Louisville.
"The seniors in our sophomore year were real close," said Swenson, "and that feeling of just missing really stuck with us. We made it to the Elite Eight and lost that year, and we were hosting the Final Four that year. We really wanted to get home for that, and so that was really tough.
"This team has been the best one I've been on, and everyone is equal and works so hard. It's fun to be on a team like that when it gets results."
Syracuse, ironically, won that NCAA title in 2015 at Ocker Field.
"I'm a competitor," said Trombetta, "and I just want to win. This is a team of best friends that have so much fun together. We want to do it for each other."
Four wins to go.
