Nielsen Raises Expectations, Gets Results with Unbeaten Lacrosse Team
4/4/2019 11:06:00 AM | Women's Lacrosse, Features
By Steve Kornacki
ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- Head coach Hannah Nielsen, her coaching staff and players have completely turned around the University of Michigan women's lacrosse program in two years.
The No. 7-ranked Wolverines are 13-0 overall and 3-0 in the Big Ten headed into Saturday's (April 6) 5 p.m. game at No. 2 Maryland on the Big Ten Network, and they are chasing dreams that they couldn't have imagined even one year ago.
Michigan had won 16 games total in the three seasons that preceded Nielsen -- a four-time NCAA champion at Northwestern and two-time winner of her sport's Heisman, the Tewaaraton Award, as well as a member of four Australia World Cup teams -- arriving from her alma mater, where she was an assistant coach.
And now these Wolverines, outscoring opponents by a nearly 2-to-1 margin (14.6 to 7.9), have a chance to win more games this season than they did in three years combined (2015-17). Four regular-season games remain along with the possibilities of two more in the Big Ten Tournament and a potential first-time NCAA Tournament berth.
This transformation seemed so far-fetched just last season. Michigan, headed to a 7-10 record, lost Nielsen's first game as head coach, 20-10, to No. 17 Colorado in Jacksonville, Florida.
Worse than the score was the Wolverines' reaction to it.
"The girls were quite happy with that performance," said Nielsen. "We were 10-10 at halftime and ended up losing, 20-10, but by their standards they thought they played a good game. People are laughing on the bus. People are cheering. Parents are giving us high-fives. I said, 'Wait a second. What's going on here? We just got destroyed!' Now, by a good team, but the expectation was losing and they thought they'd played well.
"To me, that doesn't fly. 'We've got a lot to work on. This isn't where we want to be. You guys need to change your attitudes, change your expectations. If you don't expect to beat someone, you're never going to.' Then I told them later, 'If you set your expectations high but don't meet them, you're still better off.' But even in the second weekend of last season, we were better, and then we started to win some games."
Muir
Fast forward to Feb. 24, less than six weeks ago, and an 8-6 win over No. 14 Colorado in Boulder followed two days later by a 12-10 win at No. 9 Denver. That completed an amazing stretch that began one week earlier with an 11-10 double-overtime win at home over No. 25 Dartmouth.
"The Colorado trip for the coaching staff was a 'wow moment' after we'd circled Dartmouth on the calendar as the first ranked opponent," said Nielsen. "We thought we could beat them and we did in overtime. It was good for the confidence going into Colorado. As a coach I thought if we split the Colorado weekend, we'd be in good shape. Then, when we went into Colorado and beat them, every game they've been gaining confidence and a sense of belief in themselves.
"Two days before we played Denver, they'd just beaten the No. 5 team in the country. So, they were coming in riding high. Our girls could've looked at that and gotten scared, shied away from it. But we didn't. We came in, we played tough, a no-nonsense version of the game, and we were down by a few with 10 minutes to go. They showed a real resiliency to come back and chip away. All season long, they've kept their heads high no matter what's going on.
"And that weekend was massive. Beating both those teams in tough atmospheres was really, really big for them."
Pendino
The Wolverines have beaten six ranked opponents.
They've been led on offense by four attackers.
Sophomore Caitlin Muir has 22 goals and 17 assists to share the scoring lead at 39 points with junior Lilly Grass (26 goals, 13 assists). Senior Adriana Pendino has a team-high 33 goals with five assists, and junior Nadine Stewart (19 goals, five assists) also has been key.
"We're so balanced," said Nielsen. "All four of them have really stepped up this year, and all four of them put in extra work outside of practice.
"Muir is only a sophomore, and to think about her in her senior year, that's really exciting."
Midfielder Maggie Kane (5-foot-4) is second on the team with 27 goals and has three assists for 30 points.
"Maggie Kane is a sophomore from (Caledonia) Michigan (and Grand Rapids Catholic Central)," said Nielsen. "She's like a little bulldog. Sometimes we have to get her off the field and say, 'Relax.' She's so passionate about playing well and our team playing well, and she goes so hard. She's got scratches and bruises all over her because she does the gritty work and does an amazing job defensively.
"She and Molly Garrett, a junior captain, help the team a lot and put in that work week in and week out. I use the term 'heart and soul of the team' to describe Molly. She came in at the beginning of the year and asked me, 'How can I be an All-American?' She has the passion to succeed individually, but ultimately just loves Michigan and wants this program to succeed at the highest level."
Kane
Backup goalie Alli Kothari and starting defenseman Maggie Handlan, who ruptured her Achilles' tendon and is out for this season, are also captains providing strong leadership.
Senior goalie Mira Shane (8.52 goals-against average, .531 save percentage) has stepped up to get the majority of starts.
Performance has begun meeting expectations.
"It was just letting them know my expectations," said Nielsen, "and giving them a little insight into me and my experiences from where I played and being a World Cup player. Things don't get achieved unless you believe in yourself. You have to set your expectations high. So, from day one, it was, 'These are our expectations, and anything less than this is not going to suffice.'
"But last year wasn't as much about a record perspective as it was effort and attitude -- which it still is. Effort and attitude are non-negotiable for us. Wins and losses will take care of themselves. You have to have the investment, the attitude, the passion, the buy-in and the discipline."
Nielsen Calls Assistant Coaches 'Best in the Game'
Nielsen put a plan in place with assistant coaches Ana Heneberry (defensive coordinator) and fellow Aussie Adam Sear (offensive coordinator). They focus on teaching fundamentals, technique and spending abundant one-on-one time with players. They also worked on the psychological approach with a team used to losing.
"I think I have the best in the game," said Nielsen. "As a coaching staff, you really want coaches that are as invested as you are, and I think Adam and Ana both look at this program and have as much care and passion about it as I do. These guys take ownership over the program and the position they coach."
Nielsen's goal was to give them that "ownership" while "collaborating on both sides of the ball" with input in all areas. She's learned to delegate, while admitting doing so "was probably my hardest transition from being an assistant."
Michigan was 1-15 in Big Ten play all-time before going 2-4 last year and finishing on the high note of a 12-11 win at No. 16 Penn State.
Nielsen recalled, "We, as coaches, looked at each other like, 'All right, at the beginning of the year, we never would've won that game.' But we came in with a different mindset, a different attitude. It's amazing what that can do for you."
They followed up on that this season by beating the Nittany Lions, 12-9.
"All of last year was a process," said Nielsen. "Last year, I thought we could be a little more successful than we were, but we made the necessary strides. We made sure that, with the things we were teaching, we weren't skipping over anything in the fundamental skills and how to play the game. And we're still doing that.
"While other teams could focus on conceptual stuff and strategy, we were still teaching how to catch and throw correctly. We spent a lot of time on that. We wanted to get things perfect. That really helped us this year in building our foundation. Things that took a week last year take maybe a day this year.
"We really only run one or two offenses, but they're so intricate and you have to go exactly where you need to be or it isn't going to work."
Nielsen (from left), Heneberry and Sear
It's all coming together now for Michigan, which also has a state-of-the-art stadium and facilities that opened up on State Street one year ago and is getting a much different reaction from blue-chip recruits.
"Michigan's on the map," said Nielsen. "For people to see we're capable of really doing some crazy things, really opened some recruits' eyes. We did really well in the last recruiting cycle. We're recruiting against the Dukes, the Marylands, the Penn States, the Northwesterns.
"They got a couple from us, but we also got a couple from them. They probably weren't in the same conversations with Michigan in prior years."
One of Nielsen's two Tewaaraton Awards, topped with a sculpture of a Mohawk playing the game and wielding his netted stick high, sits to her right on a table in the second-floor corner office. According to Tewaaraton.com, the award's name comes from the Mohawk name for the game most credit to origination by the Iroquois Nation.
The award provides current Wolverines and recruits a glimpse at what's possible if they do as Nielsen did and set their expectations at the highest level. And, just maybe, the coach's Tewaaraton will have company someday.
That day could be coming sooner rather than later.
"I don't think I could've ever expected to be 13-0," said Nielsen. "But I'm really proud of the girls. We show them what they have to work on, and it's a testament to them working hard. They are really invested right now. You look at the buy-in and we have a really good group right now.
"Obviously, the winning helps. But they're having fun and answering every question from the coaching staff. This year's been a special one, and there's the potential for it to continue. We're excited. This is the position you want to be in. It's a lot of fun, and we're having a great time doing it."
