Michigan men’s soccer coach Steve Burns borrowed a little inspiration from actor Al Pacino in the movie Any Given Sunday to get his team in the right frame of mind heading into Saturday night’s matchup with rival Ohio State.

As Pacino did, Burns assured his team that the Big Ten season opener was going to be a game of inches — and he was spot-on.

The Wolverines (0-1-0 Big Ten, 4-2-3 overall) dropped an aggressive match to the 23rd-ranked Buckeyes 1-0 in front of a packed house on Saturday. The crowd of 3,207 witnessed a match highlighted by 14 combined goalkeeper saves and a penalty kick — but no Michigan goals.

“To pull a crowd like this … this is a game we circle on the schedule as a win that we need to have," senior captain Alex Wood said. "Looking at the final statistics, sometimes that’s the way soccer is played. We’ll learn from this and we’ll push forward and keep going.”

Michigan kept the tempo high and created plenty of scoring chances for itself but an Ohio State goal in the 20th minute of the first period proved to be the difference — or the insurmountable ‘inch’ — in the game.

"To keep it short and simple, the kid hit the shot of his life," sophomore defender Brian Klemczak said. "(It) went in off the crossbar. It’s unfortunate for us, but it went in.”

The Wolverines pressed for the equalizer from then on, but came up just short each time.

Michigan got 24 shots off, with 11 on goal — easily beating the Buckeyes in those categories, as Ohio State finished the night with just 12 shots, four of which were on goal. The Wolverines even took six corner kicks to Ohio State’s two, but couldn’t find a way to make any of them touch the back of the net.

Freshman forward Soony Saad — Wednesday night’s hero after his game-winning goal in overtime against Kentucky — led the Wolverines’ offensive attack once again Saturday, with nine shots and five on goal.

But the turning point in the game came midway through the first half when Michigan was awarded a penalty kick and couldn’t put it away. Senior forward Justin Meram took a good shot but the Buckeye keeper Matt Lampson played it perfectly and it proved to be the save of the game.

Both of Michigan's losses this season have come in 1-0 games against ranked teams. Each time, the Wolverines doubled-up the other team in the offensive categories, something that visibly frustrated the strikers against Ohio State.

The Wolverines know this game will sting for a while, but the team now faces an entire week of practice time before taking on Penn State at home next weekend.

The Nittany Lions knocked the Wolverines out of the first round of the Big Ten Tournament last season and they haven’t forgotten. Combining Saturday night’s defeat with the memory of its season-ending loss to Penn State, Michigan has plenty of motivation for its upcoming match.

“That’s the story of the Big Ten,” Wood said. “It’s a super competitive conference, one of the best conferences in the country. It just shows how vital that first goal is. These teams know what it’s like to play in the Big Ten, its life and death.