Michigan’s defense has been stingy, its offense explosive, and its goalkeeping impeccable.

But the team’s glaring weakness has been finishing, so in practice on Friday, the Wolverines focused extensively on shooting. On Saturday, they reaped the benefits in Kalamazoo.

Five Wolverines scored in Michigan's 5-1 thrashing of Western Michigan at the WMU Soccer Complex. Junior defender Adam Keller opened the scoring extravaganza in the 33rd minute, netting Michigan’s first opening-half goal of the season. Michigan coach Steve Burns called the play a nominee for the top-10 goals of the year, as Keller blasted a one-timer into the bottom left corner.

“Keller got the first goal and that kind of set the tone for the rest of the game,” senior captain Julian Robles said. “Once you get that first one against certain teams, it builds our confidence up. We were just continuing to create chances.”

Star forward Mauro Fuzetti was sidelined with a hyperextended knee, but Michigan’s offense appeared unfazed. The Wolverines (6-1) sent long balls down the flanks, watched their speedy forwards blaze by defenders, and ended the half with a 2-0 lead.

Michigan’s backline dictated the game’s tempo as the Wolverines found themselves with enough time to reverse the point of attack and catch the Broncos (0-6) out of position. The Wolverines outshot Western Michigan 10-1 in the period.

With a sizeable lead in the second half, Burns rested his starters and watched his reserves ice the game assertively. Redshirt freshman midfielder Alex Klein and junior midfielder Alex Wood continued the rout, with each tallying their first career goals.

“We brought in a couple guys off the bench to hopefully maintain the level of play and they did a great job of not having a drop off of levels,” Robles said. “We kept on attacking, we kept creating chances and we probably could have had a couple more.”

The Wolverines controlled play from start to finish for the first time all season, raiding the attacking box for much of the game.

But most importantly, they finished.

“This was the first game where we came out and there was never a question who would win the game,” Keller said. “We dominated.”