Every time the Michigan men’s soccer team has gone to overtime this season, they’ve emerged with a tie. So when the Wolverines trotted onto the field to begin the extra period against Western Michigan after heavily controlling the play for much of the game, there was a feeling of collective optimism.
Six minutes into overtime, though, that feeling was replaced by anguish.
Bronco defender Connor Furgason found space across the top of the box and fired a shot into the low left corner, sending the Western Michigan (6-3-1) bench into a frenzy with a 1-0 win.
The defeat follows a rough September in which Michigan (1-5-2) went winless. The team had hoped a weeknight matchup against a MAC opponent would yield a reversal of fortunes before facing a Big Ten opponent in Wisconsin on Saturday and No. 1 Notre Dame next Tuesday.
“When it is overtime, it’s a coin toss,” said Michigan coach Chaka Daley. “We should’ve taken care of business during regular time, but unfortunately it came back to bite us.”
The offensive struggles are becoming a hallmark for the season for the young group, which has now failed to score in its past four games. Their last goal came Sept. 12th against Maryland.
The result feels more disheartening as Michigan outplayed the Broncos for much of the game. The Wolverines controlled possession, but had a hard time finding chances against a conservative defense that made no glaring errors with the ball. Whenever the ball was in the Western Michigan box, a Bronco defender was there to clear the line.
“We were very successful (in possession),” Daley said. “We had a lot of the ball in the the second half. But possession doesn’t win games.”
In the defensive half, Michigan contained and controlled the Broncos for most of the match. With the exception of two instances, where freshman goaltender Evan Louro had to punch out a cross and a sprawl to stave off a free kick, there was little action in front of the Wolverine net until the overtime goal.
Michigan’s best chance to grab the lead came early in the second half on what seemed like a relatively innocuous free kick from 40 yards out. Sophomore defender Rylee Woods launched a high, looping ball that evaded the Bronco goalkeeper but rang off the crossbar.
The shot became just another tally on a long list of missed opportunities.
“We’re having good performances,” Daley said. “But we’re not getting any kind of fortunate bounces. We hit the crossbar, had a half volley go right to the goalie — it’s not luck sometimes, but maybe we’re just unlucky at this point.”
Michigan will certainly need some bounces in the coming weeks. The non-conference loss is a setback that hurts the team’s already deflated confidence. As they enter the paramount portion of their schedule — playing four more games in the next two weeks — the Wolverines are focused on using the Big Ten to salvage their postseason hopes.
“We have 10 games to go,” Daley said. “Not all is lost. We’re disappointed, yes, but we’ll live to fight another day. Now the Big Ten becomes our primary focus.”