http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D93zXzaKw4wIt’s a team on the rise. A Wolverines squad packed with fast, dynamic young talent, skippered by a third-year coach who’s seen huge success—and controversy. The parallels to Michigan’s football team are striking, but this is a different kind of football.

Out on the practice field, under slanting autumn sun, the U-M women’s soccer team is at work. Passing balls around in complex patterns, running, turning, moving, talking all the time—”yeah Clare!” “Right here! Right here!”—the players have to sustain a sharp edge of concentration. They receive passes with one foot and in a flash send the ball to a teammate on the move. “We’re a very fast team,” says head coach Greg Ryan. This is Ryan’s third season. In 2008 he was hired to reinvigorate a once-strong team stuck in a bog of lackluster play. Ryan was an unlikely choice to become U-M’s second women’s soccer coach, if only because he seemed overqualified. For almost three years Ryan held one of the most prestigious and high-pressure jobs in all coaching: head coach of the United States national team. (He served as assistant coach for a year before that.) He had coached some of the greatest players ever to strap on shinguards, including Christine Lilly, Abby Wambach and Mia Hamm. His record as a coach was a near-perfect 45-1-9. But after that one loss, a pounding by Brazil in the 2007 World Cup, Ryan found himself out of a job. He could have coached almost anywhere, but he chose the University of Michigan. “The thing that attracted me was the people I met on my interview…I just felt like this was a really good place. One of my goals after leaving the national team was just to work with some really good people and I’ve certainly found that at Michigan.” It also helped that the athletic department under then-director Bill Martin was committing major resources to soccer: not just new practice fields in U-M’s burgeoning State Street athletic facility, but a brand new, capacity-2,200 stadium that ranks among the finest in the country.

For Michigan, it all adds up to a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Soccer is on the rise, across the US and on campus. Last summer’s World Cup scored record television ratings, and next year the United States will rank among the favorites in the women’s World Cup. And today’s college students, who grew up playing the game, know and love soccer like no American generation before them. In a recent column, Michigan Daily sports editor Ryan Kartje marveled that more prospective writers had asked to be put on the soccer beat than had applied to cover football. With Ryan, the team’s dynamic style and the fresh stadium, U-M is poised to attract even more terrific young players and passionate fans.

Play fast

As of this posting, Michigan’s record is five wins, two losses and four ties (0-1-2 Big Ten). They have won with blizzards of goals (5-0 against UMass) and had to settle for disappointing ties after they dominated games but couldn’t convert shots into points.

The erratic results might be the mark of a team stocked with very young players. Take a glance down the roster and you’ll see a long line of Fr‘s: half the team are freshmen.

“When we’re out recruiting,” says Ryan, “we’re looking for physical speed, mental focus and the ability to play fast.” The freshmen, it’s clear, are bursting with speed and talent. But that’s not enough, he says: “If you’re fast, but you play slow, it’s no good either…so we work on tactical speed, technical speed, so that we can think fast, play fast, so hopefully we can break people down before they know what we’re doing.”That means constant practice on dribbling, passing and moving in limited space, where the physical and mental pressure is intense. It can be complicated, and takes time to learn. Before Ryan, says senior defender and team captain Jackie Carron, who was a sophomore when Ryan was hired, the team strategy was simple—”kicking the ball up top to athletic players”—but not very effective. Now it’s all about quick passes, keeping possession of the ball and using teamwork to break opponents down. When it works, Michigan’s attack is something to behold. Sequences of sharp passes lead to sudden assaults on goal. First-year forward Nkem Ezurike plays like an F-16, plunging ferociously toward the goal at every opportunity and leading the team in scoring with six goals and an assist in 12 games. Fellow first-year striker Tori McCombs is not far behind with four goals.The freshmen are learning fast, says Stachel, who adds that they are so talented and smart that “we play like an experienced team.” But it’s also true that the freshmen are only now being introduced to the power and savvy of the Big Ten’s most experienced players.

Captain Jackie

Luckily, the kids can turn to outstanding leaders—not only Ryan, but older players who came here in the dour season before Ryan’s arrival. Carron says that Ryan fixed a lot more than team tactics. “It’s been a big change. My freshman year there were a lot of negative attitudes. Greg’s made really sure to change that. Everyone has a really positive outlook and they’re willing to be more of a unit together.” Today, she’s one of only three seniors on the team. But she’s exactly the kind of senior you’d want leading your team.At practice, Carron doesn’t immediately stand out. She’s not particularly tall or vocal. (Ryan says, “Jackie: she’s quiet as a mouse.”) She wears a hair band to keep her auburn locks out of her face. During one drill she’s knocked to the ground—and gets up giggling. But then you keep seeing her, continually dashing to the ball, or moving to receive a pass. Other players, and even the coaches, keep calling her name as if she’s the main character in a musical. She seems to be everywhere, effortlessly. It’s not a surprise to learn that Carron also plays for the US under-23 national team, just one step below the senior team—Ryan’s old squad—with its legendary roster. This summer she traveled with the team through Germany, playing against European squads. She’s clearly a player of prodigious talent and serious intent. Yet during a drill, when she tangles with another player and both fall to the ground, she gets up giggling.

Serious fun

This team does a lot of giggling, in fact, even during intense drills.

It’s a bit of a surprise, given that the players also say Ryan emphasizes discipline. Yet during practice he’ll occasionally run right onto the pitch to play. When I first arrived at the practice field, he was out there early with a couple players, challenging them in one-on-one duels. Laughing when he made a good move, and just as happy when Ezurike burned him, he was coaching all the while, yet still keeping it a game.

Says Carron, “Before, maybe I would get down on myself if I made a bad play or something, but he’s always there saying, ‘Jackie, you can get the next one…try this the next time and it’ll be better.'””We are all great friends with each other,” says Clare Stachel, a third-year sophomore midfielder and co-captain. “We have a very fun team. When it comes time to getting serious, though, we will get serious. If you never have any fun in practice, I think you’re just not going to be a very happy team…but when it comes to our turn in a scrimmage or a game, we’re going to put 110% in every single time.”All that focus, and all that work, are paying off. After a couple rough seasons at the bottom of the Big Ten, the combination of experienced players who know his system and the arrival of all those laser-fast freshmen has made it possible to rev the team’s inner Ferrari. During an August 22 game against Eastern Michigan, just the second of the season, U-M came out in an attack-minded 3-4-3 formation. The crowd was boisterous, with a section of students banging on congas, drums and cowbells, and the Wolverines fell on EMU in torrents.With Carron locking down the defense, speedy players like Stachel and Ezurike were making precise passes, cutting through Eastern’s defense and blasting into open space. The Wolverines outshot EMU by an astounding 32-8. Only a series of acrobatic saves by the Eagles’ goalkeeper kept the game from turning into a blowout. Michigan had to settle for a 1-1 tie, but up in the bleachers, fans seemed happy. They saw an dynamic, hard-working team in a gorgeous stadium: a team with an exciting present that promises an even better future.As for Ryan, he’s continually pushing the team, but he’s also happy with how far they’ve already come. “We’ve got a very skillful team, and it’s only going to get better as the players mature…you’re going to see Michigan get stronger and stronger.”