Freshman striker Soony Saad sends a free kick from 20 yards out over a wall of defenders and into the upper-right corner of the goal. The shot had such pace, such precision, that the diving goalie may as well have stayed put.

He wasn’t saving that shot.

No one could have saved that shot.

“That’s why he takes ‘em,” mutters Michigan men’s soccer coach Steve Burns, simultaneously funny and matter-of-fact.

He walks away from his players at a practice last week, looking down at the pitch with an ear-to-ear grin. It’s unclear whether the smile is the result of what he just said or what he just saw.

It’s not just in practice that Saad scores those goals for the Wolverines, who host Central Florida at 2 p.m. today in an NCAA Tournament second round game.

Tied 1-1 and playing a man down in the first round of the Big Ten Tournament against Michigan Sate last Thursday, the Wolverines were awarded a free kick just outside of the penalty area. With a little more than 12 minutes to play, Saad stepped to the ball with a chance to send the Wolverines to the next round.

A goal-scoring opportunity off of a set piece in a win-or-go-home conference tournament is a stage normally reserved for upperclassmen, but Saad is no ordinary freshman. The stage was his, and he buried the game-winner.

That’s why he takes ‘em.

BROTHERLY LOVE

The night of the Michigan State win, Saad was named Big Ten Freshman of the Year and was Michigan’s lone first team all-conference selection. He would go on to score in each of the Wolverines’ next two wins as Michigan won its first Big Ten Tournament title in the program’s 11-year history.

Saad’s goal against Penn State in Sunday’s championship game gave him 18 on the season, making him the leading scorer in the nation heading into the NCAA Tournament.

As a senior at Dearborn High School, Saad scored an MHSAA record 76 goals in a season. He was the 2009-10 Gatorade National Player of the Year and excelled for years at the most elite level of club competition. But even Burns didn’t think his skills would transfer immediately to the college game.

“Did I think he would have 15 goals at the end of his first (regular) season as a freshman? No,” Burns said prior to the Michigan State game. “I would have been extremely happy if he had 10 goals. My bar wasn’t that high … shame on me. The kid’s delivering and he’s delivering in a lot of different ways.”

As John Turck - the announcer for Michigan’s home games - likes to say, “he’d shoot from the locker room if they’d let him.”

In a game against Bowling Green, Saad stole the ball from inside of Michigan’s half and noticed the goalkeeper was out of position. So he shot - and scored - from about 65 yards away.

It wasn’t from the locker room, but it was close.

“It was Thierry Henry with Arsenal that the coined the phrase ‘fox in the box.’ Everybody is looking for the fox in the box, the 18-yard box,” says Burns, the lone head coach in Michigan’s history. “That guy that … you know when he latches onto that ball, he’s going to score. Everybody in college is looking for that guy. Everybody in the pro game is looking for that guy.”

In Saad, Burns has found his fox.

“There’s a lot of good players that come out of the youth game, and it takes them a while to adjust to the college game,” Burns says. “Soony, it took him half the season, maybe.”

Helping make that transition smoother has been the presence of Saad’s older brother, sophomore Hamoody Saad. A second team all-conference selection himself, Hamoody was on the Big Ten All-Freshman team last season as a forward. With Soony on the team, Hamoody has stepped back into his more natural position as an attacking midfielder, where he flourishes in a creative, set-up role.

Hamoody’s favorite target? His younger brother, of course. Of his five assists on the season, three have been to Soony.

“There’s this innate connection they have for one another,” says Burns. “When Hamoody latches onto a ball in midfield, especially a transition ball - so suddenly we were defending, now we’re attacking - he knows where Soony is going to be.”

“I can tell that he just knows where I am,” Soony says. “He can just put it into space for me to run and knows I’ll be there.”

That innate connection was on display in the semifinals of the conference tournament. Walking inside the penalty area with his back to the goal, Hamoody extended his left leg to receive a pass from Soony. In one fluid motion, he brought the ball behind his right leg and slid it directly in the path of the onrushing Soony, who buried the game’s only goal.

The play looked so effortless. So natural. As if they’d practiced it a thousand times.

“He has so much composure on the ball, it’s just incredible. It frustrates the hell out of other players, because they think he’s going to lose the ball,” says Soony. “They think he’s lazy, but he’s not. He just pokes it right by you.”

“Sometimes, I don’t even have to lift my head up. I know he’s running to a certain spot because that’s what a real (professional) forward would do,” Hamoody says. “He’s one of the forwards you can count on every single game. He’s a pure goal scorer. … His knack for scoring goals is a wonderful gift of his and it helps the team out.”

There’s no real rivalry between the two siblings outside the occasional video game battle or a light-hearted dig.

“He doesn’t get girls,” jokes Hamoody, quick to assure that he’s not serious.

Burns insists the brothers were independently recruited with no discussions of a package deal. But, with how close the brothers are, it’s hard to imagine Soony considered any place but Michigan once Hamoody committed.

In telling stories about their favorite moments on the field, the Saad brothers speak not of scoring in their first collegiate game together, or of any the seven game-winning goals they’ve scored between them. Instead, they speak of playing for their father, Ali, on youth travel teams and of winning the Michigan State Cup with their youth club, the Michigan Wolves.

They tell these stories as one. Sensing when Soony will stop speaking, Hamoody interjects, yet never interrupts. Then Soony does the same, and so on. Listening to them tell a story is the same as seeing them rush down the field together. Back-and-forth, sensing where the other will be.

“I think they recognized a while back that together they make a nice team, and that they would make a nice addition to any team,” Ali Saad says. “Of course, they know how we feel as a family. We wanted them to be close as much as possible.”

Burns may not have sought a package deal, but he’s quick to recognize the benefits.

“Soccer is this game of relationships, and this is the funnest part of the season now, when the relationships have finally formed and everyone knows who can do what on the field,” Burns says, “Those guys have that sense from day one, and they continue to have that sense. It’s just exciting to see those guys connect on that level.”

CONTAGIOUS SUCCESS

No team can win with just two players playing well. Soony and Hamoody are playing so well because the players around them are, and vice versa.

Take second-team All-Big Ten forward Justin Meram, second on the team with 12 goals, 32 points and the leader in assists with eight.

“(Soony) takes a lot of pressure off of my back, I take a lot of pressure off his back,” Meram says. “Other teams go into a report and not only focus on myself, as a senior, but on one of the best freshmen in the country.”

Meram and Soony’s connection on the field wasn’t immediate.

“At first, I think that they didn’t quite understand each other and viewed each other as competitors for stats, which your scorers are driven by,” says Burns. “It took literally midway through the season before those two developed a relationship of understanding how one another plays.”

In the last five games in which Meram and Soony have both played, they’ve combined to score 12 goals.

“With Hamoody, with us three on the attack, it’s been clicking so well,” Meram says. “We’re just real happy for each other, every game, because we know we’re both going to score and all of us are going to score, and that without each other there’s not going to be any success.”

That unified approach has led the Wolverines to a program-best 14 wins this season.

“It’s an accumulation of a lot of things. Underclassmen stepping up and playing well, as well as older guys,” says team captain Alex Wood. “It’s fun to be out there. Obviously the two brothers enjoy playing with each other and know kind of what the other’s going to do, and I think with the likes of Justin (Meram) and Matt Schmitt and the other guys that get in there, they play well off of each other.”

THE PERFECT STORM

That Michigan enjoyed its winningest season the same year that it opened its state-of-the-art $6 million soccer specific stadium -- and did so while starting as many as six underclassmen -- is no coincidence.

“If you look at our sophomore class, Hamoody’s class, that was a No. 8 recruiting class in the nation. You look at Soony’s class, that was a top-10 recruiting class. So two classes, back-to-back, we were able to sell this a lot easier to the top kids in the country,” Burns says of the facilities. “I find your prayers are answered more often when you’ve got really good players.”

The stadium doesn’t sell itself anymore. A stadium with a couple thousand empty seats feels the same as a field surrounded by a few sets of empty aluminum bleachers.

That’s where the Michigan Ultras come in.

A student fan group started prior to the season by Michigan senior Matthew Peven, the Ultras have quickly made the UM Soccer Complex one of the toughest places to play in the Big Ten with their raucous support.

The athletic department has invested thousands of dollars for transportation for the Ultras to and from the team’s off-campus field for home games and also helped the group purchase scarves, T-shirts and other promotional materials. Money well spent, in Burns’ opinion.

“We have recruits watching our team play with a full section of Ultras, there’s an ether cast over that recruit, and they’re coming to Michigan,” Burns says. “Another very good program might only have 800 people in the stands politely clapping for their team. These high-level recruits, they want to go where they’re going to feel appreciated and loved and the Ultras do that.”

“Against Michigan State, we probably had around 1,000 in the student section and it was awesome,” Wood recalls. “The best thing is, they go from minute one to minute 90 and they don’t stop. It’s been a great addition to our program and they’ve definitely been a major player in how we’ve done this year.”

After winning the Big Ten Tournament, Michigan was guaranteed an NCAA Tournament berth. The team gathered at Packard Pub on Monday to watch the announcement of the bracket. The Ultras joined them.

When “Michigan” flashed across the television screen, the bar erupted.

At one table, the Saad brothers and the rest of the highly-touted underclassmen danced with their hands in the air as the Ultras led everyone in song. At another table sat the upperclassmen who - just one year removed from playing on high school fields while their stadium was being built - hugged and high-fived.

Burns watched as everyone celebrated and joined in on the singing, Again, grinning from ear-to-ear.

Pete Cunningham covers sports for AnnArbor.com. He can be reached at petercunningham@annarbor.com or by phone at 734-623-2561. Follow him on Twitter @petcunningham.