2005 FDH vs. Iowa -- Notes & Quotes
10/28/2005 12:00:00 AM | Field Hockey
With the win, Michigan improved its record in the all-time series against Iowa to 11-32. U-M has won 10 of the last 13 meetings.
Michigan also improved its season mark to 7-2 against teams from the NCAA West Region with the 2-1 decision against Iowa. The Wolverines will close out the regular season on Sunday (Oct. 30) against Louisville, another regional foe.
After starting the Big Ten schedule 0-3, Michigan has won its last three conference games.
Senior Lori Hillman collected her 22nd career assist on Michigan's first-half tally to gain sole possesion of the ninth spot among the Wolverines' all-time assists leaders. She needs one more helper to reach the eighth position on the list, currently held by Shelley Johnson (23, 1996-97).
Junior goalkeeper Beth Riley made eight stops in the Wolverine cage to surpass 100 saves this season. She has boasted a career-best 106 stops in the U-M cage and only needs nine saves to match the total from her first two seasons combined.
Q U O T E S
Michigan Head Coach Nancy Cox
On the game ... "We talked to the kids this week about how impressed we have been with Iowa's ability to draw corners. I think our kids today limited the attack penalty corner opportunites for Iowa. I think their corner attack unit is very potent, and we managed to decrease the incidence of their opportunities and increase the incidence of our own opportunities. That was marked improvement in terms of how our defensive group is playing together. Now that we are through our run of illnesses and injuries and trips, I think we're starting to see some good motion defense in the backfield and some better play among our backfield players. I am really pleased with that. On the attacking end, I think our youth on the forward line, each match, they just keep improving, and that's what we ask them to do. We were really focused on ball speed this week, and I think we were able to execute it to a certain degree, but not quite in the total way that we want to execute it."
On the significance of this weekend's games ... "Today's game is a great prelude to the Big Ten Tournament. We have a huge match for Michigan, in terms of intra-region rankings, coming up on Sunday with Louisville. That should be a great challenge for us. This win today for Michigan was huge for those intra-region rankings as well as looking forward to the Big Ten and NCAA tournaments."
