Michigan Rallies From Three-Goal Deficit to Beat Miami

Sunday, October 8

Oxford, Ohio

1:00 PM

Michigan

(7-7, 2-1Big Ten)

Miami (Ohio)

(6-8, 3-1MAC)

Michigan

Miami University

Michigan Rallies From Three-Goal Deficit to Beat Miami

10/8/2006 12:00:00 AM | Field Hockey

Box Score PDF Boxscore

By: Leah Howard

Site: Oxford, Ohio (Miami Turf Field)
Score: #20 Michigan 5, Miami (Ohio) 3
Records: U-M (7-7), Miami (6-8)
Next U-M Match: Tuesday, Oct. 10 -- vs. Central Michigan (Phyllis Ocker Field), 3 p.m.

OXFORD, Ohio -- Scoring five unanswered goals, including four in the second half, the No. 20-ranked University of Michigan field hockey team overcame an early three-goal deficit to claim a 5-3 victory against Miami (Ohio) on Sunday afternoon (Oct. 8) at Miami Turf Field. After pulling within one tally midway through the second frame, Michigan registered its final three goals with just a little less than 10 minutes remaining in regulation to even its season record at 7-7.

Sophomore Stephanie Hoyer (Englewood, Colo./Cherry Creek HS) secured the game-tying goal at 59:48, knotting the score at 3-3 after a strong two-on-one deep in RedHawk territory. Senior captain Mary Fox (St. Louis, Mo./Cor Jesu Academy) initiated the play on the breakout, feeding a forward pass to junior Lucia Belassi (Paysadu, Uruguay/Liceo #1) on the left side of the field. Belassi pushed the ball past Miami goalkeeper Megan Stengel, who had come out to meet the play, and Hoyer swept in to knock the ball into the empty cage.

U-M converted again on its very next shot, taking its first lead of the game just six minutes later as Fox earned her third career game-winning tally to put the Wolverines ahead for good just four minutes before the final buzzer. Fox controlled the ball on the left side of the Miami circle and used a reverse chip shot to flip it past Stengel into the bottom corner. Freshmen Paige Laytos (Lititz, Pa./Warwick HS) added an insurance goal at 69:19 -- her second tally in as many games -- after corralling the rebound from a U-M direct shot and sailing her own shot to the back of the cage.

The Wolverines fired 32 shots on the Miami cage, including 13 in the opening half, but could not solve Stengel early in the contest as the RedHawks quickly stole away the lead, scoring three times within the opening 26 minutes to build a commanding three-goal cushion. Mary Hull opened the game's scoring at the 7:02 mark with a tip directly in front of the Michigan goal.

After several minutes of back-and-forth action, the RedHawks improved their advantage threefold with quick back-to-back goals within a 45-second window late in the half. Miami's Alyssa Nye snuck a baseline shot between senior goalkeeper Beth Riley (Palmyra, Pa./Palmyra Area HS) and the near post at 25:19, while Meghan McMurtry converted on a deflection to the top right corner of the the U-M cage following a penalty corner opportunity just seconds later.

The Wolverines regrouped, however, and were finally able to record a tally of their own in the closing moments of the frame and cut the Miami advantage down to two goals entering the halftime intermission. Senior captain Kara Lentz (Manchester, Mass./St. Paul's School) played the ball into the MU circle, where Belassi corralled it and chipped a shot over a sprawling Stengel.

The Miami goalkeeper continued to stand tall early in the second frame, earning six stops in the opening 12 minutes to double her save percentage in the game. Michigan continued to swarm the MU circle and found its second goal at the 48:35 mark when junior Ashley Lennington (Carlisle, Pa./Carlisle HS) accepted a pass from senior/junior Eleanor Martin (Anchorage, Ky./Louisville Collegiate School), who dumped it in from outside the circle, turned and pushed a hard shot into the left corner of the cage.

Michigan will return to Phyllis Ocker Field on Tuesday (Oct. 10) for a 3 p.m. non-conference match against intrastate rival Central Michigan.

MATCH SUMMARY

Team	1	2	F
Michigan	1	4	5
Miami (Ohio)	3	0	3

Scoring, Time (Assist)
1st -- Miami, Mary Hull, 7:02 (Danielle Perrecone, Alyssa Nye)
1st -- Miami, Nye, 25:14 (Elizabeth Gilroy)
1st -- Miami, Meghan McMurtry, 25:59 (Perrecone, Lauren Seidel)
1st -- U-M, Lucia Belassi, 29:18 (Ashley Lennington)
2nd -- U-M, Lennington, 48:35 (Eleanor Martin)
2nd -- U-M, Stephanie Hoyer, 59:48 (Belassi)
2nd -- U-M, Mary Fox, 65:45 (unassisted)
2nd -- U-M, Paige Laytos, 69:19 (Kristen Tiner)

Shots: U-M 32, Miami 9
Saves: U-M 3 (Beth Riley), Miami 18 (Megan Stengel)
Defensive Saves: U-M 0, Miami 0
Penalty Corners: U-M 8, Miami 4
Penalty Strokes: None

NOTES

• With today's 5-3 victory, the Wolverines improved to 10-1-1 in the all-time series against Miami (Ohio). U-M has won the last eight meetings.

• Junior Ashley Lennington fired eight shots at the Miami cage, the greatest single-game total by a U-M player this season. Junior Lucia Belassi registered seven shots in today's game to rank second on that list.

QUOTES

U-M Senior Captain Mary Fox
On the win ... "It was a little bittersweet. We were all incredibly unhappy after the first half. We just looked at ourselves and said this needs to stop. We had about five or six wide-open shots that just went off the post or just went wide. We just missed our opportunities. We knew what we had to do in the second half, and we knew we were going to be better. But it took a while to get that motivation. I think it says a lot about our team that we were able to overcome that deficit, but at the same time it was really frustrating."

On what was learned from the game ... "We tend to take the first 10 minutes too lightly. We knew we couldn't take this team for granted, but we just let them into the game. We need to go out and set the tempo earlier from now on."

U-M Junior Forward Lucia Belassi
On the improvement from the first half to second ... "We had trouble finishing early in the game. I think we got too confident and just let them hang on to the ball too much. We knew they were strong defensively, but we underestimated their offense. After their third goal, we regrouped on the field and calmed down, and we scored right after that. We had a couple more chances too but couldn't finish. We knew we were the better team. So, in the second half, we played with confidence and focused on playing better tactics and we scored four goals."