U-M Suffers OT Defeat at Wisconsin in Big Ten Opener

Sunday, September 17

Madison, Wis.

3:30 PM CT

Michigan

4-2-0

Wisconsin

4-3-0

OT 1

Michigan

Wisconsin

9/17/2006 12:00:00 AM | Men's Soccer

Box Score

By: Joseph Conrad

Site: Madison, Wis. (McClimon Soccer Complex)
Score: Wisconsin 2, Michigan 1 (OT)
Records: U-M (4-4-0, 0-1 Big Ten), Wisconsin (4-3-0, 1-0 Big Ten)
Next U-M Event: Wednesday, Sept. 20 -- vs. Oakland (U-M Soccer Field), 7 p.m.

MADISON, Wis. -- The University of Michigan men's soccer team opened the Big Ten Conference season with a 2-1 overtime loss to the Wisconsin Badgers on Sunday (Sept. 17) at the McClimon Soccer Complex. Senior tri-captain Brian Popeney (Canton, Mich./Plymouth Salem HS) netted the equalizer in the 90th minute to send the match into overtime, but a Michigan own goal ended the contest 7:51 into overtime.

With just 10 Wolverines on the field following a Michigan red card at 75:38, and with 28 seconds left in regulation, Popeney scored his second career goal after earning a free kick off a Wisconsin foul. From 26 yards out, Popeney curved the ball along the right side of the wall and beat goalkeeper Jake Settle low and to the left near the far post.

The outmanned Wolverines maintained momentum heading into overtime as they began to attack offensively. Just two minutes into overtime, senior tri-captain Kevin Hall (Kalamazoo, Mich./Portage Central HS) missed netting the golden goal by six inches after flicking a header wide of the goal. The play was set up when Popeney took a Michigan corner kick, allowing Hall to soar above the Badger defenders to take the scoring opportunity.

Eight minutes into the extra period, a miscommunication in the Wolverines defense allowed the ball to trickle past sophomore/freshman Patrick Sperry (Hinsdale, Ill./Hinsdale Central HS) for the winning tally. Sperry finished the match with three saves, with one save in each of the three periods.

The first goal of the match came in the 76th minute, as UW's Dirk Pearson beat the Wolverine keeper from eight yards out after Sperry made an attempt to win a 50/50 ball. Pearson won the ball and chipped in the marker, giving UW the lead.

The Wolverines head back to Ann Arbor to host Oakland University on Wednesday (Sept. 20) at 7 p.m. on the U-M Soccer Field.

GAME SUMMARY

By Periods	1	2	OT	F
Michigan	0	1	0	1
Wisconsin	0	1	1	2

Scoring, Time (Assist)
2nd -- UW, Kirk Pearson, 75:30 (Brandon Miller)
2nd -- U-M, Brian Popeney, 89:32 (unassisted)
OT -- UW, Michigan own goal, 97:51

Shots: U-M 12, UW 10
Saves: U-M 3 (Patrick Sperry), UW 3 (Jake Settle)
Corner Kicks: U-M 5, UW 5
Fouls: U-M 19, UW 16
Cards: UW, Reid Johnson, 17:06 (yellow); U-M, Alex Morisset, 27:44 (yellow); U-M, Michael O'Reilly, 73:45 (yellow); U-M, Steve Bonnell, 75:38 (red); UW, Zack Lambo, 89:30 (yellow); UW, B.J. Goodman, 92:44 (yellow); UW, Eric Conklin, 94:34 (yellow)

NOTES

• Michigan's loss to Wisconsin snaps the Wolverines' three-game unbeaten streak.

• Michigan has played back-to-back overtime games and is now 1-1 in OT this season.

• Senior tri-captain Brian Popeney's goal was his second of the season and moved him into a tie with Jake Stacy for second on the team in goals scored in 2006.

• Michigan is 6-2 all-time against Wisconsin. The Wolverines had won six in a row against the Badgers dating back to U-M's first victory on Oct. 21, 2001.

QUOTES

Michigan Head Coach Steve Burns
On Brian Popeney ..."Popeney's a guy that has great distribution. His long-range shooting is very, very good. If he were a dart player, I'd say he's a guy that can regularly throw triple-20s."

On the game ... "I'll give Wisconsin credit, because all the scouting reports we did, they played differently than that. They had their top player out of the game with a shoulder injury, and instead of being a team that built out of the back and played a possession game, they really played a direct game. The field was really chewed up from last weekend and that takes away from the ability to play a possession game. I think they were very smart in that they saw it was the Big Ten opener and they were going to play smashmouth soccer against us. It took us until halftime 0-0 getting out of it, for us to say, 'Hey, look, we can't play the way we want to, so here are the adjustments we make.' So you have to give credit to Wisconsin for recognizing that was how they thought they were going to get the win."

On heading into overtime with momentum ... "The feeling of the team was great. Really the last 15 minutes of the game we were the dominant team, even though we were down a man. We did a bit of tactics and talked to them about the shape we were going to play with. We told them we didn't come here to tie, we came here to win this game, and here's how we're going to do it. Everyone was on board with that, and almost did it. We had two corner kicks in overtime and both of them were very dangerous. More than anything I think they were looking at getting into the first intermission between the first overtime and second overtime, and then the own goal happens and they get the win."

On what the team takes from this match ... "There's some suffering that the team must go through, but you can't do that too long. You need to persevere because you recognize it's not life or death, it's more human spirit. But we move on from this and recognize that the effort was absolutely there. For our team to be on the road opening the Big Ten season and to put in the kind of effort that we did, we're feeling pretty good about the next game and the rest of the Big Ten opponents we have on the schedule."