Belassi's Game-Winner in OT Leads U-M Past Spartans

Friday, October 5

East Lansing, Mich.

4:00 PM

Michigan

(9-4,4-0Big Ten)

Michigan State

(10-4,1-1Big Ten)

OT 2

Michigan

Michigan State

10/5/2007 12:00:00 AM | Field Hockey

Box Score PDF Boxscore

By: Leah Howard

Site: East Lansing, Mich. (MSU Field Hockey Complex)
Score: #6 Michigan 2, #7 Michigan State 1 (OT)
Records: U-M (9-4, 4-0 Big Ten), MSU (10-4, 1-1 Big Ten)
Next U-M Match: Tuesday, Oct. 9 -- at Kent State (Kent, Ohio), 3 p.m.

EAST LANSING, Mich. -- Senior captain Lucia Belassi (Paysandu, Uruguay/Liceo #1) scored her third game-winning goal in as many games to lead the No. 6-ranked University of Michigan field hockey team to a 2-1 overtime decision against No. 7 Michigan State Friday (Oct. 5) in the MSU Field Hockey Complex. The Wolverines rallied from an early deficit, scoring two unanswered goals to claim the Big Ten Conference victory.

U-M, now the lone unbeaten in league play, handed the Spartans their first Big Ten loss and snapped MSU's eight-game home winning streak. The Wolverines have won five straight Big Ten contests and have downed the Spartans in13 of the last 15 meetings, including nine straight in East Lansing. Overall, Michigan has won eight of its last nine, including seven straight.

The Wolverines dominated the extra segment, pressuring the MSU scoring circle for nearly the entire frame. An MSU defensive foul resulted in Michigan's sixth penalty corner of the contest, and Belassi made it count on the direct shot, using a Spartan defender's stick to redirect the ball just above the board and end the game at the 74:21 mark. Junior Michaela McDermott (Shaker Heights, Ohio/Shaker Heights HS) earned an assist -- her eighth of the season -- on the push.

Michigan State largely controlled the early part of the contest, holding play within the Wolverine defensive 25, and outshooting Michigan 14-4 in the first half. The Spartans struck first late in the opening frame when Michelle Ciliberti scored on a blast from the top of the circle at the 25:56 mark. After failing to convert on several penalty-corner opportunities, MSU earned a long hit when the ball went out of bounds off of a U-M defender. The ball was fired in from the left sideline to Ciliberti, who wound up and shot it high past junior/sophomore goalkeeper Paige Pickett (Dallas, Texas/Episcopal School of Dallas).

The Wolverines responded, however, and took advantage of some extra time before the halftime break to knot the score at 1-1. U-M attacked the MSU scoring circle in the closing minutes of the frame, registering four shots and drawing three penalty corners, including two with time expired. On the third chance, the direct shot from Belassi was stopped on the ground by Spartan goalkeeper Elissa Unger, but the ball kicked out to the right of the circle in front of Unger. Freshman Vanessa Sekhon (West Vancouver, British Columbia/Collingwood School) was in the right spot and one-timed a hard shot to the opposite corner to knot the count.

While the first half was mostly lopsided, the second was evenly played and largely contained to neutral territory as the teams combined for just one shot piece until late in the frame. Scoring opportunities came from both ends of the field in the closing minutes of regulation, but Pickett stopped all three MSU shots on goal and Unger blocked a hard, clear shot from sophomore Paige Laytos (Lititz, Pa./Warwick HS) to keep the score deadlocked.

MSU outshot the Wolverines 17-8, and the Spartans outcornered U-M, 9-6, marking just the second time this season that Michigan was outnumbered in both categories.Pickett earned six saves in the U-M cage for her ninth win of the season, while Unger stopped three of Michigan's five shots on goal.

The Wolverines will travel to Kent, Ohio, for a Tuesday (Oct. 9) game at Kent State. Action begins at 3 p.m. at Murphy Mellis Field.

MATCH SUMMARY

Team	1	2	OT	F
Michigan	1	0	1	2
Michigan State	1	0	0	1

Scoring, Time (Assist)
1st -- MSU, Michelle Ciliberti, 25:56 (unassisted)
1st -- U-M, Vanessa Sekhon, 35:00 (unassisted)
OT -- U-M, Lucia Belassi, 74:21 (Michaela McDermott)

Shots: U-M 8, MSU 17
Saves: U-M 6 (Paige Pickett), MSU 3 (Elissa Unger)
Defensive Saves: U-M 0, MSU 0
Penalty Corners: U-M 6, MSU 9
Penalty Strokes: None

NOTES

• With today's victory, Michigan improved to 33-21-6 in the all-time series against Michigan State. U-M has won 13 of the last 15 meetings between the conference rivals.

• U-M owns a 3-1 record in overtime games this season.

• Michigan's current winning streak of seven games is its longest streak since winning seven in a row during the heart of the 2004 campaign.

• The Wolverines have rallied from behind in six contests this season, including four of the last five games. Michigan has only allowed two second-half goals in the last six games.

• Michigan has opened the Big Ten Conference schedule with a 4-0 for the first time since the 2003 season.

• Senior captain Lucia Belassi owns three game-winning goals on the season -- all coming in the Wolverines' last three contests. She boasts eight game winners in her career, including three in overtime situations.

• Junior Michaela McDermott picked up her eighth assist of the season, helping on Belassi's game-winning tally in overtime. McDermott entered the season with just one career assist.

QUOTES

Michigan Head Coach Nancy Cox
On today's victory ... "They dominated play for the first half, and that's been a malady of the Michigan field hockey team -- we get off to slow starts. But our resiliency and our tenacity to the task gets us back into matches. So, I'm thrilled for our group today from a resiliency perspective. From a statistical perspective, I'm not happy with what the scoreboard is showing. But kudos to our defensive-corner unit and, particularly -- and it's never about an individual in our program -- to Paige Pickett. She stepped up today in this match like I've ever seen her step up.

"So, the first half was ugly, and congratulations to Rolf [van de Kerkhof] and his staff for winning the first half. That first Michigan goal was big. We deflated them before they went to their 10-minute halftime talk. How do you respond to that You look at the final statistics, but statistics don't win the game. In the first half, we were outplayed for 25 minutes. In the second half, we played evenly with them, and, in the overtime, we outplayed them. That has become our team identity now. Our challenge as a staff is helping to figure out how to jumpstart our first half."

On Lucia Belassi's performance ... "Of course you have to talk about who scored the game-winner. Lucia personifies what our team is really about. So, I'm thrilled for her today. It's a very hard task having the ball on your stick in the overtime period and being able to put it away. That's a testimony to Lucia and her commitment to the program and, more importantly, her commitment to her teammates."

On the team's expectations entering a big rivalry game ... "They never know what to expect coming into the Michigan-Michigan State match until they step onto the field. It's a palpable feeling from the coaching staff to the team. You hope they don't feel that, but I'm quite certain they do. It's about how you manage that and manage that rivalry. We talked about it this week from the perspective that nervousness it part of the game. It's not necessarily about overcoming it but embracing it. That's going to be part of what it feels like, so we practiced that this week."

On the current strength and pariety of the Big Ten Conference ... "I think the Big Ten across the board ... kudos to where we're going as a conference. When we sit down as a body of coaches, that's what we talk about. Our mandate now in the conference is to flip flop the ACC and the Big Ten. We're getting the players and the talent to come to the midwest. Between Iowa, Michigan State, Michigan, Ohio State, it will flip. Because the coaching body, as a whole in the Big Ten Conference, we will make that happen."

On Michigan's recent success in overtime situations ... "I think entering overtime when our team was sitting on the bench in that five minutes, there is an air of confidence that was pervasive. We just felt, 'We've been here. We know what it feels like.' When you get the ball in overtime in a field hockey match, it's huge. Against Ohio State, we took the ball down and scored. Against Michigan State, we took the ball down, had a corner and scored. I think our players are confident in overtime situations."

U-M Senior Midfielder Lucia Belassi
On today's victory and Michigan's current streak ... "This was a huge win. This was the most important game for us right now, especially for the Big Ten regular season. I think it's about our confidence, our skills and our personnel. We've really built our confidence over these last games, and it's helped us finish and close out these close games."

On the contributions from freshmen players ... "It's perfect, and it's what they need to do. We don't look at anyone as a freshman on this team. They need to step up like one of the veterans and do what anyone else would do, which is to score."

U-M Freshman Forward Vanessa Sekhon
On her goal and the momentum it gave Michigan ... "We had no time left on the short-corner play, so the coaches put everyone up. So, the tippers were supposed to go in, and Sarah [Wilhite] and I were supposed to stay on the outside and make sure the ball didn't exit the circle. The ball came just right to me, and I hit it in. I think from that point, our team really stepped up in the second half and played more of our game."

On what she's learned about the U-M/MSU rivalry ... "It's huge. Everyone was talking about it and getting psyched up all week, but it didn't really hit me until today when we got here. It was a physical game. Everyone seemed to getting hit and going down. I've never seen a game like that, but, apparently, it was typical for a Michigan-Michigan State game."

U-M Junior/Sophomore Goalkeeper Paige Pickett
On her ability to see shots ... "We knew going into the game that Michigan State has a really strong offense. They have some great shooters. So, I just made sure that I could always see where the shot was coming from. You really have to stay on your toes. You can't miss any second. We had a little trouble in the beginning getting organized, because they were moving around so much. But the defense has done a really good job this whole season with working with me. They know when to back off and let me have the shot, and they know when to step up. They did a good job today."

On feeling the same momentum as the field players ... "Going into this game, especially, I had so much adrenaline flowing, because we knew it was such an important game. When we score, even though I'm on the opposite side of the side, I get this huge rush. It puts so much confidence in me and my teammates; I think that's why we do so well."

On Michigan's tendency to trail early in games ... "Nobody likes getting scored on first, but sometimes that's how it goes. But I think the difference between our team now and in the past couple years is that if we get scored on, our heads aren't down. We're ready to go, and we're even more fired up to put the ball in the back of the net. I think our team handles getting scored on quite well."

On feeling like Michigan is in the driver's seat in Big Ten competition ... "I think we do have an edge after beating teams like Iowa, Penn State, Ohio State and Michigan State -- those were all huge games. We came out playing the toughest schedule in the country early in the season, and we started the Big Ten season with some of the toughest conference games. So, it's encouraging, and I think we have a lot of confidence right now. But we're looking at these next games just as seriously as these past few."