U-M Tops No. 3 Iowa in Double OT to Start Big Ten Play

Friday, September 21

Ann Arbor, Mich.

3:00 PM

Michigan

(5-4)

Iowa

(7-2)

OT 3

OT 4

Iowa

Michigan

U-M Tops No. 3 Iowa in Double OT to Start Big Ten Play

9/21/2007 12:00:00 AM | Field Hockey

Box Score PDF Boxscore

By: Leah Howard

Site: Ann Arbor, Mich. (Phyllis Ocker Field)
Score: #12 Michigan 3, #3 Iowa 2 (2OT)
Records: U-M (5-4, 1-0 Big Ten), Iowa (7-2, 0-1 Big Ten)
Next U-M Match: Sunday, Sept. 23 -- vs. Penn State (Phyllis Ocker Field), Noon

ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- Freshman Vanessa Sekhon (West Vancouver, B.C./Collingwood School) scored the biggest goal of her young collegiate career, registering the game-winning tally just 4:34 into the second overtime frame as the No. 12-ranked University of Michigan field hockey team rallied to upset No. 3 Iowa 3-2 in the Big Ten Conference opener Friday afternoon (Sept. 21) at Phyllis Ocker Field.

The Wolverines (5-4, 1-0 Big Ten), who scored three unanswered goals to claim the victory, trailed by two until late in regulation play when they converted twice with less than six minutes remaining on the clock to force extra time. Sekhon's goal, her third of the season, came at the 89:34 mark and capitalized on Michigan's control in Iowa territory succeeding a penalty-corner opportunity. The direct shot was blocked in front of the Iowa cage, and the ball was kicked out to midfield, where freshman Meredith Way (Newsmantown, Pa./Warwick HS) picked it up on the right side of the field and carried it back into the Hawkeyes' defensive 25. Beating a pair of Iowa defenders, she fed a pass inside the circle to Sekhon, who swept it into the opposite lower corner.

Michigan dominated the second half of the contest, outshooting the Hawkeyes 13-0 and outcornering them 7-0, and largely contained play within Iowa's defensive 25 during the final 10 minutes of regulation. Sophomore Paige Laytos (Lititz, Pa./Warwick HS) put the Wolverines on the board at 64:24, driving a point-blank shot past Hawkeye goalkeeper Lissa Munley. U-M players flurried deep in the Iowa corner but were unable to control the ball until junior Stephanie Hoyer (Englewood, Colo./Cherry Creek HS) corralled it on the baseline next to the left post and rifled a pass to Laytos in front of the cage. With Munley hugging the post, the U-M sophomore sent a high shot to the wide-open right side.

After Michigan failed to convert on three consecutive corner opportunities, senior captain Lucia Belassi (Paysandu, Uruguay/Liceo #1) knotted up the score just four minutes later on a solo effort from the left side of the circle. She carried the ball across the Iowa circle and dove to launch a high shot past Munley at 68:27 and extend her point streak to five games.

Both of Iowa's first-half goals came on direct penalty-corner shots from Lauren Pfeiffer. Outside of the two Hawkeyes tallies, neither team had significant scoring opportunities and play was generally contained within midfield territory.

Through the full 89 minutes of play, Michigan outshot the Hawkeyes 16-7 and outcornered them 9-3. Junior/sophomore Paige Pickett (Dallas, Texas/Episcopal School of Dallas) earned one save in the U-M goal, while Munley stopped one of Michigan's four shots on goal.

The Wolverines will continue conference action on Sunday (Sept. 23) with noon contest against No. 7 Penn State at Phyllis Ocker Field.

MATCH SUMMARY

Team	1	2	OT	OT	F
Iowa	2	0	0	0	2
Michigan	0	2	0	1	3

Scoring, Time (Assist)
1st -- Iowa, Lauren Pfeiffer, 11:06 (Tricia Dean, Caroline Blaum)
1st -- Iowa, Pfeiffer, 11:52 (Dean, Blaum)
2nd -- U-M, Paige Laytos, 64:24 (Stephanie Hoyer)
2nd -- U-M, Lucia Belassi, 68:27 (unassisted)
OT2 -- U-M, Vanessa Sekhon, 89:34 (Meredith Way)

Shots: U-M 16, Iowa 7
Saves: U-M 1 (Paige Pickett), Iowa 1 (Lissa Munley)
Defensive Saves: U-M 0, Iowa 1
Penalty Corners: U-M 9, Iowa 3

NOTES

• With today's victory, Michigan improved to 14-33 in the all-time series against Iowa. U-M has won 11 of the last 15 meetings between the conference rivals.

• Today's contest was Michigan's longest (89:34) in nearly two years, dating back to its 2-1 home win over Connecticut on Oct. 9, 2005, that went to penalty strokes.

• With the game-tying goal vs. Iowa, senior Lucia Belassi extended the longest point-scoring streak of her career to five contests. She has registered five goals and five assists over the stretch.

• Adding today's double-overtime tally, freshman Vanessa Sekhon boasts three goals in her collegiate career. Two have been game-winners.

QUOTES

Michigan Head Coach Nancy Cox
On the importance of today's win ... "What a tremendous testimony to the resiliency of our senior leadership. Coach (Lloyd) Carr talked to the team on Tuesday night about Jim Braddock and being able to take punches and being able to go 15 rounds, and we addressed that at the beginning of our pre-game talk today. We knew this was going to be a championship-quality match -- that's how it always is with Iowa and Michigan. It's always a one-goal differential, and it's going to be the team that is most resilient. Kudos to Tracey Griesbaum and the Iowa Hawkeyes, because their execution, their passing game and their basic block tackling was a lot better than Michigan in the first. We have to be able to play two halves of hockey like we played that second half today. There was an appreciable difference in our execution and our performance. It's like we have to make ourselves the underdog before we start to fight. So, once we find the key to starting out strong and playing a full 70 minutes, we'll be the championship team that we, the coaches, really believe we can be."

On Michigan's performance in overtime ... "When you're playing seven-aside overtime, it really isn't about fitness. You've expended all of your glycogen storage, and you are running on heart and resiliency. That is exactly what we've been saying to them -- 'You're going to be the most resilient, and we are going to outwork the other team.' In the second half and both of those overtime periods, we had some technical breakdowns, but we outworked them. So kudos to our entire group -- all 22 of them -- because that's why we do what we do every day in practice."

On two freshmen combining for the game-winner ... "You always want to be able to rely on anyone in your program. It was interesting to watch Meredith (Way), in particular, in the overtime, because these are young people who have never been in this situation before. So, they don't know, necessarily, how to respond, but champions always do. In that overtime period, all of the young women who stepped across the sideline played a significant role. I think being able to finish in the hockey game -- when it's 2-2 in the second overtime -- there is something really special about having that ability to be a finisher. So, kudos to Vanessa Sekhon, Meredith Way, Lucia Belassi, Kristen Tiner, Paige Laytos, Stephanie Hoyer, Sarah Wilhite, Michaela McDermott ... to all of those respective young women, who stepped into the overtime period and did what we needed them to do to get this win. What a tremendous victory for the program today."

U-M Freshman Forward Vanessa Sekhon
On her goal ... "It was such a blur, I don't even really remember it. Meredith (Way) had the ball and somehow got it to me. I swept it into the far corner and heard it hit the back of the cage. Meredith and I kind of looked at each other, unsure for a second, before she just grabbed me, and we started jumping up and down. It was really exciting. I'm just so happy to contribute to this win."

On the team's attitude entering overtime ... "Everyone was just so pumped up and ready to go. We know we're one of the best overtime teams, and we just knew that we could do, especially after coming back from 0-2 at halftime. I think this demonstrates how mentally tough this team is. We can really push ourselves, dig deep and really achieve anything we strive for."

U-M Senior Forward Lucia Belassi
On how the team has progressed since the season-opening weekend ... "I think this team has developed better chemistry amongst each other. We're very united as a team, and we have a great time together on and off the field. I think that shows during games. We play better when we're having fun. We did today, and we won."

On Michigan building on its recent momentum to upset highly ranked Iowa ... "This was a great moment for our team right now. We needed this pretty bad. It's such a big confidence booster. We believed in ourselves today that we could win. That was the last piece of the puzzle. I don't think we really believed earlier in the season, but now we proved to ourselves that we could do it."

On the importance of today's win ... "If we want to win the Big Ten season, we had to win the Big Ten opener. It's so important for us. Now we need to keep it going with Penn State in a couple days."

U-M Sophomore Midfielder Paige Laytos
On Michigan's win ... "If this doesn't get you fired up, I don't what would. It wasn't a fluke win. We really controlled that game, we played together, we did what we needed to do. We put the biscuit in the basket, and we had fire that I love to see in us. We dominated in the second half and overtime. We were faster, fitter and stronger than the other team. It feels really good to see that all of this hard work we put in is working in our favor."

On building up for this game ... "We've had a number of off-field things recently that have been confidence builders -- things that were said -- so we all got really pumped up coming into this game. I think deep down we all knew that this was our game and we weren't going to let them -- because they are ranked higher -- come in and walk all over us."

On rallying from a slow first half ... "We came out a little flatter than what I'd like to see. I think we put too much pressure on ourselves, thinking 'we have to stop this, and we have to get into the circle.' We just needed to take a deep breath at halftime and play our game in the second."