Michigan
10-7-1
Penn State
11-6-2
Wolverines Fall in Big Ten First Round to Penn State in Double OT
11/12/2009 12:00:00 AM | Men's Soccer
Site: Bloomington, Ind. (Armstrong Stadium)
Event: Big Ten Tournament (First Round)
Score: Penn State 1, Michigan 0 (2OT)
Records: U-M (10-7-1), PSU (11-6-2)
Next U-M Event: Monday, Nov. 16 -- NCAA Tournament Selection Show (ESPNews), 5:30 p.m.
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- The seventh-seeded University of Michigan men's soccer team could not outlast No. 2 seed Penn State, falling 1-0 in double overtime in first-round action of the Big Ten Tournament on Thursday (Nov. 12) on Indiana's Jerry Yeagley Field at Armstrong Stadium. The Nittany Lions capitalized on a corner kick in the 106th minute for the game-winner.
Hamoody Saad
Junior/sophomore Chris Blais (Seattle, Wash./Kennedy Memorial) made six saves in the losing effort, while senior Mauro Fuzetti (Houston, Texas/Stratford) led the Wolverines with four shots, including one on net in each of the overtime frames.
After a scoreless 90 minutes, Michigan seemed to have the edge through the first 15 minutes of overtime. Fuzetti got the first of his two overtime chances when a turnover in the box ended up on his foot midway through the first extra stanza. He let a shot rip that was deflected by a defender over the bar to safety. He earned another chance in the final frame, attempting to deposit a shot around a defender on the left side of the box.
The U-M defense was called upon to fend off two early attacks, but a corner kick in the 106th minute proved enough. The Penn State player sent a ball toward the far side of the box where it was deflected to the feet of Patrick Krispin, who sent the ball right back the other way, hitting the twine on the far-side netting.
Michigan stormed out of the chute to begin the contest and established an early presence in the offensive zone. After spending the opening three minutes on the attack, U-M took several cracks at the PSU cage. In the 33rd minute, the Maize and Blue came knocking on the door again when freshman Latif Alashe (Northville, Mich./Northville) stormed into the box and laid a pass to senior/junior Cam Cameron (Ann Arbor, Mich./Saline) in the slot, but his attempt was stopped by the PSU goalkeeper. Blais was called upon to keep the scoreless tie alive inside the final minute of the opening half, diving for a shot off the foot of a Nittany Lion player that was cutting across the goal mouth.
Early in the second half, both teams had a player sent off. Despite the extra space, neither team came up with the decisive goal. The Wolverines were the first to take advantage after the cards came out, as Fuzetti served to freshman Hamoody Saad (Dearborn, Mich./Dearborn), who leapt and headed a ball off of the ironwork. Things got busy in the U-M end as regulation time spilled off the clock and in the 80th minute Blais was called upon to punch a ball over the bar off a free kick to keep it scoreless. Blais got some help from his teammates moments after making another diving save when a PSU attacker had an open shot at the net off a corner kick, but his strike was knocked down by senior Julian Robles (Los Angeles, Calif./Damien), who came off the post to stop the attempt.
Michigan will now await its fate in the NCAA Tournament. The selection show is set to air on Monday (Nov. 16) at 5:30 p.m. on ESPNews.
GAME SUMMARY
| By Periods | 1 | 2 | OT | OT | F |
| Michigan | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Penn State | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
Scoring, Time (Assist)
2OT -- PSU, Patrick Krispin, 105:39 (unassisted)
Shots: U-M 10, PSU 25
Shots on Goal: U-M 5, PSU 9
Saves: U-M 6 (Chris Blais), PSU 5 (Warren Gross)
Corner Kicks: U-M 4, PSU 13
Fouls: U-M 17, PSU 13
Cards: U-M, Daniel Gray, 38:44 (Yellow); U-M, Justin Meram, 51:52 (Red); PSU, Mark Fetrow, 51:52 (Red); U-M, Mauro Fuzetti, 94:28 (Yellow).
NOTES
• With a six-save performance, Chris Blais moved his 2009 totals to 67 stops, moving him past Patrick Sperry (65, 2008) into fifth on the U-M single-season list.
• Blais' six saves matched his career high. He also collected six saves in this season's opener at Notre Dame (Sept. 1) and against Indiana (Oct. 10).
• Today's start was the 68th of senior Mauro Fuzetti's career and his 76th appearance. Fuzetti matched Kevin Savitskie (76, 2003-06) for fifth on the all-time appearances list and Mike White (68, 2000-03) on the career starts list.
• With four shots on the day, Fuzetti established a new program record for shots in a season with 68 attempts. Fuzetti passed Peri Marosevic (66, 2006) for the program lead a week after he passed the former Wolverine in career shots.
QUOTES
Michigan Head Coach Steve Burns
On the game ... "The margin of victory and defeat in our conference tournament is very narrow. Both teams created enough chances tonight to win the game. Give Penn State credit, they figured out a way to win the game with a well-struck, long-range shot from a reserve defender."
On playing 10 vs. 10 for the final 56 minutes of the game ... "I felt the red card sendoff to Justin (Meram) was really harsh, and it changed the whole complexion of our game. From that point on we seemingly lacked the ability to build and maintain possession out of our own end of the field. We resorted to playing long off our goal kicks and did an inordinate amount of defending as they picked up more second balls and came back at us."
On the team's chances for an NCAA Tournament at-large bid ... "We don't have our fate in our own hands and it's an unnerving feeling. Prior to the game we sat firmly in the middle of the bubble with an RPI of 33. We didn't help ourselves with the loss. We'll need a lot of things to go our way as the final weekend unfolds."
Team Stats
Krispin, Patrick (1)
GOAL by PSU Krispin, Patrick (FIRST GOAL), goal number 1 for season.
105:39
