Way's Two Strikes Lift Wolverines to Road Win at Iowa

Sunday, October 10

Iowa City, Iowa

Noon CT

Michigan

(9-5, 3-0)

Iowa

(3-9, 0-3)

Team	1	2	Final F
Michigan	0	2	2
Iowa	0	0	0

Way's Two Strikes Lift Wolverines to Road Win at Iowa

10/10/2010 12:00:00 AM | Field Hockey

Box Score PDF Boxscore

By: Kent Reichert

Site: Iowa City, Iowa (Grant Field)
Score: #15 Michigan 2, Iowa 0
Records: U-M (9-5, 3-0 Big Ten), Iowa (3-9, 0-3 Big Ten)
Next U-M Match: Friday, Oct. 15 -- vs. Northwestern (Ocker Field), 4 p.m.

IOWA CITY, Iowa -- Two direct-corner goals from senior Meredith Way (Lititz, Pa./Warwick) and the fourth shutout of the season by redshirt freshman Haley Jones (Ann Arbor, Mich./Pioneer) lifted the No. 15 University of Michigan field hockey team past Iowa 2-0 on Sunday afternoon (Oct. 10) at Grant Field. With the win, Michigan earned its second road win of the season and remained unbeaten in Big Ten play.

Meredith Way

The teams went to the locker room scoreless at halftime, with Michigan having the 6-2 shot advantage and nine penalty corners. It looked as if the Wolverines scored at the 20-minute mark, but Way's shot from a pass from junior Bryn Bain (Berlin, N.J./Eastern Regional) was first called a goal, but then was waived off as the referee deemed the shot too high. Jones made two stops on Iowa shots in the first 35 minutes to keep the Hawkeyes off the board.

Michigan took advantage of its 10th penalty corner of the game as redshirt junior Eileen Brandes (Falmouth, Maine/Falmouth) pushed to redshirt senior Paige Laytos (Lititz, Pa./Warwick), who stopped for Way. Way's shot got past Iowa goalkeeper Kathleen McGraw for her third goal of the season. Jones made a nice stop on a Jessica Barnett penalty-corner attempt to keep the one-goal lead. The Wolverines added insurance at 53:06 as Way scored on another corner with the help of Laytos and redshirt junior Katie Adams (Hudson, Ohio/Hudson).

Michigan outshot the Hawkeyes 14-3, with Way taking seven of those attempts. Jones made three saves to complete the shutout, while the Wolverines ended the contest with 13 penalty corners.

Michigan heads back to Ann Arbor to begin a three-game homestand beginning Friday (Oct. 15) against another Big Ten unbeaten, Northwestern. That game will begin at 4 p.m. at Ocker Field.

GAME SUMMARY

By Periods	1	2	F
Michigan	0	2	2
Iowa	0	0	0

Scoring, Time (Assist)
2nd -- U-M, Meredith Way, 42:10 (Paige Laytos, Eileen Brandes)
2nd -- U-M, Way, 53:06 (Laytos, Katie Adams)

Shots: U-M 14, Iowa 3
Saves: U-M 3 (Haley Jones), Iowa 7 (Kathleen McGraw)
Defensive Saves: U-M 0, Iowa 0
Penalty Corners: U-M 13, Iowa 3

NOTES

• The game was televised on the Big Ten Network and will be replayed on BTN on Monday morning (Oct. 11) at 1 a.m. EDT.

• Senior Meredith Way now has 37 career goals after scoring a pair in the win over Iowa. That puts her in a tie for eighth place with Kristi Gannon (Fisher) (2000-03) on Michigan's all-time goals scored list. Way needs two more goals to tie Kay McCarthy (1980-83) for the seventh spot.

• Way has her first multi-goal game since scoring a pair of goals in the 5-3 loss to Iowa in the 2009 Big Ten Tournament.

• Michigan won in Iowa City for the first time since Sept. 22, 2006. In that game, current U-M assistant coach Lucia Belassi (White) scored the game-winning goal in overtime.

• Michigan also broke a four-game losing streak to the Hawkeyes.

• Michigan is 3-0 in the Big Ten for the first time since 2007 when the Maize and Blue went a perfect 6-0 in league play. It also is the seventh time U-M has been 3-0 to start conference action.

• Paige Laytos added two more assists today and now has nine on the season. She also has 24 assists in her career, which puts her in 10th place in Michigan's all-time assists mark.

• Michigan scored on a direct penalty corner for the fifth and sixth times this season in the win over the Hawkeyes.

• Haley Jones likes the bright lights of the Big Ten Network. She now has two shutouts and 10 saves in two games on BTN. She had seven saves in the 2-0 shutout at Penn State on Sept. 26.

QUOTES

Michigan Head Coach Marcia Pankratz
On converting two second-half penalty corners into goals ... "I told them at halftime that we were getting a lot of corners and playing pretty well. Just be patient and continue to execute and hopefully they'd fall and they did."

On Meredith Way's two goals ... "She played really well today and we needed her. All season it's been a different person and Meredith has led by example, leading where she has confidence that her teammates can carry the load earlier in the season where other players were putting the ball in. But when we needed her today she came through for us. I'm proud of her."

On earning U-M's second Big Ten road win this season ... "It's really important. Every team in the Big Ten is very competitive. We'll take every game that we can get and we'll take them one at a time. Certainly playing here in Iowa City is very difficult. Iowa is very disciplined, quick and I couldn't be more pleased going home with a win."

U-M Senior Midfielder/Back Meredith Way
On the meaning of beating Iowa on the road ... "It's huge for us. Any Big Ten game is really important. We want to go undefeated in the Big Ten. Coming to Iowa and playing here is always hard. We don't have a lot of fans that can make it all the way out here."