Michigan
5-3
Marquette
3-5
Wolverines Notch Big Second Half in Comeback Win over Marquette
3/20/2015 12:00:00 AM | Women's Lacrosse
Site: Milwaukee, Wis. (Valley Fields)
Score: Michigan 10, Marquette 7
Records: U-M (5-3), MU (3-5)
Attendance: 307
Next U-M Event: Sunday, March 22 -- Colorado (Michigan Stadium), 3 p.m. (TV: BTN)
MILWAUKEE, Wis. -- After trailing 6-2 at halftime, the University of Michigan women's lacrosse team outscored Marquette 8-1 in the second half to earn a 10-7 comeback victory on Friday, March 20, at Valley Fields. Sophomore Jess Angerman led the Wolverines with three goals, while sophomore Madeline Dion had a balanced stat line with two goals, four ground balls, two draw controls and a caused turnover.
Trailing 6-2 coming out of the break, Michigan tallied the first goal of the second half, as sophomore Tess Korten fed Angerman for the score at 26:08, to make the score 6-3. Less than three minutes later, Korten connected with Dion to make it 6-4. Sophomore Anna Schueler cut Marquette's lead to one, 6-5, with 22:11 remaining in the game, and then sophomore Kim Coughlan nearly tied the game, but her goal was called off due to an offensive charge.
Sophomore Lauren Oberlander eventually tied the game, 6-6, as she dodged three Marquette defenders and slashed through the eight-meter arc and scored with 13:35 to go. Just over a minute later, Angerman drove around the top and faked a flip pass to Schueler before firing a shot into the top corner to put Michigan up, 7-6, and force Marquette to call timeout.
Coughlan helped push Michigan's lead to three, 9-6, with two consecutive goals at 10:45 and 3:44, and Korten scored the Maize and Blue's eighth straight goal to make it 10-6 with 1:54 left on the clock. Michigan's defense was unable to hold Marquette off the board the entire second half, as the Golden Eagles scored their only goal of the half with six seconds left in regulation to produce the final score of 10-7.
In the first half, the Golden Eagles got on the board first as Riley Hill found the back of the net just 1:56 into the game. Schueler nearly tied the game as her shot at 24:47 ricocheted off the crossbar, but after several back-and-forth possessions, Marquette pushed its lead to 3-0 by the 17:56 mark, forcing U-M to call timeout.
Three and a half minutes after the timeout, Dion netted the Wolverines' first goal of the day on a free-position attempt to make it 3-1 with 14:13 remaining in the half. Marquette's Nicole Gleason responded with two straight goals to put the Golden Eagles up 5-1 with eight minutes to go in the first half.
With 4:50 remaining in the half, Angerman scored an unassisted goal, but MU answered 39 seconds later to take a 6-2 lead into the half.
Michigan goalie Allison Silber made three saves in the win, including two key saves in the second half to keep the momentum in U-M's favor.
Michigan will now return home to host Colorado for its second game in three days on Sunday, March 22, at 3 p.m. inside Michigan Stadium. The non-conference matchup can be seen live on the Big Ten Network.
NOTES
• Michigan has won two straight games and improves to 5-3 on the season.
• With the win, Michigan tied the all-time series with Marquette, 1-1.
• Michigan won all the major statistical categories in today's win -- shots (33-12), ground balls (22-14), draw controls (10-9) and turnovers (U-M 15, MU 23).
• Marquette's one second-half goal is the fewest goals allowed by Michigan in a half in program history.
• Today's win marks the largest comeback victory in program history (down 6-2 at halftime).
• Madeline Dion picked up a career-high four ground balls and also matched a career high with two goals.
• Michigan's five wins this season surpasses its four wins it finished it inaugural season with in 2014.
QUOTES
Michigan Head Coach Jennifer Ulehla
On her thoughts on the first half ... "I think we were a little tight. The ball wasn't bouncing our way and balls were dropping out of our sticks. We weren't as aggressive on the draw as we needed to be. And we had looks, we got shots, we just weren't shooting where we needed to, and their goalie came up with some great saves -- she had a great first half."
On her message at halftime ... "The first thing I said was 'everybody take a deep breath, we're going to be okay.' I told them we played one of the worst halves in program history and we were only down four goals and that we could change that in a matter of five minutes. I just reassured them and got them to relax and said 'we have to pick it up.' We made a few changes on offense, we made one particular change on defense and said that we had to get more caused turnovers. We needed to pick up the pressure in the midfield, in the ride, and we did that, and that ended up making a big difference."
On the difference in the second half ... "The thing I love about this team and the thing that is promising for the future, is that in a game like this where we certainly did not come out and compete the way we wanted to in the first half, they didn't fall apart. They didn't throw in the towel and they were a completely different team in the second half. They competed hard and were incredibly aggressive. From a coach's standpoint, we want to get to a point where we're playing a full 60 minutes, but it's a great sign that we have the heart and passion to never give up."
On Allison Silber's composure in the second half ... "As far as the first half was concerned, it wasn't one of her best first halves, but she had the resolve to come out and refocus. She didn't see a lot of shots in the second half, but our defense did a great job in that the looks that Silber got were shots that she could save. She came up big for us and made some huge momentum-sustaining saves. I'm proud of her for staying mentally strong when we really needed her to."
On players that stepped up to help complete the comeback ... "A few things stick out for me -- one, was the ability for us to come up with the draw control. I thought Anna Schueler made a big difference in the draw in making sure that it went in the right direction and Kim Coughlan came up with some great momentum draws. Margaret Metzger also came up with some big possessions for us. From a standpoint of caused turnovers, even though the stats say Madeline Dion only had one caused turnover, I believe she was a huge momentum changer with her overall aggressiveness and presence on the field. She really helped get this team's momentum going in the right direction."
