U-M Defeats No. 15 Wake Forest to Sweep ACC/B1G Challenge

Sunday, August 27

Iowa City, Iowa

11:30 AM CT

Michigan

(2-0)

Wake Forest

(1-1)

Wake Forest

Michigan

U-M Defeats No. 15 Wake Forest to Sweep ACC/B1G Challenge

8/27/2017 4:19:00 PM | Field Hockey

Box Score

By: Leah Howard

» Michigan defeated No. 15 Wake Forest, 5-4, to earn its first ACC/Big Ten Challenge sweep in 16 appearances at the annual kickoff event.
» Leah Cardarelli broke the deadlocked score with the game-winning goal at the 57:01 mark; Fay Keijer, Kayla Reed and Emma Way also tallied goals.
» Goalkeeper Sam Swenson earned four saves in the Wolverine cage; all four Wake Forest goals came off penalty corners.

Site: Iowa City, Iowa (Grant Field)
Event: ACC/Big Ten Challenge (Day 2 of 2)
Score: #11 Michigan 5, #15 Wake Forest 4
Records: U-M (2-0), WFU (1-1)
Next U-M Event: Friday, Sept. 1 -- vs. Liberty (Phyllis Ocker Field), 7 p.m.

IOWA CITY, Iowa -- The No. 11-ranked University of Michigan field hockey team used a late goal to break a deadlocked game against No. 15 Wake Forest, defeating the Demon Deacons, 5-4, in a high-scoring, back-and-forth game on Sunday afternoon (Aug. 27) at Iowa's Grant Field. The victory, coupled with yesterday's win against No. 1 North Carolina, provided the Wolverines their first ACC/Big Ten Challenge sweep in 16 appearances at the annual season kickoff.

Michigan never trailed in the contest, building an early 2-0 lead in the first half and a 4-2 lead in the second before Wake Forest knotted it up, 4-4, after two questionable penalty corners midway through the latter frame. Junior Leah Cardarelli netted the game-winner at the 57:01 mark, collecting a shot from graduate student Esther de Leijer in front of the cage before spinning and pushing it into the lower right corner.

Sophomore Fay Keijer and freshman Kayla Reed tallied the game's first goals -- both off a penalty corner opportunities in the opening 10:51 of play. Keijer scored off a corner tip at the 3:25 mark, redirecting sophomore Meg Dowthwaite's corner sweep high and over Wake goalkeeper Cat O'Connor. Michigan struck again just 7:26 later when Reed redirected a crossing pass from junior Emma Way, who inserted to initiate the corner, and redirected it into the right corner of the cage for her first collegiate goal.

Wake Forest evened the score with two corner goals of its own -- within a 2:22 window midway through the frame -- but Michigan responded to retake the lead before the end of the half as Dowthwaite buried a direct corner sweep at 24:01. Way and sophomore Guadalupe Fernandez Lacort earned assists for the insert and the stop, respectively

Michigan reestablished its two-goal cushion early in the second, at 44:35, when Fernandez Lacort fed a long forward pass to Way inside the Wake 25 and Way carried it into the circle, one-on-one, and banged a hard shot to the lower left corner.

The Demon Deacons again answered on the penalty corner, scoring twice within a 4:19 window -- first on a shot that appeared to enter the cage too high while U-M was shorthanded due to a yellow card and later after a tough corner call on a tackle outside the circle.

The Wolverines largely maintained possession after regaining the lead with 13 minutes remaining as Keijer, Fernandez Lacort and Dowthwaite, in particular, used up clock inside the Wake Forest defensive 25.

Michigan outshot the Demon Deacons, 19-12, and outcornered them, 6-5. Senior goalkeeper Sam Swenson earned five saves in the Wolverine cage, while Wake Forest's O'Connor posted four stops.

Tweet of the Game Twitter logo

What a weekend! #sweep #GoBlue pic.twitter.com/i4V8dEQFNG
— Michigan FieldHockey (@umichfldhockey) August 27, 2017

Michigan will kick off a three-weekend homestand at Phyllis Ocker Field next Friday (Sept. 1), hosting Liberty at 7 p.m. before closing out the weekend against Connecticut at 1 p.m. on Sunday (Sept. 3). Admission is free for all regular-season home games at Ocker Field.