Michigan
1-0
California
0-1
Pendino's Career Day Paces Michigan to Victory at Cal
2/8/2019 11:16:00 PM | Women's Lacrosse
» Michigan opened the 2019 campaign with a 15-10 victory over California.
» Adriana Pendino notched a career-high with six goals.
» Three other players scored two goals in Erin Daly, Lilly Grass and Maggie Kane.
» Two freshmen netted their first collegiate goals, while three made their collegiate debuts.
» In all, seven Wolverines scored in the season opener.
Site: Berkeley, Calif. (Memorial Stadium)
Score: Michigan 15, California 10
Records: U-M (1-0), California (0-1)
Next U-M Event: Saturday, Feb. 9 -- at UC Davis (Davis, Calif.), 6 p.m. PST
BERKELEY, Calif. -- Behind a career-best six goals from senior Adriana Pendino, the University of Michigan women's lacrosse team notched a 15-10 season-opening victory over California on Friday night (Feb. 8) at Memorial Stadium.
U-M netted eight goals in the first half and added another seven in the second. Seven Wolverines recorded at least one goal, while four had two-or-more. Pendino led all scorers while sophomore Erin Daly had a career-best two goals, junior Lilly Grass added two and sophomore Maggie Kane scored two. Freshman Erin Garvey and Kaitlyn Mead made their collegiate debuts and also notched their first collegiate goals, while Molly Garrett was the final goal scorer for Michigan.
The Wolverines won the draw control battle, 16-10, with Gabby Burns winning a team-best eight draw controls, while Garrett won three and Kane won two.
Michigan got its offense started early when Garrett won the draw control and Cal went down a person early with a yellow card. Up a woman, Pendino earned the free-position attempt and buried it in the back of the net 50 seconds into the first half.
The Wolverines extended the lead to 2-0 when Kane got the ball at the top of the eight and finished the shot to her right before Cal answered minutes later. Kaitlyn Mead entered the game 10 minutes in to mark her collegiate debut and found her first goal to extend the U-M lead back to two, 3-1, with 20 minutes to play in the opening half.
Daly continued the offensive tear for the Wolverines as she scored back-to-back goals in a span of 50 seconds to put Michigan up, 5-1, before Pendino netted her second goal with just over 13 minutes to play in the first half.
Michigan and Cal exchanged goals over a span of two minutes before the offenses slowed down with the Wolverines holding onto a 7-2 advantage. Each team added one final goal, including a last-second tally for Pendino to cap off the hat-trick and send Michigan into the locker room with an 8-4 lead.
The Wolverines wasted no time adding to their advantage in the second half as they won the first two draw controls and scored off both attempts to push the U-M advantage to 10-4. Pendino added her fourth goal of the night to make the score, 11-4, and forced a California timeout less than two minutes into the half. The timeout slowed the U-M offense and allowed California to score a goal and keep Michigan off the scoreboard for the next 12 minutes of play.
Pendino ended the Michigan drought when she netted her fifth goal of the game --her third off a free position shot -- to extend the Wolverine advantage to 12-5 with just over 16 minutes to play. The senior attacker turned it into a career night when she set a career high with her sixth goal with 12:07 remaining to give U-M a 13-5 lead.
After Cal cut the Michigan lead in half, 14-7, Garvey responded with her first collegiate goal to put Michigan up by eight. The Golden Bears netted three unanswered goals in the closing three minutes, but they were unable to overcome the large Wolverine advantage.
The Wolverines will be back in action Saturday (Feb. 9) when they travel to UC Davis for a 6 p.m. PST contest against the Aggies at Aggie Staduim.
