Michigan
12-8
Northwestern
18-1
Michigan Battles but Falls in Close NCAA Second-Round Loss at No. 1 Northwestern
5/14/2023 3:17:00 PM | Women's Lacrosse
» Michigan's season comes to a close after falling 8-7 to No. 1 Northwestern in its third NCAA Tournament appearance.
» Maya Santa-Maria made 10 stops in the cage.
» U-M led for two of the four quarters against the top=ranked Wildcats.
EVANSTON, Ill. -- The No. 15-ranked University of Michigan women's lacrosse team battled to the very end of an 8-7 NCAA Tournament second-round loss to No. 1 Northwestern on Sunday (May 14) at Lanny and Sharon Martin Stadium.
Michigan (12-8) led the top-ranked Wildcats (18-1) on four occasions and took the lead into the halftime break and after the third quarter.
The Wolverines defense was feisty all contest in taking Northwestern out of its normal rhythm of play and forcing 12 turnovers -- six caused -- while Maya Santa-Maria made 10 saves. Maya Rutherford led Michigan with four ground balls on the defensive end and Santa-Maria picked up three.
Sophomores Jill Smith and Julia Schwabe led the U-M offense with two goals each, while Caroline Davis had two assists. On the draw, Maddie Burns paced the Wolverines with four wins.
NU opened the scoring less than 30 seconds into the contest and Kaley Thompson tied it up with a rip from the top of the arc with just over 10 minutes to play in the opening quarter. Erin Garvey gave Michigan the go-ahead score when she capitalized on a free-position opportunity with 6:57 remaining. The U-M defense kept the powerful Northwestern offense off the scoreboard for more than 12 minutes, but the Wildcats closed out the half with two straight goals to take a narrow 3-2 lead into the second quarter.
The Wolverines were the first to score in the second quarter to knot the score at 3 with a Josie Gooch drive-and-score before Smith's first of the day gave U-M its second lead of the afternoon at 4-3. Northwestern tied the score for the fourth time in the contest, but a second goal from Smith gave Michigan a 5-4 lead going into the halftime break.
The U-M defense forced five NU turnovers and Santa-Maria made seven key stops to keep the Maize and Blue on top.
Michigan continued to disrupt Northwestern's game plan to start the second half. NU tied the game at 5, but Davis found Schwabe down the middle to get the go-ahead goal and head into the final 15 minutes with a 6-5 advantage.
The Wildcats put together a three-goal run to start the fourth quarter to go up 8-6. Michigan cut its deficit to one after a second goal from Schwabe with just under five minutes to play, but late attempts were stopped by the NU defense as the Wildcats secured the 8-7 victory.
Michigan concludes its 2023 campaign with a 12-8 overall record and a fourth-place finish in the Big Ten Conference standings while making its third NCAA Tournament appearance.
