Northwestern University Athletics
Northwestern
Michigan
Wildcats Fall Just Short in 3-2 Thriller
10/21/2007 12:00:00β―AM | Field Hockey
Oct. 21, 2007
Box Score
EVANSTON, Ill.-- Northwestern lost an extremely hard-fought battle by a score of 3-2, after No. 4-ranked Michigan was able to capitalize on one of its 17 penalty corners in the closing minutes of the game at Lakeside Field.
Michigan (13-4, 6-0) took an early 1-0 lead in the fourth minute of the game after a centering pass was deflected past goalkeeper Emily Kyle (San Francisco, Calif./San Francisco University H.S.), but was promptly answered minutes later by Northwestern (4-11, 0-5) with a deflection of its own.
Driving down the left side of the field, Courtney Plaster-Strange (Hodgenville, Kent./Kentucky Country Day) spotted Alex Quinn (Watertown, Mass./Watertown) open in front of the cage and found her with a centering pass that Quinn was able to put away for her first goal since Sept. 8. The goal was her team-leading sixth goal of the year. Her 17 total points also lead the team.
Just before halftime, Lucia Belassi put Michigan up 2-1 on a penalty corner. Following the break, senior Cassie Miller (Lake Forest, Ill./Lake Forest) tied the game again, 2-2, with a goal in her final home game on senior day.
U-M then registered a string of six penalty corners to close out the game and were turned away shot after shot by at the doorstep by Kyle and on a save by senior Amanda Care (Newtown, Pa./Pennsbury), as she dove across the goal line to stop the shot. However, despite Kyle's 12 saves on the day, the Wolverines finally were able to score on its final of the 12 penalty corner attempts in the second half.
With the win, Michigan won the Big Ten with an unblemished conference record.
NU's final two games of the year are both away on Thursday at Iowa and Sunday at Indiana.
