Michigan
Indiana
Michigan Drops Big Ten Opener to Indiana in Overtime
10/5/2003 12:00:00 AM | Men's Soccer
ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- The University of Michigan men's soccer team dropped a 2-1 overtime decision to Indiana University Sunday afternoon (Oct. 5) in front of a record crowd of 2,012 fans at the U-M Soccer Field. Junior Matt Niemeyer (St. Louis, Mo./John Burroughs HS) notched his first career goal for Michigan's lone tally of the match, while sophomore Peter Dzubay (Sylvania, Ohio/Northview HS) turned away a season-high six shots in goal.
Niemeyer's goal came of an assist from freshman Kevin Savitskie (Plymouth, Mich./Salem HS) following a throw-in in front of the Michigan bench. Niemeyer settled the ball with his thigh and sent a bending ball toward the far post. IU goalkeeper Jay Nolly was fooled by the shot, as the ball bent back to the near post and found the back of the net for a 1-0 Michigan advantage just 18:05 into the game. Neimeyer's goal marked the first time the Wolverines have held an advantage in the five-game series with the Hoosiers.
IU regrouped following the Wolverine goal and dominated much of the possession throughout the remainder of the first half. Dzubay kept IU off the board in the 20th minute when he made a diving save on a low line drive to the back post from Hoosier midfielder Vijay Dias at the right corner of the arch.
Despite Indiana's having more possession, Dias' chance was one of only three shots on goal by IU in the first half as the Michigan defense held strong. Despite allowing much of the play in its end, Michigan utilized its size and kept the smaller Hoosiers outside of their penalty box for most of the half.
In the second half, Indiana came out firing on all cylinders and managed the equalizer just four minutes into the period when midfielder Ned Grabavoy slotted a penalty kick to the low right corner past the outstretched arms of Dzubay. The 10-yard free kick came as a result of a collision between Savitskie and an IU forward just inside the left corner of Michigan's 18-yard box. With the ball rolling toward the sidelines, away from the goal, both players raced to gain possesion and had their legs tangle, resulting in the IU player falling one step shy of being outside the box.
After Grabavoy's goal, IU continued to pound the Wolverine net with a number of good chances resulting from six corner kicks and nine shots. Much of the play in the early part of the second half was in the Michigan third of the field as IU continued to dominate possession.
As the second half wore on, the Michigan defense and midfield seemed to settle in and push the Hoosiers out of their defending third. The Wolverines nearly retook the lead with nine minutes remaining when junior Knox Cameron (Bronx, N.Y./Cardinal Spellman HS) found open space in the IU goal box and fired a shot that beat the keeper high but carrumed off the crossbar and bounced out of harm's way. Senior tri-captain Mike White (Livonia, Mich./Stevenson HS) set up the play with a penetrating pass to the left of the penalty spot.
With only 2:04 remaining in the game, IU appeared to net the potential game-winner, as one of the IU attackers defected a corner into the Michigan goal. However, the referee ruled an IU attacker interfered with Dzubay and waved off the goal, keeping the scored knotted at 1-1 and eventually sending the game into extra time.
The Hoosiers again came out and carried most of the action and eventually netted the game-winner just 2:14 into the first overtime period when forward Jacob Peterson sniped out the right corner of the Michigan net after Grabavoy sent him in to the Michigan penalty box with a slicing through-ball.
The Wolverines (7-4, 0-1 Big Ten) have a pair of intrastate matches next weekend as the Wolverines host Western Michigan on Elbel Field Friday night (Oct. 10) at 7 p.m., then travel to East Lansing for a Sunday afternoon (Oct. 12) affair with Big Ten rival Michigan State with kickoff scheduled for 2:30 p.m.
GAME SUMMARY
| Team | 1 | 2 | OT | F |
| Indiana | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| Michigan | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
Scoring, Time (Assist)
1st -- U-M, Matt Niemeyer, 18:05 (Kevin Savitskie)
2nd -- IU, Ned Grabavoy, 48:34 (Penalty kick)
OT -- IU, Jacob Peterson, 92:41 (Grabavoy)
Shots: U-M 8, IU 24
Saves: U-M 6 (Peter Dzubay), IU 5 (Jay Nolly)
Corner Kicks: U-M 2, IU 8
Fouls: U-M 20, IU 16
Cards: U-M, Joe Iding, 44:41 (yellow).
N O T E S
It marks the third time in the five-game series the two teams battled into extra time. Indiana has won all three matches -- 1-0 in triple OT in the 2001 Big Ten Tournament semifinals at Madison, Wis; 2-1 in 2002 at Bloomington, Ind.; and today's 2-1 win.
The Wolverines are now 0-5-0 in their five-game series with the Hoosiers.
Matt Niemeyer earned his first career goal at 18:05 with a bending ball from 23 yards out.
Niemeyer's goal was the second scored by the Wolverines in the five-game series. It also gave the Maize and Blue its first lead of the series.
Sophomore/freshman Michael O'Reilly (Spring, Texas/Klein HS) was in the starting lineup for the first time in his Michigan career.
Freshman Kevin Savitskie earned his first career assist when he found Niemeyer with a throw-in during the first half.
Contact: Gene Skidmore (734) 763-4423
.png&width=84&height=84&quality=100&type=webp)
