Wolverines Shut Down by Wildcats in Big Ten Semifinal

Friday, November 12

Ann Arbor, Mich.

2:30 PM

Michigan

10-7-4

Northwestern

14-4-2

Northwestern

Michigan

Wolverines Shut Down by Wildcats in Big Ten Semifinal

11/12/2004 12:00:00 AM | Men's Soccer

Box Score

ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- The No. 7-seeded University of Michigan men's soccer team dropped out of the Big Ten Championship today (Friday, Nov. 12) with a 5-0 loss to No. 3 seed Northwestern in the semifinal round at the U-M Soccer Field. The Wildcats held a 1-0 lead at the half and used back-to-back goals to start the second period and put the game out of reach. The loss drops Michigan's record to 10-7-4 on the season.

Northwestern struck first, taking a 1-0 lead on a goal by Brad North at 13:28. North received a pass from David Roth inside the Michigan box and slipped a goal just inside the near post.

The Wolverines had a number of chances to answer but were unable to connect for the equalizer. In the 28th minute, Knox Cameron (Bronx, N.Y./Cardinal Spellman HS) received a crossing pass from Trai Blanks (Ann Arbor, Mich./Pioneer HS) at the top of the six-yard box, but Cameron's attempt sailed high.

About two minutes later, Mychal Turpin (Pontiac, Mich./University of Detroit Jesuit) hit Michael Parke (Portage, Mich./Portage Central HS) on a run inside the Northwestern box. Parke fired a shot across the net from 15 yards out, but NU goalkeeper Justin Pines was there to make the save.

The Wildcats came out in the second half and took a commanding lead with back-to-back goals at 46:37 and 47:54. North scored his second goal of the game on a cross-net shot that went into the lower left corner of the Michigan net. David Roth then made it a 3-0 lead for Northwestern with a shot from 25 yards out that sailed across the cage and into the upper right corner.

Northwestern added two more goals in the second half to take a 5-0 lead with less than 10 minutes to play. Gerardo Alvarez scored on a 20-yard shot at 64:34 and then Dave Vargas put in NU's fifth marker with a goal off a restart at 83:11.

The Wolverines will hope for an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament when the field of 48 teams is announced Monday (Nov. 15) at 4:30 p.m. The selection show will be carried by ESPNews.

GAME SUMMARY

Team	1	2	F
Michigan	0	0	0
Northwestern	1	4	5

Scoring, Time (Assist)
1st -- NU, Brad North, 13:28 (David Roth)
2nd -- NU, Brad North, 46:37 (Gerardo Alvarez)
2nd -- NU, David Roth, 47:54 (unassisted)
2nd -- NU, Gerardo Alvarez, 64:34 (Eric Brin)
2nd -- NU, Dave Vargas, 83:11 (David Roth)

Shots: U-M 16, NU 14
Saves: U-M 0 (Peter Dzubay, Joe Zawacki), NU 4 (Justin Pines)
Corner Kicks: U-M 7, NU 3
Fouls: U-M 18, NU 11
Cards: U-M, Team, 47:54 (red); U-M, Mychal Turpin, 68:40 (red); NU, Dave Vargas, 70:42 (yellow).

Q U O T E S

Michigan Head Coach Steve Burns
On the game ... "You have to congratulate Northwestern. They are an excellent team that has had an excellent season. We wish them luck in the championship. They are very disciplined in how they play and today they showed that. They were very organized against us, had a good game plan to play off a counterattack and they had some good players that caused match-up problems for us. Northwestern is a very deserving team."

On if he was surprised by the start of the second half ... "It was surprising because I thought we got the emotion back at halftime and I thought we were going to be able to get right back in the game. Suddenly we had two quick goals from them and it was a whole different story. We had to chase the game from down 3-0 and its tough because you are taking so many risks and getting stretched and giving up even more. A good team punishes you for that so you have to give them credit."

On the turning points in the game ... "When I look at the stats and look at the number of chances, they were about even, but the quality of chances sure fell on their side. They are a team that gets a lot of players back quickly defensively and chokes away spaces. If you're not playing the ball quickly through those spaces with few touches and a lot of movement through it, I think it's to their advantage. We didn't address that very well in terms of how we played."

On putting a positive spin on the season ... "We've still got practice on Sunday. That's in anticipation of the Monday draw at 4:30 on ESPNews. We are very close. I think the strength of our schedule really helps us. The strength of our conference, it looks like the top conference in the country. When you look at the significant wins we've had and we've haven't had any bad losses to teams we shouldn't have lost to, we're right there."

N O T E S

The five goals were the most Michigan has given up since its 5-1 loss to UC Santa Barbara on Sept, 1, 2002.

Contact: Paul Dickerson (734) 763-4423