Dobbyn's OT Winner Sends Michigan Past Ohio State

Sunday, October 22

Columbus, Ohio

1:00 PM

Michigan

8-5-5; 4-2-3

Ohio State

9-7-1; 4-5-0

OT 2

Michigan

Ohio State

10/22/2006 12:00:00 AM | Women's Soccer

Box Score PDF Boxscore

By: Matt Baumer

Site: Columbus, Ohio (Jesse Owens Memorial Stadium)
Score: Michigan 2, Ohio State 1 (OT)
Records: U-M (8-5-5, 4-2-3 Big Ten), OSU (9-7-1, 4-5 Big Ten)
Next U-M Event: Friday, Oct. 27 -- at Michigan State (East Lansing, Mich.), 3 p.m.

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Melissa Dobbyn (Livonia, Mich./Stevenson) scored 5:04 into the first overtime to push the University of Michigan women's soccer team to a 2-1 win over Ohio State on Sunday afternoon (Oct. 22) at Jesse Owens Memorial Stadium. The victory extends the Wolverines' unbeaten streak to six games (3-0-3) and clinches a spot for them in the Big Ten Tournament.

Megan Tuura (Tucker, Ga./St. Pius X Catholic) posted a season-high seven saves to backstop Michigan to the clutch victory. Kristin Thomas (Centennial, Colo./Cherry Creek) tallied an assist on the game-winner to go along with her first career goal, which tied the game 1-1 with just 31 seconds remaining in the first half. Dobbyn was credited with an assist on the Thomas tally.

Dobbyn and Katie Miler (Columbus, Ohio/Worthing Kilbourne) generated two quick chances in the first 10 minutes, but both attempts on goal were saved. Tuura's busy day started early as she came up with her first save when the Buckeyes counterattacked following Miler's chance in the 12th minute.

Both teams settled down in the middle of the half, creating few scoring opportunities. Tuura then made her best stop of the half in the 26th minute, stoning OSU's attempt from the penalty area to keep the game scoreless. Tuura made one more save before Ohio State finally broke through on a corner kick by Lara Dickenmann. Her set piece traveled high to Taylor Smith, who headed one in to put the Buckeyes up 1-0 at 35:04.

Michigan battled back to tie the score at 1-1 just before halftime, scoring a huge goal at 44:29 on a Dobbyn free kick. Dobbyn's feed went directly to Thomas, who one-timed a liner past Robertson, allowing the Wolverines to go into the half all knotted up.

Tuura remained steady after yielding just her second first-half score of the season, making two key saves on OSU chances in the first 15 minutes, with the second coming from point-blank range.

The Wolverine defense came up big again in a span of less than a minute beginning in the 77th minute. After Tuura made her seventh save of the contest, the Maize and Blue defended two straight corner attempts and U-M went into overtime for the second straight contest despite being outshot 12-2 in the second half.

U-M ended the first overtime session abruptly, scoring at 95:04. Thomas flicked a pass to Dobbyn at the top of the 18-yard box. Dobbyn then faked out an OSU defender and hammered one high into the top left corner of the net past Robertson to send Michigan to its second straight win over the Buckeyes.

The Wolverines finish off the regular season at Michigan State next Friday afternoon (Oct. 27) with a 3 o'clock match at Old College Field.

GAME SUMMARY

Team	1	2	OT	F
Michigan	1	0	1	2
Ohio State	1	0	0	1

Scoring, Time (Assist)
1st -- OSU, Taylor Smith, 35:04 (Lara Dickenmann)
1st -- U-M, Kristin Thomas, 44:29 (Melissa Dobbyn)
OT -- U-M, Dobbyn, 95:04 (Thomas)

Shots: U-M 10, OSU 22
Shots on Goal: U-M 4, OSU 8
Saves: U-M 7 (Megan Tuura), OSU 2 (Laura Robertson)
Corner Kicks: U-M 2, OSU 6
Fouls: U-M 18, OSU 12
Cards: U-M, Amy Klippert, 60:09 (yellow)

NOTES

• Today's 1-1 score heading into halftime marked the first time more than one goal had been scored in the beginning frame in any U-M game this season.

• Michigan has outscored its opponents 7-2 in the first half.

• The Wolverines' current unbeaten streak of six games (3-0-3) is their longest since 2004 when they went 7-0-1 in a span of eight games.

• Megan Tuura made a season-high seven saves and finished with 12 saves on the weekend after stopping five shots against Minnesota on Friday (Oct. 20). She eclipses the 300-save mark for her career and now has 301 career stops.

• Katelin Spencer moved into sole possession of fourth place on the program's career games started list after starting both games this weekend. She has started all 84 games in her career.

• Melissa Dobbyn's score is her first since she tallied the first marker in a 2-1 upset over Purdue (Sept. 29). Today's goal-and-assist performance is her first since she earned a goal and an assist in a 4-1 win at Iowa last season. In addition, her eight-shot weekend moves her into second place on Michigan's career shots list with 257.

• After playing in two games in the 2005 campaign, Kristin Thomas scored her first career goal in her ninth game this season. Her score tied the game at 1-1 with under a minute remaining in the half, and she later added an assist on the game-clincher for the first points of her career.

• Melissa Dobbyn and Kristin Thomas become the third and fourth players to contribute to more than one goal in a game this season.

• The Wolverines improve to 5-0 in games in which they score more than one goal.

• The Maize and Blue matches its win total from 2005 with today's victory, improving to 8-5-5 on the season.

Five of Michigan's seven overtime games this season have come on the road. U-M holds a 2-0-5 record in those contests.

QUOTES

Michigan Head Coach Debbie Rademacher
On today's win ... "This was a huge one because we needed to have that one more point to assure a spot in the Big Ten Tournament. We have played so many overtime games, and we needed that monkey off our back to finish in overtime. We were tired and had already played a tough game Friday, but we came through."

On the play of senior goalkeeper Megan Tuura ... "She was solid all weekend and made some great saves. Ohio State had its chances and didn't finish them, and we made the most of the ones we had."

On succeeding despite being without two starters due to injury ... "We've had to face a lot of adversity all season. Different people have stepped up at different times. For (Kristin) Thomas to be involved in the goal scoring is tremendous. Ohio State was strong and dynamic. We have continued to fight. The team is building on that confidence and momentum in being able to finish games while staying strong defensively."