#5 Michigan 3, #9 Penn State 2 (OT)
11/2/2007 12:00:00 AM | Field Hockey
Friday, Nov. 2, 2007 -- 12:00 p.m.
North Turf Field, Columbus, Ohio
Notes & Quotes
Event Recap | Boxscore| Notes & Quotes
N O T E S
This season's Big Ten Tournament marks the eight time that U-M has advanced to the conference tournament final in the last11 years. The Wolverines own a 4-3 record in those championship game appearances.
Michigan improved to 11-21 in the all-time series against Penn State and has won nine of the last 12 contests. The Wolverines improved their record against PSU in the Big Ten Tournament to 4-4 with wins in the last two tournament meetings.
Michigan improved its 2007 overtime record to 6-1.The Wolverines have defeated nearly every Big Ten team in extra time this season -- Iowa (3-2), Michigan State (2-1), Ohio State (3-2), Indiana (1-0) and Penn State (3-2).
Each member of the 2007 senior class tallied a point in today's semifinal game against Penn State. Ashley Lennington and Kristen Tiner recorded goals, while Lucia Belassi and Jillianne Whitfield earned assists.
Senior captainsKristen Tiner and Lucia Belassi lead all active Wolverine players in Big Ten Tournament scoring, each boasting two goals and one assist in five and seven career games, respectively.
Today's contest marked senior Lucia Belassi's 88th careergame appearance, movingher into a tie with two-time All-American Lori Hillman (2002-05) for the 10th spot among Michigan's all-time leaders in the category.
Q U O T E S
Michigan Head Coach Nancy Cox
On today'sMichigangame... "Who would have thought that we would be down in numbers in overtime And who would have though that Meredith Way, a freshman, would take the ball into the circle, get a corner opportunity for us, and we would finish it So, that's what it was. It's about 22 players, and it doesn't matter if you're a freshman or a senior, a sophomore or a junior. Everybody stepped up to the plate today, and it was an overall team effort. You have to applaud the team from Penn State. In the first half, I don't think they were prepared for the way we pressed them, because it was pretty atypical Michigan field hockey. It surprised them. So, in the first half, I think we dominated. But, in the second, they brought it to us. We managed to tie it up late in the game and finish in overtime."
On the Wolverines' penalty-corner execution... "You want to bat 20 percent on your penalty-corner conversion, and we did better than that. So, good for the Wolverines that all those practices in which we focused on switching things up a little bit worked."
On playing in another overtime game... "When we went into the intermission between regulation and overtime, my first words were, 'Oh, I was hoping it would finish tied, so we could go to overtime again,' and I think it lightened the moment. I think we came into this gamequite anxious. It benefits the team who doesn't have the bye to be able to get out and play right off the bat. So, today, I was incredibly pleased with our first-half performance, and, when we went into overtime, our players were flat-out pounding them. When they yellow-carded Lucia Belassi ... our team is prepared for adversity. One of the things we consistently talk about is expect adversity and be able to respond to it, and they certainly did that today."
On Michigan's first-half strategy... "We laid off on our press. We didn't press as hard as we typically do, and the reason we did that, tactically, was to open up space in the upfield. We wanted to get under and get behind Jen Long and Allie Scola, because those two kids are very formidable players. So, tactically, we asked our team to lay off so we could get Lucia [Belassi] above them, and it worked. They weren't anticipating usto press in that way. In the second half, we switched it up a little bit. We probably should have stayed in our ball-away, because the ball-away was working."
On the physicality of today's game... "It's always physical against Penn State. You can count on it. They play a very nice give-and-go, two-touch hockey, so you have to match up strong on them because you're physically in their presence and you're zonal marking them."
On senior captain Lucia Belassi... "Lucia is the center of the spokes of the wheel when she's in the middle of the field. The brilliance of Lucia is she's a tremendous ball distributor, and she never gets too high, never gets too low. I think her teammates look at her and feed off of that."
