Wolverines Fall to Iowa in Big Ten Tournament Final

Sunday, November 4

Columbus, Ohio

1:00 PM

Michigan

(15-6, 6-0Big Ten)

Iowa

(17-3, 4-2Big Ten)

Iowa

Michigan

11/4/2007 12:00:00 AM | Field Hockey

Box Score

Boxscore

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- The No. 5-ranked University of Michigan field hockey team suffered a 4-1 loss against No. 6 Iowa in the Big Ten Conference Tournament championship game on Sunday (Nov. 4) at Ohio State's North Turf Field.

Iowa took the first lead as Katie Naughton took advantage of a Hawkeye flurry around the U-M cage to push in the rebound goal at 16:20. Junior/sophomore goalkeeper Paige Pickett(Dallas, Texas/Episcopal School of Dallas) stopped a close shot from Caitlin McCurdy -- but the ball kicked out to the right side of the circle, where Naughton corralled it and dumped it into the near-side corner.

The Hawkeyes padded their advantage just five minutes later, successfully converting their second penalty corner of the contest to take a 2-0 lead into the halftime break. Lauren Pfeiffer scored on the direct shot, hammering a low shot on goal that hit Pickett and redirected to the bottom right corner.

The Wolverines pressured in the early moments of the second half, drawing a pair of penalty corners and peppering Iowa goalkeeper Lisa Munley with four low shots through the opening 10 minutes of the frame. The Hawkeyes withstood the barrage, however, and responded with a goal at the 45:49 mark to push their lead to 3-0. The ball was batted around in the U-M circle before Jess Werley picked it up on the left side of the cage and, using a tight angle, bounced it behind Pickett into the opposite corner.

Michigan found the back of the Hawkeye cage less than four minutes later -- at 49:13 -- as senior Ashley Lennington(Carlisle, Pa./Carlisle HS) earned her second marker of the tournament on a rebound in front of the goal. Sophomore Kelly Fitzpatrick (Hummelstown, Pa./Palmyra Area HS) took the intitial shot, a point-blank attempt from the penalty-stroke area. Munley sprawled to make the save, but the rebound came out to Lennington, who lifted a shot over the laid-out Iowa goalkeeper to cut the gap to two goals.

Iowa added an insurance goal late in the second half to seal up the victory as Werley picked up her second tally of the game with just 1:23 remaining on the clock. Blaum carried the ball across the circle from the right side and fed a pass to Werley, who one-timed it in from the left goalpost.

The Hawkeyes narrowly outshot Michigan 12-11 but were out-cornered by the Wolverines 7-4. Pickett earned five saves in the U-M cage, while Munley stopped six of Michigan's seven shots on goal.

Fifth-year senior Kristen Tiner (Houston, Texas/The Kinkaid School) and sophomore Paige Laytos (Lititz, Pa./Warwick HS) were selected as Michigan's respresentatives on the Big Ten All-Tournament team.

Michigan will await the NCAA Championship selections on Tuesday (Nov. 6) at 8 p.m. The 16-team tournament opens with first- and second-round matches Saturday and Sunday, Nov. 10-11, at four campus sites to be announced. The selection show will be aired live on CSTV and on www.NCAAsports.com.

MATCH SUMMARY

Team	1	2	F
Iowa	2	2	4
Michigan	0	1	1

Scoring, Time (Assist)
1st -- Iowa, Katie Naughton, 16:20 (unassisted)
1st -- Iowa, Lauren Pfeiffer, 21:53 (Tricia Dean, Caroline Blaum)
2nd -- Iowa, Jess Werley, 45:49 (unassisted)
2nd -- U-M, Ashley Lennington, 49:13 (unassisted)
2nd -- Iowa, Werley, 68:37 (Blaum)

Shots: U-M 11, Iowa 12
Saves: U-M 5 (Paige Pickett), Iowa 6 (Lissa Munley)
Defensive Saves: U-M 0, Iowa 0
Penalty Corners: U-M 7, Iowa 4
Penalty Strokes: None

Contact: Leah Howard (734) 763-4423