Notes & Quotes: #19 Michigan 3, Northwestern 0
9/27/2008 12:00:00 AM | Field Hockey
N O T E S
With the victory, Michigan improved to 19-28 in the all-time series against Northwestern. U-M has won each of the last 17 meetings dating back to the 1997 campaign.
Sophomore Meredith Way became the first Wolverine player to register a pair of hat tricks in one season since Jessica Blake posted four-goal and a three-goal efforts within a five-game window during the 2004 season. Three-time All-American April Fronzoni, who was on Northwestern's sideline today as a volunteer coach, achieved the identical feat during the 2003 season.
Senior Sarah Wilhite has tallied at least one point in each of the last nine games -- all but the season opener -- and leads the Wolverine team with six multi-point efforts. Meredith Way has notched at least a point in seven of 10 games this season, including the last three in a row.
Q U O T E S
Michigan Head Coach Nancy Cox
On starting the Big Ten schedule with a win "The Big Ten is the most important thing. We're off to a great start. Everything that preceded today prepared us for today. These guys know that. The Big Ten is the most important thing for this team, and they are well apprised of it."
On Northwestern's play "Anytime you play in a Big Ten match, you know the opposing Big Ten team is going to bring their 'A' game, and Northwestern always brings their 'A' game. There was about 10-15 minutes in the second half when our players really got rattled and it was because of the pressure that Northwestern's forwards were putting on our backfield. They did a great job in making it a great match, and kudos to Northwestern today, particularly their forward presence. Their goalkeeper also stood on her head to make some of those saves. She really kept them in the match."
On improvements from Thursday's game to today "Our forwards really stepped up and pressured the ball well. One of the things when you have a young group, in terms of our overall presence on the field, they occasionally aren't so confident. Today what you saw was young women stepping up to the play like we know that they can. Our force, our presence on the field was much better today than it has been."
On looking for goals outside of penalty-corner opportunities "You try to bat, at a minimum, 20 percent off of corners, and we have been successful in doing that. But, absolutely, I would like to see goals come out of other situations. I'd like to see Alicia Mayer, Jess Allen, Katie Adams, Sarah Wilhite and some of the some players putting the ball in the back of the net. Steph Hoyer has three quality opportunities, and eventually those are going to fall for her."
U-M Sophomore Midfielder Meredith Way
On her second goal "It was designed to be just one of our regular corners -- stop it and hit it -- and I thinkHeather [Wiley] just missed it a bit. We had a couple quick passes here and there, and I just did a little flick pass in toward the goal. I wasn't really expecting it to go in. I think the keeper was caught a little off guard. I was just hoping to send it in and maybe someone else could tip it, but it ended up going in."
On Michigan's fresh start in the Big Ten "It's been a little frustrating. Last season we won seven overtimes, so every time we go into one, we think, 'Alright, this is what we do.' But we had those two overtime losses [against UConn and Cal], and that was frustrating. We had some of our alumni come back yesterday and talk to us about how every season they struggled at the start before going on to win Big Tens and making the NCAA Tournament. I think hearing that a reminder for us that the Big Ten is a fresh start. So, we really needed this -- to start off the Big Ten schedule in this way. This was a good win for us."
