U-M Bounced From Big Ten Tournament by Iowa Despite Way's Effort

Thursday, November 5

East Lansing, Mich.

11:00 AM

Michigan

(7-14)

Iowa

(9-9)

Michigan

Iowa

U-M Bounced From Big Ten Tournament by Iowa Despite Way's Effort

11/5/2009 12:00:00 AM | Field Hockey

Box Score PDF Boxscore

By: Matt Trevor

Site: East Lansing, Mich. (Ralph Young Field)
Event: Big Ten Tournament (First Round)
Score: Iowa 5, Michigan 3
Records: U-M (7-14), Iowa (9-9)
Next U-M Match: Season Completed

ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- Despite junior Meredith Way (Newmanstown, Pa./Warwick) posting two goals and an assist, the University of Michigan field hockey team fell 5-3 to Iowa in the first round of the Big Ten Tournament on Thursday (Nov. 5) at Michigan State's Ralph Young Field.

Paige Laytos

Trailing 3-0 early in the second half, Way and redshirt junior Paige Laytos (Lititz, Pa./Warwick) scored at 50:39 and 57:35, respectively, to swing momentum in Michigan's favor. Unfortunately, Iowa responded with a pair of goals shortly after to secure the win.

Four of the Hawkeye goals came as a result of penalty corners -- two off direct shots and two on rebounds that U-M was unable to clear. Meghan Beamesderfer scored 17:38 into the game by corralling a rebound on the left side and knocking it past the U-M goalie. Iowa went up 2-0 with 5:31 left in the first half on a corner shot from just right of center. Beamesderfer then scored inside the right post on a corner at 38:33 to make it 3-0 Iowa.

Way's shot from the top of the circle skipped in front of the MSU goalie and bounded over her stacked pads to make it 3-1 at 50:39. Seven minutes later, Way fired the ball into the Spartan circle on a long corner from the right side. Laytos darted in front of the goal and tipped the ball under the goalie to bring U-M within one goal, 3-2.

Less than three minutes after Laytos' goal, Beamesderfer completed her hat trick by flipping a rebound into the Michigan goal. Iowa expanded its lead to 5-2 with another tally at 66:21.

Way posted the final goal of the game at 67:40, but the Wolverines did not have enough time to attempt another comeback bid.

The Wolverines wrap up the 2009 season with a 7-14 record, including a 2-4 mark in Big Ten Conference regular-season games.

GAME SUMMARY

By Periods	1	2	F
Michigan	0	2	2
Iowa	2	3	5

Scoring, Time (Assist)
1st -- Iowa, Meghan Beamesderfer, 17:38 (unassisted)
1st -- Iowa, Tricia Dean, 29:29 (Leslie Pyle)
2nd -- Iowa, Beamesderfer, 38:33 (Tricia Dean, Sarah Pergine)
2nd -- U-M, Meredith Way, 50:39 (Eileen Brandes, Heather Wiley)
2nd -- U-M, Paige Laytos, 57:35 (Way)
2nd -- Iowa, Beamesderfer, 60:28 (unassisted)
2nd -- Iowa, Geena Lesiak, 66:21 (Jess Werley)
2nd -- U-M, Way, 67:40 (Jenner Johnson)

Shots: U-M 10, Iowa 13
Saves: U-M 3 (Paige Pickett), Iowa 4 (Kathleen McGraw)
Defensive Saves: U-M 0, Iowa 0
Penalty Corners: U-M 4, Iowa 11

QUOTES

Michigan Head Coach Marcia Pankratz
On Michigan's play in the final 20 minutes ... "I appreciate that they didn't give up. It's a nice quality. Unfortunately, we weren't ready to play 70 minutes of hockey today. For the first 50 minutes, we didn't play a very good hockey game and dug ourselves into a pretty deep hole."

On what Michigan can take away from the season ... "As a program, we need to be preparing and try to get better every day, not just the day of a match. Those are hard lessons to learn, but hopefully we will learn from it and be better for it next season."

On the play of the seniors ... "I only had one year with them, to get to know them, so that's unfortunate. But they provided great leadership and maturity. They are wonderful Michigan student-athletes and I'm sorry that they had to end their careers on such a disappointing note."

On Meredith Way ... "She's a big-time player. She always seems to come through when we need her to. It just wasn't enough today."

U-M Junior Meredith Way
On the second-half comeback ... "I didn't want to go out without scoring a goal. I didn't want to give up despite the game being 3-0. I'm glad we were able to fight a little bit."

On the senior class ... "Sometimes we don't realize that for some of our seniors, this is probably the last time they will play field hockey. There's no next year for them like there is for the rest of us. You have to put that into perspective especially after losing on senior day. I hate that they had to go through that."

On what to learn from this season ... "Right now, I'm not thinking about next season, but starting tomorrow, it's time to prepare for next season. I don't want to go through this kind of season again. We have to work hard in the offseason, come back in shape and be prepared every time. We need to take what we learned from this season and make sure it doesn't happen again."