Late Offense Not Enough in U-M Loss to No. 2 Wake Forest

Sunday, August 30

Iowa City, Iowa

2:00 PM CT

Michigan

(0-2)

Wake Forest

(2-0)

Wake Forest

Michigan

Late Offense Not Enough in U-M Loss to No. 2 Wake Forest

8/30/2009 12:00:00 AM | Field Hockey

Box Score PDF Boxscore

By: Matt Trevor

Site: Iowa City, Iowa (Grant Field)
Event: Big Ten/ACC Challenge
Score: #2 Wake Forest 2, #19 Michigan 1
Records: U-M (0-2), Wake Forest (2-0)
Attendance: 109
Next U-M Event: Friday, Sept. 4 -- vs. Temple (College Park, Md.), 6 p.m.

IOWA CITY, Iowa -- For the second time in as many days, the No. 19-ranked University of Michigan field hockey team lost by a 2-1 count against a top-five program from the ACC, this time falling to No. 2 Wake Forest today (Sunday, Aug. 30) at Iowa's Grant Field. U-M began the ACC/Big Ten Challenge with a hard-fought 2-1 loss to No. 4 North Carolina yesterday (Saturday, Aug. 29).

Alicia Mayer

Today against the Demon Deacons, Michigan gave up one goal in each half before junior Alicia Mayer (Selinsgrove, Pa./Selinsgrove) broke the shutout in the final minute of play.

Michigan showed good offensive presence in the opening 10 minutes of the contest, posting two shots. Wake Forest responded, however, with extended pressure under the 20-minute mark. Fifth-year senior goalie Paige Pickett (Dallas, Texas/Episcopal School of Dallas) made a two of her 11 saves on the day, but Demon Deacon Lizzie Rae eventually opened the scoring by redirecting a shot behind the U-M goalie at 18:27.

Wake Forest nearly opened up a 2-0 lead just 30 seconds later when Kim Romansky earned a breakaway. Pickett cut down the shooting angle, shuffled from right to left and dove to poke the ball away as Romansky attempted the shot.

Pickett then made back-to-back stops with eight minutes remaining, both on Faith Adams. Pickett swatted the Wake Forest forward's redirection down with her left arm and then got her left leg down to deny the subsequent rebound attempt.

The Wolverines carried play for the last two minutes of the first half, earning a penalty corner in the process, but the corner opportunity went awry and the Maize and Blue was unable to tally any other scoring chances before the horn.

Wake Forest upped its lead to 2-0 just 40 seconds into the second half. Pickett broke up an initial rush, but the Demon Deacons recovered the ball and fed it to Rae, who was all alone at the right post for a tip-in goal.

Near the midpoint of the second half, senior Heather Wiley (San Diego, Calif./Torrey Pines) had a great chance to cut into the two-goal deficit when she found space towards the left of the goal. Wiley received a bouncing pass and had her shot kicked away by the Wake Forest goalie.

Senior/junior Paige Laytos (Lititz, Pa./Warwick) and the Wolverines put tremendous pressure on the Demon Deacons in the last six minutes of regulation. First, Laytos worked her way in close near the left post and was stoned by the outstretched goalie. A minute later, Laytos stole the ball from a Wake Forest defender 25 yards out and blasted a shot inside the right post -- the goal was disallowed, however, as the official ruled that she shot from outside the circle.

Mayer's tally with 27 seconds left in regulation was a result of a well-executed corner play. Junior/sophomore Katie Adams (Hudson, Ohio/Hudson) fed the ball nearside to junior Zara Saydjari (Skowhegan, Maine), who teed it up and sent it across the cage for Mayer to deflect into the goal.

The Wolverines are back on the road next weekend as they travel to College Park, Md., to take on Temple in a neutral-site match on Friday, Sept. 4, at 6 p.m. Michigan then will face top-ranked and defending national champion Maryland on Sunday, Sept. 6, at 1 p.m.

MATCH SUMMARY

By Periods	1	2	F
Wake Forest	1	1	2
Michigan	0	1	1

Scoring, Time (Assist)
1st -- WF, Lizzie Rae, 18:27 (Hilary Moore)
2nd -- WF, Lizzie Rae, 59:46 (Melissa Martin)
2nd -- U-M, Alicia Mayer, 69:33 (Zara Saydjari)

Shots: U-M 7, WF 20
Saves: U-M 11 (Paige Pickett), WF 2 (Julia Young)
Defensive Saves: U-M 0, WF 0
Penalty Corners: U-M 2, WF 9

NOTES

• With 11 stops today, Paige Pickett notched the fifth double-digit save performance of her career and the second in as many games.

• Pickett made 10 saves yesterday vs. North Carolina for a weekend total of 21 stops.

QUOTES

Michigan Head Coach Marcia Pankratz
On today's game ... "I'm very proud of the way our team worked today. Wake Forest is a strong team and we played with them all day, even when we fell behind. I really liked our resilience and the fact that we battled back in the game's final minutes."