Michigan Loses Lead to No. 6 Oklahoma State in NCAA First Round

Friday, November 12

Stillwater, Okla.

7:30 PM CT

Michigan

10-5-4

Oklahoma State

18-3-2

Michigan

Oklahoma State

Michigan Loses Lead to No. 6 Oklahoma State in NCAA First Round

11/12/2010 12:00:00 AM | Women's Soccer

Box Score PDF Boxscore

By: Ryan Sosin

Site: Stillwater, Okla. (Cowgirl Soccer Complex)
Score: #6 Oklahoma State 2, Michigan 1
Records: U-M (10-5-4), OSU (18-3-2)
Attendance: 637
Next U-M Event: Season Complete

STILLWATER, Okla. -- The University of Michigan women's soccer team saw a halftime lead slip away, falling at No. 6-ranked Oklahoma State, 2-1, on Friday evening (Nov. 12) in the first round of the NCAA Tournament at the Cowgirl Soccer Complex. The Wolverines' first-half lead was erased by two OSU goals within 1:09 of each other in the second half.

Tori McCombs

Freshman Tori McCombs (Londonderry, N.H./Londonderry) scored in the 23rd minute to give the Wolverines the early lead. Junior/Sophomore Haley Kopmeyer (Troy, Mich./Lahser) made four saves in the cage.

Michigan took the lead in the 23rd minute off the shin of McCombs. Freshman Nkem Ezurike (Lower Sackville, Nova Scotia/Sackville) threaded a pass through two defenders that went all the way to the goalkeeper. The netminder came under fire from McCombs and fired a clearing attempt right at the storming Wolverine. The ball slammed into the freshman's shins and skipped the other direction into the back of the cage. The Wolverines continued to pressure throughout the period but could not find an insurance marker.

Oklahoma State took over the game with goals in the 54th and 55th minutes to take a 2-1 lead. The Cowgirls tied the game at 53:44 off a free kick that was headed in right in front of the goal mouth. One minute and nine seconds later, a cross into the box bounced off a Wolverine to the feet of a rushing OSU player, who chipped in the game-winner.

Michigan concludes the 2010 season with its first 10-win season since the 2004 campaign. U-M claimed its 11th top-five finish in the Big Ten Conference and the program's 10th NCAA Tournament berth.

GAME SUMMARY

By Periods	1	2	F
Michigan	1	0	1
Oklahoma State	0	2	2

Scoring, Time (Assist)
1st -- U-M, Tori McCombs, 22:49 (Unassisted)
2nd -- OSU, Melinda Mercado, 53:44 (Taylor Mathews)
2nd -- OSU, Krista Lopez, 54:53 (Katie Richardson)

Shots: U-M 6, OSU 9
Shots on Goal: U-M 6, OSU 2
Saves: U-M 4 (Haley Kopmeyer), OSU 1 (Adrianna Franch)
Corner Kicks: U-M 6, OSU 1
Fouls: U-M 12, OSU 10
Cards: U-M, Amanda Bowery, 84:21 (Yellow)

NOTES

• Playing in their final games in Maize and Blue were seniors Amanda Bowery, Jackie Carron, Kristen Keane, Kylie Neschke and Sarah Stanczyk.

• Michigan fell to 9-9-1 at the NCAA Tournament all-time.

• Carron started for the 76th and final time to move into a tie for 12th with Megan Tuura (76, 2003-06) on the U-M career list.

• Freshman Nkem Ezurike finishes the season with a team-leading nine goals, becoming the fifth U-M rookie to lead the team in scoring. She is the first since current senior Bowery led the 2007 team with five goals.

QUOTES

Michigan Head Coach Greg Ryan
On the game ... "I thought both teams played really hard and as well as they could and, if you look at the stats, between corners and shots, it was a pretty good game. I think it was a game of mistakes. Oklahoma State was a little unlucky on our first goal, because it was a clearance off our player and in. And I think we made a couple of mistakes. The first goal was a good set piece, but it wasn't difficult to defend. Those two mistakes led to two goals and that was the difference in the game. It was a very hard fought game, and that's soccer."

On building team for next year ... "This was just the first step, but for our senior class, it was so important because we weren't very good a couple years ago. Three years ago, we only won three games. Then, I came in after that and we've just been doing a little bit at a time, so this was a huge step for us and hopefully we can take what the seniors gave us this year because they were fantastic out there in the game today, and build on it for the future. We have very good coming in over the next few years, so it will continue to be a very good team."

U-M Junior/Sophomore Forward Clare Stachel
On the game ... "Of course you're always going to be looking for the win, but just for our team to get to here today, we've been going through a huge rebuilding process, and we've been coming together as a team on and off the field. I think this is far better than anyone expected us to do, except we knew that we could do it the whole time. It's an unfortunate loss. I definitely think we could've pulled it off, except for a couple mistakes in there, which happens in soccer, but we're going to learn from it, we're going to come back next year and be just as good, if not better."