Wolverines Blank No. 22 Maine to Wrap Homestand

Sunday, September 2

Ann Arbor, Mich.

2:00 PM

Michigan

(2-2)

Maine

(1-4)

Maine

Michigan

9/2/2012 12:00:00 AM | Field Hockey

Box Score PDF Boxscore

By: Leah Howard

Site: Ann Arbor, Mich. (Phyllis Ocker Field)
Score: #10 Michigan 2, #22 Maine 0
Records: U-M (2-2), Maine (1-4)
Next U-M Match: Friday, Sept. 7 -- at Albany (Albany, N.Y.), 2 p.m.

ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- The No. 10-ranked University of Michigan field hockey team scored a pair of first-half goals en route to its first shutout win of the season, blanking No. 22 Maine, 2-0, on Sunday afternoon (Sept. 2) at Phyllis Ocker Field. With the victory, the Wolverines evened their season record at 2-2.

Liesl Morris

Freshman Shannon Scavelli (Yorktown Heights, N.Y./Lakeland Shrub Oak HS) and senior Liesl Morris (Lafayette, N.J./The Taft School) accounted for U-M's offensive production, both registering their first collegiate goal during a five-minute stretch midway through the opening half.

Scavelli's goal came off the Wolverines' first penalty-corner opportunity of the contest. Instead of taking a direct shot at the top of the circle, junior Rachael Mack (Bromsgrove, England/Bromsgrove School) dribbled the ball to the right side before firing it a low bouncing shot. Scavelli got her stick on it and redirected a shot along the turf past Black Bear goalkeeper Syndey Kolysher at the 14:50 mark.

Morris scored less than five minutes later, at 19:15, on a diving shot deep in the circle. Junior Michelle Roberts (Pocomoke, Md./Pocomoke HS) carried the ball into the circle, pulling the defender and goalie to the left side before passing to Morris, who laid out to reach the ball and knock it into the lower right corner of the cage.

U-M outshot the Black Bears 10-3, including 6-2 in a scoreless second half, and outcornered them 7-4. Senior/junior Haley Jones (Ann Arbor, Mich./Pioneer HS) did not face a shot on goal but picked up the shutout -- the eighth of her career -- while Kolysher earned six saves in the Maine goal.

Michigan (2-2) will return to the road next weekend, heading to Albany, N.Y., to face a pair of ranked non-conference opponents. U-M squares off against No. 19 Albany at 2 p.m. on Friday (Sept. 7) and No. 6 Connecticut at 2 p.m. on Saturday (Sept. 8). Both games will be hosted at the Great Danes' Alumni Turf.

GAME SUMMARY

By Periods	1	2	F
Maine	0	0	0
Michigan	2	0	2

Scoring, Time (Assist)
1st -- U-M, Shannon Scavelli, 14:50 (Rachael Mack)
1st -- U-M, Liesl Morris, 19:15 (Michelle Roberts)

Shots: U-M 10, Maine 3
Saves: U-M 0 (Haley Jones), Maine 6 (Sydney Kolysher 5)
Defensive Saves: U-M 1, Maine 1
Penalty Corners: U-M 7, Maine 4

NOTES

• With today's win, Michigan improves to 5-2 in the all-time series against Maine.

• The Wolverines remain perfect in home games this season. Michigan went 8-2 at Ocker Field last year.

• Four different Wolverine players have registered their first collegiate goal this season -- senior Liesl Morris, junior/sophomore Sammy Gray and freshmen Aisling Naughton and Shannon Scavelli.

QUOTES

Michigan Head Coach Marcia Pankratz
On getting the early lead ... "I think that was important. With a young group, you're trying to keep them in a positive frame of mind and focused. Maine is a good team, and they play with a lot of emotion. We stepped up and took it them. We were competitive and gritty. Sometimes you don't see that in freshmen, because they're looking for someone else to do it, but they played great. I think we kept Maine on their heels a lot today. That was good to see, because that was one of our talking points before the game."

On the play of the Wolverine freshmen ... "I'm so happy with how they've been playing. We threw them into the deep end, and they've been playing great. They are growing every single match, learning the system and tactics and getting better all the time. I couldn't be more pleased.

On the leadership dynamic of four captains ... "The captains are young players too. Normally they would have another year of experience and maturity under their belts, but they're doing a great job. It makes it a little easier to lead and organize by committee, because it would a lot to ask one or two people. We really empower them to make a lot of the decisions and manage things themselves. They are four highly respected women and got the vote of confidence from their teammates. It shows."

On Liesl Morris' first collegiate goal ... "That was a great, diving goal. I didn't think she was going to reach it, but she did. It was pretty cool for her first goal to be such an outstanding one. I hope to see more for her. We have her playing in a different position, so she will get more opportunities. She is versatile, hard working and doing a great job leading our team. I'm happy for her."

U-M Senior Liesl Morris
On the progress of the freshman players ... "It's so exciting, and I'm so proud of them. It's not surprising, because I have a lot of confidence in them, but what they've been showing is just remarkable for their age. Coming from high school to college, they've just completely stepped it up. Every single game, we get better. Our outlet, our press -- it becomes more crisp, detailed and faster. It's going to be exciting when we hit the Big Ten season."

On her first collegiate goal ... "I never got to go up that far and instincts just kind of took over. Michelle Roberts had a beautiful pass insert in, and I was just the lucky one to be able to tip it in."

U-M Freshman Shannon Scavelli
On today's game plan ... "We knew we really had to set the pace of the game. I think we did a good job of coming out strong and playing our game. Before the game, we had a team run and talked about our game plan. We wanted to keep the pace high and the intensity high and just do what we had been working on all week in practice."

On the adjustment to collegiate field hockey ... "The level of play and the speed that it happens is a lot faster. In high school, we just play 30-minute halves, and our coaches have really been stressing the last five minutes of the half. Those extra five minutes and minutes really add to the length of the game. I think I'm still adjusting, so I'm really focusing on one game at a time. The older girls are very helpful, and they really help to teach us freshmen. We're learning a lot."