Michigan
5-4
Colorado
4-2
U-M Unable to Maintain Late Lead in OT Loss to Colorado
3/22/2015 12:00:00 AM | Women's Lacrosse
Site: Ann Arbor, Mich. (Michigan Stadium)
Score: Colorado 14, Michigan 13 (2OT)
Records: U-M (5-4), UC (4-2)
Attendance: 248
Next U-M Event: Friday, March 27 -- at Ohio State (Columbus, Ohio), 5 p.m.
ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- The University of Michigan women's lacrosse team was unable to maintain a five-goal lead late in the game, eventually falling to Colorado, 14-13, in double overtime on Sunday (March 22) inside Michigan Stadium. The second half was a game of runs, as U-M used a 6-1 run to take an 11-6 advantage with 7:21 remaining in regulation, and the Buffaloes responded with a 7-1 run to send the game to overtime.
Sophomore Lauren Oberlander led Michigan with four goals and an assist, while fellow sophomore Madeline Dion recorded her first career hat trick.
After an evenly matched first half that included consecutive goals from Oberlander, the game was tied 4-4 at the break. Sophomore Anna Schueler got Michigan going early in the second half, as she won the draw and took the ball straight to cage for the score just 10 seconds in, giving U-M a 5-4 lead.
The Buffs tied the game less than two minutes later, 5-5, before the Wolverines erupted on a 4-0 run. The first goal of the run came as sophomore Kim Coughlan fed Jess Angerman for a quick one-time goal at the 26:53 mark. Free-position goals from Kelly Schlansker and Oberlander, followed by a Dion goal (Natalie Carti assist) gave Michigan a 9-5 lead with 12:29 to play.
Colorado's Darby Kiernan halted U-M's run with 9:12 on the clock to make the score 9-6. The Maize and Blue responded with back-to-back goals from sophomore Tess Korten and Angerman to give U-M its biggest lead of the game, 11-6, with 7:21 to go in regulation.
After keeping Colorado scoreless for 5:53, the Buffs constructed a 7-1 run that included four unanswered goals in the last 1:29 of play, tying the game 12-12 with 19 ticks left in regulation. A CU free-position shot attempt with one second left in regulation went wide, and the game went to overtime.
In the first overtime period, CU got on the board first, as Blair Sisk netted a free-position goal at the 3:45 mark (six-minute OT). Following that goal, the Buffs were charged with two consecutive yellow cards to give U-M a two-player advantage. The Wolverines capitalized, as Oberlander fed Dion directly off a dead-ball foul to tie the game for the seventh time in the contest.
The game was still tied at the end of the first overtime period, sending it to a second sudden-death overtime, where Colorado's Kiernan netted the game-winning goal at the 4:44 mark.
Michigan goalie Allison Silber made seven saves, while CU keeper Paige Soenksen made eight stops in goal, including two in the first overtime period.
Next up, the Wolverines will travel to Columbus, Ohio, to play Ohio State on Friday (March 27) for their inaugural Big Ten Conference matchup at 5 p.m.
NOTES
• With the loss, Michigan moves to 5-4 overall, with three of those losses coming in overtime games.
• After not scoring for the first four games, Madeline Dion has had at least one goal in each of the last five games, including two at Marquette (March 20) and a career-high three goals today. Dion also had four ground balls in both games this weekend, which marks a career high.
• Madeline Dion continues to lead Michigan in caused turnovers with 16, including four today.
• Lauren Oberlander tallied a career-high five points on four goals and one assist. She also matched a career high with two caused turnovers (season high).
• Mae Tarr (4), Anna Schueler (4) and Margaret Metzger (3) accounted for 11 of Michigan's 13 draw controls. That tied a career high for Metzger.
• Today's game on the Big Ten Network marked Michigan's first nationally televised game in program history.
QUOTES
Michigan Head Coach Jennifer Ulehla
On what was going well in order to build up the lead after a tied game at halftime ... "We were getting good turnovers defensively. Offensively, we were much more confident and they were executing the game plan on offense. We were getting quality shots. There were some key points where we came up with possession. From a defensive standpoint, even when they had possession that second half, we kept grinding and holding our ground. Allison Silber came up with some great saves and we were able to get it back down on offense to execute plays. At halftime we drew up a play that worked beautiful for us and it was momentum builder."
On the different looks the team tried for the draw ... "Mae (Tarr) did a great job coming in and she was able to get number two out of her rhythm in order to really make it a 50-50 ball. It's a chess match, and you have to try different looks and put in girls with quick reaction times to put ourselves in a good position with a 50-50 ball."
On learning to play with the lead ... "Learning how to maintain the lead and keep your mojo is something that definitely needs to be learned. Taking time off the clock yet moving at speed and still attacking and looking for the best shot is important. Finding the middle balance between moving the ball and moving our bodies to get a great shot is going to be one of the biggest learning lessons that we will take from this game."
On her message in the locker room after a two-game weekend... "Today was a heartbreaking loss, but what I said to the team was to remember that at this time last year we were 1-8. Right now, we are three overtime losses away from being 8-1. We've lost three games and they've all been in overtimes, but we've learned from each of these overtimes. We're going to take this game and evaluate the film and continue to work on the areas we need to improve on in order to finish out a game and possess the ball without losing our aggressiveness. We're going to take this difficult loss and turn it into a positive. We have a large part of our season left that we're looking forward to."
