Wolverines Wrap Up Successful Spring Season
4/14/2017 12:00:00 AM | Field Hockey
With final exams and the end of the 2016-17 academic year just on the horizon, the University of Michigan field hockey team wrapped up its spring competition schedule last weekend. The Wolverines sterling 7-1-1 record in 11-on-11 play this spring, including wins over Big Ten foes Indiana, Iowa, Michigan State, Northwestern and Ohio State.
"I was very pleased with our spring results," said head coach Marcia Pankratz. "It started with their winter training. They really got after it and worked incredibly hard all winter long -- lifting, conditioning and practicing. They have their sights set on a championship and are committed to being the best team they can be. That was evident when we got to the games. They were fit, played well together and showed a lot of versatility. It was fun to see a number of players blossom."
The Wolverines were able to move February's home indoor tournament outside to Ocker Field, where they knocked off Michigan State (1-0) and Central Michigan (8-0) in their first competitive action in three months.
Michigan had to wait six weeks to play again, returning to action in Louisville, Kentucky, in early April for its first of back-to-back weekends of exhibition action. The Wolverines posted a 1-0-1 record at the annual Cardinal tournament, defeating Indiana (2-0) before tying Louisville (2-2) in 11-on-11 play. One of U-M's two 7-on-7 squads also reached the championship game on the second day, settling for second place after falling to Louisville in a deciding shootout.
U-M posted a 4-1 mark at Northwestern's tournament a week later in Evanston, Illinois, defeating Ohio State (3-0 and 2-1), Iowa (2-1) and Northwestern (1-0) while narrowly falling to Michigan State (1-0). In all, Michigan outscored its spring competition, 21-5, and boasted five shutouts through 11-on-11 contests.
Sophomore Leah Cardarelli led the Wolverine offensive attack with 13 total goals, including eight from the field, while sophomore Emma Way tallied eight and sophomore Marleise Emrhein recorded seven. Twelve different Wolverine players registered goals in the spring competition.
"We had some great scoring output over the last two weekends of play," said Pankratz, "which was one of our major emphases this spring. We had a lot of field goals, and I was pleased with our penalty-corner execution. We have a lot of depth on our corner unit. We have good speed up front. Emma is really blossoming and becoming really dangerous, and Bree [Bednarski] is gaining confidence and experience. Leah scored a ton of goals; that's her big strength, and she's very competitive. Carly [Bennett] showed great leadership as one of our captains. Marleise also had a really nice spring."
"We made some adjustments in the backfield," said Pankratz. "We moved Casie [Ammerman] to the middle, which allows us to keep Katie [Trombetta] in the midfield, which is where her strength lies and she can be a great field general. I think they all did a tremendous of job of building on the strides they made last fall, and obviously, Sam [Swenson] played great as usual."
Michigan will open the 2017 season with the annual ACC/Big Ten Challenge next August. The Wolverines' full schedule will be released soon on MGoBlue.com.
