Michigan Set for Home Opening Weekend vs. Central Michigan, Dartmouth

» Michigan is out to the best start in the six-year history of the program after sweeping opening weekend with two wins in California.
» Michigan will meet up with Central Michigan for the third time in program history. The Wolverines won the first two meetings.
» The Wolverines and Big Green will meet for the first time Sunday after No. 25 Dartmouth opens its season Friday night against No. 7 Northwestern.

THIS WEEK
Friday, Feb. 15 – Central Michigan (U-M Lacrosse Stadium), 3 p.m.
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Sunday, Feb. 17 – No. 25 Dartmouth (U-M Lacrosse Stadium), noon
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• Complete Game Notes (PDF)
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The University of Michigan women's lacrosse team will open the home portion of its schedule this weekend when they host a pair of games at U-M Lacrosse Stadium. The Wolverines will play their home opener on Friday (Feb. 15) against Central Michigan at 3 p.m. U-M will end the weekend on Sunday (Feb. 17) with a noon contest against No. 25 Dartmouth.

Series History with Central Michigan

• The Wolverines and Chippewas will meet for the third time in program history. The Wolverines won the first two meetings.
• Michigan and Central Michigan met last season in Mt. Pleasant, where U-M defeated the Chippewas, 12-4.
• The first meeting between the two squads was in 2016 when Michigan earned a 14-1 victory in Ann Arbor.

Scouting the Chippewas

• Central Michigan opens its 2019 campaign with the Wolverines this Friday (Feb. 15) after putting together an 11-7 record in 2018.
• CMU outscored its opponents, 227-202, in the 2018 season, netting 12.61 goals per contest.
• This season, Central led the Southern Conference with five preseason all-conference picks.
• The Chippewas return their leading offensive player in junior Natalie Karlen, who scored 33 goals and had 23 assists for 56 points.
• Leading scorer Jocelyn Lemay also returns for her senior season after scoring 36 goals in her junior campaign.
• Defensively, Logan Halvorson returns on the backline after picking up 42 groundballs last season and adding 15 caused turnovers.
• In net, Dominique Hamman will look to be the starter for the second straight season after making 14 starts in 2018.
• Hamman carried a 44.4 save percentage a season ago with 120 saves and 146 goals against.

Series History with Dartmouth

• Sunday's meeting with the Big Green will be the first in program history.

Scouting the Big Green

• No. 25 Dartmouth opens its 2019 season on Friday (Feb. 15) against No. 7-ranked Northwestern and finished the 2018 campaign with an 11-5 overall record.
• The Big Green outscored its opponents, 243-174, in 2018, averaging 15.1 goals per game.
• Offensively, Dartmouth will look to junior attack Ellie Carson, who scored a team-best 51 goals as a sophomore, as well as senior Kierra Sweeney, who ranked second on the team with 39 goals.
• On the draw, Kathryn Giroux returns after winning 133 draw controls in the 2018 campaign, while the defense will be led by sophomore Riley Ricciardi, who had 25 ground balls and 18 caused turnovers in her first season with the Big Green.
• In goal, junior Kiera Vrindten returns after starting all 16 games in 2018 with a .419 save percentage that included 116 saves.

Reuniting Old Teammates

• Michigan head coach Hannah Nielsen and Dartmouth head coach Danielle Spencer are familiar acquaintances as they both played collegiate lacrosse at Northwestern.
• Nielsen and Spencer won three national championships together (2007, 2008 and 2009) at Northwestern while both were All-Americans for the Wildcats.
• Both Nielsen and Spencer continued to play upon graduation with Nielsen competing for the Australian National Team and Spencer playing for the Boston Storm.

Pendino Strikes Early, Often

• Senior Adriana Pendino paced the Wolverine offense in opening weekend, scoring a career-best six goals to open her final season.
• Pendino scored the first goal of the season for the Wolverines just 50 seconds into the game before recording her first hat trick of the season in the first half against California.
• The senior attack added three more goals in the second half against the Golden Bears.
• Pendino followed up the career performance with her second straight hat trick, netting all three of her goals in the second half against UC Davis.
• In two games, Pendino is shooting 69.2 percent, scoring nine goals and assisting on one for Michigan.

Kirby Ties Career Day

• Junior Chandler Kirby found her offensive stride in the second game of the season as she scored four goals against UC Davis.
• Kirby's four goals against the Aggies tied a career high from a season ago when she netted four against Canisius.
• The junior attack was four-for-four against UC Davis, scoring the first goal of the game before rattling off three straight goals in the first half.

Freshmen Step Up

• In the opening weekend, six freshmen saw playing time in their first collegiate games.
• Caroline Cullinan, Erin Garvey and Kaitlyn Mead saw action in both games, while Hailey Mead, Kelly Poole and Morgan Whitaker saw time against UC Davis.
• Kaitlyn Mead quickly found her place as an early substitute for the Michigan offense in her first games, scoring a goal in each game.
• Mead also won four draw controls in her second game as a Wolverine.
• Garvey also was able to contribute to the Michigan offense early, scoring a goal in both games for the Wolverines.
• The West Chester, Pennsylvania, native added two ground balls and two caused turnovers to her stat line in the first two games.

Multiple Goals from Multiple Players

• Just two games in, seven Michigan players have put together multi-goal performances.
• Senior Adriana Pendino leads the strike with nine goals, including back-to-back hat tricks, scoring a career-best six goals against California.
• Junior Chandler Kirby recorded the second hat trick of the weekend for the Wolverines when she tied a career-best four goals against UC Davis.
• Sophomore Lilly Grass also put together back-to-back multi-goal performances as she scored two goals against Cal and UC Davis.
• Erin Daly, Molly Garrett, Maggie Kane and Caitlin Muir all put together multi-goal performances, scoring two goals in at least one game during opening weekend.

Ticket Information

• Individual and group tickets are on sale for all nine home games this season.
• For group experiences, call (734) 647-1268 or email gobluegroupsales@umich.edu.
• Visit the women's lacrosse tickets page for more information and to purchase tickets.

Up Next

Sunday, Feb. 24 -- at Colorado (Boulder, Colo.), noon MST
Tuesday, Feb. 26 -- at Denver (Denver, Colo.), noon MST