Michigan
2-0
Cincinnati
0-2
Michigan Dominates Cincinnati in Road Victory
2/14/2024 6:13:00 PM | Women's Lacrosse
» Michigan defeated Cincinnati 14-4, led by five goals and two assists from Jill Smith.
» Kaylee Dyer had her second hat trick of the season, scoring four goals.
» U-M won the draw control battle 15-3 and held the Bearcats to 1-for-6 on free-position chances.
CINCINNATI, Ohio -- The No. 10-ranked University of Michigan women's lacrosse team dominated Cincinnati in a 14-4 road victory Wednesday (Feb. 14) at Nippert Stadium to earn its second win of the 2024 campaign.
Seven goal scorers contributed to the Wolverines' (2-0) offensive push as Jill Smith had a team-best seven points with five goals and two assists, while Kaylee Dyer scored four goals to record her second hat trick of the season.
Senior Lily Montemarano led the Michigan draw team with six wins, while Smith had three and Ava Class and Julia Schwabe each added two draw wins. U-M outdrew the Bearcats 15-3 overall.
Junior Erin O'Grady earned her second start of the season and tied a career-best eight saves, while Maya Santa-Maria made two saves in her 20 minutes of work in the cage. Defensively, Taylor Cullen had two ground balls and one caused turnover, while Maddie Burns had two ground balls and one draw-control win and Class had three ground balls. As a unit, Michigan kept Cincinnati to just 1-of-6 on free-position attempts.
Cincinnati scored the first goal of the game, but the Michigan offense got rolling less than three minutes later as it posted five straight goals, including a pair each from Smith and Dyer, to take a 5-1 lead at the end of the first quarter.
The Wolverines continued to pour in the goals as Smith recorded four in the first half topped off with a diving behind-the-back goal to extend the U-M lead to 8-1. Michigan went into the locker room at halftime with an 11-2 advantage over the Bearcats.
Smith recorded six points with four goals and two assists, while Dyer had three goals and Montemarano won four draw controls.
The Wolverines added two goals in the third quarter to take a comfortable 13-2 lead with 15 minutes remaining in the game. Cincinnati tried to close the gap, scoring two goals in the fourth quarter, but could not mount any sort of comeback as U-M took the decisive 14-4 road victory.
Michigan will open its 2024 home season Saturday (Feb. 17) when it welcomes No. 4 Denver to U-M Lacrosse Stadium for a noon contest. The game will be streamed live on B1G+.
