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#8 Michigan 11 #2 Santa Clara 7 |
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#8 Michigan 11 WDIA National Championship - Round
Four Scottsdale, Ariz. -- For the second game in a row, #8 Michigan (20-5) led from start to finish, earning fifth place with an 11-7 victory over #2 UC Santa Clara. Senior quad-captain Julie Baskind (Framingham, Mass./Framingham) started the Wolverine scoring, finding the back of the net on an eight-meter shot just over one minute into the game. Baskind scored again 0:45 later to put Michigan ahead 2-0. After Santa Clara cut the Michigan lead to one, sophomore Jess Stanley (Beverly Hills, Mich./Marian) answered with her second goal of the tournament. Stanley received a pass from senior Alexis Pavle (Grosse Pointe, Mich./Grosse Pointe South) on the right wing and then, cut across the goal mouth, shooting left-handed over the goalie's outstretched stick to put the Wolverines back on top by two. Santa Clara converted a free-position shot to get within one but once again, Michigan responded. This time it was Pavle turning in the highlight goal as she sprinted across the goal crease, shooting cross-body, over her shoulder to beat Santa Clara's First-Team All-American goalie and make the score 4-2 in favor of the Wolverines. The Broncos fought back to tie the game with consecutive goals and it appeared as though the game would go into the break tied at four. However, senior quad-captain Rachel Lary (San Diego, Calif./Torrey Pines) came through, scoring a goal off her own rebound with just 0:47 left in the half. The teams traded goals to start the second stanza with Michigan's coming when junior Amy Johnson (Washington, D.C./Holton-Arms) took a beautiful feed from Quinn Golinske (Beverly Hills, Mich./Groves) and deposited it into the back of the net, giving the Wolverines a 6-5 edge. Michigan extended the lead when a pair of senior captains connected, Micaela Battiste (Flint, Mich./Grand Blanc) to Lary for the marker with 20:10 to play, giving Michigan the two goal advantage. For the remaining twenty minutes, the Wolverines would battle themselves along with the Broncos as they drew three yellow cards within a two-minute span. The second of these cards was called on Baskind, her second card of the day, resulting in an ejection. Despite playing shorthanded, Michigan did not surrender a goal during the penalty time. Scoring five of the last six goals, the Wolverines put the finishing touches on the win when Pavle bounced in her second goal of the game at the 4:09 mark, extending the lead to 10-7. Johnson provided the exclamation mark, finding the open net for a hat-trick in the closing minute. Freshman Emmy Scheidt (Birmingham, Mich./Seaholm) preserved the lead, putting the finishing touches on her masterpiece tournament in the goal. Scheidt saved 66% of shots during the four-game stretch, a feat that is even more remarkable considering it came against the first, second, fifth, and ninth-seeded teams. For her efforts, Scheidt was an unanimous selection to the All-Tournament team. With the win, the Wolverines capped a spectacular season, reaching the 20-win mark for just the second time in program history and the first since 2005. "It was nice to go out with a win today," said Johnson. "The seniors been such a huge part of the team so we wanted to get the win for them and finish the season on a high note." Michigan will graduate seven seniors from its roster including the four captains. The returning squad includes Johnson, the team's leading scorer with 59 goals on the season as well as fellow seniors to be, Amy Santoriello (Westfield, N.J./Westfield) and Arielle Dyner (Livingston N.J./Livingston). Dyner and Santoriello will serve as tri-captains along with junior to be, Britt Boehm (Rocky River, Ohio/Magnificant). Game Notes: Boehm, Dyner, and Santoriello were elected captains by their teammates as well as the three coaches...All four opponents that Michigan played during the tournament were from California (UCLA, UC Santa Barbara, Cal Poly, UC Santa Clara)...Virginia Tech defeated Colorado in the championship game while Florida topped UCSB to take third place. Quotes: Head Coach Jen Dunbar On the team's showing at the tournament "I thought overall we played well. We got a taste of this level of competition earlier in the season at the UCSB Shootout and I think that helped us focus during the season, knowing that we'd get a chance to play those teams again here at Nationals. The one game we lost, we were within one goal and that was against the top-ranked team here. Finally beating Cal Poly was a monkey off our backs and I'm really proud of the team. The kids have been out of school for a week now but they stayed in town and stayed focused. This is a motivated group and it showed in this tournament. I think we'll be back and ready to go next year to keep improving. We lost a tough group of seniors but I'm confident that we'll pick up right where we left off." Junior Attacker Amy Johnson: On whether or not a West coast bias exists in women's club lacrosse... "I think the fact we beat UCLA, UC Cal Poly, and UC Santa Clara proves that we can play with any West coast team. I'm looking forward to my senior year and beating all the west coast teams again. I have a good feeling about next year." Sophomore Attacker Jess Stanley: On whether the team felt slighted by its #8 seed... "We knew going into the tournament that we were not the number eight seed and throughout the tournament we proved to everyone with our three wins that we can play with the top teams and that the rankings were pretty irrelevant." On what the team can carry over to next year from this tournament... "Judging from our performance I know that we proved to the other teams that they should be looking out for Michigan next year." [an error occurred while processing this directive] |
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