The Michigan women's soccer team met a physically straining challenge last Friday at Oakland, whose coupled with early November gales, pushed Michigan's offensive play to a new level. But the Wolverines endured and defeated the Golden Bears, 1-0.

The matchup was a clash of two clearly different styles.

While Michigan coach Greg Ryan urged his players with gusto to push forward, Oakland (1-3-0) was quite content with a defensive strategy of dropping nine or sometimes ten players into its half. The Golden Bear offense had to rely on playing long balls up to a lone forward, evident by the fact that Michigan had nine shots while Oakland only managed three and did not have a single corner.

"We did a good job of defending, adopted a strategy and defensive system, but it was Oakland's defensive system that worked," Ryan said after the game. "We were trying to attack with as many players as we could."

The Wolverines (3-3-1) faced weather more common in November rather than September. Massive gusts of wind were not conducive to long aerial passes, forcing the Wolverines to play the ball on the ground for the entire match. Coupled with lower temperatures than the young Wolverines had seen up to this point, Michigan had a difficult time executing its offense.

It took 73 minutes for Michigan to slowly erode the Oakland defense. Two super-subs — junior Meghan Hennessy and freshman Kayla Mannino — connected for the game winner. They were told by Ryan to catalyze the offense while Hennessy came off the bench with one thing in mind— to score a goal. The clincher occurred when Mannino crossed a pretty ball in from the right to an approaching Hennessy who, in the center of the box, eloquently redirected it in the net for the winner.

Redshirt sophomore keeper Haley Kopmeyer completed her second shutout in a row and her eighth career shutout by saving one shot. She moved up to fourth on Michigan's all-time shutout list.

"All our games have been tight," Ryan said. "We have lots of young players and learning how to win tight games is important. Once you get a lead, you have to take care of it. It is critical that we beat teams like oakland so we have a shot to make the tournament."

For a rather young team, looking into a nine-person defense on a droll dark field can be very daunting, but with this win the season continues to look brighter.