TOLEDO, Ohio — After falling behind in Friday night's match early, the Michigan women's soccer players couldn't help but celebrate after fighting back to earn a 2-2 draw.

The Wolverines (3-1-2) outshot the Rockets, 26-17, and clearly had more scoring opportunities, but couldn’t overcome two defensive lapses in the first half that put them in a 2-0 hole.

Just 17 minutes into the game, senior defender Amanda Bowery attempted a backpass and mishit the ball, which led to a breakaway goal for Toledo (3-2-1). This came just four minutes after freshman forward Nkem Ezurike was taken down in the box without a call from the referees. Michigan’s problems continued at the 35-minute mark when Toledo drew a penalty and converted it, giving the Rockets a two-goal lead at halftime.

Soccer teams rarely come back from two-goal deficits, but second-half magic has defined the Wolverines all season — all eight of their goals this season have come in the second half.

Keeping with form, they scored twice to tie the game in the first 12 minutes after the break, but couldn’t find the winning goal despite several great chances in both overtime periods. In the end, it wasn’t a disaster for Michigan, but it should have been an unqualified success.

“I think we deserved to win,” Michigan coach Greg Ryan said. “We had a lot more chances. Not only did we have almost double their shots, a bunch of theirs were outside the box under pressure and never had a chance of going in.”

Michigan’s first goal came off an indirect free kick in the box less than two minutes after halftime. Freshman defender Shelina Zadorsky tapped the ball to senior defender Jackie Carron, who blasted it through a small opening in the defensive wall into the bottom left corner of the net.

“I noticed there were fewer players on the left side of the wall, and there was a little opening I thought I could squeeze the ball through," Carron, Michigan's set-piece specialist, said. “After that, I just wanted to make sure I kicked it low and hard. If it didn’t go in, then I just hoped it would bounce off someone and we’d get a second chance.”

The Wolverines’ second goal also came off a free kick from Carron. Setting up near the left corner, she lofted the ball into the box, where it bounced around for several seconds and was parried multiple times by Toledo goalkeeper Vicki Traven before Ezurike dumped it into the net from point-blank range.

“It’s pretty surprising that both of our goals came from set pieces, since it hasn’t really been a strength this season,” Ryan said. “But Jackie Carron is great at striking the ball, and we work on them all the time. It was a point of emphasis this preseason.”

Michigan peppered Traven with shots, but she refused to budge and denied the Wolverines a win.

“I give a lot of credit to their goalkeeper,” Ryan said. “She was tremendous. If we were playing a normal goalkeeper, I think we would have had 5 goals today.”

However, even Traven wouldn’t have been able to rob Michigan of a victory if not for their defensive mistakes. Despite the impressive comeback, those mistakes will probably be the team’s lingering memory of the match.

“Defensive lapses really haven’t been a problem this season. That’s what was so surprising about it,” Ryan said.