As a young team, the Michigan women’s lacrosse team takes every game, win or lose, as much-needed experience. The Wolverines showed their continued growth Saturday at No. 19 Navy, where they were narrowly defeated, 12-9. But for Michigan, the loss was a bright spot in its inaugural season.
Despite losing the game, the Wolverines came out strong and kept the score within a few goals. Michigan’s ability to stay in the game against a highly skilled opponent bodes well for the team, which has struggled with consistency.
Last Wednesday, the Wolverines followed their first win in program history with a disappointing blowout loss, 18-3, to Ohio State. But in spite of just a two-day turnaround, Michigan entered Navy-Marine Memorial Stadium as a more confident, cohesive unit.
“We weren’t playing as a team in the Ohio Sate game,” said freshman attacker Tess Korten. “We definitely weren’t playing up to our potential. We worked a lot on that in practice, came out strong during this game, and really clicked and played together as a team.”
Saturday, the Wolverines kept up with the Midshipmen throughout most of the game, trading goals in the first 20 minutes after Navy opened up scoring just 29 seconds into play. The Midshipmen began to pull ahead by the end of the first half, entering the locker room leading 7-4.
Freshman goalkeeper Allison Silber was instrumental in keeping the Wolverines in the game for the full 60 minutes.
“Navy took a lot of different shots,” said Michigan coach Jennifer Ulehla. “Our goalkeeper was really able to come up with a lot of key saves that were very important in the momentum of the game. From a young team’s standpoint trying to get better each and every day, you feed off of your goalkeeper.”
Silber’s 12 saves, though important to diminishing the Midshipmen’s momentum, were not enough to counteract Navy’s 30-13 shot advantage.
After another quick goal by Navy to open the second half, Michigan responded with three straight goals to cut the Midshipmen’s lead to one with 19 minutes left. But three more unanswered goals by Navy widened the gap yet again, until Korten and freshman attacker Jess Angerman countered with two back-to-back goals to cut the Wolverines’ deficit to one with just over 10 minutes left in the game.
The goals proved to be Michigan’s final push, as the Midshipmen secured the win with two more tallies.
The Wolverines’ offense shined against Navy’s tight defense, which is ranked second in the NCAA in scoring, allowing an average of five goals per game. In the practices leading up to the game, Michigan focused on stimulating high-pressure defense and coming up with the different types of offensive plays.
“The plays that we were actually able to execute, we were successful with,” Ulehla said. “Their defense is something I was well aware of. Going into the game, we knew where their weaknesses were, and I think we did a good job of exploiting them.”
The offensive preparation paid off. There were five goal scorers for the Wolverines, who have been working on getting more players involved in attack. Korten tallied her second career hat trick, while freshmen midfielders Kim Coughlan and Anna Schueler both finished with three points, recording career-highs in points and assists, respectively.
Though the Wolverines were unable to pull off their second win against such a strong team, they gained much-needed reaffirmation of their ability to play a full, solid game of lacrosse down to the last minute — especially after the Ohio State letdown.
“Now that we know we can compete with these highly ranked teams, we can really come together,” Korten said. “I think confidence is a big thing with our team — when we come out that strong and we know we can play together well. We just kind of need to get that extra push in the last minute of the game.”