With four minutes left in the first quarter of the Michigan women’s lacrosse team’s game against Northwestern, sophomore attacker Jill Smith earned a yellow card. Ten seconds later, graduate defender Kaley Thompson joined her with a yellow card. And 20 seconds after that, junior midfielder Josie Gooch also found her way to the bench with a yellow card.
In the span of 30 seconds, the Wolverines earned three yellow cards giving a massive three player-up opportunity, which sparked a three-goal run from the Wildcats in the first quarter.
The cost of the penalties led to the 17th-ranked Wolverines (6-4 overall, Big Ten 1-1) falling to No. 3 Northwestern (7-1, 1-0), 16-8. The matchup between these two teams has a history, and unfortunately for Michigan, it continues to point in the Wildcats favor.
Last season in the second round of the NCAA Tournament, Northwestern ended the Wolverines’ season. And on Thursday, an uncharacteristic penalty-filled first half from Michigan blocked it from taking its first program win against the Wildcats on Thursday.
“We played about 15 minutes man down,” Michigan coach Hannah Nielsen said. “(That) just can’t happen against a team like Northwestern. We played really well when we were even strengthened defensively, but when you play a team like Northwestern, a player up for that many minutes, it’s gonna hurt on the scoreboard.”
The disadvantage showed up on the scoreboard rather quickly as the Wolverines faced a 6-2 deficit after the first quarter.
Michigan has capitalized on draw-control wins and overall dominant ball possession throughout the season. This was especially present in their last home game against Cincinnati, with six draw controls that allowed the Wolverines their eight goal run in the first quarter. That power was tested in this game versus highly talented Northwestern within the first quarter. But this time, Michigan was not as successful going 2-for-5 in draw controls in both the first and second quarters.
Without those crucial wins for possession, Michigan needed an adjustment to regain a sense of control, and junior attacker Lily Montemarano provided just that. She went on to win five of the draw controls and by the end of the game was evenly matched in the circle with the Wildcats.
“I think the adjustment of Lily going in and just the focus of the circle players to do their jobs really increased in the second half,” Nielsen said. “And that was massive. I think the draw-control battle was pretty even at the end of the game and helped us get to some more possessions which helped for the second half.”
Moving into the third quarter with the draws under control, Michigan needed points on the scoreboard. Smith, who usually commands the field, was bombarded heavily by the Northwestern defense. With only one goal in the first half, she delivered the necessary offense in the third quarter. Adding her ninth hat-trick on the season, Smith broke through a double team to net a goal with an assist from Thompson, and soon after, she did it again. Yet thanks to their earlier struggles, the Wolverines still trailed 14-4.
The Wolverines began the second half as the calm, collected team showcased through their recent three-game win streak. But it wasn’t enough with continuously missed passes and missed opportunities in the pocket.
After junior goalie Maya Santa-Maria contributed six saves in the first half, sophomore goalie Erin O’Grady came in and added to the defensive play with three saves of her own. Even with this performance, the Wildcats took 38 shots with 16 of them making it through showcasing strong defense wasn’t enough to stop Northwestern’s dominating offense.
“They’re young, they’re eager, they’re of course disappointed in the loss and losing is not fun ever, but you find the lessons from it and use it to get better,” Nielsen said. “So we have to take what we learned from this big matchup against Northwestern to use it to get better and not hang our hat. So it’s not negative, it stings and sucks to lose, but there’s always a learned lesson in it and we’ll make sure we find it.”
Losing isn’t fun, but the Wolverines have to contend with that until the next time they face Northwestern. It’s up to them whether or not this loss will be a spark for the rest of their season.