It takes months of practice and hard work to build a championship team. It can take as little as two minutes to destroy one.
Such was the case for the Michigan women’s soccer team on Saturday as it fell 3-1 to No. 6 seed Santa Clara (19-4-1) in the quarterfinal round of the NCAA Tournament, ending its season.
With 10:32 remaining in the first half, the Broncos won a corner kick. Aly Wagner, last year’s National Player of the Year, sent the ball into the box and it found the head of senior midfielder Devvyn Hawkins, who redirected it into the Wolverines’ goal.
Michigan had little time to think about what went wrong because Santa Clara struck again two minutes later. Junior Veronica Zepeda collected a loose ball in the Michigan half of the field and then proceeded to blow by three defenders before finishing off the play with a left foot shot to the near post. The Wolverines (16-7-1) would never recover.
“The turning point (of the game) was the first goal,” Michigan coach Debbie Rademacher said. “We were playing well, and then they scored and then they scored (another) one right away.”
“I don’t think that we were lacking (intensity),” Michigan senior defender Andrea Kayal added. “I think that scoring made them more focused on getting another one and really got them going.”
It was evident that the Broncos were hungry for another goal because instead of sitting on the 2-0 lead and playing more defensively, Santa Clara began to apply even more pressure offensively.
“Their best defense was their offense,” Rademacher said. “They sent their outside backs forward, and that (forced) our wing players to track back. So a lot of times we had one forward up front who needed to hold the ball against a very good defense.”
The continued pressure paid off for Santa Clara, which would eventually go on to outshoot the Wolverines 19-6. At the 82:35 mark, Zepeda created more havoc for the Wolverines’ defense when she was tripped inside the Michigan box. Wagner converted the penalty kick and pushed the score to 3-0, putting the game out of the Wolverines reach. Kate Morgan scored Michigan’s lone goal off a corner kick from defender Amy Sullivant at the 85:23 mark, but it was too little too late.
“Santa Clara played their best game to date, but they are the (defending) national champs,” Rademacher said. “They are an unbelievable team with unbelievable players. They were on their game.”
Although the loss means that the season is over, the Wolverines will not be hanging their heads. By reaching the quarterfinals, this year’s team went farther in the NCAA Tournament than any other team in Michigan history. It dominated on both sides of the ball, outscoring opponents 45-20 and recording an astounding 10 shutouts, including three in the NCAA Tournament.
“I couldn’t be prouder (of the team),” Rademacher said. “The biggest characteristic of our team is that we are fighters. We play hard to the end.”
Michigan will have to replace six seniors, including Big Ten Player of the Year Abby Crumpton and fellow All-Big Ten first teamer Amy Sullivant next year.
“We have a strong class coming in and a strong supporting cast,” Rademacher said. “Every team goes in a cycle, we’ll certainly have a different team next year than the one this year, but they will find their identity.”