After Wednesday’s heartbreaking loss to Virginia Tech in the waning seconds of overtime, the Michigan women’s lacrosse team was left picking up the pieces in its matchup with Niagara on Saturday.
While the Wolverines showed the full effects of their midweek loss in the first half, adjustments at the break proved to be the difference as Michigan (4-3) cruised to a 15-8 victory.
The Purple Eagles (2-4) had no answer to an incredibly efficient performance from the Wolverines’ starting midfield unit. Sophomore midfielders Anna Schueler, Kim Coughlan and Lauren Oberlander combined to score 11 of Michigan’s 15 goals while failing to clear the ball just twice. Successfully maintaining possession while in transition was a huge boost for the Wolverines and built confidence for the team to attack.
“We worked on (clearing) a lot in practice, and it finally clicked for us,” Oberlander said. “We spread out, communicated with each other and kept our heads up so we were able to find each other on the attack. Getting the fast break was an important part of our game.”
Outside of Schueler’s three goals in the first half, the Wolverines came out shaky in the opening period. Michigan’s defense was forced to take on more pressure than it expected and committed 11 more fouls than Niagara in the first half.
On the other end, the Wolverine attackers were constantly disconnected from one another. Michigan committed 12 turnovers, and despite outshooting the Purple Eagles, 15-8, the teams went into the break knotted at five.
“We want quality opportunities, but in the first half, we weren’t being as smart as we should have been,” said sophomore attacker Tess Korten. “And that’s why our shooting percentage was so low.”
Michigan coach Jennifer Ulehla sensed from the poor period that her young team was emotionally drained from Wednesday’s loss and struggling because of the short week of preparation. But Ulehla challenged her team at halftime to change its work ethic and try to use whatever remaining energy it had to find a breakthrough.
Coming out of halftime, the Wolverines looked like a different team. It took 64 seconds for Michigan to find the opening goal of the period off Oberlander’s stick. Then, the Wolverines went on a 4-0 run, displaying their highest level of confidence of the day.
While Michigan’s midfield and especially Coughlan — who scored four of her five goals in the second half — continued to make all the right plays, the Wolverine attackers picked up their game. Ulehla was impressed by how her attack unit calmed down and distributed the ball.
“(The attack) ended up creating more things that still allowed (Schueler and Coughlan) to come up with the goals they were able to score with,” Ulehla said. “I was happy to see them make the adjustments we asked them to do.”
Shooting efficiently was the largest area of improvement for Michigan in the second half. The Wolverines netted 10 of their 17 shots in the period.
“The first half, we had a lot of great looks, but we shot right to the goalie’s stick,” Ulehla said. “They made the adjustment in the second half and shot a lot better. We’re still trying to find the balance between going hard to goal and getting opportunities while being able to finish.”
Michigan’s adversity and ability to adjust quickly could be the young team’s biggest takeaway from Saturday’s matchup. When their gameplan wasn’t clicking in the first half, the Wolverines were able to make the necessary changes to bring together a disconnected team.
By the end of the Niagara game, Michigan appeared to have put back together all the pieces that shattered in a tough week.