| Megan Akstin helped keep Penn State in the game when she stopped a Michigan breakaway late in the game. |
Box Score
IOWA CITY, IOWA, November 5, 2005 - Michigan converted two of its first three penalty corners and survived a barrage of shots by the Nittany Lions to hold on for a 2-1 upset win in the semis of the Big Ten Field Hockey Tournament on Saturday at the University of Iowa.
No. 1 seed Penn State (17-3) outshot the No. 4 seed Wolverines, 12-6, but it was Michigan's accuracy on penalty corners that made the difference.
Michigan (13-7) was awarded three penalty corners in the first half, converting the first two for goals. On the first, in the 16th minute, junior back Kara Lentz took a pass from Lori Hillman on the play, and fired a shot that sailed just inside the left pole of the cage. Later at the 22:02 mark the Wolverines took their second penalty corner of the game. Mary Fox pushed the ball out, Hillman stopped it and Kristen Tiner slapped a shot to make it 2-0.
Penn State changed its gameplan at halftime, and aggressively attacked the Michigan goal in the second half. Despite eight second-half shots, the Nittany Lions were held scoreless until the 68:16 mark when Shaun Banta (Gibbsboro, N.J.) broke free for her team-leading 16th goal of the year
The game was a series of near-misses for the Nittany Lions. In the first two minutes of the contest, Annelise Legel (Morgantown, Pa.) got loose in the center of the circle, but had the ball knocked away. Later, in the sixth minute, Banta slapped a cross to Bekah Hostetler (Hershey, Pa.) whose shot went just wide right. With a little over a minute left in the first half Penn State had one more solid look at the goal. Banta again sent a cross from the right side, this time to Natalie Berrena (State College, Pa.) whose shot also went wide right.
In the second half Berrena got loose on a breakaway and collided with Michigan goalie Beth Riley in the 37th minute, but no foul was called. Seconds later the Nittany Lions were awarded a penalty corner and Legel slapped a solid shot that Riley saved. In the 40th minute Penn State took another penalty corner, but Riley again saved Kiersten Wood's (Lititz, Pa.) attempt.
In the 46th minute Riley again collided with a Penn State player, this time with Banta. Officials awarded another penalty corner to Penn State, but the Lions could not get off a shot. With 11 minutes to play, head coach Char Morett called a timeout and Penn State immediately answered with Ali Scola (Hummelstown, Pa.) firing a shot that Riley knocked away. The Lions had two additional penalty corners in the waning minutes of the game, but could not get a shot off on either.
After the game Morett praised her defense, which came up with several big plays, In the eighth minute of the game Carey Maser (Medford, N.J.) made a defensive save off a Sarah Wilhite shot. Late in the second half goalkeeper Megan Akstin (Poughkeepsie, N.Y.) kept Penn State in the game when she broke up a breakaway by Michigan's Fox. Akstin went out and challenged Fox, whose shot went wide right.
Michigan advances to the finals of the tournament, held at 2 p.m. ET on Sunday. The Wolverines will play the winner of this afternoon's Indiana/Ohio State game.
The NCAA Tournament begins Saturday, Nov. 12. The selection show will air on CSTV on Tuesday, Nov. 8 at 7:30 p.m.