One goal and one final possession were all that separated the No. 7 Michigan women’s lacrosse team from a trip to the quarterfinals. Despite holding a lead in the second half, the Wolverines couldn’t withstand a late surge from Stanford.
From start to finish, the game remained close as the No. 7 Michigan women’s lacrosse team met its match with Stanford. Though Michigan (13-6) entered the first round confident after its win against Mercer, the Cardinal took the first lead and ultimately outshot the Wolverines. While that initial assurance allowed it to stay in the game through the final couple of minutes — even pulling ahead at one point — the Wolverines were unable to surpass Stanford (16-4). The Cardinal made one more play than Michigan, resulting in a 13-12 loss.
The game started one-sided as Michigan whipped in a free-position shot from senior attacker Calli Norris midway through the first quarter. With her momentum, she threaded a pass to graduate midfielder Katharine Merrifield, who sent another shot past the bars of the Stanford cage.
Those good looks early were not enough for the Wolverines, though, as the Cardinal quickly flipped the switch, wedging three goals in the first quarter, launching a 302lead.
Following the streak, Stanford attacker Mallory Hasselbeck profited on a man-up advantage to notch another goal. This was the second goal scored on a man-up for the Cardinal, and it wasn’t the last. Michigan let that aspect of the game go in the first half, which cost it early on.
“It’s something that we’re focused on all year,” Wolverines coach Hannah Nielsen said about man-up defense. “And it could have been nerves, could have been jitters, could have been overexcited, but it really hurt us. They were struggling to score, and they scored three men up, which was a real difference maker in the first half.”
In the middle of the second quarter, Michigan and the Cardinal traded two more goals each. Both teams were profiting from a man-down advantage to find openings. The Wolverines, with fewer than four minutes to go in the first half, pulled the trigger to record three goals and get ahead of the Cardinal, 9-8.
Building her hot streak, Stanford’s Hasselbeck scored early in the third. This tied the game and signified how close the second half would be.
To gain more ground, both Norris and junior attacker Emma Bradbury captured hat tricks when? At this point in the game, Michigan was strong and doing well with its man-to-man defense to keep the Cardinal out. But Stanford still found a way around it to close the Wolverines’ lead, entering the final quarter leading 10-9.
The game was close in all regards of the game, and both teams were determined to end the other’s chances. The Cardinal promptly equalized, then pulled ahead with another man-up goal.
Michigan sophomore attacker Truus Van Wees found a spark of momentum to notch two goals, the second being from a free position shot. This point in the game was so fragile, and one penalty call made all the difference.
Stanford tied things up once again, now 12-12, with a little over two minutes left to go in this second-round tournament. The Cardinal leveraged the draw controls to get the ball into its offensive zone and make something happen. Another foul on the Wolverines earned Stanford a free position shot, which the Cardinal converted and gained the lead.
At this moment, Michigan’s last chance was to win the draw control so they could gain possession and batter the Stanford net. But they weren’t able to do that as the Wolverines committed a foul. This turned possession over to Stanford, which held on to the ball until the final buzzer.
“They won those last couple (draws), we had plays ready to draw up,” Nielsen said. “I had all the confidence in the world that we were going to win. And one play here, one situation there, and all of a sudden, you watch it get out of your reach.”
Both sides stayed even on almost every aspect of the game. It all came down to the final minutes, where the Wolverines were outsmarted by the Cardinal and couldn’t catch up in the end.
