ANN ARBOR, Mich. – The Western Michigan women's soccer team fell to Michigan, 3-2, Sunday afternoon at the U-M Soccer field.
"We are very proud of the performance and effort today and can take a lot of positives from the game," head coach
Lewis Robinson said. "Our ladies really executed our game plan well and we felt unfortunate to not convert more of our opportunities. Michigan is a really good team that capitalized on their chances, and we will learn from this one moving forward as we get ready for MAC play."
FIRST HALF
The Broncos came out and controlled the play early in the opening 45 minutes, getting the first six shots of the half. Western Michigan's shots came from
Jenna Blackburn,
Jen Blitchok,
Emily Pagett,
Brielle Gomez,
Abby Werthman and
Madison Cotta. Two of the those shots were blocked in front of the goal and two were saved by Michigan goalkeeper Stephanie Sparkowski.
Blackburn had a bunch of chances in the first half, recording five shots in the half. In the 38th minute she had two consecutive shots blocked, but the second led to a corner kick.
Madi Canada lofted a ball into the box that found the head of
Reagan Wisser who netted her second goal of the season to put the Broncos in front, 1-0.
However, on the next possession, Michigan took the ball down the field and tied the game, 1-1. Wisser would end the half by firing a shot that missed the net, and the two teams would head to half tied at 1-1. The Broncos finished the first 45 minutes with 14 shots (four on goal) and six corner kicks.
SECOND HALF
Cotta, Canada and Blackburn opened the second half with shots for the Broncos, but it was the Wolverines that would capitalize on offense in the early portion of the second 45 minutes. Michigan's Sammi Woods netted her second goal of the game and put the Wolverines in front 2-1 in the 56th minute.
Moments later, the Wolverines would apply more pressure and secure a corner kick in the 61st minute. Off of that corner, Kali Burrell would find the back of the net to increase the UM lead to 3-1.
As the game moved to the middle portion of the second half, Wisser and Werthman would each have shots blocked before Wisser sent a shot to the left post that was collected on a diving save by Sparkowski. The Broncos would get another look when Canada sent a ball toward the box where several Broncos attempted to head the ball into the net. However, it was sent away from danger by Sparkowski.
In the 78th minute, a Blackburn shot that was saved would lead to a corner. On that kick, the Broncos would end up with the ball just outside the box, where Werthman sent a shot to the far post that was again collected by Sparkowski on a diving effort.
With the game moving to the later stages, Western Michigan began to up the offensive intensity and looked to get back into the game. Pagett carried the ball into the attacking end and fired a pass to Werthman. She turned inside and fired a shot by Sparkowski in the upper left corner to bring WMU within one. Following that, Blackburn found some open space off of a feed from
Mira Pierre-Webster, but Sparkowski was just able to get a hand on the ball to keep the Wolverines in front.
Down the stretch Pagett would get one last look on goal that was saved by Sparkowski. In total, the Broncos had 27 shots, 11 shots on goal and eight corner kicks. Michigan finished the match with 15 shots, seven shots on goal and three corner kicks.
UP NEXT
Western Michigan will play at Marquette on Thursday, Sept. 14 at 8 PM.
