After its past three matches, the Michigan field hockey team must think that three is the key to victory.
Against No. 19 Penn State on Friday, three goals would have been enough to win if the matches were only half as long, as the Wolverines and the Lady Lions were deadlocked, 2-2, after one half of play.
Unfortunately for the Wolverines, the Lady Lions were not aware of the magic of three and scored five goals in the second half en route to a 7-3 pasting of Michigan.
In yesterday's match against No. 10 Ohio State, Michigan's third consecutive three-goal performance, the Wolverines relied on strong goalkeeping and the three scores to upset the Buckeyes, 3-2.
Ohio State struck first in the match with an unassisted goal by Mieke van Ulden 10 minutes into the first half. The Buckeyes' defense played tough in the first half, shutting out Michigan behind strong goalkeeping by Nikki Thompson.
In the second half, Michigan tied the game with the first of two goals by Michigan attacker Michelle Smulders. Ohio State answered with a goal from Britta Eickhoff and held a 2-1 lead with 13:23 left in the game.
"We dominated the game," Smulders said. "It was just a matter of the shots falling in our favor."
The tide soon turned in the Wolverines' favor as they quickly tied the game with another goal by Smulders. With less than a minute to play in the game, Michigan senior midfielder Selina Harris took a pass from Meredith Weinstein and beat the goalkeeper for the game-winning score. The victory gave Michigan confidence going into the final two matches.
"It was a big game for us," Michigan senior Julie Flachs said. "It is much better to end the weekend with a win."
The victory was also the second in the Big Ten for Michigan, which had lost four consecutive conference matches going into the match against the Buckeyes.
On Friday, Michigan played Penn State close, matching goals with the Lady Lions for 40 minutes. In the second half, however, Penn State's leading scorer, Tara Maguire, scored four of the Lady Lions' five second-half goals in the 7-3 rout. Maguire also added an assist on teammate Kim Hicks' second goal of the day.
"We had the momentum in the first half," Flachs said. "But we came out in the second half totally different.
"We made some bad decisions and Penn State capitalized on them."
Smulders scored first for the Wolverines just over eight minutes into the game, taking a pass from fellow seniors Harris and Bree Derr to give Michigan a 1-0 lead. After Penn State tied the game, the Wolverines again took the lead when Flachs scored unassisted midway through the first half.
Penn State then went on a scoring binge, striking for four consecutive goals before Michigan could answer with its third goal. Maguire fittingly ended the scoring for Penn State with her fourth goal on the day with two minutes left in the game.
"We made some changes in the second half," Smulders said. "We tried to be more aggressive, but it backfired."
The Wolverines learned from their mistakes in the game against Penn State and beat an Ohio State team they should have beaten at home, Smulders said.