'M' doesn't give up in semi-finals

BOSTON - Though the Wolverines lost to Maryland 2-1 in the NCAA Championship game, the victory that got them there, a 4-3 crossfire with Connecticut, was by far one of the wildest shootouts in Michigan history.

Michigan scored a whopping four second-half goals to oust the second-seeded Huskies.

With the game tied 3-3, freshman Molly Powers rifled a shot past Connecticut goalie Danielle Vile with 1:56 remaining in the game to nail the Huskies' coffin shut. The game went back and forth and was tied four times.

In the first half, Michigan controlled the game, but even though the Wolverines outshot the Huskies, 5-1, Vile was impenetrable, helping her team stay in the game.

"Danielle is going to faze us because she's outstanding," Michigan coach Marcia Pankratz said. "But you just have to keep going at it, get some tips and maybe get the third and fourth rebounds to go by."

MARJORIE MARSHALL/Daily Kelli Gannon and the Michigan field hockey team were the first women's team at Michigan to make it to an NCAA final. They beat Connecticut, 4-3, to do that.

Vile's defense seemed to spark her team's offense. With 8:41 remaining in the first half, Amy Herz stole the ball and served up a pass to Laura Klein, who made Connecticut's only shot of the half count as she tipped it past Michigan goalie Kati Oakes.

But the Wolverines stormed back in the second period.

"At halftime, we talked about how we were playing well, but that we had to continue to stay patient and relentless in the circle," Pankratz said.

Michigan did, as senior Jocelyn LaFace was first to dive in Michigan's scoring pool, as she rebounded a Courtney Reid shot with 27:12 to play.

Ali Balmer, who was substituted in just minutes before, followed suit, redirecting freshman Jessica Rose's pass past Vile to give the Wolverines a 2-1 lead, and to spark a scoring frenzy.

The Huskies' Nicole Castonguay quickly answered the score to knot the game at two, scoring on a penalty corner with 8:19 left to go in the match.

"Connecticut is a very good team, and they're not used to losing," Pankratz said after handing the Huskies their first and only loss of the season. " When we got up a goal, they were as relentless as we are. They didn't want to lose that game. They fought hard and battled and came at us."

But after Connecticut scored, the Wolverines came right back, on a penalty corner of their own two minutes later.

With 6:23 remaining, Courtney Reid zipped the ball to Catherine Foreman, who stopped it to set up Kelli Gannon's penalty corner attempt. Gannon wound up, fired and the ball simply exploded off her stick.

"I told myself I was putting the ball in the net, whether anyone likes it or not, so I hit it as hard as I possibly could," Gannon said.

But the Huskies didn't die. Less than two minutes later, Kelly Cochrane intercepted a pass at the top of Michigan's arc, and flicked it into the cage with 4:33 remaining.

With the game tied at three, Powers, who claimed that the Wolverines would shock the Huskies, gave them a jolt with 1:56 to play, when she scored alone inside the arc.

"We had to take advantage of any opportunity we had, because they didn't come very often," Powers said. "Jessi (Veith) cut toward the ball and I cut away. She somehow got the ball to me and I knew my defender was coming. I just tried to get it off as quickly as possible. I didn't even look up, I just hoped that it would go in."

The Wolverines' captain, senior Ashley Reichenbach, was proud of her team's relentless play and ability to fight back.

"I think our team feeds off adversity," Reichenbach said. "We are just not willing to give up on the ball. No matter what the score is, or what's going on in the game, we're not going to stop until the final seconds wind down."

11-22-99